# Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & Discussions



## BDforever

*Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology on Thursday disclosed that the works for establishing an electronic city at Companyganj upazila in Sylhet are underway and the works of Taka seven crore has already been completed, reports BSS. The ICT Division has taken the project to establish the electronic city in 162 acres of land at Companyganj upazila, this was revealed at a meeting of the committee at the Sangsad Bhaban. Presided over by Committee Chairman Imran Ahmed, the meeting was attended by State Minister for Post and Telecommunication Tarana Halim, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Moyazzam Hossain Ratan, Shawkat Hasanur Rahman (Rimon), Sharid Ahmed, Kazi Feroz Rashid and Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia. The project sources said an electronic city will be set up with three types of facilities -- training centre, ICT parks and electronic project. At the meeting, the committee made a recommendation to the ministry to take necessary measures for ensuring proper monitoring over the development project under ICT division.*
source: Govt to establish electronic city in Sylhet

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## Homo Sapiens

*Development of railways to boost Bangladesh’s economy*






Rupak Bhattacharjee
5th Feb 2017
The present Awami League (AL) government of Sheikh Hasina has attached top priority to the development of Bangladesh’s railway system, which is one of the most important means of transportation in the country. Railway was introduced in Bangladesh by the British during the late 19th century primarily to advance their colonial and economic interests and things did not improve much even after the attainment of independence in 1971.

In its efforts to increase trade, commerce, tourism and create job opportunities, the Hasina government has initiated scores of transport infrastructure projects, including railway across the country since 2009. The government devised a 20-year master plan aimed at bringing all the 64 districts of the country under the railway network. Currently, railway facilities are available in 44 districts only.

*A brief profile of Bangladesh Railway*
State-owned rail transport agency Bangladesh Railway (BR) operates and maintains the whole railway network of the country. According to recent reports, nearly 32% of the total area of Bangladesh is covered by the railways. BR operates a track of 2706 km, employs about 60,000 people and provides passenger and cargo services through 502 stations. The striking features of the BR have been the co-existence of different gauges, including broad gauge, metre gauge and dual gauge and separation of the transport system by the Jamuna River into Eastern and Western Zone of operations.

BR operates inter-city, suburban, container services (currently restricted to Chittagong-Dhaka route), bulk freight movements (focusing on commodities such as sand, stone, food grain, fertilizer, iron and steel) and international routes on its multi-gauge network. The proposed Dhaka metro rail project would add further fillip to Bangladesh’s railway transport system. The Directorate General of Bangladesh Railway under the Ministry of Railways along with Bangladesh Railway Authority (BRA) controls the functioning of BR. The BRA also provides policy inputs to BR.

*Recent railway projects*
Under the master plan, the AL government has undertaken several projects to build 571.30 km new railway lines across Bangladesh. Railway Minister Md. Mozibul Haque noted that the government approved 85 projects costing Tk 45,423 crore after the formation of the Hasina government in 2009. Reports suggest that BR would build a 166.33 km new railway line connecting Dhaka with Jessore via Mawa, Bhanga and Narail with the financial assistance of China, while 50.41 km Kashiani-Gopalganj-Tungipara route to be taken up soon. Besides, the government has constructed a 35 km new railway line on Tarakandi-Bangabandhu Bridge section and revived Kalukhali-Bhatiapara, and Pachuria-Faridpur rail routes.

Moreover, the 64.75 km Khulna-Mongla section has been implemented under Indian Line of Credit (LoC). The Bangladesh government had also submitted a proposal to the Chinese government for setting up a chord line from Fatullah on Dhaka-Narayanganj section to Chittagong via Laksam. Furthermore, BR has completed a feasibility study to build a new rail link from Mavran to Munshiganj through Satkhira on its own. In addition to these, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has endorsed a mega project of BR to build rail tracks from Akhaura to Laksam facilitating movement of goods and passenger.

*Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar Greenfield Project*
In order to enhance tourism and trade in the southernmost parts of the country, the AL government has decided to build a 120 km dual-gauge passenger railway line from Dohazari, a village near Chittagong, to Cox’s Bazar—a tourist hotspot of Bangladesh. Reports say the Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar Greenfield Project is among the seven investment sub-projects which have been undertaken by BR to up grade Bangladesh’s rail connectivity with other Asian countries. The project is part of the proposed Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) and would provide access to neighbouring Myanmar and beyond.

South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) has agreed to support BR in constructing the Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar section of the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar railway route in south-eastern Bangladesh. The project was endorsed by the SASEC trade facilitation and transport working group meeting in Tokyo on November 26, 2016. BR is renovating the 47 km Chittagong-Dohazari section on its own funds. Earlier in September 2016, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which serves as SASEC Secretariat, granted $ 1.5 billion of funding to the project. This is the largest investment ever made by ADB to Bangladesh’s railways.

The Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar rail project will take five years to complete and create considerable job opportunities for local community. The rail route would be extended up to Myanmar’s border and the proposed sea port at Matarbari. The route will also establish link with the western region of Bangladesh and India’s North East especially Tripura. The rail project would help Bangladesh meet its targets under the 7th Five Year Plan and railway master plan that seeks to increase the country’s freight market share to 15% and passenger market share to 10%.

*Akhaura-Laksam Double Line Project*
In another major development on March 6, 2016, the Bangladesh government signed a deal worth Tk 231.37 crore with a consortium of five companies, both domestic and foreign, for the consultancy services of the 72 km Akhaura-Laksam Double Line Project in the Dhaka-Chittagong route. Railway Minister Mozibul Haque said under the agreement, all aspects of the project—from design to completion of the construction work—would be supervised by the consortium.

Reports indicate that of the Tk 231.37 crore, the Bangladesh government would release Tk 59 crore and the rest will be obtained from the ADB as loan. As part of the master plan, the AL government wants to facilitate movement of passenger and freight and increase export, import and commercial activities on the Dhaka-Chittagong route. The Akhaura-Laksam rail project is expected to be completed in five years. It may be added that Prime Minister Hasina had already inaugurated the double line railways in Laksam-Chinki Astana and Tongi-Bhoiran sections.

*Dhaka Metro Rail Project *
The Hasina government has also decided to improve the traffic conditions of the heavily-congested capital city Dhaka by introducing metro rail. Traffic in Dhaka, home to 15 million people, is one of the slowest in the world with commuters spending three-to-four hours in jams daily. On February 20, 2013, Bangladesh inked a loan agreement with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for setting up the country’s first-ever metro rail system, involving $ 2.8 billion.

The proposed 20.1 km ground and elevated railway would cover Dhaka from north to south with 16 stations and would carry four million passengers every day, reducing jams to a great extent. The metro rail would lessen travel time to 36 minutes, which currently takes hours. Under the deal, the JICA will release 85% of the cost at a nominal interest rate of 0.01%.

Reports suggest that metro rail project’s main construction work will begin in early 2017 and end in 2022. Once the metro rail becomes operational, Dhaka’s commuters could enjoy hassle-free journey. Metro rail officials have pointed out that the rail scheme would be noise-free, with noise barriers and vibration-free lines, and the cars would be made of stainless steel and aluminium alloy. Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority under Roads and Highways Department of the Communication Ministry is implementing the project. The metro rail project is likely to play the role of a catalyst in the economic development of Bangladesh.

*Padma Bridge rail link project*
In its bids to expand railway connectivity across the country, the AL government has initiated the process of building bridges along with railway lines over the major river systems of Bangladesh as well. In a significant development on August 8, 2016, Bangladesh Railway Bureau and China Railway Group signed a deal worth $ 3.14 billion to set up a rail link across the Padma Bridge in Dhaka. The bridge will establish link between the western and eastern parts of the country. The 168.6 km railway line originating from Dhaka and terminating at Jessore would also provide crucial rail link in south-western Bangladesh.

The improvement of traffic conditions would inevitably accelerate the development process in these regions of Bangladesh. Besides, the railway link is likely to augment Bangladesh’s foreign trade with India, China and Myanmar. The construction of railway line across the Padma Bridge referred to as “Bridge of Dreams” in Bangladesh, would ease dependence on riverine transport to travel between Dhaka and 21 southern districts. This new railway project is also a major component of the proposed TAR.

*Dhaka-Payra Port Rail Link Project *
To make transportation of goods between Dhaka and the country’s third sea port at Payra cheaper and faster, the Bangladesh government has decided to introduce container train service through foreign collaboration. On December 20, 2016, Bangladesh inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Britain’s DP Rail to design, finance, operate and maintain the 240 km Dhaka-Payra rail route. The $ 7.5 billion deal is described as the biggest foreign direct investment (FDI) for Bangladesh’s railway so far. The rail project is important for Bangladesh to expand its international trade especially in the arena of readymade garment (RMG)—Bangladesh’s biggest export item.

Experts are of the opinion that the new rail route will play a pivotal role in the development of the country’s southern region. The DP Rail is hopeful that the freight train service will start functioning prospectively in 2024. The British firm is reportedly working with China Railway Construction Corporation (International) Limited as its key civil engineering contractor. Bangladesh’s Ministry of Railways think that the Dhaka-Payra rail link could fetch significant revenue by facilitating transportation of goods to and from the deep sea port at Payra.

To meet the country’s development needs and priorities, the AL government has initiated much needed up gradation of Bangladesh’s rail transport network throughout the country. Efforts are also underway to improve sub-regional connectivity through rail and integrate Bangladesh with the booming markets of the neighbouring countries and beyond. The Bangladesh government needs to pursue the goals envisioned in the 20-year master plan vigorously as the key advantage of the rail transport network is in long distance travel and carriage of goods. BR could hugely contribute to the country’s economy once all the railway projects undertaken begin functioning.
http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2017/02/05/development-of-railways-to-boost-bangladeshs-economy/

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## Homo Sapiens

One correction here.Initially it was decided to be a meter gauze rail line which to be seen in the foundation stone inaugural back in 2011.But now it is decided to be build as a broad gauze line.Cost will be 180 billion Taka.


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## Gandh brandi

I think road infrastructure should be more important. Sure railway can move goods imported and exported via ports but most of our cargo like food items are still road based. The whole pretext and excuse of farmers using preservatives is that food items get rotten because of long journey. Also price gauging businessmen uses same excuse. Not to mention national highways which are two-lanes are quite dangerous. Also highway project could be the backbone to boost internet connectivity. Most major cities outside Dhaka and Chittagong still don't have cable internet. Money-sucking WiMax only option.


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## Homo Sapiens

Sybaris Caeser said:


> Most major cities outside Dhaka and Chittagong still don't have cable internet. Money-sucking WiMax only option.


I don't know about other cities but broadband in Sylhet is quite common.I used them in Sylhet city.


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## Homo Sapiens

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1274666/media#photo/0
* Bangladesh to build film city to revive cinema industry*
SHEHAB SUMON | *Published — *Wednesday 28 March 2018



DHAKA: *Bangladesh will soon build a film city near the capital, which will revive the country’s flagging cinema industry, said the Bangladesh Film Development Corp. (BFDC), which is planning to renovate 50 cinemas nationwide.*

*Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Film City will be built on 105 acres of land. “Our plan is to make it an international city,” BFDC Managing Director Amir Hossain told Arab News.*

*The first phase of development work is almost over, allowing movie makers to see the city’s infrastructure.*

*“We’ve spent $2.5 million on the city so far. It’s a mega project that will cost $70 million to $80 million, spent in different phases within the next few years,” said Hossain.*

*The plan to renovate 50 cinemas “will cost around $6 million, and will gradually be extended to most of the cinemas in the country,” he added.*

*To provide better logistics to filmmakers, the BFDC said it has bought the latest equipment worth $6 million, which is already being used. The plan follows a sharp drop in film revenues that has forced many cinemas to shut down.*

Kazi Showeb Rashid, general secretary of the Bangladesh Motion Pictures Exhibitors Association, said his family used to operate 22 cinemas across the country some five years ago, but now runs only five.

“There were around 1,000 cinemas in Bangladesh a decade ago. This was reduced to 550 some five years back. Currently, there are only 315 cinemas left in the country,” he said.

Film Directors Association President Mushfikur Rahman Guljar said copyright piracy is one of the main detriments to the industry.

“If producers don’t get their money back from the film, it discourages them from further investment,” he added.

“If we can control piracy and introduce an e-ticketing system in cinemas, this will protect producers’ payoff. Only then will they come up with big investments and make movies again.”
Misha Sawdagor, president of the Film Actors’ Association, identified another problem facing the industry.

“It needs a bunch of fresh and talented actors. Audiences are bored stiff of seeing the same faces. The industry can’t move forward if it depends only on a few stars,” Sawdagor told Arab News.

“Now the horizon is open. Audiences are watching big-budget films from Hollywood and Bollywood every day, so we need to allocate more money to compete with international movies.”

Khurshed Alam Khosru, joint convenor of the Producer-Distributor Association, told Arab News: “Last year we had only 64 new movies, while there were around 115 new movies made every year around five or six years back. Since cinemas aren’t getting enough new and good movies, they have no choice but to shut down.”

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## Homo Sapiens

Homo Sapiens said:


> Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Film City

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## Flynn Swagmire

Homo Sapiens said:


> Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Film City will be built on 105 acres of land.


BAL-er brain...

They might want to rename Bangladesh to BangaBandhuDesh someday...

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## Nahid

Homo Sapiens said:


>


and the proudce cinema name will be bangabondho 1,2,3...................

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## Neptune_

Excellent news. As long as infrastructures r getting built, we should be happy and appreciate the hard work of the government.

What's the point of making so much fuss about a simple name. It's just a name after all.

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## Skies

Yeh, even more vooo


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## Homo Sapiens

*https://www.priyo.com/articles/open...ity-at-the-beginning-of-the-new-year-20171230*
*নতুন বছরের শুরুতেই দরজা খুলছে বঙ্গবন্ধু ফিল্ম সিটির*

মিঠু হালদার
_নিজস্ব প্রতিবেদক_
৩১ ডিসেম্বর ২০১৭, সময় - ১২:৪৯
https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=...ছরের শুরুতেই দরজা খুলছে বঙ্গবন্ধু ফিল্ম সিটির




ফিল্ম সিটির ভেতরে একটি গ্রাম্য বাড়ি। ছবি: সংগৃহীত

*(প্রিয়.কম)* সবুজ গাছ-গাছালিতে ভরা বিশাল এলাকা। ১০৫ একরেরও বেশি, ৩১৭ বিঘা জায়গা। রাস্তাঘাট দেখলে গ্রাম বা মফস্বল মনে হবে। কিন্তু গ্রাম, মফস্বল বা শহর নয়। আবার গ্রাম, মফস্বল, শহর সবই আছে এর ভেতর! চাইলেই যখন যেটা প্রয়োজন, সে রকম পরিবেশ বানিয়ে নেওয়া যাবে। ভেতরে এক কিলোমিটার দীর্ঘ হ্রদও আছে। তার মাঝে আছে দ্বীপ। দ্বীপে সুসজ্জিত রেস্তোরাঁ। ভাবছেন, এ আবার কোন জায়গা? এটি একটি চলচ্চিত্র নগর! বাংলাদেশের চলচ্চিত্র নগর, বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিব ফিল্ম সিটি।

নতুন বছরের জানুয়ারিতে এর দরজা খুলছে। তিন দশকেরও বেশি সময়ের প্রতীক্ষার পালা শেষ হতে যাচ্ছে। ঢাকার অদূরে গাজীপুরের কবিরপুরে আন্দারমানিকের আনসার একাডেমি সংলগ্ন এলাকায় ১৯ কোটি ৮০ লাখ টাকা ব্যয়ে চালু হতে যাচ্ছে এই চলচ্চিত্র নগরীর। বাংলাদেশ চলচ্চিত্র উন্নয়ন সংস্থা-বিএফডিসির পরিচালক (কারিগরী ও প্রকৌশল) মোহাম্মদ আজম প্রিয়.কমকে এ তথ্য জানিয়েছেন। এ ফিল্ম সিটির প্রথম পর্যায়ের কাজ ২০১৮ সালে জুন মাসে শেষ হওয়ার কথা ছিল। কিন্তু নির্ধারিত সময়ের আগেই এর কাজ শেষ হতে যাচ্ছে।

বহু চড়াই-উৎড়াই পাড়ি দিয়ে প্রকল্পটির দৃশ্যমান কাজ শুরু হয় ২০১৬ সালের জানুয়ারিতে। শুটিংয়ের কলাকুশলীরা যাতে সেখানে গিয়ে স্বাচ্ছন্দ্যে থাকতে পারেন, সেজন্য ডরমেটরি ভবন (১৮টি সুসজ্জিত কক্ষ) নির্মাণ করা হয়েছে। তার সঙ্গে একটি অফিস ভবনও নির্মাণ করা হয়েছে। এছাড়া এতদিন প্রকল্পটি অরক্ষিত ছিল। কোন সীমানা প্রাচীরও ছিল না। এখন সেখানে সীমানা প্রাচীর নির্মাণ করা হয়েছে।




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ফিল্ম সিটির ভেতরে ডরমেটরি ভবন/ ছবি: সংগৃহীত_

এ প্রকল্পের আওতায় চারটি গ্রাম্য বাড়ি (উচ্চবিত্ত, উচ্চমধ্যবিত্ত, নিম্নমধ্যবিত্ত ও নিম্নবিত্ত) নির্মাণ করা হয়েছে। এরই মধ্যে তিনটি বাড়ির কাজ শেষ। আরেকটি বাড়ির কাজ ৮০ ভাগ শেষ হয়েছে। এছাড়া গ্রাম্য বাজার, শ্যুটিং রেস্টুরেন্ট, চারটি মেকআপ রুম, লেক ও পুকুর সৌন্দর্যকরণ, বনায়ন, শ্যুটিং ফ্লোরের কাজসহ ইলেকট্রিক সাবস্টেশন নির্মাণ, স্ট্রিট লাইট স্থাপন, অভ্যন্তরীন রাস্তা নির্মাণ, দুটি বাগান, দুটি পুকুর ও লেকের (হ্রদ) ঘাট নির্মাণের কাজও শেষ হয়েছে।

এ বিষয়ে বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিব ফিল্ম সিটি’র প্রকল্প পরিচালক মোহাম্মদ আজম প্রিয়.কমকে বলেন, ‘২০১২ সালের ৪ এপ্রিল প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা বঙ্গবন্ধু আন্তর্জাতিক সম্মেলন কেন্দ্রে জাতীয় চলচ্চিত্র দিবসের পুরস্কার বিতরণ অনুষ্ঠানে প্রতিশ্রুতি দিয়েছিলেন, ঢাকার অদূরে কবিরপুরে বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিব ফিল্ম সিটি নির্মাণ করা হবে। সে অনুযায়ী প্রাথমিক কাজ করার জন্য সেখানে ১৯ কোটি ৮০ লাখ টাকা ব্যয় ধরা হয়। সেই পরিকল্পনা অনুযায়ীই কাজ এগিয়েছে।’




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ফিল্ম সিটির ভেতরে ডরমেটরি ভবন/ ছবি: সংগৃহীত_

এদিকে প্রকল্পটির মধ্যে ১ কিলোমিটার দৈর্ঘ্যের একটি লেক (হ্রদ), আর একটি অংশে একটি দ্বীপ রয়েছে। তার উপরই একটি শুটিং রেস্টুরেন্ট নির্মাণ করা হয়েছে। সেখানে যাওয়ার জন্য একটি ব্রিজও নির্মাণ করা হয়েছে। লেকের মধ্যে চারটি ব্যাটারি কন্ট্রোল বোট, আর আটটি প্যাডেল বোট রয়েছে।

এছাড়া সেখানকার লেকের জন্য ব্যাটারি দ্বারা কন্ট্রোল করা যায় এমন ১২টি টয় কার সংগ্রহ করার প্রক্রিয়া চলছে। আর এসব কিছু করার একটাই কারণ শুটিংয়ের পাশাপাশি এটাকে যেন একটি বিনোদন কেন্দ্র হিসেবে গড়ে তোলা যায়। পর্যটকেদেরকেও আকৃষ্ট করে এফডিসি যাতে অর্থ আয় করতে পারে।




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ফিল্ম সিটির ভেতরে রয়েছে এ ব্রিজটি/ ছবি: সংগৃহীত_

কিছুদিন আগে যোগদান করেছেন এফডিসির নতুন ব্যবস্থাপনা পরিচালক আমির হোসেন। এ নিয়ে কথা হয় তার সঙ্গে। তিনি প্রিয়.কমকে বলেন, ‘আমি অল্প সময় হলো যোগদান করেছি। তারপরও যে প্রকল্পগুলো চলমান সেগুলোর খোঁজ নিচ্ছি। পরিদর্শন করেছি। ১০৫ একর জমির মধ্যে ১৫-২০ কোটি টাকা বিনিয়োগ করলে সেটি আসলে দৃশ্যমান হয় না। তারপরও সর্বোচ্চ চেষ্টা ছিল। ভালভাবে প্রকল্পটির কাজ সামনে এগিয়ে নেওয়ার। এরপর এ প্রকল্পের দ্বিতীয় ধাপে আরেকটি বৃহত্তর ডিপিপি (ডেভলপমেন্ট প্রজেক্ট প্রপোজাল) নেওয়া হয়েছে। সে অনুমোদন হয়ে কাজ শুরু হলো জায়গাটির সৌন্দর্য আরও বাড়বে।’

এদিকে বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিব ফিল্ম সিটি প্রকল্পের দ্বিতীয় ধাপের কাজ বাস্তবায়ন করার জন্য বড় একটি বাজেটের বাস্তবায়ন করতে যাচ্ছে এফডিসি। সেজন্য একটি পরিকল্পনা গ্রহন করতে যাচ্ছে সরকার। এর জন্য প্রাথমিক একটি ডিপিপি (ডেভলপমেন্ট প্রজেক্ট প্রপোজাল) করা হয়েছে বিশাল অংকের বাজেটের। এর খসড়া ইতিমধ্যেই তথ্য মন্ত্রনালয়ে পেশ করা হয়েছে। সেই টাকার একটি অংশ দিয়ে একটি রাস্তা করা হবে। ঢাকা, চন্দ্রা ও নবীনগর যে হাইওয়ে লিংক রোড আছে, সেখান থেকে সরাসরি বাংলাদেশ বেতারের ভেতর দিয়ে ফিল্ম সিটিতে যাওয়ার জন্যই এ রাস্তাটি নির্মাণ করা হবে।




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শুটিংয়ে বাজারের দৃশ্য ধারণ এখানেই হবে/ ছবি: সংগৃহীত_

এছাড়া দ্বিতীয় পর্যায়ের ধাপে আরও কিছু বিষয় থাকবে। তার মধ্যে একটি হলো, বঙ্গবন্ধু ফিল্ম সিটিতে কোনো নির্মাতা ছবি নির্মাণ করার জন্য ঢুকলে যাতে একটি পূর্ণাঙ্গ সিনেমা নিয়ে বের হতে পারেন, সেজন্য প্রয়োজনীয় কারিগরী ও প্রযুক্তিগত সহায়তার ব্যবস্থা রাখা। এজন্য সেখানে একটি পোস্ট প্রোডাকশন স্টুডিও করার কথাও ভাবছেন প্রকল্পের সঙ্গে সংশ্লিষ্টরা।

পাশাপাশি একটি চলচ্চিত্র জাদুঘর থাকবে। যেখান থেকে বাংলাদেশের চলচ্চিত্রের ইতিহাস জানা যাবে। পরিকল্পনা মধ্যে আরও রয়েছে তারকা হোটেল, মোটেল ও রিসোর্ট নির্মাণ। বঙ্গবন্ধুর একটি ভাস্কর্যও নির্মাণ করার একটি পরিকল্পনা গ্রহন করা হয়েছে।

মোহাম্মদ আজম আশাবাদ ব্যক্ত করে বলেন, ‘বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিব ফিল্ম সিটি হবে এশিয়ার অন্যতম সেরা একটি চলচ্চিত্র নির্মাণ কেন্দ্র হবে।’ 




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ফিল্ম সিটির ভেতরে রয়েছে সুন্দর এ লেকটি/ ছবি: সংগৃহীত_

১৯৮১ সালে তথ্য মন্ত্রণালয় সাভার থানার অধিভুক্ত কবিরপুরে রেডিও ট্রান্সমিশন ও এরিয়াল কেন্দ্রের জন্য অধিগ্রহণকৃত জমি থেকে এফডিসিকে ১০৫.১১৭ একর বা ৩১৭.৫২ বিঘা জমি বরাদ্দ দেয়া হয়। জমি বরাদ্দ পাওয়ার পর এফডিসির পক্ষ থেকে দ্রুত কাজ শুরু করার উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ করা হয়। এ উদ্দেশ্যে দ্বিতীয় পঞ্চবার্ষিকী পরিকল্পনায় অন্তর্ভুক্তির জন্য একটি প্রকল্প প্রস্তাব অর্থ মন্ত্রণালয়ে পেশ করা হয়েছিল। এরপর বিভিন্ন সময়ে রাজনৈতিক প্রেক্ষাপট পরিবর্তনের ফলে এক প্রকার বলা চলে ঝুলে ছিল প্রকল্পটি। এরপর ১৯৯১ সালে বিএনপি নেতৃত্বাধীন সরকার ক্ষমতায় এলেও আলোর মুখ দেখেনি এ প্রকল্প। ১৯৯৬ সালে আওয়ামী লীগ সরকার ক্ষমতায় এসে ‘বঙ্গবন্ধু ফিল্ম সিটি’ নাম দিয়ে পুনরায় এর কাজ শুরু করলেও আবার তা থেমে যায়।

সর্বশেষ ২০০২ সালের ২৮ জুন এফডিসির তত্কালীন ব্যবস্থাপনা পরিচালক অভিনেতা ওয়াসিমুল বারী রাজীব ‘জিয়া চলচ্চিত্র নগরী’ নামে প্রকল্পটির নির্মাণ কাজের উদ্বোধন করেন। সে সময় কিছু গাছ ও ১৫ কক্ষের একটি আবাসন ভবন নির্মাণ করা হয়। এরপর তত্ত্বাবধায়ক সরকার এসে এ প্রকল্পের নতুন নামকরণ করে ‘বাংলাদেশ ফিল্ম সিটি’।

_প্রিয় বিনোদন/সিফাত বিনতে ওয়াহিদ_

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## bluesky

Cycle Macson said:


> BAL-er brain...
> 
> They might want to rename Bangladesh to *BangaBandhuDesh* someday...


How about shortening it to *Bandhudesh*, because Bd remains a bosom Bandhu of India. By the way, the name of film studio sounds better than that stupid name *BNS Hasina*.

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## monitor

Homo Sapiens said:


> http://www.arabnews.com/node/1274666/media#photo/0
> * Bangladesh to build film city to revive cinema industry*
> SHEHAB SUMON | *Published — *Wednesday 28 March 2018
> 
> 
> 
> DHAKA: *Bangladesh will soon build a film city near the capital, which will revive the country’s flagging cinema industry, said the Bangladesh Film Development Corp. (BFDC), which is planning to renovate 50 cinemas nationwide.*
> 
> *Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Film City will be built on 105 acres of land. “Our plan is to make it an international city,” BFDC Managing Director Amir Hossain told Arab News.*
> 
> *The first phase of development work is almost over, allowing movie makers to see the city’s infrastructure.*
> 
> *“We’ve spent $2.5 million on the city so far. It’s a mega project that will cost $70 million to $80 million, spent in different phases within the next few years,” said Hossain.*
> 
> *The plan to renovate 50 cinemas “will cost around $6 million, and will gradually be extended to most of the cinemas in the country,” he added.*
> 
> *To provide better logistics to filmmakers, the BFDC said it has bought the latest equipment worth $6 million, which is already being used. The plan follows a sharp drop in film revenues that has forced many cinemas to shut down.*
> 
> Kazi Showeb Rashid, general secretary of the Bangladesh Motion Pictures Exhibitors Association, said his family used to operate 22 cinemas across the country some five years ago, but now runs only five.
> 
> “There were around 1,000 cinemas in Bangladesh a decade ago. This was reduced to 550 some five years back. Currently, there are only 315 cinemas left in the country,” he said.
> 
> Film Directors Association President Mushfikur Rahman Guljar said copyright piracy is one of the main detriments to the industry.
> 
> “If producers don’t get their money back from the film, it discourages them from further investment,” he added.
> 
> “If we can control piracy and introduce an e-ticketing system in cinemas, this will protect producers’ payoff. Only then will they come up with big investments and make movies again.”
> Misha Sawdagor, president of the Film Actors’ Association, identified another problem facing the industry.
> 
> “It needs a bunch of fresh and talented actors. Audiences are bored stiff of seeing the same faces. The industry can’t move forward if it depends only on a few stars,” Sawdagor told Arab News.
> 
> “Now the horizon is open. Audiences are watching big-budget films from Hollywood and Bollywood every day, so we need to allocate more money to compete with international movies.”
> 
> Khurshed Alam Khosru, joint convenor of the Producer-Distributor Association, told Arab News: “Last year we had only 64 new movies, while there were around 115 new movies made every year around five or six years back. Since cinemas aren’t getting enough new and good movies, they have no choice but to shut down.”





Homo Sapiens said:


>





Cycle Macson said:


> BAL-er brain...
> 
> They might want to rename Bangladesh to BangaBandhuDesh someday...



Bangabandhu is our father of nation you can't name any silly film city in his name. Name this as either Bangladesh film city or any famous contributor of Bangladeshi cinema industry.

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## Homo Sapiens

bluesky said:


> How about shortening it to *Bandhudesh*, because Bd remains a bosom Bandhu of India. By the way, the name of film studio sounds better than that stupid name *BNS Hasina*.


You should be more specific. Bandhudesh of whom? India? China? America? It should be renamed as Bharatbandhudesh to remove all the confusion.

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## Saiful Islam

Neptune_ said:


> Excellent news. As long as infrastructures r getting built, we should be happy and appreciate the hard work of the government.
> 
> What's the point of making so much fuss about a simple name. It's just a name after all.



But we need to get rid of partisan politics. Calling everything "Bangabandhu" (hideous name, btw) doesn't help.


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## Bilal9

Cycle Macson said:


> BAL-er brain...
> 
> They might want to rename Bangladesh to BangaBandhuDesh someday...



Eitai dekhar baki aasey....

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## bluesky

One important thing is missing in the film city. That is small mountains that can be seen in the Hill Tracts.

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## Homo Sapiens

bluesky said:


> One important thing is missing in the film city. That is small mountains that can be seen in the Hill Tracts.


I think that will also be there.Only the first stage of this 105 acres is developed by now.So far spent only 20-25 crore out of projected 300 Crore taka to develop the land fully by 2022.

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## Homo Sapiens

First superhero movie from Bangladesh. Bizli.

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## Bilal9

Homo Sapiens said:


> First superhero movie from Bangladesh. Bizli.



Hairey amar plot, amar CGI effect and ar amar acting skills. Shobkisur gooshty shesh. 

But you have to admit - technically a lot better than before, now that everyone has a 4K video-camera, even in cellphones.

Hope this improvement continues....

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## Neptune_

This is our wonder woman.

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## bête noire

Bilal9 said:


> Hairey amar plot, amar CGI effect and ar amar acting skills. Shobkisur gooshty shesh.
> 
> But you have to admit - technically a lot better than before, now that everyone has a 4K video-camera, even in cellphones.
> 
> Hope this improvement continues....


I support it even though it got a little too cringe for me to finish the trailer. Don't know why they include songs at random parts of the movies still. But good to see first superhero movie and actual good video quality (haven't seen movies in general in years, so not sure of current movie video quality) having female protagonist on it.

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## Bilal9

Ashik Mahmud said:


> I support it even though it got a little too cringe for me to finish the trailer. Don't know why they include songs at random parts of the movies still. But good to see first superhero movie and actual good video quality (haven't seen movies in general in years, so not sure of current movie video quality) having female protagonist on it.



The female protagonist and the technical quality are to be applauded for sure.

Plot, CGI and acting quality will improve as audience starts to demand those via reviews and social media.

Old Dhaliwood values still visible in the movie but new generation film-goers are way more sophisticated and will start demanding way more.

Here's another one with the popular Pori-moni - though in a different genre. @jamahir bhai. 

http://en.prothomalo.com/entertainment/news/173735/Swapnajaal-opens-with-high-hope

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## asgur

Why follow western trend. 

I like Ora 11 Jon, Aynabaji, Matir moina, Amar Bondhu Rashed and these types of movies.

I am sure if we can promote our movies internationally, we will do great. And create a market for BD movie like Korean drama or Japanese anime.

At the same time this will create new market for Bengali products.

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## Homo Sapiens

Bilal9 said:


> Hairey amar plot, amar CGI effect and ar amar acting skills. Shobkisur gooshty shesh.
> 
> But you have to admit - technically a lot better than before, now that everyone has a 4K video-camera, even in cellphones.
> 
> Hope this improvement continues....


Considering that, they have to work with a very limited budget for this kind of movie and it is the first time such a venture, I would give them credit. They have done quite a good job facing a lot of limitation. Hopefully producers/directors get more skilled working with this genre one by one.

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## jamahir

Bilal9 said:


> The female protagonist and the technical quality are to be applauded for sure.
> 
> Plot, CGI and acting quality will improve as audience starts to demand those via reviews and social media.
> 
> Old Dhaliwood values still visible in the movie but new generation film-goers are way more sophisticated and will start demanding way more.



Umm, I would say that Bangladesh should avoid making superhero films and concentrate on realistic ones. @BDforever had posted one realistic and snazzy film in the 'Whatever' thread. It was about three young friends setting out on a journey to meet the love interest of one of them. The film also had Safa Kabir. BDforever, do you remember the name??

Some one had also posted info of a BD film about a anti-terrorist operation in Dhaka I think. Name??

But my best wishes for the film city project. 



Bilal9 said:


> Here's another one with the popular Pori-moni - though in a different genre. @jamahir bhai.
> 
> http://en.prothomalo.com/entertainment/news/173735/Swapnajaal-opens-with-high-hope



Ah, the lovely Pori Moni. The film seems interesting ( based on the description ).

Are there many Bangladesh-Bengal film projects and regular??

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## Riyad

Bangladeshi films without Indian involvement are totally bullcrap. Bangladeshi films need huge Indian investment for revival. I hope Indian big production houses invest in Bangladeshi films.


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## Centaur

Homo Sapiens said:


> You should be more specific. Bandhudesh of whom? India? China? America? It should be renamed as Bharatbandhudesh to remove all the confusion.


I have another proposal, what if we call BD as father's land (বাবার ভুমি/বাবার দেশ) )instead of mother land ?
Father is for father of nation. So the land of father of nation , father's land!
So *babadesh* should be better !

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## Homo Sapiens

*Tauquir’s Bangladeshi film Halda Best Feature Film at SAARC Film Festival*
By PK Balachandran bdnews24.com

Published: 2018-05-28 00:40:26.0 BdST Updated: 2018-05-28 02:54:36.0 BdST










 Previous   Next 
*Tauquir Ahmed’s Bangladeshi film Halda has virtually swept the awards at the Eighth SAARC Film Festival which concluded in Colombo on Sunday.*




The film bagged not only the Best Feature Film Award, but also those for Best Original Score, Best Editor and Best Cinematographer.

At the last festival in 2017, Tauquir’s film Oggatonama had won the Best Screenplay award.

A beaming Tauquir, the actor-turned director, said by making Halda he had kept to his passion for making films on burning social and national issues.

Oggatonama was about the pathetic situation of Bangladeshi migrant workers centered round the return of an unidentified body from a Middle Eastern country.

Halda is about the woes of fishermen whose catch keeps dwindling as the river gets polluted by factories and other wastes from the land.









The Halda River is the one and the only natural carp breeding ground in Bangladesh from where fertilised carp fish eggs are collected by local fishermen and egg collectors from April to June almost every year from time immemorial.
Pollution of the river leads to poverty and abject dependence on its riches to provide the fishermen some sustenance. Their women are forced into marriage with old rich men. But these women are treated as slaves rather than wives.

The struggle of the fishermen and their women is the theme of Halda. Tauquir’s script and direction had created a gripping movie which won applause at the end of the show.

Answering questions from the audience, Tauquir said initially the film was to be only about fish and fishermen but he soon realised that nobody would want to see such a film. He then decided to weave the woes of fisherwomen into the story.

There was little scope for songs in the movie given the tear jerker of a theme, but eventually he included four or five songs so that the film was appealing to the masses.

“I didn’t want my producer to lose money. With the songs the film ran well and the producer did make money,” Tauquir said, smiling.









Asked if his socially meaningful films have had an effect on government policy, Tauquir said the government did take the Halda seriously and schemes to rid the river of pollution have been implemented.
“This year the breeding has been good. Halda is back to normal,” he said.

The other award winners from the Halda team were: Cinematographer Enamul Sohel, Editor Amit Debnath, Music composers Tauquir Ahmed, Pinto Ghosh, and Sanzida Mahmood Nandita.

Tauquir collected the awards on his colleagues’ behalf.

Twenty-six films were shown at the festival from May 22 to 26. There were no entries from Afghanistan and Nepal this year for want of English subtitles, a SAARC Cultural Center official said.

Entries from Bhutan and the Maldives took the audience by surprise as they were outstanding. While the Pakistani entries left much to be desired, the Indian and Sri Lankan entries were of high quality with some of them bagging prizes.
https://bdnews24.com/entertainment/...alda-best-feature-film-at-saarc-film-festival

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## Riyad

*New Song Trailer of Poramon 2*

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## Kuru

It should've been named after the one who made the first feature film in Bangladesh. Does anyone know who did that?


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## Riyad

Bangladeshis used to act in Bollywood movies in 60's, 70's & 80's but mid 90's was the most terrible part of Bangladeshi film industry.

60's & 70's actress Kobori in Hindi film 'Jai Bangladesh'







70's & 80's actress Shabana in Hindi film 'Shatru'






70's & 80's actress Bobita in Hindi film 'Gehri Chot'

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## rishav

bengalis are great artists , both sides of the border i guess . Bollywood was good till the time it was run by bengalis . Then the crappy hooligan punjabis took over bollywood and ruined it


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## Flynn Swagmire

rishav said:


> bengalis are great artists , both sides of the border i guess . Bollywood was good till the time it was run by bengalis . Then the crappy hooligan punjabis took over bollywood and ruined it


Bollywood do produce great movies. But, because of its high movie release rate and colorful advertisements, peoples become confused...


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## Hasan89

@Riyad

Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed acted in a Bollywood film too called Mitti 2001. Actress related to Rani Mukherjee.


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## Imran Khan

make a movie on haseena modi love affair too

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## Hasan89

Imran Khan said:


> make a movie on haseena modi love affair too




This is about film industry revival, about a particular topic. Can’t your deluded Pak! Eyes read? 
Instead of trying troll, taking inspiration from your Indian gurujis here like nilgri and others.

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## Imran Khan

Hasan89 said:


> This is about film industry revival, about a particular topic. Can’t your deluded Pak! Eyes read?
> Instead of trying troll, taking inspiration from your Indian gurujis here like nilgri and others.


ohhh man i think you did not liked my honest advice. BD people like haseena and modi so this film will break all records


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## Riyad

*Bangabandhu Film City 




*


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## bluesky

Hasan89 said:


> @Riyad
> 
> Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed acted in a Bollywood film too called Mitti 2001. Actress related to Rani Mukherjee.


Ferdous seems to be very popular among Indian girls, specially the Calcutta ones.


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## Hasan89

bluesky said:


> Ferdous seems to be very popular among Indian girls, specially the Calcutta ones.



He certainly is. And now is the Banglar Film King Shakib Khan. Romancing two Indian girls at a time in this Eid release Bhaijan Elo Re. And another one to come after Eid called Mask where he has another two Indian heroines. Mans on a roll, as we say in UK!


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## Homo Sapiens

3 June, 2018 08:02:11 AM

*‘Komola Rocket’ to be released in Eid*
Mosharraf and Tauquir together in their second venture
DL Desk





Popular actors Tauquir Ahmed and Mosharraf Karim have acted together for the second time in a film titled ‘Komola Rocket’. Produced by Impress Telefilm, the film will be released on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. The duo appeared together for the first time in the film ‘Jalaler Golpo’ released in 2016.

Noor Imran Mithu has directed the film based on Bangla Academy Award winner Shahaduzzaman’s stories ‘Moulik’ and ‘Saipras’.

The lead roles of the film have been played by Tauquir Ahmed and Lux-Channel i Super Star contestant Samiya, while Mosharraf Karim will be seen as an agent. The story of the film revolves around a steamer in the name of Rocket.

The story will show Atik- a first class passenger gets on the steamer along with other regular passengers. Everyone is different according to the class, it seems like a Bangladesh.

Atik sets fire to his own factory for getting money from the insurance. And he is going to his friend’s house on this steamer for hiding himself. On the other hand, a man with the burnt body of a female worker, who worked in the factory, is travelling in the same steamer.
http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/152585

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## Homo Sapiens

I can see international award in this trailer.




@Ashik Mahmud @Bilal9 @Cycle Macson @BDforever @Species @jamahir

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## TopCat

Homo Sapiens said:


> I can see international award in this trailer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @Ashik Mahmud @Bilal9 @Cycle Macson @BDforever @Species @jamahir


Nahhh..too boring


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## Homo Sapiens

Green city Sylhet.

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## Flynn Swagmire

Homo Sapiens said:


> Green city Sylhet.


Ah, our Shahi Eidgah.

BTW, that is a bazar area! Not really a good place for making Green Sylhet type video...

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## greenhawk

Companyganj. What a name!


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## Homo Sapiens

Some recent news.
First half of Dhaka Metro rail will be completed before schedule.





Four lane highway on both sided of Padma bridge will be inaugurated by October,2018.





Construction of Dhaka elevated expressway running on a full swing.

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## Homo Sapiens

Newly built open park in Chattogram.

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## greenhawk

Homo Sapiens said:


> Newly built open park in Chattogram.



Lots of great progress coming out of Chittagong (Karnaphuli Tunnel, AKT Flyover, Jamburi Park, Patenga, etc.) What I loved about the city compared to Dhaka is that there is still a lot of green spaces left. Hopefully the city does something to retain them and turn them into enrichment and natural areas, which would give Chittagong a unique flavor among the rest of the cities in Bangladesh. High rises and highways are important for developing countries like ours, but parks and natural areas are just as important and shouldn't be neglected.

Best part about the park is that it was made with money leftover.

According to the supervising engineer Om Prakash Nandy, “Initially, the project budget was estimated at Tk 20 crore. But we finished everything within Tk 18 crore. The rest of the money was given back to the department,” he said.






Current progress on Akhtaruzzaman Flyover in Chittagong, which will run between Muradpur and WASA intersection.

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## Homo Sapiens



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## Bilal9



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## Homo Sapiens

Renovated Dhaka InterContinental.




Under construction Dhaka-Tangail four lane highway.


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## Hasan89

When will the Dhk-Syl 4lane highway expansion be built? If ever in our life time!!!


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## monitor

Homo Sapiens said:


> Newly built open park in Chattogram.



I once lived besides this park. Feel sorry for losing the ground to artificial beauty .


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## Homo Sapiens

Psychological thriller/paranormal





Horror


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## Hasan89

I like psychological thrillers. Where do I watch this film?
If only they realised it in London, say in East London!


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## Homo Sapiens

Hasan89 said:


> I like psychological thrillers. Where do I watch this film?
> If only they realised it in London, say in East London!


Most probably this film will not be released internationally. This is a film adaptation of a popular Humayun Ahmed novel named 'Devi'. This novel is very popular and a very good psychological thriller. I believe, you will like more reading this book than watching it's film adaptation. Here is a link to free download this book.
http://www.amarbooks.com/download.php?id=17785
http://www.amarbooks.com/FreeDownload.php?w=Humayun Ahmed&f=Devi.pdf


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## Michael Corleone

Romance film will be called fifty shades of bangabandhu
Action films will be called bangabondhunator 
And wait until you see the launch of ocean’s bangabandhu

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## Hasan89

This looks good. Is it out yet?

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## Homo Sapiens

Hasan89 said:


> This looks good. Is it out yet?


This movie is very good. It has got limited release in BD but has already run in United States and became the most successful Bengali film there earning more than 50 million Taka along with praise. It is also set to release in China in January 2019. Learn more about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_Beauty


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## Riyad

Indian reacts to Bangladeshi film "Debi" trailer


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## Homo Sapiens

http://www.newagebd.net/article/55487/longest-train-service-to-start-saturday

*Longest train service to start Saturday*

Staff Correspondent | Published: 01:33, Nov 09,2018 | Updated: 01:49, Nov 09,2018



Bangladesh Railway is scheduled to launch the direct passenger train service between Dhaka and Panchagarh on Saturday.

It will be the longest route of the railway, with 507 km from Dhaka to Panchagarh, in the country, said officials.

According to railway, currently Drutajan Express and Ekota Express trains are running on Dhaka-Dinajpur route and a shuttle train on Panchagarh-Dinajpur route connects them with Dhaka.

The railway is scheduled to extend the services of Ekota and Drutojan to Dhaka-Panchagarh route on Saturday, said a press release issued by the railways ministry.
The service will start from Panchagarh on Saturday at 7:20pm.

The shuttle train on Panchagarh-Dinajpur route will be closed down from the same day and weekly day off of the new trains will also be withdrawn from now on.

The railway on Thursday launched a new passenger train service on Dhaka-Bangabandhu Bridge (east) route.

The Tangail commuter train had been inaugurated by the railways minister Md Mazibul Hoque at the Kamalapur railway station.

The train started from the station at 5:20pm and was scheduled to reach the eastern side of Bangabandhu Bridge at 8:30pm.

The train will start from the bridge area at 6:00am and reach the capital at 8:50am.

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## Bilal9

*Banglabandha land port is located at the north-western tip of Bangladesh in Tentulia under Panchagarh district* on the Bangladesh-India highway. The port is used for Nepal transit traffic passing through a small corridor of India. The driving distance from Banglabandha Land Port in Tentulia town to Nepal Border Check Post at Bhadrapur (through WB and Bihar in India) is 62 km.

So you can make two plus two and get some ideas. By the way - the area is called the 'Chicken's neck'.


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## bluesky

Homo Sapiens said:


> It will be the longest route of the railway, with *507 km from Dhaka to Panchagarh,* in the country, said officials.


How come the railway distance is 507 km when the highway distance is only 346 km?


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## Homo Sapiens

bluesky said:


> How come the railway distance is 507 km when the highway distance is only 346 km?


Perhaps you are confusing Panchagarh with some other destination. Dhaka to Panchagarh driving distance is 405 km. Railway distance is 100 km longer because currently there is no rail track directly from Jamuna bridge west to Bogura(for shorter route). Instead it goes at first to Ishwardi, Pabna then turn northward.

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## Species

Bilal9 said:


> *Banglabandha land port is located at the north-western tip of Bangladesh in Tentulia under Panchagarh district* on the Bangladesh-India highway. The port is used for Nepal transit traffic passing through a small corridor of India. The driving distance from Banglabandha Land Port in Tentulia town to Nepal Border Check Post at Bhadrapur (through WB and Bihar in India) is 62 km.
> 
> So you can make two plus two and get some ideas. By the way - the area is called the 'Chicken's neck'.



I believe we can never establish proper connectivity with Nepal (or Bhutan) through land since India will always create some sort of logistical barrier in various forms like it usually does.

The best way forward is a multi-modal transport corridor between Bangladesh and Nepal that involves a mix of air and road/rail leading to our sea ports. The infrastructure is pretty much already existing and the corridor could even be expanded to the landlocked parts of China. This corridor has good prospect which deserves an immediate feasibility study.

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## maverick1977

Species said:


> I believe we can never establish proper connectivity with Nepal (or Bhutan) through land since India will always create some sort of logistical barrier in various forms like it usually does.
> 
> The best way forward is a multi-modal transport corridor between Bangladesh and Nepal that involves a mix of air and road/rail leading to our sea ports. The infrastructure is pretty much existing and the corridor could even be expanded to the landlocked parts of China. This corridor has good prospect which deserves an immediate feasibility study.


india is your friend and gave you liberation, why will they do that to you? 
PS: my east pakistani friends will never get it ??


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## Species

maverick1977 said:


> india is your friend and gave you liberation, why will they do that to you?
> PS: my east pakistani friends will never get it ??



Bangladesh liberated you from the British and yet India has never been anything like a friend.

Here's a news on how Bhutanese exports to Bangladesh are being obstructed by India.
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/bang...ms-along-the-highway-at-indian-border.562470/

PS, my Bhakt friends will keep denying.

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## Homo Sapiens

Species said:


> I believe we can never establish proper connectivity with Nepal (or Bhutan) through land since India will always create some sort of logistical barrier in various forms like it usually does.
> 
> The best way forward is a multi-modal transport corridor between Bangladesh and Nepal that involves a mix of air and road/rail leading to our sea ports. The infrastructure is pretty much already existing and the corridor could even be expanded to the landlocked parts of China. This corridor has good prospect which deserves an immediate feasibility study.


You are right on India's nature. Nepal, Bhutan and Indian north-east can be a great source for cheap, renewable hydropower for Bangladesh. These region are also rich is various minerals, forest products, stone etc which we can use in industries and constructions. A symbiotic relationship can be developed between BD and these 3 region only if Chanakya can be neutralize. BD can take some step to neutralize Chanakya's spoiling acts. Making India dependent on transit corridor, ports within BD is one step. Another is allowing Indian electric grid line through BD between Indian mainland and north east to transfer hydroelectricity from north east India to mainland. With these steps, India will not be able to deny Bangladesh's economic relation with those regions or stop anything without the fear of counter measures by BD detrimental to it's interests.

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## Species

Homo Sapiens said:


> You are right on India's nature. Nepal, Bhutan and Indian north-east can be a great source for cheap, renewable hydropower for Bangladesh. These region are also rich is various minerals, forest products, stone etc which we can use in industries and constructions. A symbiotic relationship can be developed between BD and these 3 region only if Chanakya can be neutralize. BD can take some step to neutralize Chanakya's spoiling acts. Making India dependent on transit corridor, ports within BD is one step. Another is allowing Indian electric grid line through BD between Indian mainland and north east to transfer hydroelectricity from north east India to mainland. With these steps, India will not be able to deny Bangladesh's economic relation with those regions or stop anything without the fear of counter measures by BD detrimental to it's interests.



That must be the plan. But we should also be prepared for alternatives.

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## bluesky

Homo Sapiens said:


> You are right on India's nature. Nepal, Bhutan and Indian north-east can be a great source for cheap, renewable hydropower for Bangladesh. These region are also rich is various minerals, forest products, stone etc which we can use in industries and constructions. A symbiotic relationship can be developed between BD and these 3 region only if Chanakya can be neutralize. BD can take some step to neutralize Chanakya's spoiling acts. *Making India dependent on transit corridor, ports within BD is one step. Another is allowing Indian electric grid line through BD between Indian mainland and north east to transfer hydroelectricity from north east India to mainland. With these steps, India will not be able to deny Bangladesh's economic relation with those regions or stop anything without the fear of counter measures by BD detrimental to it's interests.*


But, unfortunately, the GoB is giving all the transit/corridor, port facilities etc. without even asking any reciprocal. India stops our export at the border at random and a hundred others. I think the present GoB lacks diplomatic maturity.


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## bluesky

Species said:


> *Bangladesh liberated you* from the British and yet India has never been anything like a friend.


The history says the *Muslims of Bengal* liberated today's Pakistan in 1947 from the British and Sikh yokes.

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## doorstar

bluesky said:


> The history says the *Muslims of Bengal* liberated today's Pakistan in 1947 from the British and Sikh yokes.


except for the fact that the British liberated them (Pakistanis) from the Sikhs, and in 1947 British left after having been exhausted by Germany, Japan, Italy etc. also having become relatively impoverished by the long war, left you savages to your own devices. More of you murdered each other during and after British departure than were killed during the entirety of British rule.
there is no mention of bongles in the name Pakistan.
Pakistan is a Portmanteau of five different provinces: Punjab, Afghan inhabited NW. Frontier, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan.

@Nilgiri is the most impartial person I know here on PDF, I hope he sheds some light on this for you deluded shonars



Bilal9 said:


> ............
> Now you have anything *relevant *to share on-topic for this thread?


tell it to Species and bluesky, the 2 conquerors of UK and Destroyers of Sikh Raj, who went off on a bragging tangent.

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## Bilal9

doorstar said:


> except for the fact that British liberated them (Pakistanis) from the Sikhs, and in 1947 British left after having been exhausted by Germany, Japan, Italy etc. also having become relatively impoverished by the long war, left you savages to your own devices. More of you murdered each other during and after British departure than were killed during the entirety of British rule.
> there is no mention of bongles in the name Pakistan.
> Pakistan is a Portmanteau of five different provinces: Punjab, Afghan inhabited NW. Frontier, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan.



Perfect statement from a bhakt and straight from the propaganda manual for RSS Noob Padawans.
Now you have anything *relevant *to share on-topic for this thread?

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## Nilgiri

doorstar said:


> @Nilgiri is the most impartial person I know here on PDF, I hope he sheds some light on this for you deluded shonars



Thanks bro, but I choose to shed any more light only for any newcomers to this subforum that are worth it. Resident BD crowd are waste of time, they are stuck in the bong

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## bluesky

doorstar said:


> there is no mention of bongles in the name Pakistan.
> Pakistan is a Portmanteau of five different provinces: Punjab, Afghan inhabited NW. Frontier, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan.


Idiot, go through the pages of history including the results of the then Provinces of India in 1946 to know in which Provincial Capitals of now Pakistan the Muslim League won the election and formed a govt. Do not write your own history based on ignorance. Pakistan came first by conjoining two words. One is PAK meaning pure/holy, and STAN for land. 'I' was added later. It meant the land of pure.


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## bluesky

12:10 AM, November 15, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 10:29 AM, November 15, 2018
*Metro rail system to ease Dhaka's traffic gridlock*
A construction site of the Dhaka Metro Rail near Rokeya Sharani. Photo: PALASH KHAN





A construction site of the Dhaka Metro Rail near Rokeya Sharani. Photo: PALASH KHAN

Tawfique Ali

With the physical progress of the country's maiden 20km metro rail service already visible across the capital city, implementation of four more proposed metro lines is simultaneously going ahead as a measure for partially relieving the capital city of its perennial traffic congestion.

The Tk 22,000 crore maiden metro line-6 with 16 stations stretches from north Uttara to Motijheel.

Once implemented, all five metro rail systems, otherwise known as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), will partially help resolve the capital city's horrendous traffic problem and provide an urban transport service that is modern, comfortable and time-bound, according to transport experts.

While completion of the entirety of the maiden metro is expected by the end of 2020, the other four metro rail systems are targeted in second and third phases by the year 2035, according to recommendations in the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP).

Though the original Strategic Transport Plan recommended three metro rail systems and three rapid bus service systems, the RSTP approved in August 2016 recommended five metro rails and two rapid bus service systems to cover Dhaka city and adjoining districts.

The said service systems are being implemented under a project named Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development.

The RSTP covers greater Dhaka city, Gazipur, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Narayanganj, and Narshingdi districts.

The government-owned entity Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited will be implementing all the metro systems—three of which will be with Japan government's loan.

Metro rail is aimed at easing the perennial traffic congestion in the capital and providing an improved, faster, comfortable and environment-friendly means of public transportation, said transport experts.

According to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with the metro line-6 in place, 14 trains would operate every three minutes and carry 60,000 passengers every hour in both directions.

The estimated time to travel the 20km distance, from the north end of Uttara to Motijheel, is 35 minutes. The trains would have six cars each, all air-conditioned.

MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, said that in view of the latest progress in building the metro line-6, they would be able to open the metro service up to Agargaon by December next year and carry passengers. Rest of the metro service up to Motijheel will be ready by December 2020, he said.

Professor Moazzem Hossain, a professor of civil engineering at Buet and a past director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company, in his evaluation said that one single metro line cannot obviously leave a tangible impact on the city's transport scenario because public movement has multiple destinations and origins. For citywide impact, there is a need for several of them, he said. In greater Seoul of South Korea, there are 22 metro lines.

MRT Line-6




MRT Line-6
Metro rail is a highly expensive system and has higher capacity of carrying passengers, he said, but metro rails alone are not the complete transport solution for which various transport modes must be instituted in chronology of priority and cost.

In a densely populated city like Dhaka, the idea of designing an elevated metro rail is not commendable either, said Hossain.

Dr SM Salehuddin, former director of erstwhile Dhaka Transport Coordination Board and currently a transport expert on the committee for bus route rationalisation in Dhaka city, said that metro rail is an important component in the urban transport system.

It would be appreciable if all five metro lines could be completed by 2035 bringing some relief to the city's traffic chaos but due importance must be given simultaneously to the bus service system for a permanent transport solution, he said.

*MRT-6*
As of October this year, the first-phase 12km of the maiden metro rail stretching from north Uttara to Agargaon has made one-fourth progress with 300 metres viaduct visible in Diabari and construction piers all along the route.

With land development of the depot of the maiden metro line completed in January this year, completion of construction work of the depot structures is targeted by June next year with 19 percent progress so far, according to official information provided by the metro company's public relations officer Khan Md Mizanul Islam.

The construction of nearly 12km viaduct and nine stations from north Uttara to Agargaon that started in August last year has made progress with 2,232 of 2,333 pilings, 235 of 766 pile caps, 88 of 448 pier heads and 617 of 4,577 precast segments so far done.

The construction of the 3km viaduct and three stations from Agargaon to Karwan Bazar began in August this year and at the same time the construction of the 5km viaduct and four stations from Karwan Bazar to Motijheel began.

Procurement and installation of the electrical and mechanical system of this metro line that began in July this year have made three percent overall progress.

Procurement and installation of rail coach and depot equipment that began in September last year have made 13 percent physical progress keeping in view that the metro service is going to open by the end of next year.

A construction site of the Dhaka Metro Rail near Rokeya Sharani. Photo: PALASH KHAN




A construction site of the Dhaka Metro Rail near Rokeya Sharani. Photo: PALASH KHAN
*MRT-1*
According to official information, the nearly 27km-long metro line-1 stretches from the international airport to Kamlapur and Purbachal.

With expected completion by 2026, the metro line's construction cost has been roughly estimated at Tk 50,000 crore.

With the feasibility study completed, the metro rail authorities in October signed an agreement with a total of seven Japanese and Indian companies and one Bangladeshi company led by Nippon Koei Company Limited of Japan for detailed design in four years starting July this year.

The Tk 513 crore agreement covers engineering services for detailed design and tender assistance for construction work. The Japan government has committed to contribute Tk 404 crore as loans and the Bangladesh government will pay the rest.








It comprises of two routes: one from the airport to Kamlapur across Khilkhet, Jamuna Future Park, Natun Bazar, Badda, Rampura, Malibagh and Rajarbagh covering a length of about 16.5km—the country's first metro rail line with all 12 stations underground.

The other route named Purbachal stretches from Natun Bazar across Jamuna Future Park, Bashundhara, Mastul to Purbachal depot covering 10km with nine stations, of which seven will be elevated.

Natun Bazar station will have an interchange for transfer of passengers between the two routes of the same metro line.

*MRT-5*
The 41km-long metro line-5 comprises of two routes. The northern one is expected to be completed by 2027 and the southern by 2030.

The 20km northern route is proposed to stretch from Hemayetpur of Savar to Bhatara through Baliarpur, Amin Bazar, Gabtoli, Dar-Us-Salam, Mirpur, Kachukhet, Banani, Gulshan and Natun Bazar with a total of 14 stations, of which nine will be underground and the rest elevated.

Preparation of a draft project document for the northern route is underway. Meanwhile, a loan agreement for engineering assistance was signed in June this year and the metro rail authorities have given a proposal for hiring engineering service consultants to carry out feasibility studies.

On the other hand, a pre-feasibility study on the 21km southern route started in May this year with loans from a development partner. The southern route stretching from Gabtoli to Bhulta is targeted to be completed by 2030. The exact route alignment, number of stations, location of depot, and underground and elevated sections of this route will be determined through the pre-feasibility study.

The possible stretch of the route will go through Technical intersection, Kalyanpur, Shyamoli, Asad Gate, Russel Square, Panthapath, Sonargaon, Hatirjheel, Rampura, Aftab Nagar, Dasher Kandi, Baralu Bazar and Ganga Nagar, terminating in Bhulta.

*MRT-2*
The 24km-long metro line-2 is proposed to stretch from Gabtoli to Chattogram road across embankment road, Basila, Mohammadpur, Satmasjid Road, Jhigatola, Science Laboratory, New Market, Azimpur, Palashi, Dhaka Medical College, Golap Shah Mazar, Banga Bhaban, Motijheel, Arambagh, Kamlapur, Mugda, Manda, and Demra.

Following a memorandum of understanding with the government of Japan in June and a follow-up meeting in December last year and another meeting in June this year, the Bangladesh government made a proposal to the Japan government in July this year for technical assistance to carry out the pre-feasibility study of this metro route.

*MRT-4*
The 16km underground metro line-4 stretches from Kamlapur to Narayanganj and the proposed route stretches along Dhaka-Narayanganj railway track. With the number of stations still unspecified, the government is looking for a prospective development partner to conduct the feasibility study and develop the transport facility.

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## Mage

Hope they complete the first two line ASAP. And then start building the other lines without much foreign involvement.

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## Roybot

Ban rickshaws from the major roads to start with! I have seen rickshaws going over bridges and flyovers, slowing everyone else down in the process!!!

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## bluesky

Roybot said:


> Ban rickshaws from the major roads to start with! I have seen rickshaws going over bridges and flyovers, slowing everyone else down in the process!!!


People always say of banning Rickshaws, but they also love to ride it. Rickshaws should certainly be banned from the major roads. There are already some bans, but it does not cover probably all the major roads.

You cannot just ban Rickshaws because we have to think of their families, too. They live by the money that a puller earns. Rickshaws will automatically go away when the pullers find better jobs that pay more. So, industrialization is needed to create jobs for them.

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## Roybot

bluesky said:


> People always say of banning Rickshaws, but they also love to ride it. Rickshaws should certainly be banned from the major roads. There are already some bans, but it does not cover probably all the major roads.
> 
> You cannot just ban Rickshaws because we have to think of their families, too. They live by the money that a puller earns. Rickshaws will automatically go away when the pullers find better jobs that pay more. So, industrialization is needed to create jobs for them.



Yes I understand that it is how lot of people earn their livelihood and banning them outright would be inhuman without providing alternative opportunities. Ban them from all the major roads and implement the ban with proper policing, they can ply in the by lanes and side roads.

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## doorstar

bluesky said:


> Idiot, go through the pages of history including the results of the then Provinces of India in 1946 to know in which Provincial Capitals of now Pakistan the Muslim League won the election and formed a govt. Do not write your own history based on ignorance. Pakistan came first by conjoining two words. One is PAK meaning pure/holy, and STAN for land. 'I' was added later. It meant the land of pure.


 There is NOT now and there was NEVER in past a letter I in the word Pakistan. Short vowels (zer, zabar, pesh) are not written (except when learning/teaching Urdu) as normal letters within the Urdu script; *the reader must supply them* from prior knowledge, in this instance I represents the sound made by zer (to prevent English speaker from mispronouncing PAKstan پاکستان پاک ستان). Pakistan name was coined on the 28th of January 1933 as Pakstan from initial letters from *P*unjab, *A*fghan inhabited KPK, *K*ashmir and *S*indh + tan from BlochS*TAN* by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement worker, it was published it in his pamphlet entitled ‘Now or Never: Are we to live or perish for ever?.


"Full text of the pamphlet "Now or Never," published by Choudhary Rahmat Ali as "Founder of Pakistan National Movement," in which the word "Pakistan" appears to have been used for the first time in a document (1933)



3, Humberstone Road,
Cambridge, England.
28th January, 1933

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am enclosing herewith an appeal on behalf of the thirty million Muslims of PAKISTAN, who live in the five Northern Units of India--Punjab, North-West Frontier (Afghan) Province, Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan. It embodies their demand for the recognition of their national status, as distinct from the other inhabitants of India, by the grant to Pakistan of a separate Federal Constitution on religious, social and historical grounds.

I shall be pleased if you will kindly acquaint me with your valuable opinion on the proposed solution of the great Hindu-Muslim problem. I trust that, vitally interested as you are in a just and permanent solution of that complex problem, the objects outlined in the appeal wiIl meet with your fullest approval and active support.

Yours truly,
Rahmat Ali (Choudhary). (Founder, Pakstan National Movement)
First issued 1933; reissued 1934"

Regarding "land of the pure" there is no concept of that anywhere in Pakistan except among illiterate mullahs, some semi-literate awaam, Wikipedia and those foreigners who want to ridicule Pakistan.

Why do you keep forgetting to explain your (outrageously false) claims about bangalis defeating Sikh Raj to free Punjab/KPK and establishing Bengal Presidency?


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## Riyad

Poster of Bangladeshi film ,* Fagun Haawa*i, based on 1952 Language Movement.

There are banners which say.. 'We don't accept Urdu, won't accept Urdu'.

The man in police dress in the poster is an Indian actor Yashpal Sharma. He plays Pakistani police in the film. All other actors are Bangladeshi actors.

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## Hasan89

^Bangladesh film going in the right direction. Keep making such films based on true stories, events, history!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Pakistani girls reacting to Bangladeshi Superstar Shakib Khan’s film songs. (This won’t go too well with some of the Pakistanis on this forum ). I hope for their safety they don’t ever reveal their address.

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## MAB

Hasan89 said:


> ^Bangladesh film going in the right direction. Keep making such films based on true stories, events, history!
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Pakistani girls reacting to Bangladeshi Superstar Shakib Khan’s film songs. (This won’t go too well with some of the Pakistanis on this forum ). I hope for their safety they don’t ever reveal their address.



Pretty good gig this channel has going. All they do is react to Bangladeshi content and get hundreds of thousands of views from Bangladeshis.


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## Bilal9

From 2012 to 2017 Bangladesh had the fastest growth for people with net worth of more than $30 Million (termed Super Rich). This is courtesy of Newsweek. Apologies if posted already.

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## Nilgiri

From 2010 to 2016, real household income in Bangladesh decreased.

Wonder which of these trends is more important to the overall well-being of a country?

https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2017/12/18/where-did-the-benefits-of-economic-growth-disappear/

_according to HIES2016, each person at the household level actually received an income (household income divided by household size) that was 2 percent less than what they had received in 2010 and the real spending for consumption of each decreased by about 1 percent._

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## war&peace

Nilgiri said:


> From 2010 to 2016, real household income in Bangladesh decreased.
> 
> Wonder which of these trends is more important to the overall well-being of a country?
> 
> https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2017/12/18/where-did-the-benefits-of-economic-growth-disappear/
> 
> _according to HIES2016, each person at the household level actually received an income (household income divided by household size) that was 2 percent less than what they had received in 2010 and the real spending for consumption of each decreased by about 1 percent._


If the average household income is going down while the rich class is rising, it shows the elite is ripping off the poor and the disparity is growing.

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## Bilal9

In other news - I saw that British Luxury Shaving products brand 'Truefitt & Hill' is opening a Bangladesh outlet soon.

Yes gentlemen, you too now can be a proud owner of Spanish Leather Cologne for BDT 5300/- excluding VAT.

Sigh -sign of the times. I'm sure there is no dearth of takers for their wares.

Never mind that is half a month's salary for some workers.














war&peace said:


> If the average household income is going down while the rich class is rising, it shows the elite is ripping off the poor and the disparity is growing.



Unequal development is a sign of the times now in South Asia.In fact that is how it was when the Asian tigers were rising a decade ago, until they stagnated.

At least in Bangladesh - NGO's have formed some safety net for the poor, unlike the rest of South Asia.


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## Nilgiri

BengalSubah said:


> Anyway, as is seen with all South Asian countries, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Demonstrably true in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.



Don't know about Pakistan, but India does not have real household income decrease like seen in Bangladesh under the BBS study.

The poor are not getting poorer in India:

https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/india/household-final-consumption-expenditure






In fact India is doing lot better than Bangladesh in removing extreme poverty:

https://worldpoverty.io/

It is another question as to why the recent BD HIES data conflicts with the (older) world bank data (which shows a more measured increase in real HFCE for BD instead of a decrease):

https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/bangladesh/household-final-consumption-expenditure

Probably when everything is kept as Taka calculation only, there is no artificial RMG based quota bump that happens because of USD (which is not legal tender in BD)....and changing household size in BD as well.



Bilal9 said:


> At least in Bangladesh - NGO's have formed some safety net for the poor, unlike the rest of South Asia.



Another lie. Expect nothing more from you. The only "safety net" in Bangladesh is fake number feelz like 3 million.

Teenage pregnancy rate and birth rate dissonance with the claimed TFR are two massive indications that Bangladesh fakes its numbers...but does this faking quite badly.



war&peace said:


> If the average household income is going down while the rich class is rising, it shows the elite is ripping off the poor and the disparity is growing.



Yes, Bangladesh is only country where this is happening in South Asia it looks like (the rest the situation is the rich and poor are both improving their lot, but rich are improving it faster - common trend worldwide). Mind you it wasnt even considered in the HIES study...they deliberately did not report this trend (i.e by factoring in inflation to get real income rather than just nominal). It took Mr. Taslim ( a rare woke guy in BD it seems) in his article to point that out...and also point out that per capita calorie consumption is also decreasing in BD according to the data.

There is either some really bad going on behind the scenes in BD or BBS is very bad institutionally (and thus cannot be cherry picked for other more rosy data)....or both.

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## war&peace

Bilal9 said:


> In other news - I saw that British Luxury Shaving products brand 'Truefitt & Hill' is opening a Bangladesh outlet soon.
> 
> Yes gentlemen, you too now can be a proud owner of Spanish Leather Cologne for BDT 5300/- excluding VAT.
> 
> Sigh -sign of the times. I'm sure there is no dearth of takers for their wares.
> 
> Never mind that is half a month's salary for some workers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Unequal development is a sign of the times now in South Asia.In fact that is how it was when the Asian tigers were rising a decade ago, until they stagnated.
> 
> At least in Bangladesh - NGO's have formed some safety net for the poor, unlike the rest of South Asia.


Not really. Asian tigers had much better developmental curve. Though the rich grew faster there as well but the poverty reduced as well and average household income went up. The same thing happened during Musharraf's time that the number of rich increased but the same time overall society became rich and poverty reduced.

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## Nilgiri

BengalSubah said:


> What a bunch of lies. India is doing poorly when it comes to this. The nation has been stagnating for years. Whereas in Bangladesh things are only improving.
> 
> Here is a piece about India if you're interested in cold hard facts.
> 
> 
> 
> NEW DELHI: Inequality in India is on the rise for the last three decades, so much so that the total wealth of Indian billionaires is 15 per cent of the GDP, thanks to the "lopsided" policies of successive governments, Oxfam India said in a report today.
> 
> It said the wealthiest in India have cornered a huge part of the wealth created in the country through crony capitalism and inheritance, while people at the bottom are seeing their shares being reduced further.
> 
> "These inequali ..
> 
> Read more at:
> //economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/63030012.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst



If rich get richer faster than the poor get richer, the Gini coefficient (And % consumption shares) of course get changed.

That is very different from poor getting poorer. If the poor are getting poorer in India, why does India have 4 times the targetted escape rate for poverty?

Check yourself:

https://worldpoverty.io/

Its funny you quote Oxfam. Want me to show you how Bangladesh does in their multi-poverty index compared to India?

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## Nilgiri

war&peace said:


> Not really. Asian tigers had much better developmental curve. Though the rich grew faster there as well but the poverty reduced as well and average household income went up. The same thing happened during Musharraf's time that the number of rich increased but the same time overall society became rich and poverty reduced.



Yes this is inevitable trend for development. There will always be people more suited (generally already middle class or rich) to make use of some kind of change/reform in economy. But if supply side economics is allowed to take shape (with minimal govt bureaucratic intervention for political feelz etc)....then the people with fewer resources over time improve their lot through access to the larger market created higher up etc. But the thing in parantheses (economic reform through less bureaucracy + more credit access and liquidity competition etc) is very important, the govt has to not intervene too much in the process, but in South Asia politics and status quo is big business for the elitists as you know.

East Asian Tigers bypassed a lot of the political nonsense is the key difference.

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## Chakar The Great

The middle class in Pakistan is greater than India and Bangladesh in relative terms. The number of super rich people in Pakistan is much lower than India.

Earlier this year there was an excellent article in "the economist" titled missing middle class in India, we also know that 79% of wealth went to 1% of Indian population. So one can imagine, how easy its to distort figures.

I also believe that over all poverty has reduced in India. No more deaths from starvation or hunger. India still has a long way to go. 

Source: India’s missing middle class

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## Nilgiri

BengalSubah said:


> Pretty much shows India has the highest amount of people in extreme poverty after Nigeria. Whereas Bangladesh has improved dramatically in the last 25 years even though it was a newly-formed country just a few decades ago.



Bangladesh has double the % rate than India of people in extreme poverty....and a lower escape rate ratio (to target) than India too. Its per capita consumption (household or not) in real (PPP) terms is also about half of India.



Chakar The Great said:


> The middle class in Pakistan is greater than India and Bangladesh in relative terms. The number of super rich people in Pakistan is much lower than India.



There is not good data standards/references for the comparison of consumption strata still.

The only things that have some commonality are extreme poverty rate and total GDP/wealth etc....doing the surveying of income spreads bring many flaws. All countries need to keep increasing the total (while this data shadow exists) and keep doing economic reforms is the key thing. Later we can do the better surveying of Gini coefficient etc when the countries are above 10k per capita in production and there is actual enough resources to survey this well.

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## Chakar The Great

BengalSubah said:


> Exactly. Bangladesh understandably so doesn't yet have as much people reaching the middle-class stage being born decades after Pak and India. But it's quite right of me to say Bangladesh is steadily reaching a stage where more and more will become middle-class if we keep up the rapid-pace we are going at and focus heavily on infrastructure and innovation.



Well done, keep it up. A prosperous and developed Bangladesh is in interest of the region and Pakistan.

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## Nilgiri

BengalSubah said:


> To put it bluntly, a prosperous South Asia is in the best interest of all nations within it. The British left us in dismal fashion and I hope we can regain what we once were inshAllah.



Fair enough bud. Hope to have some positive discussion with you on this forum...I take a tough argument stance sometimes to produce a good serious discussion of some issues....so don't take it wrong way.

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## Nilgiri

BengalSubah said:


> Being Sylheti, we have a super-rich tradition. My ancestry goes all the way back to Yemen. But I remember my Great Aunt telling me the family settling their after years of travel (we still have the written letter in beautiful Arabic by ancestor from way back) , which is nuts because of how prosperous Bengal was under the Mughals. And to see what the British has done to us is truly saddening. I want nothing more than to see all countries in South Asian prosper and get along. Is that too much to ask for?



Yep my family has many long stories regarding deindustrialisation, de-education, pitting castes/religions against each other etc...that British engaged in to create easy rule and captive market since their landing in Fort St George area on my state east cost (And expanded the model everywhere in subcontinent). Biggest forced wealth transfer in history of mankind...it will take long time to recover, but we will get there again, no worries. We all learned the lesson deep down (past the current bickering) to always ensure we are in charge of our own destinies....and create our successes again instead of playing blame game and becoming dependent on other elitists again.


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## Bilal9

Here is a PDF on the activities of one of some of the smaller NGO's 'Build Bangladesh' and Spark Bangladesh. The rate of activity for corporate citizenship is rather high in Bangladesh (as compared to the rest of South Asia), especially by NGO's like BRAC and GRAMEEN.

http://www.buildbangladesh.org.bd/_pdf/bb-story.pdf

http://www.inclusivebd.org/spark-bangladesh.php

Here is how Grameen is helping Indian poor counter unequal development in their country,

https://grameenfoundation.org/where-we-work/asia/india

And BRAC is helping the same process in Pakistan too.

https://www.facebook.com/BRACPAK/

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## fallstuff

Oh God, do not revive this industry !!
Their acting skills are a complete abomination. Its like *'wooden doll with moving lips.'*

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## Michael Corleone

BengalSubah said:


> Being Sylheti, we have a super-rich tradition. My ancestry goes all the way back to Yemen. I remember my Great Aunt telling me the story of how my family settled their after months of travel (we still have the written letter in beautiful Arabic by ancestor from way back) , which is nuts because of how prosperous Bengal was under the Mughals. And to see what the British has done to us is truly saddening. I want nothing more than to see all countries in South Asian prosper and get along. Is that too much to ask for?


same case here/ however we were turkic... and originally from the west pakistan... i still have family apparently in punjab and in other parts of bd whom i never met. but i wouldn't blame it all on the british... without them/
we would not have any 20th century industries in the region... japan would have definitely conquered the region and use the resources for imperialistic goals.
conditions of UK isn't any good nowadays, their country is an empty shell compared to the past.
many british companies are now owned by indian companies... karma is getting back at them i guess

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## Nike

Bilal9 said:


> From 2012 to 2017 Bangladesh had the fastest growth for people with net worth of more than $30 Million (termed Super Rich). This is courtesy of Newsweek. Apologies if posted already.



Corrupt practices? When we are looking the average gdp per capita is very small and the number of entrepreunership per capita is small too

https://tech.co/top-15-entrepreneurial-countries-world-2015-06


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## HariPrasad

Credit goes to BD PM Hasina. She has governed BD veey ectively and has controled radical elements. Best of luck to BD.

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## Homo Sapiens

https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2018/11/18/don-t-worry-about-the-trade-deficit


Home
 Opinion
 Op-Ed
*Don’t worry about the trade deficit*
Tim Worstall

 Published at 12:34 am November 18th, 2018






All industries are connected Bigstock


We have one because we are importing capital goods to raise productivity and wages

The general view is that we’d like the wages of Bangladeshi workers -- especially those in the garments sector -- to increase. It’s also a general view that there’s something wrong with running a trade deficit, more so if it’s rising. 

One of these two general views must be wrong. Not wrong in and of themselves, but we cannot base policy on both of them at the same time. For one of the reasons for, a good reason for, a trade deficit is the way in which we are increasing the workers’ wages. 

The recent negotiations about the minimum wage in the garment sector seem to have gone well enough that minimum is now Tk8,000 ($95). That’s better than the earlier Tk5,300 from the workers’ point of view, but we’d all very much prefer that it was higher. 

For the obvious reason, we’d like Bangladesh to be a rich country, with people being paid rich country wages, as in the US or Germany. The trick is how we get from here to there.

We also have a report saying that the trade deficit has risen. This is generally viewed as a bad thing, but as Adam Smith pointed out, there’s nothing so ridiculous as worrying about the balance of trade. 

If we buy more things made by foreigners, then foreigners must be investing capital in our country, that’s just how it works. Any deficit upon the trade or current accounts is and must be offset by an equal and opposite surplus on the capital account for the balance of payments does always balance. 

Note what happens if foreigners are investing in Bangladesh. There’s more capital in the country, and it is capital which increases the productivity of the workers. More productive workers get paid more, that’s just the way the world works. 

Thus, our running a trade deficit, as a result of that more capital coming in, is what contributes to wages rising over time. Yes, it’s an oddity, but there’s a truth there all the same.

We shouldn’t be worrying about that trade deficit. But more than that, we can also see what it is that is producing the deficit. We can -- and do -- measure what is being imported. 

And at the current time, it’s largely a rise in capital machinery imports leading to that rise in the deficit. Capital goods being the very things that capital buys, which then increases the workers’ wages.

If we try to stitch or cut garments purely by hand, then we’ll produce some number per hour or day. The more machinery we have to do some of the labour, the more we’ll be able to produce in any given timespan. That’s a rise in productivity. 

However, there’s something important to understand here. Wages are not, repeat not, determined by how productive an individual worker is, nor even by how one particular industry is doing. Wages are determined in the national labour market, and thus it’s the national level of productivity that matters. This has two implications.

The first is that if productivity increases in just the one industry sector then that will have a smaller, but still valid, effect upon all wages in the country. The garment sector, imagine, increasing productivity has that knock on effect upon wages in salt production, rice, or jute growing. 

Equally, and in the other direction, a sector which remains unproductive lowers wages across the economy. We can’t just sit back and try to do everything on the back of just the one sector -- we want and need to increase productivity everywhere.

The reason for this interconnection is that the real determinant of wages in any one job is: What are the wages you can gain by doing some other one? It’s the options available that determine matters. 

As an example, a barber does much the same job with much the same tools -- scissors, comb, razor -- in Dhaka as in Denver, the one in Denver is going to be paid very much more. The barber from Denver is getting paid more not because his own productivity is higher, but because wages in all the alternative jobs available are higher.

Raising productivity, increasing wages, is thus something that matters economy-wide, not just in any one industry. Certainly, we’d all like this process to be happening faster, in fact, we’d like for it to have happened 50, 100 years ago as it did in some other places. But we are getting there. Bangladesh is currently growing, at that 7% and 8% a year, about as fast as any place ever has done. 

Wages are rising in much the same manner. Yes, wages are still below where we’d like them to be. But we are raising productivity along the way. And while we do so, we shouldn’t worry about the trade deficit on theoretic grounds. And when we look at the details of why we’ve got one -- importing capital goods to raise productivity and wages again -- then we shouldn’t worry about that deficit at all.

It can be a bit of a shock to realize that the right things are being done, that the world really is getting better in leaps and bounds. But it is so.

_Tim Worstall is a Senior Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute in London._

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## Homo Sapiens

MAB said:


> Pretty good gig this channel has going. All they do is react to Bangladeshi content and get hundreds of thousands of views from Bangladeshis.


Not all views are from Bangladesh and the popular songs they are reviewing attracted tens of millions of views in short times. Anyone who review such popular songs will also get thousands of hit as such review usually also come along when original song are searched in youtube. Collect a good looking girl to review some popular song, then it will attract a lot of views. This is a common tactic worldwide and does not happen only when Pakistanis review something from Bangladesh.


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## Mage

Homo Sapiens said:


> If we buy more things made by foreigners, then foreigners must be investing capital in our country, that’s just how it works.


Not with our pathetic system. Easily seen from our lack of FDI. Most of the pledges of investment don't get fulfilled either.

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## TopCat

Well, look at Pakistan.. same shiit was shoved to them with the same logic

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## war&peace

Nilgiri said:


> Yes this is inevitable trend for development. There will always be people more suited (generally already middle class or rich) to make use of some kind of change/reform in economy. But if supply side economics is allowed to take shape (with minimal govt bureaucratic intervention for political feelz etc)....then the people with fewer resources over time improve their lot through access to the larger market created higher up etc. But the thing in parantheses (economic reform through less bureaucracy + more credit access and liquidity competition etc) is very important, the govt has to not intervene too much in the process, but in South Asia politics and status quo is big business for the elitists as you know.
> 
> East Asian Tigers bypassed a lot of the political nonsense is the key difference.


Well, govt should focus on collecting the revenue and taxes.

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## Umair Nawaz

welcome to capitalism..... now the gap b/w rich and poor will increase to new levels in BD like in india.


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## Reichsmarschall

God Bless Bangladesh the Crown Jewel of South Asia

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## bluesky

war&peace said:


> Well, govt should focus on collecting the revenue and taxes.


Or, should the government focus on the investment by these super-rich families in industries and businesses that will create fast employment for the population and source of fast collection of corporate and personal income taxes for the govt? Poor people get better economically when they have employment.

However, I wonder if the rich families have already invested in businesses and their money values in the report have included fixed assets like land property, houses as well as factories/businesses. I do not think these guys are holding cash money in hand or bank vault. Some of the money may have been invested in the Share Market as well.

Anyway, the rich will hide their money in the foreign banks if the govt is too stringent in collecting revenues and taxes. So, much of their money should be exempted from taxation if they choose to invest in places that create employment and wealth.

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## bluesky

*Trade suffers as India allows limited time for cargo movement*
*Use of Changrabandha land port by BD, Bhutan*
Rezaul Karim | Published: November 18, 2018 10:03:24 | Updated: November 18, 2018 10:16:41






An inordinate delay in allowing the Bhutanese goods-laden trucks to enter Bangladesh through Indian land port Changrabandha is badly hampering Bangladesh's import trade with Bhutan, officials and relevant traders said.

The Indian land port authorities have set a limited time frame for Bhutanese cargoes to enter Burimari in Bangladesh through Changrabandha, which causes the delay, according to them.

As a result, many imported items get damaged, causing financial losses to both importers and exporters, they said.

The Bhutan Exporters Association and the Bhutan C&F Agents Association discussed the issue with a senior official of the commerce ministry of Bangladesh at a view exchange meeting held in Bhutan recently, said a high official of the commerce ministry.

The senior official went to Bhutan to participate in a meeting of the Bangladesh-Bhutan Joint Working Group on Transit and Protocol in the last week of October.

According to importers and exporters, the goods-laden trucks bound for Bangladesh are allowed to cross Indian border through Changrabandha only after 2:00pm.

So, it could not be possible for the Bhutanese exporters to complete all the customs-related procedures within the remaining three working hours at the Burimari land port of Bangladesh and then return to Bhutan the same day, they said.

So, import costs as well as export costs go up significantly, they added.

On October 8 and 9, the 12th meeting of the Joint Group of Customs (JGC) between Bangladesh and India held in New Delhi took a decision regarding the use of Indian land port for transportation of cargoes of a third country.

At the meeting, the Indian side informed that at a separate lane for third country cargo (CTD goods from Bhutan and Bangladesh) is not feasible due to narrow road. Also, at present infrastructure is not available for a separate yard for Nepal and Bhutan cargo at Fulbari and Changrabandha LCS respectively.

The Bangladesh side then requested the Indian side to give priority to transit cargo and the Indian side assured that the transit cargo will be given priority.

Additional commerce secretary Shafiqul Islam said, "We have recently urged the Indian authorities concerned to resolve the issue in line with the discussion at the 12th meeting of JGC."

Bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Bhutan is very small. In fiscal year 2015-16, Bangladesh exported goods worth US$4.74 million to Bhutan and imported goods worth $21.60 million.

Bangladesh mainly exports apparels, agro-products, and footwear to Bhutan and imports vegetable products, prepared foodstuffs, mineral products, textiles and textile articles, base metals, machinery and mechanical appliances and electrical equipment.

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## MAB

Homo Sapiens said:


> Not all views are from Bangladesh and the popular songs they are reviewing attracted tens of millions of views in short times. Anyone who review such popular songs will also get thousands of hit as such review usually also come along when original song are searched in youtube. Collect a good looking girl to review some popular song, then it will attract a lot of views. This is a common tactic worldwide and does not happen only when Pakistanis review something from Bangladesh.



Lets be honest here, majority of the views will be from Bangladesh. Like 95 percent. We all know how reaction channels work. In this case the Bangladeshi populace is curious what their ex countrymen think about their "Superstar". This channel has cashed in on that, and that is why their channel even runs. 

I am not saying this is an exception to Bangladesh. The same things happens with India and Pakistan. Ie "Pakistani reacts to Indian_____" or vice versa. I was just responding to the poster who thinks its some sort of amazing feat that Pakistanis are reacting to Bangladeshi content. These youtubers are making this content because there obviously is a big demand from Bangladesh, judging from the views and comments.


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## Chakar The Great

India as usual choking the small neighbours. And they want to become super power who are so much hated in every corner of South Asia.

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> From 2010 to 2016, real household income in Bangladesh decreased.
> 
> Wonder which of these trends is more important to the overall well-being of a country?
> 
> https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2017/12/18/where-did-the-benefits-of-economic-growth-disappear/
> 
> _according to HIES2016, each person at the household level actually received an income (household income divided by household size) that was 2 percent less than what they had received in 2010 and the real spending for consumption of each decreased by about 1 percent._




In other news, the minimum wage for garments has been raised from 5,300 Taka to 8,000 Taka after 5 years.
The minimum wage for a garment worker is now nearly 100 US dollars per month.


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## Michael Corleone

Umair Nawaz said:


> welcome to capitalism..... no the gap b/w rich and poor will increase to new levels in BD like in india.


not avoidable... the other option is communism... who wants that



UKBengali said:


> In other news, the minimum wage for garments has been raised from 5,300 Taka to 8,000 Taka after 5 years.
> The minimum wage for a garment worker is now nearly 100 US dollars per month.


this is a game bd will lose in the long run... there are many other countries where labour is cheaoer than bangladesh... if bangladesh keeps selling their tshirts for 1 $ as manufacturers (same marked up or 3-5 when in reaches west/ europe) and keeps giving workers basic rights like good wages... it wouldn't be profitable... if bangladesh decides to increase the prices (which is not in bangladesh's hands to begin with) the market will go to the poorer countries with cheaper labour.
we have to quickly transition from garments to other industries.

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## Hasan89

MAB said:


> Pretty good gig this channel has going. All they do is react to Bangladeshi content and get hundreds of thousands of views from Bangladeshis.




Exactly. Since you’re bringing it up. Who’s the beggar here? Pakistanis. Begging Bangladeshis to get views, indirectly by reacting to BD songs.

Not any favourable win here. It’s more of desperation. Needing Bangladeshis to make paisa, without the Bangla viewers no paisa. Shows something Haha!

Do you see BD people react to Pak or Hindi stuffs? No because quite frankly our people are not interested in these reactions to make paisa from others. Definitely not one bit interested in pak stuffs, like films songs.

Whatever you think. The channel is showing Bangladeshi songs actors to thousands of Pakistanis and others through their channel though, No? Who’s gaining here.


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## Umair Nawaz

Michael Corleone said:


> not avoidable... the other option is communism... who wants that
> 
> 
> this is a game bd will lose in the long run... there are many other countries where labour is cheaoer than bangladesh... if bangladesh keeps selling their tshirts for 1 $ as manufacturers (same marked up or 3-5 when in reaches west/ europe) and keeps giving workers basic rights like good wages... it wouldn't be profitable... if bangladesh decides to increase the prices (which is not in bangladesh's hands to begin with) the market will go to the poorer countries with cheaper labour.
> we have to quickly transition from garments to other industries.


socialism/communism is still better then capitalism........however there is a third way too, which is Islami economic system, which was build by Prophet Muhammad PBUh and was carried on and matured by Khulfa e Rashideen which state of Madina was established after treaty b/w Ansar e Madina and Mahajireen e Makkah.


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## bluesky

UKBengali said:


> In other news, the minimum wage for garments has been raised from 5,300 Taka to 8,000 Taka after 5 years.
> The minimum wage for a garment worker is now nearly 100 US dollars per month.


How about raising it to Taka15,000 next year. Why do you guys want some people to become super-rich at the expense of poor guys like me? Your govt has raised the wages to Tk.80,000 for all those lazy and non-performing govt employees. Why not others who work more than ten hours a day?


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## UKBengali

bluesky said:


> How about raising it to Taka15,000 next year. Why do you guys want some people to become super-rich at the expense of poor guys like me? Your govt has raised the wages to Tk.80,000 for all those lazy and non-performing govt employees. Why not others who work more than ten hours a day?




Need to strike a balance between the welfare of workers and the health of the industry.

btw - average wage in BD is now 13,500 Taka - more than 150 dollars a month.


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## Mage

UKBengali said:


> Need to strike a balance between the welfare of workers and the health of the industry.
> 
> btw - average wage in BD is now 13,500 Taka - more than 150 dollars a month.


13500 should be minimum wage not average wage.

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## UKBengali

Mage said:


> 13500 should be minimum wage not average wage.




Better 8000 Taka minimum than no wage at all.

Nearly all these garment workers have spouses that earn 10000 Taka a month or more and so total family income is around 20000 Taka.


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## Mage

UKBengali said:


> Better 8000 Taka minimum than no wage at all.
> 
> Nearly all these garment workers have spouses that earn 10000 Taka a month or more and so total family income is around 20000 Taka.


And how much is the rent for a room in a slum?

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## UKBengali

Mage said:


> And how much is the rent for a room in a slum?




No idea but much less than total family income of 20,000 Taka a month.

Government has announced a programme where slums will be demolished and replaced by apartment blocks where apartments will be rented out at same rents.

This takes time and AL are on right track.

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## Homo Sapiens

Michael Corleone said:


> this is a game bd will lose in the long run... there are many other countries where labour is cheaoer than bangladesh... if bangladesh keeps selling their tshirts for 1 $ as manufacturers (same marked up or 3-5 when in reaches west/ europe) and keeps giving workers basic rights like good wages... it wouldn't be profitable... if bangladesh decides to increase the prices (which is not in bangladesh's hands to begin with) the market will go to the poorer countries with cheaper labour.
> we have to quickly transition from garments to other industrie


This with the premise that Bangladesh will always remain at the lowest ladder in productivity in garments industry. With rising productivity in this sector which is happening rapidly now, we can safely increases the wage of garments workers without the fear of loosing the market share. Garments export still a significant part of export for countries like China, Turkey despite high living standard and high minimum wages. They are maintaining this with moving up into the value chain in garments products. Same thing is happening with Bangladesh now. If Bangladesh can enhance the capacity of ports and roads along with rising productivity and efficiency, then garments export will continue to occupy a significant portion in our export basket for decades to come.

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## bluesky

UKBengali said:


> *Better 8000 Taka minimum than no wage at all.*


By reading your post I can think you have become a modern-day Feraun who denied wages for the desert labors who built Sphinx and Pyramids in old-time Egypt. BCL guys usually ride Rickshaw without paying the fare.


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## Michael Corleone

Umair Nawaz said:


> socialism/communism is still better then capitalism........however there is a third way too, which is Islami economic system, which was build by Prophet Muhammad PBUh and was carried on and matured by Khulfa e Rashideen which state of Madina was established after treaty b/w Ansar e Madina and Mahajireen e Makkah.


Until about a certain age I too would have backed Islamic economic system/ Islamic banking but now that I know that this is just a sham (in the present world), I can’t back them.

Socialism is a good idea but it’s not full proof... to maintain control over masses it becomes authoritarian. China avoided the mistakes the soviets did early on and survived. Tbh it’s not for everyone.



Homo Sapiens said:


> With rising productivity in this sector which is happening rapidly now, we can safely increases the wage of garments workers without the fear of loosing the market share


Lately I’ve been seeing major garments in Bangladesh being automated... for higher efficient productivity, this is beginning to look bad specially if we have more low skilled workers in the future as jobs are being automated... assuming we would still have a substantial part of the population working in low level industries like garments into the 2040... we should look into developing other industries that might still need manual interaction and use our population effectively for maximum output. Also in turn work to reduce the number of manual workers/ labors and develop an effective highly educated workforce in other technological fields.


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## mb444

Mage said:


> Not with our pathetic system. Easily seen from our lack of FDI. Most of the pledges of investment don't get fulfilled either.




BD growth is not and have never been FDI driven..... we just have to hope for more of the same.... steady sustained embedded growth fueled by internal demand and coupled with raising social indicators.

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## Mage

mb444 said:


> BD growth is not and have never been FDI driven..... we just have to hope for more of the same.... steady sustained embedded growth fueled by internal demand and coupled with raising social indicators.


The article says that it's not necessary to worry about trade deficit as it will encourage FDI....which is unlikely in BD's case.

We can't hope for more of the same for long either. RMG is not gonna make BD developed country. And other industries are not appearing. And we will need FDI at least initially for other industries to flourish. Economic reforms are necessary that will encourage investments here. But what is being dine here? Ease of doing business rating worse than Afghanistan. Inept bureaucracy is harming BD more than anything. But Biman guys will say otherwise.

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## Mage

UKBengali said:


> No idea but much less than total family income of 20,000 Taka a month.
> 
> Government has announced a programme where slums will be demolished and replaced by apartment blocks where apartments will be rented out at same rents.
> 
> This takes time and AL are on right track.


How easy do you think it is to raise a family(of 4 let's say) in Dhaka with 20,000 income?


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## UKBengali

Mage said:


> How easy do you think it is to raise a family(of 4 let's say) in Dhaka with 20,000 income?




It is not easy dude but BD is still a poor country. You cannot give people an overnight 50% pay rise with no increase in productivity.

Only solution is to keep on the current course with high economic growth, wages rising higher than inflation and higher government spending on education, health and social safety net.

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## Nilgiri

war&peace said:


> Well, govt should focus on collecting the revenue and taxes.



Yes a govt should always try to best implement what it already has in its policy, standards and rule of law (and spend that rationally by improving on its corruption and efficiency level)...rather than deflect and try to grab even more bigger piece of the pie while it keeps that corruption and efficiency level atrocious. In fact doing this (always over-expanding its footprint and role instead of being concise on common minimum stuff that it has ignored this long) is sign of its failure and corruption.



UKBengali said:


> In other news, the minimum wage for garments has been raised from 5,300 Taka to 8,000 Taka after 5 years.
> The minimum wage for a garment worker is now nearly 100 US dollars per month.



Minimum wage means squat. Just another way for the govt to intervene and distort things....because of earlier interventions and distortions it did.



Mage said:


> How easy do you think it is to raise a family(of 4 let's say) in Dhaka with 20,000 income?



It's pretty pathetic that some people here think the BD govt will spend money it takes (through essentially gunpoint) from poor families (or low middle class etc) better, more efficiently and more rationally than these people themselves (to improve their lot).......instead of you know, first improving their own corruption and efficiency instead of expand tax footprint = miracle solution (and keeping the internal atrocious crap the same).


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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> Minimum wage means squat. Just another way for the govt to intervene and distort things....because of earlier interventions and distortions it did.





That is why nearly all the rich countries have it.

Shut your butt-hurt crap as BD living standards are proven to be on the rise.


In other, other news:

https://www.willistowerswatson.com/...ific-rebound-for-the-first-time-in-four-years







BD inflation is now down to 5% and so in real terms salaries are rising 4-5% a year.

Now go and cry some more.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> That is why nearly all the rich countries have it.
> 
> Shut your butt-hurt crap as BD living standards are proven to be on the rise.
> 
> 
> In other, other news:
> 
> https://www.willistowerswatson.com/...ific-rebound-for-the-first-time-in-four-years
> 
> View attachment 520370
> 
> 
> BD inflation is now down to 5% and so in real terms salaries are rising 4-5% a year.
> 
> Now go and cry some more.



Given surveyed salaried class in BD is miniscule even for South Asia...what is it around 0.01% of people?...or is that too conservative? Nah....you keep trying. Definitely no relation to minimum wage either (which is a much larger reactionary lever stemming from much more people who have to deal with the mass dumped inflation on them).

There is reason why Intel, Qualcomm and others would laugh if BD is brought up even in a side note....and why Bangladesh consumes energy levels per capita that India and Pakistan did in the 1950s....a large part of BD GDP is just inflation based.....hence why real household income declining AND why BBS keeps delaying (remember you lot kept jumping up and down that it will happen last year....instead it gets delayed just like Walton export target) its GDP re-basing exercise (knowing the impact it will have on loan and credit flows because of the GDP denominator being forced to deflate).

Shoddily run GDDS country with disproportionate amount of corruption (even for its development)....what can one expect?

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## prashantazazel

BengalSubah said:


> Of course real household income matters the most. And far important than seeing the amount of rich people rise in the country. It does reflect well on the country to see the super-rich rise in the country however which means there are innovations on the rise which could quite easily benefit the masses. Anyway, as is seen with all South Asian countries, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Demonstrably true in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.


The poor are not getting poorer. Where do you think the massive middle class is rising from?
The poor are not growing rich fast enough, though. I'm sure we are long past the days where people used to die to crop failures. Aside from this, with increasing tax collection, governments are creating better infrastructure for everyone.

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> Given surveyed salaried class in BD is miniscule even for South Asia...what is it around 0.01% of people?...or is that too conservative? Nah....you keep trying. Definitely no relation to minimum wage either (which is a much larger reactionary lever stemming from much more people who have to deal with the mass dumped inflation on them).
> 
> There is reason why Intel, Qualcomm and others would laugh if BD is brought up even in a side note....and why Bangladesh consumes energy levels per capita that India and Pakistan did in the 1950s....a large part of BD GDP is just inflation based.....hence why real household income declining AND why BBS keeps delaying (remember you lot kept jumping up and down that it will happen last year....instead it gets delayed just like Walton export target) its GDP re-basing exercise (knowing the impact it will have on loan and credit flows because of the GDP denominator being forced to deflate).
> 
> Shoddily run GDDS country with disproportionate amount of corruption (even for its development)....what can one expect?



BD energy consumption is at 1950s level India and Pakistan?



You are one stupid butt-hurt troll!

Why not go back to 1940s when UK ruled India?

BD is at 1970s India now but the difference is that it is growing a lot quicker than India did back then.

In other, other, other news, BD electricity consumption has tripled since AL came into power in 2009.

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## MAB

Hasan89 said:


> Exactly. Since you’re bringing it up. Who’s the beggar here? Pakistanis. Begging Bangladeshis to get views, indirectly by reacting to BD songs.
> 
> Not any favourable win here. It’s more of desperation. Needing Bangladeshis to make paisa, without the Bangla viewers no paisa. Shows something Haha!
> 
> Do you see BD people react to Pak or Hindi stuffs? No because quite frankly our people are not interested in these reactions to make paisa from others. Definitely not one bit interested in pak stuffs, like films songs.
> 
> Whatever you think. The channel is showing Bangladeshi songs actors to thousands of Pakistanis and others through their channel though, No? Who’s gaining here.



LOL at "begging". No need to get all worked up here bud. This channel is just supplying the demand from Bangladeshi's who want this sort of content. If there was such demand from Pakistani's or Indians for Bangladeshi opinion then you would see the channels.

To be very honest, Bangladeshi opinion is not very important to Pakistan, most people in Pakistan not would even be able to point it out on a map. However thank you for the discussion, it went on a bit longer than expected for such a trivial topic.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> BD energy consumption is at 1950s level India and Pakistan?



You have to make me keep posting this?

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.PCAP.KG.OE?locations=IN-PK-BD

Whenever we look at any actual physical (major input) consumption metric, its similar story (just scale of the lag differs).

Yet thanks to the inflation dumping phenomenon, somehow few cherrypicked macro-tabulations (esp GDP nominal) is the be all end all...and everything else (at base of the calculation) ignored or not relevant anymore....coz a GDDS feelz country sez so (with its own BBS now showing real household income decline but still not publishing it).

BD needs more MA Taslims, and fewer of you "BD STRONK-just believe and it will be ok" kinda ppl.

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> You have to make me keep posting this?
> 
> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.PCAP.KG.OE?locations=IN-PK-BD
> 
> Whenever we look at any actual physical (major input) consumption metric, its similar story (just scale of the lag differs).
> 
> Yet thanks to the inflation dumping phenomenon, somehow few cherrypicked macro-tabulations (esp GDP nominal) is the be all end all...and everything else (at base of the calculation) ignored or not relevant anymore....coz a GDDS feelz country sez so (with its own BBS now showing real household income decline but still not publishing it).
> 
> BD needs more MA Taslims, and fewer of you "BD STRONK-just believe and it will be ok" kinda ppl.



That is 2014 dude. BD has grown in leaps and bounds to 2018 - just last 4 years electricity consumption has jumped 100%.

http://www.bpdb.gov.bd/bpdb_new/index.php/site/daily_max_generation


BD has been growing a LOT quicker this decade than either Pakistan or India did in 1960s or 1970s.
Pakistan and India virtually stagnated in energy consumption in the 1970s.

Not a very bright butt-hurt are you?

Like I say my cranial capacity is far far higher than yours.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> That is 2014 dude. BD has grown in leaps and bounds to 2018 - just last 4 years electricity consumption has jumped 100%.
> 
> http://www.bpdb.gov.bd/bpdb_new/index.php/site/daily_max_generation



Max generation peak does not equal the total year integral. Why dont you check actual relevant numbers? Too hard for low IQ?

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.ELEC.KH.PC?locations=BD

310 kwH in 2014 per capita consumption.

You claim a doubling to 2018 in realised aggregated consumption....so around 600 by now.

Instead it seems to be around 450 kwH in 2017:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_electricity_production

(74,700 / 165)

Original source: https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/e...l-review/bp-stats-review-2018-full-report.pdf

Not to mention the fact electricity is only a small portion of total energy consumption (in oil equivalent).

1 kwH = 0.086 kg of oil equivalent

310 kwH (BD electricity per capita consumption in 2014) = 27 kg of oil equivalent

Its total energy consumption per capita (in 2014) = 222 kg of oil equivalent per capita.

So literally you are making a hue and cry, be all + end all argument over the increases found in what...12% of BD energy consumption profile to begin with?

I think its very clear who has the "low cranial capacity" here. It will be confirmed as usual by the aggregate data when its actually published in world bank etc....its always hillarious when the BD STRONK ego gets deflated right on cue (Walton STRONK exports 1 billion by 2018?........naaaaah give us another 10 years pls...and then give us another 10 years when its 2028 mmmm k?).

@django @Desert Fox @Game.Invade @gslv mk3 @Psychic @Aung Zaya @Chinese-Dragon @Mage @dy1022 @Jlaw

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## doorstar

UKBengali said:


> it is growing a lot quicker than India


one person has a 2.5 trillion dollar business and is growing at 5% per annum
one person has a 250 billion and is growing at 7%
when are they going to become equal?

in which century?

@Nilgiri lend me your calculator

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## Nilgiri

BengalSubah said:


> That's not actually true.



Because a random no name sez so!



BengalSubah said:


> So you think calling on others to corroborate fake news



World bank data is fake newssssssss.

BBS is the absolute true newwwssss.



doorstar said:


> one person has a 2.5 trillion dollar business and is growing at 5% per annum
> one person has a 250 billion and is growing at 7%
> when are they going to become equal?
> 
> in which century?
> 
> @Nilgiri lend me your calculator



Not to mention that 7% has large amount of inflation inserted into it lol. BD is scared to rebase to a new year for a reason you know.

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## Nilgiri

BengalSubah said:


> And let's not resort to fake news as your friend Nigri did.



Literally posting credible + standardized direct data + calculation using that = fake news.

Posting swathes of copy+paste articles, with no understanding (of say how inflation and LDC dependency badly/uselessly boosts GDP nominal for BD compared to say its PPP consumption) and not using one iota of standardisation or logic = REAL news....joy bangla 

@gslv mk3

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## mb444

Mage said:


> The article says that it's not necessary to worry about trade deficit as it will encourage FDI....which is unlikely in BD's case.
> 
> We can't hope for more of the same for long either. RMG is not gonna make BD developed country. And other industries are not appearing. And we will need FDI at least initially for other industries to flourish. Economic reforms are necessary that will encourage investments here. But what is being dine here? Ease of doing business rating worse than Afghanistan. Inept bureaucracy is harming BD more than anything. But Biman guys will say otherwise.



GOB is fairly useless, lacks vision and have low implementation capacity.

Trust the private sector and NGOs to pick up the slack.

One Hope's with raising literacy our people will raise themselves up by the boot strap incrementally as has happened since independence.

We require visionary leadership.... I see none on the horizon but have great hope for BDs people. Population has been controlled and economy is in lift off mode...fingers crossed.


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## Nilgiri

doorstar said:


> one person has a 2.5 trillion dollar business and is growing at 5% per annum
> one person has a 250 billion and is growing at 7%
> when are they going to become equal?
> 
> in which century?
> 
> @Nilgiri lend me your calculator



(10x)*1.05^y = x*1.07^y

basically y* log (1.07/1.05) = log 10

y = log 10/ log (1.07/1.05) = 122 (years)

...or if you want to use more generally elsewhere: 

time units = log (ratio of current sizes)/ log (ratio of growth rate multipliers per unit time).

Of course per capita also has to be figured in (given different population sizes)...but that is a easy thing to do (just change the ratio of current sizes to reflect that).

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## Nilgiri

BengalSubah said:


> So you haven't got a clue how to quote articles? Anyway it seems somehow resorting to ad-hominem is better than actually knowing what you're saying. You're not very bright are you? Stop spreading fantastical stories about India's so-called growth and stick to facts.
> 
> 
> 
> Why is it that every reply I've had is met with calling on your buddies in this forum for backup? Is it too much for you when you get a friendly dose of reality or am I just rebutting you too many times that you need to call on others to help you?



You literally just called electricity consumption/total energy consumption analysis as "fake news"....without telling what is fake about it? (it doesnt line up with your feelz is that it?)

Then you complain about ad-hominem lol as though that somehow justfies you calling something "fake news" in first place with no explanation. You are just another indication of what is wrong with BD society (feelz over facts)....too bad. 

Literally just a few members in BD section have any actual pragmatic common sense and rational smarts on BD economy...@bluesky is one...@mage as well:

https://defence.pk/pdf/members/nilgiri.170808/

You on the other hand is just another dullard copying pasting (with no understanding) and then crying (FAKE NEWS!!!!) when the feelz get challenged, probably one of those repeat spam accounts making yet another one. Toodles....I will re-engage when you have proven you actually stick around and have made some established contribution.

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## UKBengali

BengalSubah said:


> You're not really engaging with me in a beneficial manner conducive to proper discussion. Just spreading fake news and somehow delivering a speech about how I'm tormenting you with facts over feelings? You serious, dude? Your main contribution was spreading unfathomable Indian wet dreams I've been hearing for the last decade, which haven't been achieved and will never be achieved. Once I wrecked your sorry worldview with facts, you resorted to name-calling, as per usual. It's always like that with the Indians. Give them a dose of reality and what do you get? Name-calling and squirms. I pointed out to you several times on Bangladesh's amazing growth in many capacities relative to other nations in South Asia, you decided to block your ears and cry wolf. What a shame. Well, it's not short of the standard I expect from an Indian propagandist. It will leaps, bounds and even miracles for aspirations you have for India. Bangladesh wasn't expected to do so well, yet it is. With proper government we will surpass South Asian neighbours in many socioeconomics. And even with out that we are already doing it! Now imagine that with a stable government?! Does it get any better?



Good that you quickly found out what a butt-hurt retard that poster is. His whole forum time is spent bad-mouthing BD.

He reads a lot and and thinks that anyone remotely intelligent will believe his copy-paste nonsense. Notice all the people he calls are not really that intelligent and/or are butt-hurt at BD for one reason or another. No-one remotely intelligent has any time for him.

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## UKBengali

BengalSubah said:


> I could already hear their sorrows, and Bangladesh isn't even half way there. Much to achieve, yet we're already getting them worried. No surprise there.




Think of it this way - no BD poster hardly ever posts in their sections but they swarm here like locusts.

The more intelligent ones know that India is destined for disintegration as it is not natural and BD is their greatest fear as it shows why single-ethnic states have always dominated and lasted throughout history.

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> The article says that it's not necessary to worry about trade deficit as it will encourage FDI....which is unlikely in BD's case.
> 
> We can't hope for more of the same for long either. RMG is not gonna make BD developed country. And other industries are not appearing. And we will need FDI at least initially for other industries to flourish. Economic reforms are necessary that will encourage investments here. But what is being dine here? Ease of doing business rating worse than Afghanistan. Inept bureaucracy is harming BD more than anything. But Biman guys will say otherwise.



Article is wrong implying it will be FDI (quality capital investment)....the capital account Taka surplus pressure (generated outside BD from the current account deficit) is largely going to be in form of BD govt bonds (given BD has long way to go in stock market development and private industry bonds etc) which finances its internal fiscal deficit (quality of all that depends on quality of BD govt)....a rough gauge of this process's quality overall is the credit rating BD has (which is still below investment grade). If BD improves its credit rating to investment grade, that will go long way in enhancing the quality of this route.

