Haque Specialized Group's News

Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) has again sought tax-VAT waiver against its procurement of vessels over next ten years, as the amounts will run into billions and affect its bid for 'survival', officials said. This is for a second time in a year it applied for the complete tax exemption as the revenue board did not respond to the state-run shipping corporation's prayer, they added. The Ministry of Shipping (MoS) recently forwarded the BSCs letter to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) requesting it to consider the plea. Earlier, the corporation was granted an opportunity to make deferred payment of all types of charges at Chittagong seaport for an indefinite period as part of a government move to help the state flag carrier sustain. It would not have to pay the due charges, since 2011, at the country's prime seaport until the new six vessels, under construction in China, join its fleet and its financial condition improves. "Against the procurement of only six vessels with Chinese funds we have to pay nearly Tk 5.0 billion as tax and VAT from our own pocket. It is very tough for us to make the payment," BSC managing director Yahya Syed told the FE. He said the total tax and VAT on vessel imports stands at around 25 per cent of their price. "We want to make a turnaround. The government is helping us to recover. So, we want waiver in this case, too," Mr Syed said. The Exim Bank of China is funding the procurement of three product oil tankers and three bulk carriers at a cost of US$184.50 million. These are under construction in a Chinese shipyard and the BSC expects them to start joining in its fleet in mid-2018. The VAT and other taxes were not included in the Exim Bank's loan amount. The BSC is liable for the payment from its own coffer. The corporation, which is entrusted with several responsibilities, including carrying majority portion of fuel oils for Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), has got only a few vessels. Presently, it has a mixed fleet of five vessels with a carrying capacity of nearly 0.076 million tonnes. The fleet comprises one container vessel, two multipurpose cargo vessels and two lighter tankers. Apart from the six vessels, the BSC is also negotiating procurement of eight more vessels with Chinese funds worth Tk 20 billion. According to BSC officials the corporation has set a target of procuring 21 vessels by 2021 in line with government's Vision-2021. It has planned to carry entire load of coals Rampal power plant will need once it goes into operation. The BSC is also getting prepared to buy mother product oil tankers for carrying petroleum fuels once the single-point mooring (SPM) is built in the Bay of Bengal from where petroleum products will be piped from mother vessels into onshore oil- storage tanks. The corporation carries majority portion of fuel oils Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) imports annually.   Established in 1972, the BSC is entrusted with carrying bulk cargos, food-grain and crude oils, chartering, tramping and feeder services, unloading and providing agency service and ship repairing.     syful-islam@outlook.com....

