Haque Specialized Group's News

FE Report Country's natural gas supply is set to increase by around 1,000 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from next year with LNG import for a blended usage of the two. Prime Minister's energy adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury came up with the message Saturday, as the government prepares for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from 2018 as part of a master plan for feeding an ever-increasing energy demand. Some 500mmcfd of the imported LNG will be added to the national gas grid by the first half of 2018, while another 500mmcfd in the second half, he told a function on energy security. To keep the gas prices affordable, the government has planned to blend the imported re-gasified LNG (R-LNG) with locally produced gas before supplying to consumers, Mr Chowdhury said. He suggested that private sector should improve the efficiency level of their equipment to cope with and go for co-generation and tri-generation that can help raise their efficiencies by up to 80 per cent. Mr Chowdhury was speaking as chief guest a seminar on 'Energy Security 2030: Challenges and Opportunities' organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) at Lakeshore Hotel in the city Saturday. Chaired by DCCI present Abul Kasem Khan, the seminar was also addressed, among others, by chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on power and energy Tajul Islam as special guest. Business leaders, energy experts, and top officials from banks and financial institutions also spoke. In his keynote paper, Professor Dr M Tamim of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) showed that if the imported LNG price stood at US$7 per MMBTU (million British thermal unit), the R-LNG price, inclusive of costs, tax and value-added tax (VAT), would come to $8.84 per MMBTU while the price would be $3.23 per Mcf (1,000 cubic feet) after the blending. So, the price of imported R-LNG would be higher at $1.04 per Mcf after blending as the current weighted average price of natural gas is $2.19 per Mcf, he stated. Speaking further on the occasion, the PM's energy adviser spelt out the government plan to import around 4,000mmcfd equivalent of LNG after the setting up of land-based LNG-import terminals. Regarding electricity-generation plan he said the government has set a target to generate around 35,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity by 2030 of which a big portion will come from coal-fired power plants. He said a good number of power plants will be coming up over next three to five years. Responding on a proposal for issuing bonds for fund mobilisation, he said the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is working to issue billion-dollar bonds in the market while some other government bonds will be floated to attract local investors. On the issue of regional energy cooperation and import of power from Myanmar through setting up gas-fired power plants over there, the PM adviser said the matter was moved four-five years ago. But in the changed political scenario in Myanmar the issue did not advance. Urging the business community to help in government's initiative in this regard he said, "We're still hopeful of importing electricity from Myanmar." He also requested the private sector to come up with innovative ideas to face the future challenges. Prof M Tamim also underscored the necessity of grooming skilled human resources to create good managers to run the burgeoning energy sector. "Without the required level of human resource development, Bangladesh cannot sustain seven to eight per cent growth," the energy expert told the meet.   Business community has to think everything with ground reality before pushing an idea, said Tajul Islam. Price is not main factor but competitiveness is a big issue, he said while elaborating on the importance of the availability of energy. Responding to the proposal on promotion of renewable energy, especially on solar power, he said India and China are advancing in this regard because of their advantage in cheaper land and increased sun's radiance compared with Bangladesh. Solar price in Bangladesh is Tk 17 per unit (1 kilowatt-hour) which is around Tk 3 per unit in India, he said. He also pointed out that Bangladesh is lagging far behind in generating electricity from coal. Only around 200MW electricity is produced from coal in Bangladesh, whereas electricity generation from coal is around 200,000 megawatts in India and 600,000 MWs in China, he said. Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of Policy Research Institute (PRI), lauded the government target to ensure 100 per cent electricity coverage by 2021 but stressed that the electricity should be quality one, not mere connection. He also urged the government to go for tapping the benefit of falling electricity prices in India through bolstering import from the neighbouring country, where he said the price is less than Rs5 per unit. The government should allow the country's private sector as well to import 'low-cost' electricity from India. Abul Kasem Khan said Bangladesh will be the 30th-largest economy with one-trillion-dollar gross domestic product (GDP) having nearly US$200 billion of export earnings and per-capita income reaching close to USD$ 6,000 in next  17 years from now - by the year 2030. For better preparation to sustain in the upcoming industrial revolution and scale up growth towards desired levels, extensive focus needs to be given on energy security, said the DCCI president. Former power secretary Fouzul Kabir Khan, who moderated the discussions, said the dynamics of solar-power generation has globally changed with the price fall of its equipment. So, he suggested, like other countries, Bangladesh can move for solar-power generation to meet its demand. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered Bangladesh Abrar Anwar said the power sector needs an investment of around $50 billion which the local banks and capital market are not capable of pulling in. The banker suggested that government should go for issuing international bonds to mobilise required funds for this sector. Azizjst@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-07-30 00:00:05