Thus BD certainly needs to worry about trade deficit (given its bad credit rating and bad corruption rankings - even for the region) given its current status quo and over reliance on its govt feelz figures (and reluctance to improve and reform, and join SDDS category over time for example).

On the other hand gross capital formation is looking fine in BD in the raw levels and trends, though the quality break-up is probably not great (there is not much data on that in first place) and bump from low base effect plays its part in exaggerating it. 

Its a mixed bag leaning to bad, when BD really needs a solid, clear goodie bag in these fundamentals (given they have massive follow on inertia and relevance long term). Go along to get along status quo is not going to cut it for BD long term....but how can BD introduce genuine healthy economic and political competition at current point to better hedge for it?

@Marine Rouge @bluesky

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## django

UKBengali said:


> Good that you quickly found out what a butt-hurt retard that poster is.* His whole forum time is spent bad-mouthing BD.*
> 
> He reads a lot and and thinks that anyone remotely intelligent will believe his copy-paste nonsense. Notice all the people he calls are not really that intelligent and/or are butt-hurt at BD for one reason or another. No-one remotely intelligent has any time for him.


And unlike you he actually backs up his arguments with actual relevant data and numbers!!!

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## UKBengali

django said:


> And unlike you he actually backs up his arguments with actual relevant data and numbers!!!




Quoting self:

"Notice all the people he calls are not really that intelligent and/or are butt-hurt at BD"

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## bluesky

doorstar said:


> one person has a 2.5 trillion dollar business and is growing at 5% per annum
> one person has a 250 billion and is growing at 7%
> when are they going to become equal?
> in which century?





Nilgiri said:


> (10x)*1.05^y = x*1.07^y
> 
> basically y* log (1.07/1.05) = log 10
> 
> y = log 10/ log (1.07/1.05) = 122 (years)


The way @doorstar asked the question and the answer @Nilgiri gave both are superficial. Who on Earth thinks BD total economy will ever match the total economy of India? So, I re-write the question @doorstar put forward as:
-One country has $1,850 (correct?) per capita GDP and growing at 5%
-Another country has $1,650 (correct?) per capita GDP and growing at 7%

Now, @Nilgiri, please use the logarithm to calculate how many short years the latter will take to catch up with the former, and how many long years the latter will take to double the per capita GDP figure comparing to the former? It is certainly not 122 years. How about something like 10 years or less for catching up?

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> Who on Earth thinks BD total economy will ever match the total economy of India?



Hence why I put this:



Nilgiri said:


> Of course per capita also has to be figured in (given different population sizes)...but that is a easy thing to do (just change the ratio of current sizes to reflect that).



I was just giving direct answer to the direct initial question.



bluesky said:


> One country has $1,850 (correct?) per capita GDP and growing at 5%
> -Another country has $1,650 (correct?) per capita GDP and growing at 7%



These numbers are wrong and are comparing two countries with different IMF categories of data collection and standardisation (India is SDDS, BD is GDDS).

Anyway just so you have an answer for this very limited/non-useful comparison:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=BD-IN

India = 1940 USD per capita (growing at 13% from 2016 - 2017).

BD = 1516 USD per capita (growing at 11.6% from 2016 to 2017)

So Bangladesh will clearly never catch up with this analysis (India 28% higher and growing at faster rate)

If we look at constant dollar (i.e account for inflation)...a somewhat better comparison:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.KD?locations=IN-BD

India = 1963 USD per capita (growing at 5.4%)

BD = 1093 USD per capita (growing at 6.2%) <----you can see just how inflation in BD has wrecked havoc on the constant dollar level (compared to India where numbers are roughly the same)

Using the earlier formula, that will be catch up time of 77 years (when both countries GDP per capita will be 110,000 USD). As you can see there is a problem using this analysis for such a long time...as neither these growth rates will hold up for either country in this time frame.

In fact you can already see how the growth rate effect in India is decelerating as its base is no longer so small like Bangladesh. When India was at 1100 USD per capita, it too was growing more or less at same rate as BD is now (though India has much better standards/accuracy/credibility).

If we look at PPP constant dollars (the best, most relevant comparison possible - as there is direct sampling of consumption trends on the ground rather than using only USD demand/supply with trade composition that is very different to local consumption - i.e do Bangladeshis consume 90% RMG in their daily basket?):

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD?locations=IN-BD

India = 6426 USD per capita (growing at 5.4%)

BD = 3523 USD per capita (growing at 6.1%)

i.e 91 year catch up time period (and again same time frame problem as before).

BD needs another 10 - 20 years to chart out actual industrialisation, and better standards (SDDS) adoption and better (investment grade) credit rating and much better run govt and bureaucracy etc etc etc to really start comparing adequately and relevantly with India.

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## bluesky

Homo Sapiens said:


> If we buy more things made by foreigners, then foreigners must be investing capital in our country, that’s just how it works. Any deficit upon the trade or current accounts is and must be offset by an equal and opposite surplus on the capital account for the balance of payments does always balance.
> 
> Note what happens if foreigners are investing in Bangladesh. There’s more capital in the country, and it is capital which increases the productivity of the workers. More productive workers get paid more, that’s just the way the world works.
> 
> Thus, our running a trade deficit, as a result of that more capital coming in, is what contributes to wages rising over time. Yes, it’s an oddity, but there’s a truth there all the same.


Reading the excerpts above I really do not understand what the writer wants to say. Adam Smith theory may be more applicable to the western countries than it is to a country like Bangladesh where the FDI Gurus do not find a lucrative market.

Today, the trade deficit is financed and balanced only because of our expatriates remitting $15 billion every year. The more deficit the more BD becomes dependent upon China, ADB and WB money to finance many facelifting projects. And when it is their money they choose companies to do the related planning, designing and construction jobs.

Participation by BD contractors can only be seen at the lower rung. It means no absorption of technology by the locals from the foreigners. This is the vicious cycle BD is in. In case of a surplus trade, the situation will reverse, and the GoB will decide the local companies and they will select foreign consulting firms if they need them. This is what is happening in countries like Malaysia. It finances its projects.

Yes, it can be reversed if FDI comes in. But it is not happening now. The infusion is probably less than $2 billion per year. This is an amount that can create merely $500 million worth of wealth per year.

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> Adam Smith theory may be more applicable to the western countries than it is to a country like Bangladesh where the FDI Gurus do not find a lucrative market.



Adam Smith theory is very applicable to anyone (both poor and rich countries, but probably even more for poor countries given their suffering populations that need more free markets to gain wealth to improve their condition)....because it itself says that there needs to be a genuine moral based rule of law system to be in play for what we call capitalism today to work and work well. Without it, anything that arises cannot be called Capitalism but a frankenstein monster (of conflicting immoral authoritarian interests).

Everyone seems to think Adam Smith only wrote "Wealth of Nations"....when in fact his preceding work "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" is his even more important work and forms the context for the enlightenment that is true capitalism.

Rest of your post I agree with largely.

@Joe Shearer

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## bluesky

*China top FDI source in FY '18*
*Bilateral trade gap exceeds $11b, exports decline 27pc*
Asjadul Kibria | Published: November 18, 2018 09:44:00 | Updated: November 18, 2018 13:25:46







China became the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) for Bangladesh last fiscal year (FY), the central bank said.

The net inflow of FDI from the world's second-largest economy reached US$ 506.13 million in fiscal year 2017-18.

The amount was around one-fifth of the total foreign capital flow into Bangladesh during the FY 2017-18.

Bangladesh received net FDI worth $ 2,580.44 million in the past fiscal year, posting a growth of 5.12 per cent over the previous fiscal year.

A large chunk of the Chinese FDI came to the power sector, which received a record $ 407.31 million in the last quarter of the last fiscal year.

This means the Chinese FDI in Bangladesh was six times the figure received during FY17 when the net flow amounted to $ 68.58 million.

The stock of Chinese FDI also stood at $ 1,193.22 million by the end of FY18 while the gross inflow was $ 534.58 million.

The net inflow is derived by deducting disinvestment from the gross investment.

Chinese FDI in South Asia has been increasing at a faster rate in recent times.

"China Global Investment Tracker," compiled by the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, showed that China either invested or is ready to invest $ 10.64 billion combined in five countries of the region from January 2016 through June 2018. These are: Pakistan ($ 2.59 billion) Sri Lanka ($ 2.55 billion), Myanmar ($ 2.10 billion), Bangladesh ($2.06 billion) and Nepal ($1.34 billion).

Bangladesh Bank statistics, however, doesn't support the data unveiled thorough the China investment tracker, which is considered the only comprehensive data set covering China's global investment and construction activities.

Bangladesh Bank actually estimates gross as well net inflow while the global investment tracker covers both proposed and actual investment.

The United Kingdom became the second-largest source of FDI with $ 372.72 million during the past fiscal year, followed by Hong Kong ($ 190.73 million), the United States of America ($ 170.57 million), and Singapore ($ 158.48 million).

In FY18, the net FDI from India to Bangladesh stood at $ 125.28 million, registering a 31.30 per cent growth over the previous year.

Meanwhile another set of statistics, released by Bangladesh Bank last week, showed that annual import from China jumped by 14 per cent in FY 18 and stood at $ 1,1706 million ($11.70 billion).

The big jump in import from China compared with a sharp decline in export left bilateral trade deficit to record $11.01 billion in FY'18.

This is for the first time Bangladesh's trade gap with any trading partner crossed the $10 billion level.

Exports to China declined to $694.96 million in FY18 from $949.41 million, or nearly 27 per cent in FY '17.

Exports of Bangladeshi products to China last declined in FY'09 when it dropped to $ 97.06 million from $ 106.95 million in FY'08.

Since then export to China has increased annually until the past year when it declined again.

China is not only the largest import source of Bangladesh, but also the top trading partner of the country.

Bilateral trade with China stood at $ 12.40 billion during the last fiscal year.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/bangladesh/china-top-fdi-source-in-fy-18-1542512640


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## Species

As I said numerous times, India will always try to impose some barrier on our connectivity with Nepal and Bhutan. BBIN has already went to the bin, we should formulate bilateral agreements with these countries to have a dedicated corridor without relying much on India.

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## prashantazazel

BengalSubah said:


> That's not actually true. The poor in India has been thrusted for years by politicians and corruption, which has made the country stagnate and fall back rapidly. India is no China. Light-years away from that and simply does not have the infrastructure to match what you and other Indians keep telling people. A little dose of reality is suitable for all parties. India has fallen well bellow it's target recently and has continued veer off into an anticlimax to what was projected by your officials a decade ago.
> 
> To quote an article on the perils of the Indian economy and how your government has fed its poor populations wild fantasies for years, here is one:
> 
> "
> India is in a silent, unreported crisis, a crisis of payments. There is no money to honour upcoming commitments. Later this week, for instance, Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) - a financing mechanism unique to India - have about Rs600 billion (approx $8.3 billion) of bonds due for redemption. They have no money; their back was broken by the demonetisation of high-denomination currency back on November 8, 2016. They are what the medium, small and micro enterprises (MSME) sector relies on for financing, particularly in areas like housing and transport. With public sector banks saddled with Rs10 trillion of bad loans (or non-performing assets, NPAs), there is little money available for launching or expanding business.
> 
> So Indian GDP growth is stuck at around seven per cent. This might be a lot in other countries - indeed, India's quarterly GDP numbers have beaten other large economies lately - but for India it is not enough for providing employment and eradicating poverty. A million Indians join the workforce every month. This requires double-digit growth. The last time India achieved double-digit growth was during the Manmohan Singh years - according to the figures revised, ironically, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government (to make his own economic management look good)."
> 
> Reference: https://www.khaleejtimes.com/editorials-columns/what-is-modi-/government-hiding-about-indias-economy
> 
> 
> 
> So you think calling on others to corroborate fake news is helping you or your country in any capacity. It has been known for years how India has been falling way short of expectations for years. The poor in the country are extremely poor.
> 
> To quote:
> 
> "
> *A low poverty line results in diminished economic growth and flawed policies like demonetisation.*
> 
> The development agenda today is largely about drawing an arbitrary line for poverty and focusing on a narrow goal of pulling individuals just above this line. Multilateral development organisations like the UN and the World Bank play an important role in setting the development agenda for poor and middle-income countries like India, but have not done enough to push for a realistic global poverty line.
> 
> The World Bank defines poverty as earning less than $1.90/day, after adjusting for purchasing power parity. The UN recently released its Multidimensional Poverty Index, which considers poverty to not just be a deprivation in income, but also in other indicators of well-being.
> 
> The international poverty line, however, remains the most intuitive and widespread tool used to measure poverty.
> 
> _*Also read: *_UNDP data on poverty shows gains are in line with Modi’s slogan, not a product of it
> 
> But many economists have found that there is no discontinuity (or sharp non-linearity) around the poverty line in any objective/subjective indicator of well-being. In other words, there exists no line of poverty.
> 
> If development agencies insist on having a line for use as proxies for poverty measurement like the head count ratio (HCR), then it should be at a much higher level to enable us to assert with 100 per cent confidence that _people above this line are NOT poor_. Not only is the current poverty line too low, leading to far too many people being excluded from the development agenda, but this low line is also nudging governments and international development agencies to focus exclusively on programmatic and targeted approaches to poverty reduction.
> 
> There are approximately one billion people (call them ‘extremely poor’) below the $1.90 line and 1 billion (call them ‘prosperous’) above the $15 line (set by OECD/rich countries). That leaves 5 billion people who are poor by a reasonable global standard of poverty, but not poor according to the $1.90/day definition. This is a dangerously low-bar definition of poverty – no one in the history of mankind has celebrated crossing the $1.90 threshold (thank you Lant Pritchett for that great metaphor).
> 
> A focus on reducing $1.90/day poverty excludes the legitimate concerns and needs of 5 billion people from the development agenda. In Indonesia, for example, the headcount $1.90/day poverty was only 10.6 per cent in 2016 – which means, 9 in 10 Indonesians weren’t included in the international “end extreme poverty” agenda even when many of them experienced unacceptable deprivation in human well-being.
> 
> _*Also read: *_Poverty or inequality- What is more important for India and Indian economists
> 
> Similarly, according to the $1.90/day definition, only 4.7 per cent of Indians are extremely poor, but a democratic government cannot base its development agenda by excluding 95 per cent of the country’s population. Hence, an Indian government has very little incentive to form an agenda specifically for the poor. This becomes a relevant point with 2019 general elections just around the corner in India. Political parties cannot win an election with agendas that exclude most citizens.
> 
> The $1.90 line is surely not an adequate measure of global poverty – analysts have suggested that $7.40/day is the minimum necessary to achieve decent nutrition and life expectancy. Therefore, agencies like the World Bank should have a higher global poverty line ranging between a lower bound of $7.40 and an upper bound of $15 (poverty line set by rich countries). That would enable us to say _for sure_ who is poor and who is not. A broader agenda is necessary to focus on raising 6 billion people into prosperity as opposed to an exclusionary goal that makes gains only for 1 in 7 people on the planet.
> 
> In the Indian example, when the poverty line is broadened, obviously a larger proportion of the population gets included in it – something like 95 per cent of the Indian population. And the only way to reduce poverty for 95 per cent of the population is through market-led processes – i.e., economic growth. So, in a sense, the low bar poverty line constraints development thinkers and practitioners to implement redistributive models of development, which are more likely to be zero-sum games. Broadening the poverty line would allow and force us to look at a positive sum model of economic growth where everyone benefits. After all, most of the reduction of poverty in the world has indeed come from sustained episodes of economic growth, and increased labour mobility.
> 
> _*Also read: *_RBI data isn’t enough to argue if demonetisation was a success or failure
> 
> According to a study by Pritchett, et al. (2016), the growth accelerations in India in 1993 and 2002 led to a total gain of $3.7 trillion – a gain that wouldn’t have existed had there been no acceleration in economic growth. This phenomenal achievement was possible because of the shift towards more market-oriented policies at the general level, which led to a period of sustained economic growth. A corollary of the understanding that economic growth is the best way to reduce poverty would be that any policy that holds back or diminishes growth without any long-term benefits is criminal and should not be undertaken. An apt example of such a policy in the Indian context is demonetisation, which economists suggest led to a decrease in India’s growth rate with no significant benefits on its stated objectives.
> 
> Policymakers and citizens need to understand and appreciate the supreme importance of economic growth. Having a realistically higher poverty line will be an important step towards that goal.
> 
> _Yash Mehta is working in the field of development research and is a Fellow at Citizens for Public Leadership (CPL). Aditya Jahagirdar is a development and public policy professional._
> 
> 
> _258_
> "
> 
> If you think calling on your forum buddies to back up your wild, nut-job conspiracies is going to help your country in any way, you've got another thing coming, buddy. Stick to realistic goals and real aspirations. You're overestimating India's capabilities. If this is the mentality of your countrymen, is it any wonder why India's growth is decreasing? I'm pretty befuddled why you think spreading such false claims is going to help you.


We are the fastest growing major economy in the world. That's a big deal. Your first paragraph is just conjecture. There are plenty of stats which will give you the numbers on an ever expanding middle class in India.

Now, of course China is doing better. Doesn't mean we are not progressing. 7-8 percent growth will still make us an upper middle income economy in around 2 decades. We liberalised our economy quite late. So it will take time to catch up with other upper middle income countries.

We will take the capitalist route for poverty alleviation, because unrestricted socialism and providing freebies to poor people hasn't really helped us.

You can take the moral high ground when your per capita income reaches first world levels. Right now, your either close or way behind us (depending upon the source of statistics).



UKBengali said:


> Think of it this way - no BD poster hardly ever posts in their sections but they swarm here like locusts.
> 
> The more intelligent ones know that India is destined for disintegration as it is not natural and BD is their greatest fear as it shows why single-ethnic states have always dominated and lasted throughout history.


This is funny. You should look at the migration rates between India and Bangladesh.

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## Umair Nawaz

Michael Corleone said:


> Until about a certain age I too would have backed Islamic economic system/ Islamic banking but now that I know that this is just a sham (in the present world), I can’t back them.
> 
> .


because there is no authentic Islamic System in the World operational for the last 350 years to begin, thats inorder to analyse it and it being able to produce results.

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## Mage

mb444 said:


> GOB is fairly useless, lacks vision and have low implementation capacity.
> 
> Trust the private sector and NGOs to pick up the slack.
> 
> One Hope's with raising literacy our people will raise themselves up by the boot strap incrementally as has happened since independence.
> 
> We require visionary leadership.... I see none on the horizon but have great hope for BDs people. Population has been controlled and economy is in lift off mode...fingers crossed.


For foreign private investment it needs to go through official procedure set by BD bureaucracy. Which is very much a turn off for the foreign investments. So they prefer other destinations like Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand. Growing trade deficit is indeed a concern. And govt has to look into it. Impose much higher tax on expensive items from China and India. Raw materials should be allowed and the tarrifs must be cut for them. But much more tax and duty fee has to be dumped on expensive products. It might even encourage some more manufacturing in the country.



Nilgiri said:


> Article is wrong implying it will be FDI (quality capital investment)....the capital account Taka surplus pressure (generated outside BD from the current account deficit) is largely going to be in form of BD govt bonds (given BD has long way to go in stock market development and private industry bonds etc) which finances its internal fiscal deficit (quality of all that depends on quality of BD govt)....a rough gauge of this process's quality overall is the credit rating BD has (which is still below investment grade). If BD improves its credit rating to investment grade, that will go long way in enhancing the quality of this route.
> 
> Thus BD certainly needs to worry about trade deficit (given its bad credit rating and bad corruption rankings - even for the region) given its current status quo and over reliance on its govt feelz figures (and reluctance to improve and reform, and join SDDS category over time for example).
> 
> On the other hand gross capital formation is looking fine in BD in the raw levels and trends, though the quality break-up is probably not great (there is not much data on that in first place) and bump from low base effect plays its part in exaggerating it.
> 
> Its a mixed bag leaning to bad, when BD really needs a solid, clear goodie bag in these fundamentals (given they have massive follow on inertia and relevance long term). Go along to get along status quo is not going to cut it for BD long term....but how can BD introduce genuine healthy economic and political competition at current point to better hedge for it?
> 
> @Marine Rouge @bluesky


Govts are always easy in bureaucrats because they play an important role to keep the power. Govt change and you'll see many transfer of officials in the high level but the culture will remain the same. BD need a people oriented bureaucracy or a Govt which will be hard on the givt officials to deliver.

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## Mage

BengalSubah said:


> I feel bittersweet about this new injections of monies coming in from China.


We indeed need to be cautious. FDI is welcomed. Rising trade deficit is not.

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## SBUS-CXK

BengalSubah said:


> I feel bittersweet about this new injections of monies coming in from China.


Bangladesh is good.

But I am very worried China investment in these countries: Turkey, Australia, North korea...

Turkey -- think of HQ-9. and WS-1, WS-2. and CRRC.

Australia -- think of HUAWEI.

North Korea......

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## Umair Nawaz

BengalSubah said:


> Well, Islamic System would have to be adapted to modern standards in order to have some chance which is not at this time possible with the current situation in the Muslim world. I hope some day it comes true inshAllah, but for now we will have to wait.


we will surly find that once an authentic Islamic System is made and operationalizes enough to produce results.

Then we will be in a better position to judge whether those results r compatible to the modern digital age or not.


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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> Max generation peak does not equal the total year integral. Why dont you check actual relevant numbers? Too hard for low IQ?
> 
> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.ELEC.KH.PC?locations=BD
> 
> 310 kwH in 2014 per capita consumption.
> 
> You claim a doubling to 2018 in realised aggregated consumption....so around 600 by now.
> 
> Instead it seems to be around 450 kwH in 2017:
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_electricity_production
> 
> (74,700 / 165)
> 
> Original source: https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/e...l-review/bp-stats-review-2018-full-report.pdf
> 
> Not to mention the fact electricity is only a small portion of total energy consumption (in oil equivalent).
> 
> 1 kwH = 0.086 kg of oil equivalent
> 
> 310 kwH (BD electricity per capita consumption in 2014) = 27 kg of oil equivalent
> 
> Its total energy consumption per capita (in 2014) = 222 kg of oil equivalent per capita.
> 
> So literally you are making a hue and cry, be all + end all argument over the increases found in what...12% of BD energy consumption profile to begin with?
> 
> I think its very clear who has the "low cranial capacity" here. It will be confirmed as usual by the aggregate data when its actually published in world bank etc....its always hillarious when the BD STRONK ego gets deflated right on cue (Walton STRONK exports 1 billion by 2018?........naaaaah give us another 10 years pls...and then give us another 10 years when its 2028 mmmm k?).





Thanked by four dumb and butt-hurt dudes so far.

Now try to explain away how BD electricity consumption is able to increase by twice between 2014-2018 while other areas of energy usage do not also increase rapidly?
Electricity consumption increase happens in a vacuum?

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> Impose much higher tax on expensive items from China and India.



Its not that simple. One has to analyse how important such items are to various other cogs of BD economy...and what is the viable substitution rate BD can have to replace (over time) with local production.

Worst combination to highlight this would be to tax (just becuz its "expensive") something that is both vitally important to BD larger economy (i.e revenue and production it creates in further manufacturing or services etc) and which Bangladesh has no easy way to subsititute with current capital buffers + priorities it has.

Basically you would start to destroy your own GDP by doing so. 

The reverse of course can be looked at (taxing expensive things that do not have much participation in feedback loops in BD economy and are also things BD can easily produce right now locally)...and of course an approach for things that satisfy just 1 out of 2 of these criteria.

But needs careful approach....rather than tax it because its expensive etc. Even a mercedes car provides employment for car cleaners and car drivers etc (not to mention it becomes a clear long term taxable wealth asset instead of kept underwater in black economy)....you have to analyse the full spectrum of every class of good's trends/feedbacks in larger BD economy.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> Now try to explain away how BD electricity consumption is able to increase by twice



It didn't. 310 to 450 (from 2014 - 2017) is not a dbling (again you seem to have it in your low capacity head that peak rate = 1:1 correlation with total integral....Mr. Dirac would find you quite amusing...Mr. Laplace would have you thrown out of the room....doubt you know why I bring them up in first place...mr severely compromised IQ).



UKBengali said:


> while other areas of energy usage do not also increase rapidly?



Yeah why would a 12% component grow differently to the rest of the 88% (non-electricity energy)? Gee a real tough one given their very different demand portfolios. Hint: you are a LDC.



UKBengali said:


> Electricity consumption increase happens in a vacuum?



No, but neither does it have to be 1:1 with non-electric energy....and the biggest low IQ stretch is thinking a 12% component trend is scaleable to the rest of the 88% automatically.

Again you can wait and see for yourself (just like the walton export target reality check) on the world bank data. The BP energy handbook analysis is already deflating your ludicrous feelz claim....what else can we expect between actual real data and a BAL STRONK-devotee clown?

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> We indeed need to be cautious. FDI is welcomed. Rising trade deficit is not.



Especially when the FDI is just designed to import more Chinese stuff in the long run rather than impart technical know-how for local long term substitution/technical capacity etc.

But BD cant be too choosy I suppose given its at a nascent stage and running a trade deficit on a not very diverse export portfolio (i.e significant capital pressure developed outside).

Bd simply has to keep bulking up (and hopefully more diversely as it can manage...cant just be doing bicep curls ) so it can bargain better in future.


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## SBUS-CXK

Nilgiri said:


> Especially when the FDI is just designed to import more Chinese stuff in the long run rather than impart technical know-how for local long term substitution/technical capacity etc.
> 
> But BD cant be too choosy I suppose given its at a nascent stage and running a trade deficit on a not very diverse export portfolio (i.e significant capital pressure developed outside).
> 
> Bd simply has to keep bulking up (and hopefully more diversely as it can manage...cant just be doing bicep curls ) so it can bargain better in future.


China has done this, like Bangladesh.


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## Nilgiri

Two said:


> China has done this, like Bangladesh.



Your exports even in the 80s have always been a lot more diverse than BD (thanks to Deng reforms). You didn't get a LDC quota thing either (for RMG).

Both of these are causing some long term dependencies in BD which are not good....and makes the transition lot more fragile compared to China and India.

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## doorstar

Nilgiri said:


> It didn't. 310 to 450 (from 2014 - 2017) is not a dbling (again you seem to have it in your low capacity head that peak rate = 1:1 correlation with total integral....Mr. Dirac would find you quite amusing...Mr. Laplace would have you thrown out of the room....doubt you know why I bring them up in first place...mr severely compromised IQ).
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah why would a 12% component grow differently to the rest of the 88% (non-electricity energy)? Gee a real tough one given their very different demand portfolios. Hint: you are a LDC.
> 
> 
> No, but neither does it have to be 1:1 with non-electric energy....and the biggest low IQ stretch is thinking a 12% component trend is scaleable to the rest of the 88% automatically.
> 
> Again you can wait and see for yourself (just like the walton export target reality check) on the world bank data. The BP energy handbook analysis is already deflating your ludicrous feelz claim....what else can we expect between actual real data and a BAL STRONK-devotee clown?


I am wondering whether we should tell them (and list) LDC STRONKs about the billions of dollars worth of grants, interest free loans, and charity that has been poured into this corrupt and bottomless swamp (and other LDC related benefits) at the expense of hard working taxpayers of the world?

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## UKBengali

doorstar said:


> I am wondering whether we should tell them (and list) LDC STRONKs about the billion of dollars worth of grants, interest free loans, and charity that has been poured into this corrupt and bottomless swamp (and other LDC related benefits) at the expense of hard working taxpayers of the world?



What is your ethnic origin dude?



Nilgiri said:


> It didn't. 310 to 450 (from 2014 - 2017) is not a dbling (again you seem to have it in your low capacity head that peak rate = 1:1 correlation with total integral....Mr. Dirac would find you quite amusing...Mr. Laplace would have you thrown out of the room....doubt you know why I bring them up in first place...mr severely compromised IQ).
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah why would a 12% component grow differently to the rest of the 88% (non-electricity energy)? Gee a real tough one given their very different demand portfolios. Hint: you are a LDC.
> 
> 
> 
> No, but neither does it have to be 1:1 with non-electric energy....and the biggest low IQ stretch is thinking a 12% component trend is scaleable to the rest of the 88% automatically.
> 
> Again you can wait and see for yourself (just like the walton export target reality check) on the world bank data. The BP energy handbook analysis is already deflating your ludicrous feelz claim....what else can we expect between actual real data and a BAL STRONK-devotee clown?





Ouch, looks like the reference to cranial or lack of capacity has touched a nerve there!

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## Homo Sapiens

http://www.newagebd.net/article/56492/70pc-japanese-firms-in-bangladesh-want-to-expand-business

*70pc Japanese firms in Bangladesh want to expand business*

Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka | Published: 00:43, Nov 19,2018 | Updated: 01:06, Nov 19,2018



About 70 per cent of Japanese companies in Bangladesh wanted to expand their business in the next one to two years as their confidence had improved, said the Japan External Trade Organisation country representative in Dhaka D Arai on Sunday.

‘About 270 Japanese companies are operating their businesses in Bangladesh. Even after the Holey Artisan incident in 2016, no single Japanese company withdrew businesses from the country,’ said the JETRO country representative in Dhaka at a press conference held at the JETRO office in the capital.

The Japan Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised the press conference titled ‘Current Trend of Japanese Companies in Bangladesh’.

D Arai, also the JBCCI president, said the Japanese investors were looking for an alternative destination like Bangladesh, pulling back their investments from China for the high wages and production cost.

He said the Japanese investors were showing keen interest to invest in Bangladesh as the wages in the country was the lowest among the Asian and Oceania countries as well as one with the lowest production costs in the region.

‘Garment sector wages of workers in China is four times higher than in Bangladesh. Japan, thus, wants to shift its companies to other countries, including Bangladesh,’ he added.
He said nearly 70 per cent of local employees would be increased in Japanese companies next year as the government had taken various initiatives to increase the number of skilled manpower.

D Arai informed that the development of Japanese EZ in Araihazar was likely to be complete within 2020 as the land acquisition had already been finished.

He said the Japanese investors were showing keen interest to invest in various sectors, including information technology and infrastructure.

He also identified some risk and problems which were creating barriers in the way of expanding businesses in Bangladesh.

The risk and problems included lack of infrastructure, weakness of governance and compliance, taxation system and lack of skilled workforce.

The JETRO country representative urged the authorities concerned to take necessary steps for removing the risks in investment and to make the country more investment friendly.
He also called upon the government to take more steps to reduce the freight time at the seaport or airport as it was higher than in other Asian and Oceania countries.

Among other, the JBCCI vice-president Shariful Alam, director Masud Karim, adviser Akhtaruzzaman and honorary executive director AKM Moazzem Hussain were present.
Shariful Alam said the Japanese investment in Bangladesh was worth around $326 million until June of this year and the Japanese ODA was about $12 billion for Bangladesh while $7 billion had already been disbursed.

He believed the Japanese government was continuing its contribution for Bangladesh’s development and many Japanese companies would also come to set up businesses in the country.

Akhtaruzzaman said if there was a good election, many Japanese companies would come to invest in the country.

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## FuturePAF

Good for Bangladesh. Pakistan needs to study what Bangladesh does right in attracting this kind of FDI. (Before anyone starts, no we can't cut defense spending to focus 100% on the economy; we need to maintain our national security interests too)


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## Mage

FuturePAF said:


> Good for Bangladesh. Pakistan needs to study what Bangladesh does right in attracting this kind of FDI. (Before anyone starts, no we can't cut defense spending to focus 100% on the economy; we need to maintain our national security interests too)


Study Vietnam instead. Bangladesh hardly attracts any FDI to begin with.


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## Mage

Nilgiri said:


> Especially when the FDI is just designed to import more Chinese stuff in the long run rather than impart technical know-how for local long term substitution/technical capacity etc.
> 
> But BD cant be too choosy I suppose given its at a nascent stage and running a trade deficit on a not very diverse export portfolio (i.e significant capital pressure developed outside).
> 
> Bd simply has to keep bulking up (and hopefully more diversely as it can manage...cant just be doing bicep curls ) so it can bargain better in future.


Right....we are not in a position to be choosy about FDI. If it comes in any sector it is welcomed. Most(almost all, I guess) investment being in transport and power sector means that it will eventually be used for what you are saying.

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## FuturePAF

Mage said:


> Study Vietnam instead. Bangladesh hardly attracts any FDI to begin with.



Good Point. In Fact, unfortunately Pakistan exports raw cotton to Vietnam so they can make finished products for Export to the US. Pakistan needs to cut out the middle man and get its exports back on track.


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## Mage

*MCCI: Inflation was under control, FDI increased 7.46% in first quarter*
 Tribune Desk 

Published at 10:31 pm November 19th, 2018






*FDI inflow in Bangladesh is low compared to that in many countries that are at similar levels of development*

In its recent “Economic Situation in Bangladesh review, July-September 2018 (Q1 of FY19)”, the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), statedthat inflation was under control, exchange rate stable, and foreign exchange reserves rose to a comfortable level, in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

The review further reportedthat although Bangladesh’s economy is progressing well, infrastructure bottlenecks and shortage of power and energy has resulted in its performance to remain below its true potential.

Quoting the government’s latest data, MCCI reportedthat all major macroeconomic indicators – per capita income, foreign currency reserves, import and export, and foreign direct investment (FDI) – depict a strong positive trend in terms of private and public sector revenue collection. 

*Price situation*

*In September 2018, the general point-to-point inflation in the country fell by 0.05% to 5.43% from 5.48% in August 2018. *

The inflation in September was at its lowest in 18 months following the continuous fall in food prices. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the lowest inflation rate was recorded at 5.39% in March, 2017.

In September of 2017, the inflation rate was 6.12%.

*Food inflation came down 0.55% to 5.42% in September 2018 from 5.97% in August. However, year-on-year food inflation fell by 2.45% from 7.87%. *

*On the other hand, non-food inflation increased by 0.72% to 5.45% in September 2018 from 4.73% in the previous month. Year-on-year non-food inflation, however, increased by 2.01% from 3.44%. *

BBS data also reveals that prices of food items including sugar, edible oil, fish, vegetables, egg, andlentils dropped, while rent, cost of clothing, price of household goods, fuel, medical and transportation services, and education went up.

A comparison of point to point inflation data for urban and rural areas in September of FY19 shows that the inflation rate was higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Thus, the point-to-point general, food, and non-food inflation in rural areas in September were 4.99%, 4.86%, and 5.22%, respectively. 

These rates in urban areas were 6.23%, 6.65%, and 5.74%, respectively.

Foreign direct investment

In the first two months of the present fiscal year (July-August of FY19), the net FDI increased by $15 million or 7.46%, from $201 million to $216 million in the corresponding two months of FY18. 

FDI inflow in Bangladesh is low compared to that in many countries that are at similar levels of development. 

Although Bangladesh’s low labor costs are generally believed to be attractive to foreign investors, they hesitate to make fresh investments in the country due to the country’s underdeveloped infrastructure, and impediments such as shortage of power and energy, lack of consistency in policy and regulatory framework, scarcity of industrial lands, corruption, and political uncertainty. 

The report recommended that the government address these impediments to attract more FDI to the country.

*Exchange rate and foreign exchange reserves*

Between the end of June and end of September, 2018, the Taka depreciated by 0.06% in terms ofthe US dollar. On the inter-bank market, the US dollar was quoted at Tk83.7 at the end of June 2018 and Tk83.75 at the end of September 2018.

Bangladesh Bank's gross foreign exchange reserves stood at $31.958 billion (with ACU liability of $0.54 billion) as of end September 2018, as compared to $32.927 billion (with ACU liability of $1.15 billion) at the end of August. 

*The current foreign exchange reserve (less ACU liability) is equivalent to 6.35 months’ import payments.*

*Public finance*

National Board of Revenue’s (NBR) revenue collection target for FY19 is Tk296,201 crore, which is about 19.34% higher than that of the previous fiscal year’s original target – Tk248,190 crore – about 31.64% higher than the revised target of Tk225,000 crore, and additionally, about 43.50% higher than the collected amount of Tk206,407 crore in FY18.

In the first two months of FY19 (July-August), the NBR collected Tk28,317 crore, which was just 1.58% higher than collection of Tk27,876 crore in the previous period of FY18. However, this revenue collection fell Tk7,260 crore (20.41%)short of the target – Tk35,577 crore – for the first two months of FY19. 

*The small increase in NBR’s revenue collection – 1.58% – in July-August of FY19 was mainly due to the negative growth in the collection of value-added tax and customs duties.*

In these two months, the collection of VAT and customs duties declined by 0.45% and 5.55%, respectively. 

*Income tax collection, on the other hand, grew by 13.84% in this period.*

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...r-control-fdi-increased-7-46-in-first-quarter

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## Mage

*Walton starts exporting fridges to Yemen *


UNB News
Publish Date - November 17, 2018, 07:09 PM
UNB NEWS - UNB NEWS
273 Views
Update Date - November 17, 2018, 07:39 PM





Dhaka, Nov 17 (UNB)- Middle East country ‘Yemen’ has been enlisted in the list of importing countries of Walton fridges recently. 

Last month, Walton for the first time shipped out a large volume of fridges to a local brand of Yemen under the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). This month, the second shipment of Walton made fridges, including huge power efficient glass door refrigerator and beverage cooler, was completed. 

Edward Kim, President of Walton’s International Business Unit (IBU) said “We have a target of bagging US$ 1 billion earnings from the export of various electronics and electrical appliances and spare parts by 2028.” 

To meet this target, he said that they are trying to nurture brand presence in the international market through sustainable partnership with customers while focusing on OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) business to drive the business volume and also to enhance our product quality management which is an assurance to customers. 

Uday Hakim, deputy executive director of Walton Group, said they focused on expanding the global market and strengthening its international business unit. 

* Walton is setting up global product research and development centers and branch offices in many countries including Germany, United Kingdom, China, UAE, Taiwan and Thailand, he said.*

http://www.unb.com.bd/category/Business/walton-starts-exporting-fridges-to-yemen/6661

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## Michael Corleone

Umair Nawaz said:


> because there is no authentic Islamic System in the World operational for the last 350 years to begin, thats inorder to analyse it and it being able to produce results.





BengalSubah said:


> Well, Islamic System would have to be adapted to modern standards in order to have some chance which is not at this time possible with the current situation in the Muslim world. I hope some day it comes true inshAllah, but for now we will have to wait.


it's not possible when all the central banks except in north korea/ iran/ venezuela and i believe china, are jewish owned


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## greenhawk

What a wise business move, shipping off fridges to a country currently experiencing a famine.


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## Baby Leone

why i feel that there is only one company/ business group in Bangladesh that every now and then you people make thread and celebrate it.

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## Baby Leone

where these ultra rich Bangladeshis spend money? cz it doesnt reflect in the consumer spending pattern of Bangladesh. They might do spending in India and not Bangladesh.


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## Mage

Kami leone said:


> why i feel that there is only one company/ business group in Bangladesh that every now and then you people make thread and celebrate it.


Success of one will encourage others. Walton makes Fridges, Motorbikes, Mobile handsets, Air Conditions, TVs, Laptops etc. So, they are the leaders of local electronics in BD. They have competition from other companies. Like Runner in Motorbikes, Symphony in handsets.

Anyway take a look at best refrigator brands worldwide by ranker:
https://www.ranker.com/list/refrigerator-brands/werner-brandes



greenhawk said:


> What a wise business move, shipping off fridges to a country currently experiencing a famine.


Maybe they are expecting that refrigerator market will boom once the famine ends.

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## Buddhistforlife

BengalSubah said:


> Wrong. Bengal was the only part of the Indian colony which truly fought back against the British.
> 
> Here's a piece I found which lead to the movement of freedom from the British:
> 
> British-ruled Bengal was a hotbed of anti-colonial rebellion. In the early 19th century, Titumir led a peasant uprising against colonial rule. Haji Shariatullah led the Faraizi movement, advocating Islamic revivalism.[33] The Faraizis sought to create a caliphate and cleanse the region's Muslim society of what they deemed "un-Islamic practices". They were successful in galvanizing the Bengali peasantry against colonial authorities. However, the movement suffered crackdowns after the *Mutiny of 1857[34]* and lost impetus after the death of Haji Shariatullah's son Dudu Miyan.[33]
> 
> After 1870, Muslims began seeking English education increasingly. Under the leadership of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan the promotion the English language among Muslims of India also influenced Bengali Muslim society.[19] Social and cultural leaders among Bengali Muslims during this period included Munshi Mohammad Meherullah, who countered Christian missionaries,[35] writers Ismail Hossain Siraji and Mir Mosharraf Hossain; and feminists Nawab Faizunnesa and Roquia Sakhawat Hussain.
> 
> The creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam established visions for a sovereign Muslim-majority homeland in the eastern subcontinent. Low income Muslims after passing matriculation, looked for jobs as clerks, peons and orderlies but Hindu _babus_ refused to employ them.[19] So, instigated by the British, upper class Muslims formed the Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906.[19] The early Muslim League dominated politics in East Bengal. A. K. Fazlul Huq was the first Prime Minister of Bengal under British rule. Bengali Muslims also dominated politics in Colonial Assam, where Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani emerged as a populist leader. Muhammed Saadulah served as the first Prime Minister of Assam.


Most of the people you mentioned like Titumir and Haji Shariatullah did not fought against the British to liberate India. These people fought for muslims and fought to establish an Islamic state. So stop calling them freedom fighters. The original anti british revolutionaries and freedom fighters were Subash Chandra Bose, Masterda Surya Sen and Khudiram Bose who fought for the cause of India.

Titumir spent a bulk of his days in Saudi Arabia where he gathered fighters called Mujahideen who fought against the British in order to safeguard the rights of muslims and create a islamic kingdom of his own. He was never a freedom fighter.

Same as Tipu Sultan who was not a freedom fighter but he fought the British to safeguard his kingdom.


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## gslv mk3

Nilgiri said:


> Mr. Dirac would find you quite amusing...Mr. Laplace would have you thrown out of the room....doubt you know why I bring them up in first place...



He might be googling now to find who those two dudes are

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## Imran Khan

Kami leone said:


> where these ultra rich Bangladeshis spend money? cz it doesnt reflect in the consumer spending pattern of Bangladesh. They might do spending in India and not Bangladesh.


why india they may spend in Dubai London new york torranto Paris man

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## gslv mk3

BengalSubah said:


> their country's poor development



Quite rich, coming from an LDC Bangladeshi... 



BengalSubah said:


> inferiorit complex



Are we talking about characteristic Bangladeshi traits here ?



BengalSubah said:


> Bangladesh, a country born decades after is almost levelling their GDP per capita.



IMF apparently thinks otherwise...

https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPPC@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD/BD/BGD/IND

''levelled'' indeed.



BengalSubah said:


> And it is why India will never be a developed country, let alone it's wet dream of superpower (LOL). Bangladesh on the other hand has much potential due to it being single-ethnic nation.



Quite some wet-dreams there... 



Nilgiri said:


> 310 to 450 (from 2014 - 2017) is not a dbling



Maths works quite differently in single-ethnic nations I suppose @BengalSubah 



BengalSubah said:


> As you say, per capita and all these bogus figures your friend seems to put up from questionable sources



Electric power consumption statistics from International Energy Agency is just a bogus figure ?

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## gslv mk3

BengalSubah said:


> Unfortunately for India, they are not going to achieve the dream of superpower with China on the horizon. India is light-years away from China and the USA



Love to see the butt-hurt flowing, however the only country which is light years behind everyone else here is Bangladesh...

Maybe @Nilgiri should post that per capita electricity consumption data again...

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## Mage

BengalSubah said:


> FDI will continue to grow into the next decade. Bangladesh is continuing to attract businesses from many regions of the world. Hope the investment money is injected back into the economy smartly by BD Gov.


Govt need to make policies that will encourage FDI. So far their efforts have been very unsatisfactory.


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## Umair Nawaz

Michael Corleone said:


> it's not possible when all the central banks except in north korea/ iran/ venezuela and i believe china, are jewish owned


everything is possible....China also has her own financial system independent of capitalist monopoly of those jews or whatever.

If u go one step towards Allah, Allah takes 10 steps towards you.


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## Black_cats

*Bangladesh offers Indonesia to build Special Economic Zones*

Reporter: antara 9 hours ago

https://en.antaranews.com/news/120646/bangladesh-offers-indonesia-to-build-special-economic-zones





Illustration. Master plan of Bitung Special Economic Zone (SEZ). (bitung.go.id)

Dhaka (ANTARA News) - The Bangladeshi government has offered Indonesian investors to build Special Economic Zones (SEZ) where they can build factories or warehouses in the country, Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh Rina P. Soemarno stated.

"Bangladesh seeks to create a business climate that allows foreign businesses to invest easily. They offer Indonesian businessmen to establish a kind of export processing zone," Ambassador Soemarno noted here, Tuesday.

SEZ is an area where the business and trade regulations applied are different from other countries. SEZs are located in a country`s national borders with several objectives, including to increase trade and investment, create job opportunities, and implement effective administration.

The SEZs are facilities provided by the Bangladeshi government to foreign investors to set up factories or warehouses. The investment facility offers incentives for export-oriented businesses.

"Bangladesh is keen to position itself as a hub (activity center), but its connectivity is still lacking. They have no deep sea port. If foreign investors establish factories in Bangladesh, the country could increase national exports," Ambassador Soemarno noted.

She remarked that so far, various investors from several countries, including Singapore and South Korea, are utilizing the investment facilities of the SEZs in Bangladesh.

According to Ambassador Soemarno, Indonesia can increase the volume of trade with Bangladesh by utilizing the SEZ facility.

Indonesia ranks fifth out of Bangladesh`s 15 main trading partners. Over the past few years, the value of bilateral trade between Indonesia and Bangladesh has been increasing, with a surplus for Indonesia.

The volume of trade between the two countries provides a surplus of above 80 percent for Indonesia. Meanwhile, Bangladesh is the seventh-largest contributor to Indonesia`s trade surplus.

Editing by Libertina, Otniel Tamindael 
Editor: Heru Purwanto

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## Mage

The way things are going we'll probably offer SEZs to Afghanistan, Burundi and Liberia as well.

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## Michael Corleone

Umair Nawaz said:


> everything is possible....China also has her own financial system independent of capitalist monopoly of those jews or whatever.
> 
> If u go one step towards Allah, Allah takes 10 steps towards you.


Chinese aren’t Muslims. They won’t adopt Islamic banking and they’re preparing to ditch the dollar to eventually become number one and solidify their position...


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## TopCat

Mage said:


> The way things are going we'll probably offer SEZs to Afghanistan, Burundi and Liberia as well.


Why not.. if they can build one.

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## Species

BengalSubah said:


> What a cowardly nation India is. Weak and miserable. Realised it can't take on China so goes for BD. What an embarrassment to South Asia. A country of over a billion with decades of advantage yet isn't even outcompeting Bangladesh? Rape, defecation in open streets rampant in a country where it's marginally second to the number of extremely poor. We shouldn't even consider it to be a country. May Allah Almighty bring them down once and for all. Ameen.



There is no comparison between India and China. India has the highest poverty rate in South Asia. 
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY?end=2017&locations=BD-IN-PK-NP-BT-LK&start=1977

India also has the highest number of malnourished children in the world. 
https://www.ndtv.com/food/india-has-most-malnourished-children-in-the-world-report-1770215

This is also affecting their human capital growth by reducing the average IQ of the population. 
https://www.thedailystar.net/southe...ex-bangladesh-ahead-of-india-pakistan-1645657

And that too with all those fudged data by their govt. Actual figures will be even worse. 
https://www.firstpost.com/business/why-raghuram-rajan-doesnt-trust-indias-gdp-numbers-2603304.html

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## Kandari-Hushiyaar

gslv mk3 said:


> Maybe @Nilgiri should post that per capita electricity consumption data again...



Feed your people some electricity, so that they do not lag behind us in Hunger index.



BengalSubah said:


> What a cowardly nation India is. Weak and miserable. Realised it can't take on China so goes for BD. What an embarrassment to South Asia. A country of over a billion with decades of advantage yet isn't even outcompeting Bangladesh? Rape, defecation in open streets rampant in a country where it's marginally second to the number of extremely poor. We shouldn't even consider it to be a country. May Allah Almighty bring them down once and for all. Ameen.



So many sentences, so many minutes wasted after Indians. Your time is precious.



Species said:


> There is no comparison between India and China. India has the highest poverty rate in South Asia.
> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY?end=2017&locations=BD-IN-PK-NP-BT-LK&start=1977
> 
> India also has the highest number of malnourished children in the world.
> https://www.ndtv.com/food/india-has-most-malnourished-children-in-the-world-report-1770215
> 
> This is also affecting their human capital growth by reducing the average IQ of the population.
> https://www.thedailystar.net/southe...ex-bangladesh-ahead-of-india-pakistan-1645657
> 
> And that too with all those fudged data by their govt. Actual figures will be even worse.
> https://www.firstpost.com/business/why-raghuram-rajan-doesnt-trust-indias-gdp-numbers-2603304.html



Shame.

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## Umair Nawaz

Michael Corleone said:


> Chinese aren’t Muslims. They won’t adopt Islamic banking and they’re preparing to ditch the dollar to eventually become number one and solidify their position...


yera dont write sily things, read my post again........where the F did u saw me saying this?


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## Nilgiri

Species said:


> India has the highest poverty rate in South Asia.
> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY?end=2017&locations=BD-IN-PK-NP-BT-LK&start=1977



Really? Comparing 2011 figure to 2016? Considering between 2009 - 2011 (just 2 years) Indian poverty rate declined by 10%....its no wonder (along with the fact in 2011, using better MMRP method the poverty rate in India was likely around 12% as stated by World Bank itself) that India poverty rate is now estimated at around 4.6% (half that of Bangladesh and decreasing at faster rate too):

https://worldpoverty.io/

It's already talked about earlier in thread:

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/expe...-unplanned-urbanization.585963/#post-10934529



Kandari-Hushiyaar said:


> Feed your people some electricity, so that they do not lag behind us in Hunger index.



No one is interested in the lobotomizing that would be needed to bring one's measured and improving standards (bigger better sample sizes as seen in both India and Pakistan quite unlike that of BD which are shrinking as more and more data disagrees with the feelz) to that of a GDDS corruption laden hellhole that defines its own reason for existing on feeelz of 3 million.

Make up whatever numbers you want and publish them.....the stinky dirty filthy dhaka international airport immediately gives a reality check to any neutral 3rd party brave enough to venture there.....and mostly prevents them from any further honest fact checking. Everything is thus left to poverty stricken inferiority complex ridden BD ppl (controlled by BAL in the end) to claim whatever they feel about "hunger" or whatever.

Even in the official data, the truth is starting to slip out (only so much narrative you can control after all):

https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2017/12/18/where-did-the-benefits-of-economic-growth-disappear/

*The calorie quotient*

_The reduction in per capita real income is given some support by the nutrition data of HIES2016. Globally, there is a strong correlation between income and calorie consumption. People in the richer countries consume more calories than those in the poorer countries. The data of earlier HIES also suggest that richer people of the country consume more calories than the poorer people. *An alarming finding of HIES2016 is that the average calorie intake per person has declined by 5 percent from 2318 Kcal in 2010 to 2210 Kcal in 2016 alongside a reduction in real income. * A joint FAO and WHO study mentioned that the average calorie intake should be 2430 Kcal (Country Nutrition Paper 2014). The daily intake of calorie in 2010 was already 5 percent below the recommended amount, but a further reduction to 9 percent in 2016 raises the real prospect of stunting and wasting of children as well as a generally poor health of the population. This does not augur well for the country: its population does not appear to be in a fit state to fully utilise the opportunity for demographic dividend._

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## Species

Nilgiri said:


> Really? Comparing 2011 figure to 2016? Considering between 2009 - 2011 (just 2 years) Indian poverty rate declined by 10%....its no wonder (along with the fact in 2011, using better MMRP method the poverty rate in India was likely around 12% as stated by World Bank itself) that India poverty rate is now estimated at around 4.6% (half that of Bangladesh and decreasing at faster rate too):
> 
> https://worldpoverty.io/
> 
> It's already talked about earlier in thread:
> 
> https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/expe...-unplanned-urbanization.585963/#post-10934529
> 
> 
> 
> No one is interested in the lobotomizing that would be needed to bring one's measured and improving standards (bigger better sample sizes as seen in both India and Pakistan quite unlike that of BD which are shrinking as more and more data disagrees with the feelz) to that of a GDDS corruption laden hellhole that defines its own reason for existing on feeelz of 3 million.
> 
> Make up whatever numbers you want and publish them.....the stinky dirty filthy dhaka international airport immediately gives a reality check to any neutral 3rd party brave enough to venture there.....and mostly prevents them from any further honest fact checking. Everything is thus left to poverty stricken inferiority complex ridden BD ppl (controlled by BAL in the end) to claim whatever they feel about "hunger" or whatever.
> 
> Even in the official data, the truth is starting to slip out (only so much narrative you can control after all):
> 
> https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2017/12/18/where-did-the-benefits-of-economic-growth-disappear/
> 
> *The calorie quotient*
> 
> _The reduction in per capita real income is given some support by the nutrition data of HIES2016. Globally, there is a strong correlation between income and calorie consumption. People in the richer countries consume more calories than those in the poorer countries. The data of earlier HIES also suggest that richer people of the country consume more calories than the poorer people. *An alarming finding of HIES2016 is that the average calorie intake per person has declined by 5 percent from 2318 Kcal in 2010 to 2210 Kcal in 2016 alongside a reduction in real income. * A joint FAO and WHO study mentioned that the average calorie intake should be 2430 Kcal (Country Nutrition Paper 2014). The daily intake of calorie in 2010 was already 5 percent below the recommended amount, but a further reduction to 9 percent in 2016 raises the real prospect of stunting and wasting of children as well as a generally poor health of the population. This does not augur well for the country: its population does not appear to be in a fit state to fully utilise the opportunity for demographic dividend._



A Modi-maniac bhakt coming up with fudged data consisting national poverty thresholds which India deliberately keeps lower than other countries to look good on the papers.

*Poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day*
Bangladesh - 19.6% (2010)
India - 21.2% (2011)
Nepal - 15% (2010)
Pakistan - 7.9% (2011)
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY?end=2017&locations=BD-IN-PK-NP-BT-LK&start=1977

Even in India's capital city, children are starving to death due extreme hunger and poverty, tells a lot about the living standard in India which is one of the lowest in the world. Can't even imagine how worse the rest of the country is with wide-spread poverty all around.
*India: Three children starve to death in New Delhi*

_More children under the age of five die in India than anywhere else in the world. A recent estimate puts this figure at over 1.5 million children a year—over 4,500 child deaths a day. A third of these could have been averted if children did not go to bed hungry night after night. These figures suggest that over 3,00,000 children die every year in India because of hunger._
https://indianexpress.com/article/o...icef-poverty-national-health-mission-5276194/

Have some shame Indians before making fun of other countries when you are a big cesspool yourself. India's fudged inflated data and statistics can only help internet warriors on such online forums, the ground realities are known to all.

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## Nilgiri

Species said:


> A Modi-maniac bhakt coming up with fudged data consisting national poverty thresholds which India deliberately keeps lower than other countries to look good on the papers.
> 
> *Poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day*
> Bangladesh - 19.6% (2010)
> India - 21.2% (2011)
> Nepal - 15% (2010)
> Pakistan - 7.9% (2011)
> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY?end=2017&locations=BD-IN-PK-NP-BT-LK&start=1977
> 
> Even in India's capital city, children are starving to death due extreme hunger and poverty, tells a lot about the living standard in India which is one of the lowest in the world. Can't even imagine how worse the rest of the country is with wide-spread poverty all around.
> *India: Three children starve to death in New Delhi*
> 
> _More children under the age of five die in India than anywhere else in the world. A recent estimate puts this figure at over 1.5 million children a year—over 4,500 child deaths a day. A third of these could have been averted if children did not go to bed hungry night after night. These figures suggest that over 3,00,000 children die every year in India because of hunger._
> https://indianexpress.com/article/o...icef-poverty-national-health-mission-5276194/
> 
> Have some shame Indians before making fun of other countries when you are a big cesspool yourself.



http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/109701443800596288/PRN03Oct2015TwinGoals.pdf







Now have a good cry you low IQ twit (earning less than Haitians in US and highest 70% poverty rate in UK - see what 3rd party neutrality does to BBS feelz?):

https://worldpoverty.io/

India = 4.6% (Escape rate/minute = 41)
BD = 9.3% (Escape rate/minute = 7.2)

https://worldpoverty.io/about/index.php?language=en

Now keep using your old data feelz, after all you still use the 3 million one from 1971 haha. Inferiority complexed ingrates....no wonder you all are so mad couldn't even sign the paper that ended that war. That is your eternal position always, remember that....under someone else's heel. So you have to grovel and cry and over time delude yourself to feel better. Poor sods.

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/109701443800596288/PRN03Oct2015TwinGoals.pdf
> 
> View attachment 520823
> 
> 
> Now have a good cry you low IQ twit (earning less than Haitians in US and highest 70% poverty rate in UK - see what 3rd party neutrality does to BBS feelz?):
> 
> https://worldpoverty.io/
> 
> India = 4.6% (Escape rate/minute = 41)
> BD = 9.3% (Escape rate/minute = 7.2)
> 
> https://worldpoverty.io/about/index.php?language=en
> 
> Now keep using your old data feelz, after all you still use the 3 million one from 1971 haha. Inferiority complexed ingrates....no wonder you all are so mad couldn't even sign the paper that ended that war. That is your eternal position always, remember that....under someone else's heel. So you have to grovel and cry and over time delude yourself to feel better. Poor sods.





Butt-hurt dumbass - check out these latest stats from one year ago:

https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures...nefits/pay-and-income/household-income/latest







See BD'shis have leapfrogged Pakistanis and are up there with white British.

With BD excellence in education, soon we will catch up with Indians and Chinese.


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## VikingRaider

Species said:


> As I said numerous times, India will always try to impose some barrier on our connectivity with Nepal and Bhutan. BBIN has already went to the bin, we should formulate bilateral agreements with these countries to have a dedicated corridor without relying much on India.


Unfortunately out map is too much weird. We are surrounded by India by 3 sides. We really needed a land border with a country like China. Our leaders failed to get it during portion. We have small border with Myanmar, but Myanmar is hostile to us like India.


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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> Butt-hurt dumbass - check out these latest stats from one year ago:
> 
> https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures...nefits/pay-and-income/household-income/latest
> 
> View attachment 520835
> 
> 
> 
> See BD'shis have leapfrogged Pakistanis and are up there with white British.
> 
> With BD excellence in education, soon we will catch up with Indians and Chinese.



https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/poverty-ethnicity-labour-market





Man dat stagnation and even decline 


Muh BD female progressivism employment feeeeelz:






Man credible 3rd party (developed country + much more opportunities than in BAL/BBS claim ridden BD) is such a feelz-hurt isnt it?

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## Species

Nilgiri said:


> http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/109701443800596288/PRN03Oct2015TwinGoals.pdf
> 
> View attachment 520823
> 
> 
> Now have a good cry you low IQ twit (earning less than Haitians in US and highest 70% poverty rate in UK - see what 3rd party neutrality does to BBS feelz?):
> 
> https://worldpoverty.io/
> 
> India = 4.6% (Escape rate/minute = 41)
> BD = 9.3% (Escape rate/minute = 7.2)
> 
> https://worldpoverty.io/about/index.php?language=en
> 
> Now keep using your old data feelz, after all you still use the 3 million one from 1971 haha. Inferiority complexed ingrates....no wonder you all are so mad couldn't even sign the paper that ended that war. That is your eternal position always, remember that....under someone else's heel. So you have to grovel and cry and over time delude yourself to feel better. Poor sods.



Your stunted growth filled with polluted gene with low-born syndrome couldn't help you understand the threshold of the poverty rates you are quoting. There's no relevance to national poverty rates where India deliberate keeps its threshold lower than others. Uniform thresholds like $1.90 a day reveals India's rates to be the highest in the region.

And stop recirculating the same publication of MMRP method which would reduce poverty rates of all the countries in the region not only India, that would only help the govts in their political campaigns and won't show the real picture of the countries. Fortunately, World Bank doesn't work that way.

People with a history of 1000 years of slavery talking about position? You can throw your wannabe-martial fancy words down here but that wouldn't change your slave heritage and low-born complex which is something you have to bear in your deep soul forever.

You effeminate people should only stick to whining about demographic threats and leave economics alone. No wonder your women shouts rape as soon as you approach your women. You should be thankful to us because without Bangladeshi men, your population would have become stagnant and even declining.



Atlas said:


> Unfortunately out map is too much weird. We are surrounded by India by 3 sides. We really needed a land border with a country like China. Our leaders failed to get it during portion.



We can challenge that. All we need to do is be more innovative and think out of the box.

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## VikingRaider

Species said:


> We can challenge that


Yes we can , but surrounded by 3 sides without land border with others made this challenge a bit tougher for us,imo . Although I have very little idea about military tactical advantage.


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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/poverty-ethnicity-labour-market
> 
> View attachment 520845
> 
> Man dat stagnation and even decline
> 
> 
> Muh BD female progressivism employment feeeeelz:
> 
> View attachment 520846
> 
> 
> Man credible 3rd party (developed country + much more opportunities than in BAL/BBS claim ridden BD) is such a feelz-hurt isnt it?




You dumb dude?

My chart nicely illustrates how quickly that BD households are progressing in income - Blacks and Pakistanis handsomely beaten and white British next on the list. This should take no time as BD'shis are some of the highest achievers in education.

Bd'shi Muslims do not take pride in pushing women out to work and it says a lot about the BD'shi male in the UK that they are showing such strong earnings all by themselves.


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## Nilgiri

Species said:


> And stop recirculating the same publication of MMRP method which would reduce poverty rates of all the countries in the region not only India



Bangladesh can't even standardise and accept ESCAP assesment because of its atrocious corruption. What makes you think it would look to standardise poverty methodology when it can just decrease it on paper (like all the other socio-economic feelz stuff)? Put that on your politicians and their ballot box stuffing tendencies, not India and World Bank. You suck at the truth, real data and real development....the UK and US numbers on the BD people there tells more than enough on it.



Species said:


> People with a history of 1000 years of slavery talking about position? You can throw your wannabe-martial fancy words down here but that wouldn't change your slave heritage and low-born complex which is something you have to bear in your deep soul forever.
> 
> You effeminate people should only stick to whining about demographic threats and leave economics alone. No wonder your women shouts rape as soon as you approach your women. You should be thankful to us because without Bangladeshi men, your population would have become stagnant and even declining.



Yes yes, I know it hurts when you have to read this on top of the picture of the signing ceremony of 1971 (with the BD hijras just watching way back and not even appearing in the photo...much less being asked to sign anything the real men that actually mattered were):

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/growing-number-of-bangladeshi-women-in-indian-brothels.509041/

Don't put the decisions your women choose to make on us...ok? Especially with weird desperate reverse projection of it for da feelz. Too bad for you if you know a close personal instance of it....just learn to accept reality of your kind and move on....getting addicted to feelz (3 millionz or otherwise) is the reason for the state of your swamp.

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## Species

Atlas said:


> Yes we can , but surrounded by 3 sides without land border with others made this challenge a bit tougher for us,imo . Although I have very little idea about military tactical advantage.



If you look at the terrain, Bangladesh is surrounded by hilly/mountainous lands which makes it difficult to penetrate it through land from the East and Northeast. That means if we cut through the chicken's neck, India will be in a severe disadvantage. Now all we need is a decent air force and air defence to stop any airborne invasion.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> My chart nicely illustrates how quickly that BD households are progressing in income



Yet the poverty rate stagnating....and worse than anyone else. So yeah some "progressing" indeed.

That too the "less than 100 pound" for BD ppl is unavailable because : " _Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable_"


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## Species

Nilgiri said:


> Bangladesh can't even standardise and accept ESCAP assesment because of its atrocious corruption. What makes you think it would look to standardise poverty methodology when it can just decrease it on paper (like all the other socio-economic feelz stuff)? Put that on your politicians and their ballot box stuffing tendencies, not India and World Bank. You suck at the truth, real data and real development....the UK and US numbers on the BD people there tells more than enough on it.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes yes, I know it hurts when you have to read this on top of the picture of the signing ceremony of 1971 (with the BD hijras just watching way back and not even appearing in the photo...much less being asked to sign anything the real men that actually mattered were):
> 
> https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/growing-number-of-bangladeshi-women-in-indian-brothels.509041/
> 
> Don't put the decisions your women choose to make on us...ok? Especially with weird desperate reverse projection of it for da feelz. Too bad for you if you know a close personal instance of it....just learn to accept reality of your kind and move on....getting addicted to feelz (3 millionz or otherwise) is the reason for the state of your swamp.



You do know why prostitution is such a huge business in India that makes it a regional hub of women trafficking? Because women wouldn't have sex with effeminate Indian men willingly for some obvious reasons.

Now compare the population growth rates of India after the arrival of illegal Bangladeshis. That's not me, your own politicians says that. End of the day, at least something to cheer for Indian women, they finally have somebody to fulfill their satisfaction.
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangla...eshi-gets-away-uttar-pradesh-ministers-sister



Nilgiri said:


> Bangladesh can't even standardise and accept ESCAP assesment because of its atrocious corruption. What makes you think it would look to standardise poverty methodology when it can just decrease it on paper (like all the other socio-economic feelz stuff)? Put that on your politicians and their ballot box stuffing tendencies, not India and World Bank. You suck at the truth, real data and real development....the UK and US numbers on the BD people there tells more than enough on it.



You prefer stats and data on diaspora populations of Bangladesh and India prepared by US/UK govts. That's another syndrome of your slave heritage that data prepared by your white-skinned masters are gospel truth and have more credit than data of actual resident Bangladeshis and Indians by their govts.


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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> The way things are going we'll probably offer SEZs to Afghanistan, Burundi and Liberia as well.



My thoughts exactly....

Although I have no ill feeling toward my Indonesian brothers/sisters, business wise it makes little sense for their businesspeople investing in our country. The wage level in both countries is similar (Indonesia a bit higher and better skilled). But in most ways we are competitors for FDI. 

Except maybe Indonesia is not so much interested in low grade value addition like apparel and shoes anymore, like they were maybe ten years ago. That is rapidly changing in Bangladesh too (skill and rate of value addition for export jobs).


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## Bilal9

UKBengali said:


> Thanked by four dumb and butt-hurt dudes so far.
> 
> Now try to explain away how BD electricity consumption is able to increase by twice between 2014-2018 while other areas of energy usage do not also increase rapidly?
> Electricity consumption increase happens in a vacuum?



According to these trolls you build infrastructure using coconuts (not cement) and rapid increase in electricity consumption doesn't mean jack squat in their book.

I remember an earlier thread where a Chinese brother smartly questioned the lack of increase in consumption of cement in our neighboring country where RSS trolls were drumming up chaiwala lies about rapid development in infrastructure. This vedic wizardry of developing infrastructure with no cement is only possible in that country, and in no other country of the world, including ours.

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## Homo Sapiens

*Bangladesh earns 1.4 bln USD from services export in Q1*
Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-20 16:31:49|Editor: Lu Hui
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-11/20/c_137619681.htm





DHAKA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's total services export income in the first three months of the current fiscal year 2018-19 (July 2018-June 2019) *surged 55.52 percent year-on-year to 1.41 billion U.S. dollars, an official said on Tuesday.

The official from Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) told Xinhua that the country earned a total of 1,409.47 million U.S. dollars from exports during July-September, compared to 906.3 million U.S. dollars in the same period a year earlier.*

Citing the EPB data, the official who did not like to be named said that Bangladesh exported transport services worth of 190.18 million U.S. dollars in July-September, up 119.30 percent against the exports of services worth of 86.72 million U.S. dollars in the same period a year earlier.

Among other sectors of services export, telecommunication and information services had an impressive performance in the first quarter of this fiscal year when the sector grew 66.44 percent year-on-year to 149.18 million U.S. dollars.

Bangladesh set its services export target in 2018-19 fiscal year at about 5 billion U.S. dollars.

YOU MAY LIKE

*Bangladesh's annual income tax fair begins*
*Overseas Bangladesh remittances reach 5.1 bln USD in 4 months*

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## Mage

Bilal9 said:


> That is rapidly changing in Bangladesh too (skill and rate of value addition for export jobs).


How?


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## Indos

Indonesian company invest abroad thread


https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/indonesian-companies-invest-abroad.302473/

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## Mage

Atlas said:


> Unfortunately out map is too much weird. We are surrounded by India by 3 sides. We really needed a land border with a country like China. Our leaders failed to get it during portion. We have small border with Myanmar, but Myanmar is hostile to us like India.


I'm pretty sure if we had a land border with China, our relation would be hostile as well. 

Very unlikely it would be better than our relation with India. Who do you think we have a better relation with? India or Myanmar? 

If we had a border with China, China would've found it much easier to pressure us. 

Now we are in a good situation to balance Indian influence with Chinese one, if we play our game right.

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## Mage

That's good development.

Will total exports reach 45 bn this FY?


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## Mage

doorstar said:


> There is NOT now and there was NEVER in past a letter I in the word Pakistan. Short vowels (zer, zabar, pesh) are not written (except when learning/teaching Urdu) as normal letters within the Urdu script; *the reader must supply them* from prior knowledge, in this instance I represents the sound made by zer (to prevent English speaker from mispronouncing PAKstan پاکستان پاک ستان). Pakistan name was coined on the 28th of January 1933 as Pakstan from initial letters from *P*unjab, *A*fghan inhabited KPK, *K*ashmir and *S*indh + tan from BlochS*TAN* by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement worker, it was published it in his pamphlet entitled ‘Now or Never: Are we to live or perish for ever?.
> 
> 
> "Full text of the pamphlet "Now or Never," published by Choudhary Rahmat Ali as "Founder of Pakistan National Movement," in which the word "Pakistan" appears to have been used for the first time in a document (1933)
> 
> 
> 
> 3, Humberstone Road,
> Cambridge, England.
> 28th January, 1933
> 
> Dear Sir or Madam,
> 
> I am enclosing herewith an appeal on behalf of the thirty million Muslims of PAKISTAN, who live in the five Northern Units of India--Punjab, North-West Frontier (Afghan) Province, Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan. It embodies their demand for the recognition of their national status, as distinct from the other inhabitants of India, by the grant to Pakistan of a separate Federal Constitution on religious, social and historical grounds.
> 
> I shall be pleased if you will kindly acquaint me with your valuable opinion on the proposed solution of the great Hindu-Muslim problem. I trust that, vitally interested as you are in a just and permanent solution of that complex problem, the objects outlined in the appeal wiIl meet with your fullest approval and active support.
> 
> Yours truly,
> Rahmat Ali (Choudhary). (Founder, Pakstan National Movement)
> First issued 1933; reissued 1934"
> 
> Regarding "land of the pure" there is no concept of that anywhere in Pakistan except among illiterate mullahs, some semi-literate awaam, Wikipedia and those foreigners who want to ridicule Pakistan.
> 
> Why do you keep forgetting to explain your (outrageously false) claims about bangalis defeating Sikh Raj to free Punjab/KPK and establishing Bengal Presidency?


Thats why Pakistan refused to take Hyderabad even though it's Nizam opted for Pakistan. But taking Hyderabad would be against the Pakistan name.


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## TopCat

Service exports have a vague term, which are actually reciprocal of what we import.


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## Mage

*Businesses keen to see futuristic economic policies to become attractive regional economy*
Ibrahim Hossain Ovi and Niaz Mahmud

Published at 10:26 pm November 18th, 2018








Pledge for strengthening key monetary institutions, eliminating corruption, long-term investment policy

Industrialists and economists urged major political parties to come up with strong political agenda to turn the local economy into a regional business hub, with pledges to address institutional weakness of key monetary institutions, pervasive corruption and deliver a long-term investment policy in their election manifestos.

While the main political parties are in the process of drafting manifestos in the run up to the December 30 national elections, the chamber leaders urged to prioritise economic policies over political issues to steer the economy to double-digit growth trajectory.

*“The economy needs massive investment to take the country to a middle income nation. To allure the local and foreign investment, the next government must have a vision to improve the ease of doing business index with holistic reforms in bad regulations,” FBCCI president Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin told the Dhaka Tribune.*

“The enhanced investment will turn our local economy into an attraction for regional business, which eventually creates jobs opportunity for millions of unemployed youth.”

*Another chamber leader said as the incumbent government opened the Chittagong sea port for Indian business people, the opportunity should equally apply to other South Asian economies. *If election manifestos focus on the transborder business model, foreign investors would be lured to invest in Bangladesh to grab huge local and mammoth Indian consumer market.

“You need a policy for an economic transformation; you need a vision to go beyond the territory to improve the lots of your voters, and draw a optimistic future for the youth,” the chamber leader said.

He said like the recent corporate tax cut in the USA was announced in the election manifesto of the Republican Party, *Bangladesh political parties also should focus on lowering corporation tax to expand business and open door for huge job creation.*

“Crucial economic agendas and taxation policies should get a room in the election manifestos of main political parties.”

Ahead of 11th parliamentary election, the Dhaka Tribune talked to the country’s leading business people and economists about what they want to see in the election manifestos of major political parties.

*Meanwhile, the economists stressed on more investment on human resource development to meet the demand of skilled and technical experts, the need for the industry to escalate the value addition in manufacturing sector.*

*They also wanted to have political commitment on carrying reforms to ease the rules and regulations centring business and investment.*

In addition, both economists and business leaders called for continuation of current infrastructure development projects and enhance policy supports to become a developed country.

As per the latest data of the World Bank (WB), in the index of ease of doing business Bangladesh ranked 176th out of 190 countries, the lowest among South Asian nations.






FBCCI President Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin

Bangladesh already has achieved 7.86% GDP growth. It is on the right track of achieving the vision 2021 and 2041. The next government should focus how to take the economy to double-digit growth.

The economic policies towards higher growth should be reflected in the election manifestos of competing political parties.

*In making the country poverty free, we have to concentrate on industrialization and double the production capacity to this end. *

In keeping the development pace up, the political parties have to have clear indications in their election manifestos, Mohiuddin said.

*In addition, focus should be given for proper and timely implementation of mega projects to overcome the infrastructure deficit. We do not want to remain at 176th in ease of doing business index. *

In the last fiscal year, Bangladesh investments ratio to GDP was 31.23%, which was 30.51% in the previous year.

Of the total, private investment was 23.26% and public investment was 7.97%.

Meanwhile for the current fiscal year, government has set target scaling up total investment to 33.54% of total GDP.

Of the total, private investment will be 25.15% of GDP while 8.39%will come from public investment.

The president of the apex chamber said the political leaders should focus on transforming the local economy into an everlasting attraction for regional investment to help create job opportunities in the economy.






Centre for Policy Dialogue Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem

*Corruption is a big factor in doing business as it creates obstacles especially for new entrepreneurs. So, strong political pledges are of paramount importance on reducing the barriers that bar investors to start a new business. Getting a trade license, electricity and gas connection is still time consuming.*

*Increasing the institutional capacity of the government, so that investors can get services such as credit, utility connections within shorter time, while reform in rules and regulation is a must as the country cannot improve ease of doing business index due to outdated and obsolete laws.*

Large infrastructure has taken a shape in the country to some extent. In meeting the demands of skill human resources, there must have political commitment in their manifestos to attract enough investment for creating skilled workforce through training and proper education.






DCCI President Abul Kasem Khan

Bangladesh is the lowest in ease of doing business among South Asian countries. This is because of inadequate infrastructure, lack of good governance and irrational taxation system that encourage irregularities and harassments. 

These are the problems for business community, hindering the business as well as new investment. That is why the political parties have to ensure in their manifestos that they would simplify the taxation process and stop corruption of tax officials if voted to power.

For a sustainable development, a long term business policy and continuation of policy should be ensured by political parties in the run up to the ensuing elections and beyond.

The politicians should be very positive in engaging the private sector in policy formulation. 






Former MCCI president Nasim Manzur

*Providing trade facilities to existing foreign investors, while offering sweetened recipes for the new investors in increasing the investment are needed for attaining the targeted GDP growth.*

Development projects should based on long term instead of a five-year-tenure and all the political parties have to have commitments that whoever comes to power the continuation of the ongoing development projects will not be hampered.

In setting the election manifesto, political parties can hold dialogue with the business community, so that they can give inputs to their thoughts in the national development.






Former BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedy

Bangladesh economy is an export driven one. So, political stability is crucial in retaining the confidence of global buyers. I think the commitments of political parties should be framed in the way that their political activities would not hamper production in the manufacturing industry and tarnish the country’s image to the global retailers.

*He urged the major political parties to prioritise economic policies over political issues to steer the economy to double-digit growth trajectory.*






Former caretaker advisor AB Mirza Md Azizul Islam

Due to lack of good governance, discrepancy has increased in the society. So, there is a need for political commitment of their manifestos to reduce the income disparity between rich and poor.

To create massive job opportunity especially for the young generation, there is no alternative to investment. In attracting new investment, infrastructure development is a key issue.

Focus should be given on how the investment environment can be improved as the country is ranked in the lowest category in South Asian countries, according to the World Bank’s ease of doing business index.

Establishing good governance and fixing the major economic institutions would definitely woo both local and foreign investors towards investment and expansion.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...olicies-to-become-attractive-regional-economy

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## Didact

Species said:


> If you look at the terrain, Bangladesh is surrounded by hilly/mountainous lands which makes it difficult to penetrate it through land from the East and Northeast. That means if we cut through the chicken's neck, India will be in a severe disadvantage. Now all we need is a decent air force and air defence to stop any airborne invasion.



Yes, a strategy to cut through the most militarily concentrated area in whole of India (yes, more than Kashmir) with the pitiful Bangladesh lungi brigades with nonexistant artillery, stone age ELINT, ECM, ECCM, EW, COMJAM, rudimentary force maneuvre capabilities, piss poor logistics support capabilities, desperately laughable war gaming and mobilization capabilities is likely to bring eternal glory to lungi nation.

Yes yes, The veteran WehrBangal lungicorps (oops, army) that cant even conduct a theatre wide combat drill is going to take on a force that is by itself an entire army, and fields several corps for basic wargames and can mobilize more aircraft and ground strike power in 48 hours than Bangal Army HQ can even assemble with total mobilization. 

And oh yes, their disgraceful airforce. There's no point talking about NAVY because it doesnt exist. Renaming a CG cutter as frigate and assembling that tetanus infested WW2 Sub doesnt make it a navy. Lungi force better learn to run their tanks and trucks on piss, because not a drop of fuel will reach Bangal land after conflict begins. 

@Nilgiri , @gslv some countries forget their place. They probably need serious re-education. Given the landscape of Dhaka and Chittagong, all it'll take is mass incendiary bombing. One night, and their souls will be cleansed by fire, pure and ethereal. 

(Written in Jest, in case somebody misses the sarcasm)

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## Mage

I really like the way this article points out the problems in our economy. 

They need to take their concerns to the govt....and demand reforms.

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## HariPrasad

Bangladesh is on the path of progress best of luck to Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> How?



Let me explain this by way of just the apparel industry.

Ten years ago we used to make basic items like t-shirts and underwear where labor quantity and quality (and the skills required) was at a very low level.

Now (I recently posted a video about this), the quality (precision) and quantity of value-addition-labor has gone up with manufacture of complicated higher price-tag items like branded Suits, jackets, medium-priced ladies' couture etc. To make these higher priced items and the many complicated critical operations involved, you need an entirely different type of precision skill set compared to sewing underwear.

At the same time, local backward integration (such as manufacture of specialized high-priced higher thread count shirting, denim and precision fabric locally) has increased many fold. Alongside this, specialized technical fabric manufacture for jackets and outerwear (production of which is increasing in volume every year) has also started locally. All this has lowered the cost of input and the time-to-market just-in-time factors substantially for local production, and made sourcing from Bangladesh much more attractive than in prior times. Which in turn increased the value-addition argument for Bangladesh many fold.

My point was that lower priced garment manufacture (t-shirts and underwear) is going to be transferred to places like Ethiopia, Somalia, Cambodia pretty soon. Indonesia passed this stage at least ten years ago if not earlier. To stay competitive, Bangladesh had to add qualitative value addition factors like this and move higher up the value-addition chain for more money. But in the end, labor cost and scale/organization of efficient production is always the biggest factor in being competitive as a sourcing destination. This is why Bangladesh could pull it off and our neighbors couldn't.

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## Hellfire

Species said:


> If you look at the terrain, Bangladesh is surrounded by hilly/mountainous lands which makes it difficult to penetrate it through land from the East and Northeast. *That means if we cut through the chicken's neck, India will be in a severe disadvantage. Now all we need is a decent air force and air defence to stop any airborne invasion*.



Damn, I nearly choked on this one. 

Let me get this straight, Air Force and Air Defence to stop any airborne invasion - and you correlate it with cutting through the chicken neck? What dissociated logic was that?


@Nilgiri was hovering, till I chanced upon this thread. Gives a great respite from nonsense on other threads. I choked on my damn coffee with this genius' post!


BTW what is with 'Feelz' .... you have me in splits!!!!



Didact said:


> Yes, a strategy to cut through the most militarily concentrated area in whole of India (yes, more than Kashmir) with the pitiful Bangladesh lungi brigades with nonexistant artillery, stone age ELINT, ECM, ECCM, EW, COMJAM, rudimentary force maneuvre capabilities, piss poor logistics support capabilities, desperately laughable war gaming and mobilization capabilities is likely to bring eternal glory to lungi nation.



I take offense to your post here!

Do you think IA would even bat an eyelid? 

BSF & SSB will be tasked to deal with them, what with their modernization and upgradation of firepower. Heck, ITBP has paratroopers now

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## Bilal9

Kami leone said:


> why i feel that there is only one company/ business group in Bangladesh that every now and then you people make thread and celebrate it.



There are many companies (at least half a dozen or more now) in the same markets Walton competes in such as TV's refrigerators, and other home appliances. Walton is the largest company however. Walton's PR branding is quite strong.

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## Mage

Bilal9 said:


> Well ten years ago we used to make basic items like t-shirts and underwear where labor quantity and quality (and the skills required) was at a very low level.
> 
> Now (I recently posted a video about this), the quality (precision) and quantity of value-addition-labor has gone up with manufacture of complicated higher price-tag items like branded Suits, jackets, medium-priced ladies' couture etc.
> 
> At the same time, backward integration (such as manufacture of specialized high-priced higher thread count shirting, denim and precision fabric locally) has increased many fold. Alongside this, technical fabric manufacture for jackets and outerwear (production of which is increasing in volume every year) has also started locally.
> 
> My point was that lower priced garment manufacture is going to be transferred to places like Ethiopia, Somalia, Cambodia pretty soon. Indonesia passed this stage at least ten years ago if not earlier.



Maybe for garments.....still main exoorts are knit or crochet textiles.

Other sectors are lagging way too much behind. Only talks and land aquisacquis are going on the SEZs. But no actual production. Same with the IT parks.....


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## Jugger

I would buy a Walton if the warranty and price is right..!
Good going Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> Maybe for garments.....still main exports are knit or crochet textiles.
> 
> Other sectors are lagging way too much behind. Only talks and land acquisitions are going on the SEZs. But no actual production. Same with the IT parks.....



I would respectfully differ with you.

The rate at which new electronics and motorcycle plants are opening up now, these mirror the exact pattern of that in Vietnam say three to five years ago before the export boom started. Moreover, note the backward integration of the products, which means these companies are in it for the long haul in Bangladesh with an eye on exports, and not just to make a quick buck locally.

Bangladesh and Vietnam themselves are large consumer markets, with Bangladesh having more consumer market potential because of higher population. Look at this old news....

12:00 AM, June 16, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:07 AM, June 16, 2017
*Samsung starts manufacturing locally*






_Koo Yeun Choi, group leader for global strategic business at Samsung Electronics; Taeho Park, division head of consumer electronics at Samsung Southwest Asia; Seungwon Youn, managing director of Samsung Electronics Bangladesh, and Saifur Rahman, director of Transcom Group, open a liquid crystal module production line of Transcom Electronics in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: Transcom Grou_p

Star Business Report

South Korean electronics giant Samsung yesterday officially opened two factories in Bangladesh to manufacture five home appliances to cater local markets.

The plants, where LED television, refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine and microwave oven will be produced, have been set up in joint venture with local Transcom Group and Fair Electronics.

Transcom Electronics inaugurated a new state-of-the-art liquid crystal module production line in the capital recently.

The factory is currently run by 100 engineers but it will create further job opportunities in Bangladesh, Transcom Electronics said.

“We have taken this huge endeavour and significant investment considering Bangladeshi customers' benefit,” said Yeamin Sharif Chowdhury, head of business of Transcom Electronics.

The initiative will ensure the availability of genuine Samsung TVs in the country at affordable prices, said Seungwon Youn, managing director of Samsung Electronics Bangladesh.

“Our cooperation with Transcom will always go hand in hand and we believe that this will generate scope for technological development in the TV industry in Bangladesh,” he added.

The LCM line was inaugurated by Saifur Rahman, director of Transcom Group, along with KooYeun Choi, group leader of Samsung Electronics's global strategic business department, Taeho Park, division head of consumer electronics at Samsung Southwest Asia, and Youn.

*The plant, which spans 18,000 square feet in the capital's Mohakhali area, started manufacturing televisions on a test basis from last month.*





_Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu along with the officials of Samsung Electronics attends the foundation laying ceremony of a plant of Fair Electronics at Shibpur of Narsingdi yesterday. Samsung and Fair Electronics opened the plants jointly. Photo: Fair Electronics_

*Some 13 models of televisions -- all of which would be less than 55 inches -- will be manufactured at the plant, with some of the components brought in from Vietnam.

Samsung currently has five distribution partners in Bangladesh and the factory will supply televisions to them.

The existing market for televisions stands at about ten lakh units a year. Of the sum, branded products account for 40 percent.

The other factory that was inaugurated yesterday will be run by Fair Electronics.

The plant, located in Shibpur of Narsingdi, was inaugurated by Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Korean Ambassador Ahn Seong-doo.

The plant will manufacture 4 lakh units of refrigerator, 2.5 lakh units of microwave oven, 1.2 lakh units of air conditioner and 50,000 units of washing machine every year, according to Fair Group.

The factory will employ about 3,000 people.*

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## Mage

Bilal9 said:


> I would respectfully differ with you.
> 
> The rate at which new electronics and motorcycle plants are opening up now, these mirror the exact pattern of that in Vietnam say three to five years ago before the export boom started. Moreover, note the backward integration of the products, which means these companies are in it for the long haul in Bangladesh with an eye on exports, and not just to make a quick buck locally.
> 
> Bangladesh and Vietnam themselves are large consumer markets, with Bangladesh having more consumer market potential because of higher population. Look at this old news....
> 
> 12:00 AM, June 16, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:07 AM, June 16, 2017
> *Samsung starts manufacturing locally*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Koo Yeun Choi, group leader for global strategic business at Samsung Electronics; Taeho Park, division head of consumer electronics at Samsung Southwest Asia; Seungwon Youn, managing director of Samsung Electronics Bangladesh, and Saifur Rahman, director of Transcom Group, open a liquid crystal module production line of Transcom Electronics in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: Transcom Grou_p
> 
> Star Business Report
> 
> South Korean electronics giant Samsung yesterday officially opened two factories in Bangladesh to manufacture five home appliances to cater local markets.
> 
> The plants, where LED television, refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine and microwave oven will be produced, have been set up in joint venture with local Transcom Group and Fair Electronics.
> 
> Transcom Electronics inaugurated a new state-of-the-art liquid crystal module production line in the capital recently.
> 
> The factory is currently run by 100 engineers but it will create further job opportunities in Bangladesh, Transcom Electronics said.
> 
> “We have taken this huge endeavour and significant investment considering Bangladeshi customers' benefit,” said Yeamin Sharif Chowdhury, head of business of Transcom Electronics.
> 
> The initiative will ensure the availability of genuine Samsung TVs in the country at affordable prices, said Seungwon Youn, managing director of Samsung Electronics Bangladesh.
> 
> “Our cooperation with Transcom will always go hand in hand and we believe that this will generate scope for technological development in the TV industry in Bangladesh,” he added.
> 
> The LCM line was inaugurated by Saifur Rahman, director of Transcom Group, along with KooYeun Choi, group leader of Samsung Electronics's global strategic business department, Taeho Park, division head of consumer electronics at Samsung Southwest Asia, and Youn.
> 
> *The plant, which spans 18,000 square feet in the capital's Mohakhali area, started manufacturing televisions on a test basis from last month.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu along with the officials of Samsung Electronics attends the foundation laying ceremony of a plant of Fair Electronics at Shibpur of Narsingdi yesterday. Samsung and Fair Electronics opened the plants jointly. Photo: Fair Electronics_
> 
> *Some 13 models of televisions -- all of which would be less than 55 inches -- will be manufactured at the plant, with some of the components brought in from Vietnam.
> 
> Samsung currently has five distribution partners in Bangladesh and the factory will supply televisions to them.
> 
> The existing market for televisions stands at about ten lakh units a year. Of the sum, branded products account for 40 percent.
> 
> The other factory that was inaugurated yesterday will be run by Fair Electronics.
> 
> The plant, located in Shibpur of Narsingdi, was inaugurated by Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Korean Ambassador Ahn Seong-doo.
> 
> The plant will manufacture 4 lakh units of refrigerator, 2.5 lakh units of microwave oven, 1.2 lakh units of air conditioner and 50,000 units of washing machine every year, according to Fair Group.
> 
> The factory will employ about 3,000 people.*


Vietnam's export was more than 50 billion back in 2008. By 2013 it had surpassed 100 billion. And their exports were not as dependent on textiles. So no BD's situation is nothing like Vietnam of three to five years ago. Vietnam had FDI inflows of more than 20 billion back in 2013. BD can barely surpass 2 billion in 2018. Vietnam is what we should look into. But we are nowhere near as competent as them, we need to understand that.

Bangladesh might be a large consumer market. But I only see people preferring foreign brands. Indian motorbikes dominate the motorbike market. People prefer Chinese phone over Walton or Symphony. Only for refrigerator Walton has good share in the market. But still those with money would rather buy a whirlpool fridge over a Walton one.

One news of Samsung manufacturing locally doesn't make much change. They are manufacturing to meet local demand they won't be able to export from here..... Vietnam was in so much better position even 10 years ago in terms of manufacturing electronic goods.

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## VikingRaider

Mage said:


> I'm pretty sure if we had a land border with China, our relation would be hostile as well.
> 
> Very unlikely it would be better than our relation with India. Who do you think we have a better relation with? India or Myanmar?
> 
> If we had a border with China, China would've found it much easier to pressure us.
> 
> Now we are in a good situation to balance Indian influence with Chinese one, if we play our game right.


It's party correct . Pakistan also had border with China and they are life time ally . Bangladesh would be the same IMHO, as there are two circle in this region , one is China and the other is india. And also sharing land border has a benefit . 
However there could be other condition for BD , as our politicals parties are not pro Bangladeshi. So that's a problem .So if one party supported india and the other china , then there would be a clash . But also if we shared land border, so indian influence would reduce , and condition could be different .


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## Homo Sapiens

Mage said:


> Vietnam's export was more than 50 billion back in 2008. By 2013 it had surpassed 100 billion. And their exports were not as dependent on textiles. So no BD's situation is nothing like Vietnam of three to five years ago. Vietnam had FDI inflows of more than 20 billion back in 2013. BD can barely surpass 2 billion in 2018. Vietnam is what we should look into. But we are nowhere near as competent as them, we need to understand that.
> 
> Bangladesh might be a large consumer market. But I only see people preferring foreign brands. Indian motorbikes dominate the motorbike market. People prefer Chinese phone over Walton or Symphony. Only for refrigerator Walton has good share in the market. But still those with money would rather buy a whirlpool fridge over a Walton one.
> 
> One news of Samsung manufacturing locally doesn't make much change. They are manufacturing to meet local demand they won't be able to export from here..... Vietnam was in so much better position even 10 years ago in terms of manufacturing electronic goods.


Too much dependency on FDI and export like Vietnam is not desirable either. Vietnam's export volume is almost as large as it's total GDP. Their entire economy is dependent on export. This is a potential danger. Too much dependency on foreign market for your product and jobs are dangerous in a world hit by frequent recession, trade war, economic turmoil in major economies. We need healthy mix of both internal robust consumer base and global customers. both FDI and local investors.

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## Mage

Atlas said:


> It's party correct . Pakistan also had border with China and they are life time ally . Bangladesh would be the same IMHO, as there are two circle in this region , one is China and the other is india. And also sharing land border has a benefit .
> However there could be other condition for BD , as our politicals parties are not pro Bangladeshi. So that's a problem .So if one party supported india and the other china , then there would be a clash . But also if we shared land border, so indian influence would reduce , and condition could be different .


There is no such thing as lifetime ally. And I would not want BD to have the relationship with China that Pakistan has with China. It's pretty much one way traffic.

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## moweike

Mage said:


> I'm pretty sure if we had a land border with China, our relation would be hostile as well.
> 
> Very unlikely it would be better than our relation with India. Who do you think we have a better relation with? India or Myanmar?
> 
> If we had a border with China, China would've found it much easier to pressure us.
> 
> Now we are in a good situation to balance Indian influence with Chinese one, if we play our game right.


Fortunately, we are not close to Bangladesh.Why are you keen to discuss China? Persecution fantasy?


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## HariSinghNalwa

Bangladeshi spewing their vitriol as usual typical jamaati ,this thread is about india facilitating your trade with a third country which is already minuscule without tariffs ,you thinking about chicken's neck ,you jamati is good for JMB camps ,your boasting and vitriol should be limited otherwise missiles pointed elsewhere will be on you.


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## Mage

Homo Sapiens said:


> Too much dependency on FDI and export like Vietnam is not desirable either. Vietnam's export volume is almost as large as it's total GDP. Their entire economy is dependent on export. This is a potential danger. Too much dependency on foreign market for your product and jobs are dangerous in a world hit by frequent recession, trade war, economic turmoil in major economies. We need healthy mix of both internal robust consumer base and global customers. both FDI and local investors.


That is correct. But the thing is we are no where near Vietnam in attracting FDI. If we could only attract half of what Vietnam attracts we would be in a much better position. We get less FDI than Myanmar, Cambodia, Mozambique.


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## Mage

moweike said:


> Fortunately, we are not close to Bangladesh.Why are you keen to discuss China? Persecution fantasy?


The topic of China was brought by someone else. I only stated what I think. It seems I hit a nerve. Should I apologize?



HariSinghNalwa said:


> Bangladeshi spewing their vitriol as usual typical jamaati ,this thread is about india facilitating your trade with a third country which is already minuscule without tariffs ,you thinking about chicken's neck ,you jamati is good for JMB camps ,your boasting and vitriol should be limited otherwise missiles pointed elsewhere will be on you.


You will get nothing by hitting Bangladesh with missiles, I hope you know that....it will only push more Bangladeshis to cross land border to India.


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## HariSinghNalwa

Mage said:


> You will get nothing by hitting Bangladesh with missiles, I hope you know that....it will only push more Bangladeshis to cross land border to India.


it is not my decision to make but some jamati posters here talk delusions ,maybe you should talk to them ,also the new fence has made kind of impossible of large scale migration like seen in 71


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## TopCat

Mage said:


> That is correct. But the thing is we are no where near Vietnam in attracting FDI. If we could only attract half of what Vietnam attracts we would be in a much better position. We get less FDI than Myanmar, Cambodia, Mozambique.


No need to ..
Their proportion of FDI/GDCF is close to 25% whereas in ideal scenario it should not be more than 5%. Vietnam is a bad example and not sustainable. They export close to 200 billion (?) yet their per capita is same as India.


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## Mage

TopCat said:


> No need to ..
> Their proportion of FDI/GDCF is close to 25% whereas in ideal scenario it should not be more than 5%. Vietnam is a bad example and not sustainable. They export close to 200 billion (?) yet their per capita is same as India.


Their exports are more than 200 billion and their per capita is significantly higher than India's. 

I wonder what's the FDI/GDCF of Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore....Should they follow BD model and say no to FDI to become sustainably developed?


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## Species

Nilgiri said:


> How many Bangladeshi men are even in India compared to Indian population? Even if it is 20 million (that all BD ppl will say is exagerrated and disagree even with 6 million or even a few million), what ratio is that? You can't hold both sides (NO BD illegals migrate because India so poor......but BD illegals in huge 100+ millions of number causing demographic shift in massive Indian population). I know maths and logic aren't your strong points obviously, but try a little bit for once.



These are not mine rather words of your own effeminate people with their eternal insecurity of demographic threat. This quite make sense considering the perennial sexuality-crisis of you lot.

Now stop cursing your own father and be grateful to the Bangladeshi men for their effort to satisfy your women. Otherwise you pandu-stani creatures would have been only found in history books within a hilarious chapter after becoming extinct because of a classic inability.

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## HariSinghNalwa

Species said:


> These are not mine rather words of your own effeminate people with their eternal insecurity of demographic threat. This quite make sense considering the perennial sexuality-crisis of you lot.
> 
> Now stop cursing your own father and be grateful to the Bangladeshi men for their effort to satisfy your women. Otherwise you pandu-stani creatures would have been only found in history books within a hilarious chapter after becoming extinct because of a classic inability.


your women were literal sex slaves in 71 ,so i do see the inferiority complex of you,grateful should be your women to indian army otherwise we know what your father were upto


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## TopCat

Mage said:


> Their exports are more than 200 billion and their per capita is significantly higher than India's.
> 
> I wonder what's the FDI/GDCF of Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore....Should they follow BD model and say no to FDI to become sustainably developed?


No BD should follow Korea or China model.

Thier per capita is 2553 whereas india has 2150. Not much difference after giving away 70% of the economy to the foreigner.

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## Mage

TopCat said:


> No BD should follow Korea or China model.
> 
> Thier per capita is 2553 whereas india has 2150. Not much difference after giving away 70% of the economy to the foreigner.


I was not saying to follow Vietnam model blindly. I only said that our situation is no where near the situation of Vietnam 3-5 years ago. And we surely need to increase FDI inflow to Bangladesh. Getting less FDI than Myanmar or Mozambique is unacceptable.

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## Species

Didact said:


> Yes, a strategy to cut through the most militarily concentrated area in whole of India (yes, more than Kashmir) with the pitiful Bangladesh lungi brigades with nonexistant artillery, stone age ELINT, ECM, ECCM, EW, COMJAM, rudimentary force maneuvre capabilities, piss poor logistics support capabilities, desperately laughable war gaming and mobilization capabilities is likely to bring eternal glory to lungi nation.
> 
> Yes yes, The veteran WehrBangal lungicorps (oops, army) that cant even conduct a theatre wide combat drill is going to take on a force that is by itself an entire army, and fields several corps for basic wargames and can mobilize more aircraft and ground strike power in 48 hours than Bangal Army HQ can even assemble with total mobilization.
> 
> And oh yes, their disgraceful airforce. There's no point talking about NAVY because it doesnt exist. Renaming a CG cutter as frigate and assembling that tetanus infested WW2 Sub doesnt make it a navy. Lungi force better learn to run their tanks and trucks on piss, because not a drop of fuel will reach Bangal land after conflict begins.
> 
> @Nilgiri , @gslv some countries forget their place. They probably need serious re-education. Given the landscape of Dhaka and Chittagong, all it'll take is mass incendiary bombing. One night, and their souls will be cleansed by fire, pure and ethereal.
> 
> (Written in Jest, in case somebody misses the sarcasm)



Lol, bonobo, it doesn't take much of an effort to cut through a mere 20km stretch, while we already have a division stationed near it. 

Are you banking on Hanuman sena to transport your artillery/armored equipment and troops through the tributaries and dis-tributaries of Ganges and meet with 6 million strong force fully knowledgeable about the local riverine terrain? Not to mention Indian troops are known for their timid and effeminate nature during battle times. Even if we become too lazy, all we need to do is dig some trenches around West Bengal and it's a stalement on our Western front.

If you are thinking about discussing the role of airforce, I have already conceded our weakness on that part if you have enough IQ to comprehend my earlier post.

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## HariSinghNalwa

Species said:


> Lol, bonobo, it doesn't take much of an effort to cut through a mere 20km stretch, while we already have a division stationed near it.
> 
> Are you banking on Hanuman sena to transport your artillery/armored equipment and troops through the tributaries and dis-tributaries of Ganges and meet with 6 million strong force fully knowledgeable about the local riverine terrain? Not to mention Indian troops are known for their timid and effeminate nature during battle times. Even if we become too lazy, all we need to do is dig some trenches around West Bengal and it's a stalement on our Western front.
> 
> If you are thinking about discussing the role of airforce, I have already conceded our weakness on that part if you have enough IQ to comprehend my earlier post.


why don't you try something like that ,these jamati poster does provide great entertainment value rather than trolling

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## Mage

@Slav Defence

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## Species

HariSinghNalwa said:


> your women were literal sex slaves in 71 ,so i do see the inferiority complex of you,grateful should be your women to indian army otherwise we know what your father were upto



Indeed, a lot of Hindu women had to go through a hard time during that war which is unfortunate. Even more unfortunate is you people mocking miseries of your own kin here, no wonder you effeminate lot have to go through a history of 1000 years of slavery and still bear that vulnerable attitude and insecurity.

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## HariSinghNalwa

Species said:


> Indeed, a lot of Hindu women had to go through a hard time during that war which is unfortunate. Even more unfortunate is you people mocking miseries of your own kin here, no wonder you effeminate lot have to go through a history of 1000 years of slavery and still bear that vulnerable attitude and insecurity.


so you agree you are a jamati ,typical doing the bidding of their father ,now getting ropes from our beloved hasina


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## Species

HariSinghNalwa said:


> so you agree you are a jamati ,typical doing the bidding of their father ,now getting ropes from our beloved hasina



Now low-IQ Bhakt apes will start defining our political preferences? You pandu-stani lot should be more concerned about your own demographic and genetic threat rather than discussing the political preference of your father.

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## HariSinghNalwa

Species said:


> Now low-IQ Bhakt apes will start defining our political preferences? You pandu-stani lot should be more concerned about your own demographic and genetic threat rather than discussing the political reference of your father.


jamatis are rare breed right now as hasina has declared them vermin !


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## VikingRaider

Mage said:


> There is no such thing as lifetime ally. And I would not want BD to have the relationship with China that Pakistan has with China. It's pretty much one way traffic.


Yes agree, I must correct myself . Actually I just wanted to say that they are political ally and will not be rival as long as india and china circle will remain active.


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## Black_cats

*Indonesia's INKA to supply 250 passenger trains to Bangladesh*
Published: November 21, 2018 15:20:07 | Updated: November 21, 2018 16:19:51 







Indonesian state-owned train manufacturer PT Industri Kereta Api (INKA) has continued to maintain a potential market in Bangladesh and meet the high demand for trains in the country, an after sales staff of PT INKA Triono stated. 

"Actually, PT INKA has been active (in expanding its market), including to the Philippines. However, here in Bangladesh, the demand is so high," Triono noted at the Kamlapur railway station in Dhaka on late Tuesday, according to a report by https://en.antaranews.com. 

According to Triono, Bangladesh still requires additional trains to serve its huge population.

"INKA first made a special train for Bangladesh in 2005. It was then continued in 2016, when we had the project to provide 150 trains, and now, the trains have already been operated in Dhaka," he remarked.

PT INKA has won a tender to supply 250 passenger trains to Bangladesh, and the initial delivery of the trains would be done in January 2019.

"INKA has won the tender to procure 250 trains, and hopefully, we would do the initial delivery to Bangladesh in January 2019," Triono elaborated.

The company is also participating in the tender to provide baggage and cargo cars, for which the process of document and price assessment is currently underway.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh Rina P. Soemarno remarked that Bangladesh is keen on purchasing double-decker trains from the company to balance the capacity of its public transportation with its population.

The country is also eyeing to procure the company`s ambulance coach as a precautionary measure to cater to the demand of special transportation to help victims of natural disasters.

"Bangladesh is also interested in luxury coaches, and PT INKA must win the tender to procure the luxury coaches," she added.

http://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/t...250-passenger-trains-to-bangladesh-1542795591

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## Michael Corleone

Umair Nawaz said:


> yera dont write sily things, read my post again........where the F did u saw me saying this?


chill, i didn;t accuse of of saying that, was my opinion. china's solution is not full proof, at least for the rest of the world.


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## Umair Nawaz

Michael Corleone said:


> chill, i didn;t accuse of of saying that, was my opinion. china's solution is not full proof, at least for the rest of the world.


concentrate on what im saying, the perfect system is the system given by Allah himself who is the creator of the world worlds, one that in which we r living and other in which heaven and hell lie.

But given the current circumstances in comparison to capitalism, communism/socialism is better and a lot more closer to islam then capitalism, because atleast its based on collectivism and equality, in contrast to capitalism which is based on individualism and wealth (unequal distribution of wealth).......

Thats what im saying.....For us or for whole of humanity Islamic system is the best option, but if not, then the ones we have today(capitalism,communism) its communism which is a better option, because of collectivism and equality.


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## Nilgiri

hellfire said:


> BTW what is with 'Feelz' .... you have me in splits!!!!



Its kinda millenial speak.....basically "emotionally driven thought process"....muh feelz!

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Feelz

From its earlier iteration "Feels":

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Feels

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## UKBengali

Bilal9 said:


> According to these trolls you build infrastructure using coconuts (not cement) and rapid increase in electricity consumption doesn't mean jack squat in their book.
> 
> I remember an earlier thread where a Chinese brother smartly questioned the lack of increase in consumption of cement in our neighboring country where RSS trolls were drumming up chaiwala lies about rapid development in infrastructure. This vedic wizardry of developing infrastructure with no cement is only possible in that country, and in no other country of the world, including ours.




Those losers only have the chance to compare their failed shambles of a "country" to BD as they had a 24 year head start in independence.

BD is far superior to the huge entity next door that exists at this moment in time.

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## Michael Corleone

Umair Nawaz said:


> concentrate on what im saying, the perfect system is the system given by Allah himself who is the creator of the world worlds, one that in which we r living and other in which heaven and hell lie.
> 
> But given the current circumstances in comparison to capitalism, communism/socialism is better and a lot more closer to islam then capitalism, because atleast its based on collectivism and equality, in contrast to capitalism which is based on individualism and wealth (unequal distribution of wealth).......
> 
> Thats what im saying.....For us or for whole of humanity Islamic system is the best option, but if not, then the ones we have today(capitalism,communism) its communism which is a better option, because of collectivism and equality.


you don't understand the fundamental basics in either field of topics for me to discuss this with you. have a good day



UKBengali said:


> BD is far superior to the huge entity next door that exists at this moment in time.


india or burma?


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## Umair Nawaz

Michael Corleone said:


> you don't understand the fundamental basics in either field of topics for me to discuss this with you. have a good day
> 
> 
> india or burma?


hahaha u know i say the same abt yr arguments too. If china can develop her own version of communism and call it Maoism or whatever, we can develop a hybrid too......In which we will not turn atheist, but will adopt the designs of communism which suits us, like collectivism and Equality......Read the book written by the founder of Communism/socialism called Dos Capital by Karl Marx to have a better understanding of ethos of communism and then read the books written by Adam and Xavier abt capitalism to understand its ethos....

Then you will be better able to understand and compare the two systems. But still Islamic system is far better then these, let me repeat that and that should take priority over any of communism or capitalism...but since yr saying that its no longer possible as nobody has an idea of what that could be in the modern digital age......This is where i suggest communism still being a better option then capitalism, and in temporary measures we can adopt communism for the time being and from there on develop or evolve into our own Islamic system in due time over the ages.....

This is the direction we r heading right now in Pakistan.......u will see us now develop and divulge more into ethos of socialism/communism and then gradually making our way to a proper Islamic System both financially, politically and socially.


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## UKBengali

Michael Corleone said:


> india or burma?



India.

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> That's good development.
> 
> Will total exports reach 45 bn this FY?



Unlikely, maybe around 41 billion USD export. The rate has been around 2 billion a year addition for past few years:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.GSR.GNFS.CD?locations=BD


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## Nilgiri

Bilal9 said:


> My point was that lower priced garment manufacture is going to be transferred to places like Ethiopia, Somalia, Cambodia pretty soon.



Moron, Cambodia is doing better than you:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.KD?locations=KH-BD

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD?locations=KH-BD

@Marine Rouge



Mage said:


> I was not saying to follow Vietnam model blindly. I only said that our situation is no where near the situation of Vietnam 3-5 years ago. And we surely need to increase FDI inflow to Bangladesh. Getting less FDI than Myanmar or Mozambique is unacceptable.



Nothing is wrong at all with Bangladesh development structure. The highway to wealth is through only underwear, corruption and feelz. All you need to know is found within BD already....its easy....just publish whatever numbers make you feel good.

_" giving away 70% of the economy to the foreigner."_

The amount of stupidity in that single line is astounding. Can't even do a basic capital flow analysis. Crying rohingya boy probably is way more smarter than fat ugly mongol-feelz Biman babu.


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## Arulmozhi Varman

Mage said:


> The way things are going we'll probably offer SEZs to Afghanistan, Burundi and Liberia as well.



Indonesia is a good economy. Why this sarcasm?



Mage said:


> Their exports are more than 200 billion and their per capita is significantly higher than India's.
> 
> I wonder what's the FDI/GDCF of Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore....Should they follow BD model and say no to FDI to become sustainably developed?



The problem with CHina/VIetnam model is they are export driven economy. India is a internal consumption driven economy. Both has its own advantages and disadvantages. Export driven economy is very much related to International trade and negotiations and there is no assurance the quality of life of people will rise in such a condition. 
Even China which has 3 Trillion of dollars reserves, technically speaking doesnt belong to Chinese govt. They are reserves of companies which has factory in China and govt merely gives them interest to have their dollars parked there... Same for India as well... However in a worst case scenario, if all companies decide to boycott and pull out their money from one market then it hits them very very hard.. In comparison, the same impact for India will be pretty less... Cos we are consumption driven..


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## Bilal9

Homo Sapiens said:


> Too much dependency on FDI and export like Vietnam is not desirable either. Vietnam's export volume is almost as large as it's total GDP. Their entire economy is dependent on export. This is a potential danger. Too much dependency on foreign market for your product and jobs are dangerous in a world hit by frequent recession, trade war, economic turmoil in major economies. We need healthy mix of both internal robust consumer base and global customers. both FDI and local investors.



My point exactly @Homo Sapiens bhai.

Vietnam was attractive to investors because of proximity and cultural commonality somewhat. Saigon is three hours from Taipei via air, and five hours from Seoul. What was there to lose? I saw this with my own eyes as full flights kept increasing between these places.

Taiwanese and South Koreans saw Saigon and Hanoi as their private sweatshop (once their own countries got too expensive labor-cost-wise) so they invested heavily into a communist regime that was extremely eager with tax concessions to the point of 'giving away the farm'. Taiwanese and Koreans had money and Vietnamese were eager to work. It was a match made in heaven for investors from those two countries in the interest of the almighty dollar. Until of course, the China factor kicked in with full gear.

