No more block allocation in next budget
November 18, 2008
The military-backed interim government has decided not to keep any block allocations in the next budget with a view to trim down corruption and inefficiency in utilisation of these funds. It was informed by the finance ministry in a recent circular to all other ministries asking for their estimated resource ceilings for the next three years under the mid-term budgetary framework.
Businesses lay out 100-day tasks of new govt
November 16, 2008
The country’s business community has laid out 52 recommendations for 21 sectors for the incoming government in the first 100 days of its term. They also made special requests for an accord through pre-election talks to formulate laws banning general strikes, barring children and minors from strikes and picketing, and forming a shadow government by opposition parties to boost public confidence.
Nation eagerly waiting for elected govt
November 10, 2008
President Iajuddin Ahmed yesterday said the entire nation is eagerly waiting to welcome a newly elected government by December after the general elections.
“I call upon all concerned to extend their full cooperation in this regard,” he said.
The president made the call while speaking at the 3rd convocation of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST) at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city.
A total of 1,650 students were awarded bachelor’s and master’s degrees in seven disciplines, including architecture, electrical and electronic, civil, computer science and textile engineering.
Justice ATM Afzal delivered the convocation speech while AUST Syndicate chairman and President of Dhaka Ahsania Mission Kazi Rafiqul Alam and Vice-Chancellor of the university Prof Dr M Anwar Hossain also spoke.
President Iajuddin, who is also the chancellor of the university, said that in this era of globalisation, the learning of science and technological education is of paramount importance to meet the demand of the 21st century.
“In this context, universities have to provide modern curricula and congenial atmosphere to impart quality education,” he said.
Welcoming the new graduates, the president urged them to uphold the truth and justice at every sphere of their life keeping national interest above.
“I hope you are capable enough to shoulder the responsibilities for developing our country in diverse fields,” he said. “I believe your sincere efforts, honest persuasion and social commitment would surely help in building a happy and prosperous Bangladesh.”
Seven students were awarded Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah gold medals for their outstanding results and other extra curricula activities.
Justice ATM Afzal said, “There is need to support the private universities which deserve it by their record of performance, but there is a stronger need to weed out the commercial outlets which are doing more harm than good.”
Source: The Daily Star
CA launches Batexpo, seeks pay hike for garment workers
November 9, 2008
Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed has urged the garment industries to raise the salary and allowances of the workers in line with the dearness allowance of the civil servants. He made the call while inaugurating the Bangladesh Apparel and Textile Exposition (Batexpo) at Hotel Sonargaon on Thursday.
Bangladeshi co to invest $5m at Adamjee EPZ
November 6, 2008
M/s. Mottle Industries Limited a Bangladeshi company will set up a Garments Accessories Manufacturing industry in the Adamjee Export Processing Zone. This100% local owned company will invest US $5 million to set up their plant and will produce Garments Accessories.
Month-long trade fair begins in Gopalganj
October 27, 2008
A month-long trade fair began at Sheikh Kamal Stadium here on Saturday.
Chief adviser’s special assistant for Power and Energy Ministry Prof M Tamim formally inaugurated the fair.
Presided over by Kazi Zinnat Ali, president of Gopalganj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the inaugural function was also addressed by Police Super M Abdul Quddus Amin and poura mayor Hasmat Ali Sikder Chunnu.
The District Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised the fair. Some 150 stalls and pavilions were established in the fair.
The organizers also arranged circus and puppet show in the fair for the entertainment of the visitors.
Source: The New Nation
Govts shield businesses
October 25, 2008
Governments rolled out fresh measures yesterday to shield businesses and banks from the financial maelstrom as deepening fears of a global recession ensured another battering for stock markets.
As new figures showed cross-border lending by banks had suffered its biggest decline for a decade, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a sovereign wealth fund to protect strategically important firms while Britain’s government leant on bank bosses to start loosening the purse strings.
The fresh falls came despite an announcement of further measures designed to restore confidence in the finance sector and among consumers.
Japan’s central bank said it had injected 600 billion yen (6.2 billion dollars) into the short-term money market while the International Monetary Fund moved to bail out Pakistan, which could need as much as 15 billion dollars to help pay mounting foreign debt.
Governments around the world have unveiled packages over the last month totalling more than three trillion dollars, including loan guarantees and cash injections, to restore confidence to the financial system and reverse a sharp slowdown in lending.
The scale of the slowdown was illustrated by figures from the Bank for International Settlements, the world’s biggest central banking body, which showed cross-border lending by banks fell 1.1 trillion dollars in the second quarter of 2008.
Banks were also hit by one trillion dollars’ worth of withdrawals, particularly by clients in the United States, Britain and Switzerland.
Sarkozy said the events of recent weeks had discredited free-market ideology and showed that economies needed strong state intervention to succeed.
