Bangladesh Economy: News & Updates

[Bilal9]

yup...but the pieces are then welded together in the purpose built construction yard

And you would be correct of course.

Your picture of the welded completed span is the later picture. What I posted is of an earlier stage (disassembled pieces).

Let's see the piling video once more. Quite a project I must say, even considering the experience of MBEC China. Padma is the speediest river in the whole world which is a challenge.

 

[Russell]

@Bilal9 I think I read somewhere Padma was the 2nd...Amazon had more flow.

Either way, it really is a massive project...and best of all, local companies and engineers will be getting 1st hand experience from this. Obviously the Chinese engineers are leading the way in the project...but the knowledge we'll gain will be invaluable in future

 

[Bilal9]

BANGLADESH ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE POWER SECURITY

Since 2010, Aug. 9 is observed as the National Energy Security Day. The observance focuses on the importance of power and energy in taking the country’s economy forward. More importantly, it is also a decent way of paying our tributes to Bangladesh’s rebirth from the war-caused ravages.

Bangladesh, as we have already said, formulated the energy policy with priority focused on exploration of the country’s own primary fuel resources. During those difficult days natural gas had little role and contribution in the energy sector. But Bangladeshis had the vision that there would come a day when the engine of the economy would be fueled by energy.

Until 1990, the energy sector in Bangladesh was almost entirely owned and controlled by the government. The private sector made a real dash into the energy sector during 1996-2001. That was the period when international oil giants came to Bangladesh in droves to prospect for natural gas.

 

[Bilal9]

Production sharing agreements were signed and the production of natural gas saw a big rise as a result.

The country has now achieved a capacity of producing more than 13,000 MW of electricity, a jump from barely 3,000 MW six years prior. Along with the increased capacity Bangladesh has been making records in the daily generation of electricity that has seen a great reduction in the instances of load shedding even during the peak of summer.

This has been possible through the power sector being opened up to the private sector encouraging investments. The policy has worked well, Bangladesh is well on track of being transformed from a power-starved nation to a power-secure country.

 

[Bilal9]

@Bilal9 I think I read somewhere Padma was the 2nd...Amazon had more flow.

Either way, it really is a massive project...and best of all, local companies and engineers will be getting 1st hand experience from this. Obviously the Chinese engineers are leading the way in the project...but the knowledge we'll gain will be invaluable in future

This is true. I'll be a happy person knowing that one day Bangladeshi Engineers and companies can pull off a project of this magnitude by themselves. That day is honestly not far off.

 

[damiendehorn]

This is true. I'll be a happy person knowing that one day Bangladeshi Engineers and companies can pull off a project of this magnitude by themselves. That day is honestly not far off.

There are a lot of army engineers already who have the knowledge to do projects of a similar nature, all we need is the money and management experience. After the Padma bridge expect to see a lot more bridges, roads, embankment works to occur.

 

[TopCat]

@Bilal9
Most of the solar power companies are doing badly for the last couple of years once govt started giving new connection. Seems like within 3 years govt coverage will reach 90% household and will phase out solar eventually.

 

[Bilal9]

Operations of the country’s third seaport at Kalapara of Patuakhali have begun

Operations of the country’s third seaport at Kalapara of Patuakhali have begun in a limited scale. But once the Payra seaport is extended to its full capacity and other facilities installed by 2013, it will open a new era for regional trade and commerce.

Officials related to the 2,428-hectare project which the government hopes to turn into a deep seaport in future will gradually support transit trade handling as well as propel economic and social development of the region.

Payra Port Authority’s acting chairman Captain Saidur Rahman hopes that it would become a regional hub for trade and commerce.

“A port can change the fate of a nation. The Payra seaport can be that promising port for us,” he told the Dhaka Tribune after the inauguration of the port.

Currently, the country’s shipments are handled by the two existing ports in Chittagong and Mongla.

As per the plan, Payra seaport would be developed in three phases by 2023. The first phase has already been completed and operations began with unloading goods from a foreign ship.