However if you ask the average Vietnamese whether this has been good for their economy, you will get many different answers. Look at this,

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/v...n-in-corruption-cases-government-3514037.html


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## Nilgiri

Bilal9 said:


> My point exactly @Homo Sapiens bhai.
> 
> Vietnam was attractive to investors because of proximity and cultural commonality somewhat. Saigon is three hours from Taipei via air, and five hours from Seoul. What was there to lose? I saw this with my own eyes as full flights kept increasing between these places.
> 
> Taiwanese and South Koreans saw Saigon and Hanoi as their private sweatshop (once their own countries got too expensive labor-cost-wise) so they invested heavily into a communist regime that was extremely eager with tax concessions to the point of 'giving away the farm'. Taiwanese and Koreans had money and Vietnamese were eager to work. It was a match made in heaven for investors from those two countries in the interest of the almighty dollar. Until of course, the China factor kicked in with full gear.
> 
> However if you ask the average Vietnamese whether this has been good for their economy, you will get many different answers. Look at this,
> 
> https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/v...n-in-corruption-cases-government-3514037.html



@Viet @Viva_Viet , Bangladeshi snobs are quite envious of Vietnamese development ....please excuse them, their biggest company just delayed its export target of 1 billion dollars by 10 years.....so its back to same ole FDI = bad.


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## Nike

Indonesia love to expand trade with bd, Once we put our industry there we can push more export and products to Bd including our Automotive and heavy industry (oil rigs, refinery parts, pontoon bridge, and so on) , palm oil products, paper products, woods products and foods products. 


*Indonesia encourages PTA negotiations with Bangladesh*
Kamis, 22 November 2018 09:31 WIB - 0 Views

Reporter: Antara






Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh Rina Soemarno (left) .(ANTARA/Bayu Prasetyo)

Dhaka(ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government encourages the negotiations of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Indonesia and Bangladesh, in an effort to increase trade cooperation between the two countries.

"To facilitate bilateral trade, we hope the first round of negotiations would begin immediately for the Indonesia-Bangladesh PTA," Indonesian Ambassador for Bangladesh, Rina P Soemarno, stated in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Wednesday.

The PT negotiations between Indonesia and Bangladesh were agreed during President Joko Widodo`s state visit to Bangladesh in early 2018.

"We hope that there will be a quick conclusion from these negotiations, so that the PTA can soon exist to facilitate increased trade between the two countries, which will run with the preferential tariff," the ambassador noted.

She further remarked that the first negotiations for the PTA between Indonesia and Bangladesh will begin in December 2018.

The PTA between the two countries is very important for Indonesia, because Bangladesh is a prospective market where Indonesia seeks to increase its market share. Indonesia is now the fifth largest source of imports for Bangladesh, she added.

*The trade volume between Indonesia and Bangladesh has reached a surplus of over 80 percent for Indonesia. Indonesia ranks fifth out of 15 main trading partner countries of Bangladesh.*

Indonesia`s main export commodities to Bangladesh include palm oil, textiles, textile products, rubber, wood pulp, nuts, paper, cotton yarn, synthetic fibers, chemical products, iron bars, copper, mining materials (clinkers, tin seeds, coal and lubricants), spices, handicrafts, and train products of PT. INKA.

Meanwhile, Indonesia`s main import commodities from Bangladesh include bags and sacks (jute), packaging bags, steel sheets, and clothing.

Reporting by Yuni Arisandy, Aria Chandra
Editing by Yoseph

Editor: Fardah Assegaf

COPYRIGHT © ANTARA 2018




Nilgiri said:


> Moron, Cambodia is doing better than you:
> 
> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.KD?locations=KH-BD
> 
> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD?locations=KH-BD
> 
> @Marine Rouge
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing is wrong at all with Bangladesh development structure. The highway to wealth is through only underwear, corruption and feelz. All you need to know is found within BD already....its easy....just publish whatever numbers make you feel good.
> 
> _" giving away 70% of the economy to the foreigner."_
> 
> The amount of stupidity in that single line is astounding. Can't even do a basic capital flow analysis. Crying rohingya boy probably is way more smarter than fat ugly mongol-feelz Biman babu.

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## Mage

Arulmozhi Varman said:


> Indonesia is a good economy. Why this sarcasm?


No one is saying Indonesia is a bad economy. But I'd rather have our SEZ;s given to Germans, Japanese, Koreans etc over Indonesians .


Arulmozhi Varman said:


> The problem with CHina/VIetnam model is they are export driven economy. India is a internal consumption driven economy. Both has its own advantages and disadvantages. Export driven economy is very much related to International trade and negotiations and there is no assurance the quality of life of people will rise in such a condition.
> Even China which has 3 Trillion of dollars reserves, technically speaking doesnt belong to Chinese govt. They are reserves of companies which has factory in China and govt merely gives them interest to have their dollars parked there... Same for India as well... However in a worst case scenario, if all companies decide to boycott and pull out their money from one market then it hits them very very hard.. In comparison, the same impact for India will be pretty less... Cos we are consumption driven..


The point is FDI inflow to BD sucks....it does not have to go to Vietnam level but it surely needs to improve a lot. 
BD should try to be a mix of consumer driven and export driven economy.


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## beijingwalker

Arulmozhi Varman said:


> Even China which has 3 Trillion of dollars reserves, technically speaking doesnt belong to Chinese govt. They are reserves of companies which has factory in China and govt merely gives them interest to have their dollars parked there... Same for India as well... However in a worst case scenario, if all companies decide to boycott and pull out their money from one market then it hits them very very hard.. In comparison, the same impact for India will be pretty less... Cos we are consumption driven..


The difference is most Chinese companies belong to the Chinese government. Chinese government owes money to Chinese government owned companies and factories, it's like your left pocket owes money to your right pocket.


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## Mage

Nilgiri said:


> Unlikely, maybe around 41 billion USD export. The rate has been around 2 billion a year addition for past few years:
> 
> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.GSR.GNFS.CD?locations=BD


Well it touched 41 billion for FY 17-18
http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/171507

This year exports are looking good too.

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> I'd rather have our SEZ;s given to Germans, Japanese, Koreans etc over Indonesians .



Only Koreans are in the business of using low cost labor like in Bangladesh to cater to Western markets for low and medium value addition export items (shoes and apparel and at some point, appliances) and they are experts at it. Koreans make automobiles overseas as well, but that is in markets where local demand exists (like in the neighboring country).

The Japanese and the Germans are in the business of making extreme high value addition products overseas, which are usually technical products that are too expensive to make at home, such as instrumentation, specialized gadgets and in the case of the Japanese, sophisticated personal electronic and optical products like cameras and tablets. I have seen only a few Japanese factories in Bangladesh making fiberglass items (golf-clubs, fishing rods) and optical products (glass lenses, sensors) whereas they have loads of them in Thailand (most cheap Canon/Nikon SLRs and plastic lenses are made there).

Since Indonesians themselves need FDI at home, I don't know what business advantage they'd gain by investing here, although I imagine in some areas like heavy engg., shipbuilding and defense it would make sense. Oh and railway coaches too.

Plus they could supply clinker and coal to local cement and power generation facilities.

But these products would be for local consumption. We don't really need them to invest in SEZ's for those.

I don't believe Indonesian business people could actually make money by using local cheap labor to export anything when they can use local labor at home unless they use some of our quota advantages such as that of Pharma.

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## Bilal9

Jugger said:


> I would buy a Walton if the warranty and price is right..!
> Good going Bangladesh.



Their flagship. 563 liters and about Tk. 60,000/-. Intelligent everything including fuzzy logic etc.

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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> Only Koreans are in the business of using low cost labor like in Bangladesh to cater to Western markets for low and medium value addition export items (shoes and apparel and at some point, appliances) and they are experts at it. Koreans make automobiles overseas as well, but that is in markets where local demand exists (like in the neighboring country).
> 
> The Japanese and the Germans are in the business of making extreme high value addition products overseas, which are usually technical products that are too expensive to make at home, such as instrumentation, specialized gadgets and in the case of the Japanese, sophisticated personal electronic and optical products like cameras and tablets. I have seen only a few Japanese factories in Bangladesh making fiberglass items (golf-clubs, fishing rods) and optical products (glass lenses, sensors) whereas they have loads of them in Thailand (most cheap Canon/Nikon SLRs and plastic lenses are made there).
> 
> Since Indonesians themselves need FDI at home, I don't know what business advantage they'd gain by investing here, although I imagine in some areas like heavy engg., shipbuilding and defense it would make sense. Oh and railway coaches too.
> 
> Plus they could supply clinker and coal to local cement and power generation facilities.
> 
> But these products would be for local consumption. We don't really need them to invest in SEZ's for those.
> 
> I don't believe Indonesian business people could actually make money by using local cheap labor to export anything when they can use local labor at home unless they use some of our quota advantages such as that of Pharma.



Yup, if Indonesia ever invest in Bangladesh it should be to penetrate Bangladesh market, not using Bangladesh as a base production since in Indonesia our labor is also relatively cheap. Indonesia can invest in noodle production like Indofood investment in Turkey (under a brand of Indomie), or tire production, lubricant factory just like Pertamina did it in China, railway coaches and shipbuilding as you mentioned already, Cement, even electronics like led TV (under a brand of Polytron) or telecommunication and infrastructure like Salim Group investment in Philippine.

But what I really like the most is excavator from Pindad. I hope this product can start competing globally.






And electric motor cycle Gesits

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## bluesky

Kami leone said:


> why i feel that there is only one company/ business group in Bangladesh that every now and then you people make thread and celebrate it.


The GoB should not allow free competition of products from other BD companies in the same market. So, Walton should keep on expanding the market for its electrical/electronics goods.


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## bluesky

TopCat said:


> Why not.. if they can build one.


So, again I ask what is the status of hundreds of so-called SEZs and EPZs? Every day, the GoB offers zones to the foreigners, but no country seems to be willing to come to our shore and set up shops. It is the same story like a million tourist arrival. 

I think a large amount of FDI will not be forthcoming. So, it would be wiser the local investors are encouraged to put their money in different industries. But, the GoB is keeping itself busy with prestige projects only wasting our present and future money there..

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## bluesky

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/us-bangla-adds-three-more-flights-to-guangzhou-1542877286
*US-Bangla adds three more flights to Guangzhou*
Published: November 22, 2018 15:01:26 | Updated: November 22, 2018 16:00:50




File Photo (Collected)

US-Bangla Airlines has increased the number of flights to Guangzhou city of China to provide better connectivity to passengers.

Currently, the US-Bangla Airlines operates weekly four flights Dhaka to/from Guangzhou route, reports UNB.

From 6 December 2018, the airlines will operate seven flights weekly Dhaka to/from Guangzhou route, said a press release.

US-Bangla has increased the number of flights in response to stronger customer demand, said the statement.

Dhaka-Guangzhou-Dhaka flights are being operated with 164-seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft. There are 8 business-class and 156 economy seats in the Boeing 737-800 aircraft.


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## Black_cats

*China offers visa on arrival for qualified Bangladeshis *

UNB NEWS

PUBLISH DATE - NOVEMBER 22, 2018, 11:49 AM
UNB NEWS - UNB NEWS
https://unb.com.bd/category/Bangladesh/china-offers-visa-on-arrival-for-qualified-bangladeshis/6965




Dhaka, Nov 22 (UNB) - Bangladeshi citizens who are qualified and able to provide relevant supporting documents can apply for port visa, also known as visa on arrival, at relevant Chinese ports, says an official at Chinese Embassy in Dhaka on Thursday.

The duration of the stay for ‘port visa’ shall not be more that 30 days, said Chen Wei, spokesman and political counselor of Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh while expounding on the port visa system. 

According to the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, China's port visa system does not impose restrictions on specific countries, but only makes requirements for entry purposes. 

The law stipulates that foreigners who need to enter China urgently for humanitarian reasons, or who are invited to enter China for urgent business or rush repair work, or have other urgent needs, or who are organised to visit China as tourists by Chinese travel agencies, may apply for port visas with the visa-issuing authorities entrusted by the Ministry of Public Security at the ports which are approved to issue port visas by the State Council.

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## TopCat

bluesky said:


> So, again I ask what is the status of hundreds of so-called SEZs and EPZs? Every day, the GoB offers zones to the foreigners, but no country seems to be willing to come to our shore and set up shops. It is the same story like a million tourist arrival.
> 
> I think a large amount of FDI will not be forthcoming. So, it would be wiser the local investors are encouraged to put their money in different industries. But, the GoB is keeping itself busy with prestige projects only wasting our present and future money there..


Because you dont read newspaper or know details of the SEZ. I suggest you to try a plot in one of the SEZ and see the availability. 
Just post us your finding here.

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## Bengal71

What a shit name! Looks like there were shortages of words to name an airline.


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## Mage

TopCat said:


> Because you dont read newspaper or know details of the SEZ. I suggest you to try a plot in one of the SEZ and see the availability.
> Just post us your finding here.


We have been hearing about those SEZs for a long time. It's time something gets produced there.

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## Mage

bluesky said:


> The GoB should not allow free competition of products from other BD companies in the same market. So, Walton should keep on expanding the market for its electrical/electronics goods.


Why? Competition in free market leads to emergence of better products. Lack of competition from other companies is one of the reasons that Walton products are sometimes lacking in quality.

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## bluesky

Mage said:


> Why? Competition in free market leads to emergence of better products. Lack of competition from other companies is one of the reasons that Walton products are sometimes lacking in quality.


There are hundreds of other companies from many countries of the world to compete in any market where Walton enters. So, you can expect a good competitive atmosphere. In BD also there are many many foreign companies who are competing against Walton or vice versa. So, Walton is pressed by them to raise the quality of its products. 

I was just responding to the poster's opinion that BD has no other companies.


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## Mage

bluesky said:


> There are hundreds of other companies from many countries of the world to compete in any market where Walton enters. So, you can expect a good competitive atmosphere. In BD also there are many many foreign companies who are competing against Walton or vice versa. So, Walton is pressed by them to raise the quality of its products.
> 
> I was just responding to the poster's opinion that BD has no other companies.


In Japan, you see there are many local manufacturers of electronic goods. It's not like they only let Sony expand and compete with foreign brands. They have companies like Toshiba, Fujitsu, Canon, Sony and many more to locally compete with each other. In Korea too, they have a Samsung and to rival that they have LG which is also a global player. I'm sure they have other local competitors as well.

Competition locally is a healthy thing. It makes the manufacturers to keep looking for new and better way of production. And If there are many companies, it is easier to persue the govt for friendly policy making as well. Local competition will lead to development of better goods. Walton is now at a stage that it thinks they are the best in BD. But cannot compete against the likes of Samsung. But if there were many such brands like Walton then they would be compelled to try harder to enhance their quality to survive in the market. And with enhanced quality they would do better in foreign markets as well.

Garments sector is doing good in BD because BD has so many large, medium and small sized garments who has to compete with each other for orders. If there were only one mega garments, things wouldn't be like that.

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## Mage

Imran Khan said:


> Too late, Edited by the Love Emperor


Well okay, deleted.


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## Homo Sapiens

Driving from Purana Paltan to Farmgate. Despite traffic jam, air looks surprisingly clean.





Banani DOHS to Mahakhali

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## Imran Khan

Mage said:


> Well okay, deleted.


deleted too


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## Homo Sapiens

A movie with a strong massage to the power hungry politicians.


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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> Well it touched 41 billion for FY 17-18
> http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/171507
> 
> This year exports are looking good too.



Yeah I forgot about the weird fiscal year you lot have.

Guess 43 billion for the next one. All the seasonal swings get dampened out over last 6 or so years to give 2 bn/year increase for BD....but lets see.

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## doorstar

Nilgiri said:


> Yeah I forgot about the weird fiscal year you lot have.
> 
> Guess 43 billion for the next one. All the seasonal swings get dampened out over last 6 or so years to give 2 bn/year increase for BD....but lets see.


Maybe by next year they'll find an Intel like formula where they double their GDP every year (on paper). 41x2=82, 82x2= so on and on

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## Nilgiri

Homo Sapiens said:


> A movie with a strong massage



Sometimes you dont even need google translate!  @doorstar @MilSpec @django @Mage @Hell hound

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## JohnWick

doorstar said:


> Maybe by next year they'll find an Intel like formula where they double their GDP every year (on paper). 41x2=82, 82x2= so on and on


Its better they can also exponentially multiply it

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## Homo Sapiens

Driving through good, old Motijheel areas.





Construction works to widen the airport road is undergoing. Besides construction works of elevated expressway can be seen on the right side of the road.

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## Homo Sapiens

Largest convention center of Sylhet opened.

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## Arulmozhi Varman

beijingwalker said:


> The difference is most Chinese companies belong to the Chinese government. Chinese government owes money to Chinese government owned companies and factories, it's like your left pocket owes money to your right pocket.



I would respectfully disagree. Let's say an company like Flextronics which has around 15 plants in China. Its yearly revenue is more than 100B. And around 60-70B is from Chinese plants alone. To whom the money belongs to the first place? I can say its competitors like Fox, Sanmina etc too has many plants with Japanese companies now having plants in China and exporting to Japan to the tune of 350B dollars per year. Again automotive companies are in a JV, so technically speaking some half of money belongs to them. 

The suppliers who work for these companies get work cos these companies operate in China. The same Sanmina/Flex plants in India use local suppliers. Speaking of which China has its own govt comapnies like Huawei, ZTE, banks, construction companies etc which are a significant source of money. But technically most of China's reserves belong to foreign companies which sees benefit in parking its dollars inside China.



Indos said:


> Yup, if Indonesia ever invest in Bangladesh it should be to penetrate Bangladesh market, not using Bangladesh as a base production since in Indonesia our labor is also relatively cheap. Indonesia can invest in noodle production like Indofood investment in Turkey (under a brand of Indomie), or tire production, lubricant factory just like Pertamina did it in China, railway coaches and shipbuilding as you mentioned already, Cement, even electronics like led TV (under a brand of Polytron) or telecommunication and infrastructure like Salim Group investment in Philippine.
> 
> But what I really like the most is excavator from Pindad. I hope this product can start competing globally.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And electric motor cycle Gesits


Is TVS famous in Indonesia. Heard there is a factory in there.....



Mage said:


> No one is saying Indonesia is a bad economy. But I'd rather have our SEZ;s given to Germans, Japanese, Koreans etc over Indonesians .
> 
> The point is FDI inflow to BD sucks....it does not have to go to Vietnam level but it surely needs to improve a lot.
> BD should try to be a mix of consumer driven and export driven economy.



Needs to improve its airport first. Or promote another depopulated city for investment and summits. Dhaka is overpopulated and if its the place every foreign dignitary comes for, I feel investment would be impossible to come in, except for sweatshops.

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## Nilgiri

Arulmozhi Varman said:


> I would respectfully disagree. Let's say an company like Flextronics which has around 15 plants in China. Its yearly revenue is more than 100B. And around 60-70B is from Chinese plants alone. To whom the money belongs to the first place? I can say its competitors like Fox, Sanmina etc too has many plants with Japanese companies now having plants in China and exporting to Japan to the tune of 350B dollars per year. Again automotive companies are in a JV, so technically speaking some half of money belongs to them.
> 
> The suppliers who work for these companies get work cos these companies operate in China. The same Sanmina/Flex plants in India use local suppliers. Speaking of which China has its own govt comapnies like Huawei, ZTE, banks, construction companies etc which are a significant source of money. But technically most of China's reserves belong to foreign companies which sees benefit in parking its dollars inside China.



Honestly it can all be checked by simple capital flow analysis (stratified however you want to)...but lot of posters do not even understand what that is. They would rather just quote coz XYZ "owns" X or Y% of the asset, that % is "flowing" out of the country....and worse they think that is some ratio of GDP (actual production).

They are complete economy illiterates that I try to avoid any discussion with....the steepness of the logic curve is too much for them.


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## Mage

Arulmozhi Varman said:


> Needs to improve its airport first. Or promote another depopulated city for investment and summits. Dhaka is overpopulated and if its the place every foreign dignitary comes for, I feel investment would be impossible to come in, except for sweatshops.


There is a plan to build a new airport in Dhaka. Due to the current airport in Dhaka there are restrictions on high-rise buildings in important places in Dhaka. So real estate companies are lobbying to take the international airport somewhere else for a long time. But who knows how long will it take.

Dhaka is overpopulated. But with updated infrastructures it can be managed. Dhaka isn't much more overpopulated compared to let's say Mumbai. Density in Dhaka is like 40,000/sqkm while in Mumbai 32,000/sqkm. With proper infrastructures, transportation and housing system situation in Dhaka can be improved. There are steps being taken for that. Again the problem is who knows how long will it take. We should have built a metro rail in Dhaka back in the 80's. But we are just doing it now.

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## Indos

Arulmozhi Varman said:


> Is TVS famous in Indonesia. Heard there is a factory in there.....



Yup, they have the factory in Karawang, West Java. In Indonesia, people mostly ride Honda or Yamaha. I think TVS is mostly well known with these model.

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## TopCat

Mage said:


> We have been hearing about those SEZs for a long time. It's time something gets produced there.


Where did you think Honda started their production?


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## bluesky

TopCat said:


> Because you dont read newspaper or know details of the SEZ. I suggest you to try a plot in one of the SEZ and see the availability.
> Just post us your finding here.


So, tell me about the FDIs in the SEZ, and do not ever say I do not read newspapers of Bangladesh. I find it funny many fictitious news are printed to appease people like you. So, what has happened to your 145-storied tallest building of Eurasia with swimming pools, stadiums and others?

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## Mage

TopCat said:


> Where did you think Honda started their production?


How many produced so far?

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## bluesky

@Homo Sapiens, whatever is the reason I could not open the videos you have uploaded. But, thanks anyway.


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## Homo Sapiens

bluesky said:


> @Homo Sapiens, whatever is the reason I could not open the videos you have uploaded. But, thanks anyway.


Because video owner has disabled playing his video in other sites other than Youtube. After clicking these video here, you will see this message-

Video unavailable
Watch this video on YouTube.
Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner.

Just click on *Watch this video on YouTube *message. You will be redirected to Youtube and video will start playing.

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> How many produced so far?



Honda had a tie up with the govt. to build bikes in Tongi since the 70's - no idea on production stats but all local Hondas for our market were produced there. 

The new 2000 acre factory in the Abdul Monem private SEZ on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway just started production. Initial production capacity is 200,000 bikes a year but they can expand to three times that amount on the grounds. I personally expect that expansion to happen within about three years.

The current factory is equipped (per current govt. tax and incentives planning - meaning 'nitimala') for production from basic level components, a lot of the more complicated components are expected to be produced locally.


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## JohnWick

Bilal9 said:


> Honda had a tie up with the govt. to build bikes in Tongi since the 70's - no idea on production stats but all local Hondas for our market were produced there.
> 
> The new 2000 acre factory in the Abdul Monem private SEZ on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway just started production. Initial production capacity is 200,000 bikes a year but they can expand to three times that amount on the grounds. I personally expect that expansion to happen within about three years.
> 
> The current factory is equipped (per current govt. tax and incentives planning - meaning 'nitimala') for production from basic level components, a lot of the more complicated components are expected to be produced locally.


So Bangla is going to become super power........??????

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## Mage

JohnWick said:


> So Bangla is going to become super power........??????


It already is one.

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## JohnWick

Mage said:


> It already is one.


Yes superpower without nukes 
and with less than 200 fighters


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## Mage

JohnWick said:


> Yes superpower without nukes
> and with less than 200 fighters


You don't need nukes to be a superpower. Brits conquered vast vast territory without nukes or fighters. So did the Mongols. Real powers fight without nukes.

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## JohnWick

Mage said:


> You don't need nukes to be a superpower. Brits conquered vast vast territory without nukes or fighters. So did the Mongols. Real powers fight without nukes.


Mongols Brits are hundred of years ago you can not fight today with swords 
Swords are nothing to do with a gernade lancher 
Samurai were great warriors but defeated by modren weapons.
Tpday nukes are necessary for super power
Otherqise how can u sirvive a fkin doomsday nuclear attack.......??????


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## Mage

JohnWick said:


> Mongols Brits are hundred of years ago you can not fight today with swords
> Swords are nothing to do with a gernade lancher
> Samurai were great warriors but defeated by modren weapons.
> Tpday nukes are necessary for super power
> Otherqise how can u sirvive a fkin doomsday nuclear attack.......??????


Nukes are nothing. Farts are more powerful than puny nuclear warheads.

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## JohnWick

Mage said:


> Nukes are nothing. Farts are more powerful than puny nuclear warheads.


Yes you are right good for you now destroy us with your fart.


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## Mage

JohnWick said:


> Yes you are right good for you now destroy us with your fart.


Why would I want to destroy you?

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## JohnWick

Mage said:


> Why would I want to destroy you?


For fun for any thing for time pass yeah but destroy us by fart and your supermacy will be acclaimed comon give it to us we are waiting...


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## Mage

JohnWick said:


> For fun for any thing for time pass yeah but destroy us by fart and your supermacy will be acclaimed comon give it to us we are waiting...


My supremacy is already acknowledged by all. I am the ruler of the holy love empire. And love is power.


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## JohnWick

Mage said:


> My supremacy is already acknowledged by all. I am the ruler of the holy love empire. And love is power.


Yes... now we are talking ....you are the man ......You are the emperor yes 
You can also empire my country 
We acknowledge you we accept you but please punished that we took it too long to accept you by FART 
Please my King we need punishment
Ruined us destroy no and show no mercy on us 
We need to be destroyed by your FART.


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## Mage

JohnWick said:


> Yes... now we are talking ....you are the man ......You are the emperor yes
> You can also empire my country
> We acknowledge you we accept you but please punished that we took it too long to accept you by FART
> Please my King we need punishment
> Ruined us destroy no and show no mercy on us
> We need to be destroyed by your FART.


By the name of the holy farts, you are forgiven, my boy.


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## JohnWick

Mage said:


> By the name of the holy farts, you are forgiven, my boy.


Now I can die die in piece Mama.???


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## MD Raihan

Mage said:


> The way things are going we'll probably offer SEZs to Afghanistan, Burundi and Liberia as well.


And Pakistan too. Bangladesh is the economic tiger of south Asia.



Bilal9 said:


> I would respectfully differ with you.
> 
> The rate at which new electronics and motorcycle plants are opening up now, these mirror the exact pattern of that in Vietnam say three to five years ago before the export boom started. Moreover, note the backward integration of the products, which means these companies are in it for the long haul in Bangladesh with an eye on exports, and not just to make a quick buck locally.
> 
> Bangladesh and Vietnam themselves are large consumer markets, with Bangladesh having more consumer market potential because of higher population. Look at this old news....
> 
> 12:00 AM, June 16, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:07 AM, June 16, 2017
> *Samsung starts manufacturing locally*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Koo Yeun Choi, group leader for global strategic business at Samsung Electronics; Taeho Park, division head of consumer electronics at Samsung Southwest Asia; Seungwon Youn, managing director of Samsung Electronics Bangladesh, and Saifur Rahman, director of Transcom Group, open a liquid crystal module production line of Transcom Electronics in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: Transcom Grou_p
> 
> Star Business Report
> 
> South Korean electronics giant Samsung yesterday officially opened two factories in Bangladesh to manufacture five home appliances to cater local markets.
> 
> The plants, where LED television, refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine and microwave oven will be produced, have been set up in joint venture with local Transcom Group and Fair Electronics.
> 
> Transcom Electronics inaugurated a new state-of-the-art liquid crystal module production line in the capital recently.
> 
> The factory is currently run by 100 engineers but it will create further job opportunities in Bangladesh, Transcom Electronics said.
> 
> “We have taken this huge endeavour and significant investment considering Bangladeshi customers' benefit,” said Yeamin Sharif Chowdhury, head of business of Transcom Electronics.
> 
> The initiative will ensure the availability of genuine Samsung TVs in the country at affordable prices, said Seungwon Youn, managing director of Samsung Electronics Bangladesh.
> 
> “Our cooperation with Transcom will always go hand in hand and we believe that this will generate scope for technological development in the TV industry in Bangladesh,” he added.
> 
> The LCM line was inaugurated by Saifur Rahman, director of Transcom Group, along with KooYeun Choi, group leader of Samsung Electronics's global strategic business department, Taeho Park, division head of consumer electronics at Samsung Southwest Asia, and Youn.
> 
> *The plant, which spans 18,000 square feet in the capital's Mohakhali area, started manufacturing televisions on a test basis from last month.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu along with the officials of Samsung Electronics attends the foundation laying ceremony of a plant of Fair Electronics at Shibpur of Narsingdi yesterday. Samsung and Fair Electronics opened the plants jointly. Photo: Fair Electronics_
> 
> *Some 13 models of televisions -- all of which would be less than 55 inches -- will be manufactured at the plant, with some of the components brought in from Vietnam.
> 
> Samsung currently has five distribution partners in Bangladesh and the factory will supply televisions to them.
> 
> The existing market for televisions stands at about ten lakh units a year. Of the sum, branded products account for 40 percent.
> 
> The other factory that was inaugurated yesterday will be run by Fair Electronics.
> 
> The plant, located in Shibpur of Narsingdi, was inaugurated by Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Korean Ambassador Ahn Seong-doo.
> 
> The plant will manufacture 4 lakh units of refrigerator, 2.5 lakh units of microwave oven, 1.2 lakh units of air conditioner and 50,000 units of washing machine every year, according to Fair Group.
> 
> The factory will employ about 3,000 people.*


This post made my day

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## Nilgiri

Indos said:


> Yup, they have the factory in Karawang, West Java. In Indonesia, people mostly ride Honda or Yamaha. I think TVS is mostly well known with these model.



Lot of reviews are out there for TVS in Indonesia:






Here's the factory inside Indonesia:






@Arulmozhi Varman @Marine Rouge

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## Nike

Nilgiri said:


> Lot of reviews are out there for TVS in Indonesia:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's the factory inside Indonesia:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @Arulmozhi Varman @Marine Rouge




TVS in Indonesia factory cater more for export actually 

http://www.tvsmotor.co.id/newsbrief.aspx?id=42

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## Bilal9

MD Raihan said:


> And Pakistan too. Bangladesh is the economic tiger of south Asia.



Agreed. 

There are plenty of Pakistani companies (exporters) that have relocated to Bangladesh SEZ's in the last two decades. They did so because of power supply irregularities in Pakistan. They are mainly involved in Home textile production (bedsheets, drapes) and also towels both of which enjoy huge markets worldwide.

Pakistani exporters are mainly located in Chittagong Patenga SEZ as well as main Dhaka Savar SEZ. The latter location also has many Pakistani textile engineers involved in Bangladeshi textile companies (especially at Beximco Textiles).



JohnWick said:


> So Bangla is going to become super power........??????



One motorbike factory does not equate to a superpower. More on point, What is the SEZ situation in Pakistan and investment scenario by global auto majors in those SEZ's? Any vehicle or two wheeler exports from Pakistan to global markets?

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> In Japan, you see there are many local manufacturers of electronic goods. It's not like they only let Sony expand and compete with foreign brands. They have companies like Toshiba, Fujitsu, Canon, Sony and many more to locally compete with each other. In Korea too, they have a Samsung and to rival that they have LG which is also a global player. I'm sure they have other local competitors as well.
> 
> Competition locally is a healthy thing. It makes the manufacturers to keep looking for new and better way of production. And If there are many companies, it is easier to persue the govt for friendly policy making as well. Local competition will lead to development of better goods. Walton is now at a stage that it thinks they are the best in BD. But cannot compete against the likes of Samsung. But if there were many such brands like Walton then they would be compelled to try harder to enhance their quality to survive in the market. And with enhanced quality they would do better in foreign markets as well.
> 
> Garments sector is doing good in BD because BD has so many large, medium and small sized garments who has to compete with each other for orders. If there were only one mega garments, things wouldn't be like that.



Bangladesh corporates would do well to replicate the Japanese Keiretsu and Korean Chaebol structures for larger companies. They were the forces behind the massive economic miracles in Japan and Korea in the latter half of the last century.

Keiretsu:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu

Chaebol:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol

While we are at it, we should also study how Germany encourages their small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to maintain a global competitive edge. These companies in a group are called 'Mittelstand'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelstand

These subjects are too voluminous to discuss and outside the scope of this thread, wikipedia is helpful in this regard.

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## Mage

Bilal9 said:


> Bangladesh corporates would do well to replicate the Japanese Keiretsu and Korean Chaebol structures for larger companies. They were the forces behind the massive economic miracles in Japan and Korea in the latter half of the last century.
> 
> Keiretsu:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu
> 
> Chaebol:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol
> 
> While we are at it, we should also study how Germany encourages their small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to maintain a global competitive edge. These companies in a group are called 'Mittelstand'.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelstand
> 
> These subjects are too voluminous to discuss and outside the scope of this thread, wikipedia is helpful in this regard.


This is quite a thought provoking post Bilal, Bhai. I didn't know about these concepts. 

Maybe @Nilgiri can give some insights on what effects these can have in countries like Bangladesh, India etc.

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## TopCat

Mage said:


> This is quite a thought provoking post Bilal, Bhai. I didn't know about these concepts.
> 
> Maybe @Nilgiri can give some insights on what effects these can have in countries like Bangladesh, India etc.


Mr. Muhit frequently talked about this concept. Nothing new.


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## Mage

TopCat said:


> Mr. Muhit frequently talked about this concept. Nothing new.


Well, new for me. I don't keep track of what he says.

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## Viet

Nilgiri said:


> @Viet @Viva_Viet , Bangladeshi snobs are quite envious of Vietnamese development ....please excuse them, their biggest company just delayed its export target of 1 billion dollars by 10 years.....so its back to same ole FDI = bad.


I actually think Bangladesh makes great progress recently. Vietnam is a bit ahead though.



Mage said:


> Vietnam's export was more than 50 billion back in 2008. By 2013 it had surpassed 100 billion. And their exports were not as dependent on textiles. So no BD's situation is nothing like Vietnam of three to five years ago. Vietnam had FDI inflows of more than 20 billion back in 2013. BD can barely surpass 2 billion in 2018. Vietnam is what we should look into. But we are nowhere near as competent as them, we need to understand that.
> 
> Bangladesh might be a large consumer market. But I only see people preferring foreign brands. Indian motorbikes dominate the motorbike market. People prefer Chinese phone over Walton or Symphony. Only for refrigerator Walton has good share in the market. But still those with money would rather buy a whirlpool fridge over a Walton one.
> 
> One news of Samsung manufacturing locally doesn't make much change. They are manufacturing to meet local demand they won't be able to export from here..... Vietnam was in so much better position even 10 years ago in terms of manufacturing electronic goods.


Vietnam probably exports 250 billion USD this year. Some people think that is huge but is in reality a disappointment. But luckily we are on the move. With the recent accords TPP and Europe, Japan and Germany led trade pacts, Vietnam exports would reach $500 billion in 5 years and $1 trillion within a decade.

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## SBUS-CXK

Indos said:


> Yup, they have the factory in Karawang, West Java. In Indonesia, people mostly ride Honda or Yamaha. I think TVS is mostly well known with these model.


It looks very good. What's the price?


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## Mage

Viet said:


> Vietnam probably exports 250 billion USD this year. Some people think that is huge but is in reality a disappointment. But luckily we are on the move. With the recent accords TPP and Europe, Japan and Germany led trade pacts, Vietnam exports would reach $500 billion in 5 years and $1 trillion within a decade.


1 Trillion exports????? Only US, China and Germany do that...

If Vietnam can...then certainly that's a thing to applause. 

Bangladesh has plans to increase exports to $60 billion by 2021...which imo will fail. They may reach $50 billion tho. Which would equal Vietnam's export of 2008..lol

I have a feeling exports might reach $45 billion for BD this year. Since the growth has been quite high compared to recent years.


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## Viet

Mage said:


> 1 Trillion exports????? Only US, China and Germany do that...
> 
> If Vietnam can...then certainly that's a thing to applause.
> 
> Bangladesh has plans to increase exports to $60 billion by 2021...which imo will fail. They may reach $50 billion tho. Which would equal Vietnam's export of 2008..lol
> 
> I have a feeling exports might reach $45 billion for BD this year. Since the growth has been quite high compared to recent years.


Vietnam crushes the armies of France, America and China in series, reaching $1 trillion in export is just like playing in the kindergarten. The Chinese believe China is the last country that will get industrialized. We will prove they are wrong. Vietnam aims to export more industrial products. One example:Vinfast begins to roll out domestic car brands by next year. If the company sells 1 million pieces such as this SUV, $50,000 apiece, our export volume wil increase by $50 billion. If 10 million are sold, like the Germans and Japanese,then $500 billion 

Having said that, I think Bangladesh has great potential, the country should continue investing more in infrastructure and education and everything else come with the time. Most important things: no fanatics beliefs, political stability, open markets and little economic restrictions.

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## Mage

Viet said:


> Vietnam crushes the armies of France, America and China in series, reaching $1 trillion in export is just like playing in the kindergarten. The Chinese believe China is the last country that will get industrialized. We will prove they are wrong. Vietnam aims to export more industrial products. One example:Vinfast begins to roll out domestic car brands by next year. If the company sells 1 million pieces such as this SUV, $50,000 apiece, our export volume wil increase by $50 billion. If 10 million are sold, like the Germans and Japanese,then $500 billion
> 
> Having said that, I think Bangladesh has great potential, the country should continue investing more in infrastructure and education and everything else come with the time. Most important things: no fanatics beliefs, political stability, open markets and little economic restrictions.
> 
> 
> View attachment 521849


Well good luck I guess.


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## SBUS-CXK

Mage said:


> Well good luck I guess.


Look, we're dragged into these topics again.


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## Mage

Two said:


> Look, we're dragged into these topics again.


which topic?


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## SBUS-CXK

Mage said:


> which topic?


Vietnam, Myanmar, Iran, Turkey, Korea, Russia, US...

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## Mage

Two said:


> Vietnam, Myanmar, Iran, Turkey, Korea, Russia...


Only Vietnam I guess.....and Indonesia.


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## SBUS-CXK

Mage said:


> Only Vietnam I guess.....and Indonesia.


I hope so, too.


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## bluesky

Viet said:


> Vietnam probably exports 250 billion USD this year.


"The Gross Domestic Product* (GDP) in Vietnam was worth 223.86 billion US dollars in 2017.* The GDP value of Vietnam represents 0.36 percent of the world economy. GDP in Vietnam averaged 68.78 USD Billion from 1985 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 223.86 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 6.29 USD Billion in 1989".

If the GDP is US$223.86 billion, how it is possible that Vietnam exported US$250 billion worth of goods and services? There must be something wrong with the figures.

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## Nike

bluesky said:


> "The Gross Domestic Product* (GDP) in Vietnam was worth 223.86 billion US dollars in 2017.* The GDP value of Vietnam represents 0.36 percent of the world economy. GDP in Vietnam averaged 68.78 USD Billion from 1985 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 223.86 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 6.29 USD Billion in 1989".
> 
> If the GDP is US$223.86 billion, how it is possible that Vietnam exported US$250 billion worth of goods and services? There must be something wrong with the figures.



They are retrader nation, repack items and goods from China to be shipped to other country. Well it is useful to avoid unnecessary tax, and permits in some countries against China.


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## Mage

bluesky said:


> "The Gross Domestic Product* (GDP) in Vietnam was worth 223.86 billion US dollars in 2017.* The GDP value of Vietnam represents 0.36 percent of the world economy. GDP in Vietnam averaged 68.78 USD Billion from 1985 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 223.86 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 6.29 USD Billion in 1989".
> 
> If the GDP is US$223.86 billion, how it is possible that Vietnam exported US$250 billion worth of goods and services? There must be something wrong with the figures.


There are some counties where exports are higher than GDP. Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland and some other are like that. I don't think Vietnam is there yet. their total exports are probably more than 90% of their GDP.

To


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## Viet

bluesky said:


> "The Gross Domestic Product* (GDP) in Vietnam was worth 223.86 billion US dollars in 2017.* The GDP value of Vietnam represents 0.36 percent of the world economy. GDP in Vietnam averaged 68.78 USD Billion from 1985 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 223.86 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 6.29 USD Billion in 1989".
> 
> If the GDP is US$223.86 billion, how it is possible that Vietnam exported US$250 billion worth of goods and services? There must be something wrong with the figures.


Very easy to understand: Vietnam’s manufacturing and industrial base is greater than the domestic consumption. In some cases even multiple times.Let’s say rice production: with a bit more investment Vietnam rice surplus is enough to feed the entire Japan’s population.

Our problem is not production but how to find markets for our products that we make en masse?


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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> Well, new for me. I don't keep track of what he says.



We can open a separate thread to discuss this if you are interested. IMHO this is not discussed enough but should. It is crucial in Bangladesh' development stage and Pakistan's as well.

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## trishna_amṛta

Nilgiri said:


> Lot of reviews are out there for TVS in Indonesia:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's the factory inside Indonesia:



I'm not familiar with TVS brand and has never notice it before . But than again I'm more of a 4x4 guy thus doesn't follow 2 wheelers market



Bilal9 said:


> Now (I recently posted a video about this), the quality (precision) and quantity of value-addition-labor has gone up with manufacture of complicated higher price-tag items like branded Suits, jackets, medium-priced ladies' couture etc. To make these higher priced items and the many complicated critical operations involved, you need an entirely different type of precision skill set compared to sewing underwear.
> 
> At the same time, local backward integration (such as manufacture of specialized high-priced higher thread count shirting, denim and precision fabric locally) has increased many fold. Alongside this, *specialized technical fabric* manufacture for jackets and outerwear (production of which is increasing in volume every year) has also started locally. All this has lowered the cost of input and the time-to-market just-in-time factors substantially for local production, and made sourcing from Bangladesh much more attractive than in prior times. Which in turn increased the value-addition argument for Bangladesh many fold.



Under what brands are those *specialized technical fabrics* ?  Don't get wrong I'm not bashing or similar here, however I happen to be heavy user of technical fabrics clothings (TACLITE®, HEATGEAR®, COOLMAX®, FlashDry™, GORE-TEX®, PrimaLoft® ThermoBall™, etc) and so far I've never recall seeing "Made in Bangladesh" in the labeling.

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## Indos

Two said:


> It looks very good. What's the price?



Around 1700 USD

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## Nilgiri

Nilgiri said:


> probably one of those repeat spam accounts making yet another one.



Called it! Bengal Subaaaaaaah went bye bye.


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## Nilgiri

Viet said:


> I actually think Bangladesh makes great progress recently. Vietnam is a bit ahead though.
> 
> 
> Vietnam probably exports 250 billion USD this year. Some people think that is huge but is in reality a disappointment. But luckily we are on the move. With the recent accords TPP and Europe, Japan and Germany led trade pacts, Vietnam exports would reach $500 billion in 5 years and $1 trillion within a decade.



FDI = BAD! @Viet bro, to make truly great progress, one needs to be filing more than 1's and 2's yearly at USPTO when you are 170 million ppl dont you think?

But instead all the "progress" is from BD internal claims about itself.....and they are very different to what they are able to project outside their borders (trade, investment, energy, market cap etc). It is going to be a persistent problem for a while.

It may interest you to know that even though Vietnam has half the population of BD, it puts out 33% more science volume in 2017.

But even with all this said....BD could easily be industrialising to 10 more sectors (simple assembly + manufacturing)...but they instead just want to stick to RMG only (so politicians can easily take their cut of it, instead of competing with different labour pools) and pass on just a few scraps to their SEZ's for a few optics....and it (RMG) ends up making up like 90% of their exports and it is not projected to change much. Thats why now their biggest (non RMG) company pushed its 1 billion export target by another 10 years....when it claimed ( 3 years ago) it would getting that amount right now.

Yet they still say FDI = bad because they don't want to be "export reliant".....but then in other threads, they point to South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan etc etc as growth models they want to replicate. Truly a strange people.

Being export reliant is only a potential problem if the investment volatility (and thus potential exit velocity) is high and you take huge foreign loans etc based on it (like say the root problem of Asian Financial Crisis).....but strong capital (rather than portfolio) investment flow and prudent economic policy of a govt like in Vietnam counters that well. Yet these BD ostriches with head stuck in mud still refuse to see that....and think BD will miraculously invest up the economic chain totally on its own....that too with like 8 times less the internal market pull of India (which is just plodding along right now w.r.t this model till more deepset reforms take effect).


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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> This is quite a thought provoking post Bilal, Bhai. I didn't know about these concepts.
> 
> Maybe @Nilgiri can give some insights on what effects these can have in countries like Bangladesh, India etc.



My summary:

It needs higher level in both quantity and quality investment and training in vocational colleges and schools etc....than what is currently found in region. More key is that private companies are fully invested and integrated into this process so they can shape the talent to their needs...so that over time they can develop critical specialisation in a process/technology that goes into something bigger.

Germany had a key help through the Marshall program (post war) and its own heritage of industry + craft + specialized (esp materials) research...the Mittelstand did not come out of thin air. But there are basic concepts from it that can be applied anywhere with the right leadership and bureaucratic reform.

It does not even really enter into the equation for BD tbh right now (even compared to say what India has achieved in some sectors), unless BD govt gets its grubby hands out of all the excise duties and required bribes etc for any kind of SME trying to take shape.....and instead focuses on rule of law and standards (i.e the principal things a govt is there for rather than intervening excessively in the free market). 

Simply saying SEZ this and SEZ that (like some members here seem to love doing) is really stupid as SMEs need to take shape outside the SEZs to feed them the supply of components....and start earning profits so they can long term re-invest and improve at a base level. India too had its SEZ = be all, end all phase (trying to carbon copy Chinese experience) till they stagnated big time and better reforms (which are still ongoing) had to happen for the SME base to really shape up (and thats where competition between states and political parties is a positive). 

The reforms for the supply chains have to be comprehensive and thorough...but that necessarily requires the loss of (at least unitary) political ownership and control over industry at a micro-level (macro level can still be done as politically feelz needed through holding companies/SOE ownership).....but I don't see BAL being ready to let go of this....they prefer to put party over the country. @Atlas @Tanveer666

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## bluesky

Nilgiri said:


> Especially when the FDI is just designed to import more Chinese stuff in the long run rather than impart technical know-how for local long term substitution/technical capacity etc.


FDI should be regarded just as FDI. If the Chinese companies employ more of their own people it is because they have an issue with the local language. But, it is also not a complete truth. A foreign company always needs local people because it is cost-effective. So, even if the Chinese companies employ their own stuff it will not remain so in the long run. 

FDI is not exactly a way to transfer of technology. The foreign companies invest in money and machine, and the local workers simply learn the way to operate the machines and do other miscellaneous jobs. However, the local workers learn the work ethics while working in these companies and the learning is supposed to percolate down the society if there are hundreds of such companies. But, I do not yet see any real possibility of many FDIs in BD, at least it has not realized so far.

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> FDI is not exactly a way to transfer of technology.



Depends on the FDI...yes bulk of it is not some ToT but the actual capital transfer....but there is qualitative ToT in the FDI as well in the upper echelons of management and even RnD.

For example my company made an investment into a Chinese facility for manufacture of certain compressor stages in jet engine...and now the Chinese capacity through simply having throughput of the fabrication over time has refined and optimized the production process and QC (of a few specific compressors)....and some of these have even found their way back to our main Canadian facilities. Of course the core IP remains with us and that is not transferred to anyone else...but there is this kind of shop RnD (from even just production side) that comes with enough basic FDI flow.

Not to mention worker training is also included in FDI....and is retained long term (both the training itself and the concept and attitude towards training/advancement in the larger culture and society). This is key because a purely local company investment has no idea in what and how to bring key specifics regarding best practices and knowledge that was developed over many decades by much wealthier countries.

Now China has actually moved to the stage where it pretty much forces some IP transfer over time (I remember you brought this up with Japanese investments in China, but it happens across the board...and is part of the reason for the Trump tariff war)...so there is that side too...but that is more govt directive through taking advantage of the deploy capital's low velocity rather than part of concept of FDI per se.

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## Homo Sapiens

http://unb.com.bd/category/Business/walton-increases-smart-tv-production/7118
*Walton increases Smart TV production*


UNB NEWS

PUBLISH DATE - NOVEMBER 24, 2018, 05:33 PM

UNB NEWS - UNB NEWS

160 VIEWS







Dhaka, Nov 24 (UNB)- The local multinational brand ‘Walton’ has increased the production of its smart televisions witnessing the growing demands in the local market.

Recently, Walton released new models of 32-inch, 39-inch and 43-inch Smart TV with the latest operating system ‘Android 7’. Each of these new models is featured with 1GB RAM and 8 GB ROM.

The local brand set the price of its new models of 32-inch Smart TV at Tk 24.900, 39-inch at Tk 36,900 and 43-inch at Tk 39.900.

Walton is now manufacturing and marketing total of 25 models of smart televisions of 32, 39, 43, 49 and 55-inch. Among these, there is one model of 55-inch at Tk 69,900 and 49-inch at Tk 65,900. In addition, 43-inch televisions has 3 models and 39-inch has 5 models. Considering the people of middle-income group, Walton released 15 models of 32-inch smart television.

Walton Smart TV has a built-in E-share app that will allow users to share TV display with mobile phone and vice-versa. The users can manage the device operation by Smartphone through opening the remote option of the E-share app installed on handsets.

Four different formats like Key-remote, Touch remote, Mouse and Air mouse can be used by the users’ handset to operate image, audio, video and movies, stored on mobile phone, in Walton Smart TV from any corner of the home.

Maruf Hasan, head of sales of Walton Television Department, said, Smart TV has brought a radical changes and added more recreations for the viewers. Most of the buyers are now prefer to buy smart televisions.

*He noted that the market share of the smart televisions has been growing very rapidly in the local market.*

Uday Hakim, deputy executive director of Walton Group, said that the local television market is fully import oriented. But, the establishment of modern and internal standard local television manufacturing industries turned Bangladesh into a self-sufficient in meeting the entire local demands of televisions.

*Now, a lion portion of the country’s television market is captured by the local brands, he added.*

*Mustafa Nahid Hossain, chief executive officer of Walton Television Department, said, Walton has installed world's latest technology and machineries at its own factory in Gazipur with huge investment to instigate a revolutionary change in the technology sector of Bangladesh. The local brand has also set up country's largest television R&D departed where a bunch of highly educated, talented and skilled engineers are working to present customers advanced and world-class products ensuring the international standard.*

For which, Walton television has been recognized and achieved certification by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Testing Certificate from Standard Organization of Nigeria Product Conformity Assessment Program (SONCAP). Walton has already announced one-year TV replacement guarantee with the assurance of high quality.

He also mentioned that high quality panels are being used in Walton Internet-based Android Smart TV. Walton is manufacturing HADS (High Advance Super Dimension Switch) and IPS (In Plan Switching) panels in ISO class seven dust free clean room, which ensure the quality and durability of the panels. As a result, viewers will get high viewing angle and high contrast pictures. Moreover, the Walton TVs are huge power efficient.

Walton is now offering 6-month replacement warranty for television panel, and two years warranty for panel and spare parts as well as free after sales of services for five years.

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## Bilal9

trishna_amṛta said:


> Under what brands are those *specialized technical fabrics* ?  Don't get wrong I'm not bashing or similar here, however I happen to be heavy user of technical fabrics clothings (TACLITE®, HEATGEAR®, COOLMAX®, FlashDry™, GORE-TEX®, PrimaLoft® ThermoBall™, etc) and so far I've never recall seeing "Made in Bangladesh" in the labeling.



The technical fabrics produced locally are unbranded and are for captive consumption in apparel factories for exports to select markets (sometimes China) and are at the lower end of the quality spectrum, which is designed to a price level. They will not meet stringent criteria set up by GORE or COOLMAX. There could be branded smart fabrics made locally, but I have not seen them. GORETEX has been around since the 1970's and the silicone waterproofing coating technology is not hard to replicate, and neither is hollow wicking fibre made by the likes of Teijin etc.

You can import wicking type hollow fibre yarn from China/Korea and make fabrics in Bangladesh that closely follow GORE fabric construction.

There is local demand obviously, so there is production as well - no surprise there. Bangladesh is the second largest apparel producer after China.

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## Nilgiri

Bilal9 said:


> Bangladesh is the second largest apparel producer after China.



LOL. No it isnt you illiterate idiot.

LDC based quota export does not correlate to your total production. India total textile industry is mostly internally consumed and is approaching 250 billion USD in size....basically the entire Bangladesh GDP.


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## Mage

Nilgiri said:


> LOL. No it isnt you illiterate idiot.
> 
> LDC based quota export does not correlate to your total production. India total textile industry is mostly internally consumed and is approaching 250 billion USD in size....basically the entire Bangladesh GDP.


I think he meant exporter.....


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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> I think he meant exporter.....





Bilal9 said:


> _There is local demand obviously, so there is production as well - no surprise there. _Bangladesh is the second largest apparel producer after China.



Yeah no.... he has made this stupid claim before a number of times and been corrected on it before (by gslv mk3)


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## Mage

*Forex reserves hit 450% growth in a decade*
 Ibrahim Hossain Ovi 

Published at 12:39 am November 25th, 2018





*Bigstock*

Foreign exchange reserves of a country define its macroeconomic stability, while it increases eligibility for getting foreign loans and attracts foreign investment

Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserve has registered more than 450% growth in the last ten years, thanks to steady economic growth and resilience of major external sectors, analysts said.

According to Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, as of September, foreign exchange reserves stood at $31.95 billion, up by 450.86%, from $5.8 billion in December 2008.

The country’s foreign reserves rose sharply mainly due to steady economic growth, including robust export earnings as well as healthy remittance inflows in the last several years, trade analysts and economists said.

They said both remittances and exports showed resilience over the years, even with turbulent overseas markets.

“The country’s economic activities have increased significantly over the last decade. Besides, remittance inflows and foreign investment have also surged,” Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) research director Khondaker Golam Moazzem told the Dhaka Tribune. 

In addition, foreign fund inflows such as loans and grants went up, helping the economy to have a healthy foreign exchange reserve, said Moazzem.

“Foreign exchange comes mostly from exports, remittances, foreign aid, and grants, as well as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). As a whole, Bangladesh has performed well in these categories,” Bangladesh Bank Chief Spokesperson M Serajul Islam said.

As a result, in the last ten years Bangladesh has seen a sharp rise in foreign exchange reserves, which has improved the country’s financial stability, said Islam. 

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), in the July-October period of current fiscal year 2018-19, Bangladesh earned $13.65 billion, up by 18.65% from the same period last year.

Also, Bangladesh's remittances increased to $14.98 billion in FY18, up 17.31 % from last year.

The inflow of remittances rose by 6.55% to $1.24 billion in October, 2018, compared to $1.16 billion in the same month last year.

*How a sound forex reserve is beneficial*

Foreign exchange reserves of a country define its macroeconomic stability, while it increases eligibility for getting foreign loans and attracts foreign investment.

“In case of insufficient foreign exchange reserves, a country like Bangladesh faces trouble in getting loans from other countries and global lenders,” Khondaker Golam Moazzem said.

So, the present status is good for Bangladesh in availing loans and attracting new investment as a healthy foreign exchange reserve indicates the macroeconomic stability of a country, said the economist. 

*When and where to invest foreign exchange*

Steady growth in the country’s economic activities has pushed the reserve of foreign exchange upward. But this should be used for financial benefits. In getting benefits from foreign exchange reserves, Bangladesh can invest its excess reserve.

“In the last few years, the Bangladesh economy has grown along with improved remittance and export earnings. But it is not being utilized to reap benefits for the economy,” former BB governor Salehuddin Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune. 

Excesses foreign exchange resembles excess liquidity. Though the return on investment may be small, it should be logically utilized said the economist, suggesting considering making investments in infrastructure projects like the Padma multi-purpose bridge. 

He also said that investments can be made after keeping a six month equivalent of import bills as reserve.

If the upward trend of foreign exchange reserves continues, and the amount seems to be enough to pay import bills for a certain period, Bangladesh can make short term investments in sovereign bonds, said Moazzem. 

The BB cannot set a benchmark on the amount of foreign exchange reserves to invest, as imports can rise sharply at any time, while exports can fall or see slower growth, or zero growth, said M Serajul Islam. 

When the central bank thinks there is enough in foreign exchange reserves, considering the present status of the export-import situation, it can make investments and profit from excess forex reserves , said Serajul.

In making investments, the risk factors for investment and profitability are seriously taken into consideration, said the spokesperson. 

However, World Bank, Bangladesh lead economist Zahid Hussain said the present forex reserve amount is enough to meet any crisis and import bills, but it is not investable yet.

The adequacy of foreign exchange reserves depends on the country’s status in terms of economic vulnerability and its import-export situation, he added.

“The minimum amount should be kept as reserve to pay import bills for three to eight months. The present amount is enough and Bangladesh can invest if the forex reserves go up to the amount required to meet eight months of import payments.”


https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/11/25/forex-reserves-hit-450-growth-in-a-decade

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## Mage

Nilgiri said:


> Yeah no.... he has made this stupid claim before a number of times and been corrected on it before (by gslv mk3)


my bad


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## Mage

*Dhaka likely to get $2.0b in add’l fund under IDA-18*
FHM Humayan Kabir | Published: November 24, 2018 10:06:20 | Updated: November 24, 2018 16:34:35





Bangladesh is likely to get nearly US$ 2.0 billion additional assistance from the World Bank (WB), as the latter has decided to divert unutilised funds from other member states to the country, officials said on Friday.

The WB held its International Development Association (IDA)-18 aid package mid-term review meeting in Livingstone, Zambia last week. There, it decided to divert the funds under package to disburse more aid to the countries having higher demand for it. Bangladesh had requested for more funds.

Under IDA-18 package, Bangladesh has already received confirmation from WB to get almost all its earmarked $4.4 billion portfolio, allocated by the global lender for three years up to financial year (FY) 2019-20.


"Bangladesh has already taken almost all the funds from WB's IDA-18 package on the half way. So, we sought $4.0 billion more assistance to meet our demands," Mahmuda Begum, additional secretary of Economic Relations Division (ERD), told the FE.

"However, the WB has been able to divert about $2.0 billion funds from some war-torn member countries. We are hopeful of getting almost all the diverted funds, as Bangladesh is the highest performer among the WB member countries."

Since some war-torn countries, like -- Syria and Yemen, have been failing to spend their earmarked portfolio, the global lender has decided to divert the unused assistance to the countries like Bangladesh, which needs such assistance in greater volume, she further said.

A Bangladesh delegation, headed by Ms Mahmuda Begum participated in the IDA-18 mid-term review meeting in Zambia.

Under the ongoing IDA-18 package, the WB has allocated some $72 billion funds for its member countries, to be provided between FY 2017-18 and FY 2019-20.

"We have already signed aid deals worth nearly $4.4 billion with the WB in some one and a half years period. The IDA-18 package still has another one and a half year deadline. So, we need more assistance from the WB for the remaining period to help implement our projects in the pipeline," she added.

In October, the WB signed aid deals amounting to $965 million with Bangladesh against different development works, another ERD official said.

Meanwhile, WB at IDA-18 package review meeting assured Bangladesh of providing $500 million funds for Rohingyas as grant from its refugee funds.

Bangladesh is one of the highest concessional loan receivers from the WB.

In last IDA-17 package, the global lender set aside some $4.36 billion funds for Bangladesh from its total $52.10 billion mobilised concessional loans and grants for disbursing among its member countries between FY 2015 and FY 2017.

kabirhumayan10@gmail.com

http://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/e...-get-20b-in-addl-fund-under-ida-18-1543032380


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## Skull and Bones

Next stop, 100 billion.

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## Hellfire

Good show Bangladesh. Impressive and may you continue to clock such high growth.

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## Bilal9

Nov 24, 2018



Exports of Bangladeshi products to non-traditional markets are on the rise, showing an encouraging sign for the country’s efforts towards diversification of export destinations, according to data of Export Promotion Bureau.

Bangladesh considers ‘non-traditional markets’ all countries except its key export destinations, such as the EU, US, UK and Canada. India, China, Russia, Japan, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand are among the major non-traditional markets for Bangladeshi products.

The country has also secured zero-duty benefits on exports of goods to markets in Japan, India, and China. Such trade privileges helped Bangladesh boost its exports to these non-traditional markets.

EPB data show that during the first four months of the current 2018-19 fiscal year, export earnings from the non-traditional markets soared substantially compared to the same period of last FY. 

During the July-October period, exports to Japan stood at $464.95 million, up from $333 million in the same period last FY. Exports to India almost doubled as the country fetched $469 million during the July-October period this year, up from $226 million a year ago. In the first four months of the current FY, exports to China soared to $299 million from $224 million during the same period last FY while exports to Australia jumped to $281 million from $231 million. Exporters shipped goods worth $133 million to Russia in the July-October period against $127 million last FY, $59 million to Brazil against $52 million, $135 million to South Korea against $75 million, and $89 million to Malaysia against $65 million.

Though the country’s export growth remains steady, sector insiders said the potential of exports to non-traditional markets has remained untapped. Despite having a huge potential to gain more share in the new export destinations, Bangladesh is not being able to grab this opportunity in India, China and Latin American countries, they said.“In addition to the traditional export destinations, Bangladesh is slowly entering the emerging markets like China, India, Japan, Russia, Turkey and Latin America. This is indeed is good news for the country’s export sector,” BGMEA president Siddiqur Rahman said.He also said Bangladesh still has a long way to go as opportunities in most of the export destinations still remain untapped.

The BGMEA president said the government is working closely with the private sector to foster diversification of export destinations. Bangladesh Engineering Industries Owners’ Association (BEIOA) president Abdur Razzaque said Bangladesh’s export sector is still dependant on few sectors—apparel, leather, jute, frozen foods. “There is no alternative to product diversification to help reap the potential of new export markets,” he said. 

The global market is more competitive than ever as buyers’ choices are changing constantly and Bangladesh should prepare for this challenge and focus on new products and new markets, Razzaque added. 

The government has been providing cash incentives on exports to emerging markets to help the exporters enter and sustain in new export destinations.

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## JohnWick

An emerging superpower 
You might need yo conquer America first...........


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## Hellfire

@MilSpec @Nilgiri 

An excellent achievement I must say.

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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh’s burgeoning pharmaceutical sector: Ruling local market, stock business, and expanding abroad*
Niaz Mahmud

 Published at 10:03 pm November 3rd, 2018






Photo: Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune

According to the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI), there has been an upward trend in the domestic market for pharmaceutical products over the past few years, and market size now stands at around Tk200 billion

Bangladesh is the only least developed country around the globe that meets up to 97% of its demand for pharmaceutical products, with a market size of nearly Tk200 billion, through local companies, policymakers and industry insiders have said.

In addition, Bangladeshi pharmaceutical products are being exported to 199 countries, and generated over $100 million in the last fiscal year.

Due to healthy earnings per share (EPS) and dividends, pharmaceutical stocks continue to attract both long-term and institutional investors.

The Pharmaceutical sector (including chemical producing firms) contributed 11.09% of the total turnover of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in the last month, as compared to 10.95% in September, 7.66% in August, and 9.57% in July, according to data from the DSE.

Meanwhile, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data shows that pharmaceutical sector exports to 199 countries earned Bangladesh $103.46 million in the last fiscal year. In the July-September period of the current fiscal year, pharmaceutical product exports have already generated $30 million, up by 24.55% from the same period in FY18. 

In FY17, pharmaceutical sector exports generated $89.17 million, the EPB said.

Md Asad Ullah, executive director and company secretary of Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Our country's pharmaceutical products are now being exported to 199 countries, including the USA. The demand for Bangladeshi pharmaceutical products in the global market is increasing, mainly due to product diversification and superb quality.”

“We have been doing well in the local market too, as many drug companies are expanding their production units to meet growing demand,” he added.

Asad further said stock market investors’ interest in the pharmaceutical sector is increasing as due to the high potential of the industry, and stocks of pharmaceutical companies are among the top choices for long-term investors.

According to the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI), there has been an upward trend in the domestic market for pharmaceutical products over the past few years, and market size now stands at around Tk200 billion.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data says the industry contributed 1.85% of the GDP in FY17.

Regarding the success of local pharmaceutical firms, industry insiders said the sector is largely protected from the threat of foreign competitors, as there is a restriction on the import of drugs that are similar to locally manufactured variants. 

The success of the sector has also generated a significant number of white collar jobs, they added.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, stockholders of the sector said the local pharmaceutical industry has grown significantly over the last five years. From 2012 to 2017, the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) was 15%. 

Out of 31 listed companies in the sector, 24 are listed in the category ‘A’, meaning the companies regularly provide dividends to shareholders. The remaining seven listed firms fall under the categories of B, N, and Z.

A recent study by LankaBangla Investment Ltd revealed that local players dominate Bangladesh's pharmaceutical market. The top ten companies hold 68.49% of market share, while the top twenty companies hold 86.33%.

On the other hand, the shares in Pharmaceutical sector (including chemical companies) of the Dhaka Stock Exchange are becoming a growing attraction for investors, since most of the listed companies recently reported increased earnings per share (EPS), good dividends, and have sound market capitalization bases.

Former chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Faruq Ahmad Siddiqi told the Dhaka Tribune: “The pharmaceutical market is growing day by day. Bangladeshi drug companies have also expanded outside the country. The profits of pharmaceutical companies have had a positive effect on investors.”

Other major sectors such as engineering, textiles, and power also reported significant turnover at the end of September, making up for 18.73%, 14.93%, and 17.10% of the monthly total transactions, respectively.

Square Pharmaceuticals, one of the leading pharmaceuticals companies, manufactures and markets various generic pharmaceuticals products, basic chemicals, and animal health products. Square Pharma has 4 subsidiary companies, according to the company’s profile.

Square Pharma enjoys the highest response from the buyers of pharmaceutical products, with 27 out of the top selling 100 pharmaceutical products being manufactured by them. The company has invested nearly Tk. 150 crore in the last five years, company sources said.

Square Pharmaceuticals contributed 1.80% of the total turnover in the pharmaceutical sector at the DSE last month, according to DSE sources.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited, another leading pharmaceutical company, manufactures and markets generic pharmaceutical formulation products, including lifesaving intravenous fluids, therapeutic nutrition products, and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Beximco contributed 0.40% of total turnover in the pharmaceutical sector at the premier bourse last month.

Renata Limited is engaged in the manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and animal health products. Renata has three subsidiaries, namely Renata Agro Industries Limited, Renata Oncology Limited, and Purnava Limited. Renata contributed 0.13% of total turnover in the pharmaceutical sector at DSE in October.

Active Fine Chemicals Limited is engaged in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients and various laboratory reagents. Currently, the company produces 25 active pharmaceutical ingredients and three types of laboratory reagents. Active Fine Chemicals contributed 2.51% of total turnover in the pharmaceutical sector at DSE in October.

Advanced chemical industries Limited (ACI) is also engaged in the manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and animal health products. ACI has fourteen subsidiary companies, two joint ventures, and three associates. The company contributed 0.22% of total turnover in the pharmaceutical sector at the DES last month.

*When contacted, a senior official of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Cell under the Ministry of Commerce said Bangladesh is the lone nation in the 45-LDC group of the WTO that exports pharmaceutical products and meets almost all of its local demand.

“The major reasons the sector is succeeding include exclusion of Bangladesh from the Regulations Of Intellectual Property Rights Act of the WTO, and backing from the government to help grow the local pharma industry,” the trade official said.*

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## Mage

Bilal9 said:


> During the July-October period, exports to Japan stood at $464.95 million, up from $333 million in the same period last FY. Exports to India almost doubled as the country fetched $469 million during the July-October period this year, up from $226 million a year ago.


We are exporting more to India than we're exporting to Japan? That's unexpected. I think without all those dumping duty that India puts on our goods, our exports to India could be way higher. 

What about our exports to Africa? Why don't we try to export our TV, Fridges, Handsets or Laptops to Africa? If we can offer them cheaply, they will sell well there. Sub Saharan Africa will have the largest share of world population in the future. We should try to export there.

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## Mage

JohnWick said:


> You might need yo conquer America first...........


America is our colony.


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## Mage

Bilal9 said:


> In FY17, pharmaceutical sector exports generated $89.17 million, the EPB said.


Tiny amount. For some reasons, Pharma exports are stagnating.

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## MilSpec

Great achievement.


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## UKBengali

Although Forex reserves have plateued somewhat recently, with the massive export growth so far this year they will again continue their upward trajectory.


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## Nike

UKBengali said:


> Although Forex reserves have plateued somewhat recently, with the massive export growth so far this year they will again continue their upward trajectory.



Not with your Current account deficit rates

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## Homo Sapiens

Mage said:


> Tiny amount. For some reasons, Pharma exports are stagnating.


Main growth is within the country. Demand of medicine is growing at 20 percent every year and our pharmaceutical industry is supplying almost all of it by keeping up with fast rising demand. As Bangladesh got permit to export in US market and newly established plant to produce some of the expensive drugs, export growth may be higher in the next 10 years than the previous 10. Main thing is winning confidence. When buyers around the world will see, BD is exporting drugs in US, they will take us seriously.

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## doorstar

Marine Rouge said:


> Not with your Current account deficit rates


according to bongle daily star, current account deficit is at $9.37 billion from a $2.21 billion in the other direction in previous year. @Nilgiri may be able to confirm that it is 9.37+2.21=11.48 over past 2 years

shonar capacity to export undies continues to lag behind its need for imports of other goods

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## Homo Sapiens

JohnWick said:


> An emerging superpower
> You might need yo conquer America first...........





doorstar said:


> according to bongle daily star, current account deficit is at $9.37 billion from a $2.21 billion in the other direction in previous year. @Nilgiri may be able to confirm that it is 9.37+2.21=11.48 over past 2 years
> 
> shonar capacity to export undies continues to lag behind its need for imports of other goods


Do not cry when Bangladeshi posters hit back and accuse us about hating Pakistan.

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## jamal18

Mage said:


> America is our colony.



No, it's Israel's colony. However I like your ambition.


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## Nike

doorstar said:


> according to bongle daily star, current account deficit is at $9.37 billion from a $2.21 billion in the other direction in previous year. @Nilgiri may be able to confirm that it is 9.37+2.21=11.48 over past 2 years
> 
> shonar capacity to export undies continues to lag behind its need for imports of other goods



Their people just recently going forward to become middle income bracket earner, and with absen of many supporting industries in Bangladesh its natural if they must import everything


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## doorstar

Homo Sapiens said:


> Do not cry when Bangladeshi posters hit back and accuse us about hating Pakistan.


hit back with facts or with shonar capacity (or is it ability?) for copy/pasting huge chunks of irrelevant text +plus foul-mouthed expletives?

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## Black_cats

*Breakthrough in blue economy soon: FM*

http://www.bssnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Blue-Economy620.jpg
42







DHAKA, Nov 25, 2018 (BSS)- Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali today said
Bangladesh will give a ‘breakthrough’ in the field of blue economy soon by
increasing its research works in collaboration with the private sector.

“We hope there’ll be a breakthrough in this field soon,” he said while
addressing the inaugural session of a workshop at a city hotel.

Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh organised the workshop
titled, ‘Blue Economy and EU Horizon 2020’.

Mahmood Ali said blue economy is a new area to explore and it takes time
to get benefits from any new sector.

Noting that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already established a
maritime university and marine institutes, he said: “Now we need good
teachers there”.

The foreign minister said although there are vast resources in the ocean,
very little of those are being exploited for lack of resources and capacity.

“We’re marching ahead. Private sector and our universities should come
forward in this regard,” he said.

Mahmood Ali said scientific community also needs to come forward along
with the government to explore the benefits of blue economy.

EU Ambassador in Dhaka Renjse Teerink also spoke at the inaugural session
while Secretary (Maritime Affairs Unit) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Read Admiral (retd) Md Khurshed Alam made a powerpoint presentation.

Teerink urged Bangladesh to take steps to conduct research on the field
of blue economy.

She said the European Union is ready to work with Bangladesh in this
regard as the Horizon 2020 offers many opportunities.

“There is a huge opportunity for Bangladesh,” the EU envoy observed.

Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever
with nearly 80 billion Euro of funding available over seven years from 2014
to 2020 in addition to the private investment.

It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and ‘world-firsts’ by taking
great ideas from the lab to the market.

Horizon 2020 is open to everyone, with a simple structure that reduces
red tape and time so participants can focus on what is really important. This
approach makes sure new projects get off the ground quickly – and achieve
results faster.

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## UKBengali

Marine Rouge said:


> Not with your Current account deficit rates




Nope, exports(+ remittances) have grown that they are larger than imports and the forex will start rising again.

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## Mage

doorstar said:


> according to bongle daily star, current account deficit is at $9.37 billion from a $2.21 billion in the other direction in previous year. @Nilgiri may be able to confirm that it is 9.37+2.21=11.48 over past 2 years
> 
> shonar capacity to export undies continues to lag behind its need for imports of other goods


Do you know about remittance? On which Pakistan survives? We receive it from overseas Bangladeshis as well.

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## UKBengali

doorstar said:


> according to bongle daily star, current account deficit is at $9.37 billion from a $2.21 billion in the other direction in previous year. @Nilgiri may be able to confirm that it is 9.37+2.21=11.48 over past 2 years
> 
> shonar capacity to export undies continues to lag behind its need for imports of other goods




Can we have your real flags or do we need to get moderators involved to do this for you.?


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## Mage

UKBengali said:


> Nope, exports(+ remittances) have grown that they are larger than imports and the forex will start rising again.


Govt taking way too much loans which will impact Forex reserves. I don't think it will increase much in some years. Maybe after Padma bridge and Rooppur plant is done it might increase.

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## Homo Sapiens

*New railway station in Khulna starts operation*


UNB NEWS

PUBLISH DATE - NOVEMBER 25, 2018, 10:35 AM

UNB NEWS - UNB NEWS

136 VIEWS
UPDATE DATE - NOVEMBER 25, 2018, 11:20 AM






Newly-constructed railway station in Khulna began its operation on Sunday, November 25, 2018.


Khulna, Nov 25 (UNB) - The newly-constructed railway station in Khulna began its operation on Sunday morning.

Md Majibur Rahman, managing direction of Bangladesh Railway (West Zone), officially indurated the operation by waving the green flag for Dhaka-bound ‘Chitra Express’ train around 8:40 am.

Earlier on March 3, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the station during her Khulna visit.

On January 26, 2014, the Executive Committee of Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project involving cost of Tk 600 million. However, the cost was finally calculated Tk 61,27,00000.

Construction works of the project started in April 2015.

The three storied railway station building comprises with three platforms, demarcation wall, 4,000 square metres car parking space, link corridor, footpath and roads.

Besides, a beautiful garden, illumination, fire dousing system and modern hydrant were set up at the station.

The train service was first started in Khulna on Damdam-Khulna-Jashore rail route on February 16, 1884.

The station can accommodate about 9 to 10 thousand passengers every day and has the capacity to handle sis trains to enter and leave.
http://unb.com.bd/category/Bangladesh/new-railway-station-in-khulna-starts-operation/7162


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## doorstar

UKBengali said:


> Can we have your real flags or do we need to get moderators involved to do this for you.?


do your best (or is it worse?) or rejoin as some bonglasubbah and start spamming to back yourself


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## UKBengali

Homo Sapiens said:


> Main growth is within the country. Demand of medicine is growing at 20 percent every year and our pharmaceutical industry is supplying almost all of it by keeping up with fast rising demand. As Bangladesh got permit to export in US market and newly established plant to produce some of the expensive drugs, export growth may be higher in the next 10 years than the previous 10. Main thing is winning confidence. When buyers around the world will see, BD is exporting drugs in US, they will take us seriously.




Too many people do not understand the picture holistically.

BD is a large developing market of over 160 million people with rapidly rising purchasing power. Just by keeping it's market share in BD at 97% the industry will hit nearly 10 billion US dollars within 10 years.

It takes a little while to build up momentum in overseas developed markets and once BD is exporting drugs to a country like US, other rich countries will follow.

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## UKBengali

Mage said:


> Govt taking way too much loans which will impact Forex reserves. I don't think it will increase much in some years. Maybe after Padma bridge and Rooppur plant is done it might increase.




Nope, BD will not pay a single dollar back to either China for 5 years and Russia for 10 years.
Most of the forex has already been used for Padma Bridge already and so that money drain will soon be taken out of the forex reserves.

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## Homo Sapiens

*Ctg port inefficiency, traffic congestions key challenges for supply chain mgmt
Experts say at a seminar*
Staff Correspondent | Published: 00:00, Nov 25,2018 | Updated: 00:19, Nov 25,2018







Prime minister’s economic affairs adviser Mashuir Rahman, state minister for finance Abdul Mannan, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority executive chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam, Bangladesh Supply Chain Management Society president Naquib Khan, IPDC Finance Limited managing director Mominul Islam and Bonik Barta editor Dewan Hanif Mahmud are present at a seminar on ‘Challenges and Prospect of Supply Chain Management in Bangladesh’ organised by IPDC Finance and Bonik Barta at the Sonargaon Hotel in capital Dhaka on Saturday. — New Age photo

Experts on Saturday identified inefficiency of Chattogram port, traffic congestions on roads and highways and lack of human resources as the key challenges for supply chain management in Bangladesh.
At a seminar on ‘Challenges and Prospect of Supply Chain Management in Bangladesh’, they urged the government to address the disruptions and lacking and to formulate unique rules and regulations for business to reduce the cost of doing business.
They also urged the government to introduce supply chain management in the national curriculum considering future economic development.
Non-bank financial institution IPDC Finance Limited and Bangla daily Bonik Barta jointly organised the seminar at the Sonargaon Hotel in the capital, Dhaka.
‘Bangladesh’s economy is moving fast and challenge will be there but question is how fast we can remove the barriers. Global supply chain is moving fast and if we fail to address our disruption, country’s economic growth will be stalled,’ said Naquib Khan, president of Bangladesh Supply Chain Management Society.
Naquib said that inefficiency of Chattogram port, traffic congestions in Dhaka and on Dhaka-Chattogram road and lack of human resources were the main challenges for supply chain management in the country although the government had taken initiative to address power and gas-related challenges.
He emphasised the adoption of latest technology saying that a well-managed supply chain could create huge opportunity in the area of information technology and e-commerce.
Naquib said that multinational companies were playing important role in making supply chain management more vibrant while local entrepreneurs just started practicing the management.
‘We need to develop integrated supply chain management processes more efficiently and effectively to achieve competitive advantage,’ he added.
Mominul Islam, managing director of IPDC Finance, said that country’s economy developed significantly over the last 10 years with the advantage of low-cost labour.
‘I think country’s economy is at a critical phase now and the advantage of cheap labour will not last long. We have to increase productivity and supply chain management can be the next level of economic development,’ he said.
Imtiaz Uddin Chowdhury, head of supply chain of BSRM Group, urged the government to address supply chain disruptions including those in ports and on roads.
Recently, BSRM Group incurred losses worth Tk 100 crore due to various disruptions in ports, he said.
Imtiaz urged the government to take initiative to improve ease of doing business condition saying that unique rules and regulations should be formulated for business.
Mashuir Rahman, economic affairs adviser to the prime minister, said SME loan was one of the key elements in supply chain management and if the small producers got proper financing, they could maintain the regular supply chain and in future they could make it better.
Besides, project management and skill development are very important for the development of supply chain financing, he said.
State minister for finance Abdul Mannan said exposure of the benefits of supply chain management to the youth would pave the way for better reconstruction of the nation as a whole.
Kazi M Aminul Islam, executive chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, said all kinds of disruptions in terms of transportation and logistics should be addressed.
‘We will have to be competitive and we will also have to retain our competitiveness. I hope, this initiative [the seminar] will bring a greater success in the field of supply chain management,’ he said.
Bonik Barta editor Dewan Hanif Mahmud moderated the event.


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## Homo Sapiens




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## doorstar

*"What LDC graduation will mean for Bangladesh’s drugs industry*




Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry is unique among least developed countries (LDCs). Driven by active government policies, output has grown a thousand times since 1982, to US$2 billion, or around 1% of gross domestic product, making it the biggest white collar employer in the country. The industry supplies almost the entire domestic market and more than 100 other countries including the United States.

It’s of some concern, then, that if Bangladesh potentially leaves the LDC category in 2024 it’ll no longer have access to a special World Trade Organisation (WTO) waiver which exempts the industry from the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of International Property Rights (TRIPS). The exemption has allowed government to pursue a dedicated industrial policy that’s spurred growth until now.

Most of the hundred or more pharma companies operating in Bangladesh make so-called generics, or non-branded medicines, the patents of which have often expired. Around a fifth of drugs produced in the country are patented in other countries, something which is *made possible by the waiver* which until 2033 allows LDCs to produce patented drugs without first asking patent holders.

The most obvious benefit of the waiver is that companies can make whatever drug they want, drastically cutting costs and improving availability. Bangladesh’s 1911 Patent Law would contravene the TRIPS agreement in a number of ways, among other things because it only provides patent protection for 16 years, not the required 20. No patent protection exists for plant and animal varieties; compulsory licences can be introduced by entities other than government; and foreign patents can be cancelled after four years if the product is not also manufactured domestically.

The Drugs Act allows government to regulate how imported drugs are labelled, requiring complete formulaic information to be visible. The Drugs Control Ordinance of 1982 lets the authorities fix prices and restrict the imports of any medicine if it or a substitute is produced in the country.

Under the waiver Bangladesh as an LDC can export generic versions of patented drugs to any country where those drugs aren’t covered by patents or where compulsory licences are issued to treat diseases like cancer or HIV/AIDS. Vietnam, Myanmar and Kenya are currently key markets.

Perhaps most importantly, weak intellectual property protection has also allowed Bangladeshi firms to build their technological base by imitating or reverse engineering foreign technologies. Copying and reverse engineering is critical to economic catch-up in a range of industries, not just pharmaceuticals. Rather than start from scratch, developing-country firms can take advantage of what others have learned.

*The end of access to the waiver after graduation means several things.*

First, Bangladesh would have to update its patent law, increasing patent terms to 20 years, extending patents to pharmaceutical products and processes, and allowing patent protections on animal and plant varieties. Patents could no longer be cancelled simply because they are foreign-registered, and compulsory licenses could only be issued by the government.

Bangladesh would have to let foreign companies file for an injunction if a patent was infringed so that the authorities could seize those goods. The government could no longer insist that the ingredients of imported drugs were displayed on packaging for fear of revealing trade secrets and interfering with manufacturers’ marketing strategies.

After graduation Bangladesh would also probably have to abandon the import restriction strategy pursued under the 1982 drugs control ordinance, again because it would conflict with WTO rules.

Irrespective of the loss of the pharmaceutical waiver, it’s unlikely that the general TRIPS exemption for LDCs will be renewed after its expiry in 2021. Although this is before Bangladesh’s potential graduation date and would therefore have an impact irrespective of graduation, complying with TRIPS would be expensive. The government has already said that it will upgrade its intellectual property system in accordance with TRIPS, earmarking projects worth US$71.04 million.2 Among other things this includes an overhaul of the Patent Act. A 2014 draft law is still under review by the Ministry of Industry.

Some commentators argue that strong protection of intellectual property under TRIPS will stimulate innovation, attract foreign direct investment and foster technology transfer, promoting development.3 Bangladesh would compete on a level playing field, with private companies confident that their intellectual property wouldn’t be stolen. On this line of argument, intellectual property rights are said to incentivise innovation by preventing free-riding and increasing the rewards from investment.

The evidence in LDCs, however, doesn’t support this view. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014), the argument that strong intellectual property protection stimulates domestic technological innovation is “almost entirely limited to specific sectors in the developed world”.4 Strong intellectual property protection can raise prices — by up to 40 percentage points according to some estimates — restricting imitation and follow-on innovation6 as well as limiting access to important technological inputs into research and development.7

Bangladesh would also have to bring its laws into line with WTO agreements other than TRIPS, such as the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. This may bring into question the services and facilities given to local drug manufacturers under the National Drug Policy of 2005. Full compliance with WTO rules would require that infant pharmaceutical corporations compete in the global market with little financial support from government.

Ultimately LDC graduation risks derailing the process of technological learning that has spurred growth until now. The industry body expects recent annual compound growth rate of 15% to continue into the medium term. Without mitigating measures, this growth may slow, with broad-based economic, employment and public health implications. As a potential middle-income country, Bangladesh’s main challenge is to keep moving up the technological ladder, adding value and moving away from low-cost production.

More importantly, limiting the activities of pharmaceuticals producers could raise prices for Bangladeshis who couldn’t otherwise afford vital drugs – as well as buyers around the world. Life-saving medicines would no longer be available for poor people in Bangladesh, LDCs and other developing countries.

What appears likely in the event of graduation, and without any new measures to mitigate the impact on graduating countries, is that the industry will undergo consolidation, with established international players buying up smaller local companies. The possible new foreign investment may bring new technologies and working practices, with a knock-on impact on production – although nothing is certain. Whether the industry is robust enough to withstand and adapt to this consolidation remains to be seen."

 Committee for Development Policy Secretariat

*comment:*
$2 billion does not = 200 billion taka but around tk167.8 billions
$2 billion will not (never) become $10 billion if you loose LDC perks


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## Mage

Hand over the port's management to the navy.


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## Mage

UKBengali said:


> Nope, BD will not pay a single dollar back to either China for 5 years and Russia for 10 years.
> Most of the forex has already been used for Padma Bridge already and so that money drain will soon be taken out of the forex reserves.


I don't exactly know how it works though. But considering our
exports + remittance - imports

We should be adding around $10 bn yearly. But that doesnt't happen. Instead Forex reserve has been slightly decreasing for a year.


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## Mage

Nilgiri said:


> My summary:
> 
> It needs higher level in both quantity and quality investment and training in vocational colleges and schools etc....than what is currently found in region. More key is that private companies are fully invested and integrated into this process so they can shape the talent to their needs...so that over time they can develop critical specialisation in a process/technology that goes into something bigger.
> 
> Germany had a key help through the Marshall program (post war) and its own heritage of industry + craft + specialized (esp materials) research...the Mittelstand did not come out of thin air. But there are basic concepts from it that can be applied anywhere with the right leadership and bureaucratic reform.
> 
> It does not even really enter into the equation for BD tbh right now (even compared to say what India has achieved in some sectors), unless BD govt gets its grubby hands out of all the excise duties and required bribes etc for any kind of SME trying to take shape.....and instead focuses on rule of law and standards (i.e the principal things a govt is there for rather than intervening excessively in the free market).
> 
> Simply saying SEZ this and SEZ that (like some members here seem to love doing) is really stupid as SMEs need to take shape outside the SEZs to feed them the supply of components....and start earning profits so they can long term re-invest and improve at a base level. India too had its SEZ = be all, end all phase (trying to carbon copy Chinese experience) till they stagnated big time and better reforms (which are still ongoing) had to happen for the SME base to really shape up (and thats where competition between states and political parties is a positive).
> 
> The reforms for the supply chains have to be comprehensive and thorough...but that necessarily requires the loss of (at least unitary) political ownership and control over industry at a micro-level (macro level can still be done as politically feelz needed through holding companies/SOE ownership).....but I don't see BAL being ready to let go of this....they prefer to put party over the country. @Atlas @Tanveer666


South Korea started Chaebol in 1961.... I don't think they were much better off back then.

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## Tanveer666

Nilgiri said:


> My summary:
> 
> It needs higher level in both quantity and quality investment and training in vocational colleges and schools etc....than what is currently found in region. More key is that private companies are fully invested and integrated into this process so they can shape the talent to their needs...so that over time they can develop critical specialisation in a process/technology that goes into something bigger.
> 
> Germany had a key help through the Marshall program (post war) and its own heritage of industry + craft + specialized (esp materials) research...the Mittelstand did not come out of thin air. But there are basic concepts from it that can be applied anywhere with the right leadership and bureaucratic reform.
> 
> It does not even really enter into the equation for BD tbh right now (even compared to say what India has achieved in some sectors), unless BD govt gets its grubby hands out of all the excise duties and required bribes etc for any kind of SME trying to take shape.....and instead focuses on rule of law and standards (i.e the principal things a govt is there for rather than intervening excessively in the free market).
> 
> Simply saying SEZ this and SEZ that (like some members here seem to love doing) is really stupid as SMEs need to take shape outside the SEZs to feed them the supply of components....and start earning profits so they can long term re-invest and improve at a base level. India too had its SEZ = be all, end all phase (trying to carbon copy Chinese experience) till they stagnated big time and better reforms (which are still ongoing) had to happen for the SME base to really shape up (and thats where competition between states and political parties is a positive).
> 
> The reforms for the supply chains have to be comprehensive and thorough...but that necessarily requires the loss of (at least unitary) political ownership and control over industry at a micro-level (macro level can still be done as politically feelz needed through holding companies/SOE ownership).....but I don't see BAL being ready to let go of this....they prefer to put party over the country. @Atlas @Tanveer666


So, simply put
1) Better education for a technically skilled workforce
2)low import duties
3)'encouraging' local SME's (which sectors should they target ,in context of bd?)
4) improving supply chain (how ?)

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## UKBengali

Mage said:


> I don't exactly know how it works though. But considering our
> exports + remittance - imports
> 
> We should be adding around $10 bn yearly. But that doesnt't happen. Instead Forex reserve has been slightly decreasing for a year.




BD export growth was weak for last year but this has changed this fiscal. Also BD government has pretty much paid for Padma Bridge and so this drain will come to a stop very soon.
10 billion dollars extra for forex is unrealistic - 5 billion is a good target to aim for.

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## Mage

UKBengali said:


> BD export growth was weak for last year but this has changed this fiscal. Also BD government has pretty much paid for Padma Bridge and so this drain will come to a stop very soon.
> 10 billion dollars extra for forex is unrealistic - 5 billion is a good target to aim for.


How about the payments for metro rail, Karnaphuli river tunnel, Elevated expressway and the new Airport?


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## Nike

Nilgiri said:


> My summary:
> 
> It needs higher level in both quantity and quality investment and training in vocational colleges and schools etc....than what is currently found in region. More key is that private companies are fully invested and integrated into this process so they can shape the talent to their needs...so that over time they can develop critical specialisation in a process/technology that goes into something bigger.
> 
> Germany had a key help through the Marshall program (post war) and its own heritage of industry + craft + specialized (esp materials) research...the Mittelstand did not come out of thin air. But there are basic concepts from it that can be applied anywhere with the right leadership and bureaucratic reform.
> 
> It does not even really enter into the equation for BD tbh right now (even compared to say what India has achieved in some sectors), unless BD govt gets its grubby hands out of all the excise duties and required bribes etc for any kind of SME trying to take shape.....and instead focuses on rule of law and standards (i.e the principal things a govt is there for rather than intervening excessively in the free market).
> 
> Simply saying SEZ this and SEZ that (like some members here seem to love doing) is really stupid as SMEs need to take shape outside the SEZs to feed them the supply of components....and start earning profits so they can long term re-invest and improve at a base level. India too had its SEZ = be all, end all phase (trying to carbon copy Chinese experience) till they stagnated big time and better reforms (which are still ongoing) had to happen for the SME base to really shape up (and thats where competition between states and political parties is a positive).
> 
> The reforms for the supply chains have to be comprehensive and thorough...but that necessarily requires the loss of (at least unitary) political ownership and control over industry at a micro-level (macro level can still be done as politically feelz needed through holding companies/SOE ownership).....but I don't see BAL being ready to let go of this....they prefer to put party over the country. @Atlas @Tanveer666



They need to reform their financial department, and bureaucracy system first. To creating a necessary ecosystems first, they need to uphold law and order, simplifying paperwork and permits along with supporting tax incentive. It will be hard for a new corporation to build an enterprise in Bangladesh, they need years if not decade to finish necessary paperwork and must pay visit to many institution

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## bluesky

Nilgiri said:


> Depends on the FDI...yes bulk of it is not some ToT but the actual capital transfer....but there is qualitative ToT in the FDI as well in the upper echelons of management and even RnD.
> 
> For example my company made an investment into a Chinese facility for manufacture of certain compressor stages in jet engine...and now the Chinese capacity through simply having throughput of the fabrication over time has refined and optimized the production process and QC (of a few specific compressors)....and some of these have even found their way back to our main Canadian facilities. Of course the core IP remains with us and that is not transferred to anyone else...but there is this kind of shop RnD (from even just production side) that comes with enough basic FDI flow.
> 
> Not to mention worker training is also included in FDI....and is retained long term (both the training itself and the concept and attitude towards training/advancement in the larger culture and society). This is key because a purely local company investment has no idea in what and how to bring key specifics regarding best practices and knowledge that was developed over many decades by much wealthier countries.
> 
> Now China has actually moved to the stage where it pretty much forces some IP transfer over time (I remember you brought this up with Japanese investments in China, but it happens across the board...and is part of the reason for the Trump tariff war)...so there is that side too...but that is more govt directive through taking advantage of the deploy capital's low velocity rather than part of concept of FDI per se.


Well explained.

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## UKBengali

Mage said:


> How about the payments for metro rail, Karnaphuli river tunnel, Elevated expressway and the new Airport?



Nothing for 5 years for Chinese loans and I think nothing for 10 years for Japanese loans.


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## Mage

doorstar said:


> By Daniel Gay


This name


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## Mage

UKBengali said:


> Nothing for 5 years for Chinese loans and I think nothing for 10 years for Japanese loans.


So what after 10 years? Will we have to sell the country?

Wow.....what happened? That was quite a massive purge. Any reason @Slav Defence

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## Species

There is another sticky thread on Bangladesh economy,
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/bangladesh-economy-news-updates.10487/


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## Homo Sapiens

Mage said:


> So what after 10 years? Will we have to sell the country?
> 
> Wow.....what happened? That was quite a massive purge. Any reason @Slav Defence
> View attachment 522111


It is a massacre. All the threads and posts I have posted in PDF in the last 2 weeks sent to oblivion.

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## Mage

Homo Sapiens said:


> It is a massacre. All the threads and posts I have posted in PDF in the last 2 weeks sent to oblivion.


They could've merged the earlier threads but merging the currently active threads like this is kinda vexing.

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## UKBengali

Mage said:


> So what after 10 years? Will we have to sell the country?




BD economy will be much larger to be able to pay them back.


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## Mage

Sometimes I feel like we should migrate to a different place. Pakistanis insult us, our race, our history, our leaders(who represent the country in the international level) and the mods usually turn a blind eye. When we hit back only then they start taking actions.

It's a shame.....this site is probably the best place to discuss various topics about Bangladesh, where you can get a balanced view of things and a lot of knowledgeable non Bangladeshi guys to offer their insights as well.

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## doorstar

Mage said:


> Sometimes I feel like we should migrate to a different place. Pakistanis *insult us, our race, our history, our leaders*(who represent the country in the international level) and the mods usually turn a blind eye. When we hit back only then they start taking actions.
> 
> It's a shame.....this site is probably the best place to discuss various topics about Bangladesh, where you can get a balanced view of things and a lot of knowledgeable non Bangladeshi guys to offer their insights as well.


*Simple solution:*
Stop bragging and exaggerating your LDC dependent status, people will automatically stop contradicting you and reminding you all of the actual facts. Your history is an epic of shameful betrayals. Your leaders should be entitled Mir Jaffars. Your economy is dependent on goodwill and charity of other nations


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## Mage

doorstar said:


> *Simple solution:*
> Stop bragging and exaggerating your LDC dependent status, people will automatically stop contradicting you by reminding you all of the actual facts. Your history is an epic of shameful betrayals. Your leaders should be entitled Mir Jaffars. Your economy is dependent on goodwill and charity of other nations


I don't have to hear this from someone who is ashamed of his own origin to the point of using flags of other nationality.

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## Mage

The Ronin said:


> Says the guy from a former colonial empire.


Pretty sure he's not a Brit. You think average Brits know about Mir Jafar or care enough to dig about the problems Bangladesh might face if it graduates from LDC?

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## JohnWick

Homo Sapiens said:


> Do not cry when Bangladeshi posters hit back and accuse us about hating Pakistan.

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## Destranator

doorstar said:


> *Simple solution:*
> Stop bragging and exaggerating your LDC dependent status, people will automatically stop contradicting you by reminding you all of the actual facts. Your history is an epic of shameful betrayals. Your leaders should be entitled Mir Jaffars. Your economy is dependent on goodwill and charity of other nations


Says a Pakistani. There seems to be an acute shortage of mirrors in Pakistan. We should enter an agreement with your government to supply mirrors to every Pakistani on interest free state credit. This will increase the bilateral trade volume many folds.


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## Nilgiri

hellfire said:


> @MilSpec @Nilgiri
> 
> An excellent achievement I must say.



It fun discussing with BD friends outside of this forum on it. If more ppl here were like @Tanveer666 @Mage @Michael Corleone @bluesky (and @ashes wherever he's disappeared to now), there could be lot more productive discussion (since @Zabaniyah and @Anubis only pop in very rarely) ....but a mob of STRONK-feelz types hijacked this subforum a certain way sadly....and as was said in a certain play: "_they uttered such a deal of stinking breath, I durst not laugh for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air._"



Marine Rouge said:


> Not with your Current account deficit rates



Yep. South Asia as whole mostly gets net forex not from trade flow (which are in deficit territory) but from overseas citizens (and some foreigners + companies in case of India) parking long term deposits into local govt bonds (basically a portfolio confidence, which is lot higher in India compared to the others)....i.e a capital flow.



Mage said:


> Do you know about remittance? On which Pakistan survives? We receive it from overseas Bangladeshis as well.



Remittances are already included in current account...which is in big and increasing deficit. @doorstar

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/current-account-deficit-set-cross-record-10b-1606693

BD institutional credibility is not keeping pace either, but has stagnated and some say even declined. So BD overseas citizens (earning in USD, GBP, Euro) etc that are not day wage labourer types (that do the C.A remittance instead) will have less reason than before to send long term maturity capital to BD reserves (by way of govt bonds etc).

BD must focus on economic, banking and stock market reform right now before its too late.



Marine Rouge said:


> They need to reform their financial department, and bureaucracy system first. To creating a necessary ecosystems first, they need to uphold law and order, simplifying paperwork and permits along with supporting tax incentive. It will be hard for a new corporation to build an enterprise in Bangladesh, they need years if not decade to finish necessary paperwork and must pay visit to many institution



Yes, BD should improve its ease of doing business rather than ease of doing bureaucracy 



Mage said:


> South Korea started Chaebol in 1961.... I don't think they were much better off back then.



Well they had three huge factors they had going for them compared to South Asia right now:

1) Massive non-saturation of the model of exporting manufactures to the US (that is now much more crowded, esp because of China). Even with Japan existing and ahead in the chain... there was plenty of room if you look at the raw capital pressure difference of labour costs etc. Dictator Park chung hee (who was an officer in Japanese military during WW2, knew fluent Japanese etc) set things to utilise this expediently.

2) Japan nearby to provide both easy loans, expertise and investment regarding things they were leaving behind (or had developed excess capacity in like Steel etc) in their economy (and they had less than 100 million people back then....unlike China now which has 1.4 billion people to "get through" the process after putting its very large foot in the door back in the late 80s....thus they will be quite a lot more slower intensity wise to move this stuff to South Asia next...so South Asia has to improve itself much more to compete for same amount transferred before...).

3) Confucian + very homogeneous culture. Basically its more resistant to religion, identity politics, blame narrative politics seeping in (that inevitably create and focus the bureaucracy towards stated objective to share/redistribute whats already there rather than focusing on growing it to a much bigger size quickly). Ties into 1 + 2 well too.



Tanveer666 said:


> So, simply put
> 1) Better education for a technically skilled workforce
> 2)low import duties
> 3)'encouraging' local SME's (which sectors should they target ,in context of bd?)
> 4) improving supply chain (how ?)



Basically everything and anything for 3) that is available on the global market right now. Things like cheap transport, consumer electronics and energy (photovoltaics etc) and all the services regarding these (and others) would be good starts.

Start at assembly and then move backwards in the chain with time to make components for the assembly....and then components for those components (each time checking with the opportunity cost/feasibility). When you let a legion of businesspeople handle this instead of a few govt bureaucrats (who could otherwise be employed to enforcing rule of law and standards), you generally hedge much better and more dynamically....which is crucial for SMEs to be sustainable.

4) ties into this, having much less bureaucratic resistance (by way of regulations, taxes, bribe overheads etc etc). Basically everything that is involved in creating a product from something and transporting it to be used/sold elsewhere. The more hands, eyes, govt clipboard checklists and govt cash registers/"inspections" etc (that have nothing to do with its creation and basic movement along the chain...but serve just to extract bribes and remind the laymen/peasantry of the 19th century victorian attitude laundered by brown sahibs this time around...for the "greater govt good") there are....the more "resistance" and bumpiness/friction there is ....that all translates to a cost (both open and hidden). The more cost there is, the less viability/buffer there is to compete. 

Basically current bureaucratic arteries need to get unclogged as much as possible so more economic free market blood can get pumped everywhere.



Mage said:


> They could've merged the earlier threads but merging the currently active threads like this is kinda vexing.



It sort of annoys me the most that if you click on the original thread post, it doesnt take you to where it is in the merged (pinned) thread...but the generic first page of the thread instead.

@Dubious @waz this could be a forum improvement (when merged, the original links take you to the post in the new merged thread rather than just thread start).

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## Michael Corleone

new sticky?


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## bluesky

UKBengali said:


> BD export growth was weak for last year but this has changed this fiscal. Also *BD government has pretty much paid for Padma Bridge and so this drain will come to a stop very soon.*
> 10 billion dollars extra for forex is unrealistic - 5 billion is a good target to aim for.


Even before this Padma Bridge payment drainage comes to a stop BD will be starting to pay back the $18 billion loan it is continuously incurring to Russia for Rooppur. 

So, what exactly are you going to do? I think you will keep on asking for the bailout money from different countries and agencies to pay back the money. Pakistan has Saudi to help, but who will help BD? Is it India, the poor fatherland of BAL and BCL?

This BAL is ruining Bangladesh intentionally. Every country should cut its coat according to the size of clothes. But, this heinous BAL is not doing that way. BAL policy is to buy the unnecessary things now on credit and pay the money back later. It is a good recipe for the complete destruction of the country's future. 

To you and Hasina everything is no problem. You both are the real enemies of Bangladesh.

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> but who will help BD? Is it India, the poor fatherland of BAL and BCL?



Nope, we have our own mountain of problems to fix in our own country. Recent issues also showed to us, we should be very careful with our forex.

BD is on its own.


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## UKBengali

bluesky said:


> Even before this Padma Bridge payment drainage comes to a stop BD will be starting to pay back the $18 billion loan it is continuously incurring to Russia for Rooppur.
> 
> So, what exactly are you going to do? I think you will keep on asking for the bailout money from different countries and agencies to pay back the money. Pakistan has Saudi to help, but who will help BD? Is it India, the poor fatherland of BAL and BCL?
> 
> This BAL is ruining Bangladesh intentionally. Every country should cut its coat according to the size of clothes. But, this heinous BAL is not doing that way. BAL policy is to buy the unnecessary things now on credit and pay the money back later. It is a good recipe for the complete destruction of the country's future.
> 
> To you and Hasina everything is no problem. You both are the real enemies of Bangladesh.



You are one dumb dude.

Unless AL is still building Padma Bridge in 2027 that will not happen.

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## Homo Sapiens

bluesky said:


> Even before this Padma Bridge payment drainage comes to a stop BD will be starting to pay back the $18 billion loan it is continuously incurring to Russia for Rooppur.
> 
> So, what exactly are you going to do? I think you will keep on asking for the bailout money from different countries and agencies to pay back the money. Pakistan has Saudi to help, but who will help BD? Is it India, the poor fatherland of BAL and BCL?
> 
> This BAL is ruining Bangladesh intentionally. Every country should cut its coat according to the size of clothes. But, this heinous BAL is not doing that way. BAL policy is to buy the unnecessary things now on credit and pay the money back later. It is a good recipe for the complete destruction of the country's future.
> 
> To you and Hasina everything is no problem. You both are the real enemies of Bangladesh.


You should stop acting like a boy who cry wolves. I think, you have chronic anxiety problem and a habit of predicting doom and gloom prematurely. We have lowest external debt to GDP ratio in the region. And our external debt to GDP ratio actually declined in the last 15 years. We can afford taking loan to build one or two nuclear power plant. I request you for 2 things-

1. Stop seeing the shadow of Pakistan on everything related to Bangladesh, specially the economy.

2.Stop expecting every country to follow Japanese model of development(one example being not taking loan at all). Time, place, situation, culture is different.

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> Tiny amount. For some reasons, Pharma exports are stagnating.



I agree.

Unless they can rope in Japanese or German pharma majors into manufacturing locally for low cost generics for wealthier markets (meaning markets in North America and Europe) the ball won't start rolling. There is a burning need in these market for low cost items like acid reflux and blood pressure generics.

Pharma companies though (as the article says) ARE meeting 98% of local demand - which is rather spectacular for a large LDC country, considered impoverished only a decade ago.

Larger Bangladeshi Pharma outfits should target undeveloped regions like Africa and South America, which Indian Pharma outfits have also targeted. In this respect Square is a trailblazer. I posted on their factory being opened in Kenya sometime back - only hope other Pharma companies in Bangladesh will also follow suit in Kenya and other markets.

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## GHALIB

BDforever said:


> *Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology on Thursday disclosed that the works for establishing an electronic city at Companyganj upazila in Sylhet are underway and the works of Taka seven crore has already been completed, reports BSS. The ICT Division has taken the project to establish the electronic city in 162 acres of land at Companyganj upazila, this was revealed at a meeting of the committee at the Sangsad Bhaban. Presided over by Committee Chairman Imran Ahmed, the meeting was attended by State Minister for Post and Telecommunication Tarana Halim, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Moyazzam Hossain Ratan, Shawkat Hasanur Rahman (Rimon), Sharid Ahmed, Kazi Feroz Rashid and Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia. The project sources said an electronic city will be set up with three types of facilities -- training centre, ICT parks and electronic project. At the meeting, the committee made a recommendation to the ministry to take necessary measures for ensuring proper monitoring over the development project under ICT division.*
> source: Govt to establish electronic city in Sylhet



Very nice


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## Bilal9

doorstar said:


> *Simple solution:*
> Stop bragging and exaggerating your LDC dependent status, people will automatically stop contradicting you and reminding you all of the actual facts. Your history is an epic of shameful betrayals. Your leaders should be entitled Mir Jaffars. Your economy is dependent on goodwill and charity of other nations



You can call us all kinds of names - but please go talk to those Pakistani industrialists first who transferred their operations from Pakistan to Bangladesh some twenty years ago and those Pakistani textile engineers choosing to work in Bangladesh plants and trying to remit precious dollars to Pakistan to prop up that economy.

I don't think the reverse is true.

Facts are facts.

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## Bengal71

doorstar said:


> *Simple solution:*
> Stop bragging and exaggerating your LDC dependent status, people will automatically stop contradicting you and reminding you all of the actual facts. Your history is an epic of shameful betrayals. Your leaders should be entitled Mir Jaffars. Your economy is dependent on goodwill and charity of other nations



A Pakistani telling others about economy being dependent on goodwill and charity of other nations, lol. Your country has been bailed out how many times before? Which PM is going to saudi and china with a begging bowl?

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> export our TV, Fridges, Handsets or Laptops to Africa



The gulf emirates states (Dubai mainly) as well as Kenya as a country hold the keys to wholesale exports to North and Eastern Africa. South Africa is also a lucrative foothold area we can start with.

Walton is in Dubai already and are making very strong inroads in North Africa as well as East Africa. South Africa will also see some exports.

We have just started exporting. It took Indian majors some three decades to establish these markets so all in good time...

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## Bengal71

Bilal9 said:


> The gulf emirates states (Dubai mainly) as well as Kenya as a country hold the keys to wholesale exports to North and Eastern Africa. South Africa is also a lucrative foothold area we can start with.
> 
> Walton is in Dubai already and are making very strong inroads in North Africa as well as East Africa. South Africa will also see some exports.
> 
> We have just started exporting. It took Indian majors some three decades to establish these markets so all in good time...



This is similar to when the garment industry was in it's infancy in the early 80s, over time we became the second largest garment exporter in the world. Inshallah other industries will follow suit.

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> So what after 10 years? Will we have to sell the country?
> 
> Wow.....what happened? That was quite a massive purge. Any reason @Slav Defence
> View attachment 522111



Bhai I guess the mods decided to make one large 'development' thread and made it sticky. Which may work - let's see.

*Advanced greenhouses in Bangladesh*
*



*

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## Homo Sapiens

Bengal71 said:


> A Pakistani telling others about economy being dependent on goodwill and charity of other nations, lol. Your country has been bailed out how many times before? Which PM is going to saudi and china with a begging bowl?


And China did not put a single coin in that begging bowl despite Imran Khan ran all the way to Beijing in a recent event. Pak president was received in China by an unimportant Chinese minister. These shows the worth currently the begging bowl enjoy around the globe, even from the ''best friend''. But you would not get that impression here. Here it seems, the begging bowl is the center of universe. All hails to atum bum.

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## Bengal71

Homo Sapiens said:


> And China did not put a single coin in that begging bowl despite Imran Khan ran all the way to Beijing in a recent event. Pak president was received in China by an unimportant Chinese minister. These shows the worth currently the begging bowl enjoy. But you would not get that impression here. Here it seems, the begging bowl is the center of universe. All hails to atum bum.



It's just so ludicrous some of the Pakistani members' opinions. They are saying BD is dependent on charity of others? BD went through poverty and hunger of the highest order imaginable, today we are almost equal to them and will soon surpass, they are living in lala land and thumping chest.

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## JohnWick

Bengal71 said:


> It's just so ludicrous some of the Pakistani members' opinions. They are saying BD is dependent on charity of others? BD went through poverty and hunger of the highest order imaginable, today we are almost equal to them and will soon surpass, they are living in lala land and thumping chest.


but why ur Air Force has only *8 old
mig-29s
Weakest air force in the world..... *


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## Bengal71

JohnWick said:


> but why ur Air Force has only *8 old
> mig-29s
> Weakest air force in the world..... *



Because we felt like it.


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## JohnWick

Bengal71 said:


> Because we felt like it.


Hahahaha... But v r scared from

You.


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## bluesky

Homo Sapiens said:


> You should stop acting like a boy who cry wolfs. I think, you have chronic anxiety problem and a habit of predicting doom and gloom prematurely. We have lowest external debt to GDP ratio in the region. And our external debt to GDP ratio actually declined in the last 15 years. We can afford taking loan to build one or two nuclear power plant. I request you for 2 things-
> 
> 1. Stop seeing the shadow of Pakistan on everything related to Bangladesh, specially the economy.
> 
> 2.Stop expecting every country to follow Japanese model of development(one example being not taking loan at all). Time, place, situation, culture is different.


Do not talk about Japan and other western modernized economies. Stupids in BD cannot take the country to that level in the next million years. But, I also expect BD not to follow Pakistan model. BD is following more of that. Buy now and pay later, as if BD will have the authority to print dollars and use iron as gold. Pakistan used up even $33 billion US money. 

So, instead of playing happy goes lucky, please let us hear where from the money will come. It is certainly not the rainfall that will pour dollars. BD govt should have thought minutely before indulging in the prestige projects which you guys are celebrating here.