Published at: 2017-07-29 00:00:05

A year-on-year steep rise in foreign-aid commitments virtually jammed the pipeline as disbursement didn't increase proportionately mainly for failure to execute projects in time, sources said. Failure in utilisation of all the confirmed loans and grants resulted in the ballooning of the foreign assistance in the pipeline-as much as $35.80 billion till the just-concluded financial year (FY) 2016-17, official data showed. Officials also blamed Friday complex procedure and procrastination on the development partners' side in aid release to Bangladesh against various projects and programmes for such a situation. They said although confirmation of the concessional loans and grants had more than tripled over the last couple of years, the disbursement growth still stood stunted. According to government statistics, the development partners working in Bangladesh made commitment of external loans and grants worth US$17.86 billion in the last FY2017 compared to $5.26 billion two years ago. The commitment of the external medium-and long-term loans (MLTL) and grants in the FY2017 also increased two and a half times from $7.05 billion in the previous FY2016 , Economic Relations Division (ERD) officials said. The commitment of foreign aid swelled in the last FY2017 due mainly to a single-largest commitment of $11.38 billion worth of state credit by the Russian government for Bangladesh's 2000-megawatt Ruppoor nuclear power project, the ERD officials said. Bangladesh's development partners, including the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan, and others confirmed loans and grants for different development programmes and projects every year to cut hunger and upgrade infrastructure. Usually, the development partners first make commitment through signing agreement and then disburse the promised aid on the basis of specific project execution. According to the ERD, the development partners disbursed $3.08 billion worth of aid against $5.84 billion committed in the FY2014. In FY2013, they released $2.81 billion worth of MLTL and grants against the commitment of $5.85 billion. Farida Nasreen, an Additional Secretary at the ERD, sees lack of utilisation capacity of the government project-executing agencies and procrastination from some development partners as key reasons for available but unused foreign aid bloating in the pipeline. "In most of the cases the executing agencies fail to utilise the available external resources they target. Sometimes some development partners take longer to approve procurement and other documents of the implementing government agencies'. So, the project execution gets delayed and aid remains unused," she said. Ms Nasreen told the FE that they were trying to expedite the aid-utilisation capacity through time-to-time monitoring and review of the projects. "We also arrange tripartite meeting with the executing agencies and the development partners concerned for streamlining implementation and remove hurdles from both the sides," she said. The ERD in March this year issued a circular regarding the structure of development- project preparation and implementation to quicken the foreign-funded project execution, the Additional Secretary said. She told this reporter that they are hopeful about getting results from the update on the structure which will lessen the unutilised foreign aid in the pipeline within a few years. Former Finance and Planning Adviser of caretaker government Dr Mirza Azizul Islam said: "We used to hear that the government takes measures to expedite the project execution. But all goes in vain as we do not see any fruitful outcome." He suggests the government should ensure accountability of the Project Directors (PDs), agencies and ministries concerned on project execution. It should introduce incentives for the PDs. If any PD works better, they should be rewarded. On the other hand, if any PD performed worse should have been punished. "Besides, the executing agencies should complete all the necessary procurement processes before final approval for the projects. When a project will be approved, then it can give work order to the selected bidders. It will cut the start-up delays of the project, which is one of the key obstacles on the way to project implementation," Dr Aziz told the FE. He also called upon the headquarters of the development partners to delegate more power to their missions in different countries so that they could give decision without sending some documents to the headquarters. Meanwhile, another senior ERD official said the aid disbursement could be higher if the militant attack on Holey Artisan café in July last year had not affected the development works. "Some development partners withdrew their manpower from Bangladesh immediately after the attacks. It continued for some few months which hampered the development works. So, the foreign-aid disbursement has been affected during that period," he said. The official said slow progress on the Annual Development Programme (ADP), especially poor spending from the available foreign assistance (project aid), affected the aid disbursement in the last fiscal. The government agencies and ministries had spent 78 per cent of their Tk 357.97 billion worth of foreign-fund allocations in the Tk 1.19 trillion ADP outlay in the last fiscal. However, they performed better in spending government's internal funds as they utilised 93 per cent of the Tk777 billion allocated from own coffers last fiscal.     kabirhumayan10@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-29 00:00:05

President Donald Trump replaced his beleaguered White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, after only six months on the job on Friday, installing retired General John Kelly in his place in a major shake-up of his top team. Trump announced the move in a tweet a day after his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, accused Priebus of leaking information to reporters in a profanity-laced tirade. Kelly, 67, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, is currently secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and will assume the chief of staff post on Monday. He was hired with the goal of bringing more discipline to the White House, a senior White House official said. Trump issued his decision just as he landed aboard Air Force One after a visit to Long Island and hours after Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare failed in the Senate. Priebus was on the plane with the Republican president and made no comment. Reporters had noticed no sign of stress from Priebus during the day. Priebus told CNN he had been talking to Trump for some time about exiting the White House, and is the latest in a long line of officials to leave or not take a job at the White House. "The president has a right to hit a reset button. I think it's time to hit the reset button," Priebus said in a televised interview from the White House. "He intuitively determined that it was time to do something different, and I think he's right." Trump had lost confidence in Priebus, privately questioning his competence after major legislative items failed to pass the US Congress, a Trump confidant said. A source close to Priebus said the former Republican National Committee chairman turned in his resignation on Thursday night, after Scaramucci's rant against him was published by the New Yorker magazine. A senior White House official said Trump had informed Priebus two weeks ago that he would be replacing him and that the move had no connection to Scaramucci, whose hiring a week ago prompted Sean Spicer, a Priebus ally, to abruptly resign as press secretary. After frequent conversations with Kelly, Trump recently warmed up to the idea of naming Kelly chief of staff to more effectively manage personnel and offered it to him earlier this week, a senior White House official said. KELLY 'A STAR' Carrying an umbrella, Trump approached reporters as he stepped off Air Force One, with rain storming down. "Reince is a good man. John Kelly will do a fantastic job. General Kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody. He's a great, great American. Reince is a good man," Trump said. Priebus' 189-day tenure was the shortest in modern history for a White House chief of staff. He had hoped to stay on at least a year but struggled to manage his unpredictable boss and was unable to get a handle on conflicting factions in the White House who have frequently squabbled. In a statement, Priebus said it had been one of the great honours of his life to serve Trump and the country. "I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the president's agenda and policies. I can't think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me and I wish him God's blessings and great success," he said. Trump loyalists had chafed at Priebus, feeling he had installed his RNC allies at the White House and overlooked the people close to Trump who helped get him elected president in November. But Priebus allies felt he was an important link to establishment Republicans in Washington as the capital attempted to adjust to the anti-establishment style of the president. "He has served the president and the American people capably and passionately," House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said of his close friend in a statement. "He has achieved so much, and he has done it all with class. I could not be more proud to call Reince a dear friend." White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said she did not think Priebus' exit would affect the White House's relationship with the Republican Party. "I think we've still got a good relationship. We're going to continue working with the party and doing what we came here to do," she said. Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke will become the acting chief of the department on Monday, DHS said in a statement. US Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, is among those being considered for Homeland Security secretary, a DHS official said.  ....