“The ideology of the dictatorship of the market … is dead,” he said, in a speech in which he announced that France would set up a sovereign wealth fund to “intervene massively” in companies of national strategic importance.
In Britain, the finance minister was meeting the heads of major banks to urge them to relax their lending conditions for small firms.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling and Business Secretary Peter Mandelson were expected to tell bank chiefs that they had to help small firms through the looming recession.
Europe yesterday called for greater help from Asia in tackling the “unprecedented” challenges of the global economic crisis, on the eve of a summit in Beijing between leaders of the two regions.
However a diplomatic spat threatened to distract the two-day Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM), after the European Union parliament defied warnings from China and awarded its major human rights award to a prominent Chinese dissident.
With both continents struggling to cope with the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression, the 43 nations belonging to ASEM were expected to see the two regions agree on tighter cooperation in tackling the turmoil.
“We swim together or we sink together,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said after arriving in Beijing, as he called for Asia and Europe to work together if they were to survive the crisis.
“We need Asia to be on board, and more particularly countries like China, India (and) Japan,” he told reporters, outlining the “unprecedented” challenges facing the global economy, under threat of a looming worldwide recession.
Source: The Daily Star
Gas supply gets a boost
October 11, 2008
Fifteen million cubit feet of gas is set to be added to the transmission line Friday, a senior government official said.
Jalal Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh oil, gas and mineral corporation Petrobangla, said Thursday that the gas will be produced at Fenchuganj gas field.
In a span of one week, 45 million cubit feet gas will have been added to the national transmission line, with 30 million cubic feet already having been supplied from Bangura gas field in Comilla.
Jalal Ahmed said the rig now being used at Fenchuganj would be utilised for gas extraction from two more wells in Bakhrabad. Twenty million cubic feet gas will be extracted from the wells.
He said a new well would be dug in Titas gas field by December for another 25 million cubic feet of gas. The well at the Titas gas field was earlier capped as gas was leaking at different places.
The Petrobangla chief said over 300 million cubic feet of gas would be added to the national supply over the next three years.
The news comes at a time when the government temporarily barred new gas connections to new industrial factories in Chittagong due to a gas crisis. Jalal Ahmed said 10 million out of 30 million from Bangura was to be supplied to for Chittagong industry.
And the 15 million cubic feet from Fenchuganj will be routed to Dhaka.
According to Petrobangla, the country has reserves of 7.5 trillion cubic feet gas. Another, five trillion cubic feet is potentially available in various fields of the country. Probable unexploited gas reserves total 8 trillion cubic feet.
The country’s 79 wells in 18 gas fields can produce 1,834 million cubic feet gas a day. On Thursday, gas production stood at 1,684 million cubic feet.
Of them, 240 million cubic feet is supplied to fertiliser factories against a demand of 289 million cubic feet, and 613 to power plants against a demand of 861 million cubic feet.
Prices of vegetables, onion, pulses on rise
October 11, 2008
Staff Correspondent
Prices of the vegetables, pulses, onion, fish and eggs have gone up this week while that of different varieties of rice and other essentials remain unchanged in the city markets.
Besides, price of packed edible oil price has soared slightly while prices of all types of fish are spinning out of the reach of the city dwellers and now it is difficult for the commoners to have their meals with fish.
The price of both loose and packed edible oil which recorded a downward trend last few weeks has started soaring up suddenly despite fall in international markets. Yesterday Soya bean oil (packed) was selling at Tk 108 per liter and another variety of loose Soya bean oil was available at Tk 85 per litre.
Yesterday, Palm oil was selling between Tk 70-74 per litre. Pulse (local) was selling at Tk 110 per kg and imported pulse (Indian) was selling at Tk 88 per kg.
Suddenly prices of both local and imported onion went up by a big margin; yesterday local onion was selling at Tk 36 while the imported onion was selling at Tk 30 per kg.
Yesterday, prices of most varieties of fish have continued to record upward trend and went apparently out of the reach of the middle income groups. Winter is approaching closer, but it is yet to have any impact on the vegetables prices and the traders said there is a lack of enough supply of vegetables in the city markets, that’s why the price of most of the items are increasing day by day.
Price of green chilli has gone up by Tk 10 per kg yesterday and it was selling at Tk 60 per kg.
Yesterday, lata was selling at Tk 35 per kg, pari at 35/ 36, miniket 42/43 and najirshail at Tk 37-42 per kg. Chicken broiler was selling at Tk 125 per kg, yesterday. Local garlic was selling at Tk 40 per kg.
Yesterday Ruhi was selling at Tk 300 per kg, small-sized shrimp at Tk 500 per kg, medium-sized hilsha at Tk 350 per kg. Beef was selling at Tk 220 per kg and mutton at Tk 300 per kg. Flour was selling at Tk 36 per kg and atta at Tk 34 per kg. Gram was selling at Tk 52 per kg.