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## Homo Sapiens

JohnWick said:


> Yes as you know
> Bangla is an emerging super power...
> In the world although it's Air Force has only
> *8 ancient mig-29s ........*





JohnWick said:


> but why ur Air Force has only *8 old
> mig-29s
> Weakest air force in the world..... *


Despite having only 8 old mig-29, we do not face much problem, perhaps it is the reason why Bangladesh has only 8 mig-29. There are many countries in the world, whose military size is not proportionate to their weight. Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia, Germany, Canada have military far below the size when one compared with their demographic, economic, geographic and political weight in the world. Even US, the biggest economic power before ww2, had military smaller than Romania(a minor European power in that times) even in 1939. Because, US before ww2 was not seeking a role of global policeman. But once US entered ww2, it surpass everyone in military power within a few years. Now do you want to tell me that, US before ww2 was not a heavyweight country? I am not comparing Bangladesh with US, just gave an example. You Pakistanis have a habit of judging a country by just looking at the size of their military, but unable to understand that, not every country in the world take military as seriously as Pakistan. It depends on their threat perception. Bangladesh with 300 billion dollar economy, certainly can afford a much larger military than currently it has. But our threat perception is not that urgent.

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## JohnWick

Homo Sapiens said:


> Despite having only 8 old mig-29, we do not face much problem, perhaps it is the reason why Bangladesh has only 8 mig-29. There are many countries in the world, whose military size is not proportionate to their weight. Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia, Germany, Canada have military far below the size when one compared with their demographic, economic, geographic and political weight in the world. Even US, the biggest economic power before ww2, had military smaller than Romania(a minor European power in that times) even in 1939. Because, US before ww2 was not seeking a role of global policeman. But once US entered ww2, it surpass everyone in military power within a few years. Now do you want to tell me that, US before ww2 was not a heavyweight country? I am not comparing Bangladesh with US, just gave an analogy. You Pakistanis have a habit of judging a country by just looking at the size of their military, but unable to understand that, not every country in the world take military as seriously as Pakistan. It depends on their threat perception. Bangladesh with 300 billion dollar economy, certainly can afford a much larger military than currently it has. But our threat is not that urgent.


Haha haha
Analogy US and Bangela
US before WWll Pearl Harbor no one can think to attack US. That's why it has somewhat conservative but it does not mean that it has only *8 old fighter planes. *
USA has s enough force that during World War 1 it single handily with UK defeated Turkey and ruined the So called Caliphate
As far as your country let's compare
First let's start US
*150+ planes in storage fighters like f-16
Bengla=nothing
At least 10 years of reservoir of oil
Bengla=nothing
Most modern technology in planes
Bengla=nothing
Have 1000+ nukes
Bengla=nothing
Having at 5 years of food reservoirs
Bengla=nothing
World largest weapon dealer. 
Bengla=nothing
thousands of tons steels reservoirs 
Bengla=nothing

Companies like
Lockheed Martin
Boeing 
Northrop and Grumman 
General dynamics 
These war factories can support them by instantly building fighters


Bengla =nothing

World largest group of modern forces NATO which can support him during war

Bengla=nothing

World largest owner of weapon industry
Bengla=nothing
During WW2 
7 Aircraft carriers 
Bengla =nothing 
World biggest OIL supplier 
Bengla=nothing 
Having 8 old migs is a plus point of Bengla
*

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## UKBengali

Homo Sapiens said:


> Despite having only 8 old mig-29, we do not face much problem, perhaps it is the reason why Bangladesh has only 8 mig-29. There are many countries in the world, whose military size is not proportionate to their weight. Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia, Germany, Canada have military far below the size when one compared with their demographic, economic, geographic and political weight in the world. Even US, the biggest economic power before ww2, had military smaller than Romania(a minor European power in that times) even in 1939. Because, US before ww2 was not seeking a role of global policeman. But once US entered ww2, it surpass everyone in military power within a few years. Now do you want to tell me that, US before ww2 was not a heavyweight country? I am not comparing Bangladesh with US, just gave an analogy. You Pakistanis have a habit of judging a country by just looking at the size of their military, but unable to understand that, not every country in the world take military as seriously as Pakistan. It depends on their threat perception. Bangladesh with 300 billion dollar economy, certainly can afford a much larger military than currently it has. But our threat perception is not that urgent.



BD needs much larger military and should be looking to increase defence spending to at least 2% of GDP by 2030.
BD has no option as it has India and Myanmar as neighbours.

Military is being increased at a steady rate but the BAF is lagging behind.

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## Mage

Nilgiri said:


> Remittances are already included in current account...which is in big and increasing deficit. @doorstar
> 
> https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/current-account-deficit-set-cross-record-10b-1606693
> 
> BD institutional credibility is not keeping pace either, but has stagnated and some say even declined. So BD overseas citizens (earning in USD, GBP, Euro) etc that are not day wage labourer types (that do the C.A remittance instead) will have less reason than before to send long term maturity capital to BD reserves (by way of govt bonds etc).
> 
> BD must focus on economic, banking and stock market reform right now before its too late.


What I was saying that I don't understand how things add up.
BD's exports + Remittance is certainly higher than imports. Yet lately Forex has been stagnant/slightly decreasing.
Couple of years ago we used to see news like 'Forex reserve record high' in every 2-3 month in this section of PDF. Have you noticed how they disappeared?


Nilgiri said:


> Well they had three huge factors they had going for them compared to South Asia right now:
> 
> 1) Massive non-saturation of the model of exporting manufactures to the US (that is now much more crowded, esp because of China). Even with Japan existing and ahead in the chain... there was plenty of room if you look at the raw capital pressure difference of labour costs etc. Dictator Park chung hee (who was an officer in Japanese military during WW2, knew fluent Japanese etc) set things to utilise this expediently.
> 
> 2) Japan nearby to provide both easy loans, expertise and investment regarding things they were leaving behind (or had developed excess capacity in like Steel etc) in their economy (and they had less than 100 million people back then....unlike China now which has 1.4 billion people to "get through" the process after putting its very large foot in the door back in the late 80s....thus they will be quite a lot more slower intensity wise to move this stuff to South Asia next...so South Asia has to improve itself much more to compete for same amount transferred before...).
> 
> 3) Confucian + very homogeneous culture. Basically its more resistant to religion, identity politics, blame narrative politics seeping in (that inevitably create and focus the bureaucracy towards stated objective to share/redistribute whats already there rather than focusing on growing it to a much bigger size quickly). Ties into 1 + 2 well too.


Well put. I have to read more about it to discuss further.


Nilgiri said:


> BD must focus on economic, banking and stock market reform right now before its too late.


Banking sector is going down the drain. Govt are giving approving way too many banks and the bank owners are using this opportunity to plunder the capital of the banks. Then ask govt to bail out......BD need to reduce the number of banks. Someday ago the finance minister expressed his frustration about govt giving approval to five new banks despite his disagreement.
Stocks are doing okay for now I guess.
BD needs a hard reset in economic sectors. Even if it cause some short term problems. But not likely. Even if BNP or someother gains power they're likely to continue the same sort of economic policies.



Nilgiri said:


> Basically current bureaucratic arteries need to get unclogged as much as possible so more economic free market blood can get pumped everywhere.


Bureaucrats are untouchable in BD. Because they help the govt to keep their power. No govt will touch them. What happens, when a new govt comes, the bureaucrats that are deemed loyalists of the previous govt are transferred to less important places or made OSD(Officer in Special Duty, in other words, no duty just collect your paycheck every month).


Homo Sapiens said:


> You should stop acting like a boy who cry wolves. I think, you have chronic anxiety problem and a habit of predicting doom and gloom prematurely. We have lowest external debt to GDP ratio in the region. And our external debt to GDP ratio actually declined in the last 15 years.


I don't have problems with BD borrowing money for building infrastructures. But BD has to gain the knowledge and expertise too. Tell me, after Dhaka metro rail, will we be able to develop Chittagong metro rail without foreign involvement? Will we be able to develop the 2nd nuclear power plant, bridges like Padma bridge ourselves? If not than more money should be put into education and industrial training than those infrastructures. One reason I support the nucelar power plant is at least BD people will learn how to operate a nuclear power plant. It's not the structure that is necessary but the knowledge and expertise.

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## Homo Sapiens

JohnWick said:


> Haha haha
> Analogy US and Bangela
> US before WWll Pearl Harbor no one can think to attack US. That's why it has somewhat conservative but it does not mean that it has only *8 old fighter planes. *
> USA has s enough force that during World War 1 it single handily with UK defeated Turkey and ruined the So called Caliphate
> As far as your country let's compare
> First let's start US
> *150+ planes in storage fighters like f-16
> Bengla=nothing
> At least 10 years of reservoir of oil
> Bengla=nothing
> Most modern technology in planes
> Bengla=nothing
> Have 1000+ nukes
> Bengla=nothing
> Having at 5 years of food reservoirs
> Bengla=nothing
> World largest weapon dealer.
> Bengla=nothing
> thousands of tons steels reservoirs
> Bengla=nothing
> 
> Companies like
> Lockheed Martin
> Boeing
> Northrop and Grumman
> General dynamics
> These war factories can sport them by instantly building fighters
> 
> 
> Bengla =nothing
> 
> World largest group of modern forces NATO which can support him during war
> 
> Bengla=nothing
> 
> World largest owner of weapon industry
> Bengla=nothing
> During WW2
> 7 Aircraft carriers
> Bengla =nothing
> World biggest OIL supplier
> Bengla=nothing
> Having 8 old migs is a plus point of Bengla*


Mentally challenged inbred listen, I have clearly said in previous post that their is no comparison between US before 1939 and Bangladesh. Just given an example. Still you inbred choose to write this pile of shit comparing current US and Bangladesh. US before ww2 was not certainly a major military power. After the end of ww1, US enacted a policy of neutrality, dismantled most of it's existing weapon in 1920s. During 1930s, it's military was ranked Behind Romania although it was the largest economy in that times.

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## JohnWick

Homo Sapiens said:


> Mentally challenged inbred listen, I have clearly said in previous post that their is no comparison between US before 1939 and Bangladesh. Just given an example. Still you inbred choose to write this pile of shit comparing current US and Bangladesh. US before ww2 was not certainly a major military power. After the end of ww1, US enacted a policy of neutrality, dismantled most of it's existing weapon in 1920s. During 1930s, it's military was ranked Behind Romania although it was the largest economy in that times.








You was giving an analogy


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## Nike

Homo Sapiens said:


> Despite having only 8 old mig-29, we do not face much problem, perhaps it is the reason why Bangladesh has only 8 mig-29. There are many countries in the world, whose military size is not proportionate to their weight. Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia, Germany, Canada have military far below the size when one compared with their demographic, economic, geographic and political weight in the world. Even US, the biggest economic power before ww2, had military smaller than Romania(a minor European power in that times) even in 1939. Because, US before ww2 was not seeking a role of global policeman. But once US entered ww2, it surpass everyone in military power within a few years. Now do you want to tell me that, US before ww2 was not a heavyweight country? I am not comparing Bangladesh with US, just gave an example. You Pakistanis have a habit of judging a country by just looking at the size of their military, but unable to understand that, not every country in the world take military as seriously as Pakistan. It depends on their threat perception. Bangladesh with 300 billion dollar economy, certainly can afford a much larger military than currently it has. But our threat perception is not that urgent.



Your analogy is failed in first place

While its true about the US pre WWII doesnt have the weight in military likes the Germany, japan, Sovyet or UK. BUT, US big advantage is their highly educated population (in large number to boot yet many unemployed at the times) , along with their heavy industries capabilities in which they proudly call themselves as arsenal of democracy and Natural resources they had been blessed. They more like Chinese today in which most industrial product at the times is actually made in USA. Just the number of Sherman tank they can producing in one year is enough to arming an Army level unit, not to mention the number of P51 Mustang, bomber and so on.

Back to Bd conditions today, Bd doesnt have major heavy industries in reasonable number (automotive, engine block for trucks and car, and so on) in which can be converted into military product at any given times if required. Bd lacks of large scale of chemical factory to build ammonia and other anorganic industrial product (necessary to build propellant) . Bd lacks number of research units to back up military industry and research. Bd doesnt have meaningful Natural resources to be converted and use into war use like iron ore, coals, oil, mangan, nickel, zinc and the likes of supported units like cottons, sugar, potassium, nitrate, and so on.

Actually in case of Brazil and Mexico they dont have significant external threat, its very clear as they are within the core of USA sphere of influence area. Indonesia just recently rearming themselves, in which put Indonesia as top ten largest weapon importer https://www.google.co.id/url?sa=t&s...FjAKegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw2ekAkktbRFjwuHQpin15HY

Actually in tie with Pakistan just in five years time frame. Germany, Canada case, they dont have necessity to put military first policy like US, Russia or China.

Meanwhile Bd had several flash point with Myanmar and Rohingya case actually quite severe and if it happened against any country in ASEAN can flare up into military conflict (they drove their people into other country boundaries, using firearms in border area and breach airspace with armed chopper firing in anger) well if its Indonesia we put war first before negotiation.

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## Species

Marine Rouge said:


> Your analogy is failed in first place
> 
> While its true about the US pre WWII doesnt have the weight in military likes the Germany, japan, Sovyet or UK. BUT, US big advantage is their highly educated population (in large number to boot yet many unemployed at the times) , along with their heavy industries capabilities in which they proudly call themselves as arsenal of democracy and Natural resources they had been blessed. They more like Chinese today in which most industrial product at the times is actually made in USA. Just the number of Sherman tank they can producing in one year is enough to arming an Army level unit, not to mention the number of P51 Mustang, bomber and so on.
> 
> Back to Bd conditions today, Bd doesnt have major heavy industries in reasonable number (automotive, engine block for trucks and car, and so on) in which can be converted into military product at any given times if required. Bd lacks of large scale of chemical factory to build ammonia and other anorganic industrial product (necessary to build propellant) . Bd lacks number of research units to back up military industry and research. Bd doesnt have meaningful Natural resources to be converted and use into war use like iron ore, coals, oil, mangan, nickel, zinc and the likes of supported units like cottons, sugar, potassium, nitrate, and so on.



You don't need to have everything indigenous, things could be imported as well. Though we are yet to be much industrialized, the picture is not as dire as you're portraying, especially in the shipbuilding sector, Bangladesh Navy is already moving ahead towards self-reliance. 

What @Homo Sapiens arguing is, Bangladesh military is weak not because we are incapable of building a strong military rather because our national priorities were different. The current size of our economy could afford to have a military at least on par with Pakistan.

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## Homo Sapiens

Marine Rouge said:


> Your analogy is failed in first place
> 
> While its true about the US pre WWII doesnt have the weight in military likes the Germany, japan, Sovyet or UK. BUT, US big advantage is their highly educated population (in large number to boot yet many unemployed at the times) , along with their heavy industries capabilities in which they proudly call themselves as arsenal of democracy and Natural resources they had been blessed. They more like Chinese today in which most industrial product at the times is actually made in USA. Just the number of Sherman tank they can producing in one year is enough to arming an Army level unit, not to mention the number of P51 Mustang, bomber and so on.
> 
> Back to Bd conditions today, Bd doesnt have major heavy industries in reasonable number (automotive, engine block for trucks and car, and so on) in which can be converted into military product at any given times if required. Bd lacks of large scale of chemical factory to build ammonia and other anorganic industrial product (necessary to build propellant) . Bd lacks number of research units to back up military industry and research. Bd doesnt have meaningful Natural resources to be converted and use into war use like iron ore, coals, oil, mangan, nickel, zinc and the likes of supported units like cottons, sugar, potassium, nitrate, and so on.
> 
> Actually in case of Brazil and Mexico they dont have significant external threat, its very clear as they are within the core of USA sphere of influence area. Indonesia just recently rearming themselves, in which put Indonesia as top ten largest weapon importer https://www.google.co.id/url?sa=t&s...FjAKegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw2ekAkktbRFjwuHQpin15HY
> 
> Actually in tie with Pakistan just in five years time frame. Germany, Canada case, they dont have necessity to put military first policy like US, Russia or China.
> 
> Meanwhile Bd had several flash point with Myanmar and Rohingya case actually quite severe and if it happened against any country in ASEAN can flare up into military conflict (they drove their people into other country boundaries, using firearms in border area and breach airspace with armed chopper firing in anger) well if its Indonesia we put war first before negotiation.


You also misunderstanding me, I gave example of US to make a point that, sometimes a country can be big in economy, population and other stuffs but still maintain a small military. I have clearly said in original post, again clearly said,''I am not comparing US with Bangladesh'', Why you guys are acting like this? Is there any rule that a Bangladeshi can not give example of US? Why you are comparing the technological, educational capabilities and resource base of US and Bangladesh? Stop this nonsense.

Currently Brazil, mexico, Germany certainly have smaller military than they are capable of maintaining given their economic and demographic might. I gave example of pre-1939 US, because it was an extreme case of imbalance between economic might and military might back then in 1930s. Bangladesh also can maintain a much larger military than it has currently if we start following example of militarily strong countries like Vietnam, Pakistan, Egypt etc. who have population and economic size comparable to Bangladesh but have taken defence very seriously. Are these line too difficult for you to understand or you guys looking an opportunity to insult Bangladesh at any cost by twisting the meaning of what I said?

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## Species

Homo Sapiens said:


> Are these line too difficult for you to understand or you guys looking an opportunity to insult Bangladesh at any cost by twisting the meaning of what I said?



Either low on comprehension skills or just attention-seeking low-life trolls.

Now wait for that Indian dalit to quote and trigger them further to start another shit-storm.

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> What I was saying that I don't understand how things add up.
> BD's exports + Remittance is certainly higher than imports. Yet lately Forex has been stagnant/slightly decreasing.



Well in your calculation you probably forgot service trade.

For 2017 BD (World Bank figures):

In goods the deficit is about 12 billion USD (35.5 - 47.6)

In services the deficit is about 5.5 billion USD (3.9 - 9.3)

Remittance, surplus is about 13.5 billion USD

So just from that the total deficit generated is around 4 billion USD for 2017.

Add to this various other net incomes/investment components from abroad (things regarding loans, investments etc...remember capital account surplus equals current account deficit, just the specific components are tallied up different) and the deficit totals to 10 billion for 2017.

This is partly why forex is now stagnant. What BD used to accrue before (when Cur. A was in small surplus or near zero) in forex (i.e foreign investment into Govt bonds largely) is now I would assume breaking even with the larger (and growing) current Account deficit....hence forex remains about the same for last cpl years.



Mage said:


> Couple of years ago we used to see news like 'Forex reserve record high' in every 2-3 month in this section of PDF. Have you noticed how they disappeared?



Yes..but need give a chunk of more time til 2020 I would say for a firmer trend to base on. It is start of phase 2 for BD economy (transitioning from phase 1).

Cur. Account deficit is not automatically bad thing...it really depends. In fact it can be argued to be good thing as well if its private company driven (and of things with long term economic chain inside BD). South Asia should not be seeking to blindly follow SEZ/export model of East Asia (given bulk of China I mentioned before...that is now going to be stuck there even longer courtesy of the trade war brewing now)...rather it should be hedging in all aspects and models of growth. The key is free markets...and govt focusing only on things where govt is proven net positive.



Mage said:


> Banking sector is going down the drain. Govt are giving approving way too many banks and the bank owners are using this opportunity to plunder the capital of the banks. Then ask govt to bail out......BD need to reduce the number of banks. Someday ago the finance minister expressed his frustration about govt giving approval to five new banks despite his disagreement.
> Stocks are doing okay for now I guess.
> BD needs a hard reset in economic sectors. Even if it cause some short term problems. But not likely. Even if BNP or someother gains power they're likely to continue the same sort of economic policies.



Yes bank capitalization is big issue in BD. My friend updates me on it a lot...his family scaling of their successful business is affected in various ways with credit flows. There is not balance and stability....and this is major dissonance given the sentiment of political stability being argued for in favour of BAL. 

You need institution stability (esp finance and legal frameworks) and reform stability (i.e long term bureaucratic reform drive, merit based policy prescriptions and hirings/firings) first....then only political stability/competition even enters the discussion.



Mage said:


> Bureaucrats are untouchable in BD. Because they help the govt to keep their power. No govt will touch them. What happens, when a new govt comes, the bureaucrats that are deemed loyalists of the previous govt are transferred to less important places or made OSD(Officer in Special Duty, in other words, no duty just collect your paycheck every month).



Yup common thing in developing world. But even with this basic model in operation, improvements can be made by having some clear merit based process as 2nd driver....but problem is BD is not really even trying there...it treats the swap out/swap in as only thing that needs to happen.

It needs more kinds of industries man...thats the final thing that will kick it up a gear or two in this whole system. I say this because its what worked in TN....once you have the govt thugs competing across a whole swathe of labour unions etc...they are forced to run calculations and achieve more efficiency (as greedy as their intent still is) to stay in power against the other parties. When you have just one industry (RMG) and thus just one pool of "new" labour allocation (outside agriculture and retail which are traditional heritage stuff) essentially...you make it too easy for political thugs to dictate absolute terms....to me this explains why BD is not simply reducing excise rates on other industries like 10 years ago itself (and still not doing it now)....everything is to just be one controlled route to gaining some wealth....because thats the best for big bureaucratic govt.



Mage said:


> I don't have problems with BD borrowing money for building infrastructures. But BD has to gain the knowledge and expertise too. Tell me, after Dhaka metro rail, will we be able to develop Chittagong metro rail without foreign involvement? Will we be able to develop the 2nd nuclear power plant, bridges like Padma bridge ourselves? If not than more money should be put into education and industrial training than those infrastructures. One reason I support the nucelar power plant is at least BD people will learn how to operate a nuclear power plant. It's not the structure that is necessary but the knowledge and expertise.



Problem is the money could be put into way more useful (and immediately and long term more relevant) knowledge and expertise at far greater scale for BD. Nuclear is very very niche and very very specific/limited as to its impact (on labour pool)...you need far more things driving its development (at larger strategic levels) than just the energy demand to have it really make sense. Otherwise you just end up subsidizing those that have invested into those strategies...with little to show for it yourself. There are a million different technical and research capacities that should be picked from (for BD) before you come to nuclear, esp sinking in 18 billion dollars into it...imo.

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## Nilgiri

@Mage 

It looks like the super-merging has been reversed. Whats up with that.


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## Homo Sapiens

Marine Rouge said:


> Meanwhile Bd had several flash point with Myanmar and Rohingya case actually quite severe and if it happened against any country in ASEAN can flare up into military conflict (they drove their people into other country boundaries, using firearms in border area and breach airspace with armed chopper firing in anger) well if its Indonesia we put war first before negotiation.


More hollow boasting. Even India and China was forced to take refugee from myanmar. Refugee problem is something which can not be solved by military means. Show me any example where a country was attacked because it send refugees to other countries? If Bangladesh attacked myanmar, at the onset of Rohingya crisis, then irrespective of combat outcome, it would have served the burmese narrative of Rohingyas being a tool of Bangladeshi aggression against myammar state. myanmar is trying hard to sell this theory for a long time to the international community. To deflect international criticism from them and to turn that criticism towards Bangladesh, they tried to provoke Bangladesh into a military clash repeatedly so that they can present atrocity against Rohingyas by their armed forces and resulting refugee crisis as Bangladeshi aggression where myanmar is fighting a legitimate battle of protecting national sovereignty. Now burmese are alone facing the condemnation and they have no excuse to not to repatriate the Rohingya refugees. International community now firmly believe that Rohingyas are burmese people and have to be repatriated there with full citizenship rights.

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## Bilal9

Guys I believe we should refrain from tagging and replying to trolls who have nothing of value to post except useless d!ck measuring. Bangladesh does not have to be like Pakistan and vice versa. They have good/bad folks just like we do. Regardless of what trolls say.

This is pointless and is already looking like a sh!tfight...

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## bluesky

Mage said:


> What I was saying that I don't understand how things add up.
> BD's exports + Remittance is certainly higher than imports. Yet lately Forex has been stagnant/slightly decreasing.
> Couple of years ago we used to see news like 'Forex reserve record high' in every 2-3 month in this section of PDF. Have you noticed how they disappeared?


মনে হইতাছে ধার করা পয়সা দিয়ে ঘী ভাত খাওয়ার আলামত এখনই একটু একটু করিয়া শুরু হইয়া গিয়াছে। নগদ ডলার তো চীন পদ্মা সেতু বানানোর খরচ হিসাবেই লইয়া যাইতেছে। ডলারের পরিমান তাইলে বাড়বো কেমনে? পদ্মা সেতুও দরকার আর রূপপুরও দরকার। তবে, দেশ গরিব বিধায় বিনা হিসাবে খরচ করলেই তো চলবেনা। এ সমস্ত বড়লোকি আরো দুই দশক পরে অর্থনীতি আরো অনেক চাঙ্গা হওয়ার পর করা উচিত ছিল। কিন্তু, আওয়ামী লীগ উন্নয়নের অতি জোয়ার দেখানোর জন্য ব্যস্ত কারণ নির্বাচনে জেতার দরকার। সেতুর বদলে ফেরি আর রূপপুরের বদলে অন্য পন্থায় বিদ্যুৎ উৎপাদন করার ব্যবস্থা করা কি খারাব হইতো?

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## Homo Sapiens

bluesky said:


> সেতুর বদলে ফেরি আর রূপপুরের বদলে অন্য পন্থায় বিদ্যুৎ উৎপাদন করার ব্যবস্থা করা কি খারাব হইতো?


আপনার মাথা ঠিক আছে তো? পদ্মা সেতুর বদলে ফেরী ?!!! বাংলাদেশের অতি বড় আহাম্মকেও বলবে পদ্মা সেতু আরো অনেক আগে হওয়া দরকার ছিল ।

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## Mage

bluesky said:


> মনে হইতাছে ধার করা পয়সা দিয়ে ঘী ভাত খাওয়ার আলামত এখনই একটু একটু করিয়া শুরু হইয়া গিয়াছে। নগদ ডলার তো চীন পদ্মা সেতু বানানোর খরচ হিসাবেই লইয়া যাইতেছে। ডলারের পরিমান তাইলে বাড়বো কেমনে? পদ্মা সেতুও দরকার আর রূপপুরও দরকার। তবে, দেশ গরিব বিধায় বিনা হিসাবে খরচ করলেই তো চলবেনা। এ সমস্ত বড়লোকি আরো দুই দশক পরে অর্থনীতি আরো অনেক চাঙ্গা হওয়ার পর করা উচিত ছিল। কিন্তু, আওয়ামী লীগ উন্নয়নের অতি জোয়ার দেখানোর জন্য ব্যস্ত কারণ নির্বাচনে জেতার দরকার। সেতুর বদলে ফেরি আর রূপপুরের বদলে অন্য পন্থায় বিদ্যুৎ উৎপাদন করার ব্যবস্থা করা কি খারাব হইতো?


Tbh...Padma Bridge and Metro Rail are two much needed infrastructures. BD should have built them back in 80's or 90's. Heck, construction of Padma bridge was in the election manifesto of Awami league back in 1970, Pakistan period. Also better infrastructures encourage investments and not only that it also improves people's lives. Imagine,. you need 4 hours to move from place A to place B. But now because of a bridge you can get there in 2 hours. Padma bridge is actually very much needed. Although it would've been better if we could built it ourselves. 

Rooppur power pant maybe is debatable. But I'm sure it was done thinking about the long term impacts.



Nilgiri said:


> Well in your calculation you probably forgot service trade.
> 
> For 2017 BD (World Bank figures):
> 
> In goods the deficit is about 12 billion USD (35.5 - 47.6)
> 
> In services the deficit is about 5.5 billion USD (3.9 - 9.3)
> 
> Remittance, surplus is about 13.5 billion USD
> 
> So just from that the total deficit generated is around 4 billion USD for 2017.
> 
> Add to this various other net incomes/investment components from abroad (things regarding loans, investments etc...remember capital account surplus equals current account deficit, just the specific components are tallied up different) and the deficit totals to 10 billion for 2017.
> 
> This is partly why forex is now stagnant. What BD used to accrue before (when Cur. A was in small surplus or near zero) in forex (i.e foreign investment into Govt bonds largely) is now I would assume breaking even with the larger (and growing) current Account deficit....hence forex remains about the same for last cpl years.


Makes sense.


Nilgiri said:


> if its private company driven (and of things with long term economic chain inside BD).


Perhaps it is a combination.
My father said, the company he works for is finding it hard to get USD as govt has a lot of payments to make which takes priority. At the same time imports by non-govt entities are also high. I read a news that the central bank is trying hard to control devaluation of BDT in relation to USD by seling some USD to other banks.


> In order to bring some respite, Bangladesh Bank has been selling dollars in limited quantity to commercial banks.


https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/03/19/dollar-crisis-bangladesh



Nilgiri said:


> Yes bank capitalization is big issue in BD. My friend updates me on it a lot...his family scaling of their successful business is affected in various ways with credit flows. There is not balance and stability....and this is major dissonance given the sentiment of political stability being argued for in favour of BAL.
> 
> You need institution stability (esp finance and legal frameworks) and reform stability (i.e long term bureaucratic reform drive, merit based policy prescriptions and hirings/firings) first....then only political stability/competition even enters the discussion.


I guess it has to get worse before it gets better. If one or two banks fail then govt will be forced to do something. Actually several banks probably would have failed by now without govt support. And govt has made some changes in those bank's management board.


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## bluesky

Homo Sapiens said:


> আপনার মাথা ঠিক আছে তো? পদ্মা সেতুর বদলে ফেরী ?!!! বাংলাদেশের অতি বড় আহাম্মকেও বলবে পদ্মা সেতু আরো অনেক আগে হওয়া দরকার ছিল ।


Yes, you are correct if BD is a rich country, and do not worry about my MATHA. For a poor country and without that much of emergency a cheap and functional transportation system is what should be adopted. Now, tell me about Aricha. Is it not Ferry that we use to cross the mighty Padma there? So, am I an Ahammak for pointing out this? Do everything you want, but after another 20 years when the economic muscle is stronger.

However, I have no objection if the Deshi engineers/engineering companies can do the projects. In that case, I will ask you to build a hundred more long bridges as well as a 400 km long *sea-bridge from Payra to Chittagong and then to Teknaf connecting all the islands in between, *no complaint. But, what BD is doing now is equal to eating GHEE-Bhat, and the GHEE is produced in the foreign countries.


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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> I read a news that the central bank is trying hard to control devaluation of BDT in relation to USD by seling some USD to other banks.



Well that just highlights they have no confidence in BD export sector. A weaker Taka would help exports (and push back to equilibrium in current account that way). But they are obviously afraid the imports are much more inelastic (and the real data they have better access to than what BAL allows to be disseminated to the media for feel good) and thus need to be essentially subsidized with forex selling pre-preemptively.

This is why that other news about import growth "slowing" is not to be celebrated that much (not till say a chunk of 3 - 5 more years data is out there). We are talking about its growth slowing (that too for just one quarter where a higher base effect can be playing a role)...not the actual import and deficit level (which is still increasing).



Mage said:


> I guess it has to get worse before it gets better. If one or two banks fail then govt will be forced to do something. Actually several banks probably would have failed by now without govt support. And govt has made some changes in those bank's management board.



Honestly BD govt should just directly insure citizens savings (start out to some threshold level if there is not enough backing capital and expand from there as economy/wealth grows) and then let banks rise and fail (due to their decisions) within the free market (and have a transparent resolution mechanism to address that) and create and enforce good standards, credit rating systems and global best practices.

Doing temporary interventions are easier (esp politically) than this more long term solution...but it just reinforces accepting institutional flaw and inefficiency created by govt itself (for it to exploit politically down the road)....rather than catering to genuine economic needs of the country as a whole.

Govt should finance market failure directly wherever possible (be it "high" market cost of education through vouchers rather than creating public education monolith or personal savings insurance like FDIC, rather than bank bailouts etc). A genuine govt (with its people's best interests put first) should not be in the business of investing into dozens of levers, several times removed from this market failure....both from the inefficiency (and thus accumulated cost and waste) caused by such a system but also its exploitation potential for politics. Rather it should create the standards, enforce them....and subsidize any distortions it feels there are in the market price directly (to the consumer).

@bluesky @Tanveer666 @hellfire @Joe Shearer

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## Nilgiri

This has more of the concept I am talking about:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...ess-model-to-survive/articleshow/66834693.cms

Imagine a govt having to micromanage into each one for purported "greater social interest"....it will end up spoiling even more. So same concept applies to more regular banks too imo. Standards and resolution processes (basically good legislation and good courts) is the way to go for govt.

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## Mage

*Shipbuilding a hidden gem in Bangladesh: ADB*
 Tribune Desk 

Published at 10:29 pm November 27th, 2018






Manmohan Parkash *Courtesy*

Parkash, a professional with over 32 years of experience, oversees the implementation of the ADB Country Partnership Strategy for Bangladesh (2016-2020)

Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Manmohan Parkash has expressed the optimism that Bangladesh will be known as a ‘technically advanced nation’ producing large ships through development of skills.

“It’s (shipbuilding) a hidden gem,” he told UNB after visiting Western Marine Shipyard at Patiya upazila of Chattogram district where he witnessed progress under the ADB-assisted skills for employment investment programme, reports UNB.

He said Bangladesh has tremendous potentials with its economy growing at 7 to 8 percent currently but the growth can become 8-10 percent if people are trained with the right education. “I’ve absolutely no doubt.”

Parkash highlighted five things -- good policymaking, good tech management, investing in infrastructure, investing skills and human capital; and embracing the new technologies for better Bangladesh with a stronger economy.

“These five things can make Bangladesh a well-developed country. That’s a dream I have, that’s a passion you have. We can work together to really make Bangladesh a beautiful and wonderful country,” he said.

Parkash, a professional with over 32 years of experience, oversees the implementation of the ADB Country Partnership Strategy for Bangladesh (2016-2020).

Responding to another question, he said Bangladesh is a very blessed country and it is a land of opportunities.

“The only thing it needs is to harness the endowment it has. It has so many endowments. One of the biggest endowments is its people. You have young population. You have such youths who are hungry for knowledge and who have a passion to do something good for tomorrow,” Parkash said.

And, he added, they (young people) want to build a good Bangladesh for their own, for their children and grandchildren.

Explaining how Bangladesh can do it, Parkash said Bangladesh can do it by training them with good teachers.

“And you can do it by having people like you have at Western Marine Shipyard Limited Ltd who have really brought these people from remote areas and giving them an opportunity so that they can become people to stand up on their own feet gaining skills,” he said.

Parkash, who joined the ADB in 2002, said the quality of wielding and the quality of technical things that he saw display that they are not less than anybody.

The other advantage of Bangladesh, he said, is that the cost will be much less compared to the international one which means Bangladesh can easily capture the international market.

“Why should I go and buy expensive technology from the West when I can produce the technology taking advantage of using my own people? I can export this technology to the West and other countries,” Parkash said sharing what Bangladesh can do.

Talking about the importance of skill development in Bangladesh, he said the ADB is really the pioneer of skill development, and Bangladesh needs technical and vocational education much more now.

Parkash said shipbuilding is a unique industry and it is really teaching people how to do wielding maintaining the international standard and the certification is specially done by an international certification agency.

“So, these wielders not only can build ships here for us, they can also build ships for outsiders. They’re now building ships for Norway, a developed country. What will be a more proud moment for Bangladesh that ships built in Bangladesh to be exported to Norway, and Norway will use that,” he said.

Parkash said Bangladesh started building ships at the right moment and it is good to see Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has also been giving a lot of importance to inland waterways and coastal shipping with other countries.

He laid emphasis on taking advantage of Bangladesh’s location since it is at a place where Asean countries are on the East, India is on Bangladesh’s West and in South Bangladesh has got China.

Managing Director of Western Marine Shipyard Ltd M Sakhawat Hossain said Bangladesh will continue to make its presence stronger in the international shipbuilding market through enhancing its productivity and developing skills.

He said the investment in skill development generated more jobs and it is boosting the image of Bangladesh and adding values in a big way.

“We can have stronger presence in global market as we’re saying -- shirt to ship,” he told UNB sharing their success stories and how they took the Bangladesh flag to the global market with ‘Made in Bangladesh’ tag.

Executive Project Director of Skills for Employment Investment Programme (SEIP) Jalal Ahmed said they are working on SEIP-2 which will begin from 2021 as the project is helping the country boost national productivity.

He said the main components of SEIP are to scale up training in six priority sectors -- garments and textile, leather and footwear, construction, light engineering, IT and shipbuilding.

Chief Coordinator, training programme of Association of Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industries of Bangladesh (AEOSIB) with SEIP, Captain Mohammed Habibur Rahman said a total of 7328 people were enrolled of them 5625 have already been assessed.

“So far, our success rate is 88.53 percent,” he said shrining the success stories in the areas of wielding and fabrication, electrical and navigation, machine tools operation, machinery installation, painting and piping.


https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/11/27/shipbuilding-a-hidden-gem-in-bangladesh-adb

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## Destranator

bluesky said:


> Yes, you are correct if BD is a rich country, and do not worry about my MATHA. For a poor country and without that much of emergency a cheap and functional transportation system is what should be adopted. Now, tell me about Aricha. Is it not Ferry that we use to cross the mighty Padma there? So, am I an Ahammak for pointing out this? Do everything you want, but after another 20 years when the economic muscle is stronger.
> 
> However, I have no objection if the Deshi engineers/engineering companies can do the projects. In that case, I will ask you to build a hundred more long bridges as well as a 400 km long *sea-bridge from Payra to Chittagong and then to Teknaf connecting all the islands in between, *no complaint. But, what BD is doing now is equal to eating GHEE-Bhat, and the GHEE is produced in the foreign countries.



Brother do you really believe that ferries are sufficient for mass transportation of goods and commuters to and from the Southern part of the country serving tens of millions of people?


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## bluesky

Al-Ansar said:


> Brother do you really believe that ferries are sufficient for mass transportation of goods and commuters to and from the Southern part of the country serving tens of millions of people?


You are right to say ferries are not sufficient for transportation and/but BD needs to build many bridges. However, I am in favor of ferries until the local engineers, and design consulting and construction companies are able to build these by themselves, albeit, with foreign collaboration.

Usually, a country gets help from foreign countries with high technology to build the first one. The govt attaches reliable private bridge construction companies to the bridgeworks undertaken by the foreign companies. Under the contract, the foreign group would discuss every technical detail of the project and *transfer all the design analytical documents* to the locals. 

This is how technology and know-how are gradually transferred to local private companies. The govt would then award a smaller project to the local group of companies who would do the job with the assistance from the foreign expert companies. Approximately with this approach, a country can carry out many development projects by its own manpower. 

However, BD is not following this approach. It is throwing away the entire contract to the foreigners without any measure for the local to learn. Now, about ferries and bridges. The country needs to replace tens of ferries including in the *Aricha-Goalondo (Paturia) and Aricha-Nogorbari routes*. But, even after the completion of two large bridges over Jamuna and Padma, the GoB approach will be the same. It will ask the foreigners to do these Aricha projects, as well, by borrowing billions of dollars.

I was just telling against this kind of approach, but I have been reprimanded as the most stupid of all the people for saying so. Anyway, I find PDF is a gossip forum and I do not expect any constructive discussion here although the participants, except a few like me, are highly educated.


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## Mage

*Doing business should be easier*
 Aslam Mia 

Published at 11:03 pm November 28th, 2018





Take notes *Bigstock*

What is holding us back?

Since 2003, the “Doing Business Report” has been one of the flagship publications of the World Bank Group, which measures the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it, particularly targeted at the private sector. The report covers 190 economies and allows the making of comparisons between countries/regions. 

The latest showed that New Zealand came out on top among the economies, and Bangladesh ranked 176 out of 190 economies, one place ahead of last year’s ranking, and the lowest among South Asian countries. 

Methodologically, the “Doing Business” score consists of 11 different factors. Each of the factors has several dimensions when estimating scores for a country. For example, starting a business includes a number of procedures, time taken to start a business, cost, and minimum capital. Similarly, for other factors, they also have various sub-dimensions -- the minimum number of sub-dimensions is three, and the highest is eight. 

Referring to the 2019 report, it is desirable to decode the constraints that push Bangladesh below war-torn Afghanistan and other South Asian countries. To understand the paradox and suggest plausible policy reforms, a few of the sub-dimensions were chosen to compare with India and Afghanistan, which were ranked 77 and 167 respectively. 

Afghanistan has made significant reforms in five factors -- starting a business, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency. India has also made remarkable reform in six factors -- starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, getting credit, paying taxes, and trading across borders. 

Looking at these two countries also revealed that reform has not taken place uniformly. And some economies may focus on particular factors. Unfortunately, the report showed that Bangladesh has not undertaken any reform in any of the factors and/or its sub-factors. 

While the government may have drafted some reform plans, it has not been enough to effectively improve the overall situation. 

According to the report, starting a business in Bangladesh requires nine procedures and 19.5 days to complete, and aggregately costs 21.2% of income per capita. In India, the requirement is 10 procedures within 16.5 days with a cost of 14.4% of income per capita. This revealed that although the number of procedures is greater in India, on average it takes less time and less money to start a business -- each of the procedures in Bangladesh is lengthier and costlier than India. 

A comparison with Afghanistan: It takes 4.5 procedures and 8.5 days to start a business costing only 6.4% of income per capita. Meaning, starting a business in war-torn Afghanistan is the cheaper compared to India and Bangladesh. 

For the second factor, which deals with construction permits, it takes 17.9 procedures and 94.8 days to complete in India, while Afghanistan has only 13 procedures that need 199 days to complete. In contrast, construction permits require 15.8 procedures and 273.5 days in Bangladesh, almost three-times that of India. 

Another distinguishable difference is also observed in enforcing contracts. While it takes almost a similar number of days both for India (1,445) and Bangladesh (1,442), the cost is more than double in Bangladesh (66.8% of claim value) than India (31.0% of claim value). 

Similarly, the quality of judicial processes index also ranked India higher (10.5 out of 18) than Bangladesh (7.5 out of 18).

Without any doubt, it is important to improve in all factors to have a better Doing Business rank and its overall impact in the economy. Specific policy reforms targeting each of the factors are necessary. As a reference, Bangladesh could look and gain insights from some countries that have excelled in such factors. 

While keeping an eye on the recent developments in Bangladesh, it will be interesting to see how well the government responds to the crisis showcased in the report, and performs next year.

_Aslam Mia is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Management, University of Science Malaysia._


https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2018/11/28/doing-business-should-be-easier

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## Black_cats

*What is Bangladesh’s take on China’s BRI?*
Ranjan Basu, Delhi

 Published at 12:41 pm November 29th, 2018





National flags of Bangladesh and China Bigstock

Analysts think Bangladesh will maintain a balance in the implementation of the initiative

China is moving to implement a mega project titled the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) at a cost of around $1 trillion. 

Dubbed as the Silk Road of the 21st century, the ambitious project involves the construction of roads and shipping lanes though countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. 

South Asian countries need to play a great role in the implementation of the project, but India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal have yet to decide on their contributions. 

Analysts think Bangladesh will try to maintain a balance in the implementation of BRI. 

In the third week of November, the “Nepal-China Friendship Forum” organized an international seminar in Kathmandu in which participants discussed South Asia’s gains and losses from BRI. 

Bangladesh representatives who attended the seminar hinted at Dhaka’s take on the initiative. 

India is opposing the project, as one of its crucial routes will go through Pakistan-governed Kashmir that India claims as its own land. It is not possible for India to accept BRI in terms of this sovereignty issue. 

However, India has no issue regarding the implementation of the proposed Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor at its eastern border.

“Bangladesh prefers to maintain strategic balance with India and China. The government has long been maintaining a balance with these two giant powers. I believe it will do the same in BRI as well,” said Dhaka University’s economic department Prof Selim Raihan, who attended the seminar. 

The countries to be engaged with BRI are also concerned over financial issues. 

“Initially other countries thought China would offer them a free lunch, which means Beijing would provide all expenses and [the other countries] would get solid infrastructure and a commercial corridor. But now they have realized that China is not doing it for free; it will give them loans on easy terms,” said Prof Prabir Dey of Delhi-based think tank Research and Information System for Developing Countries. 

Prof Dey, who has been working on connectivity between South Asia and China and ASEAN countries, was one of the panelists in the seminar. 

During his Bangladesh visit in 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote a cheque for $30 billion. However, it became gradually clear that it was not a grant, but rather a loan. 

Prof Raihan said: “Bangladeshis have sensitivity for India, not for China. But the Sheikh Hasina-led government has not been more inclined to either of the powers.”

For example, he said in the construction of Payra port both Indian and Chinese companies are working together under an umbrella project, which one cannot think of elsewhere. 

The Dhaka University professor also cited some more examples. 

“Bangladesh purchased submarines for the navy from China and signed defence deals with India. China was not given allocation for the deep sea port, but a Chinese consortium was awarded 25% share of the Dhaka Stock Exchange. 

“So I believe Bangladesh will find a midway path regarding BRI,” Prof Raihansaid. 

Asian Tiger Capital’s Group Chairman Ifty Islam also echoed Prof Raihan. 

“China is going to emerge as the world’s greatest economy by 2050. India might also secure a top position. So, Bangladesh cannot avoid any of its neighbours,” he said.

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## Ajaxpaul

Bangladesh should have the brains to process the advantages and disadvantages of BRI and not get influenced by china and India. The moment they try to play one country against another will mark it's downfall.

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## Mage

Black_cats said:


> During his Bangladesh visit in 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote a cheque for $30 billion. However, it became gradually clear that it was not a grant, but rather a loan.


And not even 40% of it has been disbursed yet. The loan will be on the pipeline for years to come. 


Black_cats said:


> Chinese consortium was awarded 25% share of the Dhaka Stock Exchange.


They were not awarded anything. They bought it with money after outbidding the Indian party. 


Black_cats said:


> “China is going to emerge as the world’s greatest economy by 2050. India might also secure a top position. So, Bangladesh cannot avoid any of its neighbours,” he said


We need to keep this in mind.



Ajaxpaul said:


> Bangladesh should have the brains to process the advantages and disadvantages of BRI and not get influenced by china and India. The moment they try to play one country against another will mark it's downfall.


Don't worry about us. You have tons of your own issues to fix. Better concentrate on those.

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## TopCat

There will not be any BRI... The Rohingya problem will not go away any easy and the amount of distrust between MM and BD not going to help either.
I dont think any person in BD is willing to travel through Burma anytime soon.

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## Max

Maynmar is where China will focus to connect South China with Indian ocean. Very important country for China. Don't know what role BD will have in BRI (if they wants to be part of it).


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## Mage

TopCat said:


> There will not be any BRI... The Rohingya problem will not go away any easy and the amount of distrust between MM and BD not going to help either.
> I dont think any person in BD is willing to travel through Burma anytime soon.


No need to rush things. We need to wait and see how things unfold without comitting anything.


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## Ajaxpaul

Mage said:


> Don't worry about us. You have tons of your own issues to fix. Better concentrate on those.



Worry abt you guys ? You gotta be kidding me...lol.


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## Mage

Ajaxpaul said:


> Worry abt you guys ? You gotta be kidding me...lol.


What was this for then?



Ajaxpaul said:


> The moment they try to play one country against another will mark it's downfall.

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## The Ronin

*Ice-cream industry expanding on rural demand*

The ice-cream industry is growing fast, riding on rural consumers and surge in per capita income across the country, reveals a study.

With the massive electrification in the country, particularly in rural Bangladesh, ice-cream found its huge market beyond cities as use of refrigerators marked a significant leap in suburbs and villages.

The overall development in the socio-economic front that influenced food habits of millions helped in expanding ice-cream market, surpassing neighboring India, and even compete with global market in terms of market size, the study said.

“Compared with overall GDP, Bangladesh’s ice-cream industry is at par with Europe and overall global market while being significantly larger than neighboring India,” said the study.

Three out of six companies currently hold 79% share of the country’s Tk1,200 crore ice-cream market, the recent study of LankaBangla Investment Ltd said.

The study said branded ice creams occupy more than 85% of the total market share, while premium ice-creams which are expensive than those of branded ones account for nearly 15-20% of the market.

The industry is expected to grow by an additional 15% by the end of this year, the study added.

According to industry stakeholders, the branded ice-cream market size is growing fast due to rising income levels, increase of access to electricity across the country, and changes in social structure and food habits.

Stake holders, speaking to the Dhaka Tribune opined: “Market for branded ice cream is concentrated in the megacities due to issues regarding electricity, cold chain, and income level of the consumers.”

They also added that increasing access to electricity in rural areas is turning them into potential ice-creammarkets in villages.

According to the study, two established names in the industry, Igloo and Polar hold two-thirds (66%) of the market share.

Four companies, combined, hold 79% of the total market share. 

Available at more than 20,000 retail outlets across the country, Abdul Monem Ltd’s Igloo holds 38% of the market share since it is the most popular impulse and take-home ice cream in Bangladesh. 

When asked about the reason behind such a high market penetration level, CEO of Igloo Ice Cream GM Kamrul Hassan responded: “The market size of branded ice cream grows fast because of rapid penetration of electricity across the country and changes in social structure and food habits.”

Terming competition as necessary for a healthy market Kamrul further added that every successful company, including Igloo Ice Cream, welcomes competitors as it makes the market more competitive and consumer centric.

Igloos main competitor Polar – a concern of Dhaka Ice Cream Industries Ltd – holds a market share of 28%. 

Recent market entrants Bellissimo and Za’n Zee – both concerns of Kazi Food Industry – were introduced in Bangladesh as high-quality premium ice-cream brands in 2013, and now hold 13% market share. 

Kwality holds 11% while Bloop (owned by Golden Harvest Ice-Cream Ltd) holds 8% of the market share.

One out of six ice-cream firms is now listed in capital market.


Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Managing Director of Golden Harvest Group Ahmed Rajeeb Samdani said: “The ice-cream industry in Bangladesh has been steadily growing by approximately 12% every year. Golden Harvest has set up a brand new plant in collaboration with Tetra Pack Sweden and is being operated under the supervision of a highly experienced Danish production manager. The brand offers around 40 variants including sticks, cups, cones, calippo, sorbets, tubs, cakes and many more.”

Recently, Taufika Foods and Agro Industries Ltd launched a new ice cream brand - Lovello. The Lovellofactory has been setup on 5 acres of land in the Bhaluka upazila of the Mymensingh district with an initial investment of Tk100 crore.

However, Lovello is yet to penetrate the market significantly, market operators said.

Stakeholders explained that the growth of the country’s ice cream market has also seen a boost in employment.

They said tariffs on imported raw materials of ice-cream need to be rationalized. The main ingredients of ice cream are milk, dairy products, condensed milk, powdered milk, and butterfat, which are imported from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Denmark.

Studies show that the ice cream industry is contributing 0.064% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The ice cream industry in India is contributing 0.031% to their GDP. But in Vietnam, the industry has contributed a lot (0.094%).

Furthermore, the ice cream industry contributes 0.053% of the world GDP.

The global ice cream market grew at the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 6% during 2009-2016, reaching a volume of 19.7 million metric tons in 2016. 

In 2016, Europe dominated the global ice cream market with more than 40% share. On the other hand, China and Brazil account for two-fifths of the global ice cream sales. 


SAM Zakaria Hossain, general manager of Kazi Food Industries Limited, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Bellissimo is the first and only icecream brand in Bangladesh to produce international standard ice cream using at least 10% milk fat and natural flavors. Za 'n Zee has delicious and fun ice creams at affordable prices for ice cream lovers all over Bangladesh.”

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...mpBFSW2IvnJcgfmBoCO3WE0GLUSpeodE6xXx_GcP_8oQU



bluesky said:


> Now, tell me about Aricha. Is it not Ferry that we use to cross the mighty Padma there?





bluesky said:


> The country needs to replace tens of ferries including in the *Aricha-Goalondo (Paturia) and Aricha-Nogorbari routes*.



Isn't BAL already thinking about second Padma bridge there? Japan is eying that project. 

https://www.thedailystar.net/frontp...r-projects-govt-seeking-japanese-fund-1509418

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## Mage

*Adding graphene to jute fibres could give natural alternative to man-made materials*
Scientists from The University of Manchester have combined graphene with the natural fibre, jute, to create a world’s first for graphene-strengthened natural jute fibre composites.

The breakthrough could lead to the manufacturing of high-performance and environmentally friendly natural fibre composites that could replace their synthetic counterparts in major manufacturing areas, such as the automotive industry, ship building, durable wind turbine blades and low-cost housing.

It could also boost the farming economies of countries such as Bangladesh, India, and China – where the jute material is mainly produced – the researchers from The University of Manchester claim.

The University is home to the National Graphene Institute and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre which provide an unrivalled critical mass of graphene expertise. The two facilities demonstrate Manchester's position as a globally leading knowledge-base in graphene research and commercialisation.

Jute is extracted from the bark of the white jute plant (Corchorus capsularis) and is a 100% bio-degradable, recyclable and environmentally friendly natural fibre. It is also the second most produced natural fibre in the world – after cotton – and is at least 50% cheaper than flax and other similar natural fibres.

This makes it extremely appealing to different industry sectors looking to create a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic composites. That is why natural fibre composites are attracting significant interest due to potential to reduce carbon foot print by replacing synthetically produced materials, such as glass fibre, which costs more and can be harmful for the planet.

Forkan Sarker, a Commonwealth Scholarship recipient for Bangladesh, has carried out the experiments and analysis of the data for this study, and the publication showing graphene could be critical is available online.

Professor Prasad Potluri, Director of Research, North West Composites Centre said: “Forkan Sarker, joined my group with a view to work on a PhD problem relevant to his country’s economy.

“This is an example of judicious combination of low-value, carbon-neutral commodity fibres with an extremely small volume fraction of high-value graphene in order to create a material system that could replace energy-intensive carbon and glass fibres in a number of light-weight structural applications.”

“
This is an example of judicious combination of low-value, carbon-neutral commodity fibres with an extremely small volume fraction of high-value graphene in order to create a material system that could replace energy-intensive carbon and glass fibres in a number of light-weight structural applications
Professor Prasad Potluri
„

Follow me on Twitter (opens in new window)

 



Despite their environmental credentials, natural fibre composites suffer from poor mechanical and interfacial properties which mean they’re not strong enough for some industrial applications. That is why researchers from The University of Manchester’s National Graphene Institute (NGI) and Robotics and Textile Composites Group have been working on a collaborative project and coating jute fibres with graphene oxide and graphene flakes to improve its strength.

The results have been extremely positive and show that the jute fibres with a graphene coating have enhanced interfacial shear strength of around 200%, with flexural strength increasing by nearly 100% when compared to the untreated fibres.

Dr Nazmul Karim, Knowledge Exchange Fellow (Graphene) at National Graphene Institute, said: “We have been working on graphene and other 2D materials-based natural fibres for several years in Prof Novoselov’s group. It is great to translate that experience into developing high performance natural fibres composites”.

Dr Karim, who also conceived the idea and designed the experiments of incorporating graphene onto jute, added: “Jute, once known as the golden fibres of Bangladesh, lost its glaze in the 1980s after synthetic materials like polythene and plastics were introduced. However, with growing environmental concerns with plastics, the use of natural fibres such as Jute is on rise again.

“Moreover, the use of jute in automobile interiors by global car giants has been growing rapidly with a current demand of 100,000 tonnes a year. I believe our graphene-based jute fibres could play a very important role in meeting the growing demand of more environmentally friendly products for various industries.”


_Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons_


https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discov...ve-natural-alternative-to-man-made-materials/

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## Mage

*Bangladesh kicks out textile industry safety inspectors*
Bangladesh is about to kick out safety inspectors, which were brought in after the Rana Plaza tragedy in April, 2013. The international safety inspection team will be forced to leave the country this Friday. Activists are predicting “profound and lasting” consequences for worker safety. 

https://www.dw.com/en/bangladesh-kicks-out-textile-industry-safety-inspectors/av-46497303


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## war&peace

Reported by DW means EU takes a notice.


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## Arsalan

war&peace said:


> Reported by DW means EU take a notice.


Good for us

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## Mage

Arsalan said:


> Good for us


Garments owners pressured the govt to do this. They wouldn't do this if it were going to hurt their pockets. 

Anyway time will tell.

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## war&peace

Arsalan said:


> Good for us


InshaAllah!!!

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## Homo Sapiens

Arsalan said:


> Good for us





war&peace said:


> InshaAllah!!!


Do not jump too early. May get disappointed at last. There might be some fruitful re-negotiation about inspection and may not change anything ultimately.

Plus, BD is still a small player in global apparel market, providing just 6 percent cloths. So our rise in apparel industry is not at the expense of Pakistan. Why Pakistan can not capture the other 94 percent market already available? If you can not take a slice from the 94 percent market now than it is certain that you will not be able to make any difference even if Bangladesh loss all the market and 100 percent market become available for you. So, showing such mean mentality and premature rejoice of Pak people will not bear any fruit.

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## monitor

Homo Sapiens said:


> Do not jump too early. May get disappointed at last. There might be some fruitful re-negotiation about inspection and may not change anything ultimately.
> 
> Plus, BD is still a small player in global apparel market, providing just 6 percent cloths. So our rise in apparel industry is not at the expense of Pakistan. Why Pakistan can not capture the other 94 percent market already available? If you can not take a slice from the 94 percent market now than it is certain that you will not be able to make any difference even if Bangladesh loss all the market and 100 percent market become available for you. So, showing such mean mentality and premature rejoice of Pak people will not bear any fruit.




It's surprising why Pakistanis failed in garments industry compare to Bangladesh . They are one of the producer of cotton located much near to hormuz chanell so possibly fast delivery to EU customers yet they lagged behind us. Terrorism and power shortage might one reason but what are other lacking.


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## Homo Sapiens

monitor said:


> It's surprising why Pakistanis failed in garments industry compare to Bangladesh . They are one of the producer of cotton located much near to hormuz chanell so possibly fast delivery to EU customers yet they lagged behind us. Terrorism and power shortage might one reason but what are other lacking.


Another problem is, they are not willing to let women to work outside. Women works at lower wages and their hands are more suitable for doing cloths related works. In Bangladesh, 90 percent graments workers are women and in Pakistan, 80 percent are men. Minimum wages in garments factory in Pakistan is twice of Bangladesh. A man, who have to be the main bread winner of the family, will not work in garments factory with wages of what a Bangladeshi female worker will be satisfied earning. Plus, Pakistan is a consumption driven economy, most of the people there have a habit of spending big with relatively little savings. So, minimum wages in Pakistan have to be higher. Male dominated and women's participation are low. Add to these with terrorism and power related problem. So, is there any wonder, Pakistan failed in this sector miserably? Cotton production is not everything. If cotton production was such a boon, then you would have seen Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India taking over the global garment industry.

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## war&peace

Homo Sapiens said:


> Do not jump too early. May get disappointed at last. There might be some fruitful re-negotiation about inspection and may not change anything ultimately.
> 
> Plus, BD is still a small player in global apparel market, providing just 6 percent cloths. So our rise in apparel industry is not at the expense of Pakistan. Why Pakistan can not capture the other 94 percent market already available? If you can not take a slice from the 94 percent market now than it is certain that you will not be able to make any difference even if Bangladesh loss all the market and 100 percent market become available for you. So, showing such mean mentality and premature rejoice of Pak people will not bear any fruit.


No, I'm not the one who simply jumps on the first news.

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## Nilgiri

Homo Sapiens said:


> Why Pakistan can not capture the other 94 percent market already available?



Because that 94% is not covered by LDC quota.

Same reason BD stronking about moving mass capital from China in RMG has fallen flat on its face (coinciding nicely with Walton pushing back export target of puny 1 billion USD by a full 10 years now). 

*Junk* grade credit rating and no focus on improving that wreaks havoc in long term.

Of course a quack that is part of the problem (in forcing millions of BD medical refugees to India and parting with their hard earned minimum wage money for simplest of X-rays...expanding the CAD each year) will have no idea...and would rather just stronk stronk stronk using internal LDC type (GDDS) claims put out by 3 million tears propaganda dept. 

Such individual would rather talk about how its better for woman to earn such an LDC slave labour pittance (at social cost, if you look at 3rd party data of what BD women actually are like socioeconomically in UK and US...and what their teenage pregnancy and birth rates are even inside BD) instead of actually confronting the govt to allow more businesses to flourish.

Then it cries excessively when Myanmar with 3 times less people teaches a lessson in few short weeks to such a weak country.

Fix your crap instead of playing make believe delusions.

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## Destranator

Nilgiri said:


> Because that 94% is not covered by LDC quota.
> 
> Same reason BD stronking about moving mass capital from China in RMG has fallen flat on its face (coinciding nicely with Walton pushing back export target of puny 1 billion USD by a full 10 years now).
> 
> *Junk* grade credit rating and no focus on improving that wreaks havoc in long term.
> 
> Of course a quack that is part of the problem (in forcing millions of BD medical refugees to India and parting with their hard earned minimum wage money for simplest of X-rays...expanding the CAD each year) will have no idea...and would rather just stronk stronk stronk using internal LDC type (GDDS) claims put out by 3 million tears propaganda dept.
> 
> Such individual would rather talk about how its better for woman to earn such an LDC slave labour pittance (at social cost, if you look at 3rd party data of what BD women actually are like socioeconomically in UK and US...and what their teenage pregnancy and birth rates are even inside BD) instead of actually confronting the govt to allow more businesses to flourish.
> 
> Then it cries excessively when Myanmar with 3 times less people teaches a lessson in few short weeks to such a weak country.
> 
> Fix your crap instead of playing make believe delusions.


Do you ever sit back and read your own posts? You build one strawman over another and convince yourself that you have nailed it.

Is China an LDC?

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## Bilal9

Homo Sapiens said:


> আপনার মাথা ঠিক আছে তো? পদ্মা সেতুর বদলে ফেরী ?!!! বাংলাদেশের অতি বড় আহাম্মকেও বলবে পদ্মা সেতু আরো অনেক আগে হওয়া দরকার ছিল ।



There is no comparison. It's a fool's argument.

Padma Bridge will multiply economic activity using transport by at least a factor of ten or more. I read previously that Padma bridge itself will increase GDP by at least two percentage points. I see little reason to doubt it. Just the traffic to Mongla and increasing shipment and cement/container activity there will be payback enough for Padma Bridge, not to speak of multiple SEZ's surrounding that port which will produce export output.

I have to say that people who are still advocating ferries are against economic progress in our country and are clueless. No offense.

The main differentiation points:

Distance - Our most common ferry (K class shallow draft design) can easily cross several miles, but is far slower than Trucks passing by on a bridge.
Depth - K class ferries can cross very deep water but are purpose built for shallow water near Padma Bridge. Bridges in deep water can be expensive. But Padma Bridge piling is already completed at shallow depth and was not expensive.
Economics - Building equal number of ferries for truck traffic passing on a bridge is prohibitively expensive. In the long run, Bridges are far cheaper.
Carbon footprint - Bridges are more carbon neutral. Even net positive in some cases.
Payload - Heavy trucks such as semi trucks and trailers are unsupportable in a K class scenario. Bridges have no such issue given axle loads are controlled by inspection.
Time - Bridges are way faster. Mounting and dismounting from a ferry is difficult and eats up time. Even for RO-RO ferries.
Traffic - Bridges are way more preferred if there is a lot of traffic on the route. Again - time is major factor.
Weather and water conditions - Bridges are not as commonly shut down due to weather as ferries are.



Mage said:


> *Adding graphene to jute fibres could give natural alternative to man-made materials*
> Scientists from The University of Manchester have combined graphene with the natural fibre, jute, to create a world’s first for graphene-strengthened natural jute fibre composites.
> 
> The breakthrough could lead to the manufacturing of high-performance and environmentally friendly natural fibre composites that could replace their synthetic counterparts in major manufacturing areas, such as the automotive industry, ship building, durable wind turbine blades and low-cost housing.
> 
> It could also boost the farming economies of countries such as Bangladesh, India, and China – where the jute material is mainly produced – the researchers from The University of Manchester claim.
> 
> The University is home to the National Graphene Institute and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre which provide an unrivalled critical mass of graphene expertise. The two facilities demonstrate Manchester's position as a globally leading knowledge-base in graphene research and commercialisation.
> 
> Jute is extracted from the bark of the white jute plant (Corchorus capsularis) and is a 100% bio-degradable, recyclable and environmentally friendly natural fibre. It is also the second most produced natural fibre in the world – after cotton – and is at least 50% cheaper than flax and other similar natural fibres.
> 
> This makes it extremely appealing to different industry sectors looking to create a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic composites. That is why natural fibre composites are attracting significant interest due to potential to reduce carbon foot print by replacing synthetically produced materials, such as glass fibre, which costs more and can be harmful for the planet.
> 
> Forkan Sarker, a Commonwealth Scholarship recipient for Bangladesh, has carried out the experiments and analysis of the data for this study, and the publication showing graphene could be critical is available online.
> 
> Professor Prasad Potluri, Director of Research, North West Composites Centre said: “Forkan Sarker, joined my group with a view to work on a PhD problem relevant to his country’s economy.
> 
> “This is an example of judicious combination of low-value, carbon-neutral commodity fibres with an extremely small volume fraction of high-value graphene in order to create a material system that could replace energy-intensive carbon and glass fibres in a number of light-weight structural applications.”
> 
> “
> This is an example of judicious combination of low-value, carbon-neutral commodity fibres with an extremely small volume fraction of high-value graphene in order to create a material system that could replace energy-intensive carbon and glass fibres in a number of light-weight structural applications
> Professor Prasad Potluri
> „
> 
> Follow me on Twitter (opens in new window)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Despite their environmental credentials, natural fibre composites suffer from poor mechanical and interfacial properties which mean they’re not strong enough for some industrial applications. That is why researchers from The University of Manchester’s National Graphene Institute (NGI) and Robotics and Textile Composites Group have been working on a collaborative project and coating jute fibres with graphene oxide and graphene flakes to improve its strength.
> 
> The results have been extremely positive and show that the jute fibres with a graphene coating have enhanced interfacial shear strength of around 200%, with flexural strength increasing by nearly 100% when compared to the untreated fibres.
> 
> Dr Nazmul Karim, Knowledge Exchange Fellow (Graphene) at National Graphene Institute, said: “We have been working on graphene and other 2D materials-based natural fibres for several years in Prof Novoselov’s group. It is great to translate that experience into developing high performance natural fibres composites”.
> 
> Dr Karim, who also conceived the idea and designed the experiments of incorporating graphene onto jute, added: “Jute, once known as the golden fibres of Bangladesh, lost its glaze in the 1980s after synthetic materials like polythene and plastics were introduced. However, with growing environmental concerns with plastics, the use of natural fibres such as Jute is on rise again.
> 
> “Moreover, the use of jute in automobile interiors by global car giants has been growing rapidly with a current demand of 100,000 tonnes a year. I believe our graphene-based jute fibres could play a very important role in meeting the growing demand of more environmentally friendly products for various industries.”
> 
> 
> _Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons_
> 
> 
> https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discov...ve-natural-alternative-to-man-made-materials/



This is wonderful news! I can already see myriad uses of this in Bangladesh - primarily in small watercraft boat building. We have worked with rotting wood boats long enough!

The primary cost of building fiberglass boats is in two ingredients, resin and fibre roving (which can be glass fiber or carbon fiber), Now that Graphene-processed Jute can be substituted for the latter, the cost will come down significantly.

I expect the price of Jute to go up quite a bit as a result as well.

*Footwear export fetched $438m last fiscal year*
Leathergoods sourcing show begins on Nov 22

Nov 18, 2018



*Bangladesh bagged $438 million in export earnings from the footwear sector alone in the last fiscal year and has become the sixth largest footwear and leather goods exporter in the world*.

Every year, the South Asian nation manufactures 330 million square feet of finished leather and sends abroad around 230 million square feet of the product.The information was shared at a press conference at the Westin Dhaka hotel yesterday where organizers announced the schedule of the second edition of Bangladesh Leather Footwear and Leathergoods International Sourcing Show (BLISS) 2018.

The three-day show to be organised by the Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB) will kick off at International Convention City Bashundhara in the capital on November 22.

Bangladesh exports leather and leather goods to countries such as China, Italy, the USA, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Taiwan and Japan, Saiful Islam, president of LFMEAB, said at the press meet.The tagline of the event is “Bangladesh: destination next” and objective of BLISS is to brand and position Bangladesh in the global supply chain as the next destination for high value-added leather product, he said.

Islam said the purpose of the show is to turn Bangladesh into a sourcing hub by bringing in buyers, global retailers and international sourcing agents at the expo. Efficiency of the Chittagong port should be increased to boost export of leather and leather goods, Kazi Aminul Islam, executive chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, said at the event.

“A port cannot be operated by bureaucrats. It should be handed over to the professionals to reduce lead time of exporters to increase the export volume of the leather sector.” He suggested adoption of modern technologies to stay competitive in the global market. To raise competitiveness, attention should be given to compliance and quality of the leather products along with maintaining low prices, he added.

It is a matter of great concern for the environment that the tanneries in Savar have not yet established any solid waste plant in the zone, said Shubhashish Bose, senior secretary of the commerce ministry.“The government is formulating necessary policies and laws to help the sector develop further. Now the entrepreneurs will have to ensure compliance and quality to compete in the global market.”

There is no entry fee for the exhibition, which will remain open for the visitors from 10 am to 6 pm. Foreign guests and around 30 brands and buyers from Hong Kong, Germany, Australia, Italy, Japan, France, the USA, the UK, Sweden, India, and Ethiopia will participate in the expo.

Sandeep Das, country managing director for Intertek Bangladesh, and Yu Cheng Hsing, managing director of Blue Ocean Footwear, also attended the press meet.

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## Nilgiri

Al-Ansar said:


> Is China an LDC?



Hey dumb dumb, I clearly said 94% NOT covered by LDC quota. China is included in that 94% obviously DUH.

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## Nilgiri

Ajaxpaul said:


> Bangladesh should have the brains to process the advantages and disadvantages of BRI and not get influenced by china and India. The moment they try to play one country against another will mark it's downfall.



BD can barely pluck its own 3rd rate fiddle, forget about conducting two orchestras.

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## Homo Sapiens

Max said:


> Maynmar is where China will focus to connect South China with Indian ocean. Very important country for China. Don't know what role BD will have in BRI (if they wants to be part of it).


Chinese port in Arakan coast in myanmar is actually a very good thing for Bangladesh. This port will be very near to Chittagong port and under construction deep sea port in Cox's Bazar. A great deal of export-import will happen between short distance Bangladeshi port and Chinese port in Arakan then. Both China and Bangladesh then will be able to avoid the long distance Malacca strait to engage in mutual trade. China's increasing influence over myanmar is good for Bangladesh. I believe, if China build extensive road and railway network within myanmar connecting Southern China with Arakan and Bay of Bengal, then China will be able to successfully pressurize myanmar to connect Bangladesh by road with it's nearby road network in Arakan. So, indirectly China-Bangladesh direct connection will be established by both road and sea port through myanmar.
@Two


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## Bilal9

*U.S.-based Ashley Furniture Homestore opening soon at Gulshan-2*
































==========================================================
*Client:
The Aga Khan Academies*

*Location:*
Dhaka, Bangladesh

*Completion:*
2020

This *1200-student residential school* is located on a 20-acre site near the centre of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The school is part of a network of state of the art K12 schools, being established by His Highness the Aga Khan.

Through the Aga Khan Academies there are 18 planned locations across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia and Europe.

The Aga Khan Academies aim to support long-term national and regional development by providing an international standard of education and strong leadership experience to talented students. The students are selected based on merit, regardless of socioeconomic background, and will become future home-grown leaders. The Academies also strengthen national education systems by providing professional development and modelling best practices as centres of excellence.

The Academy is arranged around a central ‘_Maidan’_ community gathering space and sports field, linked by a continuous colonnade, and interspersed by landscape courtyards of varying character. The classical Masterplan layout is derived from our studies of the original Buddhist universities of the region.

The result is an architectural language which showcases intricate brickwork techniques set against ‘_jali’_ screen detailing as a contemporary interpretation of an important local tradition. The project incorporates the overarching Aga Khan Academies brief whilst integrating historic Bangladeshi customs in spatial arrangements.

This project is a collaboration between FCBStudios and Rafiq Azam of Shatotto in Dhaka.


Flythrough




Take a close-up look at the new Aga Khan Academy and proposed landscaping.

Watch video

Awards
*2017* World Architecture Festival, Education - Future Projects Award























Drawings

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## UKBengali

Homo Sapiens said:


> Chinese port in Arakan coast in myanmar is actually a very good thing for Bangladesh. This port will be very near to Chittagong port and under construction deep sea port in Cox's Bazar. A great deal of export-import will happen between short distance Bangladeshi port and Chinese port in Arakan then. Both China and Bangladesh then will be able to avoid the long distance Malacca strait to engage in mutual trade. China's increasing influence over myanmar is good for Bangladesh. I believe, if China build extensive road and railway network within myanmar connecting Southern China with Arakan and Bay of Bengal, then China will be able to successfully pressurize myanmar to connect Bangladesh by road with it's nearby road network in Arakan. So, indirectly China-Bangladesh direct connection will be established by both road and sea port through myanmar.
> @Two



Let us take a step back and analyse this.

Myanmar has declared itself to be an enemy of BD over many decades.
China ha also committed a grossly unfriendly act over Rohingya issue and is still 
supporting the savages 100%.

Unless BD respects itself, no-one will respect BD.

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## Arsalan

Homo Sapiens said:


> Do not jump too early. May get disappointed at last. There might be some fruitful re-negotiation about inspection and may not change anything ultimately.
> 
> Plus, BD is still a small player in global apparel market, providing just 6 percent cloths. So our rise in apparel industry is not at the expense of Pakistan. Why Pakistan can not capture the other 94 percent market already available? If you can not take a slice from the 94 percent market now than it is certain that you will not be able to make any difference even if Bangladesh loss all the market and 100 percent market become available for you. So, showing such mean mentality and premature rejoice of Pak people will not bear any fruit.


Oh hoo,, i just orderd some sweets and stuff!! 


Come man, not jumping or anything. Its obvious that IF one of competitors will lose business it will be good for others. What remains to be seen is if BD actually loses business as you have RIGHTLY pointed out and explained.

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> Because that 94% is not covered by LDC quota.
> 
> Same reason BD stronking about moving mass capital from China in RMG has fallen flat on its face (coinciding nicely with Walton pushing back export target of puny 1 billion USD by a full 10 years now).
> 
> *Junk* grade credit rating and no focus on improving that wreaks havoc in long term.
> 
> Of course a quack that is part of the problem (in forcing millions of BD medical refugees to India and parting with their hard earned minimum wage money for simplest of X-rays...expanding the CAD each year) will have no idea...and would rather just stronk stronk stronk using internal LDC type (GDDS) claims put out by 3 million tears propaganda dept.
> 
> Such individual would rather talk about how its better for woman to earn such an LDC slave labour pittance (at social cost, if you look at 3rd party data of what BD women actually are like socioeconomically in UK and US...and what their teenage pregnancy and birth rates are even inside BD) instead of actually confronting the govt to allow more businesses to flourish.
> 
> Then it cries excessively when Myanmar with 3 times less people teaches a lessson in few short weeks to such a weak country.
> 
> Fix your crap instead of playing make believe delusions.



Butt-hurt idiocy continues.

BD enjoys no LDC quota for US and exports nearly 
6 billion US dollars to it each year.
BD exports are already up nearly 20% in the first 4 months of this fiscal compared to last year.

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## Nike

*Bangladesh again denied GSP*





Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Bangladesh's trade privilege in US markets has been again denied as President Donald Trump's administration goes on to enforce the trade preference programme's eligibility this week.

The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility for Bangladesh was suspended in June 2013 after the Rana Plaza building collapse in April, the reasons cited being poor labour rights and unsafe working conditions in factories.

The then Obama administration also gave 16 conditions to be fulfilled for regaining the trade privilege. Bangladesh fulfilled the conditions and twice submitted reports to United States Trade Representative (USTR).

But the US has not been reinstating the trade privilege, now citing poor labour rights.

Moreover, in this year's review, Bangladesh could not come out from the list of countries suspended from GSP benefits although some active decisions were taken in the trade preference enforcement programme in 2017.

For example, Argentina was being reinstated to the GSP programme, effective from January 1, 2018, following resolution of certain arbitral disputes with US companies.

The US also restored the trade benefits to The Gambia and Swaziland under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

“President Trump has sent a clear message that the United States will vigorously enforce eligibility criteria for preferential access to the US market,” said Ambassador Robert E Lighthizer, the USTR and chief trade negotiator for the Trump administration, in a statement on December 22.

“Beneficiary countries choose to either work with USTR to meet trade preference eligibility criteria or face enforcement actions. The administration is committed to ensuring that other countries keep their end of the bargain in our trade relationships,” according to the statement.

“We do not expect reinstatement of GSP to the US market anymore as the American government has been giving newer conditions to be fulfilled by Bangladesh,” said a senior official of the commerce ministry asking not to be named.

Even though the 16 conditions had been fulfilled, the US is now demanding changing the labour law for the factories, housed in the export processing zones (EPZ), which is contradictory to the main guidelines of the EPZ law, the official said.

Moreover, Bangladesh has already submitted the draft copy of the proposed amendment of the labour law to International Labour Organization for its expert committee's opinion.

Workplace safety in Bangladesh has already been applauded all over the world after the inspection and remediation of the garment factories by the Accord and Alliance through fixing the loopholes in structural, fire and electrical aspects, the official said.

The US is the single largest export destination for Bangladesh. As a least developed country, 97 percent of goods originating from Bangladesh enjoy duty-free benefits on export to US markets as per the decision of the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting of World Trade Organization in 2005.

However, the country's main export item, garments, has not been included in this “97 percent package” although garment items comprise 95 percent of Bangladeshi exports to the US in a year.

As a result, Bangladeshi exporters face 15.62 percent duty on export of apparel items to the US markets although some competing countries like China, Vietnam, Pakistan and India face much less.

The US government does not allow GSP on apparel items from any country and the duty differs from one country to anohter.

In 2012, the total value of imports from Bangladesh to US under GSP was $34.7 million. The top imports under GSP from Bangladesh included tobacco, sports equipment, porcelain china and plastic products.

The GSP programme saved American companies nearly $730 million in import duties in 2016 and is on track to save even more in 2017, according to American Apparel Footwear Association (AAFA).

When GSP expired from August 2013 to July 2015, US companies paid $1.3 billion extra in taxes while awaiting congressional reauthorisation, AAFA said. 


https://www.thedailystar.net/business/bangladesh-again-denied-gsp-1511323

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## bluesky

The Ronin said:


> Isn't BAL already thinking about *second Padma bridge *there? Japan is eying that project.


Why always the foreign companies, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and so on? Why do not you guys ask the govt to get help from our own private companies to design (consulting), surveying, subsoil investigation (not the so-called BD style soil testing), pile fabrication, pile driving, erection and so on? Let the local Contractors get foreign help. This is how the technology of designing and constructing is transferred to the locals. 

About Japanese help, the railway ministry is also seeking its help (money and technology) to build a railway bridge over the Jamuna about 150 m north of the current highway bridge. I ask how far do you think BD can go when its own people are unable to build anything important? Any country needs hundreds of similar projects and do you really think only a minimal foreign collaboration will cause BD to build these? Never, never.


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## Michael Corleone

what's the full story?


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## American Pakistani

monitor said:


> It's surprising why Pakistanis failed in garments industry compare to Bangladesh . They are one of the producer of cotton located much near to hormuz chanell so possibly fast delivery to EU customers yet they lagged behind us. Terrorism and power shortage might one reason but what are other lacking.



Indian and Israeli lobbies one of them.

Others include pakistani incompetence.


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## Mage

Michael Corleone said:


> what's the full story?


They weer supposed to leave in 2016.....but asked to stay 2 more years. Which was accepted. Then wanted 3 more years.....garments owners got fed up and said enough is enough. Lobbied to Tofail to eject them.

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## Michael Corleone

Mage said:


> They weer supposed to leave in 2016.....but asked to stay 2 more years. Which was accepted. Then wanted 3 more years.....garments owners got fed up and said enough is enough. Lobbied to Tofail to eject them.


makes sense. bengalis prefer to bend over to others... i guess they got tired 
and let those safety inspectors go to other third world garments makers to check for "safety"


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## war&peace

Homo Sapiens said:


> Another problem is, they are not willing to let women to work outside. Women works at lower wages and their hands are more suitable for doing cloths related works. In Bangladesh, 90 percent graments workers are women and in Pakistan, 80 percent are men. Minimum wages in garments factory in Pakistan is twice of Bangladesh. A man, who have to be the main bread winner of the family, will not work in garments factory with wages of what a Bangladeshi female worker will be satisfied earning. Plus, Pakistan is a consumption driven economy, most of the people there have a habit of spending big with relatively little savings. So, minimum wages in Pakistan have to be higher. Male dominated and women's participation are low. Add to these with terrorism and power related problem. So, is there any wonder, Pakistan failed in this sector miserably? Cotton production is not everything. If cotton production was such a boon, then you would have seen Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India taking over the global garment industry.


There are ways to reduce the cost of production without decreasing the wages. In fact, the wages may go up in Pakistan and the reason being govt has started to implement the minimum wage as per the law which has so far been violated by the factory owners and businessmen. However, govt will incentivise them in other ways that will overcompensate them and their business won't get a hit.


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## Arsalan

war&peace said:


> There are ways to reduce the cost of production without decreasing the wages. In fact, the wages may go up in Pakistan and the reason being govt has started to implement the minimum wage as per the law which has so far been violated by the factory owners and businessmen. However, govt will incentivise them in other ways that will overcompensate them and their business won't get a hit.


Export oriented industry is gradually following the minimum wage laws now, they are left with little choice but to follow those!! The certifications your customers ask for cover it all and is becoming a necessity. Things will improve further with time.

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## Mage

Michael Corleone said:


> makes sense. bengalis prefer to bend over to others... i guess they got tired
> and let those safety inspectors go to other third world garments makers to check for "safety"


I remember some Garments owner referred this accord and alliance as the 'new East India company'.

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## war&peace

Arsalan said:


> Export oriented industry is gradually following the minimum wage laws now, they are left with little choice but to follow those!! The certifications your customers ask for cover it all and is becoming a necessity. Things will improve further with time.


Corrupt governments of PPP and PMLn...especially that dead bastard Benazir Bhutto who brought IPPs in Pakistan at extremely exploiting rates on extremely bad conditions. It is like she was on the on some revenge... and she treated the country like an enemy and the greedy woman reaped huge kickbacks.

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## Homo Sapiens

UKBengali said:


> Let us take a step back and analyse this.
> 
> Myanmar has declared itself to be an enemy of BD over many decades.
> China ha also committed a grossly unfriendly act over Rohingya issue and is still
> supporting the savages 100%.
> 
> Unless BD respects itself, no-one will respect BD.


'Either you are with us, or against us.' International relationship and diplomacy do not happen based on such a primitive thinking.

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## UKBengali

Homo Sapiens said:


> 'Either you are with us, or against us.' International relationship and diplomacy do not happen based on such a primitive thinking.



You have totally missed the point.

Act weak and meek and get treated like BD has been. BD's honour is on the line here. It risks losing all credibility if it follows your line of thinking.

BD needs to totally cut all relations with the savages and have only business relations with China. China simply cannot be trusted like a strategic partner anymore.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> Unless BD respects itself, no-one will respect BD.



100% correct.


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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> Butt-hurt idiocy continues.
> 
> BD enjoys no LDC quota for US and exports nearly
> 6 billion US dollars to it each year.
> BD exports are already up nearly 20% in the first 4 months of this fiscal compared to last year.



EU is huge market....LDC quota in full operation there.

US operated LDC quota as well for how long with BD? This creates long term momentum (if you know how business latency works) that lasts even after it ended (courtesy of BD own stupidity btw).

So yeah the 94% non LDC quota environment (where no 0 duty access or legacy of 0 duty access momentum) is whole different ball game.....which is why BD stagnating hard now....as opposed to the big rosy projection of capital transfer from China projected just cpl years back (and simply not happening now).

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> EU is huge market....LDC quota in full operation there.
> 
> US operated LDC quota as well for how long with BD? This creates long term momentum (if you know how business latency works) that lasts even after it ended (courtesy of BD own stupidity btw).
> 
> So yeah the 94% non LDC quota environment (where no 0 duty access or legacy of 0 duty access momentum) is whole different ball game.....which is why BD stagnating hard now....as opposed to the big rosy projection of capital transfer from China projected just cpl years back (and simply not happening now).



What part of BD exports are up nearly 20% in first 4 months of this fiscal do you not understand?

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> What part of BD exports are up nearly 20% in first 4 months of this fiscal do you not understand?



What part of low base effect and seasonal variation meaning little to a final full year performance (just like what happened last year) do you not understand?


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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> What part of low base effect and seasonal variation meaning little to a final full year performance (just like what happened last year) do you not understand?



You retarded dude?
This is the same time period we are comparing and so no seasonal variation applies.
Low base? Simpleton you were claiming that BD exports had stagnated and so base has nothing to do with this.

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## ARMalik

Nilgiri said:


> Hey dumb dumb, I clearly said 94% NOT covered by LDC quota. China is included in that 94% obviously DUH.



The thing is, if Indian and to a smaller extent Pakistan stop supplying cotton to Bangla, they can literally kill Bangla industry overnight. Even if BD imported cotton from other regions, it would be much more expensive to deliver to BD. 

Can India work with Pakistan to do this??


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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> This is the same time period we are comparing and so no seasonal variation applies.



The whole year is what is being talked about. When there is a relative depression in the exact same period previously...that adds a low base effect (which bumps up the next years performance even if its just average or less than average to the norm), which is effectively a seasonal variation in the longer cycle.

The onus is then to see what the final year result actually is. I know its kind of hard to grasp for someone who thought that peak load in electricity correlates 1:1 to total integral consumption. But then again the low patent and science output speaks volumes about that anyway.



UKBengali said:


> you were claiming that BD exports had stagnated and so base has nothing to do with this.



They more or less have....especially when we look at the CAD (which combines services) and forex levels. You can check the final year results.

Besides we are now straying from the point of contention of the 94% of the rest of the market (that the medical refugee producing quack guy earlier made some assertions on).

As @Arsalan correctly intuited, BD's loss is other country's potential gain....given the 94% chunk is very different and incremental kind of flux for the world suppliers.....very different to a 6% LDC quota based one that has driven BD sector. It is why BD growing very very slow compared to its own projection of massive capital transfer from China in 2014 - current time frame. BD not diversifying either...so yah its stuck between rock and a hard place if Europe does take action because of this like US previously did. BD can ill afford this given it has no other industry of any note.

@Marine Rouge



ARMalik said:


> The thing is, if Indian and to a smaller extent Pakistan stop supplying cotton to Bangla, they can literally kill Bangla industry overnight. Even if BD imported cotton from other regions, it would be much more expensive to deliver to BD.
> 
> Can India work with Pakistan to do this??



BD can just import from other suppliers like US, Uzbek etc.

Their major cost saving comes from the 0 access duty, rather than the input price (and any added logistics on top). I have not looked at the exact sensitivity though....it would need someone in the industry to comment on it.

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## nahtanbob

American Pakistani said:


> Indian and Israeli lobbies one of them.
> 
> Others include pakistani incompetence.



Bangladeshis work harder to deliver higher quality garments at lower prices
Garment industry is a low margin industry. quit blaming others for your incompetence



ARMalik said:


> The thing is, if Indian and to a smaller extent Pakistan stop supplying cotton to Bangla, they can literally kill Bangla industry overnight. Even if BD imported cotton from other regions, it would be much more expensive to deliver to BD.
> 
> Can India work with Pakistan to do this??



In the long run USA, EU won't allow it. They will keep the Bangladeshi industry intact.
It keeps Bangladesh afloat. It helps them get rid of the 4th world moniker

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## Bengal71

Pakistanis are getting happy about it? I thought you guys were calling our industries sweat shops and chaddi makers? Weren't this type of industries too lowly for your dignity?

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## Destranator

Bengal71 said:


> Pakistanis are getting happy about it? I thought you guys were calling our industries sweat shops and chaddi makers? Weren't this type of industries too lowly for your dignity?



Every country/society including ours has cultural deficiencies.
For Pakistan, it is their inability to self-relect and sense hypocrisy.



Nilgiri said:


> Hey dumb dumb, I clearly said 94% NOT covered by LDC quota. China is included in that 94% obviously DUH.



I am not referring to that stat.

My point is, despite lack of preferential treatment by importers and fast increasing wages China remains the dominant force in the RMG sector because of their investment in skills, processes and capital over decades.

The same goes for Bangladesh albiet to a lesser extent. Bangladesh's major RMG export destinations do not offer much of a preferential treatment despite us being categorised as LDC. A lot of hoohah was made and doomsdays predicted by smartasses like yourself when we lost quotas in 2005 and GSP in 2013 but our exports kept rising.


At the same time our inability to become a more dominant power by now is rooted at our relative deficiencies in infrastructure and resources compared to China but things are improving fast.

Pakistan's lack of success is due to not investing in workers, processes and equipment and not due to trade barriers. Your strawmanning streak and hatorade binge fails to take that into account.

All your strawmen can be turned around and applied to Pakistan.

Keep on whinging about GDDS and BBS.

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## Nilgiri

Al-Ansar said:


> but our exports kept rising.



Very incrementally (and only from business latency rather than any productivity or capital efficiency improvement)...and not as much as they would have with the GSP from US. It clearly shows how dependent BD is on LDC quota process....both in the current and heritage momentum from it.



Al-Ansar said:


> but things are improving fast.



LOL...no they arent. You have to actually improve your basic core institutional capacity....like how to actually handle multi-stream court litigation with multiple labour blocs instead of delegating all of that to big govt thugs.

Why do you think BD keeps extremely high excise duty rates on even the simplest of assembly industries outside of RMG?

But naaaah its all just "infrastructure" (which you still are decades behind everyone else and not improving "fast" at all).

Your country stinks at industrialisation....end of story.



Al-Ansar said:


> Pakistan's lack of success is due to not investing in workers, processes and equipment and not due to trade barriers.



Doubt that....they never got the same LDC level access and help as BD did for decades now....so we will never know in the first place. If they were truly worse off on it it would show in their social and income development when in developed 3rd party (million times more credible than BD) countries compared to you. But they earn 50% more than you lot in the US....not 5 or 10%...*50%*. So yeah, it doesn't jive (just like those teenage pregnancy and birth rates you have w.r.t your claimed fertility rate).

@django @Major Sam @Game.Invade @CHACHA"G" 



Al-Ansar said:


> about GDDS and BBS.



Yeah it must be fun dumping inflation as growth and watching the poor eat less and less....just to feel a bit better about the Dhaka open stink everywhere and zero intellectual output status. Joy Bangla.

@bluesky

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## American Pakistani

nahtanbob said:


> Bangladeshis work harder to deliver higher quality garments at lower prices
> Garment industry is a low margin industry. quit blaming others for your incompetence



Bangladeshis are forced to work harder by their govt with lowest minimum wages around.

I believe you are blind or dumb or rturd who failed to see that I did mentioned Pakistan's incompetence as one of the other reason.


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## UKBengali

American Pakistani said:


> Bangladeshis are forced to work harder by their govt with lowest minimum wages around.
> 
> I believe you are blind or dumb or rturd who failed to see that I did mentioned Pakistan's incompetence as one of the other reason.




You aware that minimum wage in garments is now 100 US dollars a month for BD?
Pakistan's minimum wage currently sits at 107 US dollars a month.

What is the difference there?

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## Nike

Actually the increase of Bd export toward US is much to do with the maturing of Bd market product in US, albeit the increasing in the last five year is not much and very marginal and can tell you it just dominated by RMG product 

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5380.html

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> The whole year is what is being talked about. When there is a relative depression in the exact same period previously...that adds a low base effect (which bumps up the next years performance even if its just average or less than average to the norm), which is effectively a seasonal variation in the longer cycle.
> 
> The onus is then to see what the final year result actually is. I know its kind of hard to grasp for someone who thought that peak load in electricity correlates 1:1 to total integral consumption. But then again the low patent and science output speaks volumes about that anyway.




Again, you disabled in the mental area?

Last fiscal there was only a 2% increase in exports and so this near 20% can be thought of as making up both years pretty much. BD is doing well to be increasing it's exports by an average of 10% a year, would you not agree?

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## American Pakistani

UKBengali said:


> You aware that minimum wage in garments is now 100 US dollars a month for BD?
> Pakistan's minimum wage currently sits at 107 US dollars a month.
> 
> What is the difference there?



Yes I'm aware that Bangladeshi minimum wage was 64 which was increase to 95$ and is currently 95$ whereas Pakistan's minimum wage in 2017 was 133$.

Your workers are being looted by foreign companies but your govt only care to keep companies happy and workers crushed.

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## UKBengali

American Pakistani said:


> Yes I'm aware that Bangladeshi minimum wage was 64 which was increase to 95$ and is currently 95$ whereas Pakistan's minimum wage in 2017 was 133$.
> 
> Your workers are being looted by foreign companies but your govt only care to keep companies happy and workers crushed.




Looted? That is the wrong way to see it.
BD is balancing between jobs and wages so that both the workers and the employers benefit.
Current Pakistan minimum wage for this year is 107 US dollars at current exchange rates.

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## American Pakistani

UKBengali said:


> Looted? That is the wrong way to see it.
> BD is balancing between jobs and wages so that both the workers and the employers benefit.
> Current Pakistan minimum wage for this year is 107 US dollars at current exchange rates.



lol, it seems like only the employers are benificiary here as they have sense your govt's thought process in which they don't give a fk about workers.

If a country like Pakistan which is currently fighting a war while dealing with international restrictions and holding an enemy on it's back foot which is way bigger and still keeping the minimum wage at 15,000 of its currency, Bangladesh who don't have any similar challenges can easily have minimum wage at 20,000taka.


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## Bengal71

UKBengali said:


> You aware that minimum wage in garments is now 100 US dollars a month for BD?
> Pakistan's minimum wage currently sits at 107 US dollars a month.
> 
> What is the difference there?



The problem is butthurt. If they could manage to prop up an industry with this sum of export volume they would grab it with two hands. So they will fault fine anything and everything while pretending to care for our "Poor and Oppressed" workers as if they are well wishers and giving good advice. Their true colours are in the posts where some users were hoping that it would benefit Pakistan.



American Pakistani said:


> lol, it seems like only the employers are benificiary here as they have sense your govt's thought process in which they don't give a fk about workers.
> 
> If a country like Pakistan which is currently fighting a war while dealing with international restrictions and holding an enemy on it's back foot which is way bigger and still keeping the minimum wage at 15,000 of its currency, Bangladesh who don't have any similar challenges can easily have minimum wage at 20,000taka.



Yes yes, let our government and industries loot those workers. We still are one of the biggest textile exporters in the world. You would have it in a heartbeat if you could.

Don't worry about workers and their work conditions. Worry about your industries and exports.

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## nahtanbob

American Pakistani said:


> Bangladeshis are forced to work harder by their govt with lowest minimum wages around.
> 
> I believe you are blind or dumb or rturd who failed to see that I did mentioned Pakistan's incompetence as one of the other reason.



Bangladesh government cannot make anyone work harder ... if governments were that capable it wouldn't be a 3rd world country. the wages are set by supply and demand
if minimum wage was the success criteria China would be exporting several times what Pakistan or Bangladesh

to the degree pakistani textile exports are sagging incompetence is the only reason I can think. Maybe there is a better explanation.

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## American Pakistani

Bengal71 said:


> Yes yes, let our government and industries loot those workers. We still are one of the biggest textile exporters in the world. You would have it in a heartbeat if you could.
> 
> Don't worry about workers and their work conditions. Worry about your industries and exports.



You are one of the largest cuz your govt let foreign companies to loot your workers, just like mir Jaffar invited foreigners to loot subcontinent.

And no, I'm not worried about your workers, I was just drawing a situation which most of you fools try to brush under the carpet but don't realize that dirt will stay there.



nahtanbob said:


> Bangladesh government cannot make anyone work harder ... if governments were that capable it wouldn't be a 3rd world country. the wages are set by supply and demand



Oh yes genius? How is Pakistan's minimum wage stood way higher than yours then? And still is. Given that you and your fellow bengalis claim that Pakistan is very poor and economic growth is 1% only.

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## nahtanbob

American Pakistani said:


> Oh yes genius? How is Pakistan's minimum wage stood way higher than yours then? And still is. Given that you and your fellow bengalis claim that Pakistan is very poor and economic growth is 1% only.



minimum wage can be artificially set. it is a number. 

is it enforced ?
how many hours do you have to work ?
do workers have job security ?
are worker safety rules followed ?
do I have to deal with unions ?

Without answers to the above questions $107 versus $133. it is not a big difference.

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## Bengal71

American Pakistani said:


> You are one of the largest cuz your govt let foreign companies to loot your workers, just like mir Jaffar invited foreigners to loot subcontinent.
> 
> And no, I'm not worried about your workers, I was just drawing a situation which most of you fools try to brush under the carpet but don't realize that dirt will stay there.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh yes genius? How is Pakistan's minimum wage stood way higher than yours then? And still is. Given that you and your fellow bengalis claim that Pakistan is very poor and economic growth is 1% only.



Sure sure sir, I understood you sir. Yet your people are posting here hoping Pakistani industries would be benefited.

Yet I understand you sir.

But at this stage we are keeping things as we see fit. Thanks for your input sir.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> BD is doing well to be increasing it's exports by an average of 10% a year, would you not agree?



https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.GSR.GNFS.CD?locations=BD-IN

BD over last 6 years averages around 6.4% growth in total exports.

When Indian per capita export was closer to BD current one (2005-2011)...the growth rate was around 20% a year.

So no you are not doing that well at all....even with your low base effect.

Welcome to the world of having just one export product....with environment space established by the globalist feelz of developed countries.



American Pakistani said:


> Yes I'm aware that Bangladeshi minimum wage was 64 which was increase to 95$ and is currently 95$ whereas Pakistan's minimum wage in 2017 was 133$.
> 
> Your workers are being looted by foreign companies but your govt only care to keep companies happy and workers crushed.



Its even worse than that....incredible amount of inflation is now causing BD real household income to decline:

https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2017/12/18/where-did-the-benefits-of-economic-growth-disappear/



American Pakistani said:


> Oh yes genius? How is Pakistan's minimum wage stood way higher than yours then? And still is. Given that you and your fellow bengalis claim that Pakistan is very poor and economic growth is 1% only.



Well Pakistan actually submits to improving its standards dissemination (quite unlike Bangladesh), is improving on corruption ranking etc....not to mention has much higher physical consumption (where it matters) and poverty reduction ....Pakistan is years ahead of BD. So of course minimum wage has to be higher in Pakistan.

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## Zibago

It all depends on what fake hasina wants the views of public have no value in a dictatorship

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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh’s home textile share is rising in global market*

September 22, 2018
*Bangladesh is emerging as one of the leaders in global home textile production and export arena.*

Abir Basak

Home textile is one of the first line export sector in Bangladesh also known as decorative textile. Due to quality and diversified range of products, the country’s production of the home textile is being increased day by day. In the mid-nineties, local industry entrepreneurs concentrated in making home textiles, while Bangladesh entered the export market in the 1980s with knit items. This sector, initially has seen losses, has gradually started to return to the growth trend over time. In this fiscal year, the export revenues of this sector can touch billions of dollars – that is the expectation from the concerned people.






Figure 1: Home textile items are displayed at Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd.
Home textile factories in Bangladesh are very less compared to woven or knit garments. 25-30 companies in Dhaka, Gazipur and Chittagong arena are producing home textile items. However, Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, Mosharraf Group, Saad Musa Group, Alltex, ACS Textile, Apex Weaving, Regent, JK Group, Classical Home etc. have established as strong exporters. Among them, Noman Group’s Zaber & Zubair Fabrics is the pioneer home textile marketer in Bangladesh.





In recent times, many entrepreneurs are showing keen interest and they are coming forward to invest in this sector. Big groups are extending their manufacturing plants for home textile. Bangladesh exports different types of home textile products including bed sheets, bedspreads, pillow, pillow covers, cotton table napkins, furnishing fabrics, fancy drapes, window and door curtains, cushion, cushion covers, carpets, table covers, kitchen linen (also kitchen towels and mittens etc.), mattress covers, bath linen, and other home furnishings.

*Global home textile market*

The home textile market has registered a robust growth worldwide and experts say the demand is expected to reach 160+ billion dollars by 2025. The United States and EU countries import a lion’s share of home textile products, which is 60 to 70 percent of the global market.

The primary exporters of these products are China, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladeshi entrepreneurs. In 2016, global textile and apparel trade stood at US$ 743 billion, while the share of other categories such as fiber, yarn and fabric has decreased. Home textile has maintained its share of 6% over the past five years.





Figure 2: Home textile items are displayed at Mosharraf Group.
According to Technavio, a research firm, the global home textiles trade is valued at US$ 118 billion in 2017 and will reach US$ 131.5 billion by 2020 and US$ 180 billion by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 3.5% or more during 2018-2025. Carpets were the top traded category valued at US$ 14 billion. While table linen, furnishing and carpets have been growing at a negative CAGR of 5%, 2% and 1% respectively, bath/kitchen linen has shown the maximum positive CAGR of 3% and an increase in the share of 1% too.

The top 10 importing nations contribute to about 80% of the home textiles market. EU-28 is the largest market for home textiles with a share of 36% and import value of $17 billion. This is followed by the US with an import value of $11 billion and a share of 24%. Japan, Canada, Australia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Thailand constitute the top markets for global home textiles.

Thailand has emerged as a market for home textiles in the last five years with a CAGR of 22% but at a small base value. Japan is the third largest market for home textiles - but is declining with a CAGR of 6% over a period of five years due to the economic downturn and demographic issues. Russia, facing similar issues, has shown a downfall of 18%, thus losing ranks in the list of major markets but is expecting some growth at some point going forward.

*The booming Bangladeshi trade*

Just a decade ago, buyers thought that home textile products are only produced in China, India, Pakistan and Turkey. However, the situation has changed; the name of Bangladesh has now been added with these countries. 

The growth of home textiles consumed locally is also inevitable in the Bangladeshi market as customers desire unique interior designs showcasing their homes and offices, and do not hesitate to spend in this sector. 

Bed and bath linen are the most popular segments and contribute to two-thirds of the total home textiles market while kitchen linen, curtains, upholstery and carpets/rugs make up for the rest of the share.





Figure 3: Mosharraf Group also has a range of unique and exclusive home textile products.

According to the Bangladesh Terry Towel & Linen Manufacturers Exporters Association (BTTLMEA) and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh earned US$ 150 million by exporting home textile products in the FY 2004-05. In addition, this export income has been increased to about US$ 753.01 million in the FY 2015-2016. In the middle years, the export growth had fluctuated, also indicated to earn better revenue as well. Exports of Bangladesh touched the highest revenue of US$ 906.07 million in the 2011-12 fiscal years. EPB has set an export target of US$ 900 million for the home textile sector in the current fiscal year.





Figure 4: Bangladesh home textile exports in million US$. (source: BTTLMEA)
*
The scenario of Bangladesh’s rival countries *

China, Pakistan, India and Turkey are the main competitors of Bangladesh in this scenario where Bangladesh is in 5th position. Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia or other manufacturers cannot reach at the level of Bangladesh yet but their gains are remarkable. In 2016, more than $26.86 billion worth of home textiles were imported from outside the EU, according to the data from the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, Euratex. Of the sum, China accounted for 33%, Pakistan 25%, India 16%, and Turkey 11%. Bangladesh’s share was 7-8%.





Figure 5: Contribution (%) of different countries in the global home textile market. (source: Euratex)

According to the South China Morning Post & China Home Textile Association, China exports for home textile items in the world is now valued at around US$ 18 Billion and is expected to grow to a minimum of US$ 32 Billion within the next four years.

*Cotton cultivator *

The Indian domestic consumption of home textiles contribute US$ 4.8 Billion according to 'statistics', a research firm. Considering the advantages of raw material base, design content, skilled manpower - the home textile industry in India can achieve higher levels of growth than the present.

Pakistan already remains apex in this sector compared to Bangladesh due to having its own cotton and GSP+ facilities. Besides Pakistan government gives some extra subsidy packages for lifting up the industry. Technological advancement brings the country’s revenue up to US$ 6.2 Billion in 2016-17 according to hometextiletoday.com. On the other hand, the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Chinese industrial zone Xinjiang is going to join the Arabian Sea through Pakistan. This means a China-Pakistan export trade is going to be more dynamic.

The Turkish home textile industry is the world’s fourth-largest supplier and the EU’s second largest supplier. As a result, at the end of 2017, the total exports of home textile is recorded as USD 3.6 billion out of USD 25 billion of their apparels & RMG exports, according to Turkish Economic Ministry. To accelerate their business every year Turkey arranges trade fair on home textiles named ‘Evteks’ & ‘Hometex’.

*The reasons behind the upcoming lead of Bangladesh*

Experts believe that Bangladesh’s position in this sector will reach in the top rankings soon.

_Investments in research_

New investments in fabrics and garments manufacturing are playing a key role in establishing Bangladesh’s dominance in the US and EU markets. However, manufacturers are also investing in research and development of high-end products, helping them get a better price. Meanwhile, improvement of the safety standard in the apparel industry has also drawn the attention of more global buyers.

_Quality and latest technology_

Today the Bangladeshi home textile industry is aware of the trend in international markets towards the increasing demand for healthier and more environmentally friendly products and quickly adapts itself to developments in legal and technical regulations. Many manufacturers in the sector are able to produce with quality and environmental management systems, a key EU requirement. Buyers always want quality fabrics when it comes to home textiles products. To manufacture quality fabrics, the latest manufacturing technology is a must for any company.

Some renowned world manufacturers have also started making home textile products in natural fabrics such as soy and bamboo fibre along with silk, polyester, and many others. Bangladesh should also afford more focus on the production of newer diversified products rather than traditional quality and design.

Bangladesh still cannot reach the level of China or Pakistan in this sector, but buyers are naturally starting vote with their orders in their confidence on Bangladesh' manufacturing capabilities in other apparel areas.

_Design and Innovation
_
In a rapidly changing world, the home decoration fabrics field is very sensitive to all changes in fashion trend. That is why the creation of collections with innovative and modern designs and motifs is essential. Bangladeshi home textile manufacturers are very conscious about fashion creation and design, which enables them to gain a special place in international markets. New and modern designs and unique motifs in this specialized sector, created by Bangladeshi intellectual designers, keep a finger on the pulse of world home decoration fashion and meet tastes and preferences.





Figure 6: To cope up with the sensitive nature of the home decorative market, Bangladeshi entrepreneur’s has come up with creativity and innovation.
Although Bangladesh depends more on buyers’ provided OEM design since long, some manufacturing houses have created their own design studios to develop this lagging sector. Industry insiders say, buyers are choosing manufacturer’s design gradually such as 2 or 3 own designs are being selected out of 10 which was stood at zero in previous. Hopefully, it’s a positive sign to uplift the sector and earn revenue growth as well. If Bangladesh can make its footing stronger in developing design and innovation, then the sky is the limit for the local home textile industry.

_Sustainable growth_

It has to be believed that Bangladesh now considers the maximum sustainable environment to make products. Factories are working to produce numerous products through the sustainable practices, which are being appreciated by the buyers. Therefore, this culture will keep ahead to the home textile business of the country.

_Government Support_

Bangladesh has a stable and supportive government, which has launched various support schemes for textile and apparel manufacturers to make them globally competitive. The scheme's targets are technology upgradation, infrastructure development, to develop more EPZ zones, export promotion etc.

Various ministries- including industry, commercial, finance, jute & textiles, planning- have also announced their textile policies aimed at attracting investments in the country.

The Bangladeshi government has made focused efforts in improving economic systems to attract foreign investors, enhance international trade, and increase transparency. As a result, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into Bangladesh in 2017, 2016 & 2015 calendar year were recorded to be US$ 215 crore, US$ 233 crore & US$ 223 crore respectively, according to United Nation’s Trade and Development Organization named ‘The United Nation Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

_Remaining difficulties_

Traders say that there was no expansion of the home textile market since last few years as per expectation. Currently, there is a lot of work orders coming from abroad, but it is not possible to meet them with present production capacity. However, if uninterrupted gas-power and low-interest bank loans continue being available, then it will be possible to easily increase the export earnings in this sector within the next five years.

In Bangladesh, although fiber-yarn, dyes or denim product exhibitions are arranged on a regular basis, a separate exhibition solely for home textile products has not been organized yet. There is no alternative to organize such a fair in this country to showcase local products and to convince the world’s small and large buyers to invest in Bangladesh products.

Some of Europe and America’s major retailing companies sourcing home textile products from Bangladesh include IKEA, Carrefour, ASDA, Littlewood, Maurice Phillips, Wal-Mart and Redcats. As demand is increasing, domestic producers are also increasing their product range, and they’re going to expand industrial output.






However, the price of cotton and its continuous supply for the home textile sector are the biggest issue, said the entrepreneurs. Bangladesh is far behind here than China, India and Pakistan. They can control 40 to 50 percent production costs easily themselves because of their own cotton supply.

Bangladesh has to depend on the fluctuations in the price of the world market. Because Bangladesh can meet only 2 percent of the domestic demand by cotton. The remaining 98 percent is imported. In addition, despite having huge potential in home textile, Bangladesh is slightly unable to expand its market share in the European Union because of duty benefits extended to Pakistan, a cotton grower.

Md. Jahangir Alam, Deputy General Manager (Production) of Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd (Noman Group) discussed this matter with 'Textile Today', “As cotton is a seasonal product, we have to import cotton for five to six months output at the same time. It ties down a huge amount of money. Higher interest rates are accounted for bank loans. Moreover, to import cotton, 5% import shipping cost is another factor. Due to these reasons, the price of our products naturally increases.”

But, Mr. Alam does not simply see the problem of cotton as the main reason. He added, “If we get gas and electricity according to demand, it will never create a barrier. In many factories, it seems huge scarcity of gas pressure almost at the half-time of batch production. If the government reduces the interest rates of bank loans, improves communication and port competency, then it is believed a revolution can happen in this sector.”

Addressing the importance of arranging and participating in international fairs, Md. Jahangir Alam said that home textile product’s exhibition (HEIMTEXTIL) is organized in Germany, China, and Turkey. By participating in this type of exhibition, it is often understood how backward our products are and where we need to develop.

“In Bangladesh, though fiber-yarn, dyes or denim product’s exhibitions are arranged, but only a separate exhibition for home textile products has not been organized yet. To showcase our products and to convince the world’s small and big buyers to invest in Bangladesh, there is no alternative to organize such fair in this country,” he continued.

Bangladesh Terry Towel & Linen Manufacturers Exporters Association (BTTLMEA) has given some suggestions to the government for the promotion of home textile sector. Their proposal asks everyone to show their interest to work with GSP+ instead of GSP so that Bangladesh can increase her ability to survive in export trade with competitor countries-China, Pakistan, Turkey, and India.






