BTSS to produce low-cost phone-mobile sets, laptops

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/11/09/news0007.htm

BTSS to produce low-cost phone-mobile sets, laptops

Rafiqul Islam Azad

The government has decided to produce low-cost land phone and mobile phone sets, laptop and different telephone tools and machinery in the country.

Under the imitative, Bangladesh Telephone Shilpa Sangstha (BTSS) has already floated an international tender to procure necessary technology and equipment from abroad, according to sources in the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications.

The state-run company would be the first in Bangladesh to manufacture and market cellular phones early next year and in the process reduce dependence on import in the fast growing telecom sector, a well placed official source said. He said the BTSS mobile phone was expected to be available in the market by February next.

“The price range of the hand-sets will be between Tk 1,500 and Tk 10,000, depending on their options and features,” said the official.

According to the official a tender in this regard has been floated on November 1 and tender documents will be scrutinised on November 15, the source said.

With the implementation of the project, huge foreign exchange will be saved and employment opportunity will be created, he said.

The BTSS would be able to produce modern land phone and mobile phone sets, laptop and different telephone accessories adding more technologies and equipment with the existing one as “There is trained manpower and necessary infrastructure with the BTSS,” the official said.

Earlier, following a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, Hasanul Haque Inu, chairman of the committee told journalists that the government is also planning to produce low-cost laptop at the BTSS factory in Tongi.

He said the government would try to reduce technological discrimination by providing tele-equipment to the people at affordable prices in line with the government’s Vision 2021 for Digital Bangladesh.

The production of the BTSS was stopped following change over of Ershad government due to mismanagements, lack of planning, indecision and corruption. Earlier, it produced different telecommunication machinery including telephone set, EMD switching, DP, pole, cabinet and joint materials.

Record shows that since establishment the BTSS supplied about 3,00,000 EMD switching, 5,00,000 telephone sets, 655 trunk exchanges, 403 analogue PABX, 7 digital exchanges, installed mobile exchange for important institutions in public and private sectors.

Landline maker set for automation

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=111328

Landline maker set for automation
Star Business Report

Telephone Shilpa Sangstha Limited (TSS), the state-run telephone equipment manufacturer, is set to go under an automated production system by December, eyeing production of more than a thousand landline sets a day.

“An automated system by the year-end will enable our company to make telecom equipment,” TSS Managing Director Mohammad Ismail told The Daily Star.

TSS is the prime supplier of land phone sets and analog system equipment to Bangladesh Telecommuni-cations Company Limited (BTCL), formerly Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB).

After being inactive for a long time, TSS restored its production last week.

In the late 1980s, the introduction of digital telephony by the government but the absence of any initiative to raise capacity has led to such inactiveness of the lone telephone equipment maker in the public sector.

The last caretaker government tried to find a strategic partner for the company. But no local or foreign company suitably responded to this move.

Meanwhile, the latest move by the present government, in line with its electoral pledge to make Bangladesh a digital one, will breathe a new life.

With the automation, TSS handset production capacity is expected to rise to 1,000 units per day from the existing 50.

Presently, 14.61 lakh customers are using land phones. BTCL enjoys a 8.72 lakh customer base, while private landline operators hold the rest.

Besides the automation move, a Tk 25 crore project has been taken up for the TSS under which base stations will be supplied to TeleTalk, the state-owned mobile operator.

According to TSS officials, this project may create a momentum in the company’s activation further.

The parliamentary standing committee on the telecommunication ministry earlier announced a plan to reinvigorate the government entity. This body recommended manufacture of mobile phone sets and low price laptop by the TSS in association with a foreign company.

TSS was established in 1967 as Telephone Industries Corporation under a joint venture.

Rahimafrooz to launch solar panel assembly factory next yr

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2009/09/17/79239.html

Rahimafrooz to launch solar panel assembly factory next yr

Fazlur Rahman

Rahimafrooz will launch a solar panel assembly factory next year, the first of its kind in Bangladesh, to provide customers better product at competitive prices, officials said Wednesday.

Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd (RRE), a sister concern of the more than 50-year old Group, has been providing solar solutions for households, agriculture, healthcare, education, rural streets and marketplaces for the last few years, thus transforming the lives of people and lighting up different corners of the country.

