Bangladesh Economy: News & Updates

[Nafees]

Source: By Saleque Sufi
http://energybangla.com/index.php?mod=article&cat=SomethingtoSay&article=890



The River Rupsa, Pasur surrounds the city. Mongla port is now connect through the Bridge over Rupsa, the Great Mangrove forest the mother of Bangladesh makes this southern district and ideal place for tourist attraction. Singapore is a city country. It is not bigger than Khulna; neither has it or had more resources. It even imports water from Malaysia or drinks treated recycled water. Singapore about 30 years back was not the same. The very charismatic Prime Minister changed it now to very livable one of the discipline and blooming economy. Trading and tourism are the resources. They have utilised their tourism resources, free Singapore Sea port has created all the fortune, excellent law and order situation has made investors and industrial giants make Singapore the ideal place for setting up South Asian Regional office of major companies. Changi Airport mostly on reclaimed land is the gateway to the east. Singapore airlines are one of the most sought after airlines of the world. In many different ways Khulna can be transformed as Singapore.



Many of us possibly do not know that Khulna did not get independence from British India like rest of Pakistan on 14th August 1947. The king makers were still unsure whether it should be part of Pakistan or India. It ultimately became part of Pakistan. But despite of having all the elements to turn into a major port city it struggled all through Pakistan days. People must not take any note of it as in Pakistan days entire East Pakistan got deprived. But people must have noted with great surprise that even after independence of Bangladesh for Khulna also made tremendous contribution (The author himself was a part of Liberation war organisation at the early satge in Khulna) it did not get its due share. Mongla port has become almost inoperative, Gas supply through pipes have not yet materialised, Power supply is erratic, there is no Airport, water supply situation is terrible, many major mills and factories have been close down. In this very uncomfortable situation Advisory council is seating for a meeting to discuss national as well as regional issues today at Khulna. The purpose of this write up is to discuss the prospects and problems of integrate development of Khulna.



Mangla Port Development:

The author had first glimpse of Mangla port in 1967 when elder bother Maleque (Now Deceased) used to work as food inspector. Can still remember the memorable experience of midnight siren of all ocean vessels of the port announcing the arrival of New Year. The port at that time used to handle much more cargo than even today. Due to corruption and mismanagement over the years the river channels has filled up and deeper draft ships can not take berth now. The Mangla Export processing Zone can not flourish due to non availability of gas and stable power supply. Believe it or not block 7 & 10 which covers this area are leased out to IOCs for almost 10 years. But they did not carry out any exploration. Possibility of striking gas and oil in and around the great Mangrove forest is tremendous. Modern seismic and drilling technology may ensure safe exploitation of petroleum without causing any harm to our world heritage. Awami League Government of Sheikh Hasina leased out these blocks to Cairn and Unocal during their time with a funny provision that they will keep this under their possession without any work for 5 years and then depending on market growth they will explore. Well Khulna always had market for about 200 MMCFD gas anytime. If gas connection could be provided there could be tremendous growth in Mongla, Bagerhat, Khulna, and Satkhira areas by this time. Awami League Government also did not approve WRIP- Western Region Integrated Project proposed by UNOCAL. They planned to develop Shahabajpoor Gas field of Bhola and built a 125 KM Cross country Pipeline from Shahbajpoor to Deegholia , set up Power plants at Bhola, Barisal and Khulna. UNOCAL proposed to invest the money develop various components as partner of Bapex and GTCL. The author with GTCL colleague and Unocal officials made extensive route survey of the pipeline on very difficult ROW. The author had specific commitment for the people of the region since 1971. The author made some promise to few mothers of martyred freedom fighter friends in Khulna to light their cooking burners with gas. If given go ahead this WRIP could be materialised by 2003. Khulna could have 210MW gas based power plant, other power plants could be converted to gas, Mongla EPZ could have gas supply, many other industries could grow. Bapex struggled with Shabazpoor development. Still now power plant at even Bhola not set up. The Pipeline supply of Gas from National Grid is also moving at a snails pace. The present situation of gas reserve does not support investment on pipelines from Hatiakmrul to Khulna unless very soon some new fields are discovered. So one must pity the short sighted decision makers. Petrobangla decision makers may revisit the report and recommendation of the author about WRIP pipeline that must be still available with my GTCL colleagues. So WRIP was an opportunity lost. The author spent hours after hours negotiating with UNOCAL experts various documents of WRIP but other senior members were only available for lunch that were served from 5 star hotel. It was disgraceful and disgusting for any self respecting professional. Chevron and Cairn must be asked to start exploration or relinquish the blocks. GTCL may rethink about the pipeline segment of WRIP and Bapex must explore Shahbajpoor to full potential. The pipeline may be useful in any case as in near future definitely significant discovery will be there at both block 10 and 7. The open access pipeline can transport this gas. India has engaged exploration companies to explore in areas just below Khulna and Mongla in the Bay of Bengal which may not very far or may even be within our territorial water. For long term sustainable economic development Gas supply and stable electricity is a must for Khulna. If coal mining starts soon at least one 500MW Coal based power plant may be set up at a suitable location in the Region to serve Khulna and Barisal region. An LNG terminal may also be set up at Mongla to import LNG if required.