*Conclusion*
Bangladesh’s home textile business has a bright future. However, updated thinking and sufficient research opportunities are needed. New entrepreneurs and investors have to come forward in the sector. At the same time, continuous collaboration by the government and appropriate policy support can boost the earnings in this industrial sector.

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.GSR.GNFS.CD?locations=BD-IN
> 
> BD over last 6 years averages around 6.4% growth in total exports.



I am on tablet and so cannot link to IMF 2018 database but below are real figures from 2012-2017 for export growth:

2012 - 5.9%
2013 - 14.3%
2014 - 7.6%
2015 - 9.2%
2016 - 11.0%
2017 - 2.5%

We know that in last 4 months export growth is up 20% from same period last year.

So apart from last fiscal, which was a blip, BD export growth seems to be around 10% a year.

The heart-burn from a butt-hurt like you brings great joy to me.

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## American Pakistani

Bengal71 said:


> Sure sure sir, I understood you sir. Yet your people are posting here hoping Pakistani industries would be benefited.
> 
> Yet I understand you sir.
> 
> But at this stage we are keeping things as we see fit. Thanks for your input sir.



Just as you ppl posted your minimum wage is as high as Pakistan. Entire world is not Bangladeshi who don't know anythingand blindly believes it's govt.



nahtanbob said:


> minimum wage can be artificially set. it is a number.
> 
> is it enforced ?
> how many hours do you have to work ?
> do workers have job security ?
> are worker safety rules followed ?
> do I have to deal with unions ?
> 
> Without answers to the above questions $107 versus $133. it is not a big difference.



It sure is enforced in Pakistan, you go to get some labor and he will tell you this is the "dehari" he will work for. As for companies, they are monitored by FBR. Minimum wages in Pakistan are for 8 hours but I've heard companies taking advantage of workers to full extent in Bangladesh, basically looting them and govt turns a blind eye. Not saying everything is strictly enforced in Pakistan but it is way way better enforced and managed than Bangladesh. And given the current situation of Pakistan where CJP, NAB, FBR, Courts all are strictly monitoring corruption and business situations, it sure is hard for companies to go against govt set standards.

Surely it is when you are in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Don't see things through US angle just cuz you are currently residing there. I live in Pakistan and know how every $ counts. Further more it is 95$ for Bangladesh just recently hiked from 64$.

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## TopCat

American Pakistani said:


> Surely it is when you are in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Don't see things through US angle just cuz you are currently residing there. I live in Pakistan and know how every $ counts. Further more it is 95$ for Bangladesh just recently hiked from 64$.



There are no minimum wage law in Bangladesh. Its a free market.
The wage you mentioned is a guideline for garments sector and negotiated between owner, worker and government and a tripartite agreement. A lot of garments pay far more than the guideline.
There are many demanding sectors which pays more and some which pays far less.

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## Bilal9

Guys you don't see where a country's specialization is.

Sure Pakistan does poorly in apparel sector but they do great in other sectors like home textiles (towels, bedsheets, carpets, drapes). Part of the reason is they get GSP+ facilities from the EU. I posted on the 'Bangladesh Economic Development' thread on it (sticky persistent thread).

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/bang...ates-discussions.418207/page-30#post-10984241

Plus they also have defence, engineering sectors which are equal to if not more developed than ours which does great in import substitution compared to ours. If they,

a) Kiss and make up with India and mutually de-escalate scaremongered military spending,

b) Handle their resident fundamentalist destabilization issues,

c) Reduce their runaway population growth via grassroots movement,

They will be in GREAT SHAPE. But yeah that is a lot of IF's.


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## SBUS-CXK

UKBengali said:


> Let us take a step back and analyse this.
> 
> Myanmar has declared itself to be an enemy of BD over many decades.
> China ha also committed a grossly unfriendly act over Rohingya issue and is still
> supporting the savages 100%.
> 
> Unless BD respects itself, no-one will respect BD.


I am not very clear about the problem of Rohingya.

For example, NK nuclear problem, Iran nuclear problem... China is an important participant and discussant. 
Rohingya？ don't widen the problem. Syria, Libya, Iraq is enough...

Different strategic heights lead to political differences.

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## American Pakistani

TopCat said:


> There are no minimum wage law in Bangladesh. Its a free market.
> The wage you mentioned is a guideline for garments sector and negotiated between owner, worker and government and a tripartite agreement. A lot of garments pay far more than the guideline.
> There are many demanding sectors which pays more and some which pays far less.



Going by your logic one can predict, most pay way below minimum wage. Nobody want to pay more when they can get it done for cheaper.



Bilal9 said:


> Guys you don't see where a country's specialization is.
> 
> Sure Pakistan does poorly in apparel sector but they do great in other sectors like home textiles (towels, bedsheets, carpets, drapes). Part of the reason is they get GSP+ facilities from the EU. I posted on the 'Bangladesh Economic Development' thread on it (sticky persistent thread).
> 
> https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/bang...ates-discussions.418207/page-30#post-10984241
> 
> Plus they also have defence, engineering sectors which are equal to if not more developed than ours which does great in import substitution compared to ours. If they,
> 
> a) Kiss and make up with India and mutually de-escalate scaremongered military spending,
> 
> b) Handle their resident fundamentalist destabilization issues,
> 
> c) Reduce their runaway population growth via grassroots movement,
> 
> They will be in GREAT SHAPE. But yeah that is a lot of IF's.



Pakistan maybe getting GSP but it is useless until now as Pakistan haven't took any advantage of it.

Pakistan's defense and engineering is equal to Bangladesh's, can you explain how you came to that conclusion? Pakistan is currently manufacturing tanks, fighter jets, advanced weapons, assembling automobiles for multinational brands, manufactures world's best sports goods, world's best surgical goods, etc etc, so I don't understand how you came to that conclusion.

And no we don't want to be Bangladesh and worship bharat, Bangladesh can do it and enjoy the limited liberty that India has granted.

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## UKBengali

Two said:


> I am not very clear about the problem of Rohingya.
> 
> For example, NK nuclear problem, Iran nuclear problem... China is an important participant and discussant.
> Rohingya？ don't widen the problem. Syria, Libya, Iraq is enough...
> 
> Different strategic heights lead to political differences.



No idea what your point is here.


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## UKBengali

@American Pakistani 

Why so much butt-hurt at BD?

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## SBUS-CXK

UKBengali said:


> No idea what your point is here.


Not too complicated. Compared with NK, Iran, Syria, Libya, Iraq... The Rohingya problem is simple. 
So don't make it complicated. It is not at the global strategic level.

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## Bilal9

American Pakistani said:


> Pakistan maybe getting GSP but it is useless until now as Pakistan haven't took any advantage of it.
> 
> Pakistan's defense and engineering is equal to Bangladesh's, can you explain how you came to that conclusion? Pakistan is currently manufacturing tanks, fighter jets, advanced weapons, assembling automobiles for multinational brands, manufactures world's best sports goods, world's best surgical goods, etc etc, so I don't understand how you came to that conclusion.
> 
> And no we don't want to be Bangladesh and worship bharat, Bangladesh can do it and enjoy the limited liberty that India has granted.



I don't want to go into useless/pointless dick measuring here and putting up pictures/evidence.

If you are truly interested in comparing engineering sector investments - then you need to actually know about it, please use Google. 

Other than Pakistan's aerospace investments in Kamra, Submarine production at Karachi and one example of HIT (all governmental i.e. non-profit scenarios and a drain on the national exchequer), most Pakistani for-profit engineering investments and capabilities are basically at the same level as ours is. 

Defense item production is not a focus in Bangladesh. If it was, you'd see plenty of defense products. But that is not a need for us. I sincerely hope Pakistan becomes more successful in exporting these 'advanced weapons' and establishing revenue-earning production lines. Otherwise a few samples won't feed anyone in Pakistan.

Industry exists to make a profit by export or stand in as import-substitution. If your govt. cannot ensure security for production and even consistency of power supply then how will industry stay in your country? Who are we to be blamed? Just between 2008 and 2013, Pakistan lost two-fifth's (40%) of its power looms (total of 200,000 looms) which moved to Bangladesh, leaving 200,000 families in your country without a job. This situation (lack of stability, power supply, terrorism, kidnappings etc.) is of your own making and your leaders need to correct this.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/migration-of-textile-industry-to-bangladesh.237018/

There have been recent investments in Bangladesh automotive, consumer goods and appliance production sectors which is actually at more root level than it is in Pakistan, given our respective states of economical growth. Please look at all the threads in the Bangladeshi subsection, you will find some answers. And you are an intelligent person. Use your logic. If our per-capita-GDP is at almost the same level, why would this NOT be the case?

As for Sialkot - I know that those are all non-mechanized cottage industries (sweatshops) for sports goods and surgery items and 'world's best' might be stretching it. These clearly hand-made items (scalpels, knives, tweezers, scissors, special surgical SS tools) which vary widely in quality and there is no consistency in output and finishing, though *some* are quite good. These are all over eBay by the way. Chinese surgical implements are far higher in quality and above all consistent. And Chinese items are not even at the top level in this category.

Coordinated systematic mechanization investments were not made in this niche export sector AFAIK, otherwise things would have improved even more, and leave your exports with better margins. This is what my Pakistani friends lament about all the time.

Having said all this - neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh is Germany. Both our countries are at basic levels of infancy in industrial export output when it comes to other than apparel/shoes/FMCG/Food items and truth be told, not even anywhere near what Indian infra is capable of as far as heavy engineering industrial output- much less China. You have to acknowledge the truth for what it is. If you lie to yourself, you are only doing yourself a disservice. I have been to Pakistan AND Bangladesh almost every year in the past few years and I can make comparisons. I don't know how many Pakistanis can say the same thing....

A lot of Pakistani brothers have been fed misinformation due to the activity of trolls here. The solution is to do some of your own research.

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## UKBengali

Two said:


> Not too complicated. Compared with NK, Iran, Syria, Libya, Iraq... The Rohingya problem is simple.
> So don't make it complicated. It is not at the global strategic level.



For BD it is not "simple".

China needs to understand this.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> I am on tablet and so cannot link to IMF 2018 database but below are real figures from 2012-2017 for export growth:
> 
> 2012 - 5.9%
> 2013 - 14.3%
> 2014 - 7.6%
> 2015 - 9.2%
> 2016 - 11.0%
> 2017 - 2.5%



Just went to check there....it's volume growth, not value growth (as I posted from WB data):

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=70&pr.y=5&sy=2005&ey=2023&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=513,534&s=TX_RPCH&grp=0&a=#cs1

Whats even funnier is the GDDS manifesting in the fine print lol:

*Bangladesh: Volume of exports of goods and services (Percent change)*
Source: Central Bank
Latest actual data: 2017
Base year: _Other_ 
Methodology used to derive volumes: _Other_ 
Formula used to derive volumes: _Not applicable_ 


*India: Volume of exports of goods and services (Percent change)*
Source: Central Bank
Latest actual data: 2017/18
Base year: 2011/12
Methodology used to derive volumes: Deflation by survey-based price indexes
Formula used to derive volumes: Laspeyres-type

Now you tell me...is volume or value of exports more pertinent number?

Say if you sell double the quantity of something but earn the same as you did before...is it progress?



UKBengali said:


> We know that in last 4 months export growth is up 20% from same period last year.



So is that volume or value growth? Since you have trouble discerning the difference 



UKBengali said:


> So apart from last fiscal, which was a blip, BD export growth seems to be around 10% a year.



Nope....around 6% in value (what matters) growth per annum. The "blip" was just halving of what already is slow incremental growth (given BD low base).



American Pakistani said:


> Pakistan's defense and engineering is equal to Bangladesh's, can you explain how you came to that conclusion?



Feelings.

Remember this is the same guy that has claimed automobile industry assembly chain is essentially the same level of inherent productivity/skill/value addition as stitching jeans and underwear.

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## Nilgiri

Two said:


> Not too complicated. Compared with NK, Iran, Syria, Libya, Iraq... The Rohingya problem is simple.
> So don't make it complicated. It is not at the global strategic level.



BD thinks its lot more important than it actually is....instead of actually making itself important.

This is the crux of the issue.

Hence a much smaller population country like MM can push them around with no effort....and it causes them to cry endlessly.

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## nahtanbob

American Pakistani said:


> Just as you ppl posted your minimum wage is as high as Pakistan. Entire world is not Bangladeshi who don't know anythingand blindly believes it's govt.
> 
> 
> 
> It sure is enforced in Pakistan, you go to get some labor and he will tell you this is the "dehari" he will work for. As for companies, they are monitored by FBR. Minimum wages in Pakistan are for 8 hours but I've heard companies taking advantage of workers to full extent in Bangladesh, basically looting them and govt turns a blind eye. Not saying everything is strictly enforced in Pakistan but it is way way better enforced and managed than Bangladesh. And given the current situation of Pakistan where CJP, NAB, FBR, Courts all are strictly monitoring corruption and business situations, it sure is hard for companies to go against govt set standards.



laws being enforced in pakistan is a joke. look at the number of taxpayers in your country.
at least bangladesh is honest in saying they have minimal laws

at the end of the day bangladesh is exporting 2.5 times more than pakistan


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## American Pakistani

Bilal9 said:


> I don't want to go into useless/pointless dick measuring here and putting up pictures/evidence.
> 
> If you are truly interested in comparing engineering sector investments - then you need to actually know about it, please use Google.
> 
> Other than Pakistan's aerospace investments in Kamra, Submarine production at Karachi and one example of HIT (all governmental i.e. non-profit scenarios and a drain on the national exchequer), most Pakistani for-profit engineering investments and capabilities are basically at the same level as ours is.
> 
> Defense item production is not a focus in Bangladesh. If it was, you'd see plenty of defense products. But that is not a need for us. I sincerely hope Pakistan becomes more successful in exporting these 'advanced weapons' and establishing revenue-earning production lines. Otherwise a few samples won't feed anyone in Pakistan.
> 
> Industry exists to make a profit by export or stand in as import-substitution. If your govt. cannot ensure security for production and even consistency of power supply then how will industry stay in your country? Who are we to be blamed? Just between 2008 and 2013, Pakistan lost two-fifth's (40%) of its power looms (total of 200,000 looms) which moved to Bangladesh, leaving 200,000 families in your country without a job. This situation (lack of stability, power supply, terrorism, kidnappings etc.) is of your own making and your leaders need to correct this.
> 
> https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/migration-of-textile-industry-to-bangladesh.237018/
> 
> There have been recent investments in Bangladesh automotive, consumer goods and appliance production sectors which is actually at more root level than it is in Pakistan, given our respective states of economical growth. Please look at all the threads in the Bangladeshi subsection, you will find some answers. And you are an intelligent person. Use your logic. If our per-capita-GDP is at almost the same level, why would this NOT be the case?
> 
> As for Sialkot - I know that those are all non-mechanized cottage industries (sweatshops) for sports goods and surgery items and 'world's best' might be stretching it. These clearly hand-made items (scalpels, knives, tweezers, scissors, special surgical SS tools) which vary widely in quality and there is no consistency in output and finishing, though *some* are quite good. These are all over eBay by the way. Chinese surgical implements are far higher in quality and above all consistent. And Chinese items are not even at the top level in this category.
> 
> Coordinated systematic mechanization investments were not made in this niche export sector AFAIK, otherwise things would have improved even more, and leave your exports with better margins. This is what my Pakistani friends lament about all the time.
> 
> Having said all this - neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh is Germany. Both our countries are at basic levels of infancy in industrial export output when it comes to other than apparel/shoes/FMCG/Food items and truth be told, not even anywhere near what Indian infra is capable of as far as heavy engineering industrial output- much less China. You have to acknowledge the truth for what it is. If you lie to yourself, you are only doing yourself a disservice. I have been to Pakistan AND Bangladesh almost every year in the past few years and I can make comparisons. I don't know how many Pakistanis can say the same thing....
> 
> A lot of Pakistani brothers have been fed misinformation due to the activity of trolls here. The solution is to do some of your own research.



Forget about everything, just show me that your defense and heavy engineering industry is at equal level to Pakistan. Given that Pakistan is behind you (as per your claim) it shouldn't be too hard.



nahtanbob said:


> laws being enforced in pakistan is a joke. look at the number of taxpayers in your country.
> at least bangladesh is honest in saying they have minimal laws
> 
> at the end of the day bangladesh is exporting 2.5 times more than pakistan



Laws revolving around companies are enforced else they will have to deal with FBR, NAB and even courts. And even if you goto find a labor on dehari they will tell you to pay 800 rupees to 1000.

Yes there are many laws that are not followed or enforced and people bribe themselves out.

Hahaha, is that what your bangladeshi or indian media told you? Pakistan exports are 25 billion whereas Bangladesh exports are 37 Billion. Is that 2.5? Or bangla education is producing stunt duffers?



UKBengali said:


> @American Pakistani
> 
> Why so much butt-hurt at BD?



Abay kya bawla hua hai, ya sathya gaya hai?

From where did you came to that conclusion? I just love to see banglas being burning with anger and get butt hurt. Afterall they are made for this very purpose.

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## Nilgiri

American Pakistani said:


> From where did you came to that conclusion? I just love to see banglas being burning with anger and get butt hurt. Afterall they are made for this very purpose.





@django @Game.Invade @Desert Fox @Imran Khan @doorstar

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## American Pakistani

Nilgiri said:


> @django @Game.Invade @Desert Fox @Imran Khan @doorstar



You can clearly sense inferiority complex from their posts.

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## SBUS-CXK

Nilgiri said:


> BD thinks its lot more important than it actually is....instead of actually making itself important.
> 
> This is the crux of the issue.
> 
> Hence a much smaller population country like MM can push them around with no effort....and it causes them to cry endlessly.


The strategic height of each country is different. China may pay more attention to the Middle East and North Korea.

Rohingya？

Let me tell you what the Chinese think of it: Where is it? What happened there? Why are we brought into this topic?



UKBengali said:


> For BD it is not "simple".
> 
> China needs to understand this.


If Rohingya becomes an international issue. I believe that not only China can understand Bangladesh. The US,
Russia, Britain and France can also understand Bangladesh.

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## Nilgiri

Two said:


> Let me tell you what the Chinese think of it: Where is it? What happened there? Why are we brought into this topic?



Basically you were supposed to pick Bangladesh over Burma....because Bangladeshi posters here were looking at China as some saviour miracle for them.

Instead you stuck with time tested friend (Burma)...and now you are bad people because of it.

Don't take it too seriously....this behaviour by BD people has long long history...they follow it with everyone that comes their way...so they can feel better about themselves.

@Chinese-Dragon and few others saw for themselves just how nasty and hypocritical BD govt and posters are.

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## SBUS-CXK

Nilgiri said:


> Basically you were supposed to pick Bangladesh over Burma....because Bangladeshi posters here were looking at China as some saviour miracle for them.
> 
> Instead you stuck with time tested friend (Burma)...and now you are bad people because of it.
> 
> Don't take it too seriously....this behaviour by BD people has long long history...they follow it with everyone that comes their way...so they can feel better about themselves.
> 
> @Chinese-Dragon and few others saw for themselves just how nasty and hypocritical BD govt and posters are.


I did not participate in the discussion. Only. The Chinese really don't care about Rohingya.

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## Nilgiri

Two said:


> I did not participate in the discussion. Only. The Chinese really don't care about Rohingya.



Yes its not your problem and concern to begin with....China govt followed the correct approach on it.

BD tries to make it everyone's concern...so posters here reflect that attitude. They can be ignored as required. Some of them even were loudly squealing that by this year (2018), US will have already backed them with military support to create an Arakan independent country......so as you can imagine the same posters are very frustrated none of that has happened or will happen....especially because they invested all those time and tears into that dream.

They simply overestimate their country (BD) role and ranking in world affairs.

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## SBUS-CXK

Nilgiri said:


> Basically you were supposed to pick Bangladesh over Burma....because Bangladeshi posters here were looking at China as some saviour miracle for them.
> 
> Instead you stuck with time tested friend (Burma)...and now you are bad people because of it.
> 
> Don't take it too seriously....this behaviour by BD people has long long history...they follow it with everyone that comes their way...so they can feel better about themselves.
> 
> @Chinese-Dragon and few others saw for themselves just how nasty and hypocritical BD govt and posters are.


and Rohingya is only a regional issue. Similar to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Britain and Spain (Gibraltar)... 
it should not be an obstacle to economic cooperation... although this "barrier" is somewhat baffling.



Nilgiri said:


> Yes its not your problem and concern to begin with....China govt followed the correct approach on it.
> 
> BD tries to make it everyone's concern...so posters here reflect that attitude. They can be ignored as required. Some of them even were loudly squealing that by this year (2018), US will have already backed them with military support to create an Arakan independent country......so as you can imagine the same posters are very frustrated none of that has happened or will happen....especially because they invested all those time and tears into that dream.
> 
> They simply overestimate their country (BD) role and ranking in world affairs.


The Rohingya problem is not complicated. it can be solved. even Iran's nuclear problem has been solved. even the Korean Peninsula ended state of war. so, Rohingya is not complicated...

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## nahtanbob

American Pakistani said:


> Hahaha, is that what your bangladeshi or indian media told you? Pakistan exports are 25 billion whereas Bangladesh exports are 37 Billion. Is that 2.5? Or bangla education is producing stunt duffers?



pakistan textile exports are $13 billion. Bangladesh exports 2.5 times that.
your total exports are $25 billion


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## doorstar

Nilgiri said:


> @django @Game.Invade @Desert Fox @Imran Khan @doorstar


*Hypothetical:*
say If I were to create a sweatshop in shonarland, paying workers £80.00 per month. and then I 'export' the product of that sweatshop, say £10 million (or any amount) worth per annum.

would that be classified as a bongle export? bear in mind that I would provide all the materials for that product. the only thing sonardesh is contributing is electric, womanpower and rickshaws to the nearest port.

who is the net beneficiary UK or BD

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## Nilgiri

doorstar said:


> *Hypothetical:*
> say If I were to create a sweatshop in shonarland, paying workers £80.00 per month. and then I 'export' the product of that sweatshop, say £10 million (or any amount) worth per annum.
> 
> would that be classified as a bongle export? bear in mind that I would provide all the materials for that product. the only thing sonardesh is contributing is electric, [wo]manpower and rickshaws to the nearest port.
> 
> who is the net beneficiary UK or BD



Well it is why they are getting stuck in low income trap....there is little to no capital buffer being generated to invest into more profitable things (that need environment of much less govt control).

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## bluesky

Homo Sapiens said:


> 'Either you are with us, or against us.' International relationship and diplomacy do not happen based on such a primitive thinking.


Yes, you are the most knowledgeable champion of foreign diplomacy, and so it is you who is not thinking China does not play primitive foreign diplomacy when it is trying to wield power over the sovereign nations by using its dollar money. 

Read the citation below to know how a *$6 billion loan* was used by China to buy the sovereignty of an SL port. and know why BD' deep seaport construction will not be given to China. 
*Sri Lanka Formally Hands Over Hambantota Port to Chinese Firms on 99-Year Lease*

If you want to study a page of foreign diplomacy, Chinese style, I can send the full text. But, it seems you are not that fond of reading and learning. In the case of Rohingya, China is talking with its money and not with diplomatic niceties and here you are all praise for China. Neither your China nor you yourself have an iota of shame.

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## Arulmozhi Varman

Homo Sapiens said:


> Chinese port in Arakan coast in myanmar is actually a very good thing for Bangladesh. This port will be very near to Chittagong port and under construction deep sea port in Cox's Bazar. A great deal of export-import will happen between short distance Bangladeshi port and Chinese port in Arakan then. Both China and Bangladesh then will be able to avoid the long distance Malacca strait to engage in mutual trade. China's increasing influence over myanmar is good for Bangladesh. I believe, if China build extensive road and railway network within myanmar connecting Southern China with Arakan and Bay of Bengal, then China will be able to successfully pressurize myanmar to connect Bangladesh by road with it's nearby road network in Arakan. So, indirectly China-Bangladesh direct connection will be established by both road and sea port through myanmar.
> @Two



You are talking of ports as if they are point to point buses. BD and China doesnt have 600B of trade to have point to point ship port of calls. Even I am sceptical of Gwadar. The Chinese wouldnt want their port economies destroyed. 

For South And SE Asia transhipment takes place through Colombo, Singapore and one port in Malaysia. Thats about it.

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## ziaulislam

American Pakistani said:


> Indian and Israeli lobbies one of them.
> 
> Others include pakistani incompetence.


High labour
High taxes
High cost of social security 
High energy costs again due to taxes

Pakistan not only produce more cotton but also all the threads and has ample cotton near by central asia can delivee huge cotton cheap but we have banned import from there..dont ask why
Who knows ...
Why have we stopped giving explorations license for oil and gas who knows۔۔۔

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## doorstar

Nilgiri said:


> Well it is why they are getting stuck in low income trap....there is little to no capital buffer being generated to invest into more profitable things (that need environment of much less govt control).


I still need to know as to who the bigger beneficiary is, of India, UK and other owned sweatshops? why can the shonar PDFers not understand the difference between shonar owned vs. foreign owned exports?


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## Nilgiri

doorstar said:


> I still need to know as to who the bigger beneficiary is, of India, UK and other owned sweatshops? why can the shonar PDFers not understand the difference between shonar owned vs. foreign owned exports?



Well its complicated and everyone needs to start somewhere (before you can push to diversify and move up the value chain so you can host more of the profit margin yourself). 

I mean even if you look at final apple phone (something lot more value added than RMG) and break apart the final price..... most of the price is not sourced to the OEMs in China etc....so you can imagine the case with RMG % wise.

But it does provide a better route of income (at minimal capital investment) than was previously available (growing rice etc) to BD....i.e first step (no matter how much any margin generation is outsourced/offshored given the initial capital injection process etc)....it provides both basic output and revenue.

The problem creeping into BD over time is one of dependency on it...becaues govt rather would have just one conduit of forex earning....rather than compete and hedge (and lessen grip on the process overall).

It is for example why their productivity per worker is just somewhat better than Chad, Mali and Afghanistan, and worse than Yemen:

https://www.ilo.org/ilostat/faces/o...afrWindowMode=0&_adf.ctrl-state=15760ehnpc_57

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## doorstar

Nilgiri said:


> Well its complicated and everyone needs to start somewhere (before you can push to diversify and move up the value chain so you can host more of the profit margin yourself).
> 
> I mean even if you look at final apple phone (something lot more value added than RMG) and break apart the final price..... most of the price is not sourced to the OEMs in China etc....so you can imagine the case with RMG % wise.
> 
> But it does provide a better route of income (at minimal capital investment) than was previously available (growing rice etc) to BD....i.e first step (no matter how much any margin generation is outsourced/offshored given the initial capital injection process etc)....it provides both basic output and revenue.
> 
> The problem creeping into BD over time is one of dependency on it...becaues govt rather would have just one conduit of forex earning....rather than compete and hedge (and lessen grip on the process overall).
> 
> It is for example why their productivity per worker is just somewhat better than Chad, Mali and Afghanistan, and worse than Yemen:
> 
> https://www.ilo.org/ilostat/faces/oracle/webcenter/portalapp/pagehierarchy/Page3.jspx?MBI_ID=49&_afrLoop=455853564397354&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=15760ehnpc_1#!@@?_afrWindowId=15760ehnpc_1&_afrLoop=455853564397354&MBI_ID=49&_afrWindowMode=0&_adf.ctrl-state=15760ehnpc_57


 omg!
bd 2845-9105
ind 5254-17097
pak 3574-14694
teeny tiny UK 85467-80013
I thought PDF-shonars told us that they had surpassed Pakistan already and were on the verge of beating India.
just imagine if India and Pakistan were to become brotherly and started direct and legal trade instead of through smugglers and 3rd countries and eliminate their black economies, bongles would be nowhere to be seen (except in the sweatshop scene)

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## Nilgiri

doorstar said:


> I thought PDF-shonars told us that they had surpassed Pakistan already and were on the verge of beating India.



The basic idea is very simple. Just keep laundering inflation as "growth" and use that to help sustain some loan buffet you feel you should commit your appetite to (to try keep up optically/emotionally with other more established patrons in restaurant somehow)....rather than do structured innovative and deep set reforms to improve your physique/metabolism.

Restaurant owner does his bit to keep himself protected (i.e puts a tab limit to how much you can run up and assigns your seating away from the good stuff)...but there is still plenty of room to inflict harm on oneself following stomach instead of brain (similar to the whole 3 million number dramabaaz - it all comes out of same space...the ego-body mismatch).

This will all have long term consequences.



doorstar said:


> just imagine if India and Pakistan were to become brotherly and started direct and legal trade instead of through smugglers and 3rd countries and eliminate their black economies, bongles would be nowhere to be seen



Yah, but there is much to be gained by such inherently for the two peoples without needing to factor in what happens to BD  That is just side story....and who knows what that will be. 

It is awful how much of trade between India and Pakistan gets routed through UAE etc..unneccesarily (it just puts more inflation pressure on consumers). But politics as always gets in the way of progress.

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## nahtanbob

doorstar said:


> *Hypothetical:*
> say If I were to create a sweatshop in shonarland, paying workers £80.00 per month. and then I 'export' the product of that sweatshop, say £10 million (or any amount) worth per annum.
> 
> would that be classified as a bongle export? bear in mind that I would provide all the materials for that product. the only thing sonardesh is contributing is electric, womanpower and rickshaws to the nearest port.
> 
> who is the net beneficiary UK or BD



what will the worker who is making £80.00 per month do if the sweatshop is not created ?
It is safe to say you would not be feeding their families


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## Imran Khan

@Slav Defence you need to visit this thread

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## Homo Sapiens

Latest update on Padma bridge





Dhaka MRT-6 latest update.


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## American Pakistani

nahtanbob said:


> pakistan textile exports are $13 billion. Bangladesh exports 2.5 times that.
> your total exports are $25 billion



Okay...and?


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## doorstar

American Pakistani said:


> Okay...and?


I think he is crediting bd for the export of foreign owned products. despite claiming to be a pawnee, he hates Pakistan with all his heart and defends anything and anyone who is anti-Pakistan. what did you all do to the pawnee nation to merit such attention and venom? steal his squaw or what?


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## nahtanbob

doorstar said:


> I think he is crediting bd for the export of foreign owned products. despite claiming to be a pawnee, he hates Pakistan with all his heart and defends anything and anyone who is anti-Pakistan. what did you all do to the pawnee nation to merit such attention and venom? steal his squaw or what?



there is nothing anti-Pakistan about this thread. bangladeshis work harder. they manage their country better. they have $32 billion in FOREX. nothing stops Pakistan from competing.

what is the deal with foreign owned products ? China exports everything from iPhones to PCs that are foreign owned.

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## Homo Sapiens

*Now pvt sector dominates power generation with 54.35pc contribution*
*BIPPA wants policy continuation to achieve 40,000MW power generation target by 2030*



UNB NEWS

PUBLISH DATE - DECEMBER 02, 2018, 08:24 AM

SADRUL HASAN - UNB STAFF WRITER
228 VIEWS

UPDATE DATE - DECEMBER 02, 2018, 08:49 AM







Dhaka, Dec 2 (UNB) – The private sector has started dominating the country’s power generation contributing 54.35 percent of the total electricity against 45.65 percent produced by state-owned power plants.

*According to the latest statistics prepared by the Power Division, the country’s total power generation capacity reached 20,343 MW of which 11,057 MW came from private sector producers while 9,286 MW from public entities.

Captive power generation of about 3,000 MW are also included in the* private sector generation, while about 250 MW of renewable energy came from solar home systems included in the public sector generation.

Power Division officials said the private sector power generation witnessed a substantial growth due to a favourable investment policy offered by the government over the last one decade.

Private sector investors also appreciated the government’s supportive role in achieving this progress demanding the continuation of such state policy to promote private investment in power sector.

“Without a strong support from the state, it was not possible for the private sector producers to reach the milestone,” Imran Karim, vice president of Bangladesh Independent Power Producers Association (BIPPA), told UNB.

As per the latest Power System Master Plan 2016, he said, the government envisioned to take the power generation to 40,000 MW by 2030, which requires a huge investment.

“If the current policy of the government continues, the private sector will be able to play a very important role in attaining the target,” he added.

According to BIPPA, the private sector has invested about $12 billion over the last 10 years by setting up more than 50 power plants.

BIPPA leaders said they have now planned to invest $50 billion in the next 12 years to keep up the private sector’s participation in power sector development.

The private investors want to invest as independent power producers (IPPs) as well as private partners in the public-private partnership (PPP) initiative to set up at least 55 plants to generate some 12,000 MW of power or more.

The Power Division officials said that the government is now preparing a policy guideline to encourage more private sector investment in power transmission and distribution segments beside the current trend of investment in generation segment.

State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid has recently urged the private investors to invest in the transmission and distribution segments as well.

BIPPA officials said if they are given the opportunity to invest in the generation sector to achieve the target of 40,000 MW by 2030, it will create 40,000 more direct jobs and another 300,000 indirect ones across the country.

They said more than 10,000 jobs have already been created by the private power generation plants in the last 10 years.

*The Power Division statistics reveal that once the country’s installed power generation capacity was 4,942 MW, but now the average daily power generation is 11,000 MW.

The highest power generation was reported to be 11,623 MW on September 19 this year.*

*According to the Power Division officials, people’s access to electricity also increased to 92 percent with the rise in power production.

The number of electricity consumers increased to 3.12 crore in 2018 from 1.8 crore in 2009, they added.*


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## Homo Sapiens

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/moodys-sounds-alarm-bangladeshi-banks-1667938

Home Business
12:00 AM, December 02, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:55 AM, December 02, 2018
*Moody's sounds alarm on Bangladeshi banks*

*US ratings agency gives negative outlook*







Star Business Report

Global credit ratings giant Moody's put Bangladesh's banking system on 'negative watch' despite the country's robust economy, as pressure mounts on the Bangladesh Bank and the government to take drastic actions to fix the sector.

The reason for the negative outlook is the worsening asset quality, said Tengfu Li, a Moody's analyst.

*Underlying weaknesses in corporate governance, especially at state-owned banks, has led to nonperforming loan ratios rising to 10.4 percent as of June.*

*And the growing stock of unclassified rescheduled loans poses further risk to asset quality, said the report 'Banking System Outlook - Bangladeshi banks: High asset risks drive negative outlook despite robust economy'.*

*At the end of June, the state banks' total NPL stood at 28.24 percent, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank.


In fact, of the total Tk 89,340 crore of NPL of the banking sector, the state banks accounted for Tk 42,852 crore.*

The outlook expresses Moody's expectation of how bank creditworthiness will evolve in this system over the next 12 to 18 months.

Moody's outlook is based on six key drivers. Specifically, Moody's assesses the banks' operating environment as stable; asset risk as deteriorating; capital as deteriorating; profitability and efficiency as deteriorating; funding and liquidity as stable; and government support as stable.

Credit costs will increase in tandem with the deterioration in asset quality, said the report, which was unveiled on November 29. Such a situation will lead to an erosion of the banks' profitability, especially when the expansion of net interest margins will also be limited under regulatory pressure.

Capitalisation will moderate because of weaker capital generation despite earnings retention by the private sector banks to meet the higher capital requirements beginning in 2019.

State-owned banks will remain undercapitalised and dependent on capital infusions from the government, the report said.

Banks in Bangladesh though will continue to maintain adequate funding and liquidity.

While financial conditions tightened during the first half of 2018, the situation has stabilised after monetary easing measures were implemented.

The lowering of the ceiling for bank's loan-deposit ratio from March next year will further mitigate funding risks, the report said.

*Moody's expects the Bangladesh government to remain supportive of the banking system, given the government's track record of taking pre-emptive measures against banking failures.

“The government also has the capacity -- as reflected in the country's modest general and external debt burden -- to support the banks in times of need.”

In its last credit outlook in March, Moody's gave Bangladesh a stable rating of Ba3, as in the past several years.

“Bangladesh's economy will continue to grow because of its globally competitive garments industry. Steady credit growth and the rebound in remittance inflows will also support domestic consumption,” Li added.*


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## UKBengali

Two said:


> I did not participate in the discussion. Only. The Chinese really don't care about Rohingya.



You obviously got upset when I blamed China for supporting savages. Man up and admit you are no better than the West over international relations.

China has and will lose financially for this grossly unfriendly act to BD.



Nilgiri said:


> Yes its not your problem and concern to begin with....China govt followed the correct approach on it.
> 
> BD tries to make it everyone's concern...so posters here reflect that attitude. They can be ignored as required. Some of them even were loudly squealing that by this year (2018), US will have already backed them with military support to create an Arakan independent country......so as you can imagine the same posters are very frustrated none of that has happened or will happen....especially because they invested all those time and tears into that dream.
> 
> They simply overestimate their country (BD) role and ranking in world affairs.



Did anyone invite you to this discussion?
Rohingya is between BD, China and the savages.

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## Tshering22

Typical meddlesome politics to 'pressure' developing governments. 

Bangladesh should consider restricting Moody's hand in their country. 

Rating agencies have caused more damage in the developing economies compared to other arms of the Treasury Department of US.

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## Homo Sapiens

Tshering22 said:


> Typical meddlesome politics to 'pressure' developing governments.
> 
> Bangladesh should consider restricting Moody's hand in their country.
> 
> Rating agencies have caused more damage in the developing economies compared to other arms of the Treasury Department of US.


I feel there are truth in your statement. These western credit rating agencies works in a similar fashion of how some powerful western countries issue travel alerts on various developing countries after some random terrorist attack or some political unrest. But they never mind mass shooting happening almost daily in US or large scale terrorist attack in UK, France etc.

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## Tshering22

Homo Sapiens said:


> But they never mind mass shooting happening almost daily in US or large scale terrorist attack in UK, France etc.



They won't. It is supposed to be the responsibility of OUR idiotic governments to issue travel advisories for our citizens.

Sadly, in our case, for 60+ years, we were ruled by a bunch of colonial puppets. But things are changing here in the last 4-5 years. Let's hope they change for you too.

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## Darwin

Tshering22 said:


> Typical meddlesome politics to 'pressure' developing governments.
> 
> Bangladesh should consider restricting Moody's hand in their country.
> 
> Rating agencies have caused more damage in the developing economies compared to other arms of the Treasury Department of US.


"said Tengfu Li, a Moody's analyst."


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## Tshering22

Darwin said:


> "said Tengfu Li, a Moody's analyst."



What are you saying? That Chinese are involved in this? Dude, he's just an employee of a company with certain style of working.


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## Mage

UKBengali said:


> China has and will lose financially for this grossly unfriendly act to BD.


Act on it instead of making useless threats.

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## Homo Sapiens




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## Mage

Homo Sapiens said:


> Global credit ratings giant Moody's put Bangladesh's banking system on 'negative watch' despite the country's robust economy, as pressure mounts on the Bangladesh Bank and the government to take drastic actions to fix the sector.


Very good decision. Govt has to fix the banking crisis. 

Share market in their first term and Banking crisis in their second term, does Awami league have to create a large scandal in every term?

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## UKBengali

Mage said:


> Act on it instead of making useless threats.




You are just a silly kid it looks like.

Already the frigate project has not gone to China - looks like it will go to EU now.
How many more defence projects has China already lost as BD no longer trusts it.
China is and will be hit economically on many more economic projects

Do NOT quote me anymore as you are an arrogant kid who knows nothing about life as you lack life experience
and types crap all day long.


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## UKBengali

Excellent to see BD progression.


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## UKBengali

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz said:


> Go lift poverty out of your poor tamil people first then talk about other country problems.




Tamil retard needs to see a shrink the way he is obsessed with BD.


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## D Boss

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz said:


> Go lift poverty out of your poor tamil people first then talk about other country problems.





UKBengali said:


> Tamil retard needs to see a shrink the way he is obsessed with BD.



Only small percentage of population are Under poverty in Tamil nadu..

Even those who are under poverty in Tamil nadu have better standard of living than Bangladesh Middle class people...


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## SBUS-CXK

UKBengali said:


> You obviously got upset when I blamed China for supporting savages. Man up and admit you are no better than the West over international relations.
> 
> China has and will lose financially for this grossly unfriendly act to BD.
> 
> 
> 
> Did anyone invite you to this discussion?
> Rohingya is between BD, China and the savages.


So what do you want to do?
Bombing Myanmar? Like the US bombing Syria?



bluesky said:


> Yes, you are the most knowledgeable champion of foreign diplomacy, and so it is you who is not thinking China does not play primitive foreign diplomacy when it is trying to wield power over the sovereign nations by using its dollar money.
> 
> Read the citation below to know how a *$6 billion loan* was used by China to buy the sovereignty of an SL port. and know why BD' deep seaport construction will not be given to China.
> *Sri Lanka Formally Hands Over Hambantota Port to Chinese Firms on 99-Year Lease*
> 
> If you want to study a page of foreign diplomacy, Chinese style, I can send the full text. But, it seems you are not that fond of reading and learning. In the case of Rohingya, China is talking with its money and not with diplomatic niceties and here you are all praise for China. Neither your China nor you yourself have an iota of shame.


Ah, as far as I know. China has also bought Israeli ports. Are you very angry?

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## UKBengali

Two said:


> So what do you want to do?
> Bombing Myanmar? Like the US bombing Syria?



Stop being an idiot and improve the quality of your posts.

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## Mage

We need 'UKBengali Certified High Quality Poster' award here.



Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz said:


> Stop talking bullshit , have you seen poverty in india


If he actually lives in India then he has seen it more closely than you have.
And living standard in Tamilnad is good compared to South Asian standards.....

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## American Pakistani

doorstar said:


> I think he is crediting bd for the export of foreign owned products. despite claiming to be a pawnee, he hates Pakistan with all his heart and defends anything and anyone who is anti-Pakistan. what did you all do to the pawnee nation to merit such attention and venom? steal his squaw or what?



These people have clear symptoms of inferiority complex. They are butt hurt and attention seeker.



nahtanbob said:


> there is nothing anti-Pakistan about this thread. bangladeshis work harder. they manage their country better. they have $32 billion in FOREX. nothing stops Pakistan from competing.
> 
> what is the deal with foreign owned products ? China exports everything from iPhones to PCs that are foreign owned.



Your bangladesh does not face challenges that Pakistan does. Your country will always be dependent on India.

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## doorstar

American Pakistani said:


> I think you didn't see the comment I replied to. It was not you in my 2nd quote.


I see it now, did not see it before due to the great Larry Echo Hawk being on my ignore list. please accept my apology, cheers!

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## UKBengali

doorstar said:


> okay thanks, now shonardesh is my country, first I was Saudi, then Indian, then Chinese, then Pakistani, now I am maachli chomping stinking swamp-dweller thanks 'bigly'!
> the intellect of PDFers never ceases to amaze!



Just put up your real flag like everyone else.

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## Homo Sapiens

American Pakistani said:


> These people have clear symptoms of inferiority complex. They are butt hurt and attention seeker.


It is ironic that you Pakistanis have invaded this thread uninvited which have nothing to do with Pakistan, started derailing this thread from the 1st page by rejoicing and jumping that, Bangladesh's loss is Pakistan's gain! When some Bangladeshi responded to this type of mean mentality, you started crying and accusing us of ''inferiority complex'', ''attention seeker''. Have you seen any Bangladeshi member going to your pakistan related threads in other section trolling and rejoicing at pakistan's economic woes? No. Then question arise, who are actually suffering from inferiority complex and attention seeking?

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## American Pakistani

Homo Sapiens said:


> It is ironic that you Pakistanis have invaded this thread uninvited, started derailing this thread from the 1st page by rejoicing and jumping that, Bangladesh's loss is Pakistan's gain! When some Bangladeshi response to this type mean mentality, you start crying and accusing us as ''inferiority complex'', ''attention seeker''. Have you seen any Bangladeshi member going to your pakistan related threads in other section trolling and rejoicing at pakistan's economic woes? No. Then question arise, who are actually suffering from inferiority complex and attention seeking?



Did you read my first post in this thread? Or you love to rant blindly?

Btw like I explained you before. Most Pakistanis now troll Bangladesh because of you guys poking them and doing nonsense comparisions. It will take time before it dies down if your trolling ends. But as of right now you have massive share of trolls biggest one of them being ukbengali, a definite troll with severe inferiority complex issues. He is in every Pakistani related thread 24/7 on trolling mission.


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## Species

American Pakistani said:


> Did you read my first post in this thread? Or you love to rant blindly?
> 
> Btw like I explained you before. Most Pakistanis now troll Bangladesh because of you guys poking them and doing nonsense comparisions. It will take time before it dies down if your trolling ends. But as of right now you have massive share of trolls biggest one of them being ukbengali, a definite troll with severe inferiority complex issues. He is in every Pakistani related thread 24/7 on trolling mission.



At the moment, the trolling and inferiority complex are only visible among the Pakistanis here.

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## Homo Sapiens

American Pakistani said:


> Did you read my first post in this thread? Or you love to rant blindly?
> 
> Btw like I explained you before. Most Pakistanis now troll Bangladesh because of you guys poking them and doing nonsense comparisions. It will take time before it dies down if your trolling ends. But as of right now you have massive share of trolls biggest one of them being ukbengali, a definite troll with severe inferiority complex issues. He is in every Pakistani related thread 24/7 on trolling mission.


I have checked. @UKBengali only responded to this Pakistan related thread in the last one week.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/chin...es-to-pakistan-official.589709/#post-10987791

And you are exaggerating it ''every Pakistani thread''. And other Bangladeshi members are not even this active. They very rarely, if at all visit any Pakistan related thread. Even if, not for trolling, but for some other discussion or when Bangladesh related topics is discussed.

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## American Pakistani

Homo Sapiens said:


> I have checked. @UKBengali only responded to this Pakistan related thread in the last one week.
> 
> https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/chin...es-to-pakistan-official.589709/#post-10987791
> 
> And you are exaggerating it ''every Pakistani thread''. And other Bangladeshi members are not even this active. They very rarely, if at all visit any Pakistan related thread. Even if, not for trolling, but for some other discussion or when Bangladesh related topics is discussed.



I don't have time to post links to posts where Bangladeshi trolls post their nonsense.

You can go search for it.



Species said:


> At the moment, the trolling and inferiority complex are only visible among the Pakistanis here.



Maybe that is what indian authorized Bangladeshi education did to your brain cells if they exists.


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## Homo Sapiens

American Pakistani said:


> I don't have time to post links to posts where Bangladeshi trolls post their nonsense.
> 
> You can go search for it.


Even if you can find 2-4 such posts in last one year, it does not mean anything. That is nothing compared to your hordes abusing Bangladesh here non stop. So who have actual inferiority complex and attention seeking quite evident. It is not that we have any problem Pakistanis responding here either positively or negatively. Just do not project things to us which actually more applicable to your kind when we respond to your negativity. Those projections sound very hypocritical.

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## Species

American Pakistani said:


> I don't have time to post links to posts where Bangladeshi trolls post their nonsense.
> 
> You can go search for it.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe that is what indian authorized Bangladeshi education did to your brain cells if they exists.



You don't need any specialized education to see inferiority complex in people.

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## American Pakistani

Homo Sapiens said:


> Even if you can find 2-4 such posts in last one year, it does not mean anything. That is nothing compared to your hordes abusing Bangladesh here non stop. So who have actual inferiority complex and attention seeking quite evident. It is not that we have any problem Pakistanis responding here either positively or negatively. Just do not projecting things to us which actually more applicable to your kind when we respond to your negativity. It sound very hypocritical.



You can easily find 6 to 8 post on daily bases forget about yearly. And all those posts shows signs of inferiority complex. Pakistanis are just retaliating of what your kinds started.



Species said:


> You don't need any specialized education to see inferiority complex in people.


Of course not, it is as evident as a bright moon in the night.


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## Homo Sapiens

American Pakistani said:


> You can easily find 6 to 8 post on daily bases forget about yearly. And all those posts shows signs of inferiority complex. *Pakistanis are just retaliating of what your kinds started.*
> 
> 
> Of course not, it is as evident as a bright moon in the night.


When we started and how? Can you show us any evidence?

And you 6 to 8 post daily basis is just another exaggeration like previous claim about UKBengali.

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## American Pakistani

Homo Sapiens said:


> When we started and how? Can you show us any evidence?



Not here to papa feeding his children. Feel free to go through the forum yourself.


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## Species

American Pakistani said:


> Not here to papa feeding his children. Feel free to go through the forum yourself.



Since you claimed something, the onus is on you to prove it.

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## Homo Sapiens

American Pakistani said:


> Not here to papa feeding his children. Feel free to go through the forum yourself.


I can tell you where problem started. You Pakistanis here gone bonker since the time when war crime trial started in BD and diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Pakistan surfaced, Bangladesh's warming relation with India only increased your rages. Worse, previous Pakistan loving rajakar brigade here started to disappear one by one when patriotic normal Bangladeshi posters started to become mainstream here. Those rajakar posters here used to adore Pakistan even when Pak poster here abused and ridiculed Bangladesh. But current Bangladeshi posters are not like them. They defend Bangladesh! That is your main problem. So your kind developed a kind of hatred and jealousy. Economic trouble in Pakistan and concomitant economic well being of Bangladesh is another important factor. You always were confident that Bangladesh/East Pakistan is worse off in every sector compared to Pakistan and always will remain so. So when Bangladesh started to surpass Pakistan in some sectors, naturally it caused a lot of discomfort, denial, hatred, jealousy, inferiority complex in your sides.

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## American Pakistani

Homo Sapiens said:


> I can tell you where problem started. You Pakistanis here gone bonker since the time when war crime trial started in BD and diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Pakistan surfaced, Bangladesh's warming relation with India only increased your rages. Worse, previous Pakistan loving rajakar brigade here started to disappear one by one when patriotic normal Bangladeshi posters started to become mainstream here. Those rajakar poster here used to kiss Pak feet even when they got kick from their Pak master. So your kind developed a kind of hatred and jealousy. Economic trouble in Pakistan and concomitant economic well being of Bangladesh is another important factor.



Jealous? From Bangladesh...

For me to be jealous of something, it has to meet a minimum criteria of certain things. Bangladesh has nothing for us to be jealous of.

As for economic factor. We are not foolish like bangladeshis. Both nations have challenges that are completely different. Many pakistani business owners are operating in Bangladesh providing jobs to tons of your people, millions of illegal bangladeshis resides in Pakistan. Unlike you we are way different you see, even in our tough economic times we still host illegals from Bangladesh, afghanistan, burma, central asia, etc etc. Whereas your kind was very uncomfortable when burma started expelling your bengali citizens and India threatened to expel them as well. No wonder why we are considered as more happiest nation than yours.

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## Goku-kun

Homo Sapiens said:


> I can tell you where problem started. You Pakistanis here gone bonker since the time when war crime trial started in BD and diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Pakistan surfaced, Bangladesh's warming relation with India only increased your rages. Worse, previous Pakistan loving rajakar brigade here started to disappear one by one when patriotic normal Bangladeshi posters started to become mainstream here. Those rajakar poster here used to kiss Pak feet even when they got kick from their Pak master. But current Bangladeshi posters are not like them. They defend Bangladesh! That is your main problem. So your kind developed a kind of hatred and jealousy. Economic trouble in Pakistan and concomitant economic well being of Bangladesh is another important factor. You always were confident that Bangladesh/East Pakistan is worse off in every sector compare to Pakistan and always will remain so. So when Bangladesh started to surpass Pakistan in some sectors, naturally it caused a lot of discomfort, denial, hatred, jealousy, inferiority complex in your sides.


just remember one thing and be thankful to Pakistan for it and that's that you have existance,you have a identity because of Pakistan because if Britishers would have give us other part of land close to us than your Bengal would be part of india today and you would be polishing their boots,you would have been their slaves.


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## JohnWick

Black_cats said:


> Can you tell me which country got 33 billion usd from USA and let it's countryman get killed with drone attack?
> 
> USA let that country dance for a long time with the tune you posted


This is the money we got for fighting for terrorist and supplying them NATO supply not by to get our woman fked by indians like you


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## Goku-kun

Species said:


> Pakistan itself is created by us, it's rather you should be thankful to us.


LOL. Joke of the century.Get your ignorance out of here because history tells that we weren't interested in the part which is 'bangladesh' today but Britishers did it just for shits and giggles against the wishes.
Pakistan was created by the help of Allah and struggles of Qaid-e-Azam and if you lookup in the history than you would find that boundary distribution was unfair,Muslim majority areas like bhopal,gurdaspur were gifted to india.

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## American Pakistani

Goku-kun said:


> LOL. Joke of the century.



These people severely suffer from bad bharti authorized propaganda education, thanks to their leaders.


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## Tps43

@Retired Troll ur veiws?

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## Species

Goku-kun said:


> LOL. Joke of the century.



You should know the proper history of your own country. It's embarrassing when others have to explain your own history.

There would have been no Pakistan without Bengalis.

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## Goku-kun

Homo Sapiens said:


> Given the current condition, Imran Khan will dance hysterically with that tune if someone offer him just 33 million dollar now.


We should be the ones laughing LOL but look at their ignorance they don't know the fact that we created their land or otherwise they would have been licking indian d****.

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## UKBengali

@American Pakistani

Let us look at what IMF predicts for Pakistan and BD over the next 5 years in terms of per capita growth:

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2018&ey=2023&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&pr1.x=34&pr1.y=10&c=513,564&s=NGDP_RPCH&grp=0&a=

While IMF predicts the current 4% GDP per capita growth for Pakistan will slow down to 1% a year in 2023, it predicts a constant 6% GDP per capita growth for BD from now till 2023.

PS - Note that I have adjusted GDP growth rates into per capita as that is what matters in terms of increase in living standards

There is no reason for any BD'shi to be jealous of Pakistan economically. Unless Pakistan proves the IMF wrong, and they are nearly always right, BD will soon leave Pakistan in the dust economically.

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## Species

Goku-kun said:


> I think you have inherited some indian culture and drink cow urine like them that's the reason for your ignorance and this is also a bitter truth which is beyond your mind's ability to accept.



Indian culture is more visible in Pakistan than in Bangladesh, your own cinemas are all dominated by Bollywood movies.

If you don't know about your own history, let me explain the basics first,

The idea that Muslims are separate from Hindus first emerged through the Partition of Bengal in 1905

Muslim League was created in 1906 by Bengalis in Dhaka.

Bengal has always been the stronghold for Muslim League which led to the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Bengali Muslims, along with UP Muslims are the ones who spearheaded the Pakistan Movement.

There was no politician from Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, Baluchistan who have any worthwhile contribution to the Pakistan Movement. These provinces were more in favor of union with India before Muslim League convinced them.

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## Goku-kun

UKBengali said:


> @American Pakistani
> 
> Let us look at what IMF predicts for Pakistan and BD over the next 5 years in terms of per capita growth:
> 
> https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2018&ey=2023&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&pr1.x=34&pr1.y=10&c=513,564&s=NGDP_RPCH&grp=0&a=
> 
> While IMF predicts the current 4% GDP per capita growth for Pakistan will slow down to 1% a year in 2023, it predicts a constant 6% GDP per capita growth for BD from now till 2023.
> 
> PS - Note that I have adjusted GDP growth rates into per capita as that is what matters in terms of increase in living standards
> 
> There is no reason for any BD'shi to be jealous of Pakistan economically. Unless Pakistan proves the IMF wrong, and they are nearly always right, BD will soon leave Pakistan in the dust economically.


bangladesh isn't providing shelter to 4 million Pakistanis like Pakistan is giving them and same goes for afghan refugees if Bangladesh would be doing it then their growth rate would be even worst than us.

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## El Sidd

Tps43 said:


> @Retired Troll ur veiws?



Told you 3 months ago. They keep failing audits while trying at bribery meanwhile the government makes legislation to even lower the already low requirements. 

Its a humanitarian crisis

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## UKBengali

Goku-kun said:


> bangladesh isn't providing shelter to 4 million Pakistanis like Pakistan is giving them and same goes for afghan refugees if Bangladesh would be doing it then their growth rate would be even worst than us.



Do you really believe this nonsense?

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## Species

JohnWick said:


>



You are a future doctor and will serve people on critical situations. You need to act more mature.

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## Goku-kun

Species said:


> Indian culture is more visible in Pakistan than in Bangladesh, your own cinemas are all dominated by Bollywood movies.
> 
> If you don't know about your own history, let me explain the basics first,
> 
> The idea that Muslims are separate from Hindus first emerged through the Partition of Bengal in 1905
> 
> Muslim League was created in 1906 by Bengalis in Dhaka.
> 
> Bengal has always been the stronghold for Muslim League which led to the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Bengali Muslims, along with UP Muslims are the ones who spearheaded the Pakistan Movement.
> 
> There was no politician from Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, Baluchistan who have any worthwhile contribution to the Pakistan Movement. These provinces were more in favor of union with India before Muslim League convinced them.


Like yours aren't.You were the first to copy indian cricket league model and create bpl.It's embarrassing when I have to teach you your history LOL
1)The idea of Muslims are separate nation was given by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan through two-nation theory around 1875.
2)So if the conference helds in Dhaka doesn't mean that Bengal is the father of all the struggle.If this was to be the reason than only Bengal would be demanded as Pakistan.There were Sindh,Punjab,Balochistan and KPK too with large Muslim density/population.



UKBengali said:


> Do you really believe this nonsense?


Well,it's a fact and world knows it and so if you don't then it's your fault and it means that it's hard for you to swallow the bitter truth.


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## Tps43

Retired Troll said:


> Told you 3 months ago. They keep failing audits while trying at bribery meanwhile the government makes legislation to even lower the already low requirements.
> 
> Its a humanitarian crisis


OICeeee

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## Goku-kun

Species said:


> There was no politician from Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, Baluchistan who have any worthwhile contribution to the Pakistan Movement. These provinces were more in favor of union with India before Muslim League convinced them.


they were Muslim densely populated areas and get your facts right and don't believe in rumours because the same was said regarding NWFP and because of that we had to hold a refredum there and in results all pakhtoons accepted Pakistan and many Bengalis wanted Pakistan but traitors like you created 'mukhti bahini' to separate it.


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## Species

Goku-kun said:


> Like yours aren't.You were the first to copy indian cricket league model and create bpl.It's embarrassing when I have to teach you your history LOL
> 1)The idea of Muslims are separate nation was given by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan through two-nation theory around 1975.
> 2)So if the conference helds in Dhaka doesn't mean that Bengal is the father of all the struggle.If this was to be the reason than only Bengal would be demanded as Pakistan.There were Sindh,Punjab,Balochistan and KPK too with large Muslim density/population.
> 
> 
> Well,it's a fact and world knows it and so if you don't then it's your fault and it means that it's hard for you to swallow the bitter truth.



Sir Syed Ahmed Khan => Two Nation Theory => 1975

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## Goku-kun

Species said:


> Sir Syed Ahmed Khan => Two Nation Theory => 1975


by mistake.It's 1875.I'm seeing that you are doing hardcore research in sentences to try to embarrass me and next you will definitely come up with some spelling mistake won't you?


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## Species

Goku-kun said:


> by mistake.It's 1875.I'm seeing that you are doing hardcore research in sentences to try to embarrass me and next you will definitely come up with some spelling mistake won't you?



Your posts are such full of pseudo-history that I didn't even know where to start.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had no political aspirations, he just wanted to uplift the socio-economic status of Muslims through education.

Two-nation-theory was developed by Jinnah in the 1930s-40s.

There is no prior history of the political aspect of Hindu-Muslim separateness before the partition of Bengal in 1905.

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## Goku-kun

Species said:


> Your posts are such full of pseudo-history that I didn't even know where to start.
> 
> Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had no political aspirations, he just wanted to uplift the socio-economic status of Muslims through education.
> 
> Two-nation-theory was developed by Jinnah in the 1930s-40s.
> 
> There is no prior history of the political aspect of Hindu-Muslim separateness before the partition of Bengal in 1905.


Well,it's your fault if you lack knowledge and not myne
Two-nation theory:Muslims and Hindus are two different nations by every definition; therefore, Muslims should be able to have their own separate homeland. The two-nation theory was a founding principle of the Pakistan Movement (i.e. the ideology of Pakistan as a Muslim nation-state in South Asia), and the partition of India in 1947.
The movement for Muslim self-awakening and identity was started by the Muslim modernist and reformer *Syed Ahmad Khan* (1817–1898).
*Two-nation theory - Wikipedia*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-nation_theory


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## Species

Goku-kun said:


> Well,it's your fault if you lack knowledge and not myne
> Two-nation theory:Muslims and Hindus are two different nations by every definition; therefore, Muslims should be able to have their own separate homeland. The two-nation theory was a founding principle of the Pakistan Movement (i.e. the ideology of Pakistan as a Muslim nation-state in South Asia), and the partition of India in 1947.
> The movement for Muslim self-awakening and identity was started by the Muslim modernist and reformer *Syed Ahmad Khan* (1817–1898).
> *Two-nation theory - Wikipedia*
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-nation_theory



Going with the wiki link you inserted,

_The ideology that religion is the determining factor in defining the nationality of Indian Muslims and Hindus was first propagated by people like Bhai Parmanand (1876–1947)[3], Rajnarayan Basu (1826–1899)[4] , Nabagopal Mitra (1840-94)[5][6][7] and Savarkar[8][9][10][11] and later adopted by Muhammad Ali Jinnah_

These absurd descriptions in wikipedia articles is the reason why you shouldn't rely on wiki, that would make these Parmanand, Basu or Mitra chaps the Qaid-e-Azam of Pakistan.

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## Goku-kun

Species said:


> Going with the wiki link you inserted,
> 
> _The ideology that religion is the determining factor in defining the nationality of Indian Muslims and Hindus was first propagated by people like Bhai Parmanand (1876–1947)[3], Rajnarayan Basu (1826–1899)[4] , Nabagopal Mitra (1840-94)[5][6][7] and Savarkar[8][9][10][11] and later adopted by Muhammad Ali Jinnah_
> 
> These absurd descriptions in wikipedia articles is the reason why you shouldn't rely on wiki, that would make these Parmanand, Basu or Mitra chaps the Qaid-e-Azam of Pakistan.


This is also there from where the 2nd picture of british india starts.You should be clever enough to understand that You have to read the Muslims's view point and not hindu's since Muslim demanded a seprate homeland.
*Start of Muslim self-awakening and identity movement (19th century–1940s)*

_Further information: Muslim nationalism in South Asia and Pakistan Movement_
The movement for Muslim self-awakening and identity was started by the Muslim modernist and reformer Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898). Many Pakistanis describe him as the architect of the two-nation theory.


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## nahtanbob

American Pakistani said:


> Your bangladesh does not face challenges that Pakistan does. Your country will always be dependent on India.



A country whose PM goes around with a begging bowl talking about dependency

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## Goku-kun

nahtanbob said:


> A country whose PM goes around with a begging bowl talking about dependency


You are the biggest beggers we atleast have asked for financial assistance where you on the hand have looted treasure of the countries by declaring fake wars and after WW2 looted the gold of all countries.
You are economic slaves of israel.


----------



## nahtanbob

Goku-kun said:


> You are the biggest beggers we atleast have asked for financial assistance where you on the hand have looted treasure of the countries by declaring fake wars and after WW2 looted the gold of all countries.
> You are economic slaves of israel.


you got one fact wrong: Israel is slave of America


----------



## Goku-kun

nahtanbob said:


> you got one fact wrong: Israel is slave of America


wonder what forces a so-called super power to not print its currency itself but it is being print by jews.There is something deep in this and you should know that your president trump makes all your policies on his son and law's gesture who is a jew from israel.
Leaving UNHRC for israel and many other special favours for them for what.Your entire banking system is controlled by jews.


----------



## nahtanbob

Goku-kun said:


> wonder what forces a so-called super power to not print its currency itself but it is being print by jews.There is something deep in this and you should know that your president trump makes all your policies on his son and law's gesture who is a jew from israel.
> Leaving UNHRC for israel and many other special favours for them for what.Your entire banking system is controlled by jews.



Okay Trump is not perfect. American policies pre-date Trump.

What is this crocodile tears about UNHRC ? When has the UNHRC done anything about Kashmiris ?


----------



## American Pakistani

nahtanbob said:


> A country whose PM goes around with a begging bowl talking about dependency



Mr r3turd bangla or bharti babu, since when is borrowing loan called begging? Is that another indian authorized education in bangladesh?



UKBengali said:


> @American Pakistani
> 
> Let us look at what IMF predicts for Pakistan and BD over the next 5 years in terms of per capita growth:
> 
> https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2018&ey=2023&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&pr1.x=34&pr1.y=10&c=513,564&s=NGDP_RPCH&grp=0&a=
> 
> While IMF predicts the current 4% GDP per capita growth for Pakistan will slow down to 1% a year in 2023, it predicts a constant 6% GDP per capita growth for BD from now till 2023.
> 
> PS - Note that I have adjusted GDP growth rates into per capita as that is what matters in terms of increase in living standards
> 
> There is no reason for any BD'shi to be jealous of Pakistan economically. Unless Pakistan proves the IMF wrong, and they are nearly always right, BD will soon leave Pakistan in the dust economically.



You can sk it easy on imf and bharat mata of yours for all we cares. Why do you want Pakistan's attention machi master?


----------



## polanski

Marine Rouge said:


> *Bangladesh again denied GSP*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Refayet Ullah Mirdha
> 
> Bangladesh's trade privilege in US markets has been again denied as President Donald Trump's administration goes on to enforce the trade preference programme's eligibility this week.
> 
> The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility for Bangladesh was suspended in June 2013 after the Rana Plaza building collapse in April, the reasons cited being poor labour rights and unsafe working conditions in factories.
> 
> The then Obama administration also gave 16 conditions to be fulfilled for regaining the trade privilege. Bangladesh fulfilled the conditions and twice submitted reports to United States Trade Representative (USTR).
> 
> But the US has not been reinstating the trade privilege, now citing poor labour rights.
> 
> Moreover, in this year's review, Bangladesh could not come out from the list of countries suspended from GSP benefits although some active decisions were taken in the trade preference enforcement programme in 2017.
> 
> For example, Argentina was being reinstated to the GSP programme, effective from January 1, 2018, following resolution of certain arbitral disputes with US companies.
> 
> The US also restored the trade benefits to The Gambia and Swaziland under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
> 
> “President Trump has sent a clear message that the United States will vigorously enforce eligibility criteria for preferential access to the US market,” said Ambassador Robert E Lighthizer, the USTR and chief trade negotiator for the Trump administration, in a statement on December 22.
> 
> “Beneficiary countries choose to either work with USTR to meet trade preference eligibility criteria or face enforcement actions. The administration is committed to ensuring that other countries keep their end of the bargain in our trade relationships,” according to the statement.
> 
> “We do not expect reinstatement of GSP to the US market anymore as the American government has been giving newer conditions to be fulfilled by Bangladesh,” said a senior official of the commerce ministry asking not to be named.
> 
> Even though the 16 conditions had been fulfilled, the US is now demanding changing the labour law for the factories, housed in the export processing zones (EPZ), which is contradictory to the main guidelines of the EPZ law, the official said.
> 
> Moreover, Bangladesh has already submitted the draft copy of the proposed amendment of the labour law to International Labour Organization for its expert committee's opinion.
> 
> Workplace safety in Bangladesh has already been applauded all over the world after the inspection and remediation of the garment factories by the Accord and Alliance through fixing the loopholes in structural, fire and electrical aspects, the official said.
> 
> The US is the single largest export destination for Bangladesh. As a least developed country, 97 percent of goods originating from Bangladesh enjoy duty-free benefits on export to US markets as per the decision of the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting of World Trade Organization in 2005.
> 
> However, the country's main export item, garments, has not been included in this “97 percent package” although garment items comprise 95 percent of Bangladeshi exports to the US in a year.
> 
> As a result, Bangladeshi exporters face 15.62 percent duty on export of apparel items to the US markets although some competing countries like China, Vietnam, Pakistan and India face much less.
> 
> The US government does not allow GSP on apparel items from any country and the duty differs from one country to anohter.
> 
> In 2012, the total value of imports from Bangladesh to US under GSP was $34.7 million. The top imports under GSP from Bangladesh included tobacco, sports equipment, porcelain china and plastic products.
> 
> The GSP programme saved American companies nearly $730 million in import duties in 2016 and is on track to save even more in 2017, according to American Apparel Footwear Association (AAFA).
> 
> When GSP expired from August 2013 to July 2015, US companies paid $1.3 billion extra in taxes while awaiting congressional reauthorisation, AAFA said.
> 
> 
> https://www.thedailystar.net/business/bangladesh-again-denied-gsp-1511323


The US should keep the GSP privilege of Bangladesh suspended until such time that Bangladesh comply with all conditions and new conditions mandated by Trump Administration. Myanmar should be given GSP privilege as long Su Ki remains de facto Leader of Myanmar.


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## Nilgiri

Tshering22 said:


> Typical meddlesome politics to 'pressure' developing governments.
> 
> Bangladesh should consider restricting Moody's hand in their country.
> 
> Rating agencies have caused more damage in the developing economies compared to other arms of the Treasury Department of US.



Like I know what you mean....but not every developing country is the same either.

There is some significant problems going on in BD banking sector (and more crucially they are not being addressed by BD sustainably and pre-emptively)....that Moody is not wrong to be canary in coalmine about.

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> That is rich coming from shameless creature hanging around forum of a country that such creature claims commited a genocide+mass-theft on its society. I don't see Israelis hanging around in pro-German WW2 forums....neither do I see Armenians hanging around in Turkish nationalist run forums etc etc....yet here you are illustrating amply why everyone has impression of you lot that they do.
> 
> So who invited YOU here? Did anyone invite you "UK Bengali" lot to use the name "Indian" for your curry houses so you have some basic route to not being in 100% poverty instead of 60% you manage right now?
> 
> I will participate in any discussion that I darn well please...especially one from a country who's dhobi lady leader accepts commemorative paintings of "creation" with such smiles on her face from her appointed master....which happens to be mine.
> 
> So yeah we will invite ourselves to anything concerning those riding our coat-tails and getting on knees to beg from us endlessly and profusely thank the scraps we throw at them.
> 
> If you dont want that to happen, stop the behaviour and grow a spine. Its really that simple.



"Creature"?



Ban after ban and still the shameless Tamil keeps coming back to this forum.

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## nahtanbob

American Pakistani said:


> Mr r3turd bangla or bharti babu, since when is borrowing loan called begging?



loans have to be repaid. otherwise it is charity


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## AMG_12

Nilgiri said:


> That is rich coming from shameless creature hanging around forum of a country that such creature claims commited a genocide+mass-theft on its society. I don't see Israelis hanging around in pro-German WW2 forums....neither do I see Armenians hanging around in Turkish nationalist run forums etc etc....yet here you are illustrating amply why everyone has impression of you lot that they do.
> 
> So who invited YOU here? Did anyone invite you "UK Bengali" lot to use the name "Indian" for your curry houses so you have some basic route to not being in 100% poverty instead of 60% you manage right now?
> 
> I will participate in any discussion that I darn well please...especially one from a country who's dhobi lady leader accepts commemorative paintings of "creation" with such smiles on her face from her appointed master....which happens to be mine.
> 
> So yeah we will invite ourselves to anything concerning those riding our coat-tails and getting on knees to beg from us endlessly and profusely thank the scraps we throw at them.
> 
> If you dont want that to happen, stop the behaviour and grow a spine. Its really that simple.
> 
> @django @Desert Fox @Game.Invade @American Pakistani @Psychic
> 
> 
> 
> Are you one of these?:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Doing good job furthering impression of BDeshis everywhere!
> 
> https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ing-dhaka-dubai-turkey-detained-a7713911.html


That's some quality spanking..

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## GHALIB

Black_cats said:


> *What is Bangladesh’s take on China’s BRI?*
> Ranjan Basu, Delhi
> 
> Published at 12:41 pm November 29th, 2018
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> National flags of Bangladesh and China Bigstock
> 
> Analysts think Bangladesh will maintain a balance in the implementation of the initiative
> 
> China is moving to implement a mega project titled the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) at a cost of around $1 trillion.
> 
> Dubbed as the Silk Road of the 21st century, the ambitious project involves the construction of roads and shipping lanes though countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
> 
> South Asian countries need to play a great role in the implementation of the project, but India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal have yet to decide on their contributions.
> 
> Analysts think Bangladesh will try to maintain a balance in the implementation of BRI.
> 
> In the third week of November, the “Nepal-China Friendship Forum” organized an international seminar in Kathmandu in which participants discussed South Asia’s gains and losses from BRI.
> 
> Bangladesh representatives who attended the seminar hinted at Dhaka’s take on the initiative.
> 
> India is opposing the project, as one of its crucial routes will go through Pakistan-governed Kashmir that India claims as its own land. It is not possible for India to accept BRI in terms of this sovereignty issue.
> 
> However, India has no issue regarding the implementation of the proposed Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor at its eastern border.
> 
> “Bangladesh prefers to maintain strategic balance with India and China. The government has long been maintaining a balance with these two giant powers. I believe it will do the same in BRI as well,” said Dhaka University’s economic department Prof Selim Raihan, who attended the seminar.
> 
> The countries to be engaged with BRI are also concerned over financial issues.
> 
> “Initially other countries thought China would offer them a free lunch, which means Beijing would provide all expenses and [the other countries] would get solid infrastructure and a commercial corridor. But now they have realized that China is not doing it for free; it will give them loans on easy terms,” said Prof Prabir Dey of Delhi-based think tank Research and Information System for Developing Countries.
> 
> Prof Dey, who has been working on connectivity between South Asia and China and ASEAN countries, was one of the panelists in the seminar.
> 
> During his Bangladesh visit in 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote a cheque for $30 billion. However, it became gradually clear that it was not a grant, but rather a loan.
> 
> Prof Raihan said: “Bangladeshis have sensitivity for India, not for China. But the Sheikh Hasina-led government has not been more inclined to either of the powers.”
> 
> For example, he said in the construction of Payra port both Indian and Chinese companies are working together under an umbrella project, which one cannot think of elsewhere.
> 
> The Dhaka University professor also cited some more examples.
> 
> “Bangladesh purchased submarines for the navy from China and signed defence deals with India. China was not given allocation for the deep sea port, but a Chinese consortium was awarded 25% share of the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
> 
> “So I believe Bangladesh will find a midway path regarding BRI,” Prof Raihansaid.
> 
> Asian Tiger Capital’s Group Chairman Ifty Islam also echoed Prof Raihan.
> 
> “China is going to emerge as the world’s greatest economy by 2050. India might also secure a top position. So, Bangladesh cannot avoid any of its neighbours,” he said.



Bangla desh should use chinese money but at own terms and conditions, it should chose terms and conditions at par with world bank , working agencies should have bangla participation , rates and cotract terms should not be decided by china.


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## Nilgiri

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz said:


> show me illegal bangladeshi in india LOL.



https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/risi...ance-continues-in-april.556964/#post-10466962

More info on BD illegal migration:

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/bang...-to-boost-tourism.564074/page-5#post-10588508

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## Homo Sapiens

MRT-1 in Dhaka's actual physical construction is expected to start by July, 2019. it will be the first subway in Bangladesh. Already appointment of feasibility study consultant completed. Now designing is being prepared. Soon land acquisition will start. Entire project of MRT-1 is expected to finish by 2026. Another subway route MTR-5 will be completed by 2030, 1st phage in 2027 and 2nd phage by 2030. By 2030 govt. plan to complete three MRT line. Another two MRT line is planned to finish by 2035. Total five MRT line will be operational within 2035.

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## Homo Sapiens

D Boss said:


> Bangladeshis talk about competing with India but even its national capital doesn't have a Subway !!
> All major cities shld have these for faster growth..


Have you missed Gaocola this morning? When did Bangladeshis talked about competing with India? Yes, Bangladesh is overall a better country to live compared to India, but that does not mean we are competing with India. Size are different. So, one to one competition is not possible. And no one in Bangladesh claim that either. It is your big misconception and lie to claim that about Bangladeshis.



D Boss said:


> Bangladeshis talk about competing with India but even their national capital doesn't have a Subway !!
> All major cities shld have these for faster growth..


Elevated metrorail which is known as MRT-6 is already under construction in Dhaka and will be operational by 2020 and 2021. This news is about subway, construction of which will be started in the next year.

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## Imran Khan

best of luck guys

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## D Boss

Homo Sapiens said:


> Have you missed Gaocola this morning? Yes, Bangladesh is overall a better country to live compared to India, but that does not mean we are competing with India. Size are different. So, one to one competition is not possible. And no one in Bangladesh claim that either. It is your big misconception and lie to claim that about Bangladeshis.


I wash my face with Cow's urine everyday, it prevents acne.. I also drink it as it improves digestive system..
There are also other advantages of Cow's urine

https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/cow-urine-benefits/


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## FuturePAF

Congrats, It will make life easier for people to get to work and school.

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## D Boss

Homo Sapiens said:


> Elevated metrorail which is known as MRT-6 is already under construction in Dhaka and will be operational by 2020 and 2021. This news is about subway, construction of which will be started in the next year.


Gud luck..


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## Species

D Boss said:


> Bangladeshis talk about competing with India but even their national capital doesn't have a Subway !!
> All major cities shld have these for faster growth..



India is too low of a benchmark to compete with. Your living standard is one of the lowest in the world.

Even in your capital city, people are starving to death. 
*India: Three children starve to death in New Delhi*

_More children under the age of five die in India than anywhere else in the world. A recent estimate puts this figure at over 1.5 million children a year—over 4,500 child deaths a day. A third of these could have been averted if children did not go to bed hungry night after night. These figures suggest that over 3,00,000 children die every year in India because of hunger._
https://indianexpress.com/article/o...icef-poverty-national-health-mission-5276194/

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## Homo Sapiens

D Boss said:


> I wash my face with Cow's urine everyday, it prevents acne.. I also drink it as it improves digestive system..
> There are also other advantages of Cow's urine
> 
> https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/cow-urine-benefits/


But these benefit only happen to Indians. Our skin and digestive system are too thick to get benefited by cow urine. But at least we are happy that Indians getting benefit. That's why we frequently remind you not to miss your daily dose of Gaocola. Hope this caring attitude of Bangladeshis will be appreciated by you.

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## D Boss

Species said:


> *India: Three children starve to death in New Delhi*
> 
> _More children under the age of five die in India than anywhere else in the world. A recent estimate puts this figure at over 1.5 million children a year—over 4,500 child deaths a day. A third of these could have been averted if children did not go to bed hungry night after night. These figures suggest that over 3,00,000 children die every year in India because of hunger._
> https://indianexpress.com/article/o...icef-poverty-national-health-mission-5276194/


Im not saying India is Perfect ,.we still have more thn 50 million people under poverty..
If we kick out 60 million illegal Bangladeshis ,those people can be uplifted frm poverty soon..

and stay on topic , dnt derail the thread..

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## Species

D Boss said:


> Living standard is low in 'Bimaru sates' , because they have more than half of India's muslim population, they do nothing other than breeding like rats.. Muslims in those few states have no education,no money yet they breed like rats .
> Other states have living standards better than most provinces of your master china..



Doesn't matter, there are poorer and richer parts in every country. In India, the poorer parts are ones that cover most of the country and its people.

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## Mage

@Slav Defence this thread has gone way off topic. Please close it.


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## D Boss

Species said:


> Doesn't matter, there are poorer and richer parts in every country. In India, the poorer parts are ones that cover most of the country and its people.


Bimaru states hv less than 30% of India's population.. and nw their economy is growing faster , they will catch upto other states in a decade or so.


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## Species

This is the condition of railways in Tamil Nadu,

_MOD EDIT: Condition of railway in Tamil Nadu have NOTHING to do with the topic_

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## Mage

Homo Sapiens said:


> Total five MRT line will be operational within 2035.


17 years from now....oh god....why will it take so long?

Anyway subway is good for BD...specially Dhaka...it need to have as many infrastructures underground as possible. Elevated structures eat up the space of roads below.


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## Homo Sapiens

D Boss said:


> Other states have living standards better than most provinces of your master china..


I want to be sure about this part from our Chinese members.
@Two @Chinese-Dragon @cirr @rcrmj @Beast
@JSCh @TaiShang

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## Mage

@Slav Defence this thread needs some cleaning up. Got derailed from second post.


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## CHACHA"G"

Nice , good to know Dhaka building up...…… 

If BDeshi members can answer !!!!! What will be cheaper to build in Dhaka ? Underground or over-ground(just like Pakistani Orang line train) Please keep in mind see level ! water level ! maintenance cost etc . 
In short Which one will be more beneficial .


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## Mage

Homo Sapiens said:


> I want to be sure about this part from our Chinese members.
> @Two @Chinese-Dragon @cirr @rcrmj @Beast


To me,after searching in google, poorest Chinese province, Gansu looks much more cleaner and developed than Mumbai....not to mention per capita of Gansu in nominal USD is like twice of Mumbai.

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## CHACHA"G"

Mage said:


> 17 years from now....oh god....why will it take so long?


LOL , It take dam time to build ,,,,, and I am sure they will start work on 2nd one after completing 1st one.


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## Homo Sapiens

CHACHA"G" said:


> Nice , good to know Dhaka building up...……
> 
> If BDeshi members can answer !!!!! What will be cheaper to build in Dhaka ? Underground or over-ground(just like Pakistani Orang line train) Please keep in mind see level ! water level ! maintenance cost etc .
> In short Which one will be more beneficial .


Subway is costlier but it is more suitable for Dhaka. As it do not eat up space overground. It has less hassle building in a densely populated city like Dhaka where enough space is not available for elevated matrorail and it is very difficult to get suitable route alignment due to congestion over ground.

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## Bilal9

CHACHA"G" said:


> LOL , It take dam time to build ,,,,, and I am sure they will start work on 2nd one after completing 1st one.



Some work will carry on in parallel, there is no interdependent relationship between these various MRT line projects, but the various project teams will need planning and coordination for MRT interchange stations.

Are we sure ETA of total MRT lines completion (all six lines) is 2035? That is quite a long period...but then again, most larger cities in Asia did not complete these massive projects in a flash...so many inter-connectivity points and logistical issues to consider when building these on top of a large functioning city.


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## Mage

Bilal9 said:


> Some work will carry on in parallel, there is not interdependent relationship between these various MRT line projects.
> 
> Are we sure ETA of total MRT lines completion (all six lines) is 2035? That is quite a long period...but then again, most larger cities in Asia did not complete these massive projects in a flash...so many inter-connectivity points and logistical issues to consider when building these on top of a large functioning city.


I thought they were gonna complete all the lines by 2026. Which imo, is enough time.


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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> I thought they were gonna complete all the lines by 2026. Which imo, is enough time.



The various lines vary in how busy the ridership will be.

MRT-6 is the main North-South Artery to get implemented first (most urgently needed now) and then others will follow. The first three MRTs (Lines 6, 5 and 4) will solve what I believe is 70% of the ridership problem.

Which will happen earlier than 2026 hopefully...that will present actual visible change on the ground as far as easing of traffic.







As you can see KarwanBazaar alias Hotel Sonargaon is the confluence of all three lines.


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## D Boss

Mage said:


> To me,after searching in google, poorest Chinese province, Gansu looks much more cleaner and developed than Mumbai....not to mention per capita of Gansu in nominal USD is like twice of Mumbai.


Mere pictures and Videos doesn't represent a Country .. By your logic,a Village in Mysore looks cleaner than Beijing..
Nominal gdp per capita means nothing , its ppp per capita that matters....



Homo Sapiens said:


> I want to be sure about this part from our Chinese members.
> @Two @Chinese-Dragon @cirr @rcrmj @Beast
> @JSCh @TaiShang


Videos and Pictures posted by them doesnt represent china.. Go to their richest City Shangai and Come to Mysore , later tell me which is more cleaner,peaceful and has better living standards...
Dnt fall for chinese propaganda, see it to believe it..


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## Bilal9

D Boss said:


> Dnt fall for chinese propaganda, see it to believe it..


Why don't you take your own advice and visit Shanghai sometime? 

I have....


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## D Boss

D Boss said:


> Bangladeshis talk about competing with India but even their national capital doesn't have a Subway !!
> All major cities shld have these for faster growth..


Bangladeshis get easily offended ..
i jst said All major Cities need Urban rail transist for faster growth and they are Jumping up & down..


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## Mage

D Boss said:


> Mere pictures and Videos doesn't represent a Country .. By your logic,a Village in Mysore looks cleaner than Beijing..
> Nominal gdp per capita means nothing , its ppp per capita that matters....
> 
> 
> Videos and Pictures posted by them doesnt represent china.. Go to their richest City Shangai and Come to Mysore , later tell me which is more cleaner,peaceful and better living standards...
> Dnt fall for chinese propaganda, see it to believe it..


See what you want to see. Ask a random non-Indian and non-Chinese person, whether he/she would prefer to visit Mysore or Beijing.



D Boss said:


> Bangladeshis get easily offended ..
> i jst said All major Cities need Urban rail transist for faster growth and they are Jumping up & down..


The point is no one was competing with India......but thanks to your posts, now we are comparing India and China....best of India with worst of China to be more precise.



Bilal9 said:


> Why don't you take your own advice and visit Shanghai sometime?
> 
> I have....


My father has visited both Mumbai and Shanghai several times since 1980's.....I have heard from him and seen pictures taken by him several times. There is really no contest....I am not biased in any way...

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## Nilgiri

D Boss said:


> Bangladeshis get easily offended ..
> i jst said All major Cities need Urban rail transist for faster growth and they are Jumping up & down..



Nah man, you came into thread saying their capital dont have a subway etc etc.... was the Indian cities worthless when they didnt have subways some years back?

Pick and choose the battles please....but you are new, so maybe it will take time. They know very well deep down they cannot compete with India....just leave them be if they aren't asking for it.



Mage said:


> Ask a random non-Indian and non-Chinese person, whether he/she would prefer to visit Mysore or Beijing.



Well....India earns about 55% of foreign tourism revenue that China does....which when factoring in GDP's of the two is even more striking. So clearly there are a lot that would prefer to visit India...not to mention concerns regarding China human rights and geopolitical threat.


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## Homo Sapiens

D Boss said:


> Mere pictures and Videos doesn't represent a Country .. By your logic,a Village in Mysore looks cleaner than Beijing..
> Nominal gdp per capita means nothing , its ppp per capita that matters....
> 
> 
> Videos and Pictures posted by them doesnt represent china.. Go to their richest City Shangai and Come to Mysore , later tell me which is more cleaner,peaceful and has better living standards...
> Dnt fall for chinese propaganda, see it to believe it..


Perhaps you are from Mysore. A relatively clean and organized city in Karnataka. Which itself among the few better Indian state. That's why you are such deluded about the realities in India. Have you ever been outside of Karnataka? India is not like Mysore to Bangalore. A little information for you. Only Uttar Pradesh have population equivalent of all the five southern Indian states combined whom you are proud of. And condition in Uttar Pradesh is not great. Then there are tons of other BIMARU states. So, BIMARU's are the real India, not Mysore. Still an average Chinese city is better looking than Mysore.


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## Tshering22

Nilgiri said:


> There is some significant problems going on in BD banking sector (and more crucially they are not being addressed by BD sustainably and pre-emptively)....that Moody is not wrong to be canary in coalmine about.



I understand what you mean.

But the pattern is almost repetitive; at least in our case. 

You see, every time there is a pre-election year coming up in India, we face "investor outflow", "rapid currency fluctuations" and resultant "economic trouble. Happened in 2003, happened in 2008, 2013 and is happening in 2018. 

This might seem like a 'conspiracy theory' but economic manipulation is usually a bigger weapon used by heavily investing countries against developing ones, now moresoever than before, as it reduces the bloodshed and forces favourable position.

Let me give you an example of Indian aviation. In 2015, FAA had downgraded India's aviation safety due to the 'shortage of auditors'. Suddenly Indian carriers announced big aviation deals across European Airshows involving both US and European suppliers. And then the downgrade was 'removed'.

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## Mage

Nilgiri said:


> Well....India earns about 55% of foreign tourism revenue that China does....which when factoring in GDP's of the two is even more striking. So clearly there are a lot that would prefer to visit India...not to mention concerns regarding China human rights and geopolitical threat.


I was talking about Beijing and Mysore......TBH, I just learned that there is a city called Mysore in India...and looking at some pics of it, it looks like a good place to visit. But still it wouldn't compare to Beijing...


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## Black_cats

*Bangladesh going to be major part of global economy: Deloitte*
on December 2, 2018

http://businessnews24bd.com/bangladesh-going-to-be-major-part-of-global-economy-deloitte/


*businessnews24bd.com*

Sustainable growth, young and energetic workforces and infrastructure development are helping Bangladesh to create an strong economic base which will make the country a large part of the global economy within 10 to 20 years, observed Deloitte, a global advisory firm.

In the last decade, the country achieved remarkable successes in all social development parameters, such as gender equality, infant mortality and life expectancy.

Talking to BSS, Board Member of the Deloitte Bangladesh Limited Joydeep Datta Gupta said Bangladesh is doing very well in all socio-economic parameters as the country is experiencing a sustained GDP growth rate of more than 7.5 percent, rising per capita income and improved social indicators.

“Today, a large number of our key global clients are operating their business in Bangladesh. Businesses of the Bangladeshi clients are also growing. Significant investments are taking place from the government agencies as well as the funding agencies in certain areas, including health care, education, infrastructure and financial and social inclusion,” he added.

Although Ready Made Garments (RMG) has become a prominent sector of the country, he said, other sectors are also developing. “I see, development is happing and the time has come for Bangladesh.”

As per the demand of Deloitte’s clients, Gupta said, the advisory firm has opened its office in Bangladesh.

“Our Bangladeshi clients are uplifting and Bangladesh economy is also growing. Many of our clients asked us to open office here as they need high standard services,” he added.

On Saturday, Deloitte formally launched its operations in Bangladesh to help their clients.

Gupta said the firm will provide the private and government organisations with various services, including audit, tax, legal, financial advisory, risk advisory, and consultancy.

He said they will provide services in all kinds of businesses, including pharmaceuticals, leather, power and energy, consumer goods and agro products.

He said Deloitte Bangladesh will have a base of more than 100 professionals and highly respected clients and it hopes to grow the workforce in several fields in the next few years.

Having footprint in over 150 countries across the world, Gupta said, Deloitte provides business consultancy, including acquisition and merger jobs, to the multinational firms.

At the office launching function, Deloitte Bangladesh Managing Partner Nurul Haque said “We are proud to join the Deloitte network, respected for its world-class professional service, innovation and ethics. With our deep industry expertise and commitment to quality, I am confident that Deloitte Bangladesh will deliver value to clients and grow the local talent pool.”

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## N.Siddiqui

Nilgiri said:


> Well....India earns about 55% of foreign tourism revenue that China does....which when factoring in GDP's of the two is even more striking. So clearly there are a lot that would prefer to visit India...not to mention concerns regarding China human rights and geopolitical threat.



You are citing the total revenue of India from domestic and intl' tourism for India and just intl' tourism data from China.....India tourism revenue from intl' tourists is about 10 percent of China.

*Top Ten Countries with the Largest Tourism Industries (GDP)*

*United States* ($488 billion)
*China* ($224 billion)
*Germany* ($130.8 billion)
*Japan* ($106.7 billion)
*United Kingdom* ($103.7 billion)
*France* ($89.2 billion)
*Mexico* ($79.7 billion)
*Italy* ($76.3 billion)



*India earned $27 bn from foreign tourist arrivals in 2017: Minister *

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/62526432.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

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## D Boss

Homo Sapiens said:


> Perhaps you are from Mysore. A relatively clean and organized city in Karnataka. Which itself among the few better Indian state. That's why you are such deluded about the realities in India. Have you ever been outside of Karnataka? India is not like Mysore to Bangalore. A little information for you. Only Uttar Pradesh have population equivalent of all the five southern Indian states combined whom you are proud of. And condition in Uttar Pradesh is not great. Then there are tons of other BIMARU states. So, BIMARU's are the real India, not Mysore. Still an average Chinese city is better looking than Mysore.


Im From Bangalore , my Hometown is a Village in Mysore and Mandya Border..

UP population is 19 crore... Bimaru is a short form of "Bihar, Madya pradesh ,Rajasthan and Uttar pradesh" , those combined population is 40 crore means 30% , their economy is growing faster as Muslims fertility rate is reduced and they are coming under control..

and i have been to Varanasi,Lucknow, patna and many other cities of UP and Bihar.. 
I knw more abt India's reality than a illiterate Bangladeshi..


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## Homo Sapiens

Mage said:


> I was talking about Beijing and Mysore......TBH, I just learned that there is a city called Mysore in India...and looking at some pics of it, it looks like a good place to visit. But still it wouldn't compare to Beijing...


I have seen some videos of Mysore city. It is known as cleanest city in India. Quite clean may be considering that India's cleanliness is world famous. But that city has unimpressive skyline. Even Bangladesh's Sylhet city has better skyline than Mysore. Both Sylhet and Mysore has similar population. Sylhet's urban road infrastructure is inferior compared to Mysore, no doubt. But Sylhet in drone looks more impressive.

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## Nilgiri

N.Siddiqui said:


> You are citing the total revenue of India from domestic and intl' tourism for India and just intl' tourism data from China.....India tourism revenue from intl' tourists is about 10 percent of China.
> 
> *Top Ten Countries with the Largest Tourism Industries (GDP)*
> 
> *United States* ($488 billion)
> *China* ($224 billion)
> *Germany* ($130.8 billion)
> *Japan* ($106.7 billion)
> *United Kingdom* ($103.7 billion)
> *France* ($89.2 billion)
> *Mexico* ($79.7 billion)
> *Italy* ($76.3 billion)
> 
> 
> 
> *India earned $27 bn from foreign tourist arrivals in 2017: Minister *
> 
> Read more at:
> //economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/62526432.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst



Um...no its international (foreign) tourism revenue:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.RCPT.CD?locations=CN-US-IN-DE-FR

The list you posting is total tourist industry including domestic tourism obv (however a country defines and tabulates it).

Good to see a 4 billion increase for India from 2016 to 2017 though for foreign tourist revenue from 23 to 27...that is good growth.


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## ebr77

2030 to compete just 2 route !! By that time there will be more cities needing metro . Can't they finish the metro like in a year ? 

The traffic in Dhaka is simply unbearable everyday .

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> I was talking about Beijing and Mysore......TBH, I just learned that there is a city called Mysore in India...and looking at some pics of it, it looks like a good place to visit. But still it wouldn't compare to Beijing...



Well logic can be extended to say smaller towns of Canada. No one has heard of them really but they are lot cleaner than Beijing (so really its unfair to compare Mysore)....in fact Beijing like most big cities gets pretty shabby once you leave the city centre area (its common theme esp in Asia, I lived in HK a long time and know of many examples there). 

I have only found Singapore to be one which has complete cleanliness and orderliness to higher than 90% permeation (center or edges)...as far as major cities go.


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## Darwin

yasinbin said:


> 2030 to compete just 2 route !! By that time there will be more cities needing metro . Can't they finish the metro like in a year ?
> 
> The traffic in Dhaka is simply unbearable everyday .


Takes approx 5 years to build 50 km of metro but varies depending on underground component.
You guys will enjoy a modern metro. In india the only clean and maintained areas are generally the metros.



Nilgiri said:


> Well logic can be extended to say smaller towns of Canada. No one has heard of them really but they are lot cleaner than Beijing (so really its unfair to compare Mysore)....in fact Beijing like most big cities gets pretty shabby once you leave the city centre area (its common theme esp in Asia, I lived in HK a long time and know of many examples there).
> 
> I have only found Singapore to be one which has complete cleanliness and orderliness to higher than 90% permeation (center or edges)...as far as major cities go.


True. The touristy areas are maintained like the bund in shanghai but branch out and it becomes a lot less savoury.

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## Homo Sapiens

D Boss said:


> UP population is 19 crore... Bimaru is a short form of "Bihar, Madya pradesh ,Rajasthan and Uttar pradesh" , those combined population is 40 crore means 30% , their economy is growing faster as Muslims fertility rate is reduced and they are coming under control..


In 2011 census UP had population 200 million and it has one of the highest population growth in India. So current population may be around 240 million.

BIMARU also include Jharkhand, Chattishgarh. When BIMARU was coined these states were within Bihar and Madya Pradesh. there are also other states whose name are not within BIMARU but has similar living conditions like Odisha, Assam, some other north eastern states, eastern part of Maharastra etc. So BIMARU condition prevail over half of India.

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## Nilgiri

D Boss said:


> Im From Bangalore , my Hometown is a Village in Mysore and Mandya Border..



Very nice area. I am fan of Maddur Vadai


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## D Boss

Nilgiri said:


> Very nice area. I am fan of Maddur Vadai


I like Bidadi Thatte Idly and Chutney , its very famous in Bangalore and Mysore..



Nilgiri said:


> Very nice area. I am fan of Maddur Vadai


 I dnt like Maddur Vade , the only type of vade i like is Udin Vade

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## Homo Sapiens

yasinbin said:


> 2030 to compete just 2 route !! By that time there will be more cities needing metro . Can't they finish the metro like in a year ?
> 
> The traffic in Dhaka is simply unbearable everyday .


Not 2 but 3 routes. MRT-6(under construction), MRT-1 and MRT-5 by 2030.


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## Destranator

Nilgiri said:


> Nah man, you came into thread saying their capital dont have a subway etc etc.... was the Indian cities worthless when they didnt have subways some years back?
> 
> Pick and choose the battles please....but you are new, so maybe it will take time. They know very well deep down they cannot compete with India....just leave them be if they aren't asking for it.





What happened to you there?


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## SBUS-CXK

Homo Sapiens said:


> I want to be sure about this part from our Chinese members.
> @Two @Chinese-Dragon @cirr @rcrmj @Beast
> @JSCh @TaiShang





Mage said:


> To me,after searching in google, poorest Chinese province, Gansu looks much more cleaner and developed than Mumbai....not to mention per capita of Gansu in nominal USD is like twice of Mumbai.


We can refer to Vietnam and Guangxi Province of China (Ethnic Minority Aggregation Areas).

Guangxi per capita GDP: 5477 USD.
Vietnam Per capita GDP: 2214 USD.

Now Vietnam's per capita GDP is still higher than India.

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## Sanchez

GHALIB said:


> Bangla desh should use chinese money but at own terms and conditions, it should chose terms and conditions at par with world bank , working agencies should have bangla participation , rates and cotract terms should not be decided by china.



Are you sane? If you are to determine the terms and conditions of borrowing money who would lend you?

Does anyone consider that China should be a charity Institution with her hardly-earned money?

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## Arsalan

DO NOT QUOTE TROLL POSTS. YOU MAKE THE JOB OF MODERATOR TEAM DIFFICULT AS WE THEN HAVE TO DEAL WITH TWO POSTS WHERE WE COULD HAVE DONE WITH ONE.

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## Mage

Sanchez said:


> Are you sane? If you are to determine the terms and conditions of borrowing money who would lend you?
> 
> Does anyone consider that China should be a charity Institution with her hardly-earned money?


If the borrowing conditions are not favourable than no need to borrow or look for other parties.
Lending is basically a business. China want to lend their money to countries so that those countries get things done by Chinese companies and the loan will be repaid to China(with interests) anyway.

Or for Japan, their internal interest rate is very low(maybe negative) so they take interest from their lent money......their national pension system is dependent on it.

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## Sanchez

Mage said:


> If the borrowing conditions are not favourable than no need to borrow or look for other parties.
> Lend is basically a business. China want to lend their money to countries so that those countries get things done by Chinese companies and the loan will be repaid to China anyway.
> 
> Or for Japan, their internal interest rate is very low(maybe negative) so they take interest from their lent money......their national pension system is dependent on it.



Most governments in the world are in huge debt. China is not an exception. What differentiates China from other developing countries is that China built a strong economy and infrastructure by using international loans! China has to take risks to lend money to those developing economies that can not borrow from no where! It's a business indeed.

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## Mage

Sanchez said:


> China has to take risks to lend money to those developing economies that can not borrow from no where!


BD have places to borrow from, China being one(probably the largest one) among them. Padma Bridge was supposed to funded from WB loan later WB denied to provide money because of some scandal, then BD decided to build it with own money. China was willing to fund it, but BD rather denied it because the terms were not acceptable. Metro rail is funded mostly by BD money and Japanese loans....so if BD takes loan from China, that does not mean BD has no other option. Rather it means China gave BD better terms and conditions. It is basically give and take relation. BD can manage without Chinese loans and China surely can manage without giving BD money.....so the deal only takes place when it is beneficial for both. And in many cases it seems it is good for both BD and China. BD wants good relation with China but it does not seek dependency.

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## Sanchez

Mage said:


> BD have places to borrow from, China being one(probably the largest one) among them. Padma Bridge was supposed to funded from WB loan later WB denied to provide money because of some scandal, then BD decided to build it with own money. China was willing to fund it, but BD rather denied it because the terms were not acceptable. Metro rail is funded mostly by BD money and Japanese loans....so if BD takes loan from China, that does not mean BD has no other option. Rather it means China gave BD better terms and conditions. It is basically give and take relation. BD can manage without Chinese loans and China surely can manage without giving BD money.....so the deal only takes place when it is beneficial for both. And in many cases it seems it is good for both BD and China. BD wants good relation with China but it does not seek dependency.



It's good that BD has all the options to borrow money! It's an art doing business with lenders to reach your goal. China is neither a saint nor an evil. I suggest that BD should avoid to take Chinese loans so that you will not fall into Chinese debt trap.

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## GHALIB

Sanchez said:


> It's good that BD has all the options to borrow money! It's an art doing business with lenders to reach your goal. China is neither a saint nor an evil. I suggest that BD should avoid to take Chinese loans so that you will not fall into Chinese debt trap.



yeah
bangladesh should ask for the best terms .


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## Sanchez

GHALIB said:


> yeah
> bangladesh should ask for the best terms .



You are a good business man! Nobody from developed countries wanted to build Padma Bridge for that amount of money available.


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## VikingRaider

UKBengali said:


> Already the frigate project has not gone to China - looks like it will go to EU now.


Good, I like EU or USA military equipments , and never a fan of Chinese stuffs.
But for combat jets maybe Russia will be better? As EU stuffs are too costly.


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## Nilgiri

Al-Ansar said:


> What happened to you there?



Real old me is known from time to time to slip out from the internet facade asylum. They are a powerful force, but not _that_ powerful.


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## Nilgiri

Sanchez said:


> Are you sane? If you are to determine the terms and conditions of borrowing money who would lend you?
> 
> Does anyone consider that China should be a charity Institution with her hardly-earned money?



China is just doing what it can with BD (poor) credit rating. Not many people get why China charges a premium over WB base libor rate...they put it down to malice when there are other economic reasons.


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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> China is just doing what it can with BD (poor) credit rating. Not many people get why China charges a premium over WB base libor rate...they put it down to malice when there are other economic reasons.



Can you do some basic research before posting?
Chinese loans will have 5 year grace period with interest rate of 2% which will be payable over 15 years.
BD is using a mixture of own funds and taking very soft, soft and commercial loans from a mixture of sources.
BD only took Chinese loans after the loans were changed from commercial to soft loans.


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## nahtanbob

Sanchez said:


> Are you sane? If you are to determine the terms and conditions of borrowing money who would lend you?
> 
> Does anyone consider that China should be a charity Institution with her hardly-earned money?



a loan is a two way contract. the buyer has a say especially with large loans


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## Destranator

Nilgiri said:


> Real old me is known from time to time to slip out from the internet facade asylum. They are a powerful force, but not _that_ powerful.



Why not just remain the so-called "old you" and help maintain civility and keep discussions productive?
What have petty insults like "3 millioner", "Bongles", "Tamil retard", "slave to the power of 3", etc. flying in both directions achieved so far?

They key is to debunk myths/conceptions with facts.

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## Nilgiri

Al-Ansar said:


> Why not just remain the so-called "old you" and help maintain civility and keep discussions productive?
> What have petty insults like "3 millioner", "Bongles", "Tamil retard", "slave to the power of 3", etc. flying in both directions achieved so far?
> 
> They key is to debunk myths/conceptions with facts.



I have not much interest on cultivating the landscape of another country/society. The onus for that lies only with those from it....that has always been my belief and always will be till my last breath.

Really in the end, I hope the silver lining is that people learn they must truly take charge of their own destiny rather than renting out blame and becoming dependent on that...and staying as pawns, unknowing and uncaring of the true world beyond their well of safety. 

If I must be devil's advocate (however that shapes up in some context), so be it....I can take that burden and still feel I contributed some way. This way I can see who really deep down care about their country...and who are just along for some emotional ride.

I _could_ be all sunshine and roses....but then nothing would change where it counts. Generally people at their core root, only _really_ change when they have opponents and detractors and something to fight against and defeat....rather than transient or even false friends showering them with only accolades, applause and agreement. It is just how we are...I learned to accept that long ago (especially here)...."old me" just does better in real life, face to face...because he is much more perceptive and caring and not so cold and thus has breaking points....I do my best to keep him away from here now actually. It's for his own good you see....

@Joe Shearer


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## Bilal9

Guys please try to post on topic....

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## Bilal9

Black_cats said:


> *Bangladesh going to be major part of global economy: Deloitte*
> on December 2, 2018
> 
> http://businessnews24bd.com/bangladesh-going-to-be-major-part-of-global-economy-deloitte/
> 
> 
> *businessnews24bd.com*
> 
> Sustainable growth, young and energetic workforces and infrastructure development are helping Bangladesh to create an strong economic base which will make the country a large part of the global economy within 10 to 20 years, observed Deloitte, a global advisory firm.
> 
> In the last decade, the country achieved remarkable successes in all social development parameters, such as gender equality, infant mortality and life expectancy.
> 
> Talking to BSS, Board Member of the Deloitte Bangladesh Limited Joydeep Datta Gupta said Bangladesh is doing very well in all socio-economic parameters as the country is experiencing a sustained GDP growth rate of more than 7.5 percent, rising per capita income and improved social indicators.
> 
> “Today, a large number of our key global clients are operating their business in Bangladesh. Businesses of the Bangladeshi clients are also growing. Significant investments are taking place from the government agencies as well as the funding agencies in certain areas, including health care, education, infrastructure and financial and social inclusion,” he added.
> 
> Although Ready Made Garments (RMG) has become a prominent sector of the country, he said, other sectors are also developing. “I see, development is happing and the time has come for Bangladesh.”
> 
> As per the demand of Deloitte’s clients, Gupta said, the advisory firm has opened its office in Bangladesh.
> 
> “Our Bangladeshi clients are uplifting and Bangladesh economy is also growing. Many of our clients asked us to open office here as they need high standard services,” he added.
> 
> On Saturday, Deloitte formally launched its operations in Bangladesh to help their clients.
> 
> Gupta said the firm will provide the private and government organisations with various services, including audit, tax, legal, financial advisory, risk advisory, and consultancy.
> 
> He said they will provide services in all kinds of businesses, including pharmaceuticals, leather, power and energy, consumer goods and agro products.
> 
> He said Deloitte Bangladesh will have a base of more than 100 professionals and highly respected clients and it hopes to grow the workforce in several fields in the next few years.
> 
> Having footprint in over 150 countries across the world, Gupta said, Deloitte provides business consultancy, including acquisition and merger jobs, to the multinational firms.
> 
> At the office launching function, Deloitte Bangladesh Managing Partner Nurul Haque said “We are proud to join the Deloitte network, respected for its world-class professional service, innovation and ethics. With our deep industry expertise and commitment to quality, I am confident that Deloitte Bangladesh will deliver value to clients and grow the local talent pool.”



Kiss-@ss schmooze talk. Figures. 

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is the least impressive in Asia (talent and activity wise) of all the big four consulting firms.

Accenture and E&Y are the better ones.

Still- if they (meaning this Dada) can train local folks and start a business activity supplying local talent overseas (the high class equivalent of reverse outsourcing), I don't see an issue with their becoming local.


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## Joe Shearer

Nilgiri said:


> I have not much interest on cultivating the landscape of another country/society. The onus for that lies only with those from it....that has always been my belief and always will be till my last breath.
> 
> Really in the end, I hope the silver lining is that people learn they must truly take charge of their own destiny rather than renting out blame and becoming dependent on that...and staying as pawns, unknowing and uncaring of the true world beyond their well of safety.
> 
> If I must be devil's advocate (however that shapes up in some context), so be it....I can take that burden and still feel I contributed some way. This way I can see who really deep down care about their country...and who are just along for some emotional ride.
> 
> I _could_ be all sunshine and roses....but then nothing would change where it counts. Generally people at their core root, only _really_ change when they have opponents and detractors and something to fight against and defeat....rather than transient or even false friends showering them with only accolades, applause and agreement. It is just how we are...I learned to accept that long ago (especially here)...."old me" just does better in real life, face to face...because he is much more perceptive and caring and not so cold and thus has breaking points....I do my best to keep him away from here now actually. It's for his own good you see....
> 
> @Joe Shearer



<sigh!>

I was staying away as hard as I could. I will continue to stay away. BP Monday before last was 140 over 100.

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## Homo Sapiens

Black_cats said:


> *Bangladesh going to be major part of global economy: Deloitte*
> on December 2, 2018
> 
> http://businessnews24bd.com/bangladesh-going-to-be-major-part-of-global-economy-deloitte/
> 
> 
> *businessnews24bd.com*
> 
> Sustainable growth, young and energetic workforces and infrastructure development are helping Bangladesh to create an strong economic base which will make the country a large part of the global economy within 10 to 20 years, observed Deloitte, a global advisory firm.
> 
> In the last decade, the country achieved remarkable successes in all social development parameters, such as gender equality, infant mortality and life expectancy.
> 
> Talking to BSS, Board Member of the Deloitte Bangladesh Limited Joydeep Datta Gupta said Bangladesh is doing very well in all socio-economic parameters as the country is experiencing a sustained GDP growth rate of more than 7.5 percent, rising per capita income and improved social indicators.
> 
> “Today, a large number of our key global clients are operating their business in Bangladesh. Businesses of the Bangladeshi clients are also growing. Significant investments are taking place from the government agencies as well as the funding agencies in certain areas, including health care, education, infrastructure and financial and social inclusion,” he added.
> 
> Although Ready Made Garments (RMG) has become a prominent sector of the country, he said, other sectors are also developing. “I see, development is happing and the time has come for Bangladesh.”
> 
> As per the demand of Deloitte’s clients, Gupta said, the advisory firm has opened its office in Bangladesh.
> 
> “Our Bangladeshi clients are uplifting and Bangladesh economy is also growing. Many of our clients asked us to open office here as they need high standard services,” he added.
> 
> On Saturday, Deloitte formally launched its operations in Bangladesh to help their clients.
> 
> Gupta said the firm will provide the private and government organisations with various services, including audit, tax, legal, financial advisory, risk advisory, and consultancy.
> 
> He said they will provide services in all kinds of businesses, including pharmaceuticals, leather, power and energy, consumer goods and agro products.
> 
> He said Deloitte Bangladesh will have a base of more than 100 professionals and highly respected clients and it hopes to grow the workforce in several fields in the next few years.
> 
> Having footprint in over 150 countries across the world, Gupta said, Deloitte provides business consultancy, including acquisition and merger jobs, to the multinational firms.
> 
> At the office launching function, Deloitte Bangladesh Managing Partner Nurul Haque said “We are proud to join the Deloitte network, respected for its world-class professional service, innovation and ethics. With our deep industry expertise and commitment to quality, I am confident that Deloitte Bangladesh will deliver value to clients and grow the local talent pool.”


