Local investment proposals rise 117pc in July-March of FY ‘11

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=134174&date=2011-04-30

Local investment proposals rise 117pc in July-March of FY ‘11
Yasir Wardad

The country’s local investment proposal increased by nearly 117 per cent in first nine months of the running fiscal compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal, Board of Investment (BoI) officials disclosed.

The Bangladesh Bank’s data on the increase of ‘opening’ and ‘settlement’ of the letters of credit (L/C) also indicate that the local investment is in a rising trend.

The BoI data showed the investment has reached its record high in 2010-11 FY through investment worth Tk 399.76 billion in first nine months, and increased by more than 117 per cent compared to the corresponding period of 2009-10FY when Tk 184.09 billion was invested.

The investment in the first three months of 2011 calendar year (January to March) was Tk 13.782 billion, 60.70 per cent higher than that of the corresponding period of 2010 when Tk 8.573 billion was invested as proposal.

Around 1298 industrial units had been registered during this time, which would generate more than 0.323 million jobs, the officials of the BoI expected.

Service, textile and agro-based industries and engineering sector were leading the track with a great rise while other sectors like food and allied products, chemicals, tannery and leather, printing and publishing etc witnessed a fall.

The service sector showed a gigantic 694 per cent rise with Tk 147.189 billion investment proposal under 128 industrial units in first nine months of 2010-11FY, compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal when Tk 18.521 billion was invested(as proposal).

Textile sector got Tk 127.027 billion investment during the July-March period of 2010-11, up by 107.25 per cent compared to the matching period of 2009-10FY when Tk 61.291 billion was invested as proposal.

Agro based products showed a 200 per cent increase with Tk 37.682 billion investment under 118 industries against Tk12.661 billion investment last year.

Engineering sector performed well with investment proposal of Tk 26. 577 billion against last year’s Tk 20. 405 billion, showing more than 30 per cent increase.

Chemical industry sector witnessed 14.32 per cent, food and allied products 13.28 per cent and printing and publishing sector 32.33 per cent increase during the period under review.

The leather and tannery sector witnessed a negative trend with Tk 1.11 billion investment in July-March period of 2010-11 FY against Tk 1. 477 billion of the corresponding period of last financial year.

BOI Director on local investment Touhidur Rahman Khan told the FE that the Board was expecting that large employment opportunities would be created in coming days through the implementation of the proposals.

A significant number of the proposals were being implemented, he said.

He expressed his optimism that the investment proposals would surpass Tk 500 billion by the end of the current financial year.

Responding to a query of the FE on jute sector he answered that the investment in jute sector was rising significantly.

“A few days back, an industry was registered with an investment proposal of Tk 2.37 billion in jute yarn sector”, he added.

Another high official of BoI said the proposals for quick rental power plants had led to a great increase in the volume of investment in the power sector.

Bangladesh Bank data have shown that the L/C opening and settlement for capital machinery rose significantly during the July-February period of 2010-11FY compared to the corresponding period of 2009-10FY.

The rising trend of the opening and settlement of letters of credit (L/C) for capital machinery is indicating that the implementation rate of investment is also rising.

According to the BB data, the L/C opening and settlement for capital machinery were Tk136.363 billion ($1948.05 million) and Tk 92.708 billion ($1324.40 million) respectively in July-February period in 2010-11FY.

It was Tk 80.894 billion ($1155.63 million) and Tk 66.446 billion ($949.23 million) respectively in the corresponding period of 2009-10 FY.

The BB data revealed that the ‘opening’ had increased by 71.69 per cent and ‘settlement’ by 39.52 per cent in July-February of 2010-11FY compared to the matching period of the 2009-10FY.

Ananda Shipyard’s new ship for export

http://www.theindependentbd.com/business/others/47086-ananda-shipyards-new-ship-for-export.html

Ananda Shipyard’s new ship for export
Staff Reporter

DHAKA, APR 28: Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd (ASSL), the country’s first ship exporter on Thursday launched its 11th ship as the largest ever seagoing vessel built in Bangladesh. Ananda will formally hand over the ship titled ‘WES GRAIN’ with 5,500 Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) capacities to the Reedierie GmbH, a German-based buyer, by July this year, company source said.

“The ‘WES GRAIN’ was built at a cost of eight million Euros,” said ASSL Chairman Dr Abdullahel Bari while launching the GL class 105-meter long multipurpose ship at its yard at Meghnaghat, Sonargaon, Narayanganj.

