A technical committee, formed by the government, on May 28 recommended Sonadia Island as the best site for the construction of the proposed deep sea port. The committee, headed by AKM Shafiullah, director general of shipping, at a meeting formally recommended the site of the deep sea port to ease the pressure on Chittagong Port.

The Dock Workers Board of Directors at Mongla Port will be abolished and a new cargo handling system introduced soon to smooth operation of the country’s second largest seaport, which has been underused due to alleged mismanagement. In a further step, the government has decided that part of government-level imports and exports would be shifted to this port to enhance ship arrivals here. The new cargo handling system, known as berth operation, has recently been introduced at Chittagong port as part of the scheme to improve performance at the country’s premier port.

The caretaker government (CG) has finalised a Tk 265.00 billion annual development programmne (ADP) for the upcoming fiscal, giving top priority to the power sector. Allocation for the problem-ridden power sector has been fixed at around Tk 60.00 billion or 23 per cent of the total ADP. The size of new ADP is also around 23 per cent up from the revised ADP of the outgoing fiscal. The new ADP was finalised at a meeting of the planning commission on May 25.

UAE based business conglomerate Abu Dhabi Group (also known as Dhabi Group) has recently expressed their interest to invest in energy sector of Bangladesh among other investment proposals. In a formal letter addressed to BoI executive chairman, the group has sought support from BoI and other government body for investment in energy, hospitality, and real-estate sector.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) will promote growth, human development and good governance in Bangladesh during 2008-2010 with increased focus on power, gas, transport, education, urban development and regional cooperation. It will also play a supporting role to complement other development partners’ initiatives in SME, agribusiness, irrigation, finance and agriculture development, according to a press release.

Speakers at a seminar on May 21 stressed the need for promoting effective corporate governance in the country to boost investors’ confidence. They said the capital market in Bangladesh is still at an emerging stage with market capitalisation amounting to only 6.5 percent of GDP, while neighbouring countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka enjoy much higher rates of market capitalisation. Lack of investor confidence caused by inadequate practice of corporate governance is primarily responsible for such situation, the speakers observed.

The process of corporatisation of three nationalised commercial banks (NCBs) is in progress to make them public limited companies (Plc) by May 31 next, the date set earlier by the finance ministry. The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies & Firms has already issued registration letters to two NCBs- Agrani and Janata – with approval for starting business operation as limited companies.

Speakers at a seminar held on May 19 in the city have stressed the need for better understanding on trade fraud forgery, under-invoicing, over invoicing and impact of globalisation on country’s foreign trade. Citibank, NA Bangladesh organised the seminar titled ‘International Trade Management’ as part of its global trade initiatives and client education. The seminar mainly focused on disseminating the required knowledge and skills in understanding various trade settlement methods, associated fund flow risks and mitigants, recent changes in ICC rules and its overall impact.

The Enterprise Growth and Bank Modernisation Project (EGBMP), initiated by the government, is helping the private sector to create more jobs through its efficient financial sector performance. The World Bank (WB) is providing US$ 257.63 million to implement the project to create jobs through private sector enterprise growth and promote speedy reforms within State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) and the Nationalised Commercial Banks (NCBs).

The World Bank (WB) has asked the government to put in place electronic tendering as well as procurement systems within the next 15 months, thus making the country’s purchase process more transparent and digital-friendly. Initially, the Washington-based global lender wants the Dhaka-based government agencies to take the lead in introducing e-purchase in case of international procurement of goods and services.

An association of Bangladeshi expatriates expressed their strong eagerness to buy the Oriental Bank with a plan for boosting the flow of remittances into the country. Chairman of International Expatriates Welfare Society (INEWS) and a sponsor director of Al-Arafah Bank Limited Mohammad Nawab Ali Bhuiyan told journalists at a press conference in the city on May 20 that the society, the only registered organisation of the NRBs, had already submitted proposal for buying the Oriental Bank to the chief adviser, finance adviser, Bangladesh Bank governor and administrator of Oriental Bank.

Global Steel Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of UK-based Mittal Group, intends to invest a total of $5.0 billion in Bangladesh’s petrochemical, coal, steel and power sectors. The company has already submitted an Expression of Interest (EoI) to the Board of Investment (BoI) and other ministries concerned of the Bangladesh government in this connection. With the EoI Global Steel has also submitted a draft copy of memorandum of understanding (MoU) for examination by the Bangladesh government.

The country’s export basket has got a new item ‘Halal meat’ as Bengal Meat Processing Industries Limited (BMPIL) has started exporting it to the Middle East. The BMPIL, the first such industry in the country, has been exporting a limited quantity of mutton to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait for the last one month. Primarily they are exporting 1 tonne of the processed meat on average by air. The export order is increasing day by day. This firm has been negotiating with some Western and Southeast Asian countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore to export the processed meat.

Bangadeshi businesses should take the advantage of duty-free access of products from least developed countries (LDCs) to Australia, said Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Australia M Humayun Kabir. He was speaking at the inauguration of the Bangladesh pavilion at an international trade show that began in Sydney on Thursday, according to a press release. The four-day event styled ‘Asia on Show’ is one of the largest trade exhibitions in Sidney where a total of 15 Bangladeshi companies are showcasing their products.

Increasing participation of local and foreign investors pushed up the daily average turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange to Tk 117.98 crore from the previous week’s Tk 82.23 crore. Turnover rose due to the bigger participation of local institutional and foreign investors. The country’s stock market returned to an upward trend from the closing end of April after witnessing downtrend for months. Total turnover on DSE in the last week increased by 43.48 per cent to Tk 589.91 crore from the previous week’s Tk 411.14 crore.

Agrani Bank, a nationalised commercial bank, on May 17 received a licence from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSCF) to operate as a public limited company. However, the bank still requires approval from the central bank to run as a public limited company. The sources said the bank along with two other nationalised commercial banks-Sonali Bank and Janata Bank-applied for registration with the RJSCF and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) early last month to operate as public limited company.

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) on May 17 approved 16 development projects involving Tk 4,932, including Tk 2,638 crore as project aid. The Ecnec, with Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair, gave nod to four power projects at a cost outlay of Tk 2,205 crore. The approved power projects are rehabilitation and modernisation of Ghorashal Thermal power station unit 1 and 2 (revised), construction of Chandpur 150 MW combined cycle power station (revised), rehabilitation of Karnaphuli Hydropower unit 3 (revised) and construction of Siddhirganj 2×120 MW peaking power plant (revised).

The Council of Advisers on May 19 approved some steps to turn Biman Bangladesh Airlines into a Public Limited Company (PLC) by June. It asked the ministries concerned to prepare a phase-by-phase programme to make the huge loss-incurring national airlines into a profitable organisation. At its weekly meeting, the council approved in principle a proposal to review Biman’s possible manpower cut, audit its current financial state and sketch out alternatives to its fuel purchase arrangements with Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).

Bangladesh is going to export cement to neighbouring India from June next which, will help reduce Dhaka’s huge trade imbalance with New Delhi. Bangladesh suffers from a chronic trade deficit with its large trading partner, with the gap hovering at around US$ 1.5 billion annually. India will import 10,000 tonnes of cement a month initially to meet the demand for the ongoing projects in its Assam state. A large number of bridges are under construction in Assam, sources said.

The country’s GDP growth will fall 0.12 percentage point in the current fiscal year coming down to 6.51 percent due to low performance of the agriculture sector and shortage of electricity, projects Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). However, per capita income is expected to increase by a record 10 percent reaching $520 from last year’s $476. BBS has also set its final calculation of GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate in FY2005-06 at 6.63 percent, which was 6.71 percent in its provisional estimate.