Haque Specialized Group's News

Country's energy prices might see a threefold hike over next 10 years as the government opted for importing 'expensive' liquefied natural gas (LNG) from next year. Such prediction came from an energy seminar held Saturday in the city's Bidyut Bhaban.    The discussants, however, opined that upgrading the efficiency levels of equipment might come in aid to check the tariff rises. The seminar, titled 'Energy Tariff and National Economy', was organised by the Forum for Energy Reporters' Bangladesh (FERB). State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid was the chief guest. Energy-expert Professor Dr M Tamim presented the keynote paper at the function moderated by FERB Chairman Arun Karmaker. The speakers also stressed retiring inefficient power plants, including the age-old gas-fired ones, and augmenting overall electricity generation apace with demand to keep the energy prices at tolerable level. Otherwise, the government would have to sit on overcapacity in terms of electricity generation, resulting in further hike in tariffs, they feared. The speakers suggested market-based pricing of energy in a transparent mechanism and avoiding the policy of popularising any particular type of fuel at the cost of others. Speaking on the occasion Mr Nasrul Hamid said the government would ensure electricity for all citizens by 2018. "But to supply electricity uninterrupted will take more time," he added. He said the government has moved to waive value-added tax (VAT) on LNG imports to keep price of the imported gas lower. The government has already waived supplementary duty and import duty on LNG imports, he told the meet. Regarding government position on shifting policies on energy, he said, "We have to bring changes in our plans keeping pace with the global situation as the LNG and oil prices are declining in the world market." The cost of coal-fired power will increase due to modern and latest technology used in plants and environmental impacts, he added. Prof Tamim, also former special assistant to the chief adviser of caretaker government, said the energy subsidy to poor people must be continued. He said the fall in oil prices on the international market is benefiting the government as the average electricity-generation costs fell to Tk 5.55 per unit (1 kilowatt-hour) in the fiscal year 2015-16 from Tk 6.25 per unit in FY 2014-15. Member of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Mizanur Rahman said energy prices should always be kept in line with the purchasing capacity of the common people. He, however, said electricity tariffs will increase if the price of primary fuel goes up. Energy adviser of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Prof M Shamsul Alam stressed ensuring transparency in awarding power plants and fixing tariffs. There might be a deplorable situation if the government continues awarding private sector the power plants in 'unsolicited way,' he cautioned. The government would turn business-friendly instead of people-friendly and People's Republic will turn into 'business republic', Mr Alam added. Research Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem alleged that the government was providing undue benefits to owners of rental-and quick-rental power plants by extending their tenure without lowering tariffs to an 'expected' level. He urged the government to go for installing more IPP and base- load power plants instead of short-term rental-and quick-rental ones to cut tariff rates. Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Khaled Mahmood said efforts have been taken to increase efficiency of power plants. "The old power plants would be phased out." Power Cell Director-General Engineer Mohammad Hossain said that the government should have control over the energy prices to ensure energy security for all. Vice-president of the Bangladesh Independent Power Producers Association (BIPPA) Imran Karim urged the government to introduce efficient metering system and ensure smooth electricity supply to industries. Azizjst@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-08-20 05:00:04

