Bangladesh Economy: News & Updates

[Skallagrim]

Dhaka Monday January 7 2013


NBR directs banks to freeze GMG accounts


The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has directed all banks to freeze accounts of the country's oldest private carrier GMG Airlines for not paying travel taxes worth Tk 210 million since 2005. The tax authority recently sent letters to 12 commercial banks urging them to suspend all sorts of transactions in the accounts of the airline, tax officials said. "We have instructed the banks which have accounts of the GMG to freeze any kind of transaction. Already most of the banks have furnished information on deposits of the airline," said a senior tax official. According to the information furnished by the banks, the airline has only Tk 0.7 million in the accounts opened with the banks including Sonali, Standard Chartered Bank and Trust Bank. Officials said the airline had collected travel taxes from passengers on sale of air tickets but had not deposited the money with the national exchequer. "The tax authorities held a series of meetings with the airline to realise the money," a tax official said. The taxmen also gave the GMG authority an option to clear the dues in installments, but all the efforts failed as the company did not respond to the offer, he added. Asif Ahmed, GMG Airlines director for marketing communication, HR and customer experiences, said the company was recently restructuring its strategic plan to address all the issues. "We are in the middle of the restructuring plan. The company will resolve the matter soon by paying the travel taxes in installments," he added. The GMG Airlines earlier had suspended its operation in the country on March 30, 2012. It had planned to be back in operation with a new business strategy by December last. The lion's share of the GMG Airlines is owned by Beximco Group. The private airline plans to use narrow body aircraft for the domestic market instead of its existing wide body aircraft. In March last the GMG Airlines said it was planning to adopt a new business strategy in view of the rising fuel prices and the changing competitive international environment through a 360- degree restructure of its strategy, organisation, fleet and business model.

NBR directs banks to freeze GMG accounts

 

[TopCat]

Yes dollar is trading below 80 dollar now a days..

 

[Gyp 111]

Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh

Loan signing programme for the US $ 344 million South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Road Connectivity Project is likely to be held next week, as the project financiers have confirmed the funding, officials said Monday.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has confirmed $198 million technical assistance for the project, designed to facilitate road connectivity with the Asian Highway.

Besides, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development have confirmed $30 million each for the project.

A meeting was held at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) Monday, confirming the funding. Rest of the fund of the project will be provided by the government.

Under the SASEC project, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) will carry out four-laning work of the Dhaka-Tangail Highway from Joydevpur to Elenga of the Bangabandhu Bridge.

The officials said as traffic volume on this national highway would increase after opening of the Asian Highway-2, the fund will be utilised to expand part of the highway.

Five flyovers will also be constructed along the corridor, they said, adding that Burimari and Benapole land-ports will also be developed with the fund.

Besides, the project will help strengthening institutional capacity of the RHD, under which the RHD Building will be constructed at Tejgaon in the city.

The officials said the Planning Commission has already approved the development project proposal (DPP) of the 70-kilometre road expansion work, and it is now awaiting approval from the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC).

Part of the Dhaka-Tangail Highway has been turned into a four-lane one, the project will help expand rest of the road from Joydevpur to Elenga to four-lane through Chandra and Tangail.

 

[Gyp 111]

$50 mln deal for better road, market link - bdnews24.com

The government on Wednesday signed a $50 million agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a project that aims to improve road and market connectivity, and enhance climate change adaptation capacity.

According to a media release, ADB will provide $40 million in soft loan and $10 million in grants to support the Coastal Climate Resilient Infrastructure Project.

International Fund for Agricultural Development will provide $59 million in loans and $1 million in grant while German development cooperation will make available $8.8 million in loan through KfW for the project that is costing $150 million.

The government will inject $31.2 million for the project that aims at improving livelihoods in 12 rural coastal districts of Bangladesh vulnerable to climate change by improving household incomes by 20 percent by 2021.

“Over 800,000 people will directly benefit from the project,” the media release said.

Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad and M Teresa Kho, Country Director of ADB's Bangladesh Resident Mission, signed the agreement at ERD office in Dhaka.

The assistance is believed to also contribute to boosting year-round connectivity between agricultural production areas and markets and to other parts of Bangladesh.

“Lack of all-weather road connectivity limits farmers' access to markets, increases the cost of production because of higher transportation costs, lowers commodity prices owing to remoteness, and hinders access to education and health services,” Kho was quoted as saying in the media release.

She said poor road connectivity also restricts their access to financial services, technology, and development support services provided by various agencies, but this project would enhance climate resilience in the rural coastal areas and benefit the poor and women.

The Local Government Engineering Department in the Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives will execute the project.

 

[Gyp 111]

3 power plants get nod

Total capacity 1,000MW; to be set up by 2015; 13km expressway from city's Shantinagar to Mawa road also okayed

The cabinet purchase committee yesterday approved three public sector power projects, including one to be awarded to controversial Chinese company Harbin, with a total capacity of 1,000 megawatt.

In addition, the committee at a meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith approved extending the contract for a 40 megawatt diesel-fired rental power project by a year until September this year.

The three power projects are Shahjibazar 300 MW gas-fired combined cycle plant (to be awarded to Guangdong Power Engineering Corp & Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute, China), Barapukuria 250 MW unit-3 coal-fired thermal power plant (to Harbin), and the 450 MW combined cycle gas-fired plant in Ghorashal (to CMC-CNTIC, China).

Shahjibazar project was approved for a price of total $279 million, Barapukuria project for $248 m and Ghorashal project for $231 m. These would come into operation after 2015.

Of the three, tenders for Ghorashal and Barapukuria gave rise to allegations of bid manipulation.

In the case of Ghorashal project, the Power Development Board (PDB) disqualified CMC-CNTIC's bid initially for gross flaws. But under pressure from a powerful lobby, the PDB bid evaluation committee gave the bidder the scope to provide new data and change financial configuration, violating the bid rules.

Similarly, for Barapukuria project, Harbin's bid offer was given the opportunity to modify financial data so that it could become the lowest bidder. The CMC that participated in this bid lodged complaints with the government, but withdrew the complaint late last month.

Both the CMC and Harbin are being backed by two powerful ruling Awami League parliamentarians.

“Harbin was blacklisted in the past. Now a plant built by Harbin is one of the best in the country,” Muhith said after the committee meeting yesterday. He was responding to a question how the government could select a blacklisted company like Harbin.

Defending Harbin's selection, he added, “Over the years, China has also changed a lot too. Many poor performing companies have now emerged as good companies.”

When Harbin was selected for Barapukuria power project a few months ago, a number of complaints were lodged with the parliamentary standing committee concerned and other authorities. On this question, Muhith noted, “When a cabinet committee receives a complaint, that is always verified before project approval. In this case, the committee did not receive any complaint.”

In 2005, within an hour of its inauguration, Tongi 80 MW plant built by Harbin tripped due to technical glitches.

During the tenure of the last caretaker government, the local agent of Harbin filed an extortion case against Giasuddin Al Mamun, friend of BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, among others, claiming that they had taken Tk 5 crore to award the contract for Tongi power project. Hearing of the case is yet to be completed.

The Eastern Refinery Ltd in August 2006 blacklisted Harbin for failing to build a plant as per contract.

Expressway to link Mawa-Shantinagar

Earlier, the cabinet committee on economic affairs at a meeting, also chaired by the finance minister, approved a proposal for constructing a 13.32-kilometre elevated expressway linking the capital's Shantinagar and Dhaka-Mawa road under public-private partnership (PPP) initiative.

Of the proposed route, 6.43 km will have four lanes and the rest two lanes. It will be linked to Mouchak-Moghbazar flyover. The project will cost Tk 2,670 crore.

The expressway will go over the existing roads at Shantinagar, Paltan, Fulbaria intersection, Naya Bazar intersection, Victoria Park, Babu Bazar and Buriganga second bridge, and will end at Jheelmil housing project beside Dhaka-Mawa road.