Secretary of the Payra Seaport Authority Rezaul Kabir says that international seaborne trade is growing by on an average 9.2% per annum. “In 2020, the country’s total annual seaborne trade will be in the range of 70 to 80 million tonnes. The existing two ports will not be able to bear the future trade volumes,” he said.

Feasibility study of the project began in 2010 and was completed in 2013. Parliament passed Payra Seaport Act 2013 on November 10, 2013 while the prime minister laid foundation stone of the port on November 19 the same year.

So far, the port authorities have completed survey of river routes and channel marking, installed a radio control station, VHF communication, a 1000 KVA substation and a water treatment plant. They have also introduced bank facilities and customs service at the port.

Under the mid-term plan, the port would have at least one multi-purpose and one bulk terminal, and would be connected to Rajapara by 2018.

When the port is expected to be fully operational in 2023 it will have a shipping channel with depth of at least 16-metres and width of 4 KM, a 10 KM long container terminal, having dry and liquid bulk terminals and an LNG terminal.

The government is set to build an airport in Patuakhali and a rail link to connect the Padma Bridge. The Katakhali area would be industrially developed through the establishment of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a 200 MW power station, a ship-yard and ship-repair units. The port authority will also promote eco-tourism in the area.

The scenario in Patuakhali, Barisal and Pirojpur coastal districts has already been changing rapidly as of now, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan says. “Once the planned initiatives materialize, the total scenario of the region as well as the economy will develop,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

“Not only that, in the global scenario, economy of the South and South-East Asian countries can be integrated with Payra seaport emerging as an effective partner of Chittagong and Mongla ports,” he added.

While inaugurating the port’s operational activities through a video conference from Ganabhaban yesterday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that it would be turned into a deep seaport in future.

A few Videos... ignore the political noise.....it has some good diagrams and info....

As first phase of the 1320 MW power station being built, land development going on in full swing,.....

 

[Bilal9]

This update on the Padma bridge project was posted yesterday.

 

[Bilal9]

Telstar Completes Two cGMP Plants for Square Pharma

Telstar announced it has finished constructing two pharmaceutical plants for Square Pharmaceuticals, a Bengali company a manufacturer of pharmaceutical products in Bangladesh. According to Telstar, it is the largest project developed by the company in Asia. Telstar, providing project management and administration, engineered and constructed both plants including pharmaceutical architecture, process equipment integration and all critical installations.

Telstar recently completed two new pharmaceutical manufacturing plants for Bangladesh-based Square Pharmaceuticals, a CMO with plans to process liquid and solid dose forms in the new facilities.

Square Pharmaceuticals
Square Pharmaceuticals Limited is a major manufacturer of pharmaceutical products in Bangladesh. The most prominent company of the Square Group since its founding in 1958, it has experienced solid growth leading to its current leadership position in its country and in the Asian continent. Since 2003, Telstar says it’s collaborated with Square on a number of highly complex projects. Examples include cephalosporin plant built in 2005, a sterile filling and bottling line using blow-fill-seal (BFS) technology in 2007, a new insulin production plant in 2010 (with the ability to produce up to 13 million vials of insulin per year). Other projects include an SVPO plant inaugurated in 2008 to produce small-volume parenterals and ophthalmology products.

The first project, a plant intended to manufacture oral solid dose formulations, encompasses a four-story, 100,000 sq. ft building housing seven fluidized bed granulation lines, 11 tablet lines, four capsule lines, 16 primary and secondary packaging lines, plus a second 3,000 sq. ft service building. The second project, says Telstar consists of a four-story 65,000 sq. ft building that will process liquid medicines, parenterals in small and large volume formats. To cover most parenteral applications, Square Pharmaceuticals will be ready to meet market needs with two blow-fill-seal (BFS) lines equipped with two, 20,000-litre reactors, a glass bottle filling line, another for bags, two for vials, two for prefilled syringes, one for lyophilized vials with two freeze-dryers and one topical aerosol production line.