Now the company is planning to build its own assembly plant in the country as the market has matured enough to have such facilities.

“In the past, we could not go far such set-up as the market was small. But now the market has matured and the demand for solar panel is increasing day by day,” Sohel Ahmed, general manager of RRE, said.

“Now we need such a facility, which will allow us to assemble green energy products by our own. It will help us to cut import cost. At the same time, the consumers will get quality products at competitive prices,” he told the FE.

He said that the annual production capacity of the assembled plant would be 12 megawatt.

The company is now holding talks with financial institutions about the financing of Tk 400 million project.

Mr. Ahmed said: “We are now talking with financiers such as Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) to have financial supports as panel assembling factory will require significant investment. We hope to start production by middle of the next year.”

The plant would be set up in Dhaka or its adjoining areas, he said.

Now the number of solar home systems in the country stands at around 350,000, imported from China and Britain, which will reach 750,000 in the next two years, under the supervision of state-run IDCOL, which promotes renewable energy development.

He said the market would also grow in next couple of years as the market of IDCOL is increasing. Besides, there is a government instruction to install solar panel system in every office to ease pressure on national grid.

“We have even been given go-ahead to install such system in the Prime Minister’s Office,” said Ahmed adding that on an average 15,000 systems are being installed in the country every month under the programme of IDCOL.

He said through solar systems, IDCOL is generating electricity amount to 15 to 16 mw annually.

To date, RRE has lightened up more than 100,000 rural homes in Bangladesh and the company is endeavouing to do much more in the future.

Officials of the Group said that Rahimafrooz is trying to bring all kinds of solar solutions for the country which will include solution for off-grid and grid areas.

On the possibility of bringing all base stations of telecom operators under this green energy solution, another official said:

“For off-grid, remote and semi urban areas, solar solution is feasible. But for grid areas, the solar solution is not feasible as electricity is highly subsidised in Bangladesh.”

“The abundance, inexhaustibility and non polluting nature of solar energy, have made it right alternative for conventional energy sources, which are getting fast exhausted,” he said.

Rahimafrooz is the pioneer and leader in solar solutions in Bangladesh. It is the only private sector company with practical hands on experience of installing solar solutions in the most remote and off-grid areas of Bangladesh, the official said.

The company has already successfully implemented the pilot projects for different leading telecom operators by now. “Now we are offering this solution for all the telecom operators,” said the official.

Cabinet decides to set up hi-tech park, Okays three bills

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=105204

Cabinet decides to set up hi-tech park, Okays three bills
Staff Correspondent

The cabinet at a meeting yesterday approved three bills, including Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Bill 2009, and decided to set up a hi-tech park to fulfil the Awami League’s electoral pledge to build a ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021.

Two other bills are Mobile Court Bill 2009 and Vested Property Return (Amendment) Bill 2009.

The hi-tech park would be built on 232 acres of lands at Kaliakoir in Gazipur. The land ministry has started the infrastructure development work for the park at a cost of Tk 25 crore, the prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters after the meeting.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Locally made cell phone set to hit market next year

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/sep/03/busi.html#3

Locally made cell phone set to hit market next year
Nazrul Islam

The state-run Bangladesh Telephone Shilpa Sangstha is set to become the country’s first company to manufacture and market cellular phones early next year and reduce the country’s dependency on import in the fast growing telecom sector.

The BTSS is also getting prepared for low-cost laptop production depending on import of the necessary technology, a parliamentary panel was told on Wednesday.

‘In line with the government‘s Vision 2021 for Digital Bangladesh, the government will try to reduce technological discrimination by providing tele-equipment to the people at affordable prices,’ said the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the post and telecommunications ministry, Hasanul Haq Inu, after a meeting.

The officials said that the government has taken up a number of schemes to produce information technology equipment at competitive prices with the help of imported technology.

The BTSS cell phone is expected to hit the market by February 2010 at the latest. The price range of the hand-sets will be between Tk 1,500 and Tk 10,000, depending on their options and features, said an official of the state-owned Bangladesh Telecom Company Ltd.

The committee’s chairman said that as the government has the necessary infrastructure in hand, it will also produce digital land-phones, which will cost between Tk 500 and Tk 600. These sets will hit the market in November.

At present only imported phones can be found in the market.