Industries Minister Dilip Barua is expected to hand over the ship to its buyer at the shipyard in three months time, he said.

Managing Director of the company Afruja Bari, Executive Director Tariqul Islam, high officials and representatives from the German Buyer were present on the occasion. Bari also said ASSL is receiving a good number of orders from Germany, Denmark and Middle East as they consider Bangladesh as a cost-effective destination for shipbuilding for its competitive workforce and cutting edge production costs.

Ananda exported its first ship to Europe to a Danish buyer in 2008, making a history in the country’s nascent shipbuilding industry. At present, 10 more ships are being built for exporting to buyers mainly from Germany, said the company officials.

They said they have also a plan to set up about 300-metre shipyard for construction of ships in the range of 50,000 DWT, they added.

Hong Kong based co invests $ 9.20m in Ishwardi EPZ

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Hong Kong based co invests $ 9.20m in Ishwardi EPZ
STAFF REPORTER

DHAKA, APR 28: Rosita Knitwears (Pvt) Limited, a Hong Kong based company, will set up a sweater manufacturing industries in the Ishwardi export processing zone. This fully foreign owned company will invest 9.206 million US Dollar in setting up their unit and will manufacture sweater items.

The company will also create employment opportunity for 4,304 Bang1adeshi nationals, says a press release.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and M/s. Rosita Knitwears (Pvt) Limited at BEPZA Complex, Dhaka recently.

Md. Moyjuddin Ahmed, member, Investment Promotion of BEPZA and Chu Wai Hay, assistant general manager of Rosita Knitwears (Pvt) Limited signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

India-Bangladesh joint venture to invest $21m at Adamjee EPZ

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India-Bangladesh joint venture to invest $21m at Adamjee EPZ

DHAKA, April 27 (BSS) – An India-Bangladesh joint venture company will set up a printing industry at Adamjee Export Processing Zone.

The company, Interlabels Robust Bangladesh (Pvt) Limited, will invest US Dollar 21 million in setting up their unit and will manufacture sequential labels and all types of Ribbon items.

It will also create employment opportunity for 99 Bangladeshi nationals, a press release of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) said.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the BEPZA and Interlables Robust Bangladesh (Pvt) Limited at BEPZA Complex here today.

Md Moyjuddin Ahmed, Member (Investment Promotion) of the BEPZA and Bhavin C. Kothari, Chairman of Interlabels Robust Bangladesh (Pvt) Limited, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.

Major General A T M Shahidul Islam, executive chairman of the BEPZA, was also present at the signing ceremony.

Exports grow 40pc in nine months

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Exports grow 40pc in nine months
Commerce ministry official hails businessmen at Ctg seminar
Arun Bikash Dey, Ctg

Bangladesh has achieved 40 percent export growth in the last nine months of current fiscal year, said a senior government official yesterday.

The growth was only 10 percent in 2009-10 due to the global recession, added Monoj Kumar Roy, joint secretary of the commerce ministry. “The credit goes to business organisations and their leaders to overcome the situation very quickly.”

Roy addressed a seminar on “Effective Participation in International Trade Fairs” at the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) in Chittagong.

“BGMEA, BKMEA, FBCCI and other business organisations, besides their role in solving business-related problems in the country, have helped expand markets abroad.”

Roy hoped the export growth rate will increase by the year. He opined business leaders can be valuable persons in the advancement of export growth with their effective participation in international trade fairs.

The only role the government has in the present economic system is that of a facilitator.

“We depend on the private sector for our business,” he said adding that the private sector is matured now.

The government has already taken a lot of steps to remove the hindrances to business, he said.

Abdul Mayeen, regional manager of EPB for Chittagong, said they have set a target of $3.5 billion in export earnings in fiscal 2010-11. Mayeen hoped EPB will exceed the target in the rest of the three months of current fiscal year.

Salahuddin Mahmud, director for policy and planning of EPB, presented the keynote paper in the seminar.

Mahmud stated different techniques for businessmen on how to make their participation effective in international trade fairs.

He said international fairs help the participators build a good communication channel with the buyers.

He said Bangladesh received export orders worth $352.26 million in 2009-10.

Poverty rate now 31.5pc

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=134163&date=2011-04-30

Poverty rate now 31.5pc
FHM Humayan Kabir

The poverty rate of Bangladesh dropped to 31.5 per cent in 2010, reflecting an 8.5 percentage point decline in the last five years, a top official of the ministry of planning said quoting the latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES).

The findings of the latest HIES by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) showed that the poverty-cut in rural areas played a key role in slashing hunger in the country.