To get the job done Telstar says relied on the support of the local Bangladeshi workforce and attributed the success of this highly complex project through its sole and direct control of all phases of the project. According to Telstar, the two plants were design to meet the strictest international regulations and comply with GMP guidelines throughout.

Advanced simulation technologies support A&E
To develop the new facilities, and control of the entire life cycle of the building and its installations, Telstar applied Revit building information software and its BIM (Building Information Modelling) capabilities. These advanced simulation technologies says Telstar provide a high-degree of control over a project’s life cycle. For this project Telstar reinforced the BIM system with new technologies like modelling software and documentation package and a software package to manage the entire life cycle of the project. Finally, in the design phase Telstar also incorporated SchedulePro, a programming tool for resource allocation and management, which, through simulation technology, is used to optimize the process depending on the specific needs and to detect key routes so as to “decongest” processes, as well as planning, programming and capacity analysis functions. The system, says Telstar, has advanced conflict resolution, reprogramming and production monitoring functions.

Telstar claims the implementation of Revit BIM and Schedule Pro technologies in the engineering phase saves an average of 20 percent in time and costs by pre-empting hitherto unforeseen issues in the construction process of the plant.

 

[Bilal9]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=678341083803

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=433568633453944

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=334024676741674

 

[Bilal9]

Vitamin A rice now a reality

Field trial shows high promise, people may get it by 2018

Reaz Ahmad

The first field trial of the Golden Rice in Bangladesh has yielded promising results, triggering prospect of the vitamin A-rich grain's release as early as 2018.

Two months after harvesting the Bangladeshi version of Golden Rice line, GR2E BRRI dhan29, scientists at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) found that rice grains retained 10 μg/g (micrograms/gram) beta carotene which is good enough to address vitamin-A deficiency (VAD).

Beta carotene, also known as pro-vitamin A, is a substance that the human body can convert to vitamin A.

With this development, a long wait is nearly over for rice breeders who have been trying since 1999 for a varietal development and release of Golden Rice, long being touted by the scientist fraternity as a key remedy to acute VAD problem.

According to the World Health Organization's global VAD database, one in every five pre-school children in Bangladesh is vitamin A-deficient. Among the pregnant women, 23.7 percent suffer from VAD.

BRRI scientists analysed the post-harvest data collected from the first field test conducted on GR2E BRRI dhan29 during the last Boro season (November 2015 - May 2016) and drew the conclusion just recently that the results are positive.

“Two months after harvest, we've found an average of over 10 μg/g beta carotene in GR2E BRRI dhan29. The amount is good enough to meet 50 percent of vitamin-A needs of people consuming rice in their daily diet,” Dr Partha S Biswas, project leader of Golden Rice Project at BRRI, told The Daily Star.

The vitamin A-rich rice, named Golden Rice for its golden colour, was first developed by splicing three foreign genes -- two from daffodil and one from a bacterium -- into japonica rice, a variety adapted to temperate climates. It is capable of producing beta carotene. But for a better beta carotene expression in rice, the daffodil genes were replaced by maize genes later in 2005.

The BRRI carried out the field trial on the campus of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) in Gazipur to keep Golden Rice segregated from other rice varieties grown in BRRI fields.

Provided the BRRI gets the necessary regulatory approval, the organisation would go for multi-location field trials of GR2E BRRI dhan29 in Boro seasons in next two years to set off the process of its commercial release, said Partha.

None of the major diseases like blast, sheath blight, bacterial blight and tungro was observed in the transgenic GR2E BRRI dhan29 and the yield was as good as that of the BRRI dhan29 (check variety) with good expression of beta carotene, according to a paper titled “Recent Advances in Breeding Golden Rice in Bangladesh”.

The paper coauthored by Dr Partha, and the IRRI's Golden Rice Project Coordinator Dr Violeta Villegas, and Regulatory Affairs head Dr Donald J Mackenzie, was presented at the 4th Annual South Asia Biosafety Conference in Hyderabad, India in late September.

The Philippines is the only other country that is carrying out a multi-location field trial now on their homegrown Golden Rice line while the process of Golden Rice research remained at laboratory and greenhouse stages in Indonesia, India and Vietnam.