‘Once we produce the phone sets locally, we will be able to save a huge amount of foreign currency,’ said Inu, adding that the government is also working on a master plan for production of laptops at the BTSS factory in Tongi.

The factory has also been asked to produce solar panels to help the energy-starved country use clean and renewable energy.

The Bangladesh Cable Shilpa Sangstha, a sister concern of the BTCL located in the southern district of Khulna, was asked to go for production of optical fibre, but it is still manufacturing copper cables.

The committee observed that the demand for copper-based cable has been reduced but the demand for optical fibre was on the rise.

‘The Cable Shilpa Sangstha is capable of meeting 75 per cent of the domestic demand for optical fibre,’ said Inu, adding that it will also continue production of cables being used for domestic electric connections.

The government has already allocated Tk 10 crore for the optical fibre project, he added.

Wednesday’s meeting was attended by the Awami League’s whip and committee member ASM Feroz, Abdul Quddus, Mozammel Hossain Ratan and senior officials of the BTCL and the BTSS.

Local mobile, laptop, solar panel soon

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=104180

Local mobile, laptop, solar panel soon
Digital phone sets hit the market next month; fibre-optic cables on the cards
Rashidul Hasan

Telephone Shilpo Sangstha and Cable Shilpo Sangstha have taken up three mega projects to produce digital telephone sets, cellphones, fibre-optic cables, solar panels and laptops in the country.

Of the five products, the digital telephone sets costing as low as Tk 500 will hit the market next month while cellphones priced between Tk 1,500 and 10,000 will be sold from January next year. Fibre optic cables will arrive in December next year.

Bangladesh-made laptops and solar panels will also hit the market soon. Estimated prices of laptops, solar panels and fibre-optic cables are yet to be fixed.

Hasanul Haq Inu, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on post and telecommunications ministry, told this to reporters after a meeting of the committee held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

“Telephone Shilpo Sangstha and Cable Shilpo Sangstha, two organisations under Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, have taken up three mega projects to produce mobile phones, digital telephone sets, laptops, fibre-optic cables and solar panels which will help build a digital Bangladesh,” Inu, also president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, said.

Inu also said TSS and CSS will become profitable ventures once they implement these mega projects.

TSS, situated at Gazipur, Dhaka, is currently incurring loss while CSS in Khulna is making a marginal profit.

“CSS in its new plant will manufacture fibre-optic cables instead of copper cables, ” Inu said, adding that the CSS will be able to meet the country’s 75 percent fibre-optic cable demand.

The fibre optic cable manufacturing project is worth Tk 10 crore and evaluation of a tender in this regard is now going on, he added.

Inu said fibre-optic cables have been installed in an unplanned way across the country and the parliamentary watchdog asked authorities concerned to take appropriate measures so that the cables are installed in a planned manner from now on.

Inu also said CSS will go for manufacturing household electrical accessories and telephone accessories, which would save foreign exchange. TSS in Gazipur will manufacture the digital telephone sets, said the committee chief.

Even poor people will be able to afford these telephone sets as their prices would be between Tk 500 and Tk 600, Inu said.

TSS will also manufacture the cellphones in cooperation with Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

“People will also be able to purchase these cellphones as prices will be between Tk 1,500 and Tk 10,000,” Inu added.

Replying a question, the committee chief said network expansion of Teletalk will start very soon. “Teletalk will become the number one mobile operator in the country,” he said.

Solar power plant to be set up in Ctg

http://www.theindependent-bd.com/details.php?nid=137764

Solar power plant to be set up in Ctg
STAFF CORRESPONDENT, CHITTAGONG

Aug 12: SolarTIF, a Malaysian-owned solar photovoltaic panel manufacturer, is going to formally enter into the country’s solar based power generation market from early next month with offering 20 to 30 per cent less cost than other providers.

The company will also commission a manufacturing plant of the solar panel here at city’s Kalurghat next year to make available of the solar panels for the country’s people. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of SolarTIF Bangladesh Dr. Nowshad Amin announced this at a press conference held at a city hotel today.

The press conference was attended, among others, by Chief Executive Officer of SolarTIF Shamsul Ezan, Professor of Physics department of Chittagong University Nurul Amin, Senior Vice-President of National Credit and Commerce Bank Limited Swapan Kumar Das, Engineer JSM Bakteyar, Golam Baki Masud and Shahidul Haq Asad.