Currently Bangladesh's GDP share in the world is just 0.34% in nominal terms and 0.56% in purchasing power parity. This share need to increase at least 3 times to be considered a medium important economy in the world. If we can maintain high growth, may be in 20 years time, this is possible.

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## GeraltofRivia

Nilgiri said:


> China is just doing what it can with BD (poor) credit rating. Not many people get why China charges a premium over WB base libor rate...they put it down to malice when there are other economic reasons.


Um... Ba3, just one notch above “high speculative”. That’s a little concerning...

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## GeraltofRivia

Tshering22 said:


> Typical meddlesome politics to 'pressure' developing governments.
> 
> Bangladesh should consider restricting Moody's hand in their country.
> 
> Rating agencies have caused more damage in the developing economies compared to other arms of the Treasury Department of US.


Not sure whether there are any conspiracy against developing countries but one can argue the rating agencies are just doing their job to call out the risk they identified. Developing countries and their banking system tend to have issues due to risk/funding concentration making them more vulnerable to financial shocks, and smaller one are even more so due to size.

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## Mage

*Bangladesh can become an exporting powerhouse*
 Tribune Editorial 

Published at 05:30 pm December 3rd, 2018





Photo: BIGSTOCK

It would be wise to ensure that the export basket continues to diversify

Thanks to our impressive economic growth over the last decade, Bangladesh is well on track to becoming a developing country, with greater global opportunities than ever. 

As Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has made clear, this promotion will open up newer avenues in trade and business, and these are chances that our business community must seize with both hands. 

One of the major achievements of the current government has been to broaden Bangladesh’s export potential, with the prime minister ensuring that economic ties continue to improve with regional players.

MoUs signed with economic powerhouses such as India and China, in addition to other neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan, have created the environment required to ensure that our export sector continues to flourish. 

And while Bangladesh’s exports already contribute enormously toward the economy’s continued development, it would be wise to ensure that the export basket continues to diversify and seek newer markets in the international arena, which are conducive to Bangladeshi goods. 

The stage is set, but the government’s role in the future will also be crucial, as our position in the ease of doing business rankings needs urgent attention -- this is achievable through reducing bureaucracy and corruption, which continue to act as barriers to progress. 

In the long run, the government and private sector need to work together to ensure that Bangladesh’s potential as an economic powerhouse is taken advantage of. 

Bangladesh still has a long way to go, but if we play our cards right, nothing can stop us.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinio...bangladesh-can-become-an-exporting-powerhouse

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## Black_cats

*Bangladesh can become an exporting powerhouse*
Tribune Editorial

 Published at 05:30 pm December 3rd, 2018






Photo: BIGSTOCK

It would be wise to ensure that the export basket continues to diversify

Thanks to our impressive economic growth over the last decade, Bangladesh is well on track to becoming a developing country, with greater global opportunities than ever. 

As Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has made clear, this promotion will open up newer avenues in trade and business, and these are chances that our business community must seize with both hands. 

One of the major achievements of the current government has been to broaden Bangladesh’s export potential, with the prime minister ensuring that economic ties continue to improve with regional players.

MoUs signed with economic powerhouses such as India and China, in addition to other neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan, have created the environment required to ensure that our export sector continues to flourish. 

And while Bangladesh’s exports already contribute enormously toward the economy’s continued development, it would be wise to ensure that the export basket continues to diversify and seek newer markets in the international arena, which are conducive to Bangladeshi goods. 

The stage is set, but the government’s role in the future will also be crucial, as our position in the ease of doing business rankings needs urgent attention -- this is achievable through reducing bureaucracy and corruption, which continue to act as barriers to progress. 

In the long run, the government and private sector need to work together to ensure that Bangladesh’s potential as an economic powerhouse is taken advantage of. 

Bangladesh still has a long way to go, but if we play our cards right, nothing can stop us.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinio...bangladesh-can-become-an-exporting-powerhouse


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## The Ronin

*Bangladesh flower market reaches Tk1,200cr, expanding at 10% rate*

The growing middle class, equipped with disposable income, along with the rise of corporate businesses and widespread use of flowers in various programs - have expanded the flowers and cut foliage business in Bangladesh.

However, cultural changes among the young generation in celebrating western festivals such Valentine’s Day, Friendship Day, Mother’s Day and iconic cultural events like Pohela Boishakh , Pohela Falgun have expedited the growth of flower business in the country. 

In addition, the celebration of National Days such as Ekushey February, Independence Day and Victory Day has reached to rural level more than ever before, which also helped boost the business. 

According to a recent Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) statistics, the local market of flower and cut foliage has reached at Tk1,200 crore per annum and is witnessing a 10% yearly growth. 

“Flowers are widely used in political, social and corporate events. This is because of economic growth, which brought changes in living standards of people as they have disposable income,” Anwar Faruque, a consultant to Bangladesh Flower Society told the Dhaka Tribune. 

Now people from all walks of life celebrate national days across the country, while young generation are observing several program where they all use flowers to greet friends and family members, said Faruque.

Prospects of flower industry

In meeting demands of flowers for big occasions like Ekushey February, Bangladesh has to import, as the demand in the local market is growing very fast. 

On the other hand, there is huge opportunity in the export market as the production cost in Bangladesh is lower compared to other flower-exporting countries.

According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, in 2016-17 fiscal year, Bangladesh exported cut flowers, leaves, trees, plants, bulbs, roots of $86,000, up 10.26%, which was $78,000 in the previous year. 

“Bangladesh has a competitive advantage due to its favourable climate and topography as well as low labour cost and relatively low capital investment which is helping the sector to thrive.” said Abdur Rahim, president of Bangladesh Flower Society (BFS).

Using the favourable environment and comparatively better opportunity, we can grab the markets in home and abroad, said Rahim. 

“If Bangladesh goes for vast cultivation of flowers commercially, it will be able to earn huge amount of foreign currency as there is demand of Bangladeshi products in the export destinations,” Anwar Faruque, also a former secretary of Ministry of Agriculture told the Dhaka Tribune. 

As of now, flowers are being cultivated in nearly 10,000 hectares of land in 23 districts of the country. 

Flower and foliage farming has expanded into Jashore, Jhenidah, Magura, Rangpur, Bogra, Dhaka, Gazipur and Manikganj districts.

Currently, more than 25,000 families are engaged in cultivating flowers and 200,000 people are directly and indirectly dependent on this sector.

Due to rise of flower uses, the number of flower shops in the capital also has seen a rise and as of now there are about 500 shops in the capital. Shahbagh is the largest flower market in the capital, which remains very busy every time of the day. 

Challenges faced by sector

In line with the economic growth as any other industry, the flower sector is growing very fast, creating an opportunity for huge export earnings. But there is no policy and financial support for the sector, which is hindering the sector’s growth.

As an emerging sector, floral cultivators are facing problems in getting finance from financial institutions. 

Additionally, the sector needs training on farming flowers which are high in monetary value, said Rahim. 

To this end, the sector needs low cost credit in making investment to introduce modern technology, training, in constructing cold storage and to ensure supply of quality and new varieties of seeds, he added.

To tap into this opportunity, Bangladesh needs to pay special attention to address the problems and government should come up with relevant policy support.

“Flower industry is a very potential industry but there is no specific policy for the emerging sector. Its infrastructural development needs to be established. In reaping the opportunities of the sector, Bangladesh has to come up with a comprehensive policy to create space for the sector to grow,” Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Abul Kasem Khan said. 

On the other hand, the government and people related to the sector have to move for introducing modern technologies and ensuring supply of newer seeds, building warehouses and cold storages. 

Concurrently, the policy makers should work on development of infrastructure to ensure a smoother supply chain, said Kasem.

He suggested low interest loan for the farmers and entrepreneurs related with this industry.

Global Flower Market Size

Global consumption of cut flowers is estimated at a staggering $40-50 billion per year with Europe and North America being the leading markets. Globally, there are around 145 countries involved in the cultivation of ornamental crops.

International Trade Centre (ITC) in its study showed global flower exports over the last few years have grown by more than 10% annually. Based on this trend, global export of flowers is expected to reach $45 billion in 2018.

World Floriculture Map showed, from only cut flower segment, export value reached over $10 billion in 2015. Europe is the largest consumer of floriculture followed by North America and China.

As per ITC, total flower market size in China was $19.52 billion and flower export reached $620 million in 2015. 

Indian floriculture market reached $1.25 billion (Rs.9000 crore) in 2017-18 fiscal year, while their flower export reached $78.73 million (Rs.507.31 crore).


https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...market-reaches-tk1-200cr-expanding-at-10-rate

*How much trouble is the country's banking sector in?*
Golam Mawla

 Published at 04:27 pm December 3rd, 2018

More than 10 of the country’s prominent banks are suffering from a deficit of capital. The situation is worsening as these banks have now started dipping into their core capital. 

Most of them are operating on taxpayers’ money. 

According to Bangladesh Bank, until now, these banks have had a large cash reserve from which they have provided loans to the market—even after spending a portion of it on day-to-day operational costs. 

However, now, they have started dipping into their core capital, resulting in a situation where the only solution is to stop these banks from operating.

The matter recently came up in a letter from the CEO and Managing Director of the state-owned Janata Bank, Abdus Salam Azad—sent to the secretary of the Financial Institution Division.

The letter says: "To keep up with the fixed interest rates, Tk2,612 crore was decremented from Janata Bank's deposit. 

"The bank has to reserve the necessary CRR by taking call loans from the money market and assured liquidity support (ALS) from Bangladesh Bank," the letter mentioned. "And this dire situation prevails in all state-owned banks."

Meanwhile, the central bank's June 2018 report states that 10 government and non-government banks have already used their core capital due to non-payment of loans.

Seven of the banks are government-owned and the other three are private.

Until June this year, the deficit has reached Tk25,143 crore. 

Financial sector experts and economists say the government is undertaking the burden of not only the government banks, but also the irregularities carried out by private banks. 

State-owned banks such as Sonali Bank and Janata Bank were forced to buy shares of Farmers Bank when they were themselves suffering from a deficit of capital.

According to the central bank, the total capital deficit of the seven state-owned banks is Tk23,270 crore.

They are: 






Assessing the current situation, former Bangladesh Bank Governor Saleh Uddin Ahmed said: "Ever year, the government has been providing capital to these banks from the national budget. 

"Providing capital to these corrupt institutions every year from the taxpayer’s money is not acceptable," he said. 

Every time the government takes such initiatives, the organizations are encouraged to be more corrupt and incompetent, Saleh said. Analysis by the Ministry of Finance has found that, since 2009, the government has regularly provided capital to the banking sector.

In the span of eight years, in the 2009-10 to 2016-17 session, a total of Tk14,505 crore has been given to the banks as capital support. 

During the 2017-18 session, government banks have been given Tk1,850 crore as capital support.

A study of the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a private research organization, found that during the fiscal years of 2009-10 to 2016-17, a total of Tk11,705 crore was given to banks as an initiative for re-capitalization.

This amount is equivalent to 10.8% of the government’s total revenue earnings.

CPD Fellow Mostafizur Rahman said: "Instead of spending such huge sums of money on these corrupt banks, the government should have financed more in the country’s education, health, and social sectors. This would have benefited the country a lot."

However, Bangladesh Development Research Institute Researcher and Chairman of Agrani Bank Dr Zayed Bakht said: “I believe if the state-owned banks start charging for their services, then this situation will not recur."

He added: "Government banks are doing a lot better than before. Maybe in the near future these banks will not need any capital support from the government.”

According to sources, from 2010-2014, the Hallmark scandal resulted in the embezzlement of Tk2,600 crore from Sonali Bank. Later, Tk4,500 crore was embezzled from Basic Bank during the Bismillah Group Scandal. 

Adding to the crisis, Janata Bank has lost Tk1,200 crore to loan scams by Crescent Group and Anon Tex Group. 

As a result, Bangladesh Bank canceled the foreign trade licenses (AD licenses) of the Imamganj and Mohammadpur branches of the banks. Now the bank has to borrow money and use their core capital to run its daily activities.

According to the information provided by the central bank, till June 2018, the total sum of loan defaults in the country’s banking sector is Tk89,340 crore. 

If the waived loans are added, total loan defaults amount to Tk138,000 crore.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...QJQRKI5A4VeLr9tgkiDjWBeIK-gTGvEpA3XYMOLR4xcsw

*WEF report: Unstable energy prices main risk of doing business in Bangladesh*

Unexpected changes in energy prices have been identified as the most serious business risk in Bangladesh, according to a recent report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

In the report titled “Regional Risks for Doing Business 2018,” WEF explained that businessmen in Bangladesh are very vulnerable to energy price volatility, adding that this has the potential to seriously disrupt the business climate in the country.

As per the findings of the report, five other risks of doing business in Bangladesh include failure of national governance, cyber-attacks, failure of regional and global governance, and unemployment/underemployment.

Data for the report has been collected from the annual “Executive Opinion Survey 2018” conducted between January and June this year, for the “Global Competitiveness Report 2018.” Survey data from 2017 and 2016 were also used in some cases. 

Failure of national governance

In addition to being the second most serious risk of doing business in Bangladesh, failure of national governance also predominates among businesses in South Asia.

Following a particularly busy political period in the region, the election process is being viewed with anxiety in the South Asian region, as it can be accompanied by violence, blockades, and other forms of political tension. 

Cyberattacks

On February 4, 2016, Bangladesh’s banking industry suffered a sudden shock when $101 million was stolen from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the New York Federal Reserve, the biggest cyber attack on the banking sector of the country.

The Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) conducted much research on the cybersecurity of banks in Bangladesh, with one research study revealing that 52% of banks in Bangladeshare are at high risk of cyberattacks.

Another BIBM research found that 80% of banks in the country do not have relevant staff skilled and efficient enough to face any such attack, or even as much as a firewall in their data centres. 

Only 4% of banks have employees with excellent knowledge about IT and cyber security systems, found another BIBM study, which also revealed that half the bank officials in Bangladesh are unaware of cybersecurity. 

The research found that 28% of officials in the banking industry are “very ignorant” about cybersecurity and 22% are “ignorant” about IT security, while 20% of officials have minor knowledge about the matter.

Furthermore, in May, Bangladesh was ranked 73rd among 100 nations in the National Cyber Security Index, published by the Estonia-based e-Governance Academy.

The report also claimed Bangladesh to be at a high risk of cyberattacks since most computers in the country are running Microsoft products that report malware encounters. 

Failure of regional and global governance

The failure of regional and global governance has been identified as the third most serious risk of doing business in Bangladesh. 

Survey respondents pointed to governance issues above the nation state level, with failure of regional and global governance ranking fourth across the region, and featuring most prominently in Nepal and Bangladesh. 

Refugee and migration issues have been considered to be drivers of this, with approximately 700,000 people – mostly Rohingya – having fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh over the past year.

Unemployment and underemployment

According to the report, unemployment and underemployment were ranked as the fifth leading risk in Bangladesh, and the third leading risk in the South Asian region.

While World Bank projections suggest South Asia is set to remain the fastest-growing region in the world – with 7.1% economic growth on average in 2019 – there are concerns that the region will struggle to deliver sufficient job creation to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding population. 

Observations of economist AB Mirza Azizul Islam

Former Finance Adviser to a Caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam said the report of the WEF reflected the inner problems the businesses have long been facing in the country.

“By and large, the report results are alright. According to my knowledge, Bangladesh has been consistently doing poorly in the governance indicators set by the World Bank. Cyber-attacks are definitely a distressing risk because our banks are still not prepared enough to fight the threat,” Aziz told the Dhaka Tribune.

In terms of unemployment, he said it can be observed that the rate is higher among graduates. 

Firstly, our education system is still not compatible with the job market. Secondly, of the total employment, the informal sector occupies the major percentage while employment in the formal sector is very limited, he added.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...ces-main-risk-of-doing-business-in-bangladesh



bluesky said:


> Why always the foreign companies, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and so on? Why do not you guys ask the govt to get help from our own private companies to design (consulting), surveying, subsoil investigation (not the so-called BD style soil testing), pile fabrication, pile driving, erection and so on? Let the local Contractors get foreign help. This is how the technology of designing and constructing is transferred to the locals.
> 
> About Japanese help, the railway ministry is also seeking its help (money and technology) to build a railway bridge over the Jamuna about 150 m north of the current highway bridge. I ask how far do you think BD can go when its own people are unable to build anything important? Any country needs hundreds of similar projects and do you really think only a minimal foreign collaboration will cause BD to build these? Never, never.



Don't you already have the answer? Dumb, corrupted officials, politics, commission etc. But i thought we give these work to our local guys, at least some of them. About that rail project over Jamuna, why would i hire a Bangladeshi guy with no experience, expertise, equipment, technological support who have to borrow help from a Japanese guy when i can hire Japanese guy for the job? And Bangladeshi contractors don't do the job properly often and steal the money if we count some local projects done by them. I am no expert, so plz correct me if i am wrong.

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## Nilgiri

GeraltofRivia said:


> Um... Ba3, just one notch above “high speculative”. That’s a little concerning...



Yah like I said, the strings and conditions are pretty much the best China (or anyone) can really offer.

BD has to institutionally improve a lot before it can get better bargaining power and terms. Actually lot of that will depend on the result of the current loans.

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## bluesky

Sanchez said:


> Most governments in the world are in huge debt. China is not an exception. What differentiates China from other developing countries is that *China built a strong economy and infrastructure by using international loans!* China has to take risks to lend money to those developing economies that can not borrow from no where! It's a business indeed.


Are you sure about this heavy *international loans *to China by the nations and lending agencies? As far as I know, there were heavy GDI in China in the 80s and beyond that helped to propel up its economy.


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## Bilal9

AKIJ Group (Yearly turnover US$100 crore) divests tobacco/cigarettes business to Japan Tobacco, invests in particle board units in self-developed Trishal (Mymensingh) Export Zone for import substitution and export.






Bangabandhu High Tech Park debuts with production of Water-Tank Mgmt. IOT device for Saudi Arabian market.

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## GeraltofRivia

bluesky said:


> Are you sure about this heavy *international loans *to China by the nations and lending agencies? As far as I know, there were heavy GDI in China in the 80s and beyond that helped to propel up its economy.


This is not really true. Most capital inflow were foreign direct investment. There were probably some loans but they were minority in the grand scheme of things.



Nilgiri said:


> Yah like I said, the strings and conditions are pretty much the best China (or anyone) can really offer.
> 
> BD has to institutionally improve a lot before it can get better bargaining power and terms. Actually lot of that will depend on the result of the current loans.


I have to admit that with this kind of rating China or other lending institutions are pretty faithful and full of goodwill. Hopefully there is sovereign guarantee as naturally there is no security placed on the loan.

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## Bilal9

_Fahim Saleh
Fund Manager of 'Adventure Capital'. We start ride-sharing companies in frontier markets._


Ant Financial buys a 49% stake in bKash. Online grocery supplier Chaldal in talks to raise $3 million from IFC. These are stories coming from an unlikely source: Bangladesh, a small country the size of New York state, with a population of 160 million people. Only a few years ago, if you were to ask an international investor about the country, they would have looked at you clueless. Now it’s a different story. With the most densely populated city in the world and GDP growth four times that of the U.S., the international community has finally awoken to the potential of this small tropical country.

Being a Bangladeshi-American, I always wondered what this country that my parents emigrated from had to offer. When I took a semester off from college in 2008, I had an opportunity to find out first hand. The motivation was more than just curiosity; it was business. The cost of a developer in Bangladesh at the time was only a few thousand dollars a year. 

My mission was to hire a team of programmers in Bangladesh that could handle client work I had generated in the U.S. After an initial round of interviews, I was unimpressed. I saw a lack of excitement, understanding of product and exposure to what robust technology was. The interviewees weren't eager either. 

My father explained to me that Bangladeshi's preferred to have a secure job with an established company, as opposed to the risk of joining a new company, no matter the upside. The startup bug hadn't hit the country, at least not yet. I left the country without hiring one person.

Post college, I settled in New York City. I starting making Bangladeshi friends who were telling me about the growing startup culture in the country. I was skeptical. When one of my friends invited me to their wedding in Dhaka, I took up the chance to visit the country again, fully expecting to be disappointed by the tech ecosystem.

I was shocked at the changed landscape. Entrepreneurs were taking chances and building interesting businesses. There was a complete shift from my original visit five years prior. But there were still issues. I spoke to several entrepreneurs desperate for funds. With a lack of access to capital, entrepreneurs were cutting desperate deals with local investors often giving away majority control of their company and even giving investors dilution-proof equity. The country needed a few success stories for international investors with more entrepreneur-friendly terms to pay attention.

Then it started happening. bKash, a mobile finance solution received investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Chaldal, a grocery delivery startup graduated from Y-Combinator and went on to raise millions. And a company I co-founded, Pathao, received massive backing to be the digital platform of the country. There is even a homegrown technology publication with regular informative updates.

For entrepreneurs looking to start a venture in Bangladesh or other developing markets, the opportunities are plenty. But it requires a commitment to understanding the cultural and economic landscape. You can either live in the country for a significant period of time and learn on your own or find a knowledgeable local partner. The latter will save you time and headaches, as a local is less likely to get taken advantage of than a foreigner on matters ranging from taxes to reasonable contractor fees. Finally, stay as lean as possible relative to the country you’re in. The cost of living may be much lower in these countries compared to where you are coming from, but that's no reason to let the purse strings loose.

When I started my office in Bangladesh, I spent a great deal of capital creating a Silicon Valley office feel: top-end equipment, a beautiful office and an open workflow. It was too much of a drastic shift in work-style for local employees, resulting in excessive spending, an inefficient use of resources and an unproductive workforce. Although resources may seem cheap, you have to think like a local to win.

The technology ecosystem in Bangladesh has certainly matured. There are now a handful of accelerators started by the country’s largest mobile carrier. Co-working spaces allow entrepreneurs to work in collaboration. For investors interested in the country, now is the time to plant your seeds and take advantage of the excitement in Desh-tech (Bangladesh Technology).

The future of Bangladesh is bright. Social programs by the government and private institutions continue to empower women to join the workforce and become educated. The government promotes secularism and is taking a hard line against terrorism. And recent reports have Bangladesh’s per capita gross domestic product set to outpace India’s by 2020. With continued traction, Bangladesh may even see its first unicorn very soon.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec...-making-waves-in-the-tech-scene/#7fc56fe620e4

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## Bilal9

*Deloitte, world's largest professional services firm, enters Bangladesh*
Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.com

Published: 2018-12-01 18:09:39.0 BdST Updated: 2018-12-01 18:09:39.0 BdST





*Deloitte, the largest professional services firm in the world with its presence in more than 150 countries, has established a presence in Bangladesh.*

They will offer a diverse range of professional services to clients with a combination of local expertise with global best practices, it said.

Nurul Faruk Hasan & Co (Nufhas) and Business Consulting Services (BCS) have become part of Deloitte in Bangladesh.

With this, Deloitte Bangladesh will have a base of more than 100 professionals and clients, and hopes to grow its team several times in the next few years.

Deloitte has come to Bangladesh at a time when the country is experiencing a sustained GDP growth rate of more than 7.5 percent, rising per capita income and improved social indicators.

"This is a very exciting time for Bangladesh. We are proud to join the Deloitte network, respected for its world-class professional service, innovation and ethics,” Nurul Haque, managing partner, Deloitte Bangladesh, said at a press briefing.







“With our deep industry expertise and commitment to quality, I am confident that Deloitte Bangladesh will deliver value to clients and grow the local talent pool,” he said.






Joydeep Datta Gupta, board member, Deloitte Bangladesh, said they are delighted to be expanding in what is fast becoming a critical market for the region and the global economy as a whole.

“By combining the deep local knowledge and global expertise, Deloitte Bangladesh is well-positioned to help new and existing clients make an impact that matters in Bangladesh.”

Deloitte’s services include audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, and tax services to its clients.


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## Mage

*Tofail blasts BIDA*

*Blames lack of coordination for slow progress in ease **of doing business*

Star Business Report

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday criticised the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) for lack of coordination among its stakeholders and said harmonisation is a must to improve the ease of doing business.

“Why is the coordination meeting of the special panel being held two years after its formation?” he asked at the first meeting of the BIDA's steering committee for ease of doing business at the InterContinental Hotel in Dhaka.

“Why is there no representative from the private sector?”

Businesses should be included in the steering committee as they suffer the most for the complexities in the process for doing business and they know the problems better than anyone, Ahmed said.

“Our businessmen are doing great and they are helping the economy grow faster despite all the hurdles in doing business. We should not blame our businessmen. They are the main contributor to our economy.”

The minister said Bangladesh has done well in all social and economic indicators. Still the country lags behind others because of the flaws in business environment.

“Foreign investors come to pour money into Bangladesh, but they go back after visiting the country because of poor road and business climate. So, the BIDA should take the main responsibility to improve the ease of doing business.”

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the faster growth of the economy indicates that it is getting easier to do business. “But still some problems are there.”

“We have to create a system so that investors do not have to go door to door of the government offices. We have to go for technological improvement in all sectors to ensure that.”

Lack of technological improvement in the activities of ministries and authorities is the main reason behind the slow growth in the ease of doing business, said Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources.

A system should be created so that people can complete the process online that is needed to start a new business, Hamid said. “It will cut hassle and corruption.”

The situation in government offices is getting better but it is not perfect yet, said Md Abul Kalam Azad, principal coordinator for SDG affairs at the Prime Minister's Office.

The business climate in government offices should improve, said Kazi M Aminul Islam, executive chairman of the BIDA.

“We are hopeful to introduce an effective one-stop service for the sake of better business environment.”

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and secretaries of several ministries were also present at the meeting.

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/tofail-blasts-bida-1669171

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## bluesky

Mage said:


> *Tofail blasts BIDA*
> 
> *Blames lack of coordination for slow progress in ease **of doing business*


I think for a usual country the ministers, Cabinet and the bureaucrats all together formulate the policy of an investment body like BIDA. Here, however, the trade minister is complaining against BIDA. To me, it is like someone slapping his own face out of frustration. Instead, Tofail should take lead on the matter and get cooperation from all the stakeholders to set up the guidelines for trouble-free investment. How about studying the cases in other countries, for example, Cambodia?

In Cambodia, in order to encourage FDI, its Special Economic Zone Administration established in the authorized SEZ is to provide *one-stop service* to zone investors starting from the registration of projects up to the step concerning export-import approvals.

In Golden Bangladesh, a prospective investor has to go through 22 (or more?) govt offices to get clearance for investment from the Authority. In Cambodia, it is *only one stop*. A would-be investor visits this office and is given the list of documents that the former needs to supply to get clearance. All other inside works in other govt offices are done by this office.

So, when the peasant ministers and bureaucrats will learn from others' experience? At least, please do it before 2141.

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## Mage

bluesky said:


> I think for a usual country the ministers, Cabinet and the bureaucrats all together formulate the policy of an investment body like BIDA. Here, however, the trade minister is complaining against BIDA. To me, it is like someone slapping his own face out of frustration. Instead, Tofail should take lead on the matter and get cooperation from all the stakeholders to set up the guidelines for trouble-free investment. How about studying the cases in other countries, for example, Cambodia?
> 
> In Cambodia, in order to encourage FDI, its Special Economic Zone Administration established in the authorized SEZ is to provide *one-stop service* to zone investors starting from the registration of projects up to the step concerning export-import approvals.
> 
> In Golden Bangladesh, a prospective investor has to go through 22 (or more?) govt offices to get clearance for investment from the Authority. In Cambodia, it is *only one step*. Investor visits this office and is given the list of documents that the former needs to supply. All other inside works in the govt offices are done by this office.
> 
> So, when the peasant ministers and bureaucrats will learn from others' experience? At least, please do it before 2141.


At least this issue is being raised....before this was ignored. If they can improve ease of doing business in Bangladesh and fix the banking crisis, improve BD's credit ratings...it will bring long term benefits to the country.

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## bluesky

Mage said:


> At least this issue is being raised....before this was ignored. *If* they can improve ease of doing business in Bangladesh and fix the banking crisis, improve BD's credit ratings...it will bring long term benefits to the country.


Yes, you are right. But, the questions are "If" and "When". Do you remember about the slimming down the transport routes and the GoB directed some ignorant bureaucrats to sit with the private bus owners? So, have you found any results yet? I have not seen any conclusion, activities or follow up works to cause an improved transportation. Nothing happened except the initial newspaper report saying Hasina had directed someone to sit for a meeting on some Monday. 

Tofail talking is the same in nature. He is not supposed to call reporters and complain, he is supposed to act. But, as usual, like all other peasant ministers, this Tofail from Bhola (?) wanted to see his name in print.

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## Mage

bluesky said:


> Yes, you are right. But, the questions are "If" and "When". Do you remember about the slimming down the transport routes and the GoB directed some ignorant bureaucrats to sit with the private bus owners? So, have you found any results yet? I have not seen any conclusion, activities or follow up works to cause an improved transportation. Nothing happened except the initial newspaper report saying Hasina had directed someone to sit for a meeting on some Monday.
> 
> Tofail talking is the same in nature. He is not supposed to call reporters and complain, he is supposed to act. But, as usual, like all other peasant ministers, this Tofail from Bhola (?) wanted to see his name in print.


I think govt made the law harsher for transport accidents. If intentional it can be sentenced to death...

I don't know anything other than that. They were strictly checking driver's license and vehicle papers for someday and then everything cooled down. Well the govt suffers from a transportation blockades. And what can they do when majority of the drivers and cars don't have appropriate papers or have expired papers?

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## bluesky

Mage said:


> I think govt made the law harsher for transport accidents. If intentional it can be sentenced to death...
> 
> I don't know anything other than that. They were strictly checking driver's license and vehicle papers for someday and then everything cooled down. Well the govt suffers from a transportation blockades. And what can they do when majority of the drivers and cars don't have appropriate papers or have expired papers?


Yes, I accept these moves as good. But, there are hundreds of other things that ought to be done to systemize the Dhaka transport sector. The mass transportation system there needs a total re-planning and re-arrangement. It is now a total mess except the points you have noted. But, I think these are too short of the goal and too late.

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## Black_cats

*Bangladesh to sue New York Fed, RCBC over $81mn heist: Muhith *

UNB NEWS
PUBLISH DATE - DECEMBER 05, 2018, 08:00 PM
UNB NEWS - UNB NEWS
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangla...national-guard-bureau-praises-bangladesh-army





Finance Minister AMA Muhith. File photo
Dhaka, Dec 5 (UNB) - Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said Bangladesh will sue the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Philippines’ RCBC over the heist of $81 million from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the US bank.

“Bangladesh Bank has been working seriously to file a case in this regard and there’s no alternative to it,” he said while talking to reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.

Muhith said the central bank can file the case until January 15 next and it will do it by the deadline.

He said both the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the RCBC will be made accused in the case as they received the fund and disbursed it.

The Finance Minister expressed the hope the New York Fed will cooperate with Bangladesh as it is the custodian of entire fund of the world. “I think they’ll cooperate with us as it’ll ultimately be in their favour.”

Following discussions with the New York Fed, Bangladesh is convinced that the case will be filed in a New York court and the Bangladesh mission in Washington is coordinating it, he said.

International robbers withdrew $101 million from the Bangladesh Bank account with the Federal Reserve of New Your through fraudulent instructions against their target of about $1 billion in February 2016.

However, some $20 million was recovered from a Sri Lankan bank while $81 million, which landed in Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), could not be recovered. 

Most of the money transferred to the Philippines went to four personal accounts, held by single individuals.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York blocked the remaining thirty transactions, amounting to US $850 million, due to suspicions raised by a misspelled instruction.

Around $18 million of the $81 million transferred to the Philippines has so far been recovered. It was later suspected that Dridex malware was used for the attack.

Muhith noted that he will prepare a report on the country’s financial situation and submit it to the government. “The banking sector will get a focus in the report as it has been the weakest area of the economy as far as I’m concerned,” he said.


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## Imran Khan

fed can print dollar man


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## war&peace

Good luck. I wish Bd wins from these extortionists.


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## UKBengali

https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/12/05/export-earnings-post-17-24-growth-july-november

"Bangladesh's export earnings are keeping a higher growth momentum as merchandise sales posted a17.24% increase to $17.07 billion in the July-November period of FY19."

"Export earnings went up 11.94% year-on-year to $3.42 billion in November, according to the latest data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB)."

"The earnings are 12% higher than the target of $15.23 billion set for the period of July-November."

"The apparel sector, the largest contributor to national exports, registered an 18.60% rise to $14.18 billion in the July-November period, which was $11.96 billion in the same period a year ago. "


Ready made garments contributed 83% of total exports and so other sectors are rising as quickly.

BD is back with a vengeance in terms of export growth.

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## Mage

*Export earnings post 17.24% growth July-November*
Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

 Published at 10:33 pm December 5th, 2018






The earnings are 12% higher than the target of $15.23 billion set for the period of July-November Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune


Last month rises 11.94%

Bangladesh's export earnings are keeping a higher growth momentum as merchandise sales posted a17.24% increase to $17.07 billion in the July-November period of FY19.

Export earnings went up 11.94% year-on-year to $3.42 billion in November, according to the latest data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The ongoing US-China trade war, strong US economy, the largest destination for products originating from Bangladesh, and improved factory capacity played vital roles for the leap in the earnings, stakeholders said.

In reaction to the healthy growth of export earnings, exporters, particularly apparel manufacturers have given credit to safety standard improvement in the sector, which restored buyers’ confidence in Bangladesh for sourcing products.

On the other hand, trade analysts have attributed to ongoing trade war between US and China as well as better growth of major non-RMG items for the rise in export earnings.

According the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released on Wednesday, in the July-November period of the FY19, Bangladesh’s overall export earnings stood at $17.07 billion, up by 17.24%, which was $14.56 billion in the same period of last fiscal year. 

The earnings are 12% higher than the target of $15.23 billion set for the period of July-November. 

“Export earnings from the apparel sector have been steadilygrowing, helping to register a double digit growth in overall exports of the country,” Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) president Abdus Salam Murshedy told the Dhaka Tribune. 

Apparel exports are doing better as the safety standard improvement in the sector has enhanced buyer's confidence in Bangladesh, said Salam, a former president of BGMEA.

Further, the China-US trade war helps Bangladesh to get more work orders from global brands and retailers, he added. 

The apparel sector, the largest contributor to national exports, registered an 18.60% rise to $14.18 billion in the July-November period, which was $11.96 billion in the same period a year ago. 

Of the total amount, Knitwear products earned $7.30 billion, which is 17% higher than the $6.24 billion in the same period a year ago. Woven products earned $6.88 billion, up by 20.33%, compared to $5.71 billion a year ago.

“It is a positive sign for Bangladesh that it maintained a double digit growth for months in the current fiscal year. I hope, the momentum of the export growth will continue helping Bangladesh to reaching its export target,” Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) told the Dhaka Tribune. 

This is largely because of theongoing US-China trade war, a reason that impacted export earnings positively, said the economist.

But the impact is temporary. In making the export growth sustainable, Bangladesh has to concentrate on attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as overseas investment is also shifting along with export orders, said Moazzem.

To this end, Bangladesh needs to improve the ease of doing business by offering more trade facilities to local and foreign investors, he added. 

Among the major sectors, agricultural products have posted a sharp rise by a 76.64% growth to $458.64 million in the first five months of the current fiscal year, the EPB data said.

In addition, export earnings from the pharmaceuticals sector rose by 33.96% to $58 million, plastic goods by 30% to $48.75 million, and specialized and home textiles by 54.37% and 2.92% respectively.

However, earnings from leather and leather goods witnessed a 16.11% negative growth to $434.7 million during the period, which was $518.15 million last year. 

Jute and jute goods, the third largest export earners, registered a 22% negative growth to $351 million, much to the worry of huge jute farmers.

Exports of frozen and live fish also fell to $1254.51 million from $272.4 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/12/05/export-earnings-post-17-24-growth-july-november

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## Bilal9

Summit Power is one of the larger power sector investors in Bangladesh supplying to the national grid. This is their MeghnaGhat plant.
















*Bangladesh's Summit Power to develop $3 bln LNG-to-power project with Japanese firms*

*13 Mar 2018*




Bangladesh's* Summit Power International* said on Tuesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's *Mitsubishi Corp* and subsidiary *Diamond Gas International* to develop a *$3 billion LNG-to-power project*.

Under the MoU, subsidiary Summit Corp, group company Summit Holdings and the Japanese firms agreed to develop an integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) onshore receiving terminal with regasification capacity of up to 1,500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) at Matarbari, Moheskhali in the Bay of Bengal.

'This MoU will help Summit Power International support Bangladesh's fast-growing energy, power and technology needs,' said Muhammed Aziz Khan, the chairman of Summit Power International.

'The two groups are well-positioned to uniquely benefit from opportunities arising from the Bangladesh government's move to raise LNG imports to meet the country's domestic natural gas shortfall and expand the country's power generation capacity.'

Summit Power is the largest independent power producer in Bangladesh, representing about 21 percent of the country's private power market last year.

Summit Power is set to be the first Bangladeshi firm to list in the Singapore Exchange (SGX) by April, as it seeks to raise funds to invest in assets across Asia.

With up to 30 percent of the over 160 million people in Bangladesh lacking access to electricity, Summit hopes to invest in projects to meet that expected increase in demand, Khan told Reuters in February. Bangladesh will require about 7 million tonnes of LNG by 2022 and similar volumes of coal by 2024, Khan had said.

Diamond Gas International is a wholly-owned LNG sales subsidiary that Mitsubishi Corp established in Singapore.


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## Imran Khan

not a good news at all . its sucks


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## Bilal9

*Investment of USD 35 billion required in Bangladesh’s power sector to meet the country’s energy needs: PwC- BIPPA report*
Sushanto Biswas

 Published at 09:27 pm March 18th, 2018






Significant skill upgrade and capacity building of the workforce is also key to sustain growth of the power sector in Bangladesh. This is in addition to new generating sources, a changing generation mix, increased operational efficiency, according to a new report _“Transforming the Power Sector in Bangladesh”, _launched by Honourable State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Government of Bangladesh, Nasrul Hamid during PwC and Bangladesh Independent Power Producers Association(BIPPA)’s joint event – the Bangladesh Power Conclave 2018. 

There is a need to develop a more efficient, transparent, deregulated and competitive power market for the supply of reliable and cheap power to citizens in Bangladesh. Bangladesh may also need to explore other sources of financing beyond the existing ones as it is envisaged that by 2041 the country would require investment of about 35 billion USD in the power sector, the report said. 

Mamun Rashid, managing partner, PwC Bangladesh said: “Bangladesh’s power sector is one of the fastest growing in the South Asian region. The sector will play an important role in helping the country achieve its socio-economic goals. However there are constraints stemming from low energy access, rapid urbanisation, vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters and limited availability of land.” 

Yogesh Daruka, partner – Power & Utilities, PwC India said: “Globally, power markets are undergoing a phase of disruptive transformation. The continuous interaction of various political, technological and economical forces are catalysing what could be the most dramatic change for the sector in the past century. This is the case with Bangladesh as well. With the Government’s aggressive efforts, continuous support from the developing partners and effective implementation of policies, the country has shown remarkable progress in its journey so far. However, with these ever evolving trends, the industry further needs to adapt itself to accelerate the progress of the sector.” 

Honourable State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Government of Bangladesh, Nasrul Hamid, said: “The Government thinks that deregulation is the future. Private sector participation in transmission and distribution will bring investment and better service in this sector. However, providing reliable and affordable electricity to our citizens remains our main agenda, which is why we are treading carefully. But we want to start private sector partnership in transmission very soon as a test case.”




Bangladesh’s installed capacity has increased remarkably in the past 10 years, from 4.5 gigawatt (GW) to 12.8 GW. According to the report, augmenting the existing electricity infrastructure of the country and an increased focus on the industrial sector could further help the country in the successful transformation of the sector. 

Speaking on the sector, Latif Khan, president, BIPPA and Vice Chairman of Summit Group said: "There are certain issues concerning regulation, financing and technology prevalent in the private power generation sector today. Bangladesh's power industry today needs to address these to attain our shared goal of implementing the Private Sector Power Generation Policy (PSPGP) and Power System Master Plan (2016)."


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## The Ronin

*Exclusive: Bangladesh aims for 10% annual growth*
PM Hasina says nation will seek bids for a second nuclear plant next year

YUJI KURONUMA, Nikkei staff writer, and GWEN ROBINSON, Nikkei Asian Review editor-at-largeDECEMBER 06, 2018 14:21 JST

DHAKA -- Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Wednesday that Bangladesh's rapid economic expansion will pick up further momentum to hit 10% annual growth over the next three years.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Nikkei Asian Review ahead of a general election on Dec. 30, the 71-year-old leader said her nation will shed its "least developed country" status from 2024.

Hasina has overseen nearly a decade of consistent expansions of around 6% to 7%, with the economy growing 7.86% in real terms in the fiscal year that ended in June. The prime minister said growth is projected to accelerate to 8.25% this fiscal year and would continue to increase. "If elected, I can assure you that the program we have undertaken will get us up to 10% by 2021," she said.


The prime minister said Bangladesh could become Asia's fastest growing economy through a range a policies. One example she gave was the country's attempt to coax foreign companies to set up in a new network of 100 special economic zones. Currently 11 of the zones are now functioning and 79 are under construction.

The election will be a crucial test of Hasina's policies. The previous poll in 2014, in which her Awami League retained power, was boycotted by the Bangladesh National Party, the largest opposition group. The BNP, headed by jailed opposition leader Khaleda Zia, will participate this time, but opinion polls show that the Awami League is expected to win a large majority in the 300-seat parliament.

Hasina said Bangladesh will begin seeking bids for its second nuclear power plant project as soon as next year. The plant is part of Dhaka's efforts to expand and diversify the country's power supply amid its prolonged economic boom.

Natural gas accounts for 58% of Bangladesh's 17,340 megawatts of installed power generation capacity, according to the Bangladesh Power Development Board. But with domestic gas production declining, the country plans to significantly increase imports of liquefied natural gas as well as employ nuclear power and renewable energy to meet demand, which is growing by an estimated 10% annually.

Hasina has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure program since taking office in early 2009 -- she was also prime minister from 1996 to 2001. The number of power plants has grown to 121 from 27, while access to electricity has risen to 93% of the 166 million population from 47%. She has pledged 100% access by the middle of next year.

Russia and India are building the country's first nuclear plant in Rooppur in western Bangladesh. Hasina said that the facility's two reactors, with output capacity totaling 2,400 megawatts, "will start producing electricity [in] 2024."

As for the proposed second plant, "we are still searching for land," she said, adding that she hopes to build it in the south, one of the country's poorest regions.

She said Bangladesh will consider inviting proposals after the election, once the land is secured. China, which has stepped up involvement in Bangladesh in recent years under its flagship Belt and Road Initiative, has expressed interest in building the plant, according to local media reports.

Among the deals in Beijing's estimated $38 billion total investment in Bangladesh are $24 billion in bilateral assistance for infrastructure projects and $13.6 billion in joint ventures, China recently acquired a 25% stake in the Dhaka Stock Exchange after outbidding Indian rivals. Bangladesh is also one of the top importers of Chinese military hardware.

Stressing her country's "good relations" with all powers, Hasina said only that Dhaka would choose a proposal for the plant that is "suitable and comfortable for our country."

Turning to the issue of the 800,000 or so Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh from late 2016, Hasina brushed aside concerns that the situation would become an election issue.

She said Bangladeshis felt solidarity with the Rohingya after their own experiences in the independence war with Pakistan in 1971, when an estimated 10 million fled into neighboring India. Western estimates of the death toll range from 200,000 to 2 million people.

"I am very lucky that people trusted me, when I called upon my people to recognize their suffering. If necessary, we will share our food. Our people accepted this," she said of Bangladesh taking in Rohingya refugees.

"We have done our part," she added. "We gave them shelter, we are providing them food, health care and taking care of children and taking care of women."

The two countries had agreed to commence repatriation of refugees in mid-November but these efforts stalled after the first group of returnees refused to leave. Hasina confirmed plans to relocate some refugees to new facilities on a nearby island, but rejected international concerns that the flood-prone island would be like a prison camp.

"It is a beautiful island, it is used by people to farm cattle. They can live in a better way there; children will get education, health care; we built a warehouse so we can deliver the relief. At this moment, we are preparing for 100,000. But we can take 1 million there," she said.

The prime minister repeated assurances that no refugee would be forced to return to Myanmar but called on other countries and multinational organizations to help resolve the issue. It is now the international community's turn to figure out "how to make Myanmar take back their people to their own country," she said.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Pi...EtRItc_6M2XDM_raeagSqeQUF7g9x3XAmDvaaIyOCEE5s

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## nahtanbob

Goku-kun said:


> wonder what forces a so-called super power to not print its currency itself but it is being print by jews.There is something deep in this and you should know that your president trump makes all your policies on his son and law's gesture who is a jew from israel.
> Leaving UNHRC for israel and many other special favours for them for what.Your entire banking system is controlled by jews.



All Jews are not Israelis

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## Homo Sapiens

http://unb.com.bd/category/Business/industrl-sector-contributes-3371-in-gdp/7930

*Industrial sector contributes 33.71% in GDP*


UNB NEWS

PUBLISH DATE - DECEMBER 06, 2018, 10:04 PM



Dhaka, December 6 (UNB): The Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu today told that the industry sector is now contributing 33.71% in the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of the country which was 17.77% in FY 2007-2008.

“We have noticed a positive change in the economic sector following good performance of the industry factories and various proper steps in the last five years. The country per capita income is now $1751 which $917 was in 2009” he also said.

The senior minister made these while addressing at a press briefing on the ministry’s success in the last five years held at his department on Thursday.

Amir Hossain Amu further said: “The country’s export income went up $36.67 billion in 2017-18 Fiscal Year which was $14.11 billion in FY2007-2008.

“To achieve sustainable and skill base industrialization, However, the ministry has taken various policy including National Industry policy-2016, Motorcycle industry development policy-2018, handicraft policy-2015, National Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) Policy, Geographical Indication (GI) act 2013, and “Bangladesh Ship Recycling Bill, 2018”,” he added.

* He further added that An Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) industrial park of public-private partnership was set up on more than 200 acre land costing Tk381 crore in Gazaria of Munsiganj. Raw materials of medicine will be produced on 42 plots in the city.*

*“Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) is being built on 400 acre land costing 628.10 crore in Sirajganj to strengthen rural economy. Around 100000 people will be employed in jobs there. Besides, the construction work of Light engineering, plastic, comical and printing industrial city is being continued in Dhaka and its surrounding areas,” he also said.*

Amu further added that Re-rolling mill Dhaka steel workers limited under Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) has been stated again after 24 years and environment friendly Bangladesh Ship Recycling activities were announced as industry. Besides, we have become able to bring manufacturing position from motorcycle assembling system. 

“A regional office of South Asian Regional Standers Organization (SARSO) has been set up for open business in the countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Besides, a bilateral investment agreement was signed between Bangladesh and Cambodia in the last five years. Meanwhile, database and apps have been prepared in the industrial factories of the country. Different information can be known about the boilers by using the apps,” the minister also added.

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## Dubious

@American Pakistani and @JohnWick *control yourselves! *


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## JohnWick

Dubious said:


> @American Pakistani and @JohnWick *control yourselves! *


Hey buddy!
I also unable to introduce myself to you I am an MBBS student in Nishtar Medical University Multan.You can delete any of my post you want.but buddy plz also asked Bangladeshi not to hit our PM Imran Khan.......


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## Black_cats

*Exclusive: Bangladesh aims for 10% annual growth*

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/Exclusive-Bangladesh-aims-for-10-annual-growth

PM Hasina says nation will seek bids for a second nuclear plant next year

YUJI KURONUMA, Nikkei staff writer, and GWEN ROBINSON, Nikkei Asian Review editor-at-largeDECEMBER 06, 2018 14:21 JST




Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina predicts that her government will boost growth as high as 10% if she is re-elected this month. (Photo by Akira Kodaka)
DHAKA -- Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Wednesday that Bangladesh's rapid economic expansion will pick up further momentum to hit 10% annual growth over the next three years.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Nikkei Asian Review ahead of a general election on Dec. 30, the 71-year-old leader said her nation will shed its "least developed country" status from 2024.

Hasina has overseen nearly a decade of consistent expansions of around 6% to 7%, with the economy growing 7.86% in real terms in the fiscal year that ended in June. The prime minister said growth is projected to accelerate to 8.25% this fiscal year and would continue to increase. "If elected, I can assure you that the program we have undertaken will get us up to 10% by 2021," she said.

The prime minister said Bangladesh could become Asia's fastest growing economy through a range a policies. One example she gave was the country's attempt to coax foreign companies to set up in a new network of 100 special economic zones. Currently 11 of the zones are now functioning and 79 are under construction.

The election will be a crucial test of Hasina's policies. The previous poll in 2014, in which her Awami League retained power, was boycotted by the Bangladesh National Party, the largest opposition group. The BNP, headed by jailed opposition leader Khaleda Zia, will participate this time, but opinion polls show that the Awami League is expected to win a large majority in the 300-seat parliament.




The streets of Dhaka (Photo by Takaki Kashiwabara)
Hasina said Bangladesh will begin seeking bids for its second nuclear power plant project as soon as next year. The plant is part of Dhaka's efforts to expand and diversify the country's power supply amid its prolonged economic boom.

Natural gas accounts for 58% of Bangladesh's 17,340 megawatts of installed power generation capacity, according to the Bangladesh Power Development Board. But with domestic gas production declining, the country plans to significantly increase imports of liquefied natural gas as well as employ nuclear power and renewable energy to meet demand, which is growing by an estimated 10% annually.

Hasina has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure program since taking office in early 2009 -- she was also prime minister from 1996 to 2001. The number of power plants has grown to 121 from 27, while access to electricity has risen to 93% of the 166 million population from 47%. She has pledged 100% access by the middle of next year.

Russia and India are building the country's first nuclear plant in Rooppur in western Bangladesh. Hasina said that the facility's two reactors, with output capacity totaling 2,400 megawatts, "will start producing electricity [in] 2024."

As for the proposed second plant, "we are still searching for land," she said, adding that she hopes to build it in the south, one of the country's poorest regions.

She said Bangladesh will consider inviting proposals after the election, once the land is secured. China, which has stepped up involvement in Bangladesh in recent years under its flagship Belt and Road Initiative, has expressed interest in building the plant, according to local media reports.

Among the deals in Beijing's estimated $38 billion total investment in Bangladesh are $24 billion in bilateral assistance for infrastructure projects and $13.6 billion in joint ventures, China recently acquired a 25% stake in the Dhaka Stock Exchange after outbidding Indian rivals. Bangladesh is also one of the top importers of Chinese military hardware.

Stressing her country's "good relations" with all powers, Hasina said only that Dhaka would choose a proposal for the plant that is "suitable and comfortable for our country."




Rohingya refugee children pose for a picture at the Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar © Reuters
Turning to the issue of the 800,000 or so Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh from late 2016, Hasina brushed aside concerns that the situation would become an election issue.

She said Bangladeshis felt solidarity with the Rohingya after their own experiences in the independence war with Pakistan in 1971, when an estimated 10 million fled into neighboring India. Western estimates of the death toll range from 200,000 to 2 million people.

"I am very lucky that people trusted me, when I called upon my people to recognize their suffering. If necessary, we will share our food. Our people accepted this," she said of Bangladesh taking in Rohingya refugees.

"We have done our part," she added. "We gave them shelter, we are providing them food, health care and taking care of children and taking care of women."

The two countries had agreed to commence repatriation of refugees in mid-November but these efforts stalled after the first group of returnees refused to leave. Hasina confirmed plans to relocate some refugees to new facilities on a nearby island, but rejected international concerns that the flood-prone island would be like a prison camp.

"It is a beautiful island, it is used by people to farm cattle. They can live in a better way there; children will get education, health care; we built a warehouse so we can deliver the relief. At this moment, we are preparing for 100,000. But we can take 1 million there," she said.

The prime minister repeated assurances that no refugee would be forced to return to Myanmar but called on other countries and multinational organizations to help resolve the issue. It is now the international community's turn to figure out "how to make Myanmar take back their people to their own country," she said.

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## UKBengali

"but opinion polls show that the Awami League is expected to win a large majority in the 300-seat parliament."



We need another Awami League term to secure the long term future of the economy and military.


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## Bilal9

The Ronin said:


> Western estimates of the death toll range from 200,000 to 2 million people.



Well OT though it is - we have at least a 'two-millioner' estimate now, going by 'Western estimates'. No sources attributed however _and_ on how that number was arrived at. Not doubting it - I am interested however in the methods used.

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## Nilgiri

Bilal9 said:


> Well OT though it is - we have at least a 'two-millioner' estimate now, going by 'Western estimates'. No sources attributed however _and_ on how that number was arrived at. Not doubting it - I am interested however in the methods used.



@PAKISTANFOREVER @Desert Fox @Psychic @war&peace @Game.Invade 

There ya go....the koolaid intake feelz is proven!

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## Homo Sapiens

Black_cats said:


> Prime minister said Bangladesh could become Asia's fastest growing economy through a range a policies. One example she gave was the country's attempt to coax foreign companies to set up in a new network of 100 special economic zones. *Currently 11 of the zones are now functioning and 79 are under construction.*


@bluesky our resident prophet of doom and gloom, where are you? You were claiming 100 SEZ are all hoax, a deception by AL. No real works are happening. But it seems, works are happening rather smoothly.


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## Homo Sapiens

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1130794.shtml


HOME >> BUSINESS
*China-Bangladesh joint venture to construct mega expressway bypassing Dhaka*
Source:Xinhua Published: 2018/12/7 8:29:20


A Chinese and Bangladeshi joint venture on Thursday signed a deal with the Bangladeshi government to build a mega expressway under the country's first major public private partnership (PPP) initiative. 

Sichuan Road and Bridge (group) Co., Ltd has won the deal jointly with local Unique Dream Consultant and Shamim Enterprise Limited to construct the 48-km Dhaka Bypass Expressway. 

The expressway, connecting Joydevpur, Debugram, Vulta and Modonpur, will establish an easy link for the industrial belts around Dhaka with the seaport city Chattogram and northeastern Sylhet region bypassing the capital city. 

According to the Asian Development Bank, the bypass road will help alleviate traffic congestion in the city center, enhance road network connectivity, meet economic/traffic growth targets, and reduce CO2 emissions and air pollution. 

The expressway will help improve Bangladeshi transportation infrastructure, promote local economic development and increase local employment, and it has been a platform for exchanges between China and Bangladesh, said Yang Rugang, representative of the joint venture company. 

"Together, we will strive to set a benchmark for highway construction in Bangladesh and make an important contribution to the construction and development of Dhaka city transportation system," said Yang.

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## Homo Sapiens

12:00 AM, December 07, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 02:18 AM, December 07, 2018
*Country's first toll road on the cards*

https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/news/countrys-first-toll-road-the-cards-1670341
Staff Correspondent

The government yesterday signed a contract with a China-Bangladesh consortium to upgrade the 48km Dhaka Bypass Road to a dual carriageway to improve connectivity between the country's north and northwest parts and the Chattogram Port.

This is the first public private partnership (PPP) project of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and once completed, it will be the first toll road in the country, officials said.

*As per the deal, the expansion of the highway will start within nine months and it will require three years to complete. It will be fully operational within 2022, they said.

The estimated cost of the project is Tk 3,039 crore. The government will provide Tk 224 crore of the cost. Vehicles will have to pay toll to use the four-lane highway -- Joydevpur-Debogram-Bhulta-Madanpur (commonly known as Dhaka Bypass Road).*

*The road connects the Joydevpur-Tangail National Highway (N-4), Dhaka- Chattogram National Highway (N-1), Dhaka-Sylhet National Highway (N-2), Dhaka-Mymensingh National Highway (N-3) along with some regional highways and district roads.*


Buses, trucks and other vehicles will be able to easily travel from northern and western parts of the country to eastern and southern parts without entering Dhaka city.

The contract was inked between the RHD and a consortium of three companies at a hotel in the capital. The companies are Sichuan Road and Bridge (Group) Corporation Ltd of China, and Shamim Enterprise (Pvt) Ltd and UDC Corporation Ltd of Bangladesh.

RHD Chief Engineer Ebne Alam Hasan on behalf of the government, and Zhao Fang for Sichuan, Aminul Haque for Shamim Enterprise, and Kalam Hossain for UDC signed the deal.

The project includes designing, building, financing, operating, and maintaining the road by the private partner for a concession period of 25 years.

The highway will have modern equipment such as central control and command centre, variable message signs, full length CCTV coverage and intelligent cameras for traffic count and classifications installed.

Nazrul Islam, secretary of the road transport and highways division, said upgrading a road to an expressway was very expensive. It was not possible for the government alone to do that job. So, private investment under the PPP was very important.

Abul Kalam Azad, principal coordinator for sustainable development goals affairs at the Prime Minister's Office, said this was the biggest ever project under the PPP and asked the consortium to maintain timeframe and quality strictly.

Nojibur Rahman, principal secretary to the prime minister, said the project was very important for the country.

Syed Afsor H Uddin, chief executive officer of the PPP Authority, and representatives of the companies also spoke at the signing ceremony.

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## Jobless Jack

Looks like china is fast replacing india when it comes to investment and economics in bangladesh !


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## Homo Sapiens

Jobless Jack said:


> Looks like china is fast replacing india when it comes to investment and economics in bangladesh !


India was never a major player in Bangladesh for investment and infrastructure development. So question of replacing do not arise.

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## Destranator

Nilgiri said:


> @PAKISTANFOREVER @Desert Fox @Psychic @war&peace @Game.Invade
> 
> There ya go....the koolaid intake feelz is proven!




@PAKISTANFOREVER @Desert Fox @Psychic @war&peace @Game.Invade

Guys please say something.

@Nilgiri has tagged you for F's sake!

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## Mage

Homo Sapiens said:


> Sichuan Road and Bridge (group) Co., Ltd has won the deal jointly with local Unique Dream Consultant and Shamim Enterprise Limited to construct the 48-km Dhaka Bypass Expressway.


@bluesky you should be happy about this.


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## Mage

Homo Sapiens said:


> @bluesky our resident prophet of doom and gloom, where are you? You were claiming 100 SEZ are all hoax, a deception by AL. No real works are happening. But it seems, works are happening rather smoothly.


Then please inform us what products are being produced there and of what value.

Besides it's not about no work being done it's more about the inefficiency of the works being done. We have gotten over the stage where we would only get khamba in the name of electricity.


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## Destranator

Homo Sapiens said:


> @bluesky our resident prophet of doom and gloom, where are you? You were claiming 100 SEZ are all hoax, a deception by AL. No real works are happening. But it seems, works are happening rather smoothly.


Dude, as of now @bluesky is 89% correct. 

On a serious note, the 100 EPZs haven't been booked out yet.

It's not easy to attract quality investments for 100 EPZs.

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## Mage

If it contributes to 1/3 of GDP then does it mean that our industrial production is over $90 billions?

That's quite good. Time to take it above $100 bn.

Same thing all over again....

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## Homo Sapiens

Members will be discouraged to post new threads if these mega merging fest continue on a regular period. It is like throwing away your new car like a scrap metal into store house.

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## Bilal9

Rooppur Nuclear plant area transformation






Latest on Padma Bridge






Purbachal (Dhaka) suburb eastern connector highway - plan visualization

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## bluesky

Homo Sapiens said:


> @bluesky our resident prophet of doom and gloom, where are you? You were claiming 100 SEZ are all hoax, a deception by AL. No real works are happening. But it seems, works are happening rather smoothly.


Yes, works are always continuing for the last 72 years on the 100s of EPZs and SEZs. Yet, only the day before yesterday Tofail, the peasant trade minister from the remote Bhola was complaining about the BIDA inefficiency that little progress has been achieved so far to compile a policy even to attract investments. 

It seems, after the completion of all these SEZs the GoB is now begging Indonesia, itself a developing poor country, to kindly come to BD and invest. This is how our govt leaders are running the country!! There was a Dipu Moni Kumari who would visit a foreign country almost every week and ask its President to visit her Golden Bangladesh. Now it is the GoB who does similar things on FDIs. It will soon beg Maldives, Bhutan, and Nepal for FDI.

It is guys like you together with your cousins in the ministries who have successfully kept Bangladesh in the rank of a famous underdeveloped country for the last 3/4th of a Century. And the way you guys are showing your aptness in putting the cart before the horse I have no doubt why should it not remain so for the next few Centuries, at least!!

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## Jobless Jack

Homo Sapiens said:


> India was never a major player in Bangladesh for investment and infrastructure development. So question of replacing do not arise.


umm hello 70 's and 80's and 90's


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## Bilal9

Jobless Jack said:


> umm hello 70 's and 80's and 90's



No offense but which major projects? 

Talking to my elders almost no large civil construction project was awarded to Indian firms in the 1970's, 80's or even 90's. For Electrical power stations it was Germans/Russians (Ghorasal), French (Shahajibazar), Chinese (HatHazari, Raozan) and in some cases Czech Skoda Turbines . None of these projects were Indian except low tech projects (like a portion of the DAC-CTG highway in the late 70's). There was some low-priced power looms and textile carding equipment bought from Indian firms in the early/mid 90's but horrible quality issues soon put a stop to that experiment. Most textile mill equipment in Bangladesh is reliable Swiss/German Trutzschler stuff. I have met their reps. Brilliant product and people. No one wants to be hobbled in their revenue stream by using third rate capital equipment. Most Indian companies won't do it either.

As far as I know - opposition to awarding India any type of major govt. project was even stronger during BNP times (late 70's onto the late 80's).

I could be wrong however.

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## Mage

Jobless Jack said:


> umm hello 70 's and 80's and 90's


In 70's and 80's the country was run by foreign aid...for a long long time, every year before budget our finance ministers, prime ministers, foreign ministers would visit foreign countries and ask for money....like Imran Khan is doing these days. There were hardly any infrastructure development back then.


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## Mage

*Bangladesh remains most optimistic market*

*HSBC Bangladesh’s deputy CEO tells The Daily Star, quoting a survey*
Md Mahbub-ur-Rahman
">





Md Mahbub-ur-Rahman
Star Business Report




Bangladeshi firms continue to be the most optimistic out of the 34 countries in which British banking giant HSBC operates, said one of its top officials.

“The reason for the optimism is favourable situation and stable political environment,” Md Mahbub-ur-Rahman, deputy chief executive officer of HSBC Bangladesh, told The Daily Star in an interview recently.

Rahman was quoting the latest edition of the HSBC Navigator survey, which was conducted in 34 countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Australia, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

“Bangladeshi firms are overwhelmingly positive on global trade prospects over the next couple of years and see their businesses benefitting from potential relocation of supply chains in the wake of global trade frictions,” he said quoting the survey report. 

In the previous edition of the survey that was carried out in late 2017 in 25 countries, Bangladesh had come out on top.

The latest HSBC Navigator survey, which is conducted by Kantar TNS, is a compilation of responses by decision makers at more than 8,650 businesses -- from small and mid-market to large corporations -- across a broad range of industry sectors in 34 markets.

In Bangladesh, 200 businesses surveyed over a six-week period from July to September.

Over the past year, the global recovery has clearly benefited the twin engines of Bangladeshi economy -- remittance and apparel export.

“Looking forward, strong remittances and accommodative macro policies should continue to support domestic demand, even as rising trade tensions lead to a slowdown in global trade.”

Risks of a significant disruption to economic activity in the run up to the elections appear much lower compared to 2014, the report said.

As many as 94 percent of the respondents said they have a positive outlook on global trade and a slightly higher proportion are confident of succeeding in the current international trading environment.

China and India were most frequently cited by respondents as key markets where they are looking to expand their businesses. Japan has replaced third-placed Germany.

Bangladesh's trade relations with the two big economies are at its peak and growing, said Rahman, also the country head of HSBC's wholesale banking.

“The two countries are also in geographical proximity to Bangladesh.”

Asked whether industries will relocate from China to Bangladesh because of increased tariffs and lingering trade conflict, he replied in the affirmative.

“The opportunity will be there in certain sectors that are relevant to China as well as we can add value if they come here.”

Some Chinese firms have shown interest in relocating their operations to Bangladesh although they are not significantly scalable, according to Rahman. “They are making queries.”

If the international buyers of Bangladesh's apparel items look to make further inroads in China and India, the country will benefit even more. 

Bangladesh not only has abundant workers, the supply chain has also grown in the apparel sector, said Rahman. 

“We have improved our performance in case of fast fashion and lead-time. Our front-end has given rise to the backend.”

The extent of value addition has improved hugely than in the past.

“Bangladesh may have concentrated on one sector, but product diversification, value addition and buyers' diversification have taken place in it,” said Rahman.

Today, 30 percent of Bangladesh's export goods are going to the markets other than the EU and the US.

About the potential to benefit from China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Rahman said Bangladesh is included in the overall direction of the programme.

“China is already the largest trading partner of Bangladesh, has been always a good market for Bangladesh, and is involved in many infrastructure projects in Bangladesh.”

Rahman said he was in China a couple of months ago when he saw very positive and strong willingness to understand the Bangladesh market. 

Chinese investors may also want to make equity investment in Bangladesh particularly in the public-private partnership projects, said Rahman, without elaborating further.

Rahman, who obtained an executive MBA from Kellog-HKUST Executive MBA programme, played down the concerns of Bangladesh falling to a debt trap because of a flurry of loans from China, saying Bangladesh's debt-to-GDP ratio is low. 

“Debt is required for an economy to grow and Bangladesh has room to borrow.”

And Bangladesh is taking loans to meet infrastructure requirement with a view to improving the country's business environment, connectivity and import substitution.

If that is the case, the macroeconomy will be benefited, which will ultimately benefit businesses, he said.

“But we have to have a conscious and coordinated strategy to see how these are going to benefit us.”

Bangladesh has been witnessing a huge growth in imports, but Rahman is looking at it positively.

“This is a sign of a growing economy where imports for infrastructure and raw materials for industries are flowing in.”

About the economy, the former CEO of HSBC Malaysia said: “It is on a constant rise -- there is no zigzag. It is not that our economy has grown in a year only to take a steep plunge the next year. We have a very consistent growth.”

HSBC is the only bank in Bangladesh with offices in all the export processing zones, facilitating about 10 percent of the country's international trade.

The bank introduced innovative solutions for the private sector such as long-term funding and dollar funding in 2018. 

Equally, it is major lender to the government, the latest being the financing of the first two Boeing 787 Dreamliners for state-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

The bank has made possible Bangladesh's first commercial import of liquefied natural gas.

Its contribution to the power sector includes more than $1 billion of financing to implement four new power projects for Bangladesh Power Development Board.

The bank is supporting the country's first cross-border electricity import of 250 megawatt from India.

In the telecom sector, it arranged €155 million credit to implement the country's first satellite project, the Bangabandhu-1.

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/bangladesh-remains-most-optimistic-market-1671061

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## Bilal9

PHP Group Auto assembly video.


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## monitor

আওয়ামীলীগ আমলের উন্নয়নের ফিরিস্তি
--------------------------------------------
২০০৫ সালে বাংলাদেশের দরিদ্রতম ৫% মানুষের গড় মাসিক আয় ছিলো ১১০৯ টাকা, ২০১৬ সালের এই একই দলের গড় মাসিক আয় দাঁড়িয়েছে ৭৩৩ টাকায়।

২০০৫ সালে বাংলাদেশের ধনীতম ৫% মানুষের গড় মাসিক আয় ছিলো ৩৮ ৭৯৫ টাকা, ২০১৬ সালে এই একই দলের গড় মাসিক আয় হয়েছে ৮৮ ৯৪১ টাকা।

উন্নয়ন কাকে বলে বোঝা যাচ্ছে? উন্নয়নের ডেফিনিশন হচ্ছে গরীব আরও গরীবতর হবে আর ধনী হবে ধনীতর।

কিন্তু যেহেতু চরম দরিদ্র মানুষের অর্থনৈতিক অবস্থা নিয়ে আমাদের কারোরই মাথা ব্যাথা নেই, তাই উন্নয়নের এই সংজ্ঞাটিকেই আমরা আলিঙ্গন করেছি।

(আমি জানি এই ধরনের তথ্য পড়ার সাথেই সাথেই সকলে সোর্স সম্পর্কে জানতে চাইবেন। প্রকৃত সোর্স হচ্ছে বাংলাদেশে সরকারের পরিসংখ্যান বিভাগের উপাত্ত। আমি নিয়েছি বাংলাদেশের অর্থনৈতিক থিংক ট্যাংক সিপিডি'র State of the Bangladesh Economy in FY2017-18, শিরোনামের রিপোর্ট থেকে।)

from face book.


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## Bilal9

monitor said:


> আওয়ামীলীগ আমলের উন্নয়নের ফিরিস্তি
> --------------------------------------------
> ২০০৫ সালে বাংলাদেশের দরিদ্রতম ৫% মানুষের গড় মাসিক আয় ছিলো ১১০৯ টাকা, ২০১৬ সালের এই একই দলের গড় মাসিক আয় দাঁড়িয়েছে ৭৩৩ টাকায়।
> 
> ২০০৫ সালে বাংলাদেশের ধনীতম ৫% মানুষের গড় মাসিক আয় ছিলো ৩৮ ৭৯৫ টাকা, ২০১৬ সালে এই একই দলের গড় মাসিক আয় হয়েছে ৮৮ ৯৪১ টাকা।
> 
> উন্নয়ন কাকে বলে বোঝা যাচ্ছে? উন্নয়নের ডেফিনিশন হচ্ছে গরীব আরও গরীবতর হবে আর ধনী হবে ধনীতর।
> 
> কিন্তু যেহেতু চরম দরিদ্র মানুষের অর্থনৈতিক অবস্থা নিয়ে আমাদের কারোরই মাথা ব্যাথা নেই, তাই উন্নয়নের এই সংজ্ঞাটিকেই আমরা আলিঙ্গন করেছি।
> 
> (আমি জানি এই ধরনের তথ্য পড়ার সাথেই সাথেই সকলে সোর্স সম্পর্কে জানতে চাইবেন। প্রকৃত সোর্স হচ্ছে বাংলাদেশে সরকারের পরিসংখ্যান বিভাগের উপাত্ত। আমি নিয়েছি বাংলাদেশের অর্থনৈতিক থিংক ট্যাংক সিপিডি'র State of the Bangladesh Economy in FY2017-18, শিরোনামের রিপোর্ট থেকে।)
> 
> from face book.



I realize that you are trying to make a point. But here's a counter-point. Inequality in incomes is inevitable in countries trying to climb up the ladder of success and from LDC level (self-imposed in Bangladesh's case) to Middle Income country. This is neither a surprise nor unexpected. AL had nothing to do with it and it is neither their success nor their failure. And I'm not trying to do 'safai' (hand-wringing) for AL here either.

Please look at the relevant documents published by the World Bank from a few years ago and compare Bangladesh' situation with that of neighboring countries as far as unequal development. Please look at slide 10 and comment. Also - @Homo Sapiens your thoughtful comments here please...

http://www.worldbank.org/content/da...essing-inequality-south-asia-presentation.pdf


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## Mage

* Bangladesh- US-Bangla announces daily flights to Guangzhou*


(MENAFN - Bangladesh Monitor) Dhaka : US-Bangla Airlines announced daily flights to Guangzhou to provide better connectivity from December 6. 

Currently US-Bangla Airlines operates weekly four flights to/from Guangzhou route. 

Dhaka-Guangzhou-flights is being operated with 164-seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The aircraft has eight Business Class and 156 Economy seats. 

The minimum one-way fare is fixed at Tk 19,999 and return fare Tk 29,999. The fares include all taxes and surcharges. Presently, Dhaka-Guangzhou flights are being operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. And returns from Guangzhou on Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays. 

The flight departs from at 10.10pm and reaches there at 03.50am. The return flight departs for from Guangzhou at 5am on every scheduled day and reaches at 7.30am (all local timings). 

US-Bangla Airlines is also offering attractive two-night three-day holiday package for Guangzhou. which starts from Tk 36,990 per person on six months' EMI, which includes Dhaka-Guangzhou air fare, three-star hotel accommodation with complimentary breakfast. 

US-Bangla operates flights to Muscat, Doha, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Kolkata. In other domestic sector, US-Bangla is the first private airlines to in the international destinations provide services in almost all the operational airports of Bangladesh. 

US-Bangla has plans to operate flights to Chennai, Colombo, Male and many more. In a span of just four years of its operation, US-Bangla has established its brand reputation, which has successfully operated 51,000 flights both in domestic and international routes. 

With the motto "Fly Fast-Fly Safe", US-Bangla Airlines commenced her operation on July 17, 2014 with two Dash8-Q400 aircraft. Within four years of its successful operation, currently US-Bangla Airlines owns seven aircraft in its fleet out of which, four are Boeing 737-800 and three are Dash8-Q400. And shortly another two Boeing 737-800 aircraft will be joining in its fleet as well.

https://menafn.com/1097806887/Bangladesh-USBangla-announces-daily-flights-to-Guangzhou



monitor said:


> ২০০৫ সালে বাংলাদেশের দরিদ্রতম ৫% মানুষের গড় মাসিক আয় ছিলো ১১০৯ টাকা, ২০১৬ সালের এই একই দলের গড় মাসিক আয় দাঁড়িয়েছে ৭৩৩ টাকায়।


By doing what kind of works, one might earn 733 taka monthly? 
A rickshaw wala earns this every day. Heck even a beggar would earn more than that.


monitor said:


> ২০০৫ সালে বাংলাদেশের ধনীতম ৫% মানুষের গড় মাসিক আয় ছিলো ৩৮ ৭৯৫ টাকা, ২০১৬ সালে এই একই দলের গড় মাসিক আয় হয়েছে ৮৮ ৯৪১ টাকা।


This sounds also bs....top 5% earns way more than 88k.

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## Homo Sapiens

Bilal9 said:


> I realize that you are trying to make a point. But here's a counter-point. Inequality in incomes is inevitable in countries trying to climb up the ladder of success and from LDC level (self-imposed in Bangladesh's case) to Middle Income country. This is neither a surprise nor unexpected. AL had nothing to do with it and it is neither their success nor their failure. And I'm not trying to do 'safai' (hand-wringing) for AL here either.
> 
> Please look at the relevant documents published by the World Bank from a few years ago and compare Bangladesh' situation with that of neighboring countries as far as unequal development. Please look at slide 10 and comment. Also - @Homo Sapiens your thoughtful comments here please...
> 
> http://www.worldbank.org/content/da...essing-inequality-south-asia-presentation.pdf


We should not feel frustrated seeing just a single HIES result. Rise of national income and fair distribution of that income among general population do not happen simultaneously. There are some lag time between these two. For the last few years our GDP increased fairly rapidly, but not all people are responsible for this growth. Poorest 5 or 10 percent people whose productivity are very limited are obviously are out of this growth. They only will benefit when higher and upper middle income people will start spending their newly acquired income. I think most of the gain made by the upper class in the last few years are still in savings rather than circulating in the market. That's why we are not seeing the 'trickle down effect' still. This happens for all countries which see rapid GDP growth. This was even more true for China few years back. When there was huge gap in wealth among different segment of society despite communist govt. , general consumption level was low, savings were higher. It is only now that China is transforming into a consumer based economy and general wages and consumption is rising for all segment of society. Recent rise of minimum salary in garments and govt. hike of play scale for govt. employee in BD will help. With consumerism now increasing fast, I think we will see some positive result in the next HIES result.

What BD govt. can do is to alleviate this situation is to increase the spending on education, health, social safety programs, infrastructure development etc. These program will directly benefit the poorest segment of the population. Education should be free upto class 12 for both boys and girls, govt. hospital should increase the supply of free medicine and tests. More infrastructure projects should be taken to employ vast number of poor laborer. Govt. have to increase the spending for most vulnerable segment(slum dwellers, poor children, single women, elderly, handicapped etc.). If you do survey on poorest 5 or 10 percent people, you will find mostly are these group who have limited opportunity to help themselves. So govt. have to take some responsibility for their welfare. It can be like food for education, free skilled workers training, interest free loans etc. This HIES-2016 should be a wake up call for the govt. I think govt. was somewhat complacent about the economic growth up to date. They need to rethink about their policy option now.

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## Bilal9



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## Homo Sapiens

Bilal9 said:


>


With top of the art 5 presidential suites, I think Intercontinental will now replace Sonargaon to host visiting foreign head of the states.

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## Bilal9

Now about a Mega Kitchen in Bangladesh with the objective of supplying low-cost hygienic food to Dhaka dwellers.


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## Bilal9

PEBSAL is one of the larger industrial and commercial steel structure erectors in Bangladesh and the leading conglomerates in the country and their newest projects are their customers.

Client Name: Sirajganj Power Plant
Project Name: Dual fuel combined cycle Power Plant Infrastructure
Location: Sirajganj, Pabna
Status: Erection started Aug., 2018
Weight Total: 4500 Tonne
















Client Name: PHP Integrated Steel Mills Ltd.
Project Name: Plant Building for CRM cum Galvanizing Complex
Location: Feni
Total Weight: 9500 MT
Total Area: 1,10,250 SFT
Start Date: 21/08/2018









Client: ACI Health Care (Pharmaceutical concern)
Project: Multistoried Factory Building
Location: Sonargoan, Narayanganj
Tonnage: 3200
Area (SQM): 24155


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## The Ronin

*New players edging BD out of RMG race in US market*

Capitalizing on the ongoing US-China trade war, in a short span of time, Bangladesh’s competitors are rapidly taking over a greater share of the US RMG market.

Vietnam is bagging the most benefits as it has expanded its range of apparel products, an avenue abandoned by China due to tariff hikes, which eventually weighed on their competitiveness.

On the other hand, India experienced lower growth by 3.84% to $3 billion, and Mexico witnessed negative growth by 2.77% to $2.60 billion, which was $2.66 billion in the previous fiscal year. Indonesia saw negative growth by 2.29% to $3.40 billion this year.

“Import orders, especially RMG, from many US buyers are diverting away from Bangladesh and shifting more to Vietnam, Cambodia, or even Myanmar,” read a study titled “Trade War and Its Implications for Bangladesh.”

Many companies have started increasing their production capacity in Bangladesh, it added. 

Emerging competitors also faring better 

On top of that, emerging competitors such as Myanmar, Kenya, and Ethiopia have registered sharp growth.

In the January-November period of 2018, Myanmar and Kenya’s apparel exports to the US rose by 29.86% and 16.28% to $122.80 million and $293.84 million respectively, compared to the previous fiscal year. Ethiopia’s apparel exports saw an unusual rise of 107.53% to 77.53 million, which was $37.30 million in the previous fiscal year. 

Why Bangladesh lags behind 

Explaining Bangladesh’s performance in tapping the opportunity deriving from the trade war, economists and industry insiders blamed lack of product diversification, absence of value addition and inadequacy of ports, which cause longer lead time. 

“Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of apparel products globally, but it mostly produces basic items, while its competitors, including Vietnam, Turkey, and Cambodia, have diversified and are currently manufacturing high end products,” former caretaker advisor AB Mirza Azizul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.

“As a result, they are taking the advantage and grabbing more market share.” 

In addition, Bangladesh lacks innovation, as well as research and development, a key tool for diversifying products, said the economist. 

However, the business community says that longer lead times are a major reason for the slower growth compared to other countries.

“As a manufacturer, we cannot ship finished goods within a shorter lead time. Our competitors such as Vietnam ensure quick delivery as they have better port facilities,” Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) vice president Mohammed Nasir told the Dhaka Tribune. 

As the state of physical infrastructure is not up to the standard, transportation of goods for exporting purpose takes more time and money, he said.

However, the business leader also expressed hope in ensuring quick delivery as the government has taken lots of initiatives, which are in progress and are to be completed very soon. 

How Bangladesh can gain more

Before the trade war, many Chinese companies were already moving to Cambodia and other countries because of lower labour costs.

Since the trade war cast a shadow on both US and Chinese investors who are doing business in China, there is also a chance for relocation of factories from China. But it is a long process and there would be more relocation to Vietnam and Cambodia than Bangladesh.

That is why Bangladesh needs to attract more foreign investment, which would help to retain the growth. 

“Since the production cost in China will increase due to rise in tariff, there are a number of ways trade can be diverted to other Asian countries and Bangladesh has the best opportunity due to its low labor cost and capacity to execute large volume orders, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) research director, Khondaker Golam Moazzem, told the Dhaka Tribune. 

On the other hand, as a long term policy, global manufacturers could also decide to change investment decisions and move to building investment hubs, said the economist.

In making export growth sustainable and grabbing more from the US apparel export pie , Bangladesh has to concentrate on attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as investment is also shifting along with the purchase orders, said Moazzem.

Bangladesh has to identify the products which were being exported to the US market by China and move to develop in that arena for further growth, he added. 

“To maximise the benefits of the trade war, Bangladesh has to analyze the opportunity to understand the potential that can be utilized and increase supply-side capacity to meet the higher demand from buyers,” said Ali Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI). 

To attract investments, Bangladesh has to incentivize investors to invest here and brand the investment opportunities with quality infrastructure projects, said Ahmed.

On top of that, to face any uncertain situation and sustain the growth, we need to focus on policy readiness and improving our ‘Ease of doing Business’ position, he added. 

Commenting on the issues, Senior Commerce Secretary Shubhashish Bose said this is a measure (tariff, trade war) to penalize Chinese companies. But what happened to the US companies located in China is that they are moving to relocate companies out of China and they are not going back to the US.” 

The trade war has made more than $250 billion Chinese exports more expensive for US buyers. But these companies are not flocking to the US. Rather, they are looking to transfer to Asia, he added.

As per a US trade organization survey, only 6% companies located in China would return to the US, while 94% want to relocate to Asian countries, which would create more opportunities for Bangladesh. 

Bangladesh's advantage 

In attracting more apparel orders and foreign investment from the China shift, Bangladesh is the best place as it has long experience and large volume capacity. 

“Bangladesh has the best possibility for gain from the relocation or shifting of business as it has large scale capacity with reasonable labor cost and quality products. The sector employs 4 million workers,” Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) president Abdus Salam Murshedy told the Dhaka Tribune.

On the other hand, the government’s decision of establishing 100 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) will be a game changer as it is offering great opportunities to investors from home and abroad, said Salam.

Meanwhile, the sector has a strong backward linkage industry for both accessories and textiles, in providing instant supply of raw materials, he added. 

Bangladesh to face tougher competition in EU markets 

Bangladesh may face tougher competition in the European Union markets as Chinese exporters will divert their export business from the US to the EU due to a rise in tariffs. 

“Due to the ongoing trade war between US-China, China will move to Europe, which means Bangladesh will have strong competition in the EU market, International Apparel Federation (IAF) president Han Bekke said during his recent visit in Bangladesh.

On the other hand, China will not be able to sell in the US, which will create a huge gap and subsequent opportunity for Bangladesh. Manufacturers, who only do business in the US will get more benefits, said Bekke.

The global apparel leader suggested preparation as the key to success in the utilization of opportunities, which in turn will depend on capacity.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...tZ7N7fgqG3yP4awAYW0JboBvr3pfhZhuXLdVpZNt9g6WQ

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## Bilal9

The Ronin said:


> *New players edging BD out of RMG race in US market*
> 
> Capitalizing on the ongoing US-China trade war, in a short span of time, Bangladesh’s competitors are rapidly taking over a greater share of the US RMG market.
> 
> Vietnam is bagging the most benefits as it has expanded its range of apparel products, an avenue abandoned by China due to tariff hikes, which eventually weighed on their competitiveness.
> 
> On the other hand, India experienced lower growth by 3.84% to $3 billion, and Mexico witnessed negative growth by 2.77% to $2.60 billion, which was $2.66 billion in the previous fiscal year. Indonesia saw negative growth by 2.29% to $3.40 billion this year.
> 
> “Import orders, especially RMG, from many US buyers are diverting away from Bangladesh and shifting more to Vietnam, Cambodia, or even Myanmar,” read a study titled “Trade War and Its Implications for Bangladesh.”
> 
> Many companies have started increasing their production capacity in Bangladesh, it added.
> 
> Emerging competitors also faring better
> 
> On top of that, emerging competitors such as Myanmar, Kenya, and Ethiopia have registered sharp growth.
> 
> In the January-November period of 2018, Myanmar and Kenya’s apparel exports to the US rose by 29.86% and 16.28% to $122.80 million and $293.84 million respectively, compared to the previous fiscal year. Ethiopia’s apparel exports saw an unusual rise of 107.53% to 77.53 million, which was $37.30 million in the previous fiscal year.
> 
> Why Bangladesh lags behind
> 
> Explaining Bangladesh’s performance in tapping the opportunity deriving from the trade war, economists and industry insiders blamed lack of product diversification, absence of value addition and inadequacy of ports, which cause longer lead time.
> 
> “Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of apparel products globally, but it mostly produces basic items, while its competitors, including Vietnam, Turkey, and Cambodia, have diversified and are currently manufacturing high end products,” former caretaker advisor AB Mirza Azizul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.
> 
> “As a result, they are taking the advantage and grabbing more market share.”
> 
> In addition, Bangladesh lacks innovation, as well as research and development, a key tool for diversifying products, said the economist.
> 
> However, the business community says that longer lead times are a major reason for the slower growth compared to other countries.
> 
> “As a manufacturer, we cannot ship finished goods within a shorter lead time. Our competitors such as Vietnam ensure quick delivery as they have better port facilities,” Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) vice president Mohammed Nasir told the Dhaka Tribune.
> 
> As the state of physical infrastructure is not up to the standard, transportation of goods for exporting purpose takes more time and money, he said.
> 
> However, the business leader also expressed hope in ensuring quick delivery as the government has taken lots of initiatives, which are in progress and are to be completed very soon.
> 
> How Bangladesh can gain more
> 
> Before the trade war, many Chinese companies were already moving to Cambodia and other countries because of lower labour costs.
> 
> Since the trade war cast a shadow on both US and Chinese investors who are doing business in China, there is also a chance for relocation of factories from China. But it is a long process and there would be more relocation to Vietnam and Cambodia than Bangladesh.
> 
> That is why Bangladesh needs to attract more foreign investment, which would help to retain the growth.
> 
> “Since the production cost in China will increase due to rise in tariff, there are a number of ways trade can be diverted to other Asian countries and Bangladesh has the best opportunity due to its low labor cost and capacity to execute large volume orders, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) research director, Khondaker Golam Moazzem, told the Dhaka Tribune.
> 
> On the other hand, as a long term policy, global manufacturers could also decide to change investment decisions and move to building investment hubs, said the economist.
> 
> In making export growth sustainable and grabbing more from the US apparel export pie , Bangladesh has to concentrate on attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as investment is also shifting along with the purchase orders, said Moazzem.
> 
> Bangladesh has to identify the products which were being exported to the US market by China and move to develop in that arena for further growth, he added.
> 
> “To maximise the benefits of the trade war, Bangladesh has to analyze the opportunity to understand the potential that can be utilized and increase supply-side capacity to meet the higher demand from buyers,” said Ali Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI).
> 
> To attract investments, Bangladesh has to incentivize investors to invest here and brand the investment opportunities with quality infrastructure projects, said Ahmed.
> 
> On top of that, to face any uncertain situation and sustain the growth, we need to focus on policy readiness and improving our ‘Ease of doing Business’ position, he added.
> 
> Commenting on the issues, Senior Commerce Secretary Shubhashish Bose said this is a measure (tariff, trade war) to penalize Chinese companies. But what happened to the US companies located in China is that they are moving to relocate companies out of China and they are not going back to the US.”
> 
> The trade war has made more than $250 billion Chinese exports more expensive for US buyers. But these companies are not flocking to the US. Rather, they are looking to transfer to Asia, he added.
> 
> As per a US trade organization survey, only 6% companies located in China would return to the US, while 94% want to relocate to Asian countries, which would create more opportunities for Bangladesh.
> 
> Bangladesh's advantage
> 
> In attracting more apparel orders and foreign investment from the China shift, Bangladesh is the best place as it has long experience and large volume capacity.
> 
> 
> 
> “Bangladesh has the best possibility for gain from the relocation or shifting of business as it has large scale capacity with reasonable labor cost and quality products. The sector employs 4 million workers,” Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) president Abdus Salam Murshedy told the Dhaka Tribune.
> 
> On the other hand, the government’s decision of establishing 100 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) will be a game changer as it is offering great opportunities to investors from home and abroad, said Salam.
> 
> Meanwhile, the sector has a strong backward linkage industry for both accessories and textiles, in providing instant supply of raw materials, he added.
> 
> Bangladesh to face tougher competition in EU markets
> 
> Bangladesh may face tougher competition in the European Union markets as Chinese exporters will divert their export business from the US to the EU due to a rise in tariffs.
> 
> “Due to the ongoing trade war between US-China, China will move to Europe, which means Bangladesh will have strong competition in the EU market, International Apparel Federation (IAF) president Han Bekke said during his recent visit in Bangladesh.
> 
> On the other hand, China will not be able to sell in the US, which will create a huge gap and subsequent opportunity for Bangladesh. Manufacturers, who only do business in the US will get more benefits, said Bekke.
> 
> The global apparel leader suggested preparation as the key to success in the utilization of opportunities, which in turn will depend on capacity.
> 
> https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...tZ7N7fgqG3yP4awAYW0JboBvr3pfhZhuXLdVpZNt9g6WQ



^^^ @The Ronin Thanks for posting the article.

In spite of doomsayers here are the facts,

1. Apparel brands are completely aware and are comfortable about what to expect in Bangladesh for the last three decades, both cost-wise and infra-wise. The amount of orders that have to be shipped on an emergency basis are shipped via air. There is plenty of leeway in the pricing to afford shipping by air. Cargo Traffic from Dhaka Airport is currently at the level of 120 Million-Ton-KM. Most of this traffic is apparel export shipments.
https://www.academia.edu/9969433/INCREASING_AIR_TRAFFIC_DEMAND_AND_RELEVANT_ISSUES_IN_BANGLADESH

2. Minimum wage in Cambodia is around $120 per month and rising $10 a month every year, as demanded by the unions there. https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Cambodia-firms-face-rising-labor-costs

They cannot boast of the demographic dividend Bangladesh enjoys and certainly not at the scale we have. Vietnam is even costlier. To be fair, they are closer to China, but labor cost trumps all - period.

3. If things improve in Ethiopia and Kenya - Bangladeshi apparel companies will invest there. Some already have.

4. Port congestion is temporary situation, I know the port folks and talk to them all the time. In CTG alone there is two more docks. Plus Paira, Matarbari, expanded Mongla connected through Padma bridge will all come at least partially online starting 3Q19. Things are on track infra-wise. I have no doubt about our getting a share of the global export pie.

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## The Ronin

*EIU: Bangladesh’s economy to remain robust till 2023*

Economic engagement with China to deepen, US-China trade war to bring positive outcome

London-based Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) has predicted that Bangladesh will experience a real GDP growth of 7.7% per year from the fiscal year 2018-19 to 2022-23, bolstered by increases in private consumption and investment. 

In the country report on Bangladesh, published on December 4, EIU stated that growth in this period will be driven mainly by strong increases in private consumption and gross fixed investment. 

The EIU forecasts that gross fixed investment and private consumption will grow by an average of 9.9% and 10.6% per year, respectively, in FY 2018-19 and FY 2022-23, up from the respective averages of 9.3% and 6.3% in the preceding five-year period.

The report also mentions that although agriculture will account for just 12.4% of GDP from FY19-FY23, on average, it will remain the largest source of employment and the main provider of income for around half the working population.

“On a factor-cost basis, economic growth will continue to be driven by services and industry,” the EIU stated.

According to the report, increased spending on infrastructure projects and slow progress on expanding the tax base will result in a budget deficit equivalent to 4.4% of the GDP on average.

In the next five years, EIU expects the current-account deficit to amount to the equivalent of 1.9% of GDP on average, owing in large part to increased imports of inputs for infrastructure development, as well as oil imports. 

Policy trends

The EIU report predicts that the policy agenda for the upcoming five years will focus on incentives to encourage investment and improve security. 

“The authorities will continue to accord a high priority to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,” explains the report, adding that the government is expected to transform Bangladesh into an upper- middle-income economy by 2021. 

“As Bangladesh is set to graduate from “least developed country” status (LDC) in 2024, it will steadily lose some forms of concessional aid, as well as the preferential market access that LDCs typically benefit from,” the EIU statedin the report.

Fiscal policy

According to the EIU, Bangladesh will continue to record budget deficits throughout FY19-FY23, as it struggles to engineer a significant expansion of the tax base. 

The government projects that revenue collection will total $40.7 billion in FY19, an ambitious 30.7% rise over the revised estimates for FY18.

On the expenditure side, the government targets an increase of 25.1%. 

“Consistent with the trend in previous years, we do not expect the government to meet either its revenue or expenditure targets in FY19,” added the EIU.

“Overall, we expect the fiscal deficit as a proportion of GDP to remain constant at 4.8% in FY19—slightly larger than the government’s target of 4.7%—as the government will be reluctant to rein in expenditure this year ahead of the election,” the report stated.

Monetary policy

In July of this year, Bangladesh Bank (BB) held its key policy rates, the repurchase (repo) rate and the reverse repo rate, unchanged at 6% and 4.75% respectively. This followed a 75- basis-point cut in the repo rate in April to resolve a liquidity crisis faced by private banks since the beginning of this year.

The EIU expects BB to restore the repo rate to 6.75% in 2019, with the short-term liquidity issues resolved. 

EIU expects BB to raise rates again from 2022 onwards as inflationary pressures begin to build in that year, owing to demand-side pressures associated with strong economic growth.

Inflation

The EIU report stated that consumer prices in Bangladesh are expected to rise by an average of 5.6% in 2019.

“Inflation in 2019 will be underpinned by the taka’s depreciation against the US dollar, as well as by an increase in global oil prices, which will boost imported inflation. Furthermore, Bangladesh’s rising income levels is expected to fuel inflation in 2019, via an increase in consumer spending,” said the EIU.

The EIU forecasts that consumer price inflation will average 5.6% per year during 2021-23.

Exchange rates

“The taka has remained remarkably stable compared to the currencies of other emerging-market countries with deficits on their current and fiscal accounts,” the EIU stated in the report. 

According to the EIU’s forecast, the taka will continue to weaken against major currencies owing to wide deficit on the trade account. 

Total international reserves are forecasted to increase to$36.8 billion by the end of 2023, from an estimated $32 billion at the end of 2018. The EIU expects import cover to average around six months in 2019-23, which is more than sufficient for the central bank to manage any short-term exchange-rate volatility.

External sector

“Owing to the country’s large import needs, the current account will remain in deficit throughout the forecast period,” said the report.

Nevertheless, they believe that the redistribution of trade resulting from the ongoing trade war between the US and China will be positive for Bangladesh’s export industries, contributing to a narrowing of the merchandise trade deficit over the forecast period, from an estimated $16.1 billion in 2018 to $13.5 billion by 2023. 

“With oil prices remaining strong over the forecast period, services debits will also increase, as a result of higher costs incurred for services such as transport,” the EIU explained.

However, a slight drop in 2019-20 in remittance inflows is expected following the adoption of fiscal consolidation measures and stricter immigration rules in the Gulf region. 

International relations

Bangladesh’s foreign policy will continue to centre on its neighbours, with China and India vying for influence. Ties with India will continue to strengthen throughout the 2019-23 forecast period.

However, developments since July in India’s northeastern Assam state, where the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh has gained increasing political traction, pose a minor risk of straining bilateral relations.

A dispute over the sharing of the Teesta River’s waters is likely to be put on hold until after India’s parliamentary elections next year, after which we expect Bangladesh and

India to make renewed attempts to negotiate an agreement. 

“We also expect economic engagement with China to deepen in 2019-23, given the rising number of Chinese-backed infrastructure projects in Bangladesh. China is already Bangladesh’s largest source of imports and its main supplier of military equipment. We expect Bangladesh to continue to exploit its strategically important location on the Bay of Bengal to extract concessions and economic assistance from India, China and Japan.” 

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...tUWkmKqlAxrD0-Id1QCOrnTjWSGH63bw3v4zZN0xSCYdQ

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## Bilal9

*Agora to invest $10m to double outlets*






_Jagaran Chakma_

Agora, the first retail chain in Bangladesh, is going to invest $10 million in the next two years to double the number of its outlets to cater to the growing demand of city dwellers, said its top executive.

Farhad Ahmad, chief executive officer of Rahimafrooz Superstores Ltd (RSL), said the new outlets would be set up in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet as well as other potential cities.

Within the next six months, Agora will establish six outlets in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet.

The RSL started its journey by setting up Agora in 2001. Later in 2009, it formed a partnership with Swedish firm Brummer & Partners to grow its footprint and improve services.

Today, Agora is a joint venture of Rahimafrooz and Brummer & Partners, with the local group holding 30 percent stake and the Swedish firm the remainder.

Currently, Agora has 16 outlets. Of them, 14 outlets are located in Dhaka and one each in Chattogram and Sylhet.

It achieved double-digit growth in the last couple of years, said Ahmad, without giving any specifics on annual turnover.

“Agora is committed to fulfilling everyday shopping needs of customers by providing quality of product and best services,” he told The Daily Star in an interview recently.

Agora mainly focuses on food items ranging from a wide variety of fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, bakery, dairy, grocery alongside a vast array of household and personal care products.

Ahmad, who joined RSL as the CEO in October 2016, said Agora is the pioneer of superstore business in Bangladesh and other companies entered the market following suit.

“This is our biggest contribution to the society.”

About the grocery market, he said unofficial records show superstores cater to only 2 percent of the urban market demand. “So, there is a huge scope to grow.” The former Group CEO and adviser of Desh Group of Companies said the fast economic development of Bangladesh, customer's satisfaction, quality products and convenient atmosphere were driving the growth of supermarkets in the country.

“Superstores have offered a western-style shopping experience to customers becoming increasingly busy, allowing them to buy everything under a single roof and without hassle.”

On the sourcing of products, Ahmad said Agora has a group of select suppliers and its quality control team monitors the products and examines them regularly to ensure higher standard.

Speaking about competition, the CEO said Agora does not consider other players as its competitors. Instead, it sees them as partners. “Some companies have entered the market and some have exited, but Agora has been able to sustain and grow in the last 18 years.”

“It has been possible because of our continuous efforts to ensure the best quality of products and the best service,” said Ahmad, who completed BBA from the University of Houston and MBA from the University of Liverpool. The company employs about 750 people.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Bangladeshi Cellphone brands gearing to push sales activity overseas (sorry Bengali only)*

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## The Ronin

*UNESCAP on Bangladesh: Average annual FDI grew by 13.3% since 2012*

Bangladesh’s average annual foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows has grown by 13.3% in the last five years, larger than the Asia-Pacific’s 2.9% average annual FDI growth, according to a report of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

The report was unveiled on Wednesday at the UNESCAP headquarters in Bangkok.

The country’s FDI rose by only 5.11% in the fiscal year 2017-18 compared to the previous fiscal year. Net FDI stood at $2.58 billion in FY18, which was $2.45 billion in the last fiscal year, according to Bangladesh Bank data.

FDI inflows to the Asia-Pacific region are also expected to continue in their downward trend next year, as evident from a 4% drop in 2018, the UNESCAP report said.

“On the other hand, Bangladesh’s average annual foreign direct investment (FDI) outflow has grown by 58.3% in the last five years, larger than the Asia-Pacific’s 3.5% average annual FDI outflow growth,” the report said.

In 2017 Bangladesh experienced an increase in FDI outflows by 319%, the commission explained in its annual report titled “Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report”.

Effect of US-China trade war on FDI

According to the report, the ongoing trade war between China and the US will bring more work orders and FDI for the garment sector of Bangladesh.






“Major players in the garment industry in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, are expected to benefit by acquiring a larger share in exports to the US, and thus attracting more investment,” said the report.

An upward trend was recorded by the UNESCAP, despite lingering concerns about the sustainability of the Bangladesh garment sector.

However, UNESCAP also warned that the Asia-Pacific economy will be hindered if the trade war prolongs, explaining that the trade tensions have begun to disrupt existing supply chains and dampen investor confidence.

“If the trade tensions remain, export growth may slow to 2.3% in 2019, compared to a nearly 4% growth in export volume in 2018,” said the report.

Tariff hikes are expected to cut regional GDP by a little over $40 billion, resulting in the loss of jobs in the region’s labour-intensive countries.

The region will see a net loss of 2.7 million jobs due to the trade war, with unskilled workers, often women, shouldering a severe impact.

If the trade war further escalates in 2019—leading to a drop in investor and consumer confidence—the global GDP could be cut by nearly $400 billion, also driving regional GDP down further $117 billion.

Almost 9 million people could be put out of work in the region, with many more workers also moving to new jobs in different sectors.

At the same time, Bangladesh’s FDI inflows declined by 7.8% in 2017, the report added. l

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...Uw6uYyLVGx_ynNlNKkz6qLmiNHdwMQvXbpO9kgQ6z9fxY

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## Mage

The Ronin said:


> UNESCAP on Bangladesh: Average annual FDI grew by 13.3% since 2012


It basically grew 25% from 2012-13 and then 40% from 2014 tob15..rest of the time it remain stagnant.. giving a pathetic average of 13%.

I have to admit it, the govt is not doing enough to attract FDI. Our ease of doing business is a clear indicator to it.

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## Bilal9

So per the Business BD video above - we now have eight brands (half of them foreign brands, Chinese and Korean) assembling cellphones locally (mostly in the environs of Dhaka) and the total number of actual cellphones (mostly smartphones nowadays) produced LOCALLY exceeds 30 million per year. That is a staggering number already but I see a day (within five years at most) where cellphone imports will basically stop and exports will be a majority portion - not the portion meeting local demand. Like the video mentioned, China's cell phone assembly costs aren't sustainable anymore.

Interesting fact, as of 2015, there were 156,469,000 cellphones in use in Bangladesh by 157,497,000 Bangladeshis, which makes rate of cellphone ownership 99.36%. Incidentally, at that time India's cellphone ownership rate was 89.41%, Pakistan's being 74.21%. So we have a lot of ground to cover to meet cellphone ownership demands from both Bangladesh and India, if not Pakistan as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_mobile_phones_in_use

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## Bilal9

Post office's mobile banking service Daak Taka launched






Here is a TRT (Turkish Radio Television) programme on the pharma industry in Bangladesh, where generic drug manufacturing is booming. This promises to make drugs available at minimal cost worldwide.


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## Nilgiri

Bilal9 said:


> Interesting fact, as of 2015, there were 156,469,000 cellphones in use in Bangladesh by 157,497,000 Bangladeshis, which makes rate of cellphone ownership 99.36%. Incidentally, at that time India's cellphone ownership rate was 89.41%, Pakistan's being 74.21%.



All different standards being employed in "ownership"....BTRAC's being the sloppiest by far.

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## The Ronin

*Saudi firm to set up modern cement factory in Sunamganj*
BCIC signs agreement with Engineering Dimensions
BSS, Dhaka

Saudi firm to set up modern cement factory in Sunamganj
Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) Chairman Shah M Aminul Haque and Engineering Dimensions President Mohammed N Hijji sign an agreement on behalf of their respective sides at the industries ministry in the capital yesterday. BSS Photo
Saudi business firm ‘Engineering Dimensions’ is going to set up a modern cement factory titled ‘Bangladesh Friendship Cement Company Limited (SBFCCL)’ at Chhatak upazila under Sunamganj district. Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) yesterday signed a partnership agreement with the Engineering Dimensions at a function at the Industries Ministry in the capital, said a press release.

BCIC Chairman Shah M Aminul Haque and Engineering Dimensions President Mohammed N Hijji signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides while Secretary-in-Charge of the Industries Ministry M Abdul Halim, Bangladesh Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Golam Moshi, Additional Secretary of the Industries Ministry Begum Parag, among others, were present at the function.

In his speech, Abdul Halim said Saudi Arabia is one of the best partners of the country’s development since the expatriate Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia are playing a vital role in the socio-economic development of Bangladesh.

He said Bangladesh wants to expedite the trade and investment relations with Saudi Arabia. He urged the Saudi investors to come forward for investing in the country’s potential sectors.

Mohammed N Hijji said the Saudi investors are keen to invest more in different sectors in Bangladesh as there is an investment-friendly environment in the country.

http://www.theindependentbd.com/pos...I9RfA96OolVvVDY6w97cjvxAUTG1jTHVNupEwvtZchLFI

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## Nike

Is Bd got raw material for cement by import? As far as i know bd is not blessed with limestone vein and other material


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## The Ronin

Marine Rouge said:


> Is Bd got raw material for cement by import? As far as i know bd is not blessed with limestone vein and other material



In Bangladesh there are surface and sub-surface deposits of limestone. The surface to near surface deposits are at st martin's island of Cox's Bazar district and Bhangerghat-Lalghat-Takerghat of Sunamganj district. The subsurface deposit is present at Joypurhat of Joypurhat district. The limestone at the St Martin's Island is Late Pleistocene and the other limestone is of Eocene age.

In Bangladesh the limestone deposit was first discovered at St Martin’s Island in 1957. Later, Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) surveyed the area in 1958 and found 1.8 million ton of shelly and coralline limestone in an area of 0.60 sq km. However, these limestones are not of good quality. In the years between 1951 and 1957 small pieces of limestone were found at Takerghat area of Sunamganj district. Later, GSP drilled 66 holes in the area in 1961 to know the extent of the limestone. It was found that the limestone is extended in the Bagalibazar-Takergaht-Bhangerghat area of the district. At Bagalibazar it is 30m to 100m below the surface. The average thickness is 152.2m and reserve is 17 million tons covering an area of 0.77 sq km. In Lalghat the limestone is 6m to 10m below the surface. 

The thickness varies from 22m to 76m and the reserve is 9.8 million tons in an area of 0.25 sq km. In Takerghat the limestone is 7m to 57m below the surface. The thickness varies from 2.8m to 44m and reserve is 2.2 million tons in an area of 0.42 sq km and in Bhangerghat the limestone is 29m below the surface. The thickness varies from 6m to 37m and reserve is 1.0 million ton in an area of 0.0013 sq km. In 1982 geological survey of bangladesh(GSB) drilled 5 more holes in the area and expected more deposits of limestone at shallower depth.

Exploitation of limestone from Takerghat area started in 1965 by East Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation when the supply of limestone for Chhatak Cement Factory from Meghalaya stopped due to the Indo-Pak war. About 0.612 million tons of limestone was extracted from the area from 1972 to 1993. At present the reserve is almost replenished. Besides small deposit of limestone (up-thrown block) at the Dauki river of Sylhet district is also present. This deposit is also almost replenished due to extraction by local people.

The deposit of sub-surface limestone was first discovered at a depth of 1967m below the surface at Kuchma of Bogra district when Standard Vacuum Oil Company was drilling for oil. Later, in 1964 GSP (under UNPAK mineral survey project) investigated detail geological and geophysical surveys in the area and found Eocene limestone in the region. Drilling in this area confirmed the limestone at 330m below the surface at Patnitala of Naogaon district, 495m at Paharpur of Joypurhat district and 517m to 548m at Joypurhat-Jamalganj area. In 1966 Fried Krupp Roshtoff of Germany completed the feasibility study of the mining of limestone and found the mine economically feasible. In 1969 Paul Dofrin Technical Service of UK re-evaluated the project and the government took the project for mining. In 1974 Government of Bangladesh approved the exploration of limestone from the depth by shaft sinking employing freezing method.

In 1978 GSB drilled two more holes in the proposed mine area and by analysis of all the data they calculated the reserve of 270 million tons of limestone of which 100 million ton is mineable from an area of 6.7 sq km. Cementation Mining Ltd of UK calculated the underground temperature of the mine area and found that the temperature is little higher than the general depth gradient temperature of the area. They opined that the freezing cost of the mineshaft will be higher and as a result the mine will not be economically feasible. According to their opinion the project for extraction of limestone from Joypurhat area was abandoned. GSB in the years 1996 and 1997 drilled two more holes to get the limestone at shallower depth but these were not successful. [QM Arifur Rahman]

http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Limestone

*Major limestone mine discovered in northern Bangladesh*

*



*

Bangladesh has discovered the biggest ever limestone mine in Naogaon whose commercial production could completely cut the country's reliance on import of the key ingredient for cement.

The mine is spread over a 50-square kilometre area in Tajpur of Badalgachhi upazila.

It might take two years for the mine to go into commercial production, Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, told reporters at the secretariat yesterday.

The mine would meet the local demand for limestone, which is imported mainly by local manufacturers for producing cement.

Bangladesh would no longer need to import limestone, and it would save Tk 1,000 crore a year, Hamid said.

State-run Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB) discovered the mine after drilling 2,270 feet into the surface.

Limestone was found at a depth of 2,214 feet, and its presence was so far traced down to 2,285 feet with a thickness of 71 feet.

Given that this thickness remains the same over the 50-square km area, the deposits would hit 50-100 billion tonnes, said GSB Director General Md Nehal Uddin.

“It is a major discovery,” he told The Daily Star. 

“We have to conduct further study, and see the local demand and the mining cost.”

The quarry could be explored through underground mining and the technology needed for that is available. It would be commercially viable as there is local demand for limestone, he said.

Bangladesh now imports 18 lakh tonnes of limestone a year. 

GSB engineers started drilling the mine on February 20 and found limestone a few days ago.

“Once we extracted limestone from there, we informed the government about the discovery,” said Nehal Uddin.

GSB officials said they would drill another 1,500 feet into the ground.

The deposits at the new field might easily surpass that of Joypurhat field, which holds a reserve of around 100 million tonnes of limestone, according to the GSB. 

But the government didn't go for extraction from the Joypurhat mine discovered in 2012 though preparations were made to that end, said a GSB official.

Bangladesh now depends on import for limestone, which is used for producing cement.

“Once we successfully start commercial production, we will not only be able to meet the domestic demand, but also have a surplus,” said Nehal Uddin.

The GSB relied on its own workforce and technology for the discovery and the project cost was about Tk 70-80 lakh, he said.

Limestone is used as a building material, aggregate for the base of road, white pigment or filler in products such as toothpaste or paint and chemical feedstock for the production of lime.

Clinker, an essential component of cement, is made from limestone. It plays the most vital role in ensuring the strength and quality of cement.

Bangladesh imports about 24 million tonnes of raw materials a year for the cement sector. And of those, 70 percent is clinker, said Alamgir Kabir, vice president of Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association.

The materials come mainly from Vietnam, Thailand, China, Japan, Indonesia and Iran.

“The discovery of limestone mines alone would not bring any benefits. We have to extract it,” said Kabir.

At present, only two cement manufacturers -- Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd and state-run Chhatak Cement Factory Ltd -- produce clinker at their plants by importing limestone from India.

https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/major-limestone-quarry-found-1212706











http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Mineral_Resources

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## Bilal9

All videos in Bengali, should be understandable to desi folks.

Bangladeshi Garments exporters diversifying markets before diversifying products and export items.





Bangladesh exported 366 crore to US Apparel market in first eight months of 2018.