Development of Khulna EPZ and Mongla Area:

Khulna & Bagerhat Region has intensive shrimp cultivation. Not only Raw shrimp processed shrimps can have greater markets. Food and Fruit processing industries may set up at Khulna EPZ. Regular dredging to maintain navigability of Mongla port must be done. Possibility of Solar power generation and wind mills may be explored. Some good hotels with recreation facilities may be set up in Mongla to attract tourists. Sundarban is not very far. So proper infrastructure a good Airport at Khulna – in fact it is on way to Mongla will go a long way to exploit tourism facility of the region. Amusement park in the shape of movie world, Sea World as they have in Gold coast in Queensland is not impossible to visualize for Khulna. Private sector if given proper support and incentive may come forward.



Khulna Requires Airport:

The construction of the airport for unknown reasons remains suspended for a long time. Khulna more than any other place desperately needs an international airport for the prospective investors in Mongla EPZ, tourists to Sundarban. The Srimp merchants can use air cargo to export their merchandise. If appropriately developed it can be a regional air hub also. The airport works must resume with a target for early completion. The Advisory council must give go ahead to the resumption of the construction.


Padma Bridge Construction work must start:

The historic iconic project will serve as life line for Southern Bengal. If the finance is lined up and if engineering and design is advanced the formal action to invite tender for the construction contract must be let out soon. This bridge will link the South with Central and north. It is the long cherished dream of the nation and must see the light at the end of the tunnel soon. This bridge must have rail, gas, power and telephone connections Across.Padma Bridge will have much greater impacts than Jmauna multipurpose bridge and will bring north south, east and west much closer. One must be very careful that the opportunists do not fish in the mud as happened with Hyundai in JMBA.


All the Shut Down Industries may be reopened:

Khulna has massive industries from Pakistan days. Rupsa, Khalispoor were major industrial hub. Jute, Textile, Newsprint, Match factories were employing thousands of people. The elder brother of the author was involved in labour union of Awami League front during liberation war and after failing to resist the access of Occupation Army in April 1971 we were given shelter in some Dada Match Factory labour family. We were hiding on the other side of Rupsa. Pakistan Army utilised the Jallad of Khulna Jail to kill innocent members of Police, EPR and throw them at Rupsa River. The author along with freedom fighter friends buried many such beheaded dead bodies in April 1971. Now we understand the most of the labourers of the mills have become unemployed following closure of the mills. Advisors must review the situation and open the mills as soon as possible.Mrs Fedrdousi Ali, the editor of Herald Tribune and Purbanchal was with us during this time .She knows it all.


Law and Order Situation:

Ershad sikhder killed many and so called biplobis killed many. Our friend Manik Shaha and Humayan Kabir Balu got killed. But none of these murders have been properly probed and tried. This government must review these cases and see that justice is done and killers get exemplary punishment. Immediate actions on pipeline gas supply to Khulna, setting up of gas based power plant, stable supply will help setting up of new industries, open the sick industries. People will be reinstated in jobs, new jobs will be created. Resolution of unemployment problem will go a long way in motivating educated youth from falling trap to so called underground movement of the suckers an killers. We hope that our friend Talukdar Khaleque, the newly elected Mayor of Khulna who was our friend in all movement in Khulna will try his level best to make and end to politics of killing in Khulna region.


In 1969, 70 & 72 we all enjoyed a nice and peaceful Khulna. We used to spend time in Sarakar Sweets, enjoy movies in Picture palace. Sheikh Kayeum, Lalu, Khokon, Ferdousi, Hasina Banu Shiree, Nazrul wherever they are now must remember those days. All must work for the integrated developed in Khulna. Here in Australia I met several very accomplished professionals from Khulna who always pressed me for writing about Khulna. Let us hope that our Advisors realise the potentials of the City and do everything possible to make it our Singapore.

 

[Nafees]

Source: :The Daily Star: Internet Edition

Brac, a leading non-profit organisation in the country, has been selected for the 2008 Conrad N Hilton Humanitarian Prize worth $1.5 million for its contribution to alleviating human sufferings.

The Hilton Prize, the world's largest humanitarian prize, presented annually by the Conrad N Hilton Foundation, will be given on October 20 in Geneva, Switzerland, said a press release.

The prize is awarded in conjunction with the annual Hilton Humanitarian Symposium, which gathers policymakers and world leaders in the humanitarian field to address critical challenges.

The theme of this year's symposium is: "The Bottom BillionIs There a Tipping Point?"

"Brac's approach to creating self-sufficient and sustainable programmes on a massive scale has blazed a trail for development organisations around the world," said Steven M. Hilton, president and CEO of the Hilton Foundation.

"Where most NGOs might tackle one dimension of poverty, Brac delivers multi-faceted solutions to attack all aspects simultaneously," Hilton added.

Brac, launched in 1972, reaches over 110 million people with its approach to addressing poverty by providing access to credit for economic development and delivering health services, education, business management, skills training, and social awareness about legal and human rights.

Now in its 37th year, Brac has taken its model beyond Bangladesh into eight other Asian and African countries.

It has issued $5 billion in micro-loans to nearly seven million borrowers; graduated 3.8 million students from its primary schools and 2.3 million from its pre-primary schools, with 1.5 million children currently enrolled in its 52,000 schools; provided basic health services to more than 90 million; created 8.5 million jobs; and employed 110,000 staff and teachers.

Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson of Brac, said, "To receive the Hilton Prize is a great honour and tremendous validation of our work. Billions of people in the world today live in extreme poverty, and it is our goal to ensure transition of the poor from receiving aid to controlling their own destinies."

"The Hilton Prize will add to our momentum as we take on greater challenges to unleash the full potential of the poor, especially women, and to realise justice and their full human rights," he added.

Judy Miller, vice president of the Hilton Foundation and director of the Hilton Prize, said Brac was one of over 225 nominees for the 2008 Hilton Prize.

She added that the Hilton Prize international jurors were impressed by Brac's innovation and the diversity of its programmes and also its ability to scale up its work dramatically and expand beyond Bangladesh into other developing countries.

Los Angeles-based Hilton Foundation was created in 1944 by the late hotel entrepreneur and business leader Conrad N Hilton, who left his fortune to the foundation when he died in 1979 with instructions to help the most disadvantaged and vulnerable throughout the world without regard to religion, ethnicity or geography.

 

[Neo]

Food crisis threatens Bangladesh gains: WB ​

Thursday, August 28, 2008

DHAKA: Spiralling food prices have pushed an estimated four million Bangladeshis below the poverty line despite the country’s strong economic growth, the World Bank said on Wednesday.

World Bank senior economist Vinaya Swaroop told AFP the price of rice had nearly doubled over the past year, caused by rising inflation and shortages due to floods and a devastating cyclone last year.

“Food price inflation has caused enormous hardship in Bangladesh by eroding purchasing power of the poor,” he said. “Four million people have been pushed back into poverty this year because of rising food prices.”

Strong economic growth between 2005 and 2008 was expected to reduce poverty in Bangladesh by five per cent from 40 per cent to 35 but projections had been scaled up to 38 per cent because of the higher prices, he said.

“If there was no food crisis, the poverty numbers would have looked very different in 2008,” he said. The figures were compiled using the definition of poverty as those living on less than a dollar a day.

In its annual report, issued this week, the Consumer Association of Bangladesh said the price of food and other essentials had risen 45.5 per cent in the past year. The latest data reported inflation at 10.14 per cent for the month of June.

However, many financial experts say the actual figure is about 20 per cent. World Bank country director Xian Zhu said the bank was helping Bangladesh come up with measures to enhance food security. “Increasing productivity is the only option where every year over two million people are added to the population, while the availability of cultivatable land is decreasing by one per cent,” he said. Bangladesh, which has a population of 144 million, is one of the world’s poorest countries.

 

[Nafees]

Source: YouTube - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jawed Karim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History of YouTube

YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, who were all early employees of PayPal.[11] Prior to PayPal, Hurley studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[12] The domain name "YouTube.com" was activated on February 15, 2005,[13] and the website was developed over the subsequent months. The creators offered the public a preview of the site in May 2005, six months before making its official debut.

Background of Jawed Karim:

Jawed Karim (Bengali: জাওয়েদ করি&#2478 is a co-founder of the popular video sharing website YouTube.

Karim was born in Merseburg, East Germany, in 1979 and moved to West Germany in 1980. His father, Naimul Karim, is a Bangladeshi researcher at 3M. His mother, Christine Karim, is a research assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Minnesota.[1] [2][3]

Karim grew up in Germany, and his family moved to the United States in 1992. He graduated from Central High School (Saint Paul, Minnesota) and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[4] He left campus prior to graduating to become an early employee at PayPal, but continued his coursework, earning his bachelor's degree in computer science in 2004.

While working at PayPal, he met Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. The three later founded the YouTube video sharing website in 2005.[5] After co-founding the company and developing the YouTube concept and website with Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, Karim enrolled as a graduate student in computer science at Stanford University while acting as an advisor to YouTube.[6] When YouTube was acquired by Google, Karim received 137,443 shares of stock, worth about $64 million as of Google's closing stock price at the time.[7]


Jawed Karim, Steve and Chad at Youtube HeadquartersIn October 2006, Jawed gave a lecture about the history of YouTube at the University of Illinois' annual ACM Conference entitled YouTube: From Concept to Hyper-growth. In his lecture he mentioned Wikipedia as being an innovative social experiment. The lecture material also contained pictures and videos of Jawed, Chad and Steve from the garage days of YouTube. Jawed returned again to the University of Illinois in May 2007 as the 136th and youngest Commencement Speaker in the school's history.[8][9]

More recently, Jawed has launched a venture fund called Youniversity Ventures, with the goal of helping current and former university students to launch their business ideas.

 

[Nafees]

Source: Nafees Bin Jafar : Bangladeshi won the OSCAR in LA !!! 2007 - .:: Amader Forum - We Lead & Others Follow ::.

Bangladeshi software engineer bags Oscar Award......

Yes Its true...A BANGLADESHI YOUNG BOY OWN THE OSCAR IN HOLLYWOOD FOR 2007 SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL SECTION...

Zafar is the son of retried army official Zafar Bin Bashar, a partner at
Marcum & Kliegman, and Nafeesa Zafar, who reside in Long Island, New York. He is the nephew of Syed Mainul Hossain, Ekushe Padak recipient architect of National Mausoleum at Savar, and grand nephew of artist Mostafa Monwar.