Nowshad Amin said that his company is determined to assist the people of Bangladesh to tap sun’s energy for better life. “The company will assist the people of Bangladesh with several products at cheapest cost possible with much after service. From small home system to multi kilowatt systems, to small solar assisted application like mobile or laptop chargers to irrigation pumping system the SolarTIF will provide the services possible,” he added.

He also informed that the country is blessed with a daily average of 4-5KWh/m2 of energy from which can be a potential producer of solar electricity.   Earlier, SolarTIF Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Credit and Commerce Bank Limited for assist the consumers with loans.

Local software maker wins US recognition for fingerprint technology

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=97073

Local software maker wins US recognition
Star Business Report

Tiger IT Bangladesh Ltd has been ranked second by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for developing an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) with high accuracy.

To clinch the recognition from the US organisation, Tiger IT, a local software maker, competed with a host of renowned software makers from around the world in terms of accuracy and perfection. NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency within the US Department of Commerce.

AFIS is the process of automatically matching one or many unknown fingerprints against a database of known and unknown prints. As a biometric technology, AFIS can provide absolute identification of an individual by processing the image of a fingerprint.

Tiger AFIS’ accuracy for a “two-finger match” was in the top three across all participants.

In the smaller less relevant dataset (DHS), imaged over 12 years ago, Tiger AFIS was in the top four in accuracy for a two-finger match scoring 98.9 percent true match rate at a false match rate of 0.01 percent.

The other top-ranked companies were NEC of Japan, US-based Cogent, France’s Sagem and another US-based L1.

“I am very proud of our team’s ability to develop an algorithm in less than two years time that rivals the accuracy of very large AFIS vendors that have invested tens of millions of dollars over several decades to achieve similar results,” Ziaur Rahman, chairman and chief executive officer of Tiger IT Bangladesh, told reporters at the National Press Club yesterday.

Inspired by the success of the biometric voter registration project in Bangladesh and encouraged by the Bangladesh army, Tiger IT began developing AFIS in early 2008.

Tiger IT’s AFIS software had been used for adding fingerprints of more than 80 million voters to the voter identity (ID) card and national ID card as well.

Tiger IT has also sold its AFIS solution to Nigerian and Colombian governments. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and some other countries are evaluating the solution, Rahman said.

Tiger IT biometric ID solution is being used in Canada for child’s ID and in Afghanistan for biometric ID for banking.

“We expect the government to promote local software makers and strengthen the IT industry in Bangladesh,” said Rahman.

Solar power seen as alternative energy source for irrigation

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jul/12/busi.html#7

Solar power seen as alternative energy source for irrigation
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka

Experts suggests use of solar power driven water pumps as a major alternate source of irrigation for better crop yields in a power-starved country like Bangladesh.

‘Solar power could be used as an alternative source of electricity for irrigation to ease the country’s acute power crisis by reducing load of 700 to 800 MW in a day,’ former DG of Power Cell BD Rahmatullah on Saturday told the news agency.

The government could take initiatives to transform the irrigation pumps into solar pumps for saving power and fuel as two pilot projects of solar irrigation plants are already working successfully in the country, he said.

‘Against the backdrop of power crisis, we should look at more to the renewable energy like other countries and I am reiterating that Bangladesh has the potentiality of producing 3,500MW from renewable sources,’ the former power cell chief added.

In the country, presently state-owned power plants generate only 3,500MW of electricity a day, whereas demand is 6,000MW. The demand is growing by 500MW a year due to increasing industrialisation.

Rahmatullah said the cost of solar panels is high, no doubt about it, but solar energy’s unique attributes to needing no fuel, high durability and reliability and being able to operate for longer periods without maintenance, make it economical for all types of applications.

He said the government can come forward with financial package for the farmers to transfer all shallow pumps into solar ones to save the electricity and consumption of fuel.

Adequacy of sunshine in our country makes the solar power eligible for agriculture irrigation especially for the boro crop as it is harvested during dry season, said agriculture expert M Shariful Rahman, Principal of Moniharpur Agriculture Training Institute, who runs a solar irrigation pump on a pilot basis inside his institute in Bogra district.

‘I ran the solar pump during the last boro season and successfully irrigated around 15 acres inside my institute,’ he said.