BNP's senior leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy has said that Awami League will in no way get any scope to hold January-5 like any lopsided election again in the country. “Don’t think of holding another January-5 like election. No such election will be allowed to be held again. You (AL) won’t get any chance to hold the election staying in power either,” he said while inaugurating BNP’s member collection drive at the party’s South Keraniganj office at Jinjira on Saturday. Gayeshwar, a BNP standing committee member, said their party will force the government to ensure people’s voting rights in the next national elections. source – UNB  ....

Published at: 2017-07-30 00:00:05

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has suspended loans against four projects of Bangladesh Railway (BR) as the authorities could not make use of the fund within the period. Sources said the BR has already suspended all kinds of disbursements against those projects, after receiving the ADB's letter on cancelling the loans due to completing 10 years since the approval. According to ADB, a loan against a project must be spent within 10 years of sanctioning. Among the projects, the Bangladesh Railway Reform Project needed more time to be completed, they said. Though BR officials said most of the loans have already been spent against each of the projects, sources said that the main task of reforming the organogram and railway digitisation under the BR reform project is yet to be done. "These works would need at least one year more to complete," according to a source. The digitisation part of the reform project would continue for four to five years. According to the progress report of BR until June this year, Tk 18.13 billion was disbursed out of ADB's sanctioned Tk 18.23 billion for the construction of double track of Tongi-Bhairab Bazar project while Tk 1.84 billion was disbursed out of the Tk 2.36 billion BR reform project. The BR has been able to complete 74 per cent of the BR reform project while 62 per cent work of procuring 100 MG and 50 BG coaches could be implemented. A senior official at the BR, however, said that the ADB cancelled the loans due to technical reason, but expressed the hope that the Manila-based lender would again sanction the rest of the loan amount to facilitate completing the projects. About procurement of coaches, he said an amount of Tk 5.71 billion was used out of the sanctioned Tk 7.93 billion as the coaches were purchased at lower than that of the estimated cost. smunima@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-07-30 00:00:05