You might see 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' where roaring water splashed on your eyes virtually. Certainly the movie allured you in suspense as well as thrill. You will be more astonished to know the water manoeuvring software was designed by Bangladesh born software engineer Nafees Bin Zafar who became one of the gurus of special effects in the motion picture. The viewers of 'Stealth' and 'Flags of Our Fathers' enjoyed his new kind of mastery over creating special effects in the motion picture.

He is the first Bangladeshi who is selected for the Oscar 'Scientific and Engineering Award' of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Scientific and Engineering Awards, an Academy plaque, will be presented to Doug Roble, Nafees Bin Zafar and Ryo Sakaguchi for the development of the fluid-simulation system at the Digital Domain.
Nafees spoke to this journalist of The Independent on last Saturday about his experiences in computer generated special effect in Hollywood super-hit movies.

He said, " I came in this field for the sake of my personal interest and my education in computer science helped me to acquire the skills in generating illusions by stimulating images of water, butterfly and smokes."Before Nafees Bin Zafar's team no such high-graded work has been done in the field of fluid dynamics of motion picture.

The young software expert said, " I had to study theories of physics in fluid dynamics to figure out how water moves while something falls on it. I calculated also the dynamics of flying butterfly and blowing smokes. So my works of special effects in the motion picture entertained the viewers much better than before."

The Bangladeshi hero of special effect has no idea about Bangladeshi movies; however, he commented, "Movie makers should first decide where they want to put emphasis, like acting of actors and actress, sound system, animation, special affects etc. They have to invest a lot of money and works in their concentrated fields of movie."

On whether he wants to work for Bangladesh or not; he said, "I am senior software engineer of the Digital Domain which owns the copy right of my works. My company does not sell software, my team deals with the special effect parts of movies in US. However, right now I want to share my ideas and experiences with Bangladeshi computer engineers and IT entrepreneurs. So last week I delivered a speech and Power Point presentation on my work in the seminar called 'Turning an Idea into a Successful Enterprise' at the BASIS. The term 'Fluid Simulation' means- applying tools in computer graphics for generating realistic animations of water, smoke, explosions, butterfly etc. By giving some input configuration of fluid and scene geometry, a fluid simulator evolves the motion of the fluid forward in time, making use of the Navier-Stokes equations. In computer graphics, such simulations range in complexity from extremely time-consuming high quality animations for film and visual effects, to simple real-time particle systems used in modern games.

 

[Nafees]

Source: http://www.shidhulai.org/index.html, Copyright © 2008 Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha.

Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha

Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, a non-profit organization, is working to improve quality of life in northern Bangladesh watersheds by taking services to the people by boats. These services include children’s education, libraries, training on sustainable agriculture, healthcare, adaptation strategies for climate change, waste management, computer education and Internet access.


Through the work of Shidhulai 88,000 families of hundreds of riverside villages are benefiting from improved education, sustainable agricultural practices, increased income, clean solar-powered lighting and communication with the outside world.

History

Mohammed Rezwan started Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha in 1998. As a native Rezwan saw first-hand the hardship of riverside communities in Bangladesh who had no access to information and the opportunities it affords. Particularly, in the childhood he was always frustrated when school was cancelled during monsoon flooding.

Rezwan thought if the children can not come to the school because of poor communication, then the school should go to them. To address the problem, under his leadership Shidhulai introduced the boat school in 2002.

Their Work

The uniqueness of our project is the simplicity - build/convert a boat, equip it with books and computers, power it with solar energy, and bring it to communities through the waterways.

Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha overcame the challenge that the ecosystem of Bangladesh poses and found an innovative way to deliver information and education to residents. Shidhulai has transformed the regions waterways into path ways for education, information and technology. Shidhulai has converted boats into schools, libraries, healthcare and trainings centers to the isolated waterside communities.

Shidhulai works in four themes: Learning, Sustainable Agriculture, Healthcare and Climate Change.

Learning

School goes to children

Boat school is the combination of a school bus and schoolhouse. Boat school collects students from different riverside villages and finally docking at last destination the boat arranges onboard class. After the class the boat drops students at their places and then moves forward to pick other groups, again it arranges onboard classes and after the class drops students in their villages, and moves forward for other groups. This is the way the boat school works throughout the day and arrange 3-4 classes.Each boat school consists of a classroom for 30 to 35 students, a computer/laptop, hundreds of books, and electronic resources. School provides basic primary education up to grade IV. Shidhulai introduces the first river-based environmental curriculum in the country that teaches how to protect the environment and conserve water. Government curriculum is followed at grade III and IV. The solar power enables boat school to provide late evening classes to the working children while they are free. Some students get Shidhulai in-house developed solar lamps to study during the night. The lamp/batteries are charged at charging stations of boat school.

Boat school & library ensures continuation of education

All boat schools have small library facility, but some boats have complete facility of a standing library, for example, 1,500 books, 2 to 4 computers with internet access, printer and mobile phones. Children, youths, senior citizens, and particularly women learn computer skills and get information on agriculture, biodiversity, climate change, job opportunities, micro enterprise development and human rights. Late evening literacy classes are arranged on these boats for the parents.Students now can borrow the school books from the book library of the boats, which helps them to get better exam results and ensures continuation of education.The neo-literates who used to relapse in to illiterates are now in touch with education using the educational resources of book library. The boats use their solar energy to run the computers.