The solar panel, which was installed by the Waste Concern, a voluntary organisation, on a pilot basis has the capacity of producing maximum of 1.4 kilowatt of electricity and 6000 litres of water in a day.

Waste Concern executive director Maqsood Sinha said Bangladesh presently Has 11 lakh shallow tube-wells, out of which 9.03 lakh is diesel driven while the rest 1.97 lakh electricity-run.

‘In order to make the farmers independent of price increase of diesel, as well as to tide over the scarcity of diesel, there is a good opportunity to provide irrigation through solar powered system,’ he said.

Director of Waste Concern Iftekhar Enayetullah said the price of solar pump along with solar panel is about Taka four to six lakh which has a life of 15 years.

‘A farmer holding 25 bighas of land spends Tk 75,000 per year for irrigation, therefore, simple pay back period is roughly 6.3 years whereas the life of the solar pumps is 15 years,’ he said.

Like Waste Concern, Rahimafrooz Bangladesh, which is a pioneer in making batteries of solar panel locally, also installed another solar pump in Chapainawabganj district through a non-government organization.

Students eager to show off robotic skills

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=96418

Asia-Pacific Robot Contest 2009
Students eager to show off robotic skills

Buet students and their teacher test robots at the laboratory of mechanical engineering department. Photo: STAR

Ershad Kamol

The Bangladesh team is set to show off their robotic skills in the upcoming ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest 2009 to be held in Tokyo, Japan in August.

The team comprising the students of mechanical engineering department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) has developed three highly technically advanced robots, which are ready for shipment to Japan for participation in the contest.

These autonomous robots can move through steep slopes and sharply winding roads to a certain destination and can take further decisions after reaching the goal. No camera is installed with the robots to reach the target, rather these robots function through pre-programmed control system.

In the competition that will take place at the gymnasium of the Metropolitan Komazawa Olympic Park in Tokyo on August 21 and 22, the Bangladesh team will compete with 21 teams from technically advanced countries of the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, China, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Egypt.

The Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) has been organising this competition annually since 2002. The event is widely known as ABU Robocon, which is an international educational event with a fresh and unique concept for university, college, and polytechnic students in the Asia Pacific region.

The four-member Bangladeshi team comprising three students and a teacher will leave Dhaka on August 20. Saiful Islam Mithu is the team leader while Mezbahur Rahman Evan and Omar Bin Yusuf are other members of the team. Their teacher Dr M Zahurul Haq will participate in the game as their instructor.

Cooperation between people and robots is the theme of this year’s contest. The technical requirements of this year’s contest is more advanced than the previous years’ arrangement, since the organisers have conceived of this year as a step towards the goal of close cooperation between manual (or directly human-controlled) and automatic robots.

The core item of this year’s contest is Kago, the traditional Japanese palanquin of the pre-modern era, which was used to carry the traditional Samurais by two men, one in front and the other behind, to distant places. Following the tradition, three robots from each participating team will travel a distance in the competition.

Like the Kago carriers of the ancient time, an Automatic Carrier Robot will lead a Manual Carrier Robot to carry a Traveller Robot, which is also an Automatic Robot, on a replica of a Kago to a distance of about 80 metres through replicas of mountains, steep slopes, and sharply winding roads. At the end the robots will reach a bell and the traveller robot will have to ring the bell.

“That is not an easy challenge,” said Dr M Zahurul Haq. “During the three-minute delicate game, everything will have to be done by the robots without any intervention from the participants.”

“This year’s competition is really challenging because some conditions of the game such as the carrier robots will not be allowed to touch the surface except the zigzag path through slopes and they must adjust the seat of the Traveller Robot so that it does not slide or fall even if the seat is inclined by 20 degrees in either the longitudinal or the transverse direction during the travel,” he adds.

According to Dr M Zahurul Haq, Bangladeshi robots will be able to maintain all the requirements of the game, since the robots are more intelligent and well controlled.

“The automatic robots developed for the competition will be controlled through high-speed censor-based communication system. The control system receives 1000 commands per second for taking the corrective measures during the game, earlier the movement of the robots was movement dependent,” he said.

Buet students have been participating in this annual competition since 2005 and won the prestigious Panasonic Award in the Robocon contest in 2005.