Although Bangladeshi rice scientists have been at the forefront of Golden Rice research since the development of this transgenic rice by Swiss and German scientists in 1999, the process gathered momentum only when then IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) plant biotechnologist, Dr Swapan K Datta, infused the genes responsible for beta carotene into BRRI dhan29 in 2002-03.

The genetic engineering technology to derive vitamin A in rice was first applied by Prof Ingo Potrykus of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and Prof Peter Beyer of the University of Freiburg, Germany back in 1999. All renowned journals and news magazines, including the Nature, the Science and the Time, covered the breakthrough in 2000.

The first generation Golden Rice (known as GR1) was developed through infusing genes from daffodil, but later the second generation variety (known as GR2) was developed by taking a maize from corn as it gave much better output of pro-vitamin A.

Some six lines of GR2 (scientifically called “events”) were developed and the IRRI chose to work on one called GR2R, which it developed and subsequently infused in Filipino and Bangladeshi rice varieties.

After years of lab and greenhouse tests on GR2R, the Philippines and Bangladesh eventually stopped upon an IRRI advice that Event GR2E would work better.

Golden Rice co-inventor Prof Peter Beyer told this newspaper that there were some problems with the Event GR2R. He said the new Event should work well.

Swapan K Datta, ex-IRRI scientist who infused beta carotene-producing genes into Bangladesh's best performing rice variety, BRRI dhan29, said he was looking forward to see Golden Rice goes to farmers' fields.

The BRRI dhan29, developed by BRRI in 1994, is the most productive dry season rice variety of Bangladesh that has gone beyond national boundaries to be grown in many other countries including India, China, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

Rice does not contain beta carotene. Therefore, dependence on rice as the predominant food source necessarily leads to vitamin-A deficiency, most severely affecting small children and pregnant women.

Consumption of only 150 gram of Golden Rice a day is expected to supply half of the recommended daily intake (RDA) of vitamin A for an adult. People in Bangladesh depend on rice for 70 percent of their daily calorie intakes.

The IRRI says VAD is the main cause of preventable blindness in children and globally, some 6.7 million children die every year and another 3,50,000 go blind because they are vitamin-A deficient.

In April 2011, Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sanctioned a grant of over $10 million to IRRI to fund, develop and evaluate Golden Rice varieties for Bangladesh and the Philippines.

 

[Nilgiri]

Vitamin A rice now a reality

Field trial shows high promise, people may get it by 2018

Reaz Ahmad

The first field trial of the Golden Rice in Bangladesh has yielded promising results, triggering prospect of the vitamin A-rich grain's release as early as 2018.

Two months after harvesting the Bangladeshi version of Golden Rice line, GR2E BRRI dhan29, scientists at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) found that rice grains retained 10 μg/g (micrograms/gram) beta carotene which is good enough to address vitamin-A deficiency (VAD).

Beta carotene, also known as pro-vitamin A, is a substance that the human body can convert to vitamin A.

With this development, a long wait is nearly over for rice breeders who have been trying since 1999 for a varietal development and release of Golden Rice, long being touted by the scientist fraternity as a key remedy to acute VAD problem.

According to the World Health Organization's global VAD database, one in every five pre-school children in Bangladesh is vitamin A-deficient. Among the pregnant women, 23.7 percent suffer from VAD.

BRRI scientists analysed the post-harvest data collected from the first field test conducted on GR2E BRRI dhan29 during the last Boro season (November 2015 - May 2016) and drew the conclusion just recently that the results are positive.

“Two months after harvest, we've found an average of over 10 μg/g beta carotene in GR2E BRRI dhan29. The amount is good enough to meet 50 percent of vitamin-A needs of people consuming rice in their daily diet,” Dr Partha S Biswas, project leader of Golden Rice Project at BRRI, told The Daily Star.