Sustainable Agriculture

MIEUB connecting people and responding to the needs of people

Mobile Internet-Educational Units on Boats are equipped with internet-linked laptop, multimedia equipments and educational presentations. They make their way through the rivers, docking at villages to teach farmers techniques for preventing pollution and erosion, introducing affordable technologies like the bicycle pumps and solar lamps, and promoting environmentally sustainable agriculture, climate change, healthcare and human rights. During the day time the boat arrange onboard training programs for the farmers and at late evening educational programs are arranged on large sail-cloth so that many people can see from their own courtyards. The evening educational programs include web tutorials, animated drawings, documentaries and dramas along with information from the web displayed.Laptop connected to the internet via the cellular network using EDGE/GPRS data cards, allowing Skype or Yahoo Messenger plus webcams to provide connection between users and solar, environmental, agricultural and healthcare experts at Shidhulai regional office, headquarters and research institute. Along with necessary trainings farmers are also getting information’s on commodity and farm input prices, send & receive e-mails, access to internet and contact others using mobile phones.


Healthcare

Healthcare boats moves along the winding rivers, docking at the villages, it arranges onboard medical checkups. With doctor and paramedic on board, the boats are equipped with necessary medicines. Antibiotics, antiparasitics, gastrointestinal agents, antiseptics, nutritional supplements etc are given free to the patients as per their need.

Climate Change

Climate change has increased the flooding recent years – now Bangladesh has floods two times a year. Ten million people have been made homeless by recent flooding. Over the next 10-20 years, 20 per cent of the land will be lost to the sea resulting 20 million climate refugees because of climate change. Bangladesh will be pummeled from the south by cyclones and sea level rise, and flooded from the north by the major rivers swollen by warming glaciers in the Himalayas. Now, in the dry season, it's easy to see the impact in erosion. Like people, trees struggle to stay rooted in north-western Bangladesh. If, as some scientists predict, sea levels rise significantly by the end of this century, a lot of Bangladesh will simply disappear.

Issues like this need local solution by local people. Shidhulai as a local organization is proving that it is possible to deal with this climate change, to tackle pollution, and at the same time, to lift people out of poverty. The boat project has proved its usefulness in the continuation of education during the flooding. Shidhulai believes that it is possible to run the complete education system on water by replicating the boat project in the submerged Bangladesh in future.

In such context, Shidhulai is developing floating villages, and also floating gardens having an earth bed of roots and dirt on water - thus farmers could enjoy constant irrigation and produce huge harvests of vegetables in submerged Bangladesh.

During the seasonal flooding, Shidhulai provides emergency relief to the affected areas.

Affordable Technologies

Technology They Developed

Solar lamps generating night-time activities

Some 80 percent of country's population of 140 million lack regular access to electricity. Shidhulai boats use onboard solar photovoltaic modules to generate all the electricity needed. Shidhulai distributes the surplus energy among the families of fishermen cum farmers through solar lamps.



The manufacturing cost of solar lamp is only US $5-10 and the fabrication, installation, repairs and maintenance is being carried out entirely by Shidhulai. Shidhulai has developed three different types of solar lamps:

+ Portable solar home system

+ Converted hurricane lantern

+ LED lantern

Portable solar home system is consist of one 4 Ah 6 V battery, LED made table and wall lamps, wiring and fixtures. The battery is also used to charge the mobile phones. The lamp batteries are charged at charging stations of boat school, library and training boats. The children or female members bring their batteries to re-charge on the boats once in a week.

Solar system on boats sharing surplus energy
PV modules are installed on the roofs of the boats, providing between 200 Wp, 600 Wp and 1-2 kWp of power, depending on the electrical demand. The PV modules charge an array of lead-acid batteries through a charge controller, which prevents the battery from being over-charged or deep-discharged, and also include an inverter to convert dc power to ac, thus allowing the use of the electrical equipment on the boat. Boats have PV-powered lighting, using LED lamps. The installation and maintenance of the PV systems are done entirely by Shidhulai’s own trained engineer and technicians. Shidhulai also manufactures charge controller and battery charger for the solar system on boats.

Designed/converted boats for delivering services to remotest regions

The boats provide maximum flexibility and can reach villagers that, for logistical, social, or cultural reasons, could not access a permanent institution. The boats are especially designed by Shidhulai to adjust to any equipment configuration as well as to protect the electronic equipment from inclement weather, even during the height of the monsoon. The boats are also outfitted with multi-layered waterproof roofs and there are side windows that are opened for ventilation. A metal truss takes the weight of the roof, so the interior is not obstructed by pillars, allowing the accommodation to be made spacious and comfortable. The boats are all built in the region, using locally available materials. Flat plank floor allows some boats to glide through the flooded land and shallow water.