All these robots have been developed under a regular project for the undergraduate students of the department of Mechanical Engineering at Buet.

This year, about 12 students under the supervision of Dr Haq have developed these robots with used motor parts, aluminum sheet, nylon fibre, steel sheet and other materials collected from the city’s Dholaikhal and Patuatuli areas. Importing the micro-controller chips and hardware from the US, Dr Haq developed the control system.

On the limitations of developing robots here, Dr Haq said that they have to use reverse engineering due to lack of raw materials in the country.

“We collect the used motor parts and censors from old Dhaka and design the robots based on the shape and capacity of these components. High-speed communication system and other chips have to be collected from the US,” he added.

He said there is a huge scope for the industrial applications of robots in delicate and repetitive works in Bangladesh. Moreover, robots can be used to develop the defence system of the country such as mine detection purpose.

For sustainable development of robotics in the country, Dr Haq suggested that the industry be developed gradually in different phases.

Rahimafrooz to set up solar panel assembling plant

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=93896

Rahimafrooz to set up solar panel assembling plant

Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

Sohel Parvez

Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd is set to assemble solar panels to grab the domestic market for solar home systems that are on an upward curve on the back of the government policy support to help off-grid people get electricity.

“We have taken initiatives to establish a solar panel assembling plant with an investment of Tk 34 crore by June 2010 as the market for solar systems is widening fast,” said Munawar Misbah Moin, managing director of the company, yesterday.

A concern of Tk 1,500-crore-Rahimafrooz Group, the company has been engaged in distributing solar systems for the last few years.

Since 2003 the use of solar home systems has been increasing fast in the off-grid areas of rural Bangladesh backed by over a dozen of NGOs that enjoy refinance facility from state-run Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL), which promotes renewable energy development.

Now the number of solar home systems (SHSs) stands at around 325,000, up over 40 percent from 230,000 a year ago.

The SHS use increased because of the government aim to provide green energy solutions to majority of the country’s around 15 crore people who have a little or no access to electricity through national grid.

SHS installation is expected to grow faster as IDCOL plans to install 10 lakh units by 2012 to realise the government vision of meeting 5 percent of the total electricity demand by 2015 and 10 percent by 2020 through renewable energy resources, including biomass, biogas and wind.

Industry insiders said except for solar photovoltaic panels and tube lights, all the accessories for installing solar system with capacity of 20-120 watts come from the domestic manufacturers.

Solar panels and tube lights are usually imported from countries such as Singapore, India and China, with Japan-based Kyocera and TATA BP Solar controlling majority of the market.

Industry people said price of a complete SHS ranges between Tk 9,000 and Tk 60,000 and the solar panels account for nearly 70 percent of the total costs.

Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy expects that locally assembled solar panels will be more competitive than the imported ones.

“We make everything locally but still remain dependent on imports of solar panels. If we start assembling, we won’t need to depend much on the global market, and at the same time we will be able to provide 10-15 percent cost advantages to customers,” said Munawar.

The company, which claims a market share of about 40 percent in SHS, said the plant will assemble panels having a total yearly capacity of 5 megawatts.

Munawar said the total investment for the plant would be around $5 million (around Tk 34 crore) and the plant would be set up with technology support from a globally renowned company.

“We hope there is a prospect and that’s why we are taking the risk,” he said. “Our experience and knowledge in the field will help us attain the goal.”

Industry insiders also believe there is a prospect in renewable energy programmes as the government has attached priority to the sector, and is providing various financial and tax incentives to promote alternative energy development.

Recently the Bangladesh Bank has formed a Tk 200 crore revolving fund for banks and financial institutions to extend loans at low interest to areas such as renewable energy development.

In the proposed budget for fiscal 2009-10, the government also exempted VAT on solar panel and brought down custom duty on the prime accessory to zero from existing 3 percent.

sohel@thedailystar.net

Solar power leads growing green industries

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jun/17/busi.html#5

Solar power leads growing green industries

The AFP file photo shows a woman solders components as she works in a solar panel factory in Mouna just outskirts of Dhaka.

Afp, Nayeb Ali Bazar

Like all rural Bangladeshis, Saidul Islam knows the hardships of summer, when his tin-roofed house turns into a furnace with not enough electricity to power even a fan.