Published at: 2017-07-29 00:00:05

North Korea has hailed as a success its latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile describing it as a "stern warning" for the US. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the test proved that the entire US was within striking range, state media reported. The launch came three weeks after North Korea's first ICBM test. US President Donald Trump called it "only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime". China also condemned the missile test but urged "all parties concerned" to exercise restraint "and avoid intensifying tensions". Confirming the launch, the North said the ICBM flew for just over 47 minutes and reached an altitude of 3,724km (2,300 miles). It said the launch had "successfully tested re-entry capabilities" of the missile. "The leader said proudly the test also confirmed all the US mainland is within our striking range," the Korean Central News Agency said. The statement said that the rocket was a Hwasong-14, the same model North Korea tested on 3 July. ANALYSIS: NEW YORK MAY BE IN RANGE Melissa Hanham, Senior Research Associate in the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies North Korea's latest ICBM test went farther and higher than their previous 3 July test, meaning that they may be able to strike even deeper into the heartland of the United States than initially assessed. Within minutes of the launch, South Korean, Japanese and US officials reported data about the location, range, apogee, and flight time of the missile. While full analysis has not been finalised yet, several points stand out. First, the data available indicates that the missile may have a range of approximately 10,400km. Since this missile is road-mobile, a launch from the north-eastern city of Rason would put New York City in range of the ICBM. Second, the US reported that North Korea launched the ICBM from Mupyong-ni, North Korea. This location was different from many press accounts leading up to the launch which predicted a Kusong launch. The missile launched at 23:11 local time, an unusual time for North Korea's tests as well. It is possible that North Korea is already experimenting with deploying the missile under the cover of night or setting up multiple launch sites to confuse observers. Reports on Friday said the missile had come down in the sea off northern Japan. In response, the US and South Korean military conducted a live-firing exercise using surface-to-surface missiles, a US defence official said. The missiles were fired into the "territorial waters of South Korea along the east coast," a US military statement said. South Korean Defence Minister Song Young-moo said the country would prepare independent measures to curb the North Korea threat, speeding up the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system (Thaad) provided by the US. The North has repeatedly tested missiles in breach of UN resolutions. The Pentagon said the latest missile was launched at 23:41 (15:41 GMT) from an arms plant in Jagang province in the north of the country. It is unusual for North Korea to launch a missile at night - the significance is as yet unclear. No missiles had been fired from Jagang province before, indicating a previously-unknown launch site is operational. ICBMs can reach altitudes well outside the earth's atmosphere. Using sharp trajectories with high altitudes allows North Korea to avoid firing over neighbouring countries. The US, Japan and South Korea roundly condemned the latest action by Pyongyang. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the threat to his country's security was "grave and real" while Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said the US was prepared to defend itself "and our allies from any attack or provocation". South Korea's President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency security meeting for the middle of the night. Despite the ongoing tests, experts believe the North does not yet have the capability to miniaturise a nuclear warhead, fit it on to a long-range missile, and ensure it is protected until delivery to the target. They say many of North Korea's missiles cannot accurately hit targets. Others, however, believe that at the rate it is going, Pyongyang may overcome these challenges and develop a nuclear weapon within five to 10 years that could strike the US.  ....

Published at: 2017-07-29 00:00:05

A housewife was found dead in Shubhadhya Paschim Para area in Dakhshin Keraniganj upazila of Dhaka on Friday night. The deceased was identified as Purobi, 28, according to UNB. Deceased's sister Sanchita alleged that family members of Purobi's father-in-law house used to torture her as her husband was mentally disabled. She also claimed that Purobi's brother-in-law Ajit Mandol killed her sister by hitting her head. On information, police recovered the body and arrested Ajit. Ajit said to police that Purobi suddenly fell sick in the afternoon. Later, they called in doctor who declared her dead, added Ajit. Kamal Hossain, inspector (operation), said that they recovered the body from the house over the allegation of murder and sent it to Sir Salimullah Medical College and Hospital for autopsy. The reasons behind the death would be clear after getting autopsy report, said the police official.....

Published at: 2017-07-29 00:00:04