Technology They Adopted

Bicycle powered pumps reducing CO2 emissions and improving income

The bicycle-powered pump is designed for small-scale irrigation and is very cheap, so it brings particular benefits to landless farmers who cultivate on the land of others. The pump is cycle-operated, consisting of two pistons of an ordinary twin cylinder pump connected to a crankshaft. It has a flywheel on one end and a chain sprocket on the other end. The crankshaft is powered through a chain sprocket from the pedal of the bicycle, which is rotated by foot of the operator seating on the seat like driving a bicycle. The capacity of this pump is 60-100 liters/min with one laborer at a time with a command area is 0.50 acre/day.

The bicycle pumps are manufactured at the local workshops and Shidhulai offices in the rural villages and the manufacturing cost is US $50. About 70% of the pumps have been provided to farmers who had not previously been able to afford any irrigation pump.


Technology We Transferred


The components of boat project is replicated nationally and internationally by community based organizations, NGOs and international organization.



Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha is working with Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK) to solar electrify GKs school-healthcare centers in southern Bangladesh. Also GK is distributing Shidhulai’s LED lantern among its school-healthcare center users. GK is the second largest healthcare service provider in the country followed by the Government.

Recently Care Bangladesh and Grameenphone replicated boat project. They are working with four boats in southern Bangladesh.


The United Nations Environment Programme awarded Sasakawa Prize 2007
on the theme of Climate Change to Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha

 

[indiapakistanfriendship]

Climate change has increased the flooding recent years – now Bangladesh has floods two times a year. Ten million people have been made homeless by recent flooding. Over the next 10-20 years, 20 per cent of the land will be lost to the sea resulting 20 million climate refugees because of climate change. Bangladesh will be pummeled from the south by cyclones and sea level rise, and flooded from the north by the major rivers swollen by warming glaciers in the Himalayas. Now, in the dry season, it's easy to see the impact in erosion. Like people, trees struggle to stay rooted in north-western Bangladesh. If, as some scientists predict, sea levels rise significantly by the end of this century, a lot of Bangladesh will simply disappear.

Errr someone here gave me infraction for pointing this obvious fact. Some established members even ridiculed me for stating where migration will occur due to climate change and who will have to bear the brunt of migration in Bangladesh. Alas some people let sntiments run high standing on a moral highground.

 

[Nafees]

Errr someone here gave me infraction for pointing this obvious fact. Some established members even ridiculed me for stating where migration will occur due to climate change and who will have to bear the brunt of migration in Bangladesh. Alas some people let sntiments run high standing on a moral highground.

I am talking here about the development issue of Bangladesh not to discuss with migration.

 

[Nafees]

SCHOLARLY CONFERENCE “BANGLADESH IN THE 21ST CENTURY”:

See following link:

http://www.aibs.net/docs/Harvard_Conference_Media_Release.pdf

 

[indiapakistanfriendship]

I am talking here about the development issue of Bangladesh not to discuss with migration.

NO country's development is more influenced negatively by climate change then BD

 

[Nafees]

Source: Dhaka to export skilled textile workers to Russia

Dhaka to export skilled textile workers to Russia​

Dhaka, May 18 (IANS) After establishing itself as a major manufacturer and exporter of readymade garments and knitwear, Bangladesh is set to export its skilled workers from these sectors to Russia. The first batch of 60 workers will leave for Russia in the next two months, with more to follow, to a Russian apparel company, The Daily star said Sunday.

The Russian company Visozstoy will employ the workers at a monthly wage of $450, plus medical and travel benefits.

This is evidence of Bangladesh’s growing status as a world leader in garment expertise, said Abdul Matin Chowdhury, secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment.

Readymade garments and knitwear are Bangladesh’s highest foreign exchange earners, employing an estimated 2.5 million.

The industry is plagued by frequent violence due to poor wages and working conditions and employers not sticking to the terms of agreement.

Though there is a shortage of skilled workers, this new line of manpower export is another major foreign exchange earner for Bangladesh.

“I have already approved a local recruiting agency to select the manpower to export to Russia,” Chowdhury said, adding that a ministry delegation will attend a forum on employment in Russia at the end of the month.

Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said although the country has been suffering from a skilled manpower shortage, the initiative is good.

Bangladesh’s garment exporters have also received a boost this year with India allowing an annual duty free export of eight million pieces of garments as a major concession to the least developed countries (LDCs) in the South Asian region.

Bangladesh and India are otherwise competitors in the world market.

Industry insiders said garment workers, comprising 80 percent women, are employed in nearly 4,500 woven garment factories, nearly 1,700 knitwear factories and more than 1,300 textile factories.

Hoque said Russia is also a potential readymade garments (RMG) products’ market for Bangladesh. Every year, Russian buyers outsource a significant number of RMG products to Bangladesh, he said.

Market operators said remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis could exceed $7 billion in 2008 as more and more skilled and semi-skilled workers are going abroad for jobs.

According to official statistics, the country received nearly $6 billion in remittances from non-resident Bangladeshis last year and their contribution to the gross domestic product crossed 13 percent.

 

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Source: jasim@thedailystar.net http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=41981

Bangladeshi Local firm to build 10 ships for Japan​

Highspeed Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, a Bangladeshi local shipbuilder, has won a US$50 million order from Japan to build ten small ships, further evidence of the country’s booming shipbuilding industry.