For the 100 million Bangladeshis — most of them farmers — who live in the countryside, the notion of electricity supply is little more than an empty promise bandied about by politicians at election time.

Only villages close to highways or large farms with irrigation pumps have access to the national grid, and even then for an average of just one hour in four.

Fed up with promises of a connection that never came, Islam took matters into his own hands, and four years ago scraped together 335 dollars to buy a solar panel for the roof of his modest mudbrick-and-tin home.

“My family and friends thought I was stupid, but I knew it would be worth it even though the price was eight months of income,” said Islam, who lives in the village of Nayeb Ali Bazar, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Dhaka.

The investment has more than paid off for the 40-year-old tailor, who used to finish work when the sun set.

Now most days he sews until midnight, thanks to five hours of power from the solar panel, and his income has doubled.

For the 70 percent of Bangladesh’s 144 million people who have little or no access to electricity, alternative energy sources are the only option.

Years of under-investment means state-owned power plants generate only 3,500 megawatts of electricity a day, whereas demand is 6,000 megawatts and growing by 500 megawatts a year due to increasing industrialisation.

The government, elected in December, has promised to boost power supply but says improvements are at least three years off.

In the meantime, figures show that Bangladeshis are doing it for themselves. In the past year alone, the number of solar-powered household systems has doubled to 300,000, delivering electricity to 2.5 million people.

Leading the rapid expansion is Grameen Shakti, a sister concern of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus’s micro credit giant Grameen Bank.

The charity, along with 14 other smaller organisations, extends loans with generous conditions to enable the poor to purchase the wherewithal to produce solar energy.

“Solar systems are selling so fast in rural areas that we’re struggling to keep up with demand,” said Dipal Barua, Grameen Shakti’s head.

Growth also means new employment opportunities.

“We have created some 20,000 green jobs, some 2,000 of them employing rural women who earn a decent income of 100 dollars a month,” Barua said.

“Our goal is to get half of the country’s rural households using solar energy by 2015 and create jobs for 100,000 women.”

Energy expert Shahidul Islam, from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said the rapid expansion of solar energy had helped bring the cost of panels down.

“What we are witnessing in rural areas is nothing short of a green revolution,” he said. “It is changing the face of rural Bangladesh, which has until now been in the dark.”

Local company Rahimafrooz, which produces batteries to store the solar energy, has tripled output this year to meet demand.

“The renewable energy business in Bangladesh is the fastest growing green industry in the world,” said company CEO Niaz Rahim.

“It will be a billion-dollar industry within the next six years. Every solar accessory except the panels is now produced in Bangladesh which means we are going to be self-sufficient very soon to keep driving the growth.”

In Bhutuli, north of Dhaka, greengrocer Nurul Islam jokes that his village was once renowned for producing jackfruit, but is now better known for the number of solar panels sprouting from its roofs.

“The best thing about having solar energy is coming home at 10pm from work and seeing my three sons reading their books,” he said.

“We never had the opportunity to do this in the past. It’s changing our country’s fate.”

Optical fiber cable plant to be set up

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2009/06/08/69067.html

Optical fiber cable plant to be set up

KHULNA, June 7: An optical fibre cable plant is being set up at Bangladesh Cable Shilpo Limited (BCSL) situated at the city’s Shiromoni area. This plant will be the first of its kind in the country. When it goes into production, the country will not be required to import optical fibre cables from abroad.

A meeting of BCSL Directory Board was held at its conference room on May 23 last chaired by the Secretary of Post and Telecommunications Ministry Sunil Kanti Bosh and attended among others by joint secretary Dilruba Begum of Post and Telecommunications Ministry, Khulna Divisional Commissioner Younusur Rahman, Managing Director of BTCL SM Khabiruzzaman and Managing Director of BCSL Md Bahadur Ali.

The board meeting approved the decision to set up optical fibre cable plant in the BCSL.

In this connection the Managing Director of BCSL Bahadur Ali informed that at present another committee is working to prepare a project profile to set up the plant. Later an international tender will be invited. He said, at present optical fibre in not produced in the country. The country will save a huge amount of foreign currency when the fibre cable goes into production.

Concerned sources said that the state owned cable factory would be able to export the product after meeting the local demand. It may be mentioned that the use of the cell phone has increased manifold in the recent past whereas the demand for land phone has dropped. As a result the production of copper cable has fallen.