Two leading trade chambers have moved to rally all concerned, including businesspeople and regulators, and launch a coordinated campaign for ensuring safe food for consumers alongside supply of foodstuffs.             The organisers of the campaign think Bangladesh ensured food but safe food remained a far cry, and so they are taking the lead in building up mass awareness and sensitising the businesses about the urgency of safe food. With this end in view, a maiden meet titled Bangladesh Food Safety Conference 2017 is going to be held in Dhaka on August 23-24 under the aegis of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), Dhaka, and the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). The conference is aimed at facilitating discussions among the stakeholders on how to develop an efficient and effective food-safety-control system for improved public health and enhanced consumer protection. The organisers announced the two-day conference focused on 'Protecting Consumers: A Shared Responsibility' at a press meet at the MCCI office in the city Saturday. They said the two chambers-MCCI and the FICCI-are organizing the meet in collaboration with Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA), the Ministry of Food, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) and the Ministry of Industries. Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu is expected to open the conference at Sonargaon Hotel.  Food Minister Advocate Md. Qamrul Islam would attend the meet as special guest. MCCI Secretary-General Faruk Ahmed, Chairman of Bangladesh Food Safety Authority Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque, Director of Standard, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution, ANM Asaduzzaman, President of the FICCI Rupali Chowdhury and Secretary of the Organising Committee of the National Food Safety Conference 2017 Naquib Khan spoke at the press meet.   Mr Naquib Khan spoke on the purpose of this conference.  He said Bangladesh ensured food safe but safe food is still a far cry. "We need to initiate coordinated actions to ensure safe food for all," he told the journalists. He said this is for the first time in Bangladesh a conference is being held to bring together the food industry with the regulators and two chambers to open a dialogue on the importance of working together to enhance the quality of food and safety for the consumers. Separate sessions in the conference will deal with topics relevant to the Bangladeshi food industry, with discussions moderated by industry experts, regulators, as well as using case studies from countries in the region to study best practices. The sessions will discuss 'Global Food Safety Challenges', 'Strengthening Food Safety Management in Bangladesh', 'Strengthening food safety management in Bangladesh', Harmonising food standards in Bangladesh with International norms', 'Sharing Experience with food control from countries in the region', 'Ensuring Food Safety: A farm-to-fork approach'. National and international experts will speak in these sessions.   The conference has been sponsored by Nestle, Coca-Cola, GSK and Pepsico as diamond sponsors, and Frooto, Unilever, Square, Akij Group, Perfetti van Melle, Meghna Group of Industries, Aarong Dairy, Globe and IFAD as gold sponsors and Polar, New Zealand Dairy, Lalmai Group, Marks, Shwapno and PUSTI as silver sponsors. Mr Faruk Ahmed said this conference is a great opportunity for starting the journey in raising awareness around food safety. "Food safety is essential for good health and we must view it as a duty to ensure it for the consumers, but it can only be a successful effort if the awareness around food safety is spread at every level-from producers to manufacturers to regulators and consumers." Chairman of Bangladesh Food Safety Authority Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque said awareness among people is the only way safe food can be ensured. "Food safety in Bangladesh is a tough challenge and a very complex task to complete." He said there are 2.5 million people involved with food business, along with 18 ministries, 486 organisations and more than 120 laws, rules and regulations in food safety. "All these arms have to work together along with 160 million people to ensure safe food," he said. BSTI Director ANM Asaduzaman said regulatory bodies like BSTI alone cannot fight for food safety or ensure it. "What we need the most is to raise awareness about food safety, so that the consumers are more aware. This conference will go a long way in raising that awareness." FICCI President Rupali Chowdhury said the purpose of this collaborative effort is not to just do one conference and forget about the issue but to raise awareness among the masses regarding food safety. Bangladesh Food Safety Authority Chairman Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque said that there is no scope to adulterate vegetable and fruits by mixing formalin, a health hazardous chemical. "It is impossible to adulterate fruits and vegetables with formalin.. a lot of misleading information has been spread about food safety... but we have found in investigation and research with the assistance of the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] that there is no scope to adulterating fruits and vegetables by formalin," he said. He said many people have almost stopped eating vegetable and fruits fearing formalin adulteration, although these are big sources of necessary micronutrients. These micronutrients cannot be filled up with any other food sources. He said apple does not get rot because of paraffin wax which is used on apple because the fruit is imported from long distance. There is no formalin also in mangos too. "These fruits have natural formalin," he said adding that people are using faulty kits for detecting formalin. About the rumor that there is artificial egg in the market, Mr Hoque said that wrong conception prevails among many about presence of artificial eggs and use of colour in water melon. "We have found through investigation that there is no real basis of these. The eggs cannot be replaced with other foods," he said. He urged journalists to raise real problems and create awareness among people. bdsmile@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-08-20 05:00:04