This is the first time the country has won a Japanese contract and underlines the increasing global acceptance of Bangladesh as an emerging shipbuilding nation. The buyer is Japan based Tokyo Freighting Ltd, a shipping company. The agreement was signed on Wednesday in Dhaka. “Since the Japanese firm is very conscious about standards and compliance, Tokyo Freighting experts will constantly supervise the overall manufacturing of these ships,” said KM Mahmudur Rahman, managing director of Highspeed Shipbuilding & Engineering, who signed the deal with Shigeki Date, managing director of Tokyo Freighting.

As per the agreement Tokyo Freighting Ltd will also provide technical support to Highspeed in developing its Narayanganj dockyard, in line with Japanese standards. Highspeed, which is to invest around US$ 5 million in the coming months to upgrade the manufacturing facility of its dockyard, will supply the ships by October 2010. Shigeki Date, managing director of Tokyo Freighting Ltd, along with Executive Director Yoshiteru Ikeda visited Highspeed dockyard recently and expressed their satisfaction, as it is well equipped with modern machinery. Manufacturing of the first four ships will start by December this year and will be delivered to Tokyo Freighting by March next year. The size of the ships, including dry cargo carriers and oil tankers, will vary from 2,000 tonnes to 4,000 tonnes. The Japanese company will supply all raw materials and other equipment.

Rahman said Japanese manufacturers are currently outsourcing small ships, as it is not cost effective now to manufacture them at huge dockyards. “It is a great development for the country’s shipbuilding industry as Japan, the most advanced shipbuilding nation in the world, starts building in Bangladesh. It may inspire other advanced shipbuilding nations to come to Bangladesh,” Rahman hoped. Currently local shipbuilders including Ananda Shipyard and Western Marine Shipyard are working on about US$ 400 million worth of orders for over 40 vessels for buyers from Germany, Denmark, Netherlands and Mozambique. The success of these two companies have encouraged other local companies such as Meghna Group of Industries, Rangs Group, Khan Brothers and Narayanganj Engineering & Shipbuilding to jump on the bandwagon of global shipbuilding market.

Behind the current boom of the industry is the global rise in the demand for new ships, especially smaller ones with a capacity below 15,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT). This has helped Bangladesh attract the attention of international shipping companies as traditional shipbuilding countries such as Japan, China, South Korea and Vietnam are not interested in building ships with under 20,000 DWT.

 

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Source: BSS

USA-China Industry to invest $2.5m in CEPZ​

World Ye Dress Pants Limited, a US-Chinese company in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone, is to expand its garments accessories unit with more investment and creation of new jobs for the Bangladeshis. The hundred per cent foreign-owned company will enhance their production capacity with additional investment of $2.5 million, totalling the amount to $5 million, a press release of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority said in Dhaka on Sunday. At present, 998 Bangladeshis are working in this factory and the job opportunities for an additional 500 are expected to be created after implementation of the %xpansion programme, the press release said. A lease agreement to this effect was signed between the BEPZA and the company rec%ntly. BEPZA executive chairman Brigadier General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf, among others, was present on the occasion.

 

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Source: hasan@thedailystar.net :The Daily Star: Internet Edition

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Advertisers Find Outsourcing Success in Bangladesh

Each month Dell, the world’s largest computer seller, pushes around 4.5 million catalogues promoting its products through the letterboxes of homes, businesses and institutions across Europe. Dell’s direct selling model has been a staggering success, but few of its customers could guess that each one of the catalogues is laid out by a small company in Dhaka.

Nor could the readers of some of northern Europe’s largest magazines and newspapers ever imagine that the sparkling adverts appearing on the pages in front of them each morning are put together by another company, also located in the heart of the Bangladeshi capital. During the past few months there has been much talk about the huge potential of IT outsourcing and almost as much noise about the problems the industry faces, in terms of the lack of skilled labour and poor internet connections. However in the field of Desk Top Publishing (DTP), Bangladesh has been quietly making a name for itself for several years.

Imtiaz Ilahi, managing director of Graphic People, a joint venture company between Bangladesh and Denmark, now has 50 employees, many of them working on the Dell catalogues. He said Graphic People’s Danish partners had explored outsourcing alternatives in around 30 countries before settling on Bangladesh. “The catalogues normally range from 16 to 72 pages and there are also flyers and direct advertising materials, moreover we are working in 15 different languages,” Imtiaz said. Graphic People receive the text, photos and instructions from Copenhagen and then fit the text and photos into a template. The template has been developed to cope with the different European languages, so the fact that the DTP artist cannot understand the text is not important.

“Our basic advantage is cost. Desktop publishing is very man hour intensive and it was becoming increasingly expensive to do in Europe. To do the work in Bangladesh costs less than 20 percent of the price in Europe, and we are around 30 percent cheaper than India,” Imtiaz said. But it is not just price that keeps the clients happy, “it’s also about quality,” explains Imtiaz. Graphic People now employs 50 people with two Danes on hand mainly for training and development purposes. Dennis Worck, one the Danes, who works as production director, said that in the four years the joint venture has been running the quality of staff has improved sharply. “When we started the type of people we recruited were far below the standard we are getting right now. Over the last few years it has really gone up and has reached a level where we have to spend less and less time on training,” Worck said. Graphic People is not the only Danish IT joint venture, indeed there are now around 20 opertating in Dhaka in fields ranging from software development to animation, and more are looking to establish themselves.