Tender for the project will be floated by the PPP office, said a Cabinet Division official.

According to preliminary projection, the project will be completed in 2016, he added.

 

[Gyp 111]

BD to export 50,000T of sugar to EU

DHAKA: Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation has issued its first tender to export 50,000 tonnes of sugar to European Union countries under a quota system, a senior corporation official said on Thursday.

The deadline to submit offers is Feb. 2, said Harun Mia, purchase chief of the state agency, which had until now imported sugar to build up reserves and rein in domestic prices.

The 50,000 tonnes of sugar from locally produced cane will be exported to EU countries under a preferential quota for the least-developed countries.

Early last month the government gave permission to the corporation to export the sugar, Mia said.

"It would cover some losses of the corporation as sugar production cost is often higher than the selling rate," he said.

Domestic sugar prices have remained stable over the last year.

Bangladesh depends largely on imported sugar to meet annual demand of 1.4 million tonnes as the country produces less than 100,000 tonnes.

Late last year the government also allowed limited exports of sugar for private refiners, who had been calling for overseas sales as they have around 2 million tonnes of refining capacity.

In 2010, the government put an embargo on sugar exports to contain the soaring domestic price of the sweetener.

Private refiners import raw sugar mostly from India, Brazil and Thailand.

BD to export 5 , T of sugar to EU

 

[Android]

Micromax Informatics Limited, a leading Indian handset manufacturer recently announced the launch of ten new feature phones X101, X103, X1ix, X292, X293, X320, X324, X455, X446, X456 along with its three latest smartphones-- A25 Smarty, A65 and A110 Canvas 2 in the local market.

The phones are priced at the range of Tk 1299 to Tk 14,999.

Micromax has always catered to the changing needs of the market and introduced relevant innovations in Bangladesh. Understanding the need of the evolved mobile consumers who want to take the next step in the communication space, Micromax further strengthened its smartphone portfolio in the country.

A25 is a 2.8” screen sized phone that runs on a 2.3.6 Android Gingerbread. Powered with 1 GHz processor and a 1280 mAh battery, A25 provides a talk time of 4 hours and a standby time of 180 hours. The phone features a 1.3 MP rear camera.

Micromax A65 is another smartphone which features Android 2.3. It also features a 7.1cm capacitive touchscreen with a screen resolution of 240x320pixels. The phone also has a 3 MP camera and also comes with audio and video player for music on the go.

Micromax A110 Canvas 2 has a large 5” FWVGA screen and is powered by a 1.0 GHz dual core processor. It runs on latest Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The phone features an 8.0 MP CMOS camera with dual LED flash. It also has 0.3 MP front camera.

Apart from the smartphones, Micromax also enhances its feature phone portfolio with an extensive range of phones such as X101, X103, X1ix, X292, X293, X320, X324, X45, X446 ,and X456 for the basic mobile phone users. All these phones are provided with the elementary features and multimedia functions.

Micromax rolls out series of phones

 

[Hellraiser007]

I am proud of Micromax, This company has lot of market value in South America and Africa.

 

[KRAIT]

@arp2041 and @Skull and Bones We entered in BD market with our own handset company.

 

[indian_foxhound]

i got table of micromax. Its damn good. No problem so far. With super-hd and able to play 2160p video.its andriod so got hell lot of apps. Value for money

 

[Hellraiser007]

This is a ladies product of Micromax which is very popular in South America.

 

[Skull and Bones]

@arp2041 and @Skull and Bones We entered in BD market with our own handset company.

Bangladeshis don't buy cheaper phones, only Vertu has maximum buyers in Bangladesh. Keep you thrash phone to yourself you baniya.

 

[KRAIT]

Can we hack them.

 

[Hellraiser007]

Can we hack them.

Every product which enters the market whether it is Nokia, Samsung or Micrmax can be hacked by their respective govts.

 

[Nitro]

Chinese product labled as indian..