FE Report Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has extended the timeframe of allowing transactions in the margin accounts having negative equity until December 31, 2018. It also asked the stock exchanges to submit consolidated summary report on TREC (Trading Right Entitlement Certificate) holders' quarterly progress on complying with margin rules as per the respective work plans. The instruction came Thursday last as part of bringing discipline in margin accounts for the sake of capital market and account holders. The stock brokers and merchant bankers had a meeting with the securities regulator last week and sought extension of the deadline while the regulator stressed on bringing discipline in margin accounts and asked the participants to prepare work plans in this regard. To allow transactions in accounts having negative equity, the regulator extended the suspension period of effectiveness of sub-rule (5) of rule 3 of Margin Rules, 1999 until December 31, 2018 from August 18, 2017. As per sub-rule (5) of Rule 3 of Margin Rules, 1999, the members shall not permit any new transaction in the margin accounts unless the resulting equity in the account would be not less than 150 per cent of debit balance. As per another instruction, the TREC holders engaged in transactions in the margin accounts will have to prepare quarterly work plan related to individual negative equity accounts for a period of October 01, 2017 to December 31, 2018 in an effort to ensure full compliance with Margin Rules, 1999. Besides, the TREC holders have been asked to submit work plan regarding compliance of margin rules to the commission and exchanges by September 30, 2017. And quarterly progress report on negative equity accounts will have to be submitted to the commission and exchanges within one week after each quarter. The securities regulator also asked the stock exchanges to send a consolidated summary statement on work plans and quarterly progress reports of TREC holders to the commission within two weeks from the date of receiving the same.    mufazzal.fe@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-08-20 05:00:04

It's doubtful whether whoever cooked up the adage 'from out of the frying pan and into the fire', could ever have imagined a situation where the fire and frying pans could have so many variations as the United Kingdom is going through. Employment is at record levels that is envied across Europe with only 4.4 per cent of the workforce out of work. Dr Joseph Stiglitz, the renowned economist would be delighted because he had been a major proponent of putting job creation ahead of controlling inflation. For the British there's a snag. Supermarket sales have rebounded but high street sales are tumbling instead of the repetitive 'sale' signs on most shop windows. Wage increases are outstripped by inflation, low as it is and come next January, a projected 3.0 per cent plus rise in train fares is  going to add to the 20 per cent of general income spent on commuting. This would apply to all forms of ticketing which is already on the high side. The typical Brit is grumbling, but they chose not to boot the Tories out of power for the third time on the trot and Ms Theresa May had said she would be funding housing and medical services but not from a magical money-tree. The general gripe is that European nationals have increased the demand for housing causing the inevitable upscale in rent, thus making it unaffordable to live anywhere but outside London, with the inevitable longer commute. The voices of native speakers on trains, tubes, buses and shops are being drowned out by a concoction of European and rest of the world tones. The high street shops aren't exactly without custom, but beyond the sale season, is what management is truly worried about. In the seventh year of Tory austerity, wages and train fares cannot go up over a certain level. This is strangling the essence of free-market economy, whereby profitability is no longer the unbridled concept it was. Even so, the Brits are packing theatres, movie halls and eating and drinking merrily. As an adventurous nation, they are piling into European countries for the summer holidays so much so that the already creaking utility services in those countries are about to cave in. And there's concern over their somewhat unflattering behaviour, especially under the influence. It has come to a state where the newest and growing AirB&B (air, bed and breakfast) is now coming under scrutiny in certain countries, bars are being ordered to shut down at specific times and unbelievably enough an offence such as Christiano Ronaldo's taking-his-short-off, that earned him a yellow card, will find Brits punished in certain countries.  It's at home where the British are most annoyed. Their health services are stretched beyond comprehension, and after a four hour wait, the physician is more likely to be African or Indian in origin. Under compulsion of European Union (EU) laws, the health service must extend to the European migrants who choose to live in the UK, and that doesn't help. What the British conveniently forget is that they have more people living in EU countries compared to the opposite. A significant difference is that while many of their retired pensioners have bought homes in and bolster those local economies, migrants in the UK repatriate most of what they save. The dilemma is somewhat similar in our own economy -- without the legal compulsions of migration issues. There's no comparison in terms of basic food supplies vs demand, unlike ours where demand outstrips supply, but the rest of the story is the same. Inflation higher than real wages, continues to make the general people poorer and graft isn't helping the issue. What isn't yet known or publicised is what will happen once the resident immigrants leave, all those jobs become available in a country where unemployment isn't a major issue. That's assuming the UK will win the right to stop migration, a prospect that dims with every meeting Steve Davis, the UK negotiator has with his EU counterpart. (e-mail: mahmudrahman@gmail.com)....