FE Report An international tender will be called for privatising Chittagong Port operation, businesses were told Saturday as they made such suggestion and placed plans for upgrading the country's prime seaport. The business-community seniors said Bangladesh is lagging behind in terms of the cost of doing business. The country will never be able to fulfill the target of $50 billion export by 2021 unless the port is developed apace with other competitor countries. They also said there must be coordinated efforts by all stakeholders for the functioning of Chittagong port efficiently as port alone cannot function on its own. "The operational part of Chittagong should be handed over to private sector for efficient operation. Private sectors run many prominent ports across the world," said Mahbubur Rahman, President of the International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICCB), at a roundtable. Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) organised the discussion titled 'Chittagong Port: Current Status and Way Forward' in a city hotel. The ICC,B President, Mr Mahbubur Rahman, said targets of middle-income country and $50 billion export by 2021 should not be a mere political slogan, the government must do whatever need to do to get to the goals. He feels the premier seaport of the country would never be able deliver what businesses want if the government and the businesses do not find alternatives, including development of other seaports, using waterways for goods transporting. Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal spoke at the programme as chief guest while DCCI president Abul Kasem Khan delivered the welcome address and Director Asif A Chowdhury presented a keynote. Renowned business leaders, exporters and importers, representatives of shipping agents, C&F, Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) also joined the event. The DCCI president said increasing cost of freight, incoming vessel-waiting-time delay for four days, extended unloading and loading time up to 12 days, inefficiencies in transportation and handling containers are the key impediments which reduce the port competitiveness. Mr Khan proposed expediting the development of planned container jetties, Potenga Port and Bay Terminal for smooth loading-unloading operations. In his keynote presentation, Director of DCCI Asif A Chowdhury said turnaround time in Chittagong port reached 5-7 days whereas it is 1.38 days in Singapore port, 0.96 days in Shanghai port, 0.68 days in Busan port in South Korea, 4.18 days in Kolkata port and 1.7 days in Colombo port in Sri Lanka. He identified key problems facing Chittagong port, including mismatch between handling capacity and growing demand, customs-related clearance complexities, lack of contingency plan for rush season like festive time and monsoon, poor road connectivity, time gap between shifting break (labour/equipment operator), forced sailing , importers' delay in emptying the containers, limited night sailing, lack of coordination among port-service-providing agencies. He said the impediments and congestion in the Chittagong Port cause disruption to supply chains, leading to rise in consumer goods prices for which suffers entire economy: it increases lead time, fuels the cost of doing business, hampers cross-border trade and inflow of investment, spurs food and non -food inflation. He stressed the need for implementing some short-term plans including proper implementation of terminal management with smooth entry and exit, full-time traffic-free road connectivity between on-dock and off-dock, strictly following cut-off time for export loading, quick execution of auction process as per existing rules, quick service of the scanner in the gate and allowing all lighter ships having 100Mt to 150Mt capacity to be directly routed back to small river ports across the country. In reply to businesses' demand, CPA Chairman Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal said the government is planning to hand over the operational part to private sector gradually. International tender will be called in time. He said the port cannot run alone. All parties concerned have to act together and in a coordinated way. "If port unloads goods but banks are not there or covered vans are not there to transport, how the port would run. All stakeholders are connected to one another," he told the meet. "Private participation like landlord system will be introduced. Laldia will be developed under PPP and Bay terminal under landlord system." The chairman said no issue is justified for charging surcharge and extra-freight. The issue will be looked into and further consultation will be carried with relevant agencies. He said the implementation of development plans will be started in 2019 with the building of Patenga container terminal with three container jetties and one oil-container jetty. Former DCCI presidents Asif Ibrahim,  Hossain Khaled, and Rashed Maksud Khan, member Admin and Planning of the Chittagong Port Authority Mohammad Zafar Alam, former Vice President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Mohammad Hatem, Senior Vice President Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Faruque Hassan, and member of the International Finance Corporation Masrur Reaz, among others, spoke at the roundtable. bdsmile@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-30 00:00:05

Asjadul Kibria Bangladesh registered the highest growth in apparel exports in 2016 among top eight clothing exporters of the world, according to the latest statistics of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The growth rate was 6.07 per cent in the past year and the share of Bangladeshi apparel in the world export market also increased to 6.36 per cent in 2016 from 5.9 per cent in 2015 and 5.1 per cent in 2014. The clothing export growth of Bangladesh also came down to 6.07 per cent in 2016 from 8.0 per cent in 2015. Among the top 10 exporters, Cambodia, however, registered slightly higher growth (6.10 per cent) than Bangladesh in 2016 while the share of the country was only 1.42 per cent in the global market. China, the top exporter, registered a negative growth rate of 7.0 per cent in the past year and its market share also declined significantly to 36.4 per cent from 39.3 per cent in 2015. The World Trade Statistical Review 2017, released by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Friday, unveiled this information. The review provided a detailed analysis of the latest developments in world trade. According to the statistical review, Bangladesh ranked as the third largest clothing exporters after China and the European Union (EU) in the past year. The EU, an economic union of 28 European countries, occupied 25.2 per cent global share of clothing exports. The WTO ranked the EU as the second largest clothing exporter, but did not provide segregate data on clothing export status of EU member countries. Thus, Bangladesh may be considered the second largest exporter of clothing. The export growth of Vietnam also slowed down to 5.0 per cent in the past year while the country registered double-digit growth in 2015. Nevertheless, its share in the global clothing market increased to 5.54 per cent in 2016 from 4.90 per cent in 2015. WTO statistics also showed that clothing export from India declined by 2.0 per cent in the last year while its share also marginally shrank to 4.0 per cent in 2016 from 4.10 per cent in 2015. asjadulk@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-30 00:00:04