Earlier this year Denmark sponsored one of the country’s major IT exhibitions, SoftExpo 2008,where the Danish ambassador described Bangladesh’s IT industry as having almost ‘unlimited potential.” Another success story in the Desk Top Publishing sector has been Click House, a joint venture between Danish Click House and local Visual Soft. “Our agency has more than 50 customers in Denmark, ” said Thomas Juul Jensen, project adviser of Click House, that now counts two daily Danish newspapers among its clients. Sitting in the company’s stylish Banani office last week Jensen was correcting advertising images for a big Danish weekly magazine distributed by a supermarket chain. “Basically we receive pictures and text from our clients and then we put together all the materials to make a complete catalogue,” Jensen explained.

“We make the soft copy and then we send it to Denmark via the internet for final printing.”

Working on a magazine or catalogue, deadlines can be staggered to fit into the weekly rhythm. With daily newspapers the pace is more demanding. “We get all the materials the day before and we deliver the ads to the newspapers in the afternoon European time and they can print them that night,” Jensen said.

Jensen said cultural differences do create challenges. “The layout is not normal Bangladeshi layout, its Danish layout, so I have to educate the people to accept that, okay, this is actually what Danish people like.”

However he recognizes the quality of Bangladeshi DTP and graphic artists.”When we came here for the first time last year, we were surprised about the quality of the people. I don’t see any difference in the technical abilities in Bangladesh and Denmark.”

And he is clear why outsourcing has the potential to grow. “Denmark is a low unemployment country—- almost everybody is working. If I am a newspaper owner and want a DTP artist, I have to pay at least seven times more than I pay people working here.”

Of course there are problems, and while the success of small companies is encouraging, many experts believe Bangladesh needs to develop a major IT firm to put the country on the map.

At Graphic People Imtiaz points to failures in infrastructure as a major hurdle, be it unreliable internet connections or power supplies. These mean his company has to pay heavily to provide back up solutions. Internet pricing is also an issue although Imtiaz was positive about the moves now being taken by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to lower costs.

“But we really need to do more to brand Bangladesh as an outsourcing nation. We can win business here and there, but it needs the government to launch a broader campaign to raise the awareness outside the country of what is possible in Bangladesh.”

 

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Source: :The Daily Star: Internet Edition

Elevated expressway for capital by 2011​

by Rejaul Karim Byron

The government in its second PRSP has planned to construct an elevated expressway in the capital and a Dhaka-Chittagong expressway by 2011 in a bid to ease traffic congestion in the capital and to speed up communication with the port city.

The government also plans to upgrade Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Khulna, Dhaka-Sylhet, and Dhaka-Tangail highways to four lanes, and to construct the already planned Padma Bridge by 2011.

A draft of the second PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for 2009-2011) will be submitted to the National Economic Council meeting today, which will be chaired by the chief adviser.

The second PRSP also includes a plan to construct a ring road around the capital and a flyover across Pragati Sarani in Gulshan area.

A Tk 2,50,000 crore cost has been projected for implementing the second PRSP, at least 20 percent of which has been projected for the education sector, while 19 percent has been projected for infrastructure building, and 11 percent for the health sector.

The government has planned to set aside Tk 67,780 crore for non-discretionary expenditure including payment of interests and defence expenditure.

The projected revenue earning has been set at Tk 2,29,285 crore while domestic borrowing has been set at Tk 33,939 crore for resource mobilisation.

There is however a projected budget deficit of at least Tk 49,236 crore.

Domestic borrowing will be kept within 3 percent of GDP, while non-concessionary borrowing will be limited to 1 percent of GDP, the draft PRSP says.

"The government would not borrow from the central bank except to cope with daily cash requirements or to face problems of natural disasters, national security, or other exceptional circumstances on temporary basis," it adds.

To increase revenue earnings, the government will extend the tax net and value added tax (VAT), and will introduce unified tax identification numbers (TIN) for income tax and VAT.

The government will also introduce public-private partnership for decentralising tax collection efforts, the draft says.

The new PRSP also plans reduction of average protective tariff to 15 percent and enhancement of revenue mobilisation efforts for reducing dependence on import taxes.

To enhance private investment, the government will take measures to make unused land available for creating industrial or economic zones, provide incentives for private industrial estates, and will acquire land to handover to potential investors through the Board of Investment for setting up new industrial or special economic zones, or for industrial parks.

The government in the second draft PRSP has also disclosed a plan for instituting new policies and regulatory frameworks for enabling private investments in economic zones, and for improving land zoning for industrial purposes.

To attract foreign direct investment (FDI), the government will also introduce equity protection laws, and simplify procedures for opening up branches or liaison offices of foreign companies in ent</a></s.

Measures will also be taken to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides along with phasing out of persistent organic pollutants.

The first PRSP had been introduced for the period of 2005--2007, the tenure of which was extended up to the last fiscal.

The PRSP has been prepared mainly with advice from International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World entk. But, so far the government has not assessed the failures and successes of the first PRSP.

Asked about the evaluation, a high official of the planning ministry said they have incorporated the evaluation in the second PRSP. The draft of second PRSP, however, does not show any such specific evaluation.