The vitamin A-rich rice, named Golden Rice for its golden colour, was first developed by splicing three foreign genes -- two from daffodil and one from a bacterium -- into japonica rice, a variety adapted to temperate climates. It is capable of producing beta carotene. But for a better beta carotene expression in rice, the daffodil genes were replaced by maize genes later in 2005.

The BRRI carried out the field trial on the campus of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) in Gazipur to keep Golden Rice segregated from other rice varieties grown in BRRI fields.

Provided the BRRI gets the necessary regulatory approval, the organisation would go for multi-location field trials of GR2E BRRI dhan29 in Boro seasons in next two years to set off the process of its commercial release, said Partha.

None of the major diseases like blast, sheath blight, bacterial blight and tungro was observed in the transgenic GR2E BRRI dhan29 and the yield was as good as that of the BRRI dhan29 (check variety) with good expression of beta carotene, according to a paper titled “Recent Advances in Breeding Golden Rice in Bangladesh”.

The paper coauthored by Dr Partha, and the IRRI's Golden Rice Project Coordinator Dr Violeta Villegas, and Regulatory Affairs head Dr Donald J Mackenzie, was presented at the 4th Annual South Asia Biosafety Conference in Hyderabad, India in late September.

The Philippines is the only other country that is carrying out a multi-location field trial now on their homegrown Golden Rice line while the process of Golden Rice research remained at laboratory and greenhouse stages in Indonesia, India and Vietnam.

Although Bangladeshi rice scientists have been at the forefront of Golden Rice research since the development of this transgenic rice by Swiss and German scientists in 1999, the process gathered momentum only when then IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) plant biotechnologist, Dr Swapan K Datta, infused the genes responsible for beta carotene into BRRI dhan29 in 2002-03.

The genetic engineering technology to derive vitamin A in rice was first applied by Prof Ingo Potrykus of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and Prof Peter Beyer of the University of Freiburg, Germany back in 1999. All renowned journals and news magazines, including the Nature, the Science and the Time, covered the breakthrough in 2000.

The first generation Golden Rice (known as GR1) was developed through infusing genes from daffodil, but later the second generation variety (known as GR2) was developed by taking a maize from corn as it gave much better output of pro-vitamin A.

Some six lines of GR2 (scientifically called “events”) were developed and the IRRI chose to work on one called GR2R, which it developed and subsequently infused in Filipino and Bangladeshi rice varieties.

After years of lab and greenhouse tests on GR2R, the Philippines and Bangladesh eventually stopped upon an IRRI advice that Event GR2E would work better.

Golden Rice co-inventor Prof Peter Beyer told this newspaper that there were some problems with the Event GR2R. He said the new Event should work well.

Swapan K Datta, ex-IRRI scientist who infused beta carotene-producing genes into Bangladesh's best performing rice variety, BRRI dhan29, said he was looking forward to see Golden Rice goes to farmers' fields.

The BRRI dhan29, developed by BRRI in 1994, is the most productive dry season rice variety of Bangladesh that has gone beyond national boundaries to be grown in many other countries including India, China, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

Rice does not contain beta carotene. Therefore, dependence on rice as the predominant food source necessarily leads to vitamin-A deficiency, most severely affecting small children and pregnant women.

Consumption of only 150 gram of Golden Rice a day is expected to supply half of the recommended daily intake (RDA) of vitamin A for an adult. People in Bangladesh depend on rice for 70 percent of their daily calorie intakes.

The IRRI says VAD is the main cause of preventable blindness in children and globally, some 6.7 million children die every year and another 3,50,000 go blind because they are vitamin-A deficient.

In April 2011, Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sanctioned a grant of over $10 million to IRRI to fund, develop and evaluate Golden Rice varieties for Bangladesh and the Philippines.

Any change in taste? You know how consumers (even poor ones) think after all

 

[Bilal9]

Moghbazar-Mouchak Flyover

 

[Bilal9]

Any change in taste? You know how consumers (even poor ones) think after all

With beta-carotene, probably tastes like carrots. But carrots aren't that popular in Bangladesh. At least for the lower-middle class people.

Maybe for dessert (gazzar halwa), but not for staple rice everyday with curry.