According to the HIES 2010 data, poverty in the rural areas shrunk by 8.60 percentage points to 35.2 per cent in 2010 from 43.80 per cent in 2005.

The hunger in the urban areas also declined by 7.10 percentage points to 21.3 per cent in 2010 from 28.40 per cent in 2005, the survey data, which is yet to be published, showed.

The state-owned BBS’s latest HIES survey said the poverty rate dropped significantly as the income and purchasing capacity of the people increased.

The last HIES survey in 2005 showed that 40 per cent of the people of Bangladesh, out of its total population, lived below the poverty line.

According to the last survey data, the 43.80 per cent of the total rural population was poor while 28.40 per cent people in the urban areas lived below the poverty line.

Member of General Economics Division (GED) of the Ministry of Planning Professor Shamsul Alam said: “It is very obvious that the poverty rate dropped significantly over the last five years.”

According to the latest HIES survey, the poverty rate fell to 31.5 per cent as the income and purchasing power of the people went up.

“The increased remittances, spread of modern agricultural method, improvements in rural infrastructure and flow of micro-credit to the ultra-poor played an important role in cutting down hunger in the country,” he told the FE.

He said: “Normally if the GDP (gross domestic product) growth increases one percentage point, the poverty rate undergoes a cut by 0.4 percentage points a year.”

Prof. Alam said the non-farm economic activities with the development of rural infrastructural facilities like road communications, helped reduce poverty and hunger in the country.

Under the proposed perspective plan for the year up to 2021, the government is committed to cutting extreme poverty to 10 per cent and achieving double-digit GDP growth by 2021, the terminal year of its implementation.

Based on the perspective plan, the government is also framing the sixth five year development plan to achieve the targets of scoring double-digit growth, developing the country’s weak infrastructure and cutting hunger.

Bangladeshi farmers to plough barren African lands

http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=174708&date=2011-04-27

Bangladeshi farmers to plough barren African lands

DHAKA, April 27 (BSS) – Against the backdrop of dwindling arable land in densely populated Bangladesh, a large group of farmers are now set to run their ploughs in barren lands in Sub Saharan Tanzania from June this year.

A leading private Bangladeshi agriculture farm explored the opportunity of sending at least one lakh farmers from the country to Tanzania in next 12 months and 50,000 fishermen in subsequent years.

“Initially we will start farming 30,000 hectares of land with 4,000 farmers,” Chief Executive Officer of Bhati Bangla Agrotec Ltd Mizanur Rahman Azad told BSS today.

He said the target of his farm, however, was to cover three lakh hectares within one year with sending a total of one lakh Bangladeshi agro-workers there.

The development came as a high-profile official delegation recently visited a number of African countries to review scopes to turn the nearly unexplored region as destination of Bangladesh’s manpower and products.

Under the consultation of Bhati Bangla Agrotec Ltd., 75 Bangladeshi agro entrepreneurs have taken lease 30,000 hectares of land. “We took the lands for 99 years lease free of cost in the condition that we will give our 10 percent of profit to the Tanzanian government,” he said.

Each Bangladeshi farmer will get Taka 13,000 per month while the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs will arrange accommodation and food without any charge.

“Initially we will make three years contract with the agro-workers keeping option of renewing visas and as per the Tanzanian government, a worker is permitted to work till 60 years of age,” Azad said.

He said presently 140 lakh hectares of cultivatable land are vacant in Tanzania, a country bigger than six and half times of Bangladesh having only 4.5 crore people.

Azad said they are planning to cultivate rice, pulses and corn in Tanzania. “We will sell corn to Tanzanian markets and bring rice and pulses in Bangladesh.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken the initiatives of farming African lands by the Bangladeshi farmers for ensuring food security of the country as well as creating employment opportunities for Bangladeshi agro workers.

Low-cost irrigation boon for Ashuganj Boro farmers

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Low-cost irrigation boon for Ashuganj Boro farmers
Our Correspondent

BRAHMANBARIA, Apr 30: Ashuganj-Palash Agro Irrigation Project (APIP) under Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) has been successfully providing a low-cost irrigation to 18623 hectares of Boro fields in Ashuganj and Palash region during this Boro season, officials said.

Farmers are expecting that they are going to get a bumper Boro production during this season in the region if the prevailing climate continues.

Most of the farmers have to depend on power driven pumps for irrigation in this region.