Published at: 2017-08-20 05:00:04

RANGPUR, Aug 19: The fish cultivators in different areas in Rangpur division are facing massive loss as fishes of ponds and other water bodies have been washed away by floodwater. The loss would be around Tk 3.0 billion, said fishery officials and affected fish farmers across the region. Sources said varieties of fishes including ruhi, mrigel, katla, silver carp and telapia have been washed away from ponds. The most affected districts are Dinajpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha and Rangpur. "Flood washed away the region's one of the largest  fish farms  Sukh Sagor, covering a vast area of around 40 acres in Dinajpur." said fish cultivator Azam Khan who leased the farm and cultivated fishes in the water body. Fishes worth Tk 20 million were washed away from his farm. He is unable to recoup the massive losses, he added. Ahsanul Kabir, another affected fish farmer of Barobari village at Alambiditor union under Gangachara upazila, said fishes of his three ponds were washed away by the floodwater from the river Teesta last week. He could not succeed to save the fishes from being perished by flood, though he tried his utmost. The loss would be over Tk 0.9 million, he further said. Some affected fish cultivators said owing to shortage of capital they were compelled to take loan on high interest rate from money lenders and local NGOs for cultivating fish. But now they are worried about repaying their loan as all of their cultivated fishes have been washed away by recent flood water, they added. Fisheries Department of Rangpur divisional office said at least 90,000 ponds and fish farms under the division have been inundated due to flood water, caused by heavy downpour and onrush of water from upstream. As a result fish farmers are incurring massive losses. Flood may have an adverse impact on fish supply to the region, sources added.   Our correspondent from Gaibandha adds: Fishes worth about Tk 35 million in 2,285 ponds have been washed away due to the current flood triggered by hilly waters from the upstream. According to sources the officials of fisheries department motivated the farmers here for fish farming on the ponds and other waterbodies to meet the demand of protein and help change their socio-economic condition gradually. In response, many of the farmers of all the seven upazilas in the district released fingerlings of carp species fishes on their ponds and waterbodies to get desired output against the farming. The officials of the fisheries department were proving technological support to the farmers to make the fish culture a grand success to attain the cherished goal, said an official. But, the current flood in the Brahmaputra river basin of Sundarganj, Sadar, Fulchhari and Shaghata upazilas, the Karotoa river basin of Palashbari and Gobindaganj upazila and the Ghagot river basin of Sadullapur upazila smashed the hopes and aspiration of the farmers as the carp fishes like Rui, Katla, Mrigel, Bata Musa and Monosex Telapia had been washed away from their ponds. M. Shantanu Kumar Deb, a fish farmer of Nasai-Kosai village under Fulbari union of Gobindaganj upazila, said fishes of different species worth about 8 lakh had been washed away from his pond during the current flood. All the affected farmers of the upazilas are in trouble and anxiety for washing away fishes from the ponds due to flood. They are facing a huge amount of losses economically, he also said. The farmers who were engaged in fish farming taking loan from the commercial banks are in miserable condition as they will not be able to pay loan for washing away the fish from their ponds, he added. Abdud Dayan, district fisheries officer, said the affected farmers were being given suggestions side by side with distributing leaflets to them about the flood. The amount of losses in the fisheries sector due to flood might be increased and for this, most of the farmers had been affected economically seriously, he also said. In reply to a query, DFO said a list of the affected farmers of the upazilas was also being prepared and it would be sent to the higher authorities concerned for taking necessary measures for the losers.....

Published at: 2017-08-20 05:00:04