On Friday, Potato was selling at Tk 18, cucumber at Tk 60, tomato at Tk 80, Korola at Tk 36 per kg, Brinjal at Tk 60 per kg, ladies finger at Tk 28 per kg and Patal at 24 per kg.
Price of eggs also has also gone up slightly. Yesterday, per dozen egg (chicken) was being sold at Tk 80-88 while duck egg at Tk 70-74 per dozen.
Source: The Bangladesh Today
Draft ICT Roadmap draws serious criticism
September 24, 2008
The draft ‘ICT Roadmap’ has faced strong criticism soon after its launch with stakeholders alleging that it contains proposals that are contrary to national laws and administrative integrity.
The government paper carried contradictory proposals like upgrading divisions to federal states and creating imaginary post like ‘chief digital adviser’ under the chief adviser for implementing the roadmap.
Sources in the information and communication technology sector alleged that the draft prepared at a cost of about Tk 2.5 crore was untenable and inadequate, and carried statements undermining the country’s parliament.
The draft in its proposal states that ‘development of clusters of high-growth ICT companies based around hi-tech parks in each division of Bangladesh by 2013, or federal states, if they are so upgraded by that time’.
It said that the ICT Roadmap will deliver through a range of strengthened governance mechanisms including an envisaged ICT taskforce with appointment of a full-time ‘chief digital adviser’ who will report directly to the taskforce and the chief adviser.
Among many weaknesses for ICT in Bangladesh, the paper pointed out, ‘Parliament is non-functional, so weaker democratic legitimacy behind government initiatives.’
Concerned quarters have questioned the farsightedness of the consultants in seeing Bangladesh split into federal states in future, presence of chief adviser at least till 2013 and the country having a ‘non-functional parliament’ as stated in the draft.
Formulating the roadmap or action plan for the information technology sector was assigned to UK-based company, Gov3 Limited and their two local partners—Spinnovation Limited and D.Net.
The government took the initiative to formulate the national ICT Roadmap for Bangladesh under the Economic Management and Technical Assistance Program (EMTAP), managed by Bangladesh Computer Council with assistance from the World Bank.
Concerned sources said the draft roadmap would lead Bangladesh to ‘nowhere’ and the paper was certainly not fit for Bangladesh.
ICT sector sources said the draft was much below expected standard and the preparation process involved irrelevant people.
They alleged that the consultants had made it by ensuring foreign trips for several bureaucrats in the name of seeing development of ICT sector there.
The draft of the national ICT Roadmap was made public on Thursday at a function attended among others by agriculture adviser CS Karim, and chief adviser’s special assistant Professor M Tamim, science and ICT secretary SM Wahiduzzaman, Centre for Development Research chairman Mizanur Rahman Shelly, Bangladesh Computer Society chairman Aminul Hoque, Bangladesh Computer Samity chairman Mustafa Jabbar and Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) president Habibullah N Karim.
CS Karim, discussing on the draft, said the structure of the government with a ministry and the statutory bodies under it should be sufficient for implementation of the development plans for IT sector.
The requirement of novel bodies inconsistent with the government structure was not possible, he noted.
The adviser felt that stakeholders were not appropriately sensitised to the IT Roadmap and as such it remained inadequate. He directed that all stakeholders must be within the ambit of interaction and the process had to be wholesome and comprehensive for success of any roadmap.
‘We have very little resources, we can’t waste any. We must have precise and doable targets. Don’t re-invent the wheel. Work from within the system and within the limitations of statutory requirements,’ he said.
SM Kamal, a former president of BASIS, failed to understand how this roadmap was released with the ICT policy still under review.
M Tamim, special assistant to the chief adviser, said that the roadmap lacked sufficient directions for development of skilled manpower for IT sector.
‘The roadmap said that high speed internet facilities should be provided to students for skilled development. More details should be there on skilled manpower development,’ he observed.
Tamim said that the country lacked skilled manpower because of wrong policy taken earlier. ‘The main focus of skill development was fixed earlier to cater to the IT need of USA. It would have been better if the aim was set to meet homegrown need.’
He also opposed the recommendations on privatising state-run Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited, which was formed recently by turning Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board into a company.
‘Why should it be privatised? It is true that the government should not engage in business. That is why state-run companies are formed. State-run companies can compete with other business entities under good regulatory framework,’ he observed.
During open discussion AKM Shamsuddoha of Dohatec stated that the draft roadmap failed to take into account the strength and achievements of the IT sector. He mentioned the successful marks of IT in the country’s banking sector, the stock market, utility billing, education boards, voters’ registration and National ID Project.
The proposed roadmap failed to say how Bangladesh’s ICT sector should prepare itself to secure a rightful share in the global market.
The draft was a poor sifting through a host of recommendations made in different forums, Doha said.
Khairuzzaman of the Dhaka Stock Exchange said that the roadmap did not address key technical issues and suggested that special emphasis should be placed on security.
Source: New Age