The APIP, Brahmanbaria, has taken a scheme to bring 18623 hectares of land against the production target of 96250 metric tonnes under Boro cultivation in 37 Unions of seven Upazilas under the project area through its irrigation facilities, project director Mohammad Hanif told the FE.

In the project area, farmers are using the irrigation machines like power pumps, shallow and low-lift pumps to irrigate their land.

The region wise break-up of cultivation target is as follows: Ashuganj region 12146 hectares and Palash region 16000 hectares. Farmers cultivated the paddy of hybrid, ufsi and local varieties.

The farmers are now getting BADC supplied irrigated waters at Tk 400 and 200 per acre for water through gravity flow and double lifting system respectively. It is very low in cost for irrigation. The private irrigation providers have been realising charges as per their wills between Tk 3000 and Tk 4000, local farmers said. The project realised Tk 0.19 million as irrigation cost against the outstanding target of Tk 19.33 million among farmers from the project area.

The project implemented a total of four phase activities through its small irrigation wing with an expenditure of Tk 24.53 billion through GOB and its own finance.

Project area is twenty-two unions of Brahmanbaria Sadar, Ashuganj, Sarail and Nabinagar Upazila and Fifteen unions of Narsingdi Sadar, Palash and Shibpur Upazila.

The Project is divided in two areas; one area is at Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria and another at Palsh in Narsingdi.

At present, Main activities of the project are the construction of 3.50 km long RCC base and 1 km long secondary RCC base irrigation drain, 8 km long brick tertiary irrigation drain, 3 siphons, 15 equalisers, 9 sluice gates, 7 regulators, 1 km long retaining and two walls, 20 foot bridges, culvert, cattle crossing and 80 km long canal dredging and construction of the embankment.

Habiganj

A Habiganj correspondent adds: A bumper production of Boro is likely in Habiganj district for adequate supply of fertiliser, electricity, irrigation facilities and timely rainfall.

According to the Habiganj District Office of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) an extensive Boro cultivation target was taken up on 1,06,165 hectares of land this year in the district. It has exceeded to about 1,12,730 hectares of lands.

This year production target of the district is 0.5 million metric tonnes of paddy.

AWD irrigation technology benefiting farmers in northern region

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AWD irrigation technology benefiting farmers in northern region

RANGPUR, April 27 (BSS) -Alternate Drying and Wetting (AWD) irrigation technology starts benefiting common farmers in farming Boro paddy by saving 30 percent irrigation water and reducing production costs, agri-experts and scientists said.

Mass adoption of the technology would benefit the nation in saving over Taka 6,000 crore annually while farming Boro on 4.85 million hectares only for reduced irrigation costs, additional paddy productions, less use of water, diesel and electricity.

The technology has been becoming popular and thousands of farmers have adopted the easiest technology during this Boro season in northern region, they said adding that further motivational activities could accelerate the pace of mass adoption of AWD.

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), other agri- departments, Cereal System Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), Barind Multipurpose Development Authorities (BMDA), Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and NGOs are disseminating the technology among the farmers.

Liaison Scientist of IRRI for Bangladesh Dr M A Hamid Miah said the technology can reduce five number irrigation compared to the farmers’ general practice, reduce 30 litres diesel consumption for irrigation and produce 500 kg more paddy per hectare.

Rice scientist and Dinajpur Hub Manger of CSISA Dr MA Mazid said adoption of the technology helps improving ecology, environment, bio- diversity and retarding desertification as 30 percent less water being lifted for irrigation saving its underground reserve.

“We have alone provided the technology among 537 farmers in seven northern districts under Dinajpur Hub of CSISA during this Boro season bringing 81 hectares Boro fields under AWD irrigation saving huge irrigation waters and farming costs,” he added.

He said that the farmers generally consume 3,000 to 5,000 litres irrigated waters to produce a kilogram paddy under different topographical locations, when the paddy plants hardly need 1,500 to 2,000 litres for the same if AWD technology used.

“The technology determines optimum irrigation times in Boro fields and it requires a 25 cm long PVC pipe or hollow bamboo pieces or even waste bottles of cold drinks like coco cola etc to be dug systematically inside the soil,” he said.

“The technology allows lifting 30 percent less underground waters annually for irrigation purposes to increase its reserves and get an uncountable benefit amid the formidable threats of climate changes,” Additional Director of DAE Mohsin Ali said.

“Sixty farmers under the leadership of Noren Master have got the benefit by adopting the technology in irrigating 60 bigha Boro fields with CSISA assistances alone in Sindur Kandi Block under Baliadangi upazila in Thakurgaon district this time,” Dr Mazid said.