Refrigerators to be exported to Africa, Europe

http://www.theindependent-bd.com/details.php?nid=127518

Refrigerators to be exported to Africa, Europe
Economic Reporter

For the first time, a local company is going to export its world standard refrigerators to African and European countries.

RB Group of Companies, a familiar name in the country’s electronics and automobiles sector, has completed most of the tasks including signing agreements to export refrigerators to some countries of the two continents. Sources said RB Group would be able to send their world standard products to the countries within few months.

Walton High Tech Industry established on 20 acres of land at Chandra in Garipur, outskirts of the capital Dhaka, is now manufacturing world standard refrigerators. The high-tech factory is capable of producing over six lakh refrigerators annually as against as the domestic demand of four lakh refrigerators. The factory has created an employment opportunity for over two thousand of people.

Policymakers of the company said the factory is equipped with the latest technology and capable to increase production of refrigerators if they get opportunity to export more refrigerators to foreign countries.

Assistant Director of RB Group (Export) Mizanur Rahman said Japanese entrepreneurs now are not interested in manufacturing refrigerators in their country as they are facing high labour cost and other problems. Japanese now see import of refrigerators from foreign countries like Bangladesh that witness duty free facility and cheap labour cost.

With a view to importing refrigerators from Bangladesh, representatives of several Japanese companies recently visited the Walton High Tech Industry and have expressed their satisfaction over the world standard production facility of the factory. Some Japanese companies have already taken some initiatives like opening LC to import refrigerators. Mizanur Rahman hoped that within few months Walton refrigerators would be exhibited in the showrooms of Japan and some European countries.

Key RMG players shift to automated systems

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=87064

Key RMG players shift to automated systems

Operators handle a state-of-the-art fabric cutter at a garment factory in Gazipur. Leading readymade garment manufacturers are now shifting to automated production systems from the traditional ones to be more competitive in global apparel business. Photo: Amran Hossain

Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Leading readymade garment (RMG) manufacturers are shifting to automated production systems from the traditional ones to be more competitive in global apparel business, said industry insiders.

They said adoption of fresh technology in the apparel industry is paying dividends to owners, as it helps improve management, quality and delivery systems.

The industry operators have also brought about changes in cutting, knitting, dyeing, finishing and packaging through the application of these new technologies.

RMG workers previously cut fabric manually, or the cutting machine’s speed was time-consuming. But now it is possible to cut fabric many times faster with the auto cutter machine.

Similarly, in the case of quality control, the automated machinery in a very short while can check whether any needle or any other metal tool is mistakenly embedded in the packaged clothes, according to the workers.

The new technology helps finish dyeing of several hundred yards of fabric in a few hours, says a dyeing factory owner.

Viyellatex Group is the country’s first garments factory that has implemented the expensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution from SAP Germany, said Group Chairman KM Rezaul Hasanat.

Some multinationals and other local business houses now adopt the ERP solution, but in the garments sector Viyellatex Group is using it, Hasanat pointed out.

“Viyellatex Group is one of the leading factories worldwide which is using ERP from SAP. The group implemented the ERP in its Gazipur based factory in December last year at a cost of $2million,” Hasanat added.

“I save time and wastage in my factory in almost all the sections. I can know the on-time production by one click alone,” the Viyellatex boss said.

Talking to The Daily Star, Shahadat Hossain Kiron, managing director of Dekko Group, one of the leading apparel makers, said he plans to install the SAP software to bring efficiency at all levels.

He said currently almost all modern factories are setting aside their traditional methods and adopting automated systems. “Efficiency in cutting, knitting, dyeing and finishing has been attained because of the application of these technologies,” Kiron said.

Ghulam Faruque, chairman of SQ Group, a leading sweater maker, said he hired a Bangladeshi born British specialist for his group to develop ERP aiming to ensure better management and production systems.

“I hope SQ Group would be able to implement ERP in next six months,” he said.

Faruque said Bangladeshi manufacturers mainly use sophisticated European and Japanese technologies in their production units.

He said since manufacturers are now shifting to lean systems, they prefer these technologies to enhance efficiency.

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association data say Bangladesh imported capital machinery and other technologies worth Tk232.768 crore for the textile sector during July-April period of the current fiscal year.

reefat@thedailystar.net