Shoe exports promising





Lotto expansion plans in Bangladesh from 150 outlets at present to 300 in two more years. Apparel sold here sourced 100% locally but shoe sourcing to start from Bangladesh within the span of about a year.


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## Bilal9

Local fridge and deep fridge market expanding at more than 10% yearly and majority brands are local brands. Walton sold 5 lakh and Minister sold more than 2 lakh fridges (conservative estimates). Major market resides in 126-295 litre capacities.


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## Bilal9

The 3rd Terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is expected to be completed in 2022. The project has commenced activity in 4th Qtr. 2018. Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh is in the charge of this project.

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## The Ronin

*Bangladesh witnesses high investment flow in 10 years*

Bangladesh witnessed high volume of investment from both local and foreign sources over the last 10 years as the government offered a number of incentives by adopting a time-befitting industrial policy, export growth strategy and public-private partnership programme.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) hit at US Dollar 2,580 million in June of this year which was only $748 million in 2008.

Investment under the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) soared around three times to $4,724.92 million in August 2018 from $1509.14 million in December 2008.

In the last 10 years, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) gave registrations to 15,886 industrial units under local, joint venture and 100 percent foreign investment scheme that promised investment of $1,22,824 million including $39,764 million FDI with creating job opportunities for more than 30 lakh people.

“Thanks to different measures taken by the BEPZA, the flow of investment in the country’s eight Export Processing Zones (EPZs) showed an upward trend in the last couple of years,” BEPZA General Manager Nazma Binte Alamgir said recently.

She said a total of 476 industries under the eight EPZs also showed better performance in the fields of export and employment generation as the two components increased 2.5 times and two times respectively in the last 10 years.

Nazma said BEPZA is moving forward to materialise Vision-2021 and Vision-2041 under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

BEPZA sources said the total amount of export in the EPZs climbed to $50,221.30 million in August 2018, which was $17,598.24 million in December 2008.

Official data shows that the cumulative investment stood at $1,643.02 million in Chittagong EPZ till June 2018 while $1,360.81 million in Dhaka EPZ, $315.51 million in Cumilla EPZ, $59.01 million in Mongla EPZ, $159 million in Uttara EPZ, $136.77 million in Ishwardi EPZ, $471.70 million in Adamjee EPZ and $535.03 million in Karnaphuli EPZ.

BIDA sources said the government is providing a number of investment incentives including declaring tax holidays for 10 to 15 years and exemption of VAT on electricity for 10 years, local purchase except for petroleum, customs and stamp duties.

They said Bangladesh’s tax incentives and benefits are standards that apply generally to all companies according to their operation and negotiation for a case basis is not required.

Bangladesh is likely to improve its rank in the World Bank’s Global Doing Business Report for the next year as the BIDA is going to introduce the full-fledged ‘One-Stop Service (OSS) Centre’ in January.

“Entrepreneurs will get all necessary permissions for investment from a single window after launching the OSS in January. It will make easier starting a business in Bangladesh. So, the position in doing business index will improve,” BIDA Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam said.

Through the OSS, Aminul said, the potential investors would get all necessary permissions for making an investment and starting a business and get all paperwork done for receiving various utility services like power, gas, water and telephone from the centre after becoming fully functional.

“The flow of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Bangladesh will reach a new height after the launching of the service centre as the new web-based system allows a company to start its activities within a short time,” he added.

The BIDA executive chairman said the government has set a plan to bring down the country’s position in doing business ranking to below 100 from the existing 176 by 2021 through reforming the rules and regulations of doing business.

Although there is little discrimination against foreign investors, the government favours some potential local industries as importation of drugs that compete with locally manufactured pharmaceuticals is tightly controlled, BIDA sources said.

In order to mitigate the risks of being too dependent on industrial production in the textile sector (80 pc of Bangladesh’s industrial production in 2017), the sources said, the government is seeking to develop certain sectors by granting companies involved in these areas with incentives and favourable conditions.

These include agricultural and agro-industrial products, light engineering, leather footwear and leather goods, pharmaceuticals, software and ICT products, as well as shipbuilding. BSS

http://www.theindependentbd.com/pos...YSUL8gtKhpOyCmL8MXTnQyteHjNRbcRNWsxvkJoTQD4Zk

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## Mage

*More industrial output needed to become mid income status*
Posted By: daily industryon: January 03, 2019In: Bangladesh, CorporateNo Comments
Email
_*



Market exploration, product diversification, diplomatic efficiency, skilled manpower, value added product making could help to achieve 8pc GDP: GEF*_

*Abu Sazzad:* Economists have underscored the need for increasing industrial production, product diversification and explore new potential markets, creating skilled manpower to attain 8 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth which would help attaining the real graduation to mid income status within the year 2030.
According to Global Economist Forum (GEF), Bangladesh needs over than 8 percent growth until 2030 to become a mid-level status country with political stability and bumper food grain production.
The present major economic indicators are not in a positive trend despite its growth to consider the latest data. Country’s forex reserve is mainly depend on remittance but the growth did not come to the expected level due to declining trend in recent years inward remittance. Thousands of workers are forcing to back in the country from Middle-Eastern countries, Saudi-Arabia and Malaysia due to lack of professional efficiency, proper initiative by the government and effective role of diplomatic missions.
According to latest data released by the Bangladesh Bank, the expatriates remitted $15.54 billion in 2018, a jump of 14.79 percent over 2017. Bangladesh Bank’s foreign currency reserve was $30.99 billion as of Sunday. Country’s reserve is able to meet the import payments for 7 to 10 months which is not adequate to attain the real graduation of a mid income status. The reserve of China is $350 trillion which is $400 billion in the neighbouring India.
Meanwhile, around 1.0 million foreign workers in Bangladesh especially in the field of RMG and NGO are repatriating around $10 billion every year as salary.
Which means 12 million Bangladeshi expats are sending remittance worth $15 billion but the foreign workers in Bangladesh are sending outbound remittance of $ 10 billion? The net remittance income of the country thus remains at $ 5 billion.
Number of economists claimed, “Some 40 percent of remittance are entering into country through illegal channels, especially through in hundi but the government is still failing to stop such unethical money transaction due to lack of proper monitoring and implementation of prevailing laws.
On the other hand, huge trade gap is one of the major concerns for the economists. The current trade gap is over $15 billion. Country’s export earning was 17.07 billion from July to November but the import payment was $20.24 billion from July-October. The import payment would be more in the coming months as the capital machineries and raw materials import were slower for election, economists predicted. The major import payment before JS pools were LNG, food grains, oil, edible oil but time has come to import capital machineries and industrial raw materials, and for this, the trade gap could be increased in the remaining moths of the current fiscal.
Bangladesh is a consumer country and depends on import for its industrialisation. Due to lack of strong backward linkage industries, stakeholders are forcing to import for their production.
Country’s almost 85 percent export earnings are coming from the RMG sector but the stakeholders are failing to export in the non-traditional items and new markets. The RMG stakeholders are mainly export in the EU countries but East European and Latin American countries are the most alternative potential destinations for earning more from this sector. Almost, Bangladesh missions abroad have failed to achieve their respective export target in every fiscal.
Diplomatic failure is the main reason behind earning the export target as well as exploring new potential markets. The most interesting thing is that the Scandinavian countries are exporting lucrative products from Turkey but the stakeholders of the country have failed to compete with the rival countries to grab such alternative markets.
According to the sources, the Scandinavian countries are offering almost $1000 for per dress items but the RMG makers of Bangladesh are getting $10 to $12 for per dozen of products. Now, the stakeholders are availing only cutting and making charge (CM) on their exports. As a result, they have failed to add value addition in price and economy despite holding lion share of export earnings. Experts suggested for diversifying export oriented RMG products to enter the non-traditional destinations including East European, Scandinavian and Latin American countries.
Talking to Daily Industry, former Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said Bangladesh needs huge FDI for becoming a middle-income country as well as attaining the target of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The achievement of the targeted 7.80 percent GDP growth for the fiscal 2018-19 seems impossible without adequate investment in the private sector from both local and foreign sources, Ahmed said.
Keeping inflation within expected level, more local and foreign investment could help achieving the GDP target, Ahmed pointed out.
Diversification of export basket, improvement in investment climate by developing power supply, port operations and regulations and access to long-term finance for achieving the growth are the major challenges, said Adviser to the former Caretaker Government Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam to the correspondent.
As per the information of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Bangladesh received $1.6 billion FDI in the last year, but country needs about $5.4 billion to fulfill the dream of getting middle-income status by 2021, Mirza Azizul Islam added.
More radical economic policies, good governance, skilled manpower and infrastructure with the financial and other special incentives are required for attracting more inflow of investment in the country, said the economists.
FDI inflows remain below one per cent of GDP, which is not adequate for achieving the expected target of mid-level income status.

http://www.dailyindustry.news/industrial-output-needed-become-mid-income-status/

*Ctg port sets new record of container handling*
SHAMSUDDIN ILLIUS, Ctg




The Chittagong port set a new record of handling container in 2018 with the increase of 11.6 per cent compare to 2017.

The country’s premier port handled 25,66,597 TUES (twenty-foot equivalent units) of import, export and empty containers in 2017 while the port handled 25,66,597 TUES in 2018 which is 3,37,399 more.

At the same time the cargo handling has increased compare to the last year. In 2017 the port has handled 7, 82, 08,540 metric tonnes export and import while in 2018 it has increased to 9, 63, 11,224 metric tonnes. The overall growth in cargo handling is 12.98 per cent.

Though the container handling has increased, the growth in container handling has decreased 1.2per cent in 2018 compare to the previous year. In 2017 the growth in container was 10 per cent while it deceased to 8.8 per cent in 2018.

The exports and the port users said the port authorities have taken more steps to keep up its ongoing growth in container and cargo handling.

The country’s 90 per cent of export and import were held through Chittagong port. All types of commercial and non-commercial items including raw materials are imported and exported using containers in the Chittagong port.

The port was suffering container congestion, however, last year the port authorities added many equipments in its fleet to expedite the container handling. For the first time Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) introduced Rail Mounted Granty Crane at Jetty No.5 of Nwemooring Container Terminal (NCT) for loading and unloading container by carrying railway. They also added six rubber tyred gantry cranes, one log handler, and two mobile cranes spending Tk96.54 crore.

Contacted, Zafor Alam, member (Admin) of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), told The Independent, “We have found the positive trend following the installation new equipments in the fleet of the port.”

Terming the growth as a positive indicator for the country’s economy, Gias Uddin, former president of Junior Chamber, suggested upgrading the port's capacity in order to meet the challenges of future.

“If we can introduce the new technology and equipments in Chittagong port it would be a modern port in the world,” said Khairul Alam Sujan, president of Freight Forwarders Association Bangladesh.

As per the Lloyd's List, Chittagong Port is the 70th busiest container port in the world.

All sorts of industrial raw materials—except those used in the cement and ceramics sectors—along with commercial items, machinery, commodity and chemical products are imported through containers while export goods are solely carried through containers.

http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/181601

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## The Ronin

*Japanese co to set up liquid ink factory in Meghna EZ*
BSS, Dhaka
A globally reputed Japanese liquid ink manufacturing company, Sakata Inx, is going to set up an ink factory in the private economic zone, Meghna Industrial Economic Zone (MIEZ) in Narayanganj.

To this end, Sakata Inx (Bangladesh) Private Limited yesterday signed a land lease agreement with MIEZ. Sakata Inx will invest US$10 million initially and will create around 1,000 job opportunities in the factory.

Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Chairman of the Meghna Group of Industries Mostafa Kamal, Managing Director of Sakata India V K Seth and other senior officials of BEZA, Meghna Group and Sakata attended the agreement signing ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, Paban Chowdhury said the government is providing all sorts of facilities to the economic zones to ensure investment friendly environment. So, many companies are showing interest to invest in the economic zones, he added.

He expected that the Mongla IEZ will start its operation by 2020.

http://www.theindependentbd.com/pri...nZnT2z7FSSgERwozCAQmxb2SHOIqHzv1NF_00QYRwSsAc

*Mirsarai EZ to witness factory operation in December*
Arman Haque Denim Limited likely to be the first industry
BSS, Dhaka

Arman Haque Denim Limited is likely to be the first industry to start its operation in the Mirsarai Economic Zone (MEZ) as the company has already laid foundation stone for the construction of its factory in the zone to go into operation in December.

“We have set a plan to start our operation from December 2019. The land allotment for the Arman Haque Denim was one of the first allotments in the economic zone. So, we want to start our operation as the first industry of the zone,” Managing Director of the Arman Haque Denim SNR Tawfiq told the news agency.

He said if everything happens as per the plan, the construction works will start in March. “The industry will ensure internationally compliant green Global Composite Denim production facility. It will produce almost 10.8 million meters of assorted denim fabric per year,” he added.

He said the industry will be set up on 10 acres of land with an investment of around Tk 300 crore to meet the increasing demand of denim products in European countries and the USA.

Tawfiq said the main objective of the industry is to uplift the status of denim production in terms of production capacity, distinctive and innovative endeavor to strength the overall position of textiles and RMG sector of the country.

“To flourish its position in the global market, the project aims on to reduce the import dependency and improve the local backward and forward linkage,” he added.

He informed that the global demand for denim clothing has been increasing at an annual rate of 9 percent while in the USA, almost 70 percent of the population wear denim products regularly.

“Currently, Bangladesh alone has 30 denim mills involving a financial outlay of about US$1 billion. The country has overtaken China to become the number one denim goods supplier to the countries of the European Union,” he added.

In the US market, he said, Bangladesh now stands at the third position after China and Mexico.

Hoping that the Mirsarai Economic Zone will be an investment hub in the country, Tawfiq said “We have selected the zone for the industry as the zone is one of the most suitable sites in the country along the strategic Dhaka-Chittagong industrial corridor.”

Because of its strategic location, he said, the zone has the potential to become the most successful industrial hub of the country.

Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) is developing an industrial city adjoining Mirsarai, Feni and Sitakunda Economic Zones, titled ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN)’to assist, encourage and facilitate investment from both home and abroad.

The city will ensure utilities and stability. With a large number of RMG factories being set up in the zone, it will provide a ready market at close proximity of Arman Haque Denims.

The Shilpa Nagar is providing tax incentives and allowances that increase the viability of the project in line with the current government policies to promote the country’s exports.

BSMSN, the first planned city of the country, will pave the way for establishing a truly world-class business and industrial center. For BSMSN, BEZA would like to build strong partnership with the private sector and local entrepreneurs.

http://www.theindependentbd.com/pri...ntIggGl7dcwlxuUAQO7gENf3GB1jrTaddou8wanfIamhI

*Bangladesh signs PPP contract for Dhaka bypass project*
UNB, Dhaka

A consortium of companies from China - Sichuan Road and Bridge Group, Shamim Enterprise Ltd, and UDC Construction Limited-have signed a concession contract with the government of Bangladesh to upgrade the Dhaka Bypass under a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) acted as financial advisor on the transaction to the Public-Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) of Bangladesh.

Under the contract signed with the Ministry of Roads and Bridges, a four-lane tollway and a two-lane service road will be added to the Joydevpur-Debogram-Bhulta-Madanpur Road (N-105) section of the expressway, ADB said yesterday. The 48-kilometer (km) project will provide a major arterial connection between the industrial zone northeast of Dhaka and national highway N1 connecting to the port city of Chattogram, as well as to N2, N3, and N4 highways leading to other major cities.

The consortium will design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the tolled expressway over a 25-year concession period, and will be able to charge tolls based on vehicle type.

The Government of Bangladesh will offer viability gap funding of 3.1 billion taka and a minimum revenue guarantee to the consortium to optimize the cost of financing. The contract also provides the government with a share of revenues generated by the consortium over a certain threshold.

"This project brings a new dimension to public service delivery in Bangladesh. It is the first access-controlled expressway in the country," said Chief Executive Officer of PPPA Syed Afsor H. Uddin. He said this landmark transaction will pave the way for a pipeline of national expressways across Bangladesh.

"ADB aims to accelerate road development in Bangladesh while minimizing the financing and operational burden and bringing in a diverse set of internationally renowned infrastructure developers, operators, and financial institutions," said the Head of ADB's Office of Public-Private Partnership (OPPP) Yoji Morishita.

"The Government of Bangladesh establishes the objectives of the infrastructure as well as some credit supports to tackle the traffic challenge, while the private sector takes responsibility for meeting the objectives. The Dhaka Bypass is the first step in our strategy to bring Bangladesh roads to the global market based on the PPP model."

ADB's OPPP also provided legal support for this transaction and helped to develop a concession contract template for road PPPs through the Asia Pacific Project Preparation Facility (AP3F), a multi-donor trust fund managed by ADB. This project marks the first successful collaboration between ADB’s transaction advisory services and AP3F.

ADB has been working with the Government of Bangladesh for over 5 years to transform the country’s roads by making them a bankable asset class attractive to international investors, as has happened in other sectors such as the independent power producer sector. ADB’s OPPP is also the transaction advisor to PPPA on the 13.5-km Rampura-Amulia-Demra Expressway in Dhaka and in December 2018 was appointed transaction advisor for the approximately 210-km Dhaka Chattogram Expressway, the busiest road artery for passenger and freight in the country.

ADB has long supported PPPs and in 2014 established the OPPP to provide independent transactional advice and develop broader PPP knowledge and expertise in the region. ADB has also pioneered the AP3F, a $73 million trust fund supported by the governments of Japan, Canada, and Australia, to provide project preparation, project definition, and capacity-building support to governments for PPP projects. ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members-48 from the region.

http://www.theindependentbd.com/pri...apHLHWsTM0X4JlomLPTe9cYQuoB4AFJZUqWX9aB_Ng6tM


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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge latest update - sixth span to be added this month

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## The Ronin

*Tk3,000cr Mongla Port development projects to begin soon*

Work on a set of infrastructure development projects aimed at increasing the capacity of Mongla Port—the second largest seaport of the country—is likely to begin in the first quarter of this year.

Mongla Port Authority sources said a decision to this effect was made in December last year when a technical team from China had visited the port, reports BSS.

On October 14, 2017, Bangladesh and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop Mongla Port at a cost of approximately Tk3000 crore.

The MoU was signed in presence Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The projects include construction of four jetties and two yards, a large multistoried garage for car parking, four-lane roads, purchasing of 11 survey and tag boats and modern machineries for handling cargo and containers.

The sources said the government of India earlier provided an assistance of Tk6,256 crore to develop Mongla Port into a first class seaport.

Mongla Port is already a profitable and busy port with enhanced foreign ship anchoring, cargo handling, and high exports and imports in the last nine years.

Speaking to BSS, Mongla Port Authority Chairman Commodore AKM Faruk Hasan said capacity of the port will be enhanced further upon completion of the projects.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangla...OTmeT_16bwJG_TlujSfV86MgAp-JY_ABq6VVFmqR86jWs

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## Bilal9

The Ronin said:


> *Tk3,000cr Mongla Port development projects to begin soon*
> 
> Work on a set of infrastructure development projects aimed at increasing the capacity of Mongla Port—the second largest seaport of the country—is likely to begin in the first quarter of this year.
> 
> Mongla Port Authority sources said a decision to this effect was made in December last year when a technical team from China had visited the port, reports BSS.
> 
> On October 14, 2017, Bangladesh and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop Mongla Port at a cost of approximately Tk3000 crore.
> 
> The MoU was signed in presence Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
> 
> The projects include construction of four jetties and two yards, a large multistoried garage for car parking, four-lane roads, purchasing of 11 survey and tag boats and modern machineries for handling cargo and containers.
> 
> The sources said the government of India earlier provided an assistance of Tk6,256 crore to develop Mongla Port into a first class seaport.
> 
> Mongla Port is already a profitable and busy port with enhanced foreign ship anchoring, cargo handling, and high exports and imports in the last nine years.
> 
> Speaking to BSS, Mongla Port Authority Chairman Commodore AKM Faruk Hasan said capacity of the port will be enhanced further upon completion of the projects.
> 
> https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangla...OTmeT_16bwJG_TlujSfV86MgAp-JY_ABq6VVFmqR86jWs



This is a relevant video in Bangla....


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## Bilal9

Somewhat poetic video made describing the Dhaka to Jessore 172 km Rail Line undertaken by Bangladesh Army Corps of Engineers officially incorporating the Padma Bridge Rail link Project (PBRLP). The new line has fourteen new stations under construction and some seven existing rail stations to be heavily expanded/renovated. Usually projects run under Army Corps get finished under budget and ahead of schedule.

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## Bilal9

The Delta Plan 

The government of Bangladesh, supported by the government of the Netherlands, is formulating the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100. A long-term, holistic and integrated plan for the Bangladesh delta. Long-term, considering goals for the next fifty to one-hundred years. Holistic, bringing together strategies from all over the country into one coherent whole. Integrated, considering the needs of all water-related sectors into a single plan. 

The formulation of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 draws on experience from the Delta Plan formulation process in the Netherlands, while at the same time adapting to the specific needs of Bangladesh and finding inspiration in Bangladesh’s long tradition of resilience and water management. 

Key elements of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 formulation process include baseline studies, use of a Delta Vision, scenarios, a Delta Framework for delta governance, iterative selection of delta strategies, an investment plan and a capacity building program.

Matarbari USC Coal Fired Power Plant Project Package 1.2






পতেঙ্গা সমুদ্র সৈকত কোস্ট লাইন বাজার
চট্টগ্রাম সিটি আউটার রিং রোড || Ctg Outer Ring Road Ride View (nearing completion)

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## The Ronin

*Bangladesh textile sector saw investment of Tk6,900 crore in last five years*

Bangladesh’s primary textile sector, a backward linkage industry for the country’s $30.60 billion apparel sector, saw an investment worth Tk6,900 crore in the last five years, owing to growing demand for fabric and yarn. 

According to the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), from 2014 to 2018,local entrepreneurs invested an average of Tk1,380 crore per year in the primary textile sector. During this period, 44 new textile mills also became members of the association. 

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, BTMA President Md Mohammad Ali Khokon, said: “Primary textile sector of Bangladesh has turned into very a strong backward linkage industry for the RMG (Ready-made Garment) sector. Currently, local manufactures are capable of supplying 85% of yarn and fabric, along with 40% of woven fabric,required by the knitwear sector.

"This means the primary textile sector has been unable to fulfill 60% demand of woven fabrics, resulting in investors pouring in funds to grab the remaining market share," Khokon added. 

"Additionally, banks were very enthusiastic in financing the primary textile sector, which resulted in more investment," said Khokon, also Managing Director Maksons Spinning Mills Limited. 

Economists opined that new investment will strengthen Bangladesh's position in the global value chain,and also help reduce import dependency. 

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem said: “This increase in investment will raise Bangladesh's competitiveness in the global market. Bangladesh will also attain a better position in the global RMG value chain.” 

How to attract more investment

Stakeholders think more investment can be attracted to the sector, which has not taken place as expected due to a lack of infrastructural support and unavailability of utility services. 

“While Tk6,900 crore is no small amount, a good number of investors could not invest in the sector due to a lack of infrastructure, and limited supply of gas and electricity,” said Abdus Salam Murshedy, managing director of Envoy Textiles.

"I hope this Tk6,900 crore investment triples in the next five years,as the government is setting up Special Economic Zones [SEZs] and developing the country's infrastructure," said Salam, also a former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association(BGMEA). 

Does Bangladesh need FDI for the textile sector?

Since Bangladesh is highly dependent on import for higher end fabrics, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the sector would further boost the textile industry.

“Bangladesh cannot become strong in non-cotton products and local investors are not interested in this area. However,the woven fabrics sector, especially the manufacture of high end or value added products are highly dependent on imported fabrics,” said Khondaker Golam Moazzem. 

FDI in these segments can be a solution for Bangladesh to move towards value added products, the economist added. Sector insiders also opined that FDI can be allowed to some extent, especially in the high end segment.

According to Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, in 2017, Bangladesh’s textile and apparel sector received foreign investment worth $421.68 million, which is 15.70% higher than $364.44 million in 2016.

As per the BTMA, there are 430 yarn manufacturing mills, 802 fabrics manufacturing mills, and 244 dyeing-printing finishing mills in Bangladesh, along with 32 denim fabrics manufacturing mills and 22 home textile manufacturing mills. 

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...EdQfIHfcjBLe2jS8NZPFO8srRIyP0HajxEijdJlzbYhlY

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## Mage

*Apparel shipment to Europe quicker now*

*Exporters hail transshipment from Kolkata *
Refayet Ullah Mirdha
Bangladesh's garment shipment to Europe has expedited with the introduction of transshipment facility from Kolkata's Netaji International Airport on a pilot basis, exporters said.

Last week, the first-ever bonded cargo from Bangladesh flew out of Kolkata airport. The cargo, weighing 4.1 tonnes, was carried by Bangladeshi trucks to the Benapole land port, where it was loaded on to Indian trucks. The Indian trucks carried the goods to the Kolkata airport.

“This is like opening up a new window for us,” said Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

The development comes as part of a renewed bilateral trade framework between the two neighbouring nations following government-led panel discussions between the two sides in New Delhi at the end of October.

Transshipment, which is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination for delivery to final destination through another mode of transport, will shorten the long lead time by a few days. Moreover, the cost of carrying goods will reduce significantly.


The programme will be run on a pilot basis for six months to gain experience to come up with regulation to check cargo diversion.

The first cross-border and land-to-air transshipment from Bangladesh was run by Expo Freight.

“Primarily, we are sending three cargo flights a week. Our target is to introduce six flights per week,” said Maria Rahman, head of key accounts management team of Expo Freight.

The logistics provider has already sent seven flights of cargo after the launch of new operations from the Kolkata airport.

About the charge, Maria said if it costs Tk 5 for carrying a kg of goods by an airline to Europe from Bangladesh, the Dhaka-Kolkata-Europe route will cost Tk 3.5 a kg.

It takes three to five days to reach the final destinations in Europe from Dhaka, she added.

Emirates and Qatar Airways are currently carrying garment items from the Kolkata airport to Europe.

“Primarily our targeted markets are Europe. But we have plans to send apparel cargos to the US if our routes become commercially viable,” she added.

The initiative is commercially viable and cost-effective, said Arvind Aggarwal, senior manager for business development of Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India, the cargo management company in Indira Gandhi International Airport.

“We are lobbying with the governments of both Bangladesh and India for introducing truck services between Dhaka and Delhi to carry goods to be sent Europe from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.”

Once the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) motor vehicles agreement comes into effect fully, the movement of goods by trucks would be easier between the two countries, he said.

At the Dhaka airport, every day more than 1,000 tonnes of goods, mostly garment items, are stored for air shipment, but airlines can carry 700 tonnes, exporters said.

The lead time on exports from Dhaka is higher than some of the country's competitors because of geographical location, according to the BGMEA president. Plus, it takes more time to release goods from the main airport in Dhaka.

Exporters say the rush of goods at the Dhaka airport is so high that goods are left unattended at the cargo village.

Usually, air shipments are made mainly to reduce the lead time, but when exporters opt for that mode of transport they are left with hardly any profit. “Air shipment is very expensive,” Rahman said.

But sometimes exporters have to use the air route to ship goods on schedule. In many cases, buyers carry the cost of air shipments, allowing exporters to make some profit from the sales, the BGMEA chief also said.

It costs between 30 cents and 40 cents or even less for carrying a kg of apparel items from the Chittagong port to any port in Europe.


https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/apparel-shipment-europe-quicker-now-1683898

*GEF: Bangladesh economy to enjoy prosperous 2019*
 Tribune Desk 

Published at 01:01 am January 7th, 2019






The revenue collection will face short of target due to poor business gain and slow growth in the private sector

The Global Economist Forum (GEF) has said the Bangladesh economy will enjoy one of the happiest years in 2019 in respect to economic freedom, which will help achieve above 7.5% GDP growth.

GEF, a special consultative status development and policy organisation of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), has released their worldwide economic prediction for 2019, including Bangladesh, reports UNB.

According to the prediction, Bangladesh exports will be significantly increased due to the US-China trade war. Bangladesh could be able to tap huge amount of foreign direct investment (FDI), especially in the special economic zones.

The revenue collection will face short of target due to poor business gain and slow growth in the private sector. But the public sector, especially power sector, will fetch huge investment, it said.

The power transmission sector could gain investment worth Tk22,000 crore in 2019. The government debt to the GDP could be increased to 30 percent.

According to GEF49 President Dr Enayet Karim, the actual balance of trade will be minus Tk175 billion due to the huge quantity of import against export.

As per the prediction of Dr Mohammad Haider Ali Miah, President of Bangladesh chapter of GEF, the poverty will significantly be reduced and it will stand at 21.8% due to equal distribution of resources.

Secretary General of Bangladesh chapter of GEF Dr Mamun-Ur Rashid said, "The inward remittance may not increase due to huge job cut in Saudi Arabia, the main labour market of Bangladesh, but new job markets will be invested and wages would be increased."

https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2019/01/07/gef-bangladesh-economy-to-enjoy-prosperous-2019

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## Mage

*Trade deficit narrows amid rise in exports *





AKM Zamir Uddin
Trade deficit narrowed 12 percent in the first five months of the fiscal year thanks to a rise in exports and a slowdown in imports.

At the end of November, trade deficit stood at $6.65 billion, down from $7.60 billion a year earlier, according to the central bank's latest data.

The development comes as a relief for the government, which has sufficient breathing space now to run the economy. Trade deficit hit an all-time high of $18.25 billion last fiscal year.

While unveiling the monetary policy statement for the second half of 2018 the central bank projected that the trade gap may reach $22.19 billion by the end of the fiscal year, suggesting a stringent state of affairs for the country's macroeconomy.

“But the pickup in remittance and exports is whopping the central bank projection,” said a Bangladesh Bank official.


Export fetched $16.77 billion in the first five months of the fiscal year, up 16.75 percent year-on-year.

“It is a good sign that export earnings are maintaining an upward trend while import payments are posting moderate growth,” said AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former finance adviser to a caretaker government.

Between the months of July and November of 2018, imports rose 6.64 percent to $23.43 billion.

The import of capital machinery has recently declined, which will not underpin the country's industrial sector, he said.

Islam went on to urge the government to give more importance to importing capital goods as it is the major ingredient for setting up new industrial units and retrofitting the existing ones.

The country's current account deficit also decreased 46 percent year-on-year to $2.55 billion in the first five months of fiscal 2018-19.

“Bangladesh's current account deficit is not too much considering that it is a developing country,” Islam added.

Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, however, said the current account deficit was still high considering the rising economic activities of the country.

“There is a ray of hope that remittance has bounced back in recent months, which will ease the large deficit of current account in the months to come,” he said.

The foreign exchange reserve is now able to make import payments for five months, which is ideal for any economy, he said.

As of November 2018, the reserves stood at $31.05 billion.

“But a year ago the reserves could cover import payments for nine months. We have to keep a close eye on fluctuating reserves.”

The overall balance of payment situation is also not sanguine as it has recently entered the negative territory, he said.

At the end of November, the deficit in overall balance stood at $837 million, up from $479 million a year earlier, according to data from the BB.

The export earnings, foreign direct investment and remittance should increase more for reducing the current and overall deficit, Rahman said.

If the deficit in the two accounts is brought down, the foreign exchange market will also cool down bypassing the existing depreciating trend of the taka against the dollar, he added.
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/trade-deficit-narrows-amid-rise-exports-1684558

*Mustafa Kamal expects 8.5% GDP growth in FY19*
 Tribune Desk 

Published at 11:40 pm January 7th, 2019





File photo of AHM Mustafa Kamal *Mahmood Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune*

The new finance minister expresses hope after taking oath

New Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Monday expressed optimism that the country’s GDP growth rate in the current fiscal year (FY19) would reach 8.5%, exceeding the fiscal target of 7.8%.

“As per an international think-tank, Bangladesh’s GDP growth will reach 7.5% this year. They actually predict in a conservative way. I think, the GDP growth will reach 8.5%,” he said.

He was exchanging views with officials of the Finance Ministry at his secretariatoffice in Dhaka, after taking oath as finance minister along with other members of the new cabinet, reports BSS.

Kamal said Bangladesh has achieved remarkable successes in the last 10 years and the country has attained 41st position among the largest economies in the world in 2019, up from the 43rd position last year, as per UK-based think tank “World Economic League Table.”

If the country improves maintaining this trend, Bangladesh will stand within the first 20 countries in 2041 as per the largest economy in the world and the top 20 countries are considered as developed countries, he added.

The finance minister urged authorities concerned to come forward and take necessary reforms to bring non-performing loans (NPL) to a reasonable level.

“We should make necessary changes to bring the NPL to a reasonable level. The existing rate of NPL is around 13%. If we can keep the NPL at 7-8%, it will play a vital role in the country’s economy,” he added.

Referring to the on-going upward trend in the stock market, Kamal said the national election has brought confidence to the people, taking the capital market to upward trend.

He underscored the need for strengthening the bond market to collect long term investments of the business community.

He also said Bangladesh should focus on increasing the country’s tax to GDP ratio to accelerate the development activities.

“Currently, the tax to GDP ratio of Bangladesh is around 8-9%. We should take it to 16-17%,” he added.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine.../mustafa-kamal-expects-8-5-gdp-growth-in-fy19

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## Mage

*Mongla EPZ exports rise sixteen-fold in 10 years*
Published: January 08, 2019 17:37:26 | Updated: January 09, 2019 09:57:00





The exports from Mongla Export Processing Zone (EPZ) increased 16 times in the past 10 years. Investments also witnessed an eleven-fold rise, while about 4,500 people make a living in the zone.

“Mongla EPZ was established on 289 acres of land in 1998 in line with the decision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Currently, 128 factories are in operation and 15 more will go into operation soon,” said Executive Manager of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) Nazma Binte Alamgir, reports BSS.

Talking to BSS, Nazma said the Mongla Port has become active because of the Mongla EPZ, as products worth Tk 40.75 billion were exported via this seaport in 2018, which is 16 times higher from Tk 2.95 billion in 2008.

Out of 192 industrial plots in the zone, 165 plots have already been allocated among the investors, she added.

In 2008, EPZ drew investments worth Tk 450 million but investments witnessed a significant rise in 2018 as the port town EPZ drew Tk 5.1 billion worth of investments – an increase of eleven-fold in the last 10 years.

Nazma said previously the economy of this part of the country depended on agriculture and fishing. Now the situation has largely been changed as workers in the EPZ are involved in producing products ranging from heating pads of Toyota cars, VIP luggage bag, North American towel, jute based products to marble stone accessories etc, she said.

These products are being exported to India, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Indonesia and a few more countries in Middle East and Europe, she added.

Traffic Manager of Mongla Port Authority (MPA) Mohammad Shohag said the Mongla EPZ was established here to keep the Mongla Port active. Lands were acquired from the MPA to establish the EPZ.

Currently, few empty plots are left in Mongla EPZ. There has been a great industrialisation within the zone. The process of bringing in the raw materials is being done using the Mongla Port. For this reason the use of Mongla Port is on rise, he said.

A user of Mongla Port S M Nazrul Islam said huge people are employed due to the Mongla EPZ. 

“Now, I am working in the EPZ and earn Tk 10,000 a month. The income of my husband and me is sufficient to meet the expenditure of my family,” said Rabeya Begum who works in a factory at Mongla EPZ.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/...orts-rise-sixteen-fold-in-10-years-1546947446

*New finance minister sounds tough on loan defaulters*
*Asks bankers to bring down NPL to 7.0-8.0pc*
FE Report | Published: January 08, 2019 09:48:24 | Updated: January 08, 2019 22:07:51




A H M Mustafa Kamal
Newly-appointed Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal asked the bankers on Monday to go tough on delinquent borrowers to help lower the size of non-performing loans (NPL).

He told them to bring down the (ratio of) NPL to 7.0-8.0 per cent from the existing 13 per cent which, he said, is quite high.

Mr Kamal said loans should be given to right kind of people only, and urged the bankers not to spare even 'relatives' in the case of loan recovery.

The minister said these while talking to bankers and officials at Bangladesh Secretariat soon after taking the oath of office as the finance minister.

"We won't send anyone to jail. But we have to take back public money from the defaulters," he said.

The minister further said the spread between lending and deposit rates is still very high, which needs to be lowered.

Mr Kamal expressed the hope that in the current fiscal year, 2018-19, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate will be close to 8.5 per cent.

The minister also talked about reform in the banking and other sectors.

He underscored the need for expediting revenue collection and exploring new arenas for raising revenue.

"In revenue sector, if we maintain the present trend, our achievement will be in arithmetic proportion. But we have to turn it into geometric proportion, which is not a tough job."

Mr Kamal said some 400 million people (in the country) are now in the middle-income category, each of whom can pay Tk 20,000 as income tax every year.

"But they don't pay the tax. Only 1.5 million people submit income tax returns annually."

"We couldn't penetrate the sector properly. We have to be rough and tough on people who dodge taxes," he added.

The finance minister said in some cases soil is being exported instead of manufactured goods. "But showing the export receipt those unscrupulous people are taking away cash incentives from the government. It has to be stopped."

He also said the rate of value added tax (VAT) has to be bearable. Otherwise people would not pay it.

"And whatever rate we decide, the collection has to be cent per cent. For that we have to provide electronic cash register machines to businesses, and also appoint more revenue collectors."

The minister said resources are limited in Bangladesh, and that has to be mobilised properly.

"We also have to ensure maximum utilisation of resources," he noted.

Earlier on the day, former finance minister AMA Muhith was given a farewell reception at the conference room of the finance ministry.

He said the country had seen tremendous economic development during the last ten years.

Now none can brand Bangladesh as a beggar's place, Mr Muhith opined.

"In the next five years the country's economy will reach such a position that none will be able to obstruct its development," he added.

_syful-islam@outlook.com_


https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/...er-sounds-tough-on-loan-defaulters-1546919304

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## Mage

*No more rise in NPLs ‘from now on’*
*BAB assures Kamal of loan recovery roadmap*
FE Report | Published: January 11, 2019 10:11:03




File photos shows Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said on Thursday non-performing loan (NPL) will not grow by even a single penny from today, rather it will reduce.

He, however, said he would not go for action against the "big shots" and "powerful persons" who are the main drivers of economy.

About his stance on the NPL holders, he said, "The powerful persons account for 82 per cent of the economy. How can we go forward without these 82 per cent holders?"


"Can we take economy to a good level with the rest of the population who account for only 18 per cent of the total economy? This sounds absurd to me."

Mr Kamal said this to reporters after a meeting with the representatives of the Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB).

"You [the media] don't have exact data on the people who possess the exact amounts of NPLs… which are still manageable," he said in his Planning Commission office.

"All businessmen at home and abroad are powerful. They are titled as powerful and heavyweight persons who conduct business, and who play good cricket."

"If businessmen don't become powerful or heavyweight, how will I get investment, how employment will be created, how poverty be eliminated and how the government will provide services," Mr Kamal quipped.

He said, "From today, the NPL won't grow as the BAB delegation assured me of working to reduce it. How the NPL will be reduced was today's moot point."

"… They (bankers) will give me reports on the amounts of bad loans at their respective banks. And they will give a schedule on the recovery of the loans."

When asked, Mr Kamal said: "I'm worried on the NPL as well as I'm not worried on it."

"I'm not worried about our total debts and deposits. If we think about our asset against deposit compared to other nations, we're not in the back step."

"Our NPL is only 12-13 per cent of the total outstanding loans. Look at India, how much their NPLs are!" the minister exclaimed.

"If the NPL is backed by asset, and if we have enough collateral and securities against loans, why am I to worry, I should not worry," he argued.

"I have to know about the real position of the bad loans and then evaluate them. Then I can tell you whether I should worry."

"On the assessment only, I cannot express my worry on the NPL before the nation," Mr Kamal maintained. He said they (bankers) assured him that they will not allow the NPLs to extend further.

"I've told them that it is your business how you will manage or take care of it. My point is you can't increase the NPL from now on…," he added.

About the central bank reserve heist, Mr Kamal said, "I'll see the Philippines judgment report and our report. Then we'll share our position with you."

BAB Chairman Nazrul Islam Mazumder said, "We'll prepare lists of two groups. Some NPL holders went broke after doing 10 years of good business for different types of shocks."

"And some have left (business) after borrowing from the banks," he added.

"First, we'll review the lists and then sit with the central bank and banking division. We'll go for legal action against the defaulters who will be in the second category."

"The finance minister has assured us of giving all-out support in this regard," Mr Majumder mentioned.

He, however, said the businessmen who have become defaulters for different shocks on their business should not be come under punishment.

IFIC Bank Chairman Salman F Rahman and Premier Bank Chairman Dr HBM Iqbal, among others, attended the meeting.

_kabirhumayan10@gmail.com_

http://www.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/no-more-rise-in-npls-from-now-on-1547179863


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## Bilal9

Bee farming in Bangladesh












Stall for Akij Group at the DITF





President Abdul Hamid addressing the inauguration of the month-long 24th Dhaka International Trade Fair at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka on Wednesday





Here he is checking out local electronics products (I believe Walton)





Gerbera flowers have dominated export floriculture crops recently. Exported to EU countries.


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## ARMalik

Well BD needs to pay thousands of it poor workers first. These poor garment workers get only 39-Cents an hour. All we hear is propaganda on how good BD is but these poor people are literally slaves for the rich in BD. 

-------------------------------------------------
*Garment workers protest in Bangladesh*

Bangladesh police used water cannons to disperse thousands of garment workers demonstrating for better wages for a fourth day Wednesday, shutting down factories on the outskirts of the capital.

--------------------------------------------------------

https://www.voanews.com/a/bangladesh-police-garment-workers-clash-in-protests/4735636.html
*Bangladesh Police, Garment Workers Clash in Protests*
DHAKA, BANGLADESH — 

Bangladesh police fired tear gas and swung batons as thousands of garment workers demonstrated for better wages for a fourth day Wednesday, shutting down factories on the outskirts of the capital.

_The Daily Star_ newspaper said one protester was fatally shot and three dozen others were injured in clashes with police.

Police fired tear gas and water cannons to prevent demonstrators from blocking the road leading to Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Workers responded by hurling bricks at police and setting vehicles ablaze.

Bangladesh's garment industry generates around $30 billion in exports a year, making it the second largest in the world after China. It makes products for big-name fashion retailers including Zara, H&M and Uniqlo.

For months, workers have been demanding a higher minimum pay than what the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has proposed.

Garment worker Shefali Begum said protesters want at least 16,000 taka, or about $191, per month.

"They give us nothing. Right now, our salaries are the same as for helpers hired to assist us," Begum said.

Hasina's ruling Awami League-led coalition swept a general election on Dec. 28 amid opposition complaints of voter intimidation and vote rigging. Hasina was sworn in Monday for a record third consecutive term as head of government.

The booming garment industry has been a pillar of Hasina's economic development strategy for Bangladesh, where annual per capita income has nearly tripled since 2009 to $1,750.

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## Mage

ARMalik said:


> These poor garment workers get only 39-Cents an hour. All we hear is propaganda on how good BD is but these poor people are literally slaves for the rich in BD.


Please give them some money if you are rich enough. 

With 40 cents one is likely to earn 3.2 USD per day. Garments are open 6 days in a week. Making it 25 days in a month. So a garments worker would earn like 80 USD per month. Making it 6700 taka. Most of the garments workers have to do mandatory over time. So they earn like 8,500 taka per month. Garments workers are mostly female. Their husbands too earn somewhere near 10000-12000 taka. Making a family income of 20000. 

Well, it is somewhat manageable for the poor people. Quality of life is very poor. And they surely need some increase in salary. Hopefully they will increase it. 16000 taka is not possible now. I read somewhere govt want to increase it to 11000. They will reach an agreement soon.

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## Skies




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## Mage

Skies said:


> View attachment 532371


Lol.....should try to make some cars first. It's unbelievable that a country of 160 million have no car manufacturer.

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> Lol.....should try to make some cars first. It's unbelievable that a country of 160 million have no car manufacturer.



Dhirey Bothsho dhirey. 

We did not have a large enough market for automobiles historically (other than motorcycles) and our situation mirrored that of Vietnam - both formerly third world countries. You can't just set up auto manufacturing from scratch (even from CKD kits) if there is not huge demand. Add to that the powerful local lobbies of second hand car importers (plus price advantage there) and you can see why we have no manufacturing in that sector. But things are changing- and fast.

We cannot compare our situation to India's. They used to be a closed economy (license raj) and eventually opened up only very recently. Their market is eight times larger - so demand and manufacturing logistics (even in a Kanjoosi market situation) were (and are) very different for manufacturing from scratch.

Govt. and private automobile plants in Bangladesh have assembled CKD kits since the early 60's and today we have bus/truck and private vehicle assembly by quite a few auto majors, including brands like Hino, Isuzu and Mitsubishi. The latest is PHP who assembles the Proton Preve among other vehicles.






For Vietnam, "All currently produced models are designed abroad by foreign brands, and many rely on knock-down kit production. Due to high import taxes on automobiles, the Vietnamese government protects domestic manufacturing. Although Vietnam is a member of the ASEAN Free Trade Area, automobile imports fall under an exception. Since January 1 2018, the 30% import tax has been discontinued as part of ASEAN agreements.[1] Currently, the Vietnamese motor industry is not deemed competitive enough to make exports feasible. As of April 2018, 85% of car sales in Vietnam were produced domestically from CKD kits.[2]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_Vietnam#Vinfast

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh is the pioneer and leader in environmentally sensitive ship recycling in South Asia.

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## The Ronin

*Teletalk to invest USD656m in network expansion*
5 Nov 2018




Bangladesh

Bangladeshi cellco Teletalk is reportedly in the midst of developing five projects worth BDT55.54 billion (USD656 million) to expand its networks, by deploying 6,800 new sites and upgrading around 5,500 existing sites. Shahab Uddin, managing director of the state-owned operator, told The Daily Star: ‘We are trying to improve our network and service quality with limited resources and at the same time are trying to manage funds from different sources to expand it.’ The company will invest BDT9.87 billion of its own funds to deploy 1,500 2G/3G towers in rural areas, with 1,100 4G sites to be deployed in district headquarters (550) and Dhaka (550). Mr Uddin said that the towers established in Dhaka will be commercially launched ‘soon’. Further, the government has provided the cellco with a loan of BDT6.75 billion for the rollout and upgrade of around 1,700 towers, though Teletalk is seeking a further BDT32.82 billion from the state to build 4,000 towers for 3G/4G network expansion. Here Shahab Uddin commented: ‘It would give us a boost if the government approves the project.’ Another programme will see the deployment of solar powered towers via an Indian credit of BDT4.25 billion, while the BDT1.84 billion from the social obligation fund will be used for network expansion in the country’s wetlands in north east Bangladesh (i.e. the haor areas). Meanwhile, LG U+ has offered Teletalk a commercial loan of USD1.2 billion for infrastructure development and improvement of its core network, on the condition that Teletalk ensures 4G coverage in 98% of Bangladesh’s geographical area via 11,275 LTE-enabled towers.

Bangladesh,Teletalk, Wireless, LTE

https://www.telegeography.com/produ...AKBBm1UUz12Ara1Xqtn5s6BwIkvqusDucnCAS0OIJ0SUg

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## Bilal9

PHP Float Glass Environment Friendly Initiative & Plantation Project Documentary

*



*
DBL Group Corporate Video (yarn and textiles). This company is among several who have introduced robotic logistics in local ceramics and other types of manufacturing (see footage at 9:59).

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## bête noire

The Ronin said:


> LG U+ has offered Teletalk a commercial loan of USD1.2 billion for infrastructure development and improvement of its core network, on the condition that Teletalk ensures 4G coverage in 98% of Bangladesh’s geographical area via 11,275 LTE-enabled towers.


Wow, why not take this offer?


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## Bilal9

bête noire said:


> Wow, why not take this offer?



I believe there may be a catch in the fine print. You don't need LG to provide your 5G network infra, Huawei or ZTE in China are the primary suppliers nowadays, we can go directly to those guys.

They have boiled cell tower coverage and switching equipment down to a fine art.

Everything is pre-packaged, modular, standardized and ready to go (sometimes containerized in 40 ft.containers).

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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge latest update videos,










All 108 sub-zillas to be connected by metalled roads and maintained,





*Rooppur Powerplant components have arrived, local logistics support provided by Avant Logistics Bangladesh. Interesting Video! 




*
*Transport logistics plan

Equipment*: Melt localization device and General cargo
*Route*: port of Novorossiysk, port of S-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Ruppur NPP, Republic of Bangladesh *Volume of cargo*: 6 800 FT
*Main oversize and heavy cargo*: - Double casing, 667*667*581cm, 146 975 kg. - Cassette of 1 type: 530*530*115cm, 27 547 kg. - Cassette of 2 type: 566*566*191cm, 40 740 kg. - Cassette of 3 type: 566*566*179cm, 60 620 kg. - Cassette of 3 type: 566*566*179cm, 60 620 кг. - Thermal protection of housing flange: 590*590*135cm, 20 767 kg. - Console: 915*455*263cm, 74 940 kg – 2 items.
*Scope of work*: Delivery of priority equipment (5 802 m3) by sea from the port of St. Petersburg to the port of Mongla / Chittagong, PRB, road transportation to the construction site. Delivery of large-sized heavy-weight equipment for the melt localization device by sea from the port of Novorossiysk to the port of Mongla / Chittagong, PRB, transshipment to barges and delivery to the river port on the Padma river, road transportation to the construction site. Organization of a Charter flight for delivery of large-size heavy equipment of the melt localization device from Ulyanovsk to the airport of Dhaka, PRB, road delivery of equipment to the construction site.

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## Bilal9

Girders are transported to the construction site for an overpass that aims to reduce traffic congestion on the Dhaka-Mawa Highway in the Jurain area.

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## Bilal9

Couple of interesting videos that tell you all about the Rooppur Nuclear power plant construction project.

These videos outline the brutal construction process in a hostile terrain and how thousands of people and hundreds of pieces of equipment still work round the clock, day and night to ensure electricity to every house in Bangladesh.

Interesting Videos! 











================================================

Latest Business Report

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## Bilal9

*JCX Business Tower, Bashundhara*

Status as of November 2018








































*Grameen Telecom Trust Tower, Mirpur*

13+2B office building for GTT





















CAAB HQ,Airport Road

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## Bilal9

Chittagonians can call this place a true deli hangout in the American style

*Regalo*


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail latest progress





Ruppur Nuclear plant latest status

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## Bilal9

*Beginning Of New Era !!! Honda Inaugurates New Motorcycle Factory In Bangladesh*
Wasif Anowar

Bangladesh Honda Pvt Ltd officially inaugurated Bangladesh Honda Motorcycle Manufacturing Factory in Bangladesh. This is a historic moment for the motorcycle industry in Bangladesh. The new *Honda Factory* is situated at Abdul Momen Economic Zone, Gazaria, Munshiganj, Bangladesh.






Honda is one of the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. Other then motorcycles Honda also builds cars, robots, generators, and airplanes. BHL is a joint venture between Honda (Japan) which owns 70% of the share while Bangladesh Steel & Engineering Corporation owns the rest 30% of the share.

Honda was incorporated in Bangladesh on December 4th, 2012. The first commercial production was started from November 1st, 2013 with the symbol of Honda two-wheelers the ‘ WINGS’. At first, Honda will manufacture Honda Dream Neo in Bangladesh.

Honda Factory Inauguration program was started at 10:30 AM by receiving the media and other guests. In this program the following chief guest was present :

Mr. Amir Hossain Amu, Member of Parliament and Minister, Ministry of Industries;

Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Member of Parliament and Honorary President, Inter-Parliament Union (IPU);

Mr. Mrinal Kanti Das, Member of Parliament for Munshiganj-3;





Mr. Paban Chowdhury, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA),

Mr. Mizanur Rahman, Additional Secretary, Chairman- Board of Directors’, Bangladesh Honda Private Limited and Chairman Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation;

as well as His Excellency Hiroyasu Izumi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Bangladesh.

Representatives from Honda were Mr. Yoshi Yamane,

Senior Managing Director and Chief Officer for Production Operations of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.; Mr. Noriaki Abe,

Operating Officer and Chief Officer for Motorcycle Operations of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.; Mr. Masayuki Igarashi,

Operating Officer and Chief Officer for Asia & Oceania Regional Operations of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., and President & CEO of Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and Mr. Yuichiro Ishii, Managing Director, and CEO of Bangladesh Honda Private Limited.






Honda is expanding their motorcycle business in Bangladesh to deliver products that meet customer’s needs for the growing market. The company has relocated its factory from Gazipur to the new location in Munshiganj. Honda has invested around 2.3 billion BDT on buildings, facilities & land area of 25 acres for this new factory. The factory was completed after a year later since the groundbreaking ceremony back on 5th November 2017.

Initially, 100,000 bikes will produce per year and then around 200,000 by 2021. The current factory only occupies one-third of the allocated property and will be expanded when the demand of Honda motorcycles will increase in Bangladesh. The new factory will introduce welding & painting sections for localization with technical support from Honda Motor in Japan. Initially, BHL will localize the body frame and swing arm and then gradually expand localization to other parts assembled at the new factory.






Mr. Yoshi Yamane, Senior Managing Director and Chief Officer for Production Operations of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., said, “Honda’s 2030 Vision states ‘Serve people worldwide with the joy of expanding their life’s potential’ and ‘Lead the advancement of mobility and enable people everywhere in the world to improve their daily lives.’ The inauguration of the new factory demonstrates one of the most important initiatives to realize this 2030 Vision. Bangladesh Honda will aim to develop further by providing reliable, quality products from this new factory.”

Mr. Yuichiro Ishii, Managing Director and CEO of BHL, said “As the leading motorcycle manufacturer, and with the guidance and expertise of Honda Motor in Japan, we believe that the motorcycle industry will expand and contribute to the national economy by generating more employment, developing a skilled workforce, transferring technology, encouraging the growth of a parts supplier industry, and attracting more direct foreign investment.”






Program started with recitation from Holy Quran, then there was a speech from chief guest and the CEO of BHL Mr. Yuichiro Ishii & other chief guests from the event. The Mr. Amir Hosssain Amu MP inaugurated the Honda Motorcycle factory and BHL handed the key of the first production Honda Dream Neo to Mr. Amir Hossain Amu.

Then VIP guests made a factory tour, sadly due to restriction we couldn’t take any photo or video inside the factory but we hope in the near future BHL will give us an opportunity to make a factory tour of how they make a motorcycle from scratch. Some of the dealers of BHL were also present & we managed to take an exclusive interview with Mr. Mostafizur Rashid (MD of Wings BD Ltd).






At the start, BHL will manufacture Honda Dream Neo in Bangladesh. Then later they will manufacture Honda Livo. After manufacturing 110cc segment Honda will move to manufacture 125cc segment & finally they will manufacture 150 -165 cc motorcycles. We are not sure about the time period of then they will do a full manufacturing of the full line up but with due time we will inform the bikers of Bangladesh.

Honda is a motorcycle company which started it’s journey back in 1948. Last year Honda became the number 1 motorcycle brand in the world. It sold 1.9 billion bikes worldwide in 130 countries. Currently, they have a product line up of 6 motorcycles, 1 moped & one scooter.






We are hoping that with the addition of a brand new factory Honda will soon launch some exclusive bikes in Bangladesh in the year 2019. Also, the market size of Bangladesh will be growing and the price of Honda motorcycles will also decrease after the Inauguration of Honda motorcycle factory in Bangladesh.

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## Mage

@Bilal9 bhai, please share news here....all these images makes it annoying to scroll down.

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## The Ronin

*Leather industry showing rising investment graph*

Investment in leather goods and footwear has been rising significantly, thanks to more and more foreign and Bangladeshi investors pumping in money as production cost has gone up in competitor countries, say industry insiders.

Moreover, Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are investing in compliant factories to produce high-quality footwear that will eventually reduce the dependence on the import of leather goods, added industry insiders.

Mohammed Nazmul Hassan, vice president of the Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers' and Exporters' Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB) and managing director of Leatherex Footwear Industries Limited told The Independent, “Founded in 2000, Leatherex is a 100 per cent export-oriented leather footwear industry in Bangladesh with a production capacity of 800,000 pairs of shoes and sandals yearly.”

Leatherex is operated under technical collaboration with Japan, Italy and Taiwan, he added.

Every year, 15–20 new leather product and footwear factories were being opened in the country, he noted.

Alliance Footwear and Leather Industry Ltd yearly exports 15 lakh pairs of shoes and 10,000 leather bags. An investor from Poland was planning invest Tk 15 crore in Bangladesh, as they were wrapping up their business in China due to high wage costs, said Mahbubur Rahman, manager of Alliance Footwear and Leather Industry Ltd.

China is still the biggest leather product sourcing country in the world, but if any buyer wants to buy leather footwear from China then 17 per cent import tax would have to be given to the Chinese government.

“We export footwear at zero per cent tariff rate and that’s perhaps another reason why foreign buyers are eager to come to invest in Bangladesh,” he said.

According to the data of the Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers' and Exporters' of Bangladesh (LFMEAB), wages have increased in competitor countries like China by 19 per cent, followed by Vietnam, 14 per cent; India, 13 per cent; and Indonesia, 30 per cent.

Because of higher wages, a lot of foreign leather products and footwear manufacturers have been compelled to shut down their businesses in those countries, said LFMEAB officials.

Saiful Islam, president, LFMEAB, said that physical investment was coming in. For instance, Pou Chen, a leading footwear manufacturer of Taiwan, had already started operating in Bangladesh.

VKC, a famous Indian footwear manufacturer, too, had come to Bangladesh, followed by the Farida Group, footwear and finished leather manufacturer, added Islam.

The LFMEAB informed that the spade work had already started and the factory, spread over 1,00,000 sq ft, was expected to open by March 2019. The factory would have the capacity to produce approximately 3,000 pairs of shoes a day.

ECM Footwear Ltd, (ECMFL) is a 100 per cent export-oriented leather shoe manufacturing venture based in Bangladesh.

It takes Tk 80–100 crore to set up a Ready Made Garment (RMG) factory but about Tk 25¬30 crore is needed to build a footwear factory. The RMG set-up is already there in the country but the footwear industry is still untapped, said Labik Kamal, director of ECM Footwear Ltd.

So, he felt, there was a huge opportunity for the footwear industry to grow.

The domestic demand of leather footwear and goods was worth about Tk 16,000 crore but 40 per cent of the demands are met by importing goods from abroad, said LFMEAB.

The leather footwear sector registered a steady positive growth of 4.54 per cent with USD 264.28 million in the first ten months (July–November) of the current financial year (FY2018–19) compared to USD 252.81 million during the same period in FY2017–18, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.

Saiful Islam explained the reasons behind the steady growth and told The Independent that the footwear industry was maintaining growing trend because of three reasons—factories that produce footwear in Bangladesh were all environmentally compliant, meaning they conformed to environmental laws, regulations, standards.

Secondly, “We are highlighting the benefits of investment in this sector as well as the growth prospects in the longer term. As a result, in 2017–18, 20 new export-oriented footwear factories have come up and started operations in Bangladesh,” he added.

Finally, the labour cost in China was increasing. As a result, they were shifting to high-tech industries, prompting investors to move to a cost-competitive manufacturing base and Bangladesh was proving to be most lucrative option, he said.

Bangladesh exported footwear to the European Union (EU) member countries, Japan and North America.

About the challenges faced by the industry, he said, “There are a couple of challenges which need to be addressed such as reducing the lead time to 45 days, establishing more compliant footwear factories and long-term policy support.”

The leather sector was the country’s second largest export earner, mopping up over USD 1 billion and employing about one million people directly and indirectly, he added.

Competitive pricing, low labour cost and available raw material provided Bangladesh opportunities to grab the global leather market, he added.

“If long-term sustainable policy support is implemented, it's possible to achieve a growth level of 15- 20 per cent instead of 4.54 per cent,” he added.

Abdul Momen Bhuiyan, Sr. vice president of LFMEAB, too, said rising labour costs in China were prompting investors to move to cost-competitive manufacturing bases and Bangladesh was currently the most lucrative option.

He pointed to another reason, saying already Chinese investors had invested in around 15 new export-oriented footwear factories in the Chattogram Export Processing Zone (CEPZ), where they were manufacturing footwear and exporting their products abroad. This reflected the long-term growth prospects.

Bangladesh manufactured footwear for the renowned brands like Timberland shoes, Wolverine, Sterling shoes and many more brands, he informed.

“Finally, factories producing footwear in Bangladesh are environmentally compliant—they conform to environmental laws, regulations and standards,” said Abdul Momen Bhuiyan, who is also the Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of Apex Footwear Ltd.

Explaining the opportunities before this sector, Bangladesh Tanners’ Association (BTA) chairman Shaheen Ahmed said owing to the availability of raw materials, 350 million sq ft of leather is produced annually in Bangladesh. Of this amount, 20–25 per cent goes to meet the domestic demand, while the rest is exported.

The government considers "leather goods and footwear" as one of the main growth generators for the country that would help it to cross the middle-income threshold. It is now the country’s second largest export-earning industry.

According to LFMEAB, approximately, 220 tanneries, 2,500 footwear manufacturing units and 90 large firms make leather goods and footwear mainly for export.

Bangladesh exports leather goods and footwear mainly UAE, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Chile, China, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Finland.

http://www.theindependentbd.com/pos...weClrh0pE5lveCaHts2Yyi1hN0musmLnKFa1dxmjes6KQ

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> @Bilal9 bhai, please share news here....all these images makes it annoying to scroll down.



Accha - bhalo suggestion. But I will still post links to business videos as well as a few infra images that are helpful to understand progress of the projects.



The Ronin said:


> *Leather industry showing rising investment graph*
> 
> Investment in leather goods and footwear has been rising significantly, thanks to more and more foreign and Bangladeshi investors pumping in money as production cost has gone up in competitor countries, say industry insiders.
> 
> Moreover, Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are investing in compliant factories to produce high-quality footwear that will eventually reduce the dependence on the import of leather goods, added industry insiders.
> 
> Mohammed Nazmul Hassan, vice president of the Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers' and Exporters' Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB) and managing director of Leatherex Footwear Industries Limited told The Independent, “Founded in 2000, Leatherex is a 100 per cent export-oriented leather footwear industry in Bangladesh with a production capacity of 800,000 pairs of shoes and sandals yearly.”
> 
> Leatherex is operated under technical collaboration with Japan, Italy and Taiwan, he added.
> 
> Every year, 15–20 new leather product and footwear factories were being opened in the country, he noted.
> 
> Alliance Footwear and Leather Industry Ltd yearly exports 15 lakh pairs of shoes and 10,000 leather bags. An investor from Poland was planning invest Tk 15 crore in Bangladesh, as they were wrapping up their business in China due to high wage costs, said Mahbubur Rahman, manager of Alliance Footwear and Leather Industry Ltd.
> 
> China is still the biggest leather product sourcing country in the world, but if any buyer wants to buy leather footwear from China then 17 per cent import tax would have to be given to the Chinese government.
> 
> “We export footwear at zero per cent tariff rate and that’s perhaps another reason why foreign buyers are eager to come to invest in Bangladesh,” he said.
> 
> According to the data of the Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers' and Exporters' of Bangladesh (LFMEAB), wages have increased in competitor countries like China by 19 per cent, followed by Vietnam, 14 per cent; India, 13 per cent; and Indonesia, 30 per cent.
> 
> Because of higher wages, a lot of foreign leather products and footwear manufacturers have been compelled to shut down their businesses in those countries, said LFMEAB officials.
> 
> Saiful Islam, president, LFMEAB, said that physical investment was coming in. For instance, Pou Chen, a leading footwear manufacturer of Taiwan, had already started operating in Bangladesh.
> 
> VKC, a famous Indian footwear manufacturer, too, had come to Bangladesh, followed by the Farida Group, footwear and finished leather manufacturer, added Islam.
> 
> The LFMEAB informed that the spade work had already started and the factory, spread over 1,00,000 sq ft, was expected to open by March 2019. The factory would have the capacity to produce approximately 3,000 pairs of shoes a day.
> 
> ECM Footwear Ltd, (ECMFL) is a 100 per cent export-oriented leather shoe manufacturing venture based in Bangladesh.
> 
> It takes Tk 80–100 crore to set up a Ready Made Garment (RMG) factory but about Tk 25¬30 crore is needed to build a footwear factory. The RMG set-up is already there in the country but the footwear industry is still untapped, said Labik Kamal, director of ECM Footwear Ltd.
> 
> So, he felt, there was a huge opportunity for the footwear industry to grow.
> 
> The domestic demand of leather footwear and goods was worth about Tk 16,000 crore but 40 per cent of the demands are met by importing goods from abroad, said LFMEAB.
> 
> The leather footwear sector registered a steady positive growth of 4.54 per cent with USD 264.28 million in the first ten months (July–November) of the current financial year (FY2018–19) compared to USD 252.81 million during the same period in FY2017–18, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
> 
> Saiful Islam explained the reasons behind the steady growth and told The Independent that the footwear industry was maintaining growing trend because of three reasons—factories that produce footwear in Bangladesh were all environmentally compliant, meaning they conformed to environmental laws, regulations, standards.
> 
> Secondly, “We are highlighting the benefits of investment in this sector as well as the growth prospects in the longer term. As a result, in 2017–18, 20 new export-oriented footwear factories have come up and started operations in Bangladesh,” he added.
> 
> Finally, the labour cost in China was increasing. As a result, they were shifting to high-tech industries, prompting investors to move to a cost-competitive manufacturing base and Bangladesh was proving to be most lucrative option, he said.
> 
> Bangladesh exported footwear to the European Union (EU) member countries, Japan and North America.
> 
> About the challenges faced by the industry, he said, “There are a couple of challenges which need to be addressed such as reducing the lead time to 45 days, establishing more compliant footwear factories and long-term policy support.”
> 
> The leather sector was the country’s second largest export earner, mopping up over USD 1 billion and employing about one million people directly and indirectly, he added.
> 
> Competitive pricing, low labour cost and available raw material provided Bangladesh opportunities to grab the global leather market, he added.
> 
> “If long-term sustainable policy support is implemented, it's possible to achieve a growth level of 15- 20 per cent instead of 4.54 per cent,” he added.
> 
> Abdul Momen Bhuiyan, Sr. vice president of LFMEAB, too, said rising labour costs in China were prompting investors to move to cost-competitive manufacturing bases and Bangladesh was currently the most lucrative option.
> 
> He pointed to another reason, saying already Chinese investors had invested in around 15 new export-oriented footwear factories in the Chattogram Export Processing Zone (CEPZ), where they were manufacturing footwear and exporting their products abroad. This reflected the long-term growth prospects.
> 
> Bangladesh manufactured footwear for the renowned brands like Timberland shoes, Wolverine, Sterling shoes and many more brands, he informed.
> 
> “Finally, factories producing footwear in Bangladesh are environmentally compliant—they conform to environmental laws, regulations and standards,” said Abdul Momen Bhuiyan, who is also the Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of Apex Footwear Ltd.
> 
> Explaining the opportunities before this sector, Bangladesh Tanners’ Association (BTA) chairman Shaheen Ahmed said owing to the availability of raw materials, 350 million sq ft of leather is produced annually in Bangladesh. Of this amount, 20–25 per cent goes to meet the domestic demand, while the rest is exported.
> 
> The government considers "leather goods and footwear" as one of the main growth generators for the country that would help it to cross the middle-income threshold. It is now the country’s second largest export-earning industry.
> 
> According to LFMEAB, approximately, 220 tanneries, 2,500 footwear manufacturing units and 90 large firms make leather goods and footwear mainly for export.
> 
> Bangladesh exports leather goods and footwear mainly UAE, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Chile, China, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Finland.
> 
> http://www.theindependentbd.com/pos...weClrh0pE5lveCaHts2Yyi1hN0musmLnKFa1dxmjes6KQ



I think local investors should concentrate on leather shoe industry because we should do immediate value addition on 100% of the 350 million sq ft of leather that is produced annually in Bangladesh and not 25% which we do now.

If we export tanned leather for others to make into shoes, then we are not doing ourselves any favors. In fact we should import more leather from surrounding countries like Pakistan and India and then make shoes with them (local value addition) because having the cheapest labor rates we have distinct advantage in this area compared to these countries as well as China, Vietnam, Indonesia etc.

When all local tanneries get transferred to Savar complex from Rayer Bazar (process has been agonizingly slow) then we can tan even more leather (source cheap untanned blue leather from overseas) and maybe double the present volume. With inbuilt environmental control processes (pollutant control) this will be great.

Pou Chen is the largest Taiwanese athletic shoe manufacturer for brands like NIke, Adidas, Reebok, Puma and other larger brands. Their coming here is a great sign that Bangladesh is now a recognized source of athletic shoe manufacturing. Youngone (Korean company in Dhaka and Chittagong EPZs) have been here for thirty years, they have huge athletic shoe manufacturing facilities in Chittagong area EPZ parks (Karnaphuli, Patenga etc.) They are also planning even larger facilities in Mir-Sarai EPZ which is being built.

I think Athletic shoes have lower margins and all raw material have to be imported. So local companies (like Apex etc.) should concentrate on dress shoes made of leather, which is freely available locally.

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> @Bilal9 bhai, please share news here....all these images makes it annoying to scroll down.



How dare you! We all totally want to know whats exactly on the menu in obscure restaurants that cater to the 0.1%.

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## Bilal9

Here is a video presentation on the recently concluded BLISS (leather-goods industry) conference with comments on the China to Bangladesh manufacturing transfer.





__ https://www.facebook.com/

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## Bilal9

__ https://www.facebook.com/

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## Mage

*Study: Shares in pharma, food, banks sought most by foreign investors in 2018*
 Niaz Mahmud 

Published at 10:20 pm January 20th, 2019






While above 95% of foreign portfolio investments were made in 18 sectors, five of these sectors attracted more than 60% of their total investment

Shares in pharmaceuticals, bank and food and allied sectors attracted foreign investors the most in the Dhaka Stock Exchange throughout 2018, as their portfolio investment accounted for 6.78% of total market capitalization as of November 30 last year.

While above 95% of foreign portfolio investments were made in 18 sectors, five of these sectors attracted more than 60% of their total investment, amounting to Tk 227,642 million during the period, according to a research by LankaBangla Finance Ltd.

Other sectors that appealed to foreign investors are: Telecommunications, Non-Bank Financial Institutions, Engineering, Textile, Fuel & Power, Cement, IT, General Insurance, Travel & Leisure, Mutual Funds, Tanneries, Life Insurance, Services and Real Estate, and Ceramics.

“Foreign investors preferred these select sectors as their corporate governance is good, earnings per share (EPS) attractive, and their business outlooks bright,” DSE Managing Director KAM Majedur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said portfolio investments in the stock market would increase this year as no political uncertainty exists now after the just concluded inclusive national elections.

Focusing on company specific investment, the research said foreigners invested the most in DBH followed by Olympic, BRAC Bank, BX Pharma, Islami Bank, Renata, BSRM, Square Pharmaceuticals, BATBC, IDLC, and AB Bank.

The study found that the most lucrative sector for foreign investment in Bangladesh capital markets for the last year (up to November) was the Food & Allied sector. Foreign investors invested 16.18% of the sector's total market capitalization in the shares of listed companies in the food and allied sector.

They invested 13.91% of the pharmaceuticals sector’s market capitalization followed by banks with 9.22%, non-banking financial institutions 5.98%, and 3.59% in the fuel and power sector, the study added.

Focusing on company specific data, the study said foreign investments in Olympic were the highest during the given period, as they invested 41.13% of the total market capitalization of the company, followed by BRAC Bank, DBH, BX Pharma, Renata, and Square Pharmaceuticals.

The listed pharmaceutical and chemicals sector of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) companies are: ACI Limited, ACI Formulations, The ACME Laboratories, Active Fine Chemicals, Advent Pharma, AFC Agro Biotech, Ambee Pharmaceuticals, Beacon Pharmaceuticals, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Beximco Synthetics, Central Pharmaceuticals, Far Chemical Industries, Global Heavy Chemicals, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Bangladesh, the IBN SINA Pharmaceutical Industry, Indo-Bangla Pharmaceuticals, Imam Button Industries, JMI Syringes & Medical Devices, Keya Cosmetics, Kohinoor Chemicals, Libra Infusions, Marico Bangladesh, Orion Infusion, Orion Pharma, Pharma Aids, Reckitt Benckiser(Bd.), Renata Ltd, Salvo Chemical Industry, Silva Pharmaceuticals, Square Pharmaceuticals, and Wata Chemicals Limited. 

According to the LankaBangla study, during most of 2018 the Bangladesh capital market experienced the lowest foreign turnover in the last three years. Total foreign turnover stood at $1,076.42 million as of November 30, 2018, registering a 13.75% fall year-on-year.

The lower turnover was due to declining foreign purchases and higher foreign sell-offs, resulting in 29.66% less net purchases year-on-year.

Experts said foreign investment in the country’s premier bourse remained positive for only three months (January, March and September) of the outgoing year as overseas investors faced a number of issues, including political uncertainties in an election year, depreciation of the Taka against the US dollar, and woes in the country’s banking sector.

“The market was slow in 2018 as it was an election year. The speed with which it was supposed to recover was not achieved. The country’s capital market has been able to stay at a level that has not experienced any crisis in the market," said DSE Managing Director KAM Majedur Rahman.

To increase international acceptability of the DSE, Dhaka Stock Exchange Brokers Association (DBA) President Shakil Rizvi told the Dhaka Tribune, “We will try to bring investment from a variety of foreign organizations. Many Chinese fund managers are positive about Bangladesh's overall economy and capital market.”

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...anks-sought-most-by-foreign-investors-in-2018

*Largest private economic zone to be ready this year*

Ahsan Habib
The country's largest private economic zone, Sirajganj Economic Zone Ltd (SEZL), may open for entrepreneurs within this year.

“We expect that we will be able to allot the plots of the zone within December this year or the first half of next year at maximum,” said the zone's director, Sheikh Monowar Hossain.

The zone is expected to create employment opportunities for five lakh people and bring in over $2 billion in investments. Its architectural layout designates space for 400 industries.

Hossain said the SEZL spent Tk 350 crore to acquire 1,035.93 acres of land, which was now being readied and levelled with sand.

Its physical infrastructure is also being developed, one being through the ongoing construction of a jetty.

Other facilities include dormitories and housing of five-star or equivalent standards for workers, one-stop administrative and logistic amenities, health and day care centres and technical institutions.

The zone will have its own means of sourcing water and will generate steam through a dedicated plant. It will very soon start setting up a 300-MW power plant for uninterrupted electricity supply while availing natural gas from the government.

The SEZL will dispose of its industrial waste through a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) characterised by zero discharge.

The construction of these facilities will start gradually after work on the power plant begins, said the zone's general manager, Md Shahidur Rahman.

He said the economic zone has already caught the attention of some foreign investors from China, South Korea, Japan, Italy and the US, while some local investors also expressed interest to set up factories, mostly textile.

Entrepreneurs can purchase industrial plots or take lease of the land as well as ready factories. Prices are yet to be fixed, Rahman added.

The zone's development cost, minus the power and steam plants and the CETP, is projected to be about Tk 2,800 crore. It is being borne by a consortium of nine companies and two businesspersons, Mohammad Kamruzzaman and Ehsan Habib.

The companies are Knit Asia, Rising Holdings, Mahmud Fashion, Ratul Knitwear, SM Holdings, Paragon Feed, Textown, Manami Fashions and Change Bangladesh.

They got the final licence from the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) on October 4, 2018.

“It's a dream project towards the northern part of Bangladesh,” said Paban Chowdhury, executive chairman of the Beza.

It is exceptional in the sense that the private sector has been provided the opportunity by the government to prove their mettle in setting up a large economic zone, he said.

“I believe it will ramp up the rural economy of northern Bangladesh,” he added.

Apart from road and rail connectivity, the zone has access to waterways for it lies on the banks of the river Jamuna. Sirajganj is the gateway to northern Bangladesh.

Chowdhury said the connectivity would be a big advantage for the zone's entrepreneurs. He, however, cited a challenge: the rehabilitation of people whose land had been acquired.

Monowar Hossain said they were working to this end, creating an ideal village where land, housing and other facilities like urban areas would be provided. “So, it will not be a problem at all,” he said.

https://www.thedailystar.net/busine...t-private-economic-zone-be-ready-year-1690039

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## Bilal9

Here is a video for the Sirajganj Economic Zone. I have to admit, this is one spectacular MOTHER of a project, IF they can pull it off.

The reason for locating it on the banks of the Jamuna on the other side of Bangabandhu bridge is because of the riverine container shipping facility planned there (4:47 on the video).






https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...license-awarded-to-consortium-of-11-companies

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## Mage

*BD FDI flow up despite global decline in 2018*
*China biggest contributor*
Asjadul Kibria | Published: January 22, 2019 09:14:32





The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country recorded substantial rise in 2018 with China becoming the top contributor.

The development came in contrast to the decline in global inflow of FDI last year, according a report of the UNCTAD.

Net inflow of FDI into the country, according to the Bangladesh Bank data, was $2.26 billion during the January-September period of 2018. The figure represented a 51.62 per cent increase in FDI inflow over that of corresponding period of 2017. A total of $1.49 billion FDI flowed into the country during the first nine months of 2017.


In fact, the nine-month FDI in 2018 surpassed total FDI worth $2.15 billion in 2017.

China became the top source of FDI in Bangladesh as net inflow of FDI from the second largest economy of the world reached $812.15 billion in the first nine months of 2018 due to big Chinese investment in the power sector.

Investment Trend Monitor, released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Monday, estimated that global FDI inflow declined 17 per cent to $1.19 trillion in 2018 from $1.47 trillion in 2017.

Though the figure of 2018 is based on a preliminary estimation, it is likely to stay close to it at the final count which will be released in the middle of the year.

Inflow of global FDI was $1.98 trillion in 2015 which declined to $1.86 trillion in 2016.

"The third consecutive drop brings the FDI inflow back to the low point reached after the global financial crisis," said the UNCTAD report.

"The decline was concentrated in developed countries where FDI inflow fell by 40 per cent to an estimated US$451 billion mainly due to large repatriations of accumulated foreign earnings by the United States multinational enterprises (MNEs) following tax reforms," it added.

It is also estimated that FDI flow into developed economies last year was the lowest since 2004.

In contrast, inflow of FDI into developing economies increased by 3.0 per cent to $694 billion and the share of these economies in global FDI reached 58 per cent last year.

Bangladesh is an example of developing nations' robust FDI inflow past year, though the country still gets a tinny amount of foreign investment.

During the period under review, gross inflow of FDI also stood at $2.93 billion while the amount of disinvestment was $0.67 billion, according to Bangladesh Bank statistics.

Disinvestment includes capital repatriation, reverse investments, loans given to parent firms and repayments of intra-company loans to parent firms of the multinational companies operating here.

asjadulk@gmail.com

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/bd-fdi-flow-up-despite-global-decline-in-2018-1548126872

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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh Startup News*





*Bangladesh’s First Angel Investment Network Bangladesh Angels Launches In Dhaka
*
Future Startup Insight
October 6, 2018


Bangladesh Angels, Bangladesh’s first angel investing network, has officially launched its operation in Dhaka. The platform aims to bring together the leaders in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem and global partners and nurture the innovation and entrepreneurship in Bangladesh by connecting startups to both local and global investors.

The platform aims to provide three supports to startups related to raising investment: 1) fundraising – helping founders access to capital 2) advisory – pre and post-investment support to startups and 3) network – build and give startups access to the largest network of angel investors in Bangladesh

From Bangladesh Angels website:

With an aim to fill the early-stage financing gap and provide advisory support to startups, the network engages in multiple activities towards this end. Our members include a blend of individual investors, family offices, corporate and global investors. The network looks to invest in deals between the range of Taka 80 Lakhs to 5 Crores, across all sectors. In addition to funding, the network will also provide high quality mentoring and access to networks and strategic support to the portfolio companies.

This is a developing story, we will be updating with further information soon.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Gaze Technology Inc. – Transforming Dhaka into an AI City*

Gaze Technology Inc. is the first Bangladeshi deep learning and computer vision solutions startup that provides intelligent video analytics and real-time tracking for applications like security surveillance, access control and more.”






Co-Founder & CEO, Shehzad Noor Taus Priyo, first started working in deep learning at IBM where he was listed as the inventor of a patent pending by IBM Research in Obstacle Avoidance for Self-driving Cars. He later joined Nvidia to work in deep learning and computer vision for AI city solutions. It did not take him long to realize the huge potential of this technology and he quickly discussed this with two of his childhood friends and fellow aspiring entrepreneurs Motasim Bir Rahman (Co-Founder & COO) and Fahad Bin Faruque (Co-Founder & CBO), who were both living in Vancouver, Canada at the time.

The three teamed up last summer in Vancouver and envisioned on transforming Dhaka into an AI city using state-of-the-art computer vision solutions. Thus, Gaze Technology Inc. was formed.

Taken aback at their vision and commitment, Matt Saba, a former partner at Summit Ventures and serial entrepreneur joined them in the difficult search for Product-Market Fit. Matt opted to relocate from Vancouver to Dhaka for a 3-month sprint at finding the traction.






There are nearly 21,000 CCTV cameras currently operated by the government in Bangladesh as of December 2017 producing over 1.2 million minutes of video data. However, this vast amount of data is often not utilized due to the lack of technology existing in the market currently. One has to manually go through the entire footage in order to detect and track any threats or suspicions and match it with an existing data-set to confirm their hypothesis. This process is extremely inefficient and time-consuming and does not allow one to react to the situation immediately.

So we have a question to ask ourselves. Do the existing security systems truly ensure 100% safety? Gaze Technology Inc. makes video surveillance smart, giving brains to cameras using enhanced face recognition, vehicle tracking, and real-time video analysis. This technology allows cameras to understand the situation and respond to it, offering much better security in times of threat and violations of law such as intruders in a secured premise, vehicles violating traffic laws, children lost in crowded areas and more.

Source: Startup Now

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## Mage

Bilal9 said:


> *Gaze Technology Inc. – Transforming Dhaka into an AI City*


I have read about this Gaze Technology. I think they have good potential.

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## Bilal9

Mage said:


> I have read about this Gaze Technology. I think they have good potential.



They may have a track record already - and a ready market for their product locally. Quite timely I'd say...

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## Mage

*Light engineering sees emerging business hub*
Posted By: daily industryon: January 22, 2019In: Bangladesh, Power, Energy and DevelopmentNo Comments
Email
_*




Lack of infrastructure and modern equipment, fund constraints and absence of policy are the major barriers that are hindering the growth of country’s light engineering industries*_

*Abu Sazzad:* Bangladesh has the ability to be the emerging light engineering business hub, if the government ensures proper policy support. Apart from this, huge investment is needed for the further flourishment of the sector, according to the industry insiders.
The government has set the export target amounting at US$169.55 million from light engineering sector during the first half (July to December) of the ongoing fiscal 2018-19 but the sector earned $172.08 million. The export growth is 1.49 percent. The total fiscal target is $352 million. Country achieved $355.26 million export earnings from light engineering sector, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
Out of the engineering products, stainless steel ware export increased 86.01 percent from the target, followed by 36.53 for engineering products, 62.69 percent for engineering equipments, and 10.25 percent for electronic product.
The Light Engineering Sector (LES) that draws the least attention of the policymakers has emerged as a potential cost cutting sector by producing at least 50 percent substitutes of imported items in the country, said sources. This important sub-sector is now providing critical support to industrial, agricultural and construction sectors by manufacturing a wide range of spare parts, castings, moulds and dices, oil and gas pipeline fittings and light machinery, as well as repairing those, they said.
Sector players claim that electrical goods like switch, socket, light shed, channel, cables and electrical fans, generator, which are manufactured by the LES are now meeting 48 percent to 52 percent of the country’s demands, which was earlier met through import.

Engineering sector is the mother of all sectors because it provides backup support to cement, paper, jute, textile, sugar, food processing, railway, shipping, garments capital machineries by repairing and maintaining those.

A recent study conducted by International Finance Corporation (IFC) in partnership with UK Department for International Development and Norwegian government shows that LES has in its employment 600,000 people involved in 50,000 micro enterprises and 10,000 Small and Medium Enterprises.
Another study conducted by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology however, estimates that LES comprises of around 40,000 enterprises employing around 800,000 people.

Light engineering factories are located in Gazipur, Kishorganj, Dhaka, Chattogram, Narayangonj, Bogra, and other places across the country.

Lack of infrastructure, fund constraints and absence of policy are the major barriers that are hindering the growth of the country’s light engineering industries, claimed the experts.

Despite enormous scope of grabbing the international market, the country fails to fetch expected level of foreign currencies by exporting light engineering products. Their quality as well as productivity could not be raised up to the global standards due to absence of modern technology, technical know-how, required machinery, product design and research, according to Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI).
The BFTI conducted an exclusive research titled “The sector-based need assessment of business promotion council- Light Engineering sector.
The study was aimed at assessing the needs of the sub-sector of the light engineering industries, identifying the challenges and scope of technology transfer to enhance the productivity.
Through the research, the commerce ministry also tried to find out the reasons why the sector failed to increase market share at home and abroad and also turn Bangladesh into an attractive destination for the industry.
The country’s light engineering sector has a strong backward linkage, as most of the raw materials come from ship scraps. Local ship breaking industries meet 90 percent of the demand for raw materials, according to the Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners’ Association (BEIOA) – a leading association of the sector.
Besides lack of technical know-how and latest technology, the study also identified some other causes like absence of environment friendly production facilities, and lack of uninterrupted energy supply.
BFTI submitted the report to the commerce ministry recently.
The research findings show, most of the light engineering industries are small and medium enterprises and are scattered in 18 districts. The sector requires separate industrial plots. But as per the rules and regulations of the special economic zones, these industries cannot be accommodated there.
Sector leaders demand separate industrial zone with special regulations and low fees for the industry. The zone should be developed as a centre with better technologies, logistics and others necessary facilities, where they can operate manufacturing operations in a systematic approach.
Another major challenge is non-availability of easy access to finance for the sector investors. BEIOA president said to the Daily Industry that the conditions for finance are so stringent that sometimes financing is inaccessible for the small entrepreneurs.
Because of lack of modern machinery and latest technologies, the small and medium entrepreneurs of the sector are operating their units with hand-operated to semi-automated machinery, for which they stay far behind the global manufacturers in terms of competitiveness.
Most of the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are still using manual technologies and as a result production capacity and quality of products are low in many cases. In many cases manual products are not homogeneous also, he mentioned.
As a result, the industry is not able to meet the production requirements for local and international markets and is also losing export competitiveness. So, modern technologies and machinery are required to meet the market demand.
According to the research, the sector is facing challenges as a SME in branding and promotional activities in local and international markets, the industry insiders said, suggesting the policy people for attending fairs and other promotional activities in districts level.
The sector usually is referred as a small and medium enterprise (SME) with comparatively lower investment base and the entrepreneurs should be made aware about regulations like VAT calculation and others.
Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners’ Association (BEIOA) President Md. Abdur Razzaque said many of the industry owners are small businesses, who are not aware about rules, regulations and norms of doing business.
At the end of the day, the light engineering sector is known as the mother of the heavy industries, so that they require all types of government policies support, he said.
The research team also made some specific recommendations that include establishment of a Common Facility Center (CFE) at Dholaikhal in Dhaka with the facilities of metal testing, CNC training and heat treatment for cluster engineering firms, setting up a raw material warehouse, ensure good credit environment to meet their needs.
Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and former president of BGMEA said, the light engineering sector is struggling from the very beginning. They are contributing a lot to the country’s economy.
The sector played the best performance as SME to maintain the economic stability during the recent global recession. But they are not getting expected success due to lack of modern technology and government policy support includes financing, he said.
He suggested the government for taking special care of the light engineering sector for enhancing export earnings and improvement of the country’s’ industrial future.

According to the sector leaders, this sector now contributes 2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and can play a significant role in the economy. The local market size of approximately Tk. 30,000 crore and the light engineering industry’s current turnover can be increased 10-12 times if the sector gets government support.

Abdur Razzaque said light engineering was an untapped field in Bangladesh. “Its global market size is nearly USD 6 trillion. If we are unable to modernise our engineering factories within a short time, then sophisticated foreign products would dominate the domestic market within cheaper prices,” he added.

Access to finance and technological upgrading are challenges that should be addressed. Technological improvement will be possible once we get the land because only then will we be able to import machinery from abroad, he said.
According to BEIOA, the light engineering industry of Bangladesh is presently producing nearly 3,900 types of quality machinery, spares and accessories. These include automobile spare parts, railway engine and rail line spare parts, bicycle and cycle rickshaw, machine tools, jute and textiles machines and spare parts, chemical industry machines and spare parts, sugar and food industry machines and spare parts, engineering and metal industry spare parts, ship industry spare parts, and agricultural machine accessories and spare parts.

Bangladesh imported light-quality engineering products from India, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and China, said Razzaque.
Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said that the various types of industries were growing fast in the country, so, it was difficult to meet the existing demand or requirements of new machinery with local capital. Access to finance is a big factor to flourish the light engineering sector, he added.

http://www.dailyindustry.news/light-engineering-sees-emerging-business-hub/

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## Bilal9

Karnaphuli tunnel technology and status update...






Well - looks like someone (maybe the uploader) pulled the video. I saw it however.


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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge Update:





Another span added to Padma bridge Today (January 23, 2019) this span of gray 'F-6' is placed between the 36th and 37th pillars of Jazira in the morning. Photo: Star





The sixth span is 150 Metres long, as are the others, which brings completion up to 900 Metres so far. The length of the total bridge is 6.15 KM.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Belarussian construction machinery company Amkodor has set up an assembly facility locally to assemble their smaller sized range of construction machinery. I like the mini Steer Loaders. Cute! The range looks quite modern. If local tech support is present, then these may turn out to be pretty popular. I have already seen Chinese construction machinery brands to be quite popular locally in the heavier end of the market (SANY being the most popular).

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## Mage

*Japan eager to sign FTA with Bangladesh*
FE Report | Published: January 25, 2019 12:19:25 | Updated: January 25, 2019 13:10:22






Japan has shown interest to sign free trade agreement (FTA) with Bangladesh, officials said on Thursday.

Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Hiroyasu Izumi expressed his interest when he met Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at the latter's secretariat office in Dhaka on Wednesday evening.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Chief Representative in Bangladesh Hitoshi Hirata and high officials of the Japanese Embassy and JICA office in Dhaka were also present at the meeting.


During the meeting, Mr Kamal urged the delegates to boost Japanese investments in Bangladesh saying, "This is high time for any global investors to invest in Bangladesh."

The finance minister thanked Japan for extending its economic and financial cooperation especially in infrastructure development work.

The Japanese envoy assured the minister of helping Bangladesh reform the tax management system and develop solid waste management system, said a statement of the finance ministry on Thursday.

Mr Izumi also informed him that Japan is now providing some Yen 200 billion worth of loans for six projects including MRT-6 line construction work.

The loan package will be increased for Bangladesh's different projects in the future, he said, adding that Japanese people are very much friendly to Bangladesh as Tokyo is providing assistance from taxes the people are paying.

kabirhuamayan10@gmail.com

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/...-eager-to-sign-fta-with-bangladesh-1548400222

*Saudis plan big investment in Bangladesh *
* *High-powered team arriving next month *Fertilizer, cement, power plants target*
Friday, January 25, 2019







Tweet
Print
Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is planning to make a big investment in Bangladesh along with further expanding bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries, officials said on Thursday.
They said a high-powered Saudi delegation is scheduled to arrive next month to explore Riyadh's investment opportunities in Bangladesh.
During the visit, the delegation will hold meetings with senior government officials, relevant state agencies and trade body leaders to discuss their planned investment in Bangladesh.
"The team is expected to place multi billion dollars investment proposal during its visit to Bangladesh," a senior Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) official told The New Nation yesterday, on condition of anonymity.
He said the oil rich Gulf nation is keen to invest commercially viable projects in Bangladesh focusing on fertilizer, cement and power plants and physical infrastructure.
The Prime Minister's Office earlier directed the BIDA to coordinate and monitor Saudi investment related issues.
BIDA in a recent letter, signed by its Director Ariful Huq, sought a list of proposed investment projects under all the Ministries so that Saudi investment can be channelised there.Â Â 
The letter reads, "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had a fruitful discussion with the Saudi government about investing in various projects in Bangladesh during her four-day visit to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. 
During the visit, Hasina called for more Saudi investment and to explore business opportunities in Bangladesh. She also offered a special economic zone out of 100 special economic zones to Saudi investors. 
In continuation of this, Saudi Arabia's Ministers for Commerce and Investment and Economy and representatives of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the Saudi Fund for Development (SDF) will visit Bangladesh on 10-11 February.
The letter also reads, "There has been a preparatory meeting on January 9 where all government Ministries and agencies have been given guidelines over materializing Saudi investment in prospective sectors." 
Officials said, Bangladesh has already selected a number of prospective sectors expecting a large volume of investment from the KSA.
The sectors are: petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, services, telecommunications, ICT, power and energy, physical infrastructure, agro processing and shipbuilding.Â Â Â 
BIDA on Wednesday convened a meeting to discuss the possible areas of the KSA'sÂ investment in Bangladesh, with its Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam in the chair.
Concerned government officials attended the meeting with full list of proposed foreign aided projects under all Ministries.
"We have already identified prospective sectors expecting considerable amount of investment from Saudi Arabia. But, we will leave it to the delegation as per their investment preferences," BIDA Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam told The New Nation.
He said Riyadh is eager to set up a fertilizer factory, oil refinery and cement manufacturing plant as part of its planned investment in Bangladesh.
"We are hopeful of having a fruitful discussion with the high-powered Saudi delegation. During the discussion, the Saudi delegation will be informed about the recent economic development of Bangladesh looking at new areas of engagement covering trade and investment promotion." 
When asked, Kazi M Aminul Islam said, "We are expecting big Saudi investment banking on expanded bilateral trade and investment cooperation between Riyadh and Dhaka.Â Â A major breakthrough in this regard is expected to come following the visit of Saudi delegation."
Â Earlier, the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Dhaka in a letter to the Ministry of Commerce said businessmen of the Kingdom were keen to expand investment in Bangladesh and requested the Ministry to inform it about the areas where Bangladesh expect investment.
Saudi Arabia also sought information on big infrastructure projects undertaken by the government of Bangladesh.
"All the information will be sent to Riyadh soon aiming at expanding new areas of economic cooperation," said BIDA Executive Chairman.
More than one and a half million Bangladeshi professionals and workers are living in the KSA, making it Bangladesh's single largest source of remittance earnings. 
Bangladeshi expatriates living in the Kingdom sent US$2.59 billion remittance in the last fiscal (2017-18). The country's total remittance inflow hit US$14.97 billion during the period, according to Bangladesh Bank.
Though trade between the two nations has increased significantly in the recent years, still itÂ remains modest level. Bangladesh exports to the KSA were around $350 million in the last fiscal, whereas Bangladesh's imports from the KSA stood at around $750 million during the period.

http://m.thedailynewnation.com/news/204002/saudis-plan-big-investment-in-bangladesh

*Naf Tourism Park: A step in the right direction *
Syed Tashfin Chowdhury | Published: January 21, 2019 22:07:44 | Updated: January 22, 2019 22:13:19





The tourism sector of the country was declared an industry in 1992. In recent years, many local and international think-tanks have called it a promising sector that has the potential to rake in millions of dollars every year.

Yet the sector has not taken off and some analysts have blamed the lack of infrastructure in the country for this. They pointed to the lack of communication and accommodation near popular and potential tourist spots. Due to these problems, the sector has not enjoyed substantial investment over the past few decades.

Against this backdrop, it is heartening to learn that significant progress is being made on a proposed tourism park project to be developed on Jaliardwip island in Naf River in Cox's Bazar. Following an agreement signed between Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) and Thai company Siam Siam International Group in September of last year, the first phase of the proposed Naf Tourism Park is expected to be complete by 2021.


The $500 million-park will be developed on 293 acres of land in Jaliardwip. Once all phases are complete, the park will have international standard hotels, a resort, entertainment park, golf club, shopping mall, cable cars, cinema hall, water sports beach and many other facilities.

The potential of this tourism park will be realised by anyone who has visited Genting Highlands in Malaysia or Sentosa Island in Singapore in recent times. The Genting Highlands Resort is an integrated hill resort in Malaysia that got started in 1965. In 2016, the hill resort received 20.2 million visitors from around the world. The profit of Genting Highlands was around US $ 700.2 million in 2016, which saw a 129 per cent growth over its 2015 annual profit of $ 306 million.

Malaysia's neighbour, Singapore has Sentosa Island which was opened in 1975. Constant improvements and additions to the park have turned it into one of the top tourist destinations in the world. The nearly five square kilometre island houses 14 hotels, Universal Studios Singapore, the Merlion, two golf courses, Fort Siloso (a World War II museum), a casino and numerous other attractions. The operating profit before working capital changes of Sentosa was $ 67.11 million in 2018, up from $ 41.75 million in 2017.

The Naf Tourisn Park is no doubt a step in the right direction. It is very likely to reinforce the tourism potential of Cox's Bazar as well. Once it becomes operational, chances are high that investors from both home and abroad may find similar ventures rewarding. The government, too, may seek foreign investment in similar tourism projects in other areas of the country like Bandarban, Kuakata, Sylhet, Rajshahi etc.

tashfinster@gmail.com
https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views/naf-tourism-park-a-step-in-the-right-direction-1548086864

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## Bilal9

Bangladeshi Electronics and Home Appliance companies add smart and IOT features to compete with the likes of Samsung and LG in local market

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## Bilal9

Interesting market expansion plans by Pran Group.

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## Bilal9

Two more PRAN export stories...

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## bluesky

Above is a photograph of a village primary school and our little sons and daughters with beautiful school dress, sandals/shoes, and rucksacks are running towards it. BD has to do many million other development works, but the picture shows how our standard of living has already improved. 
To the people of our generations, a good looking primary school building with a beautiful roof, walls, and verandah floor could only be a dream. And this is a village school. And we never thought of the existence of any school dress let alone the rucksack. We carried books on hands. In some respect, Bangladesh is progressing.

@Nilgiri, your comments, please!! Do not you think we are progressing well?

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## Bilal9

*Padma bridge: 900metres now visible with installation of 6th span*








Around 900metres of the much-awaited Padma bridge is now visible as the sixth span (superstructure) of the 6.15-km bridge was installed at Jazira point in Shariatpur today.

The span, F-6, was placed on the pillars 36 and 37 of the bridge at 10:00 am, reports our Munshiganj correspondent. 

After the installation of the 3,140 tonne-span, around 150 metre is visible from the Mawa point today, reports our correspondent.

WHEN WERE THE OTHER SPANS INSTALLED?

When the construction of the Padma Bridge is completed, the capital will be directly connected with 21 southern districts through road and railways.

The first span of the bridge was laid on pillars 37 and 38 on September 30, 2017. The second span was placed on January 28, 2018. The third span was laid on March 11, the fourth was placed on May 13 and the fifth span was installed on June 29, the same year.

HOW IS THE WORK GOING ON?

Two major components of the project are main bridge and river training. Of them, 59 percent work of the main bridge and 36.5 percent work of river training have been completed.

The project is running behind schedule as the World Bank withdrew its $1.2 billion loan in 2012 over allegations of corruption conspiracies. The government then moved to build the bridge with its own funds.


https://www.thedailystar.net/country...le-now-1691659

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## Bilal9



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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> Above is a photograph of a village primary school and our little sons and daughters with beautiful school dress, sandals/shoes, and rucksacks are running towards it. BD has to do many million other development works, but the picture shows how our standard of living has already improved.
> To the people of our generations, a good looking primary school building with a beautiful roof, walls, and verandah floor could only be a dream. And this is a village school. And we never thought of the existence of any school dress let alone the rucksack. We carried books on hands. In some respect, Bangladesh is progressing.
> 
> @Nilgiri, your comments, please!! Do not you think we are progressing well?



It looks very nice. Excellent job if this is the average in BD...it means BD future in 10 - 20 years is going to be great when they join the workforce. @Joe Shearer

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## Skies

Awami league is very lucky that it has got the supports of technology to show its future plans in beautiful animation.

The timing of the starting of the rapid worldwide technology and internet availability and adoption, and the AL's forming of government in 2007/2008 is indeed a matter of luck.

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## Bilal9

Skies said:


> Awami league is very lucky that it has got the supports of technology to show its future plans in beautiful animation.
> 
> The timing of the starting of the rapid worldwide technology and internet availability and adoption, and the AL's forming of government in 2007/2008 is indeed a matter of luck.



Bhai, AL had nothing to do with these animations, they were the work of independent architects who received contract from LGED. Not all citizens or govt. employees are diehard AL supporters.

That said, animations and CGI skills of local consultants is of very high quality.

When (I said not IF but WHEN) BNP has a rebirth they can use these same architects to show their projects.


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## Bilal9



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## Mage

* Exclusive Chattogram City Outer Ring Road Project *






The Chittagong City Outer Ring Road which is a four lane coastal road will be inaugurated for vehicular traffic in March 2019. The construction work of the project is going on in full swing. The traffic congestion of Chattogram City will decrease after completion of the coastal road which is around 30 meters high of sea level, from Patenga to Sagrika Stadium. This outer ring road will protect the city from natural disasters such as cyclone. It will also attract lots of tourists. Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) is implementing the whole project.

The cost of the 15.7 kilometer long outer ring road is BDT 2,424 Crores. The Bangladesh government is paying BDT 1,720 Crore and Japan's donor JICA is paying the rest BDT 706 Crore. CDA Chairman Abdus Salam said, "The traffic congestion of the city will reduce a lot after completion of the Chattogram city Outer Ring Road project." This road can be used as an alternative for going to Chittagong seaport and airport. The project director of City Outer Ring Road, Kazi Hasan Bin Shams, said, "The carpeting work of eight kilometers of the whole road-work is already finished. The approximate time of the Road traffic to be open is on month of March 2019.

The duration of completion for the work has set to end before 2020 but it will open early. The outer ring road of Chittagong is an inevitable part of the city; all the people of Chittagong will get the huge benefits. The prosperity will come in the local as well as national business and in communication system. A total 113.65 acres of land has been acquired for this project. The whole work is going on in three parts. At present, the work of main road is 15.7 kilometers long. The width of this section is 20.5 to 24.5 meters, which is about 30 meters high above the sea level.

Besides, the construction of the branch road (feeder) along the side of the Sagorika stadium is also going on. Under the project, construction work of 11 sluice gates has been completed and 10 foot over bridges for pedestrian crossing will be built. Bangladeshi Spectra Engineers Limited and Indian Company KNR Limited are jointly constructing the project. In different places of Patenga area work of the soil filling for road construction is on-going. The bridges are being built. Road carpeting work from Muslimabad to Anandabazar has been completed. Here road divider for four lane road is ongoing. Road blocks are being placed at the bottom of the road.





Already different types of vehicles such as auto-rickshaw, microbus, and trucks are using this road. On the other hand, the construction of the resistance wall is going on which is nearly five and a half kilometer long above the sea level of Patenga beach area. The construction of two kilometer walkway in the beach area has been completed. The crowds are gathering in the afternoon in the beach area. According to CDA sources, the multi-dimensional benefits will met when the project is implemented.

Simultaneously, residents of North Pahartali, North Kattoli, Gosaildanga, North-Middle Halishahar, South-Medium Halishahar, South Halishahar, North Patenga Ward will be safe from cyclone and soil breakdown and it will provide approach road for the Karnafuli tunnel.





In fact, based on the survey of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), in January 2009, CDA took the initiative to implement this exclusive project. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project of BDT 856 crore in 2011. The work was not started at that time. In August 2013 ECNEC approved a revised budget for this project of Taka 1,496 crore. But the second phase amendment was completed by fixing the cost of the project, Taka 2,424 crore, and finished the work.

After fully completion the Chittagong City Outer Ring Road project, important installations like Shah Amanat International Airport, Chittagong Port's various installations, private ICD, Chittagong EPZ, Karnaphuli EPZ, Eastern Refinery, State-owned oil companies, installation of naval and air force, silo jetty, food ware, and Eastern Cables factory Will be safe from various sea disasters.

https://profilebd.blogspot.com/2018/12/exclusive-chattogram-city-outer-ring-road-project.html

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> Above is a photograph of a village primary school and our little sons and daughters with beautiful school dress, sandals/shoes, and rucksacks are running towards it. BD has to do many million other development works, but the picture shows how our standard of living has already improved.
> To the people of our generations, a good looking primary school building with a beautiful roof, walls, and verandah floor could only be a dream. And this is a village school. And we never thought of the existence of any school dress let alone the rucksack. We carried books on hands. In some respect, Bangladesh is progressing.
> 
> @Nilgiri, your comments, please!! Do not you think we are progressing well?



If this is our average in India, we are not doing too shabbily either @Skies @Mage @Atlas @Joe Shearer 






Harald gives pretty frank opinion on lot of stuff he saw in India (and countries he goes to in general)....great channel. Hope he visits BD too.

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## bluesky

Mage said:


> The Japanese envoy assured the minister of helping Bangladesh reform the tax management system and *develop solid waste management system*, said a statement of the finance ministry on Thursday.


The entire country has become a fithy waste dumping ground. So, not FTA, but I find this part very forward-looking. Japan has developed a system to recycle its millions of tons of daily waste (Gomi in Japanese). The system is as follows:

1) There are pre-determined small places (about 6m2 to 8 m2) for each small area/block or an apartment block to dump (not just throwing BD style) the garbages in *POLYTHENE bags*. The dumping area for raw kitchen garbage is covered with thread nets. Raise a side of the net and place the polythene bags with raw garbage/combustibles inside it so that crows or cats cannot spread it.
2) Garbage is divided into combustible/raw, plastics, glass bottles, plastic bottles etc. Separate rectangular boxes are there for dumping the latter non-combustible items.
3) Small *polythene* *shopping bags* are usually used by households. The eateries have to use large 10liter or 20l polythene bags bought in the stores. 
4) Days are fixed to collect different items by the dump trucks. For example, Monday to collect raw garbage, Tuesday to collect plastics, etc.
5) There are incineration plants for a certain large area. For example, two plants in each UpaZilla.

@UKBengali's $1600 per capita GDP is good mostly for the top people without any virtual effects at the bottom. But, introducing an efficient garbage collection system will raise the standard of living for both him and a poor guy like me.

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> $1600 per capita GDP is good mostly for the top people without any virtual effects at the bottom.



Take away the inflation (that affect the non-top people who are the 99% much much more) and we see the bottom better:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.KD?locations=BD-IN-PK

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## bluesky

Nilgiri said:


> Take away the inflation (that affect the non-top people who are the 99% much much more) and we see the bottom better:
> 
> https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.KD?locations=BD-IN-PK


Thanks. But, GDP figures are less important than the quality of living. Clean and good roads, functional rainwater and sewerage drainage systems, footpaths with the absence of illegal occupiers/hawkers, clean and *non-swampy fish and meat market*s where the housewives can go for shopping without changing their dress and sandal, and so on. 

These amenities can be used by all the people, rich and poor. I the case of GDP figure, the most benefitted are the rich guys. 

Many of these small amenities are absent in the Indian Sub-Continent. Villages are not bad because the areas are wide and wastages are burned as fuel. But, the towns and cities are without civic facilities that I stated above. I do not know why, but people in the Sub-Continent do not mind living in dirt. This is why there has never been a civic movement for the beautification of the towns.

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> Thanks. But, GDP figures are less important than the quality of living. Clean and good roads, functional rainwater and sewerage drainage systems, footpaths with the absence of illegal occupiers/hawkers, clean and *non-swampy fish and meat market*s where the housewives can go for shopping without changing their dress and sandal, and so on.
> 
> These amenities can be used by all the people, rich and poor. I the case of GDP figure, the most benefitted are the rich guys.
> 
> Many of these small amenities are absent in the Indian Sub-Continent. Villages are not bad because the areas are wide and wastages are burned as fuel. But, the towns and cities are without civic facilities that I stated above. I do not know why, but people in the Sub-Continent do not mind living in dirt. This is why there has never been a civic movement for the beautification of the towns.



Govt has taken the mantle and responsiblity...and people become lazy and dependent on it as result.

It serves the (powerhungry, elitist) govt well to keep such concepts like this out of basic foundational ethic at young level in the region:

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/what-went-wrong-after-1990-state-bank-governor.596045/#post-11088499

Thus civic nationalism is eroded in big way from the get go itself....the govt wants to be the only vehicle for nationalism basically....the great standard bearer of it....because people cannot be trusted....yesterday, today or tomorrow.

Whereas in Japan, they learned quite brutally and cruelly because of WW2, what the dangers are of over-reliance on a govt (no matter what your society is like)...that grabs the nationalism banner for itself exclusively. Thus lot more of this foundational true people-based nationalism approach instead in Japan. You can see it for yourself, how Japanese schools were like before WW2 too (and Japan in general, and japanese goods quality etc), they really were not great at all, or even average....because the govt had imposed itself as the be-all end-all agent....above and over the common people.....rather than subservient/accountable to them.

In our region the people simply have to reach that threshold where they are big and powerful enough together to create the needed revolution where it matters in the power structures that were just copied and pasted over for power+control sake.

@Joe Shearer @Sam. @VCheng

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## Mage

*Remittance hits record high in January*
Published: February 03, 2019 19:11:23 | Updated: February 04, 2019 09:57:26






Bangladeshi migrant workers sent a record amount of remittance home in January.

They sent $1.59 billion in inward remittances to Bangladesh in the first month of the year, a new monthly record. The amount is about 15 per cent higher than in January 2018.

Migrant workers had sent over $9.08 billion in remittances to the country in the first seven months of the fiscal year, according to data from Bangladesh Bank. The amount over the same period in fiscal 2017-18 was $8.31 billion.


Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute, suggested devaluing the taka’s exchange rate with the dollar further to increase the effect of remittances.

Many countries, including India, China and Vietnam, have extensively devalued their currency against the dollar, he said, but Bangladesh has done comparatively little.

The researcher said the dollar’s exchange rate had increased 7.0 per cent against the rupee in the past six months, but the value of the dollar against the taka had increased only 0.18 per cent.

“We believe the exchange rate should be ‘set’ at Tk 85 to a dollar soon to increase export earnings and the value of remittance inflows.”

The inter-bank money market set the price of the dollar at Tk 83.96, but dollars were being sold as high as Tk 85, he said.

“In our opinion, the central bank should raise the inter-bank money market price for the dollar at Tk 85.”

The rise in remittances has also improved Bangladesh’s foreign reserves.

On Sunday, Bangladesh’s foreign reserves stood at $31.39 billion. The amount has not dipped below $31 billion since 2016, reports bdnews24.com.

Mansur believes the trend of strong remittance inflows will continue this year because of the hardening of the dollar against the taka and various initiatives by the government to tamp down illegal transfer.

But he says it is unlikely that remittance flows will increase by 17 per cent again. The inflows may rise by about 8.0 per cent, he said.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/remittance-hits-record-high-in-january-1549203194

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## Bengal71

Nilgiri said:


> If this is our average in India, we are not doing too shabbily either @Skies @Mage @Atlas @Joe Shearer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Harald gives pretty frank opinion on lot of stuff he saw in India (and countries he goes to in general)....great channel. Hope he visits BD too.



