Jagaran Chakma

Bangladesh will cut its over-reliance on imported vehicles, switch to electric modes of transportation and become a regional hub for automobile manufacturing by 2030 as the government unveiled the country’s first-ever policy to develop the sector.  

Over a year past shutting down state-run jute mills, the government has made little progress in modernising and reopening them, up until now having merely selected some potential lessee proposals for ministry-level vetting.

The price of aluminium products has increased significantly over the past year due to the rising cost of raw materials at the international level, according to industry insiders.

It has been six months since farmers have harvested potato and wheat. However, if anyone requests for data about the quantity of the crops produced and their acreage in the latest harvest from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the state agency responsible for generating data nationally, they will be disappointed as no information is available.

With investment stagnating at a dismal level and foreign direct investment hovering around $2.5 billion annually, the government is going to hold a summit in a bid to attract foreign investors and break the current stalemate.

After a prolonged lockdown, business of star-rated hotels has slightly improved amid the pandemic as business travel and flight operations have resumed, according to industry insiders.

Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills (BSRM) is all set to introduce a new construction material called “Low Relaxation Prestressed Steel Strand (LRPC strand)” in a bid to cater to the Tk 3,000 crore market segment which is currently dominated by imports.

Bangladesh has utilised just 6 per cent of three Indian lines of credit (LoCs), collectively worth more than $7 billion, in the past decade because of slow project implementation.

Just after completing his graduation in 1988, Selim H Rahman, chairman and managing director of Hatil Furniture, started gathering experience in the timber business and together with his father, developed an idea to manufacture doors on a commercial basis.

The prices of flats have started to rise in Dhaka ending a three-year stagnation as demand for new homes increased and construction costs surged.

DBL Group, one of the leading exporters, is going to invest $650 million to set up 10 manufacturing units for textiles, ceramics, and sanitary ware at the Sreehatta Economic Zone in Moulvibazar.

N Mohammad Plastic Industry, a concern of Chattogram-based N Mohammed Group, plans to make a fresh investment of around Tk 500 crore to expand business for increasing its market share alongside exports. Bangladesh currently manufactures over 142 plastic items and mainly exports intermediate products like film plastic, household items and garment accessories.

After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, then East Pakistan was not an ideal place for local entrepreneurs to do business as non-Bangalees from West Pakistan were in complete control.

For one and a half years, Premier Cement has repeatedly pushed back its plan to start the commercial production at a newly built manufacturing unit in Chattogram.

The railways ministry recently requested the Economic Relations Division to urge the Chinese government to re-evaluate its decision to not finance the Joydebpur-Ishwardi double-line project.

Although eight months have passed since the closure of six sugar mills, there has been little progress in modernising them owing to red tape.

Car importers and retailers in Bangladesh are in a tight spot as they are finding it difficult to keep businesses running because of the plunge in sales caused by the second wave of coronavirus infections.

Rawhide traders running small-scale operations are in trouble as they cannot sell their salt-cured hides at prices of their expectations due to influential traders seeking to slow the pace of purchases at this moment.

One and a half years ago, the demand for surgical masks in Bangladesh was met through imports. But the deadly coronavirus pandemic has pushed the local companies to build capacity to produce the essential item locally as the country struggles to tame the contagion.

The value-added tax exemption for producing air conditioners, refrigerators and freezers locally has created interest among home appliance manufacturers in Bangladesh as firms are increasingly setting up full-fledged facilities, cutting their reliance on assembling.