You guys are actually doing far better than us in education. In BD, primary education penetrated the grassroots level and will probably have near 100% literacy rate probably in 20 more years, but your higher education is far better than ours. We have a lot of catch-up to do.

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## Bengal71

Bilal9 said:


> The 3rd Terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is expected to be completed in 2022. The project has commenced activity in 4th Qtr. 2018. Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh is in the charge of this project.



This airport no matter what extension is done looks like Gabtoli terminal. It should be fully demolished and rebuilt again with a modern design.

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## Nilgiri

Bengal71 said:


> You guys are actually doing far better than us in education. In BD, primary education penetrated the grassroots level and will probably have near 100% literacy rate probably in 20 more years, but your higher education is far better than ours. We have a lot of catch-up to do.



That is just broad frontier level. The qualitative level is still lacking in India at the scale needed. But we do have organisations like ASER that do the good 3rd party sampling etc to at least have some reference point as to what needs to be improved.

Does BD have something like ASER specifically for keeping tabs on the qualitative side (over just quantitative goals like literacy rate etc)?


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## Bilal9

Bengal71 said:


> This airport no matter what extension is done looks like Gabtoli terminal. It should be fully demolished and rebuilt again with a modern design.



True - Gabtoli terminal it is right now. But the third terminal is just an interim measure to increase passenger handling capacity by say another 100%, to keep us going for another twenty years. By 2040, the new terminal some 40/50 KM's outside Dhaka will be ready.

*Sheikh Hasina International Cricket Stadium,Purbachal*
_The new cricket stadium of Dhaka with 50000+ capacity_


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Elevated Expressway progress status

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## bluesky

Bengal71 said:


> This airport no matter what extension is done looks like Gabtoli terminal. It should be fully demolished and rebuilt again with a modern design.


Exactly, the airport is no better than Gabtoli. It must be re-designed and re-built. But, our people are just inept to think and plan properly. So, the re-designing and re-building works should be awarded to at least two different foreign renowned companies with experience in airports. 

However, I have seen another runway just outside of the airport wall (is it in the west?) probably belonging to the airforce. It should be taken back and used to build the 2nd runway.

But, I am annoyed with some guys who love to upload renderings for nothing. Practical work is not as funny as imaginations and rendering.

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## Bilal9



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## Mage

*Bangladesh export earnings from Asian markets, US dazzle*
Staff Correspondent 






Bangladesh’s export earnings from Asian markets witnessed an encouraging growth in July-January in the current financial year 2018-19 due to rise in shipments of readymade garment products as the major supplier country China had pushed towards high-end garments due to increase in production cost.
The country’s export earnings from its major market, United States, also continued to maintain a healthy growth as the ongoing trade tension between the US and China encouraged global garment retailers to increase their import orders to Bangladesh, exporters said.
Country’s RMG export to Japan in the first seven months of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 46.56 per cent, raising the total amount to $ 653.67 million from $445.98 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data.
Country’s overall export earnings from Japan in the period grew by 33.04 per cent, about $822.83 million in total.
‘There may be two reasons behind the export growth to Japan, one is an increase in demand following economic revival and the other is that buyers have shifted some orders from China to Bangladesh to minimise cost,’ director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (research) Khondaker Golam Moazzem told New Age on Thursday.
He said that China was the major supplier of apparel to Japan but recently brands and buyers had been withdrawing orders from China due to increase in cost.
Moazzem also said that the economy of Japan has revived which resulted in growing demand for Bangladesh made apparels, which makes Japan the market.
EPB data showed that export earnings from China in July-January of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 30.30 per cent, taking the total figure to $531.51 million from $407.91million in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18.
RMG export to China in the first seven months of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 49.65 per cent to $309.74 million.
Moazzem said that demand for Bangladeshi apparel increased in China as the country had been shifting its basic manufacturing to high-tech industry against the backdrop of rising labour cost. 
RMG export to India in July-January period of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 129.05 per cent, raising the total figure to $314.44 million from $137.28 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18. 
Country’s overall exports to India in seven month of the fiscal year 2018-19 stood at $776.19 million with a 73.55 per cent growth from the earnings $447.23 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18. 
Country’s export earnings continued to increase in the US market, the largest export destination for Bangladesh, and earnings in exporting readymade garments in the market stood at $3.61 billion with a 17.22 per cent growth in July-January period of the fiscal year 2018-19.
Country’s overall export earnings from the US, in the first seven months of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 17.45 per cent to $4.04 billion from $3.44 billion in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18.
Moazzem, however, said that despite trade war between the US and China, the US economy was growing and employment generation was taking place in the country due to many other government policies.
Economic growth and employment created demand for apparel products in the US market, he said.
Export earnings from Germany, the second highest export destination for Bangladesh, in July-January of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 8.95 per cent — around $3.72 billion from $3.41 billion in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18.
RMG exports to the market in the period increased by 9.61 per cent to $3.51 billion.
Export earnings from United Kingdom, the third largest export destination for Bangladesh in July-January period of the fiscal year 2018-19 stood at $2.41 billion with a 2.95 per cent minimal growth.
RMG exports to the UK in the period increased by 1.25 per cent — about $221billion, data showed.

http://www.newagebd.net/article/64138/bangladesh-export-earnings-from-asian-markets-us-dazzle

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## Bilal9

*Startup Dhaka Launches Its Second Film*
Nahid Farzana, Dhaka




Startup Dhaka premiered its second documentary, Startup Dhaka Part 2, at ICT Tower on 11th November to an audience that included startup founders, startup community members, and sponsors. Honorable Kazi M. Aminul Islam, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), Prime Minister’s Office was present at the event as the chief guest. IDLC Finance was the presenting sponsor, with supporting sponsor Microsoft Bangladesh, and Startup Bangladesh hosting the premier of the film.





Kazi M. Aminul Islam expressed his excitement about the film and the prospects of Bangladesh’s investment opportunities. He said, “A lot of ground work needs to be laid for startup ecosystem development. We need to do more. Access to finance is a big hurdle that has to overcome. We need to develop the equity class, and gradually shift our dependence from debt instruments. The chain of equity investment is largely undeveloped. We need to replicate what we have learnt from the development of RMG sector and apply it elsewhere.”





Arif Khan, CEO & Managing Director of IDLC Finance was also present at the event. He said they are very proud to be a part of this project and also said, “IDLC believes that future of Bangladesh depends on the development of the Startup Ecosystem. IDLC is proud to be a part of this development.”





Sonia Bashir Kabir, Managing Director was excited about film and said, “Bangladesh is a Sleeping Giant. It was very important to let everyone know the story of this Sleeping Giant, and Startup Dhaka has brought up that story through their documentary. This documentary will convey the infinite potential of Bangladesh to the whole world.”

This sequel to the original Startup Dhaka documentary took a year to complete. The first film, released in 2013, introduced and explained the emerging startup culture of Dhaka. Since then, Bangladesh’s startup culture has grown and matured; however, new challenges have surfaced.

When in Bangladesh, the value startups are creating is clear and visible. International institutional investors, however, have hardly an idea of Bangladesh itself, let alone the opportunities it has on offer. Startup Dhaka Part 2 not only showcases the success and maturity of Bangladesh’s contemporary startups, but enlightens for an international audience the positive economic indicators of Bangladesh.

The film shows various interviewees and ecosystem players sharing their experiences and showing Bangladesh as a country of opportunity. The claims are supported by factual economic indicators and growth data that are not articulated often enough to form a strong Bangladesh position. The documentary, with support of its stakeholders and the friends of Startup Dhaka, promotes Bangladesh as an investment destination and a place to take a bet on the digital economy.





Tina Jabeen, Deputy Project Director (ICT Innovation), iDEA Project was excited about the role that Startup Dhaka is playing for the Bangladesh startup ecosystem. She said, “Startup Dhaka’s attempt at pioneering the development of startup ecosystem is essential and commendable to say the least.”





Mustafizur Rahman Khan, CEO of Startup Dhaka said, “It has been a tremendous undertaking to tell a story that not only captures the country’s startup progress, but captures people’s imaginations about Bangladesh as well. We hope our attempt to convey new opportunities in Bangladesh and its digital economy helps usher in more investors and interest from here and abroad.”

He also mentioned his gratitude to the almost 100 people who directly and indirectly contributed to the film. He gave special thanks to the interviewees who participated and who took the time to tell the story of their Bangladesh. The film is sponsored by a presenting sponsor, IDLC Finance, and a supporting sponsor, Microsoft. The film premier was hosted by Startup Bangladesh. The Startup Dhaka team expressed their gratitude for the support of the three organizations.


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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> *Bangladesh export earnings from Asian markets, US dazzle*
> Staff Correspondent
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bangladesh’s export earnings from Asian markets witnessed an encouraging growth in July-January in the current financial year 2018-19 due to rise in shipments of readymade garment products as the major supplier country China had pushed towards high-end garments due to increase in production cost.
> The country’s export earnings from its major market, United States, also continued to maintain a healthy growth as the ongoing trade tension between the US and China encouraged global garment retailers to increase their import orders to Bangladesh, exporters said.
> Country’s RMG export to Japan in the first seven months of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 46.56 per cent, raising the total amount to $ 653.67 million from $445.98 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data.
> Country’s overall export earnings from Japan in the period grew by 33.04 per cent, about $822.83 million in total.
> ‘There may be two reasons behind the export growth to Japan, one is an increase in demand following economic revival and the other is that buyers have shifted some orders from China to Bangladesh to minimise cost,’ director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (research) Khondaker Golam Moazzem told New Age on Thursday.
> He said that China was the major supplier of apparel to Japan but recently brands and buyers had been withdrawing orders from China due to increase in cost.
> Moazzem also said that the economy of Japan has revived which resulted in growing demand for Bangladesh made apparels, which makes Japan the market.
> EPB data showed that export earnings from China in July-January of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 30.30 per cent, taking the total figure to $531.51 million from $407.91million in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18.
> RMG export to China in the first seven months of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 49.65 per cent to $309.74 million.
> Moazzem said that demand for Bangladeshi apparel increased in China as the country had been shifting its basic manufacturing to high-tech industry against the backdrop of rising labour cost.
> RMG export to India in July-January period of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 129.05 per cent, raising the total figure to $314.44 million from $137.28 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18.
> Country’s overall exports to India in seven month of the fiscal year 2018-19 stood at $776.19 million with a 73.55 per cent growth from the earnings $447.23 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18.
> Country’s export earnings continued to increase in the US market, the largest export destination for Bangladesh, and earnings in exporting readymade garments in the market stood at $3.61 billion with a 17.22 per cent growth in July-January period of the fiscal year 2018-19.
> Country’s overall export earnings from the US, in the first seven months of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 17.45 per cent to $4.04 billion from $3.44 billion in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18.
> Moazzem, however, said that despite trade war between the US and China, the US economy was growing and employment generation was taking place in the country due to many other government policies.
> Economic growth and employment created demand for apparel products in the US market, he said.
> Export earnings from Germany, the second highest export destination for Bangladesh, in July-January of the fiscal year 2018-19 grew by 8.95 per cent — around $3.72 billion from $3.41 billion in the same period of the fiscal year 2017-18.
> RMG exports to the market in the period increased by 9.61 per cent to $3.51 billion.
> Export earnings from United Kingdom, the third largest export destination for Bangladesh in July-January period of the fiscal year 2018-19 stood at $2.41 billion with a 2.95 per cent minimal growth.
> RMG exports to the UK in the period increased by 1.25 per cent — about $221billion, data showed.
> 
> http://www.newagebd.net/article/64138/bangladesh-export-earnings-from-asian-markets-us-dazzle



But I thought China buys so much more from BD than India?  Given they have no "NTB" like us and have even opened the premature walton stronk guy celebration again:

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/bd-set-to-get-dfqf-access-to-china.600348/#post-11148134

@bluesky


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## Bilal9

*Young freelancers show the way*

*Target $100m earning a year from outsourced IT-based jobs in next 2 years*

Suman Saha





Young Bangladeshis, fresh out of colleges and universities, are on course to earn about $100 million a year by 2020 working freelance from home, industry people say.

This is five times what the local freelancers used to earn from jobs outsourced by companies abroad about five years ago.

A young population base, coupled with advances in technology and good pay, is said to be the reason for more and more Bangladeshis taking the freelance route, and the flexible working hours is a bonus.

“Many people are interested in freelance work in the country due to high income and flexible working hours,” said Saidur Mamun Khan, country manager of Upwork, a leading freelancer marketplace.

Inadequate opportunity for quality jobs, especially for young graduates, is another reason for the increasing popularity of freelance jobs, he said, adding that around 200,000 graduates enter the job market every year.

Freelance jobs in software development, customer service, data entry, writing, editing, blogging, accounting, mobile apps development, web development, search engine optimization, graphic design and translations are all there for the taking.

Citing data recently pulled from Upwork and other freelancer platforms, which helps companies get skilled freelancers, Saidur said businesses spent around $930 million on hiring remote independent workers around the globe in 2014, up from $750 million of 2013. He said the amount is expected to exceed more than $10 billion globally by 2020.

In terms of earnings, Bangladesh is ranked seventh among 186 countries where online jobs are outsourced to, he said.

Currently, the country has around 5.5 lakh freelancers registered with different freelance marketplaces. Upwork had 4.5 lakh registered users in Bangladesh.

Saidur credited the success of freelancing in Bangladesh to improved Internet bandwidth (with three submarine links currently) which helps land more job orders.


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## bluesky

Bilal9 said:


> Currently, the country has around 5.5 lakh freelancers registered with different freelance marketplaces. Upwork had 4.5 lakh registered users in Bangladesh.


A $100 million per year earning through getting an outsourcing job is paltry when the workforce is 5.5 lakh. It becomes a yearly earning of $15 only. On top of this, our benevolent ICT minister will employ 20 lakh people. So, where is the income? 

A country's ICT sector is not controlled by the govt. Neither the govt employs them. So, let the private companies keep on working in this field and get sub-contract jobs by directly competing against the Indian ICT sector.

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> A $100 million per year earning through getting an outsourcing job is paltry when the workforce is 5.5 lakh. It becomes a yearly earning of $15 only. On top of this, our benevolent ICT minister will employ 20 lakh people. So, where is the income?
> 
> A country's ICT sector is not controlled by the govt. Neither the govt employs them. So, let the private companies keep on working in this field and get sub-contract jobs by directly competing against the Indian ICT sector.



I'm assuming the freelancers have other jobs too....so this is not their only income. Its a part time job you can say.

Thus you can get large freelancer number estimates and not that big revenue...given they only commit some hours per day to it on average. In fact what if someone just dabbles a bit in freelancing etc?...they would likely get counted as one that year....though they barely did anything. It depends on the surveying norms and quality.

@Atlas


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## bluesky

Nilgiri said:


> I'm assuming the freelancers have other jobs too....so this is not their only income. Its a part time job you can say.
> 
> Thus you can get large freelancer number estimates and not that big revenue...given they only commit some hours per day to it on average. In fact what if someone just dabbles a bit in freelancing etc?...they would likely get counted as one that year....though they barely did anything. It depends on the surveying norms and quality.
> 
> @Atlas


Points noted. However, I think the freelancer will keep themselves busy in ICT related works if they get the volume. I have checked some ICT (programmers?) guys in Dhaka they earn more per hour doing this than they get from other sources.

However, I do not think the illiterate govt ministers have any real function except to make the internet communications system free of obstacles. But, they keep on promising big in the Parliament. They produce some superficial futuristic employment figures that will not come by. 

To be recognized by the West is the core issue and that does not come easy and fast when Indian engineers are far ahead of us with the worldwide network they have established during the last 40 years. It is a matter of experience, capability, trustworthiness and the likes that need a long time to establish.

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> However, I do not think the illiterate govt ministers have any real function except to make the internet communications system free of obstacles. But, they keep on promising big in the Parliament. They produce some superficial futuristic employment figures that will not come by.



Hence why I tagged @Atlas heh. He knows more on this issue than I do.


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## VikingRaider

Bilal9 said:


> Citing data recently pulled from Upwork and other freelancer platforms, which helps companies get skilled freelancers, Saidur said businesses spent around $930 million on hiring remote independent workers around the globe in 2014, up from $750 million of 2013. He said the amount is expected to exceed more than $10 billion globally by 2020.
> 
> In terms of earnings, Bangladesh is ranked seventh among 186 countries where online jobs are outsourced to, he said.
> 
> Currently, the country has around 5.5 lakh freelancers registered with different freelance marketplaces. Upwork had *4.5 lakh* registered users in Bangladesh.



Firstly watch this video from the verified FB page of freelancer.com . Here you can find two Bangladeshi freelancers are in top ten list , and one named Nasim .




__ https://www.facebook.com/





Then Watch the youtube channel of MR Nasim ( try to watch his other vidoes too ,a and also few real youtubers who are actually true freelancers who are trying to serve Bangladesh without business interest ) , star with this video , 




And then watch the video 





most of those *4.5 lakhs* are fake and are responsible for making life harder for new freelancers of Bangladesh in various market places . They think that freelancing is something where *peoples can earn millions of dollars by clicking and filling captcha* !!!! They went to upwork and then just screwed up Bangladesh . So who were skilled peoples in upwork they are safe but for new Bangladeshi , upwork became extremely hard to get their account approved .

UPwork is world biggest online market place and now they put lots of restrictions , because of such fake accounts mostly for peoples of south Asia ( specially Bangladesh ) just made harder for getting approvals *for skilled but new Bangladeshi freelancers* .

If Bangladesh will not put restriction on such fake peoples ( I do not know if putting restriction is possible or not , but NID verification can be a good way ) , *then real skilled peoples of Bangladesh* ( who are trying to get account approval that is extremely hard in upwork now a days ) will be saved .

there are other market places too like freelancer , top pal , PeoplePerHour , Fiverr , 99 ndesigns ........ . And such fake activities also can be very negative for Bangladesh too , and that will result huge problem like upwork in this section, as in upwork it's totally a mess ( approval problem) *for new Bangladeshi skilled freelancers *, only because of such massive amount of fake accounts ( created at past without any skills ; when laws were not strict there .

Really *Bangladesh can earn billions of dollars literally from freelancing specially IT based sector *, but not with *the marketing of fake numbers of account* but govt need make this ground *very hard for fakes and friendly for skilled peoples* . And now *another video that Freelancer.com stopped bank withdrawal for Bangladeshi freelancers because of technical issue since more than one month *, and you see know news in Bangladeshi newspapers and news channels right ?






Govt really need to focus heavily on it and also freelancers in Bangladesh need various method of money withdrawal , and also this sector demands special care . Otherwise earning billions of dollars will remain a dream .

@bluesky , and @Nilgiri here is your answer too . Skilled peoples can earn huge amount of money specially from IT sectors , but fake peoples can earn nothing . And What is actually freelancing ? An example from real life , you probably know about many freelancer journalist right ? Simply who do not work with a fixed salary but do jobs in various contract jobs in various places .

So same goes for other freelancers who are skilled in various subjects like IT sectors , Web design and development, SEO , graphics design and many more can work in various market places and can earn literally 3-5 times more money than our govt or other companies pay. Simply they ( freelancers ) are working like expats, and can generate huge amount revenue flow for Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi govt is too dumb and illiterate to understand this reality and not doing strict monitoring in this section . And fake accounts are really causing huge problems for *skilled new Bangladeshi freelancers* .

So statistically you can not get the amount of earning from this sector , as 450000 upwork account mostly are fake and for the fake account UpWork approval became extremely hard.
But the Saidur rahman ( that bilal referred) is preaching for marketing as if it is the marketing specialist of UPWork in bangladesh .

@Nilgiri

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## Nilgiri

Thanks @Atlas you know lot more about it than I do on this field. So I thought its best you say your bit.

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## VikingRaider

Nilgiri said:


> Thanks @Atlas you know lot more about it than I do on this field. So I thought its best you say your bit.


No man , not more , just trying to open eyes . our Bangladeshi fellows should seriously try to open eyes and should prefer quality over quantity ! Otherwise this sector will be completely fuked up and many new peoples will lose interest in freelancing. Bangladesh really can earn huge in this sector with skilled peoples , and because of such fake accounts, getting approval ( for real and skilled peoples ) can be extremely harder in other market places too ( like upwork )and peoples will lost interest.@Nilgiri

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## Bilal9

@Atlas.

Upwork has an office in Bangladesh. I believe registering the freelancers there with NIDs and doing bio-metric verification could be a start. All freelance companies should be represented locally to avoid the fraud problem.

There is no need to single out Bangladesh as the source of all fraud, people will question your credibility that way. Fraud happens everywhere, even in the US. And certainly all over the subcontinent.

Please comment elsewhere because this is a news thread only, not a discussion forum.

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## Nilgiri

Bilal9 said:


> There is no need to single out Bangladesh as the source of all fraud, people will question your credibility that way. Fraud happens everywhere, even in the US. And certainly all over the subcontinent.



You don't get it do you? It disproportionately affects those that do not have capacity built up since you are relatively new. Thus such a country has to take even more steps than it otherwise would have to....to curtail this as much as possible and even have a genuine chance of grabbing some of the pie on offer.

But you still brainlessly approaching this with "no need to single out BD for it"....i.e laissez faire+time will solve it naturally and magically build up competition with the behemoths?

You just don't have any inkling about this stuff. Thankfully other Bangladeshis do and are willing to call out the relevant parties and at least criticize them.

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## VikingRaider

Bilal9 said:


> @Atlas.
> 
> Upwork has an office in Bangladesh. I believe registering the freelancers there with NIDs and doing bio-metric verification could be a start. All freelance companies should be represented locally to avoid the fraud problem.
> 
> *There is no need to single out Bangladesh* as the source of all fraud, people will question your credibility that way. Fraud happens everywhere, even in the US. And certainly all over the subcontinent.


@Bilal9
I am not single outing Bangladesh man , I wrote South Asia and then wrote Bangladesh specially because I have no idea of the condition of India and Pakistan and they are not my concern too. You totally misinterpreted my comment ! ফেক অ্যাকাউন্ট বলতে বুঝাইছি যে আগে অনেক অনেক লোক কাজ কাম ভাল করে না জেনেই অ্যাকাউন্ট খুলে বসে থাকত আর এদের জন্যেই আজকাল নতুন দের অ্যাপ্রভাল পাওয়াটা কঠিন হয়ে গেছে আপওয়ার্কে , এই কড়াকড়ির কারন হল কাজ না জেনে যেন কেউ আর এভাবে অ্যাকাউন্ট না খুলতে পারে !



> Please comment elsewhere because this is a news thread only, not a discussion forum.



Okay Thank you I will not reply here anymore with such type comments that can cause misunderstanding .

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## Nilgiri

Atlas said:


> Okay Thank you I will not reply here anymore .



It literally says discussions in the thread title 

You don't have to obey the princess....her temper tantrums are fun to watch 

@bluesky @Mage


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## VikingRaider

Nilgiri said:


> It literally says discussions in the thread title


I saw this title , but actually I do not check *thread list* often. When you tagged me , I thought it's a normal thread ( not sticky; I entered here directly by clicking notification) and *the OP is* *Bilal * and he no longer *welcome discussion* in this thread ,and that's why I assured him that I did not want to be the cause of any misunderstanding in *his* thread .

But Now I saw that this is a *sticky thread* , and posted by @BDforever.

Thanks for showing me that this thread is a *sticky thread* !

@Nilgiri

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## bluesky

Nilgiri said:


> But I thought China buys so much more from BD than India?  Given they have no "NTB" like us and have even opened the premature walton stronk guy celebration again:
> 
> https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/bd-set-to-get-dfqf-access-to-china.600348/#post-11148134
> 
> @bluesky


What this @bluesky can answer when in reality China is flooding the entire world with its shoddy and cheap products where BD is unable to resist the temptation of buying machines and engineering goods from China. BD has very little to sell to China. 

However, the case of India is different. BD has an unlimited number of items that Indian consumers would love to buy. But, neither Modi in Delhi nor Mamata in Kolkata wants to open the Indian market for our goods. Because our high-quality goods will destroy Indian industries. After all, Indian labor productivity is lower than that of BD.

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## Bilal9

Goyal (Wild Cattle or Bongai) breeding in Bangladesh getting more popular as these short/stocky wild cattle are built for our environment. The meat has very little stringy taste and much reduced fat content.


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## Nilgiri

Atlas said:


> But Now I saw that this is a *sticky thread* , and posted by @BDforever.
> 
> Thanks for showing me that this thread is a *sticky thread* !



Sure miss that guy (BDforever). Did you get to interact with him much? He is a good person.



bluesky said:


> What this @bluesky can answer when in reality China is flooding the entire world with its shoddy and cheap products where BD is unable to resist the temptation of buying machines and engineering goods from China. BD has very little to sell to China.
> 
> However, the case of India is different. BD has an unlimited number of items that Indian consumers would love to buy. But, neither Modi in Delhi nor Mamata in Kolkata wants to open the Indian market for our goods. Because our high-quality goods will destroy Indian industries. After all, Indian labor productivity is lower than that of BD.



I love your replies sometimes haha (coz I cannot tell when you are being serious and when sarcastic). 

Yes your high-quality goods are destroying us all "on their own" already:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...to-high-duties-study/articleshow/67933119.cms

and as you can see its because our labour productivity is far far lower than yours  :

https://www.ilo.org/ilostat/faces/w..._afrWindowMode=0&_adf.ctrl-state=19mfdpebb5_4

@GeraltofRivia @Aung Zaya


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## VikingRaider

Nilgiri said:


> Sure miss that guy (BDforever). Did you get to interact with him much? He is a good person.


Nah , even never had chance to discuss in any thread, it looks he does not post anymore,atleast since I have registered I haven't seen him in any discussion! 

But familiar with some of his threads before registering here. He used to post military related threads. But now a days other than sticky threads I see no Defence discussion in this subforum!

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## Nilgiri

Atlas said:


> Nah , even never had chance to discuss in any thread, it looks he does not post anymore,atleast since I have registered I haven't seen him in any discussion!
> 
> But familiar with some of his threads before registering here. He used to post military related threads. But now a days other than sticky threads I see no Defence discussion in this subforum!



I think BD members are waiting for specific action/results on the fighter selection program etc....and then it will pick up again. Because that was the big thing that supposed to be done soon after elections were completed.

There was just simply too many long threads and time used up before that amounted to nothing concrete (and I have teased them about it many times)....so they must wait and prove me and others "wrong" this time

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## Bilal9

Some industries at 30,000 acre Mirsharai EPZ going to initial production from this July. This is going to be a huge zone comprising Mirsharai (Chittagong) as well as adjoining Lakshmipur (Noakhali).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI7n...ndex=4&list=WL

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## Bilal9

Korean EPZ description,

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## Hasan89

Bilal9 said:


> Korean EPZ description,




Very nice. Thanks Koreans! More to come. 

Korean, Japanese, Chinese, build things well. We should give them more to build in BD.

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## Bilal9

Latest on Padma Bridge....

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## Bilal9

Current status of emergency hotline number '999':






Latest on Dhaka MetroRail construction progress:


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## Bilal9

Business Report Feb. 17





Presentation on issues facing Bangladesh Private Aviation Sector 





Record growth of 100-200% in the Chemicals and Drug manufacturing sectors....

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## Bilal9

Still the subject of dreams...but a real construction firm of international repute has been retained, along with a reputable local one (Powerpac)....Tower 142.....

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## TopCat

Bilal9 said:


> Still the subject of dreams...but a real construction firm of international repute has been retained, along with a reputable local one (Powerpac)....Tower 142.....


Are the number of floors finalized. Last time in the bid submission they claimed to have the tower between 100 to 142 depending on the soil structure. If 142 then the soil is good as opposed to @bluesky

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## Bilal9

TopCat said:


> Are the number of floors finalized. Last time in the bid submission they claimed to have the tower between 100 to 142 depending on the soil structure. If 142 then the soil is good as opposed to @bluesky



Well they are still keeping things close to the chest and not publicizing a lot.

Construction contract went to Tajima-Powerpac consortium last i heard. Tajima is a reputed older company and has built many tall towers in Japan.

The pilings will have to be driven quite deep if they have to hit bedrock, but we have forged new avenues with the purchase of that custom Menck pile driver for Padma bridge, world's largest. But we will still need to know how deep to drive the piles.

Generally a rule of thumb says that floodplain type alluvial soil in Dhaka got deposited over hundreds of miilions of years so bedrock will be somewhere around 250-300 feet deep, which is still shallower than how deep the pilings in the Padma bridge footings were driven. I am sure they will do soil testing and bedrock depth geologic mapping when Tajima prepares the structural drawings.

I will be happy if the tower exceeds 71 stories, 142 is still unbelievable to a lot of people.

Here are the soil geology types around Dhaka...

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## bluesky

Nilgiri said:


> Whereas in Japan, they learned quite brutally and cruelly because of WW2, *what the dangers are of over-reliance on a govt* (no matter what your society is like)...that grabs the nationalism banner for itself exclusively. Thus lot more of this foundational true people-based nationalism approach instead in Japan. You can see it for yourself, how *Japanese schools were like before WW2* too (and Japan in general, and japanese goods quality etc), they really were not great at all, or even average....because the govt had imposed itself as the be-all end-all agent....above and over the common people.....rather than subservient/accountable to them.


It is not exactly what you are thinking about Japan about the past and present. Japan was not really *dependent upon the govt but on the govt supported by the ultra-nationalist military since after the Russian Baltic Fleet was destroyed by the newly built Japanese Navy in 1905 in the Sea of Japan. *Japanese fleet kept on chasing the Russian fleet up to Vladivostok. A 100 Russian ships were destroyed.

A country does not develop in a single day and its products do not get applauds overnight. Every country has to go through a certain painful process. Even Germany was the sick man of Europe before Bismarck. 

A school is not about the buildings but its curriculums and the quality of teachers/education. Whatever may be the quality of school buildings Japan emphasized more on mass 100% education that it achieved in 1905 through a continuous 40 years of efforts. The Curriculum is based on nationalism and human qualities like manners, sincerity, honesty, morality, discipline, dutifulness, mutual respect, and a hundred other things. These were from Confucius philosophy. 

Success in producing better quality human assets resulted in the production of good quality goods in this country. You are talking about bad quality Japanese products, but the quality was almost the same in Europe and America in those days. Technology improved step by step and Japan continued to improve its own and imported technologies before and after WWll.

Many things went well in Japan because of the respect the citizens have for the Institution called Emperor. After the Meiji Restoration, the top bureaucrats, engineers, and doctors scrambled to Europe and America to learn the western ways and adopt/adapt these in Japanese society. However, the quality of life did not improve that much because of international politics. Instead of thinking about quality the govt had to go to build up a strong military. 

This military bureaucracy was responsible for engaging in war with 5 great powers in the WWll - USA, England, France, Holland, and China. It was not a small feat of action by an Asian country. Even after the WWl, the white big powers were forced to sit with new Japan.

Quality of life was miserable during the war. But, Japan gradually *re-built its industries*. Note that I said "Re-built". Japan built many industries in the 1910s even in Taiwan, Manchuria, and Korea. Japan had the technology but the quality of life improves only gradually and not immediately. This is why we can see how the Japanese have improved the standard of living to a level higher than in many countries in Europe in gradual steps after WWll.

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## Bilal9

Govt. arranges summit for Non Resident Bangladeshi technologists and engineers, asking them to return, invest and contribute by offering technical knowhow.






Chip design expertise training initiatives sought in local universities from NRB's,






Hazardous unsafe chemical material storage to be moved away from old Dhaka residential areas to outside Dhaka, says Ministry of Industries. This is a reaction to fatal fires that embarrassed the govt. a couple of days ago.

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## monitor

Bilal9 said:


> Govt. arranges summit for Non Resident Bangladeshi technologists and engineers, asking them to return, invest and contribute by offering technical knowhow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Chip design expertise training initiatives sought in local universities from NRB's,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hazardous unsafe chemical material storage to be moved away from old Dhaka residential areas to outside Dhaka, says Ministry of Industries. This is a reaction to fatal fires that embarrassed the govt. a couple of days ago.



why we need to build everything near Dhaka . we need to send some planed industrial zone as far as possible from Dhaka like in Meherpur Sariatpur so that Dhaka can divert people from coming Dhaka or near Dhaka . As Padma bridge already under construction we need to have planned city and industrial Zone in other side of Padma .

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## Bilal9

monitor said:


> why we need to build everything near Dhaka . we need to send some planed industrial zone as far as possible from Dhaka like in Meherpur Sariatpur so that Dhaka can divert people from coming Dhaka or near Dhaka . As Padma bridge already under construction we need to have planned city and industrial Zone in other side of Padma .



You make some valid points but planned industrial zones for export are typically built near areas where logistics can be eased for input and output of industries. Zones ideally have to be around ports or major industrial conglomeration thoroughfares for maximum efficiency.

Initially the apparel factories grew up near Dhaka because the promoters, technical expertise and investors were all Dhaka-based and commutes and logistics were far worse compared to today.

In Bangladesh' case (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint) it has to be around ports as well. Dhaka Container port (both rail and riverport facilities), Meghna riverport or seaports like Mongla, Chittagong, Payra, Matarbari etc. fits the bill. I reckon at some point there will be zones around Chandpur and other major riverports - those are being planned or being built.

In China it is a much bigger scenario but almost all export zones are built on or near coastal seaports for ease of ingress and egress of goods. Which minimizes delays due to river transport and trucking through roads.

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## Bilal9

*Gulshan*
familiar old stomping ground for many of us...
(Yes still waiting to have the ugly overhead wires go underground)

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Inauguration of the Audi Showroom in Dhaka....complete with crass salesfolk.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Motor Show 2019






5th Dhaka Bike Show 2019

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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Demand for higher displacement engines and speedier bikes increasing at 7-8% per year. Very large portion of bikes sold at higher displacement engine category (up to 165cc).






Karnaphuli Tunnel Project, Patenga, Chittagong










100 feet Purbachal Lake construction status

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## Bilal9

The first roadway slab being installed on the Jazira end of the Padma bridge in Shariatpur. The 2 metres in width and 22 metres in length slab was placed on the “7-F” span between pillar 41 and 42 yesterday. A total of 2,931 slabs will be set up on the 6.15km bridge. Photo: Farhana Mirza

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## Bilal9

9th span of Padma Bridge being installed today.

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## monitor

__ https://www.facebook.com/


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## Bilal9

Some entrepreneurs in Bangladesh who are literally using waste products to produce useful items and export them earning hundreds of thousands of export dollars.


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## Bilal9

Food additives and flavorings expo starts in Bangladesh, regulatory agencies monitoring the $1.5 Billion dollar export and local market.






North side of Kemal Ataturk Ave., Banani

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## Bilal9

Local Boiler manufacturing companies are improving their quality and selection to supply local demand. On average 5 tonnes to 10 tonnes capacity are popular and 90% of the local demand is met by local manufacturers.

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## The Ronin

*ADB: Bangladesh to see 8% growth in FY19-20*

Bangladesh's economic growth is likely the fastest in the Asia Pacific region

The Asian Development Bank has projected 8% economic growth for Bangladesh in the current fiscal year FY 2019-20, according to the Asian Development Bank 2019 outlook.

"Bangladesh has experienced strong GDP growth in FY2018-19," the outlook, published on Wednesday morning at its Dhaka office, said. "The country will continue to achieve GDP growth in FY19-20, at 8%, which will stay robust during FY20-21."

Both strong private consumption, and public investment, will continue to contribute to the growth.

The Manila-based institution has also labelled Bangladesh's economic growth as the "fastest in the Asia Pacific region". 

Net exports will also contribute positively to the growth in GDP, as exports have been expanding faster than imports, the outlook said. 

Inflation has remained under control, but the banking sector has been facing challenges with higher NPL ratios due to weak governance, the outlook mentions.


https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangla...adb-bangladesh-to-see-8-gdp-growth-in-fy19-20

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## Bilal9

*Leading through leather*
Tribune Editorial

 Published at 12:01 am April 3rd, 2019





Photo: SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

The country must strive to become competitive on all fronts

As Bangladesh continues climbing the ladder to reach the status of a developing country, it is important that we capitalize on any opportunity on the global front to further our economic goals.

As such, it is encouraging to see that our leather footwear sector has done just that, as it had taken advantage of the ongoing trade war between China and the US, and has increased exports from Bangladesh to the US by 17.7% in 2018.

Over the past few decades, our RMG sector has been the unprecedented champion of our growth, but it cannot and should not be leaned upon to continue to pull the country’s weight. There is no doubt that Bangladesh must look to diversify its export basket, because a robust and high-functioning economy cannot sustain itself by relying on one sector for a lion’s share of its GDP.

Therefore, it can be hoped that these increased numbers from the leather footwear industry galvanize the rest of the leather industry, which include processed leather -- clothes, bags, and numerous other leather-based goods -- to reach greater heights.

With the export volume having increased 71 times over the last four decades or so, and a sector which could contribute to over $5 billion in the next decade if given the right support, it is safe to say that there is enormous untapped economic potential of leather.

As global business practices change and evolve, and as Bangladesh looks to achieve its long-term vision, the country must strive to become competitive on all fronts, and thus, we cannot afford to limit ourselves.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Bangladesh economic growth rate world's fifth highest this year - says conservative World Bank estimates. I have my favorite Bangladeshi economist Dr. Zahid Sir explaining the basics in Bengali in one portion. I am sure Urdu/Hindi speakers will understand the basics of what he is saying starting at 1:30. These are heady days my friends - all those years of hard work and belt-tightening have paid off.....






Dhaka Kolkata Launch service starts...






Land reformation work starts in Japanese Export Processing Zone in Arai-Hazaar in Narayanganj.






Dhaka road traffic benefiting immensely from U-turns....no more jams


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## BDforever

@Indos @Marine Rouge translation plz

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## Nike

BDforever said:


> @Indos @Marine Rouge translation plz



Export luxury bus from CV laksana, followed by double decker bus

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## Bilal9

Gearbox Install at a Mega-size Purse-Seiner Fishing Trawler build in Western Marine Shipyard


















*Length:* X Breadth X Depth: 80.30m X 17.00m X 9.60m
*Class:* Bureau Veritas (BV)

The largest fishing trawler vessel build so far in Bangladesh will be equipped with a MAK propulsion engine and fishing equipment / winches from Ibercisa and Karmøy Winch. This build is for export to a fishing company in Norway.

Western Marine Fishing Vessel division Western Fishers has previously built Nine Pelagic 42m Deep Sea Mid-Water Fishing Trawlers for local Bangladeshi deep sea fishing outfits.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------










F.T. Agro Food-1 is a 42m Deep Sea Mid-Water Fishing Trawler which is the first from a series of sister vessels WFSL has built for Agro Food Ltd. Each of these fishing vessels is being built at a cost of BDT 28 crore. The design of these ships originates from Iceland. These trawlers will be able to cope with the rough waters of the Bay of Bengal and capable of trawling into deeper seas. They are equipped with anti roll-tank, kaplan propeller, kort nozzle, bulbous bow, powerful engine & bollard pull, which made the vessels fit for fishing in the Bay of Bengal in the monsoon period.

The trawlers will also incorporate hi-tech German made refrigeration system, which can process the fish at -50 degree core temp. The system includes processing deck, slurry ice machine, chill water maker, blast freezer and store freezer which will maintain the freshness and best quality of the caught fish. Each trawler has a carrying capacity of 300 tons of fish. They are powered with 1850 BHP engine, 800 KW generator power of & have a pulling capacity 26 tons. The main engine & gen-set of the ships are US made.

WFSL mainly concentrates on new building of fishing trawlers. Western Fishers is the first shipyard in the country to have initiated new building of Mid Water Fishing Trawlers. Besides they are also building nine more fishing trawlers for local owners. This way WFSL has secured a share of 300 crore in the shipbuilding market of fishing trawlers.

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## Bilal9

Khan Brothers Shipbuilding (KBSBL) in Gazaria, Munshiganj has launched ten inland container vessels MV Rupshi-1 through MV Rupshi-10 from their massive yard in Gazaria. These will connect Chittagong International Port container traffic with Dhaka Inland (Riverine) Container Port at Narayanganj. The vessels were built to RINA class (Italian Marine Standards) specifications. They are also building and have built some 3500 DWT Bulk Carriers and Tankers (also RINA class - Registro Italiane Navale) - images and videos below.



























































































Inspecting weld quality





This is the new KBSBL Build Hall for medium and smaller builds and modules, now complete.

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## Bilal9

BDforever said:


> @Indos @Marine Rouge translation plz








As of April 13, the ENA/Laksana buses have arrived in Bangladesh.






The Greenline Double Deckers are a bit larger, I don't know if the ENA ones are double deckers - doesn't seem like it.

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## Bengal71

Bilal9 said:


> *Leading through leather*
> Tribune Editorial
> 
> Published at 12:01 am April 3rd, 2019
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Photo: SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
> 
> The country must strive to become competitive on all fronts
> 
> As Bangladesh continues climbing the ladder to reach the status of a developing country, it is important that we capitalize on any opportunity on the global front to further our economic goals.
> 
> As such, it is encouraging to see that our leather footwear sector has done just that, as it had taken advantage of the ongoing trade war between China and the US, and has increased exports from Bangladesh to the US by 17.7% in 2018.
> 
> Over the past few decades, our RMG sector has been the unprecedented champion of our growth, but it cannot and should not be leaned upon to continue to pull the country’s weight. There is no doubt that Bangladesh must look to diversify its export basket, because a robust and high-functioning economy cannot sustain itself by relying on one sector for a lion’s share of its GDP.
> 
> Therefore, it can be hoped that these increased numbers from the leather footwear industry galvanize the rest of the leather industry, which include processed leather -- clothes, bags, and numerous other leather-based goods -- to reach greater heights.
> 
> With the export volume having increased 71 times over the last four decades or so, and a sector which could contribute to over $5 billion in the next decade if given the right support, it is safe to say that there is enormous untapped economic potential of leather.
> 
> As global business practices change and evolve, and as Bangladesh looks to achieve its long-term vision, the country must strive to become competitive on all fronts, and thus, we cannot afford to limit ourselves.




Brother, can you please post more about the leather industry, what's their growth compared to previous years? I was wondering for a long time why leather is not becoming equal to textile industry in BD. It's a relatively low tech, labor intensive industry and there is lot of money to be made.


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## Bilal9

Bengal71 said:


> Brother, can you please post more about the leather industry, what's their growth compared to previous years? I was wondering for a long time why leather is not becoming equal to textile industry in BD. It's a relatively low tech, labor intensive industry and there is lot of money to be made.



Generally leather processing industry suffers from excessive tariff on imported inputs. I will find out more and publish a detailed thread at some point.

That said - footwear (both leather and non-leather sports shoes, especially the latter) have been recording very good export growth. In this field (sports shoes) Bangladesh was an early entrant (far earlier than any South Asian country), but this sector suffers because of long lead times and non-availability of advanced synthetics locally - which are used for the shoe surfaces.

Leather shoes made locally are very high quality but that means that products are expensive, at par with Italian products like Zegna (Bangladesh export products from Fortuna and Apex fall in this category), hence low volume. This needs to change.

You won't see a lot of Florsheim products (or US brands generally) made in Bangladesh (Florsheim is a brand sold at Macy's etc.) however there are plenty of made in India low-grade Florsheims. Bangladeshi factories concentrate more on high-grade leather brands in Europe and say that people in US don't appreciate nice leather shoes, or don't care to pay high prices for them. A pair of Zegnas will easily cost $400-500.

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## Bilal9

Payra heavy-duty riverbed dredging starts in earnest.






Payra Thermal powerplant installs four coal unloaders, to start adding 600+ megawatts to national grid soon.

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## Bilal9

Ananda Shipyard in N'Ganj has exported a 5500 DWT MPC ship (MS Alexander) to Germany the last week of Feb. 2019. 

Piece of stealth news I found out from a video of all things, how do they not publicize this sort of thing?? Bengalis are so publicity averse.






ADB involvement in training local shipbuilding staff





Some modern builds from Ananda in the last few years. These are ALL German or Italian marine class-compliant builds
https://docs.google.com/viewerng/vi...com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Oil-Tanker.pdf

https://docs.google.com/viewerng/vi....com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Wes-Grain.pdf

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## Black_cats

*Bangladesh's B2B start-up Sindabad.com gets $4 mn funding from Aavishkaar *

BS Reporter | New Delhi | Last Updated at May 27 2019 19:37 IST

https://wap.business-standard.com/a...n-funding-from-aavishkaar-119052701005_1.html






Bangladesh start-up gets funding.

Sindabad.com, a Dhaka-based e-commerce company, has secured $4.15 million in Series-A funding from Aavishkaar Frontier Fund, which is managed by impact investment firm Aavishkaar.

Sindabad.com, promoted by Zero Gravity Ventures Limited, is Bangladesh's first and largest B2B e-commerce service. It provides businesses like offices and factories a platform for their manufacturing and consumption purchases with direct-to-office deliveries. 

Sindabad.com has leading financial Institutions, raw material manufacturers, pharmaceuticals and local conglomerates in its customer portfolio. 

“We have seen approximately 15% month-on-month growth on Sindabad.com, and currently have more than 500 corporate and 2,000 small companies as our customers,” said Zeeshan Kingshuk Huq, co-Founder and CEO of the company, about the funding.

“We are looking to incorporate best practices and collaborate with similar companies and start-ups in the region who have already succeeded in the B2B space,” said Asif Zahir, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Zero Gravity. 

Zero Gravity has an employee strength of nearly 250 and has already established 3 modern warehouses and own delivery fleet in various parts of Dhaka. 

”Aavishkaar believes Sindabad.com has the potential to rewrite the B2B transaction model for corporates and SMEs in Bangladesh. We look forward to working with the team in fine-tuning strategy and scaling up the business.” said Sanchayan Chakraborty, partner at Aavishkaar. 

Aavishkaar is an active investor in early and growth stage enterprises in India and broader Asia, practicing an entrepreneurship based approach to development; this is the third investment by Aavishkaar in Bangladesh.

Earlier, Frontier Fund – a Bangladesh-focused private equity fund managed by Brummer & Partners Bangladesh invested in the company. Frontier has invested in ten different companies in diversified sectors such as retail, automotive, pharmaceuticals, white-goods, raw material goods manufacturers and online marketplace. 

Bangladesh currently has more than 250 websites in e-commerce and an estimated 10,000 Facebook-based shops. However, only a handful are attracting the funding required to take the companies beyond the boot-strap stage. With the kind of investment a global company is putting into Zero Gravity, experts see the e-Commerce space gaining momentum and maturity.

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## UKBengali

Good luck to these entrepreneurs.

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## Baby Leone

It is strange the bangaladeshi govt claim to have more then 90 million internet users around 50% of population way above Pakistan and india but still e commerce in Bangladesh is almost non existent with almost no presence of bangla people in internet and social networks felt compare to Pakistanis and Indians. Something is fishy in bangla govt data just like their economic numbers which dont support ground realities and consumer spendings.

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## Nilgiri

Baby Leone said:


> It is strange the bangaladeshi govt claim to have more then 90 million internet users around 50% of population way above Pakistan and india but still e commerce in Bangladesh is almost non existent with almost no presence of bangla people in internet and social networks felt compare to Pakistanis and Indians. Something is fishy in bangla govt data just like their economic numbers which dont support ground realities and consumer spendings.



Then they get salty when you post ITU standardised definition numbers heh.

Using 1 kb of "data" a month doesnt count as being online internationally?  Please try to understand our LDC norms!

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## Black_cats

Baby Leone said:


> It is strange the bangaladeshi govt claim to have more then 90 million internet users around 50% of population way above Pakistan and india but still e commerce in Bangladesh is almost non existent with almost no presence of bangla people in internet and social networks felt compare to Pakistanis and Indians. Something is fishy in bangla govt data just like their economic numbers which dont support ground realities and consumer spendings.



Most people use it for basic purposes like making call using apps and browsing social media. They are not comfortable with using e-commerce, trust issue plus lack of using credit card is the main reason why e-commerce site is used less.

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## UKBengali

Baby Leone said:


> It is strange the bangaladeshi govt claim to have more then 90 million internet users around 50% of population way above Pakistan and india but still e commerce in Bangladesh is almost non existent with almost no presence of bangla people in internet and social networks felt compare to Pakistanis and Indians. Something is fishy in bangla govt data just like their economic numbers which dont support ground realities and consumer spendings.



Butt hurt is too deep.



Consumer spending increased 15% between 2017-2018 and has now hit 200 billion dollars a year.

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## Homo Sapiens

*Large, medium manufacturing units fall by 38pc in 6 years*
Jasim Uddin | Published: 01:04, May 29,2019



*The number of medium and large-scale manufacturing industries in the country declined by 38 per cent in six years to 6,045 units in 2019 from that of 9,742 units in 2012, a new survey report of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics said.*

The total number of manufacturing industries—micro, small, medium and large—, however, increased by only 8.18 per cent to 46,291 in 2019 from 42,792 in 2012, BBS data showed.
The state-run statistical body on Monday released the preliminary findings of the Survey of Manufacturing Industries May-2019.

*BBS in the report said that the number of medium industries sharply dropped by more than 50 per cent to 3,014 units in 2019 from 6,103 units in 2012 while the number of large industries also decreased to 3,031 in the year from 3,639 in six years back*.

BBS defines large industry where total persons engaged (TPE) or employed people above 250, medium industry where TPE is within 100-250, small industry where TPE 25-99 and micro industry where TPE remains within 10-24.

The report showed that the number of small industries increased by 7,891 units or around 33.50 per cent in six years.

Currently, there were 23,557 small industries in the country against 15,666 units in 2012. 
On the other hand, number of micro industries declined slightly to 16,689 units in 2019 from 17,384 units in 2012. 

*In six years, number of persons engaged in the sector increased to 58.80 lakh in 2019 from 50.16 lakh in 2012. *

According to BBS data, employment generation in large industries increased to 40.27 lakh in 2019 from 29.64 lakh in six years ago while the number of employed people in medium industries dropped to 4.61 lakh from previous 10.41 lakh.

Job creation in small industries also increased to 11.28 lakh from 7.39 lakh.
Net fixed asset of all four types of industries also increased to Tk 3,24,708 crore in 2019 against Tk 1,18,810 crore in 2012.

Like job creation, net fixed assets of large industries increased sharply to Tk 2,22,255 crore in six years from Tk 57,134 crore. 

*Value of manufactured products by the industries reached to Tk 8,46,406 crore in 2019 with massive rise of large industries output from Tk 5,39,490 crore.*

According to the report, a total of 59 per cent industries were set up with a loan or line of credit. Of which, 75 per cent large industries were set up with loan or line of credit followed by 65 per cent medium, 66 per cent small and 44 per cent micro industries. 

Country’s only 34 per cent industries have own waste treatment plant. Of which, 69 per cent large industries, 53 per cent medium, 39 per cent small and 17 per cent micro industries have own waste treatment plants. 

*World Bank country lead economist Zahid Hussain on Tuesday told New Age country’s manufacturing industries saw a restructure towards domestic market based industry over the years. 

Medium and large industries which managed to survive have become larger in terms of TPE, capital, investment and output while others which could not survive in competition have lost away, he said. 

He said many of the large and medium industries witnessed increase in production though employment did not generate in the same way as the industries witnessed expansion under a protective scenario leaning towards domestic market. 

So, manufacturing industries witnessed a growth as reflected in the country’s gross domestic product growth without enough job creation, he added. 

The sector could not grow properly in export-oriented market, he added.
Zahid said that the manufacturing sector, whose share in total GDP increased to nearly 20 per cent in FY 2019 from 16.8 per cent in FY 2012, created just about 1,29,000 jobs per year and it was divided almost equally between large and small establishments. *

*‘Thus, while manufacturing growth has not exactly been “jobless” literally, it has not really been a job haven either by absorbing a meager 6.4 per cent of the annual addition to the labour force. Clearly accelerated manufacturing growth since 2012 failed to deliver accelerated growth in jobs,’ he said.* 

Zahid said it would be cleared when the detailed survey findings were released on what happened to the large and medium establishments that used to exist in 2012 but are no more in 2019 and the fate of their workers. 

He said that export-oriented manufacturing declined from 13.5 per cent in FY2014 to 0.4 per cent in FY2018 while growth in domestic market-oriented manufacturing increased from 2.8 per cent to 24.6 per cent. 

‘High tariffs insulate domestic firms from competition but that tends to increase their monopoly,’ he said.

A highly rent seeking system quickly evolves in which privileged firms lobby their way to reduce competition further, causing huge decrease in the number of large and medium scale manufacturing establishments, he said.

http://www.newagebd.net/article/73858/large-medium-manufacturing-units-fall-by-38pc-in-6-years

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## Baby Leone

Nilgiri said:


> Then they get salty when you post ITU standardised definition numbers heh.
> 
> Using 1 kb of "data" a month doesnt count as being online internationally?  Please try to understand our LDC norms!


you mean they count parson who just connect to the internet no matter mistakenly as "User"?  thats some real data fudging



Black_cats said:


> Most people use it for basic purposes like making call using apps and browsing social media. They are not comfortable with using e-commerce, trust issue plus lack of using credit card is the main reason why e-commerce site is used less.


but isn't e commerce and credit cards part of economic growth and education level? where in both Bangladeshi people claim to be way higher then Pakistan & India.


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## Samlee

I Think It Is Because of Automation That Manufacturing Has Not Created Enough Jobs

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## TopCat

Samlee said:


> I Think It Is Because of Automation That Manufacturing Has Not Created Enough Jobs


Its probably because of restructuring and compliance issues in garments. A lot of garments factories had to close as they no longer can work as sub contractor and without compliance certificate from US and European buyers. Besides big companies are taking over domestic markets and smaller ones going out of business specially in consumer goods section.

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## Mage

Homo Sapiens said:


> He said that export-oriented manufacturing declined from 13.5 per cent in FY2014 to 0.4 per cent in FY2018


This is a big worry.


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## Arthur

Without policy support & incentives, it's hard for S & M industries to survive, which BD severely lacks. 

Loans & fundings by banks & others in SME sector has fallen by a whooping proportion in last one decade. 

Sadly the small & medium industries sector is overseen by a complete incompetent gov body BSIC( বিসিক). Bunch of nincompoops, total waste of salary. 

SME sector & BSIC Small industrial zones should be handed over to BEZA for proper management & prosperous SME sector.



Samlee said:


> I Think It Is Because of Automation That Manufacturing Has Not Created Enough Jobs


Yes, that's one of many reasons. Actually it's the small & medium industry that creats most jobs.

Unlike the big money investors they don't have funds to invest in automation, hence they hire more people to do the work.

Big companies & more recent investors in BD are investing heavily in automation.

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## mmr

Baby Leone said:


> you mean they count parson who just connect to the internet no matter mistakenly as "User"?  thats some real data fudging
> 
> 
> but isn't e commerce and credit cards part of economic growth and education level? where in both Bangladeshi people claim to be way higher then Pakistan & India.


BAL government only talk about digital BD on paper. If we really want a transformation we need to implement basic services done with help of IT. For example land registration..utility services....tax filling and refund..simplified business license approval and renewal..and many more....that is why bd is failing on ease of doing business. unless bd put its shit together we wont be able to sustain economic growth. But I doubt BAL is actually doing any thing about it.....

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## Mage

Baby Leone said:


> but isn't e commerce and credit cards part of economic growth and education level? where in both Bangladeshi people claim to be way higher then Pakistan & India.


Google bkash. It is a digital payment company. It's monthly transaction is like 40,000 crore taka. Now tell me what do you have in Pakistan of its calibre? Then we can talk.

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> This is a big worry.



You forgot the 2nd part of sentence.

They have transferred more growth to "domestic" side in the figures to make up for it.

Stuff no other country can confirm on their end.....will just have to trust BD govt on it! They got a super transparent and credible 95% seat mandate recently after all.


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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> You forgot the 2nd part of sentence.
> 
> They have transferred more growth to "domestic" side in the figures to make up for it.
> 
> Stuff no other country can confirm on their end.....will just have to trust BD govt on it! They got a super transparent and credible 95% seat mandate recently after all.




Dude, you not able to understand simple concepts like massive explosion of consumer demand in last decade?
Shopping centres are full of shoppers spending lots of money.


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## Quwa

Nilgiri said:


> You forgot the 2nd part of sentence.
> 
> They have transferred more growth to "domestic" side in the figures to make up for it.
> 
> Stuff no other country can confirm on their end.....will just have to trust BD govt on it! They got a super transparent and credible 95% seat mandate recently after all.


So in these cases, is the risk emanating from the growth of imports due to the Takka's rise and/or a growing number of locals with foreign or hard currency? Or are Bangladesh's manufacturers finding it tough to compete against even cheaper vendors elsewhere (in which a higher value currency could be an issue too)?

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> Dude, you not able to understand simple concepts like massive explosion of consumer demand in last decade?
> Shopping centres are full of shoppers spending lots of money.



Reported by...... "insert BD local source"



Quwa said:


> So in these cases, is the risk emanating from the growth of imports due to the Takka's rise and/or a growing number of locals with foreign or hard currency? Or are Bangladesh's manufacturers finding it tough to compete against even cheaper vendors elsewhere (in which a higher value currency could be an issue too)?



Basically they are hitting up against the capital inertia in RMG from the Chinese. RMG is their only growth avenue (since they have not diversified) when it comes to forex (that can be vetted by outside parties) and its stalling big time.

Local liquidity patterns (suppliers and sinks), well its sketchy and depends on how credible you find the BD govt in the end. I dont find the energy consumption trends all that indicative of what the BD govt says...given one can look at the patterns other countries had at the same level....and its a major broadbase input (that should correlate quite well with core growth rate) whether you are export-led or domestic-led.

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## Black_cats

*Bangladesh’s road to the BRI*
DAVID BREWSTER 
Experience in Bangladesh might show how
countries can mould engagement with
China in ways mitigates strategic concerns.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/bangladesh-road-bri








Published 30 May 2019 06:00   0 Comments  

Bangladesh 

China 
There are a lot of different ways for the region to approach China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). We should not assume that all BRI projects are necessarily one sided or economically unfeasible. Indeed, some countries have been better than others in maximising the benefits of BRI investment and minimising the potential downsides.

The experience in Bangladesh might show how countries can mould their engagement with China in ways mitigates strategic concerns. For some years Bangladesh has been quite successful in taking a balanced approach to the BRI that has helped it to maximise China’s strengths (e.g. in low-cost construction) while avoiding “debt traps” or strategic capture.

Long the global poster child of
poverty, Bangladesh now has the
fastest growing economy in Asia.

There are several reasons behind Bangladesh’s measured approach. One is the close political and security relationship between Sheikh Hasina’s government and India. This means that Bangladesh actively avoids Chinese projects that would cause problems for its huge neighbour.

Bangladesh has also been helped by a booming economy. Long the global poster child of poverty, Bangladesh now has the fastest growing economy in Asia. Growth is currently around 8-9% per annum, with average growth of more than 6% per annum for a decade. It may soon graduate to the status of a “middle income” country.

Bangladesh is also the subject of much investor interest from international agencies such as the Asian Development Bank, national aid agencies and private investors. JICA, Japan’s international aid agency, has long targeted Bangladesh through its “BIG-B” Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt Strategy. (JICA has also been busy building infrastructure elsewhere in the Bay of Bengal.)

Bangladesh’s economic links with China are growing. China is the country’s top trading partner, although there is a strong imbalance in favour of China. Chinese direct investment in Bangladesh has also been growing in recent years, especially in the power sector.

Current BRI-branded projects in Bangladesh have a value of around US$10 billion. These include a massive 6.5 kilometre road/rail bridge over the massive Padma river (which will connect the two sides of the country for the first time), an industrial park in Chittagong, a road tunnel in the southeast, and Payra port. None of them are strategically controversial.

Bangladesh’s total external debt (owed to all lenders) of around US$33 billion seems to be manageable, and Bangladesh is currently considered as a “low risk“ of finding itself in a debt trap as a result of BRI-related lending.

In recent days, Bangladesh’s junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Alam commented that the Bangladesh government “never will” ask China for more loans as it looks for ways to finance its future development. Instead, other financing models such as public-private partnerships were being investigated.

But like other countries in the region, Bangladesh needs major investments in ports. For a burgeoning export-driven economy, Bangladesh has a dearth of ports to either import energy or raw materials or export finished products. No new ports have been developed since Bangladesh gained independence in 1971.





Life around the Bay of Bengal, not the easiest place to build a port (Photo: Khandaker Azizur Rahman Sumon via Getty)
For years, China has proposed building new ports at Chittagong and Sonadia, but these projects have not proceeded in the face of concerns from India and others.

Instead, the government approved a Japanese-sponsored port at Matarbari near Chittagong. This will include a coal terminal to service a new power station, a small container port and an LNG import facility. JICA has also expressed considerable interest in further port projects there or elsewhere in Bangladesh.

As a consolation prize, Chinese companies were granted the majority of contracts to develop a new deep-sea port at Payra towards the middle of the country, which will include an LNG terminal, an oil refinery, a coal terminal to service a power plant, and a container terminal.

But the Payra port project has not attracted the same level of criticism as other Chinese-sponsored port projects in the region, such as Hambantota or Gwadar. For one thing, the Payra project hasn’t used a “field of dreams” approach (build it and they will come) sometimes used in other BRI projects. Second is geography: Payra lies deep within the Ganges delta and must be approached by a 75-kilometre-long canal being dredged through mudflats. As informed Bangladeshis are happy to point out, this makes it a very unlikely place for a naval base.

The new container facilities currently being built at Matarbari and Payra have bought Bangladesh a few years of time, but it is clear that Bangladesh’s ambitions to build its export-oriented economy will require major additional port investment.

The Bangladesh government has long hoped that Sonadia container port project (initially proposed by China) might be built by a consortium that includes investors from Europe, China, Japan, India and elsewhere. Chinese companies would participate in construction, but not lead operation of the port. It remains to be seen whether Dhaka can pull a deal like this together. But Bangladesh is certainly trying to diversify its geopolitical risk.

However, for the moment, the biggest potential prize of the BRI is out of reach. The so-called Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor, under discussion for more than a decade, would develop overland transport linkages and manufacturing zones between India and southern China, running through Bangladesh and Myanmar. This could have massive significance for Bangladesh, putting it in a position to service both the Indian and Chinese economies. But India’s fears and the difficulties of coordinating the four fractious countries involved, means that the BCIM has now dropped off China’s official list of BRI projects.

David Brewster travelled to Bangladesh as a guest of the Bangladeshi government.

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## nahtanbob

Black_cats said:


> *Bangladesh’s road to the BRI*
> DAVID BREWSTER
> Experience in Bangladesh might show how
> countries can mould engagement with
> China in ways mitigates strategic concerns.
> 
> https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/bangladesh-road-bri
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Published 30 May 2019 06:00   0 Comments
> 
> Bangladesh
> 
> China
> There are a lot of different ways for the region to approach China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). We should not assume that all BRI projects are necessarily one sided or economically unfeasible. Indeed, some countries have been better than others in maximising the benefits of BRI investment and minimising the potential downsides.
> 
> The experience in Bangladesh might show how countries can mould their engagement with China in ways mitigates strategic concerns. For some years Bangladesh has been quite successful in taking a balanced approach to the BRI that has helped it to maximise China’s strengths (e.g. in low-cost construction) while avoiding “debt traps” or strategic capture.
> 
> Long the global poster child of
> poverty, Bangladesh now has the
> fastest growing economy in Asia.
> 
> There are several reasons behind Bangladesh’s measured approach. One is the close political and security relationship between Sheikh Hasina’s government and India. This means that Bangladesh actively avoids Chinese projects that would cause problems for its huge neighbour.
> 
> Bangladesh has also been helped by a booming economy. Long the global poster child of poverty, Bangladesh now has the fastest growing economy in Asia. Growth is currently around 8-9% per annum, with average growth of more than 6% per annum for a decade. It may soon graduate to the status of a “middle income” country.
> 
> Bangladesh is also the subject of much investor interest from international agencies such as the Asian Development Bank, national aid agencies and private investors. JICA, Japan’s international aid agency, has long targeted Bangladesh through its “BIG-B” Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt Strategy. (JICA has also been busy building infrastructure elsewhere in the Bay of Bengal.)
> 
> Bangladesh’s economic links with China are growing. China is the country’s top trading partner, although there is a strong imbalance in favour of China. Chinese direct investment in Bangladesh has also been growing in recent years, especially in the power sector.
> 
> Current BRI-branded projects in Bangladesh have a value of around US$10 billion. These include a massive 6.5 kilometre road/rail bridge over the massive Padma river (which will connect the two sides of the country for the first time), an industrial park in Chittagong, a road tunnel in the southeast, and Payra port. None of them are strategically controversial.
> 
> Bangladesh’s total external debt (owed to all lenders) of around US$33 billion seems to be manageable, and Bangladesh is currently considered as a “low risk“ of finding itself in a debt trap as a result of BRI-related lending.
> 
> In recent days, Bangladesh’s junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Alam commented that the Bangladesh government “never will” ask China for more loans as it looks for ways to finance its future development. Instead, other financing models such as public-private partnerships were being investigated.
> 
> But like other countries in the region, Bangladesh needs major investments in ports. For a burgeoning export-driven economy, Bangladesh has a dearth of ports to either import energy or raw materials or export finished products. No new ports have been developed since Bangladesh gained independence in 1971.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Life around the Bay of Bengal, not the easiest place to build a port (Photo: Khandaker Azizur Rahman Sumon via Getty)
> For years, China has proposed building new ports at Chittagong and Sonadia, but these projects have not proceeded in the face of concerns from India and others.
> 
> Instead, the government approved a Japanese-sponsored port at Matarbari near Chittagong. This will include a coal terminal to service a new power station, a small container port and an LNG import facility. JICA has also expressed considerable interest in further port projects there or elsewhere in Bangladesh.
> 
> As a consolation prize, Chinese companies were granted the majority of contracts to develop a new deep-sea port at Payra towards the middle of the country, which will include an LNG terminal, an oil refinery, a coal terminal to service a power plant, and a container terminal.
> 
> But the Payra port project has not attracted the same level of criticism as other Chinese-sponsored port projects in the region, such as Hambantota or Gwadar. For one thing, the Payra project hasn’t used a “field of dreams” approach (build it and they will come) sometimes used in other BRI projects. Second is geography: Payra lies deep within the Ganges delta and must be approached by a 75-kilometre-long canal being dredged through mudflats. As informed Bangladeshis are happy to point out, this makes it a very unlikely place for a naval base.
> 
> The new container facilities currently being built at Matarbari and Payra have bought Bangladesh a few years of time, but it is clear that Bangladesh’s ambitions to build its export-oriented economy will require major additional port investment.
> 
> The Bangladesh government has long hoped that Sonadia container port project (initially proposed by China) might be built by a consortium that includes investors from Europe, China, Japan, India and elsewhere. Chinese companies would participate in construction, but not lead operation of the port. It remains to be seen whether Dhaka can pull a deal like this together. But Bangladesh is certainly trying to diversify its geopolitical risk.
> 
> However, for the moment, the biggest potential prize of the BRI is out of reach. The so-called Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor, under discussion for more than a decade, would develop overland transport linkages and manufacturing zones between India and southern China, running through Bangladesh and Myanmar. This could have massive significance for Bangladesh, putting it in a position to service both the Indian and Chinese economies. But India’s fears and the difficulties of coordinating the four fractious countries involved, means that the BCIM has now dropped off China’s official list of BRI projects.
> 
> David Brewster travelled to Bangladesh as a guest of the Bangladeshi government.



BCIM can happen only if Myanmar goes along


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## Black_cats

*Summit, Japan’s Energy for New Era sign MoU on mega energy project *
United News of Bangladesh . Tokyo | Published: 16:16, May 29,2019

http://www.newagebd.net/article/738...y-for-new-era-sign-mou-on-mega-energy-project





Prime minister Sheikh Hasina witnesses the signing ceremony between Summit Group of Bangladesh and Japan’s Energy for New Era that took place at Hotel New Otani in Tokyo on Wednesday.-- PID photo

Summit Group of Bangladesh and Japan’s Energy for New Era signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday toinitiate a mega energy infrastructure project.

The project will have the capacity to handle 20 million tonnes of bulk cargo at Matarbari area in Cox’s Bazar year.

It will provide impetus to Bangladesh’s trade by development of various terminals for cargo and primary fuel at Matarbari area in Cox’s Bazar, according to Summit Group.

The project is expected to be functional within two years of signing the agreement among Summit, JERA Asia and the government of Bangladesh with an estimated investment of over US$500million.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina witnessed the signing ceremony that took place at Hotel New Otani in Tokyo.

Faisal Khan, director of Summit Group and Toshiro Kudama, CEO of JERA Asia signed the MoU on behalf of their respective companies.

Meanwhile, executive vice president of Japan Bangladesh Medical Association Shakurai Hiroyuki handed over the document of a signed agreement with Bangladesh Medical Association.

The agreement was signed aiming to provide assistance and support to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.

To achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and ‘Vision 2041’ set by prime minister Sheikh Hasina - Summit Corporation and JERA Asia signed the MoU, Summit said in a media release.

State minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Nasrul Hamid, state minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam, principle secretary to the prime minister Nojibur Rahman, principal coordinator of SDGs and chairman of MIDI (Moheshkhali-Matarbari Integrated Infrastructure Development Initiative), Md Abul Kalam Azad and ambassador of Bangladesh to Japan Rabab Fatima, and chairman of Summit Group, Muhammed Aziz Khan were present.

Summit Group Muhammed Aziz Khan said, ‘This project of Summit with JERA Asia has the potential to save billions of dollars for Bangladesh for years to come by providing logistics and handling thus maintaining supply-chain more efficient enabling Bangladesh to achieve each of her visions.’

CEO of JERA Asia Toshiro Kudama said signing this MoU, they would like to further accelerate the development of energy infrastructure projects in Bangladesh together.

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## Bilal9

The credibility of 'Perpetual Doubting Thomas' cockroaches may be higher than the Bangladesh Planning Commission, UN agencies, ADB etc.

All hail the cockroach!

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## Nilgiri

Always fun to stomp on the actual cockroach:

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/chin...cial-figures-show.618882/page-6#post-11474464

It hissed as it scurried away.


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## Bilal9

Quwa said:


> So in these cases, is the risk emanating from the growth of imports due to the Takka's rise and/or a growing number of locals with foreign or hard currency? Or are Bangladesh's manufacturers finding it tough to compete against even cheaper vendors elsewhere (in which a higher value currency could be an issue too)?



To break it down (and mind you I am no economist - I simply call 'em like I see 'em), the growth in Bangladesh so far has been internal consumption-driven rather than external FDI driven, like in Vietnam and Thailand for example. Of course FDI is becoming a larger share of the pie gradually, but we are still talking about a voracious market (Just like Pakistan) of consumer goods. Bangladeshis are big-spenders on clothing, food and entertainment unlike people in some other countries I have seen, who shy away from spending a lot.

As Bangladeshi families have accumulated wealth by one reason or another (some lower middle class folks by overseas remittance), lifestyles have improved, so has disposable income. That income has driven consumption of FMCG personal hygiene and food products, driven purchase of durable goods like cellphones, LED TV's, kitchen appliances and aircons. Which has led to a mini industrial and commercial boom locally.

Local assembly and production of two wheelers have skyrocketed whereby most larger Japanese brands have gone from SKD to CKD production.

Some local two wheeler makers design and make their own powerpacks as well as sheetmetal using CAD/CAM. Some local cellphone makers have gone to basic component level manufacture (screens and SMD components) but almost all cellphones sold locally are AT LEAST assembled locally on SKD basis (SAMSUNG etc.).

These industrial activities have meant that the level of automation has rapidly risen, requiring more talented workers (Electronics/automotive assembly, Pharma) rather than semi-skilled manufacture in other, more primitive - manual labor industries.

These are the phases most industrial countries pass through. Nothing to worry about on these trends.

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## Nilgiri

Obviously its growth rate being talked about given context in 2nd half:

_He said that export-oriented manufacturing declined from 13.5 per cent in FY2014 to 0.4 per cent in FY2018 while growth in domestic market-oriented manufacturing increased from 2.8 per cent to 24.6 per cent. _


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## Homo Sapiens

Bilal9 said:


> To break it down (and mind you I am no economist - I simply call 'em like I see 'em), the growth in Bangladesh so far has been internal consumption-driven rather than external FDI driven, like in Vietnam and Thailand for example. Of course FDI is becoming a larger share of the pie gradually, but we are still talking about a voracious market (Just like Pakistan) of consumer goods. Bangladeshis are big-spenders on clothing, food and entertainment unlike people in some other countries I have seen, who shy away from spending a lot.
> 
> As Bangladeshi families have accumulated wealth by one reason or another (some lower middle class folks by overseas remittance), lifestyles have improved, so has disposable income. That income has driven consumption of FMCG personal hygiene and food products, driven purchase of durable goods like cellphones, LED TV's, kitchen appliances and aircons. Which has led to a mini industrial and commercial boom locally.
> 
> Local assembly and production of two wheelers have skyrocketed whereby most larger Japanese brands have gone from SKD to CKD production.
> 
> Some local two wheeler makers design and make their own powerpacks as well as sheetmetal using CAD/CAM. Some local cellphone makers have gone to basic component level manufacture (screens and SMD components) but almost all cellphones sold locally are AT LEAST assembled locally on SKD basis (SAMSUNG etc.).
> 
> These industrial activities have meant that the level of automation has rapidly risen, requiring more talented workers (Electronics/automotive assembly, Pharma) rather than semi-skilled manufacture in other, more primitive - manual labor industries.
> 
> These are the phases most industrial countries pass through. Nothing to worry about on these trends.


I do not know why people are trying to find negativity in this report. Perhaps '38 percent decline' strike them most. According to this report, although number of large and medium manufacturing plants decrease by 38 percent, but manufacturing by value increased by 57 percent and employment by 6.4 percent within this period. So it is about, consolidation of bigger manufacturing plants and shutting down of loss making and non performing plants due to intense competition. Smaller number of big plants are now generating more production and employment. Only 6.4 percent employment growth despite 57 percent output growth by value indicate that, our manufacturing plants are becoming more labor productive. These are overall a positive trend.

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## Baby Leone

Mage said:


> Google bkash. It is a digital payment company. It's monthly transaction is like 40,000 crore taka. Now tell me what do you have in Pakistan of its calibre? Then we can talk.


care to share proof? or is it also like you country's economic numbers out of hot air?

ever heard of draz.pk and ali express there are dozens of online shopping sites even so many people in Pakistan has started their own start ups.

waiting for 4000000 crores proof

as per data the total market size of Bangladesh ecommerce is mere 17 billion Taka and you shamelesly saying only one company monthly transaction is 400 billion

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/e-commerce-business-growing-fast-1529640416

what a shameless creature you people are dont even feel shame? and you are right we dont have your caliber we cannt lie and talk in hot air that much


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## Mage

Baby Leone said:


> care to share proof? or is it also like you country's economic numbers out of hot air?
> 
> ever heard of draz.pk and ali express there are dozens of online shopping sites even so many people in Pakistan has started their own start ups.
> 
> waiting for 4000000 crores proof


That's why I said search in Google. Daraz is in BD. And so is Ali express. I wasn't to know what is Pakistan's own digital payment/marketing thing. And the worth of its total transactions. 
http://m.theindependentbd.com//printversion/details/190063

In September 2018 their average daily transaction was 1007 crore. And that's just bkash. BD also have rocket, u-cash, Nagad and other payment system. And these are BD's own system. Please tell me about what Pakistan have. 

http://www.dhakatribune.com/what-the-world-says/2017/09/11/fortune-bkash-changing-world/

That's a news from 2017. Tell me in Pakistan what do you have in 2019 that is comparable to this. Thank you.



Baby Leone said:


> what a shameless creature you people are dont even feel shame? and you are right we dont have your caliber we cannt lie and talk in hot air that much


My post was about online transaction and money transfer. Not e-commerce market.

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## Baby Leone

Mage said:


> My post was about online transaction and money transfer. Not e-commerce market.


then pls learn to read comment first as my post was clearly about E commerce and not mere digital transactions.


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## Mage

Baby Leone said:


> then pls learn to read comment first as my post was clearly about E commerce and not mere digital transactions.


You talked about credit cards. It's a medium for money transfer.

And tell me how BD's e-commerce market is non-existent compared to Pakistan? Pak's e-commerce market size was 20 billion pkr in 2017.BD's was 17 billion taka(equivalent to 30 billion pkr) in 2017. Pakistan's market size increased to 40 billion pkr in 2018. While BD's 2018 figures aren't out yet.
https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/e-commerce-business-growing-fast-1529640416
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1835428/2-pakistans-e-commerce-market-nearly-doubles-rs40b/

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## Black_cats

*Protectionism may cause trade tensions worldwide, says PM Hasina*
Published: May 30, 2019 15:13:23 | Updated: May 30, 2019 15:30:10 




Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

The growing protectionist move from many countries may lead to a worldwide trade tension despite Asia being in support of liberalising trade and investment, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina shared her thoughts as the keynote speaker in ‘The Future of Asia’ conference at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on Thursday.

Despite the positive experience, in recent years a growing trend of trade protectionism is visible as on the other hand, Asia has long been in support of liberalising trade and investment, said Hasina. The protectionist move from many countries may eventually lead to a worldwide trade tension, she said.

“It is a simple economics that tariff rise will cause decline in GDP growth.”

“I expect, this Nikkei Forum will suggest how to strengthen the cooperation of Asian countries and how to deal with protectionism within multilateral trading regime,” the prime minister said.

Today’s world is confronted with challenges and conflicts in many ways, said Sheikh Hasina. “We need to pledge to strengthen the world with greater openness, jointly address global challenges, safeguard fairness and justice and inject new impetus to cooperate using innovative ideas and measures.”

Economies should take innovative practices surpassing alliances. Partnerships need to build on mutual trust and respect, common development and prosperity for a win-win strategy and to the benefit of people; Asian countries need to cooperate with each other in the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, equality, sharing benefits and joint contribution, believes the prime minister. Asia's future will depend on sustainable and balanced development, improving international order and establishing win-win international relations, she said.

“We have to face the development challenges collectively. We may pool together as a group to boost world peace and stability, promote a multi-polar world and protect legitimate rights and interests of developing countries,” Hasina said.

The prime minister shared the economic growth in Bangladesh under her leadership to the forum.

“Bangladesh is recognised as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. We have had a growth rate averaging 6.6 per cent in last one decade, and over 7.0 per cent during the last three years. An 8.13 per cent GDP growth is projected for this year,” she said.

“As Bangladesh is now well set on its growth trajectory, I am confident that the economy will achieve double digit growth soon.”

PWC in a report listed Bangladesh among the top 32 countries which will be the biggest and most powerful economies in 2050, said the prime minister as she highlighted the economic growth.

Rapid expansion of the industrial sector enabled Bangladesh to double annual export earnings to $36.67 billion in just five years, said the prime minister. The McKinsey & Company has dubbed Bangladesh as one of the fastest growing sourcing destinations, emerging manufacturing and distribution hubs, and an expanding consumption economy.

Bangladesh has one of the most liberal foreign investment regimes in South Asia including protection of foreign investment by law, generous tax policy, and concessionary duty on import of machinery, said the prime minister. It also offers hundred per cent foreign equity, unrestricted exit, full repatriation of dividend and capital as it enjoys preferential access to most of the leading world markets, including EU, Canada, and Japan, Hasina said.

“Success of our ready-made garments sector is globally known. We are the second largest readymade garments exporter in the world, after China. Apparel is our number one export product to Japan,” Hasina said.

Bangladesh is now a major global hub for quality medicine exporting medicines to more than 100 countries, including the US, the UK, Australia and Africa, she said.

Ship-building has drawn global attention by producing world-class ocean-going vessels. Bangladeshi companies have supplied passenger and cargo ships to 14 countries in Europe.

“Software is yet another promising industry in Bangladesh. Among 800 Software and IT companies of Bangladesh, over 150 are specialised in serving overseas’ clients. More than 20,000 Bangladeshi IT professionals are working in various reputed IT companies all over the world, including Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Oracle and Cisco,” said Hasina.

She also mentioned agro-based products, jute goods, home appliances, light engineering products, leather products, pharmaceuticals, and electronic gadgets making a mark in the world market.

The prime minister mentioned the prioritising and modernisation of the agriculture sector by her government that resulted in making Bangladesh self-sufficient in food production despite the population growing more than double since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, bdnews24.com reported.

Hasina also highlighted the development in public health services with more than 18,500 community clinics and Union Health and Family Welfare Centres at rural and community level to provide healthcare services to the grassroots people.

The maternal mortality rate declined to 172 per 100 thousand live births in 2018 from 303 in 2006. Infant mortality rate fell to 24 per 1,000 live births in 2018 from 48 in 2006 while under-5 mortality rate to 31 per 1,000 live births from 62.5 in 2006. Vaccination coverage is now 82.3 per cent and life expectancy is more than 72.8 years, she said.

Bangladesh has always promoted peace and progress that would directly benefit the people, said the prime minister. Increasing close interdependence among economies in Asia and beyond will add further wealth to the economies and societies, she said.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/...-tensions-worldwide-says-pm-hasina-1559207827

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## Black_cats

*Summit, Mitsubishi appraise PM on progress of US$ 3bn investment in Bangladesh*

http://m.theindependentbd.com//post/201645

Independent Online Desk 




Muhammed Aziz Khan, founder Chairman of Summit Group (left) and Jun Nishizawa, Group CEO of Natural Gas Group, Mitsubishi Corporation (right) updates Honorable Prime Minister on USD 3 billion investment in Bangladesh. Photo: Courtes 
Mitsubishi Corporation and Summit Group on Thursday appraised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina about the progress of the Summit-Mitsubishi and GE’s investment of $USD 3 billion in Bangladesh.

Jun Nishizawa, Group CEO of Natural Gas Group of Mitsubishi Corporation and Muhammed Aziz Khan, founder Chairman of Summit Group met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at New Otani Hotel, Tokyo during a business breakfast meeting to appraise her about the investment progress.

They also discussed other power and energy projects being pursued by Summit and Mitsubishi, said the Summit Group in a media release issued from Tokyo.

Jun Nishizawa said they are happy to have successfully partnered in Bangladesh’s second FSRU terminal with Summit Group. “Mitsubishi has a track record and is keen to invest into gas-to-power project in Bangladesh with our partner Summit Group in order to contribute to the country’s growing energy demand.”

The scope of this project includes four units of 600 MW combined cycle power plants (total generating capacity of 2,400 MW), two units of on-shore LNG terminal with total of 380,000 m³ capacity, oil terminals with 100,000 MT capacity and another 300 MW HFO-based power plant.

Summit will be the majority owner of the project while Mitsubishi and GE will be owning the remaining one.

The project is designed to be completed at a global best tariff by 2023 beginning from 2019.

With implementation of this project in 2023, Summit will be doubling its generation capacity.UNB.

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## Bilal9

I get the feeling that Sheikh Hasina's ODA deal with Mr. Abe, which was successful - should have been combined with a vigorous sales pitch in Japan (unlike what we see in the video above) and it should have been much more energetic and filled with a bit more camaraderie, such as a Video presentation in Japanese outlining the promise we hold as an investment destination. Maybe the personal pitch should have been made in Japanese too - with Young Bangladeshi entrepreneurs speaking dubbed Japanese along-with existing Japanese investors from Bangladesh.

In this respect she should have taken a leaf from Mr. Mahathir, whose sales pitches for investment in Malaysia (especially to Japan) are legend for three decades (minus the few years when he wasn't in charge), and are in a class all by itself. Flanked by his star businessmen, he always made a convincing case for investments in Malaysia, as a result Japanese companies are some of the top investors there.

Staidly rattling of a list of export zone installations in halting English (all named after her dad by the way) will not find burning enthusiasm among Japanese investors. This is not the UN Human Rights Commission, these are people with money trying to find a safe place to park it for a while. And they need to be CONVINCED!

We need to UP our game to say the least....


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## Homo Sapiens

*Bangladesh is handling the Chinese smartphone onslaught way better than India*
*By Ananya Bhattacharya57 minutes ago*

Chinese brands may have flooded India’s smartphone market, but across the border, in Bangladesh, local brands have found steadfast loyalists.

The overall smartphone market in Bangladesh grew 45% year-on-year (YoY) in January-March 2019 on the back of an “increase in the availability of locally manufactured devices,” Counterpoint Research said in a report yesterday (May 30).

Sales of made-in-Bangladesh devices increased 29% quarter-on-quarter to comprise 41% of Bangladesh’s smartphone market, data from the Hong Kong-based firm show.


Read rest of the article at-
*https://qz.com/india/1632012/xiaomi-oppo-vivo-trail-local-brand-symphony-in-bangladesh/*

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## 从八品主簿

Yes, this is also the accumulation process of national capital.

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## Mage

Bangladesh need to put much higher taxes on foreign import phones. Otherwise the market will be swallowed by foreign phones.

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## Abu Shaleh Rumi

Mage said:


> Bangladesh need to put much higher taxes on foreign import phones. Otherwise the market will be swallowed by foreign phones.


And it will fuk affordability and purchasing power! But, I support it. Bangladesh first...

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## Baby Leone

lol which Bangladeshi brand has 41% market share?

as per latest stats below is the mobile phone market share in Bangladesh

Samsung 33%
Unknown 28%
Huawei 9%
Xiaomi 7.2 %
Oppo 4.5 %
Symphony 3%
http://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/bangladesh

can someone tell me which one of these are Bangladeshi brand?

i dont think smart phone market is totally different picture.


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## namefield_empty

What category of consumers does the Maximus, the mobile brand that recorded close to 800 pc YoY growth, cater to? Happened to visit their site, arranged their devices in order of decreasing prices, and looked into the specs of the first entry. That device is weaker than my late 2013 bought phone which btw is still working, about 9000 INR in price. People in India would choose to buy better mobiles at 5000-7000 INR from Chinese or local brands with much better specs than that.

http://www.maximus-mobile.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=149


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## Armchair

Symphony phones are actually "made in Bangladesh" in name alone. They are fully manufactured in China, with a nice little logo.

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## Mage

Baby Leone said:


> lol which Bangladeshi brand has 41% market share?


Walton has a decent share. Symphony too. But I doubt it will reach 41%..
More like 20-25%. Parts of Unknown+Symphony.....I guess.


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## INDIAISM

That's because Bangladesh is not a signatory of *Information Technology Agreement* (*ITA*)....Our leaders were idiots who signed that agreement in 1997...BC they destroyed our electronic manufacturing industry by signing that agreememt....One of the main reason why i don't like congress..First ITA and then FTA with Asean in 2009 that doesn't even include service sector...I mean seriously WTF they were thinking...


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## Mage

Abu Shaleh Rumi said:


> And it will fuk affordability and purchasing power! But, I support it. Bangladesh first...


Buy Bangladeshi phone......we as a country will not progress of our people keep thinking that Bangladeshi products are of poor quality. Force them to use these products. They will start liking it.

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## Destranator

Baby Leone said:


> lol which Bangladeshi brand has 41% market share?
> 
> as per latest stats below is the mobile phone market share in Bangladesh
> 
> Samsung 33%
> Unknown 28%
> Huawei 9%
> Xiaomi 7.2 %
> Oppo 4.5 %
> Symphony 3%
> http://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/bangladesh
> 
> can someone tell me which one of these are Bangladeshi brand?
> 
> i dont think smart phone market is totally different picture.



The article has not claimed that Bangladeshi brands make up 41%. They are saying locally made devices (of both local and foreign brands) made up 41% of sales last quarter. This is entirely possible given Samsung and Symphony also manufacture locally.
This article claims 95% of Samsung handsets sold are locally made and that locally made devices are expected to make up 30% of sales for the year.
https://www.thedailystar.net/busine...esh-assembly-meet-30pc-handset-demand-1749505



Mage said:


> Buy Bangladeshi phone......we as a country will not progress of our people keep thinking that Bangladeshi products are of poor quality. Force them to use these products. They will start liking it.


MaBaGA

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## Homo Sapiens

Baby Leone said:


> lol which Bangladeshi brand has 41% market share?
> 
> as per latest stats below is the mobile phone market share in Bangladesh
> 
> Samsung 33%
> Unknown 28%
> Huawei 9%
> Xiaomi 7.2 %
> Oppo 4.5 %
> Symphony 3%
> http://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/bangladesh
> 
> can someone tell me which one of these are Bangladeshi brand?
> 
> i dont think smart phone market is totally different picture.


Symphony is the market leader in Bangladesh. There is noway it is only 3%. This website's data on Bangladesh contain error. Unknown 28% look suspicious. It is perhaps taken out of Symphony's share.

The original article failed to convey the correct massage. It should be 41% locally assembled Bangladeshi and foreign brand. Not only Bangladeshi brand. Now a large segment of Samsung smart phone selling in Bangladesh comes from local assembly unit. So Locally produced local brand Symphony+Walton as well as locally assembled foreign brand Samsung make up the 41%.

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## UKBengali

Excellent news of this massive 3 billion US dollar investment in BD.

@Nilgiri

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## mb444

BD needs to be smart . Use tarrif, para tarrif, incentives, grants and tax breaks to ensure that manuafacturing of critical products like mobile occurs in country so that first and foremost the consumers get a good deal.

With the upcoming 5G and IOT technology BD needs to set out its position immediately and follow through. This is the new big thing and BD should seek to be an early entrant in 5G enabled product manufacturing and support.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> Excel news of this massive 3 billion US dollar investment in BD.
> 
> @Nilgiri



Its funny because this was the exact kind of thing I was suggesting over the nuclear power white elephant.

We support you doing it through GE. GE is a big manufacturer in India. 

https://in.reuters.com/article/indi...-facility-as-export-hub-idINKBN0LI0CZ20150214


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## Nilgiri

Al-Ansar said:


> The article has not claimed that Bangladeshi brands make up 41%. They are saying locally made devices (of both local and foreign brands) made up 41% of sales last quarter. This is entirely possible given Samsung and Symphony also manufacture locally.
> This article claims 95% of Samsung handsets sold are locally made and that locally made devices are expected to make up 30% of sales for the year.
> https://www.thedailystar.net/busine...esh-assembly-meet-30pc-handset-demand-1749505
> 
> 
> MaBaGA



Locally made = local final assembly. As @Armchair has referenced, this is a tiny proportion of final cost....its essentially all made in china.

BD just has no genuine MVA capability yet.

A good benchmark is when you actually export the final assembled product at some actual level that matters...then you know you are actually somewhere in the juicy MVA bit....since you are actually doing something of note in that case.



INDIAISM said:


> That's because Bangladesh is not a signatory of *Information Technology Agreement* (*ITA*)....Our leaders were idiots who signed that agreement in 1997...BC they destroyed our electronic manufacturing industry by signing that agreememt....One of the main reason why i don't like congress..First ITA and then FTA with Asean in 2009 that doesn't even include service sector...I mean seriously WTF they were thinking...



Not really, there is very lax application of the agreement with lot of litigation going on just for China.

India fault is more poor investment handling and lack of critical reform for good chunk of 10 years under UPA.

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## Bilal9

Proton Bangladesh (PHP Group) has started CKD assembly of the following Proton vehicles.







Starting with my favorite, X70





EXORA






PERSONA





New SAGA





PREVE







And a few PHP Branded Motorbikes...

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## Bilal9

I don't know - that guy in the picture looks like a Walton employee (not a Chinese guy either). And these are basic circuit board SMD component assembly devices for cellphones. Made-in-China my foot.

Sanghi Cockroaches here spewing bullsh*t as always...just because fraudulent Indian business people couldn't do it (and they are passing on third rate SKD-assembled cellphones in India to consumers), doesn't mean folks in Bangladesh can't make a better product. By the way screens are also made locally, but not 100% sure on that.

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## Bilal9

Homo Sapiens said:


> Symphony is the market leader in Bangladesh. There is noway it is only 3%. This website's data on Bangladesh contain error. Unknown 28% look suspicious. It is perhaps taken out of Symphony's share.
> 
> The original article failed to convey the correct massage. It should be 41% locally assembled Bangladeshi and foreign brand. Not only Bangladeshi brand. Now a large segment of Samsung smart phone selling in Bangladesh comes from local assembly unit. So Locally produced local brand Symphony+Walton as well as locally assembled foreign brand Samsung make up the 41%.



Agreed on all points.

@Baby Leone your source is completely wrong on current Bangladeshi Cellphone market scenario. Almost half of the cellphones sold in Bangladesh come from local brands like Symphony and Walton (there are other local brands with smaller market-share as well and more to come soon). Eventually other than premium market phones like Samsung Galaxy, and higher end phones from LG , Huawei, ZTE, more than 75% of the market will be local and Bangladeshi brands will start exports overseas (with OEM export being first step). There is no reason not to. Our entrepreneurs are fully funded and innovative and labor cost is super low.

Symphony set up a factory in Northern Dhaka area for 30 crore,





According the story below (which is from a year ago), locally manufactured and assembled cellphones comprise 1.5 crore sets yearly, which is half of local demand.





*Walton Mobile MANUFACTURING ( NOT ASSEMBLY!!!) Published three days ago!! Made-in-China My Foot!!! Even heat-treated fastener screws are made in house!*
Burn Sanghis Burn!!!

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## Nilgiri

BD exported 86k of cellphones (likely nothing manufactured) compared to 1 billion USD for India.

http://www.worldstopexports.com/cellphone-exports-by-country/

Can do your conversion what that is per person. I mean comes to something like 12,000 times the total with 8 times more people.

Easiest 3rd party vetting there is for what MVA you actually have.

Can check import ratio too:

http://www.worldstopexports.com/cellphone-imports-by-country/

BD = 580 million USD
India = 2.2 billion USD (4 times for 8 times the people)

So India exports about 50% of what it imports in cellphones.

BD pretty much only imports....and twice the rate per capita than India.

So yeah no one gives a crap about final 10% assembly brochure stuff with people posing. Can call it "manufacturing" all you want.

Anyone can look at the OEC composition for BD exports and imports too. Import wise its very telling exactly what BD imports (forget exports)....stuff one would expect from an energy-consumption stagnant LDC....developing zilch capability...but just running an inflation racketeering circus.

After all there's a reason why BD can only manage measly 2 dollars of FDI invested outside per person. Very related to how its "airport" looks and functions. 

I'm sure said FDI-intensity outflow (and all 3rd party parameters not under the control of BAL "data" dept) will increase to double digits right around the year BD does finally do that export order of refrigerators to Thailand 

Walton after all puts out the videos, but not one basic financial release for how long now? 1 billion in exports to be targetted in 10 years (sorry about the early stronker stuff)!...so maybe then? Or just release another "target" in "10 years" time then?

No one outside BD can get a sense of anything to compare with anyone else...everything's gotta go thru the glorious govt or its corrupt monopoly affiliates.


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## Bilal9

Hatil is one of the local furniture manufacturers that is using CAD/CAM, CNC, robotics and other automation for various woodworking processes

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## Armchair

The Walton video is clearly showing assembly. We like to call it manufacturing but we don't actually make the batteries, or the key components. What you are seeing is putting different components together in a circuit board, etc. The government gives incentives for such "manufacturing" which is a value adding process.

I would be happy if we would be able to make the screens next. That would require quite a bit more investment.

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> Its funny because this was the exact kind of thing I was suggesting over the nuclear power white elephant.
> 
> We support you doing it through GE. GE is a big manufacturer in India.
> 
> https://in.reuters.com/article/indi...-facility-as-export-hub-idINKBN0LI0CZ20150214



Just part of the overall energy mix.
Dude you aware that BD spends 150 million dollars a year on nuclear tech research?


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## UKBengali

Armchair said:


> The Walton video is clearly showing assembly. We like to call it manufacturing but we don't actually make the batteries, or the key components. What you are seeing is putting different components together in a circuit board, etc. The government gives incentives for such "manufacturing" which is a value adding process.
> 
> I would be happy if we would be able to make the screens next. That would require quite a bit more investment.



Walton makes screens for tvs and mobiles.

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## Armchair

UKBengali said:


> Walton makes screens for tvs and mobiles.



Do you have any link that can prove that Walton makes touch screens for mobiles? By this I don't mean assembling a screen (as shown in some of the videos above) but manufacturing the screen.

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## Mage

Armchair said:


> Do you have any link that can prove that Walton makes touch screens for mobiles? By this I don't mean assembling a screen (as shown in some of the videos above) but manufacturing the screen.


Walton has claimed to manufacture tons of things. How much they actually manufacturer is a question tho. 


Nilgiri said:


> BD pretty much only imports....and twice the rate per capita than India.


Doesn't that mean that we have more money and establish the fact that Indians are miser...

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## Bilal9

Armchair said:


> Do you have any link that can prove that Walton makes touch screens for mobiles? By this I don't mean assembling a screen (as shown in some of the videos above) but manufacturing the screen.



First, correct your flag. Second, turn off your rental laptop at the Sangh Shakha and go home. Enough fun for today. No one owes you anything in the way of explanations. Google it yourself please.



Mage said:


> Walton has claimed to manufacture tons of things. How much they actually manufacturer is a question tho.
> 
> Doesn't that mean that we have more money and establish the fact that Indians are miser...



Some people have no idea how cellphones (and in fact circuit-boards for any type of electronics are manufactured). It is pointless to argue with folks who don't have basic knowledge about these processes.

In the last Walton Video we can easily see a three gang virgin motherboard and then SMD pick and place machine populating that combined motherboard, Then we see a wave-soldering machine. And this person is insinuating that means - assembly? Mathai gondogol.

Even Samsung and LG in China uses this same Walton process. I guess they 'assemble' too.

Assembly is what gets done in India and Pakistan, import complete cellphone sub-assemblies (semi-knockdown), batteries. complete populated SMD motherboards and ready screens from China and then screw together those screens, batteries and motherboards, slap an Indian brand-name on it and then call it a day. No wave soldering or SMD pick/place involved. THIS is called minimal technology screw together assembly, NOT manufacturing.

I would ask the Sanghis to show us footage of any ACTUAL cell phone 'manufacturing' in India. India does not have it AFAIK. You can thank your fly-by-night scammer business-people for that, out to make a quick buck off of Indians and nothing more.

India is the #1 HQ of cheater, fraud, dhokeybaaj baniyas. Profiting at the expense of hapless and clueless Indians.

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## Surya 1

Cheers.

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## UKBengali

Trolls getting seriously butthurt at this news.

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## UKBengali

Bilal9 said:


> First, correct your flag. Second, turn off your rental laptop at the Sangh Shakha and go home. Enough fun for today. No one owes you anything in the way of explanations. Google it yourself please.
> 
> 
> 
> Some people have no idea how cellphones (and in fact circuit-boards for any type of electronics are manufactured). It is pointless to argue with folks who don't have basic knowledge about these processes.
> 
> In the last Walton Video we can easily see a three gang virgin motherboard and then SMD pick and place machine populating that combined motherboard, Then we see a wave-soldering machine. And this person is insinuating that means - assembly? Mathai gondogol.
> 
> Even Samsung and LG in China uses this same Walton process. I guess they assemble too.
> 
> Assembly is what gets done in India and Pakistan, import complete cellphone sub-assemblies (semi-knockdown), batteries. motherboards and screens from China and then screw together those screens, batteries and motherboards and then call it a day. No wave soldering or SMD pick/place involved. This is called minimal technology manufacturing.
> 
> I would ask the Sanghis to show us footage of any cell phone 'manufacturing' in India. India does not have it AFAIK.



They seriously question Walton's ability to make 1080p LCD screens for mobiles when Walton manufactures from scratch 4K screens for TVs!

Walton just signed agreement with Germany to export their TVs into the German market and the Tamil retarded troll claims that they are a front company for China! Germans must be so dumb that they do not know this when our resident Tamil butt-hurt somehow has uncovered this!

BD government is giving the right incentives to Walton to grow into a successful multinational corporation to keep BD's growth momentum going.

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## mb444

Armchair said:


> The Walton video is clearly showing assembly. We like to call it manufacturing but we don't actually make the batteries, or the key components. What you are seeing is putting different components together in a circuit board, etc. The government gives incentives for such "manufacturing" which is a value adding process.
> 
> I would be happy if we would be able to make the screens next. That would require quite a bit more investment.



Your idocy is concerning....you call that assembly....you sure you saw the walton video and not the symphony video which is describing assembly.

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## mmr

First we need to stop smuggling phones from outside and then reduce raw material tax to zero...and keep increasing tax on finished goods. Start doing it not only cell phone but all finished goods of electronics. But does bd have enough STEM graduate? I dont think we are even top 30 counties. Our record on filling patents very low as our universities dont spend money on r and d and Bangladesh bank dont allow local companies to invest outside bd in fear of money laundering. But if we allowed that this will help local companies transfer of technology and patents from foreign companies. Something Indian auto manufacturers and many other sectors did successfully.

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## bluesky

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views/columns/the-gdp-paradox-1558538192

*The GDP paradox*
Helal Uddin Ahmed | Published: May 22, 2019 21:16:32 







Broadly speaking, there are three measures of national income or output in a country. These are: the sum of all incomes, in cash and kind, accruing to factors of production in a given time period; the sum of net outputs produced in various sectors of the economy; and the sum of consumers' expenditure on goods and services, government expenses on goods and services and net expenditure on capital goods. The total of income flows, net outputs and final expenditures will be the same, but the significance of each emanates from the fact that they reflect the total operation of a country's economy at the level of three basic functions - distribution, production and expenditure.

The most comprehensive measure of the total output in an economy is gross national product or GNP. The GNP is the market value of all final goods and services produced by an economy per year. It is simply the sum of personal consumption expenditure (C), government expenditure on goods and services (G), investments (I), and net exports (X-M). Gross Domestic Product or GDP is arrived at by deducting net exports from GNP. The national product equals the domestic product only in case of a completely closed economy, having no economic transactions with the outside world.

Estimation of national income accounts in Bangladesh is one of the core functions of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). Initially, national income accounting was a joint activity of BBS and Planning Commission. Since 1975, BBS has been engaged in calculating national accounts entirely on its own. It started compiling and publishing GDP and other national income accounting aggregates in 1972 by following production and expenditure approaches in line with the concepts and classifications of the 1968 UN System of National Accounts (SNA-1968). The fiscal-year 1972-73 was used as the base year for constant price estimates until 1988-89. The base year was then changed to 1984-85 in 1988-89; 1995-96 in 2000; and lastly 2005-06 in 2013 by adhering to the stipulations of SNA-1993. 2015-16 would be used as the new base-year from July 2020, when the latest system of national accounting (SNA-2008) would be applied. The number of sectors measured would then jump to 21 from the current 15, thereby expanding the scope for GDP. 

Estimates of national income by expenditure components are less elaborate. Here, estimates are made for basic aggregates like private and public consumption, gross fixed capital formation by private and public sectors, savings, exports and imports. Provisional GDP estimation by BBS based on production approach are subject to a number of qualifications, often due to non-availability of needed data. On the other hand, expenditure-based GDP estimations are relatively imprecise in nature because of the weaknesses in database used in the calculations. The estimates are also affected by limitations of the methodologies used in estimating components. Uncertainties in the actual expenditure are also likely to affect the volume of public sector investments. The basis for extrapolating private consumption expenditure and investment is quite fragile. Overall, stock changes are not accounted for owing to data limitations.

In the above backdrop, some criticisms have been levied recently by the country's leading think-tanks regarding the system of GDP measurement in Bangladesh and its credibility. During a recent discussion held at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), questions were raised about the quality of GDP statistics. GDP growth rate can be judged or evaluated from two perspectives. One is income inequality, which is constantly getting worse in Bangladesh as revealed by latest official data. The other is employment, which has not improved despite claims of high growth rate. A similar analysis was made by the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM), which claimed there was lack of consistency between remittances and high growth. The high industrial growth as shown by official GDP also does not match the figures for private investments. Besides, the gradual decline in incremental capital output ratio also raises questions, as Bangladesh ranks very poorly in the global cost of doing business chart. Most importantly, whereas the rate of decline in poverty during 2005-10 was 1.7 per cent, it deteriorated to 1.2 per cent during the high growth period of 2010-16.

The analysis by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) shows that despite claims of high growth rate, commensurate contributions to GDP by relevant sectors are not being observed. As there have not been sufficient investments against high growth, the labour productivity should have risen. But no technological or innovative transformation has taken place in Bangladesh in recent times that could enhance the productivity radically. The workers' income should also have increased in case of productivity improvement. But even official data show the reverse to be true. CPD says the GDP shown by BBS has not been realistic in recent times and has demanded that BBS should explain how GDP was being calculated.

This controversy surrounding GDP in Bangladesh is nothing new. For example, the growth in agriculture sector was negative and the remittances also decreased in 2015-16, but the growth rate was shown to be 7.11 per cent. The growth rate was again shown to be 7.28 per cent in 2016-17, but the remittances had decreased by over 14 per cent and the export growth rate was marginally above 1.0 per cent. The growth rate was shown to be 7.86 per cent in 2017-18 following initial projection of 7.65 per cent, despite negligible increases in productive capacity, investment and employment.

Even a former secretary of the statistics division claimed last year at a citizens' dialogue that she had seen how development statistics were polished or doctored during her tenure in the civil service. It is sad that we have not yet been able to devise a credible statistical system even after 48 years of our independent statehood. This lack of credibility in our statistical system and methods need to be addressed swiftly. There should be a transparent and all-encompassing dialogue on the subject in addition to streamlining the statistical system, as otherwise the real picture of our socio-economic development cannot be gauged properly.

_Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed is a retired Additional Secretary and former Editor of Bangladesh Quarterly. hahmed1960@gmail.com


@Homo Sapiens, @TopCat, @Atlas, @Black_cats, @Nilgiri_

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## bluesky

bluesky said:


> Even a former secretary of the statistics division claimed last year at a citizens' dialogue that she had seen how development statistics were polished or doctored during her tenure in the civil service. It is sad that we have not yet been able to devise a credible statistical system even after 48 years of our independent statehood.


The above says of the reality of BBS falsification all the time. It is too shameful for any nation for this kind of altercation. I am always personally skeptical about the GDP figure. It is on paper but is not reflected in the people's living standard or the way Dhaka looks with its broken roads and water cloggings although I must attest that some infrastructure development works are going on which is added to the Secondary Sector of GDP.

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## Pandora

Hasina is getting GDP figures fudged. There are no benefits to fudging figure except looking good in public but in long run it will harm economy and investor confidence.

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## UKBengali

Pandora said:


> Hasina is getting GDP figures fudged. There are no benefits to fudging figure except looking good in public but in long run it will harm economy and investor confidence.



What investor confidence? The whole world is investing big time in BD now and
they are not idiots.

Even China was accused of fudging GDP data and look where they are now.

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## Mage

bluesky said:


> The above says of the reality of BBS falsification all the time. It is too shameful for any nation for this kind of altercation. I am always personally skeptical about the GDP figure. It is on paper but is not reflected in the people's living standard or the way Dhaka looks with its broken roads and water cloggings although I must attest that some infrastructure development works are going on which is added to the Secondary Sector of GDP.


Well I think it's not possible to fudge GDP growth for a long time. If they claim growth is 8% then the growth can be 7% or even 6.5% but it's certainly not 4% or negative like Mr. Idune used to claim. If you look at GDP to tax ratio then you'll see it increasing. Exports are increasing. Forex were increasing couple years back but not now due to high import payments. Also GDP PPP figures are also increasing. Purchasing power is difficult to fudge. It's certain that BD is improving. Whether they are improving as fast as BAL want us to believe is debatable and the answer is perhaps not. But it's certainly not doing worse than before.

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## Homo Sapiens

bluesky said:


> It is on paper but is not reflected in the people's living standard or the way Dhaka looks with its broken roads and water cloggings


Do you think a country with just 1900 dollar per capita GDP will have a very good living standard ? or there will be no broken road and water clogging?

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## bluesky

Homo Sapiens said:


> Do you think a country with just 1900 dollar per capita GDP will have a very good living standard ? or there will be no broken road and water clogging?


I know you guys do not go out to see if people like us drink a 300 a cup tea or not that is why you do not see the reality in the living standard in BD. When the CPD guys are talking about the very low living standard of the normal people not compatible with GDP figure but you are talking about 1990year base rate. Not related.

By the way, did I do the back researches on the falsification of GDP data that are written in the news? It is the most renowned people who did this and is asking the govt on the reliability of data. It is not a matter what a novice like me or you talk. Better send a protest letter to the CPD and other educated people cosigned by that brat @UKBengali and Noakhailla @Bilal9 protesting their negative observation of GDP and call them Sanghi for telling it without fear and backlash.

By the way, when are you going to fix the waterlogging instead of falsifying the GDP data? It is sooo bad that cannot be covered by overstating GDP data. Shame on BCL brats.

@Atlas, @Nilgiri, @Mage



Homo Sapiens said:


> Do you think a country with just 1900 dollar per capita GDP will have a very good living standard ? or there will be no broken road and water clogging?


But, the unpatriotic BIDS/CPD guys are telling this $1,900 per capita is false. Send them a protest letter or bully them in the street BCL style short of murdering but, this is not the first time that the economists are doubting your GDP figures. Now I understand why the living standard remains soooo low!!!

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## VikingRaider

bluesky said:


> I know you guys do not go out to see if people like us drink a 300 a cup tea or not that is why you do not see the reality in the living standard in BD. When the CPD guys are talking about the very low living standard of the normal people not compatible with GDP figure but you are talking about 1990year base rate. Not related.
> 
> By the way, did I do the back researches on the falsification of GDP data that are written in the news? It is the most renowned people who did this and is asking the govt on the reliability of data. It is not a matter what a novice like me or you talk? Better send a protest letter to the CPD and other educated people cosigned by that brat @UKBengali and Noakhailla @Bilal9 protesting their negative observation of GDP and call them Sanghi for telling it without fear and backlash.
> 
> By the way, when are you going to fix the waterlogging instead of falsifying the GDP data? It is sooo bad that cannot be covered by overstating GDP data. Shame on BCL brats.
> 
> @Atlas, @Nilgiri, @Mage
> 
> 
> But, the unpatriotic BIDS/CPD guys are telling this $1,900 per capita is false. Send them a protest letter or bully them in the street BCL style short of murdering but, this is not the first time that the economists are doubting your GDP figures. Now I understand why the living standard remains soooo low!!!


Unfortunately hardcore supporters always ignore the another side of the coin. Extreme poverty reduced in Bangladesh that's true ( like reducing beggars etc etc) , but on the other hand poor ( actually lower middle class who can't do odd jobs) people are becoming more poor and rich becoming more rich.
Any development is not going to be very satisfactory unless it's directly making common people beneficial. Govt must create a balance. And also people should keep in mind that some selected developed area doesn't represent the whole Bangladesh.

And govt should seriously focus on many other issues as you mentioned.

Here is another analysis of prothrom alo related GDP growth and reality.

https://www.prothomalo.com/amp/opinion/article/1593975/জিডিপির-হিসাব-কতটা-বিশ্বাসযোগ্য

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## bluesky

Atlas said:


> Here is another analysis of prothrom alo related GDP growth and reality.
> 
> https://www.prothomalo.com/amp/opinion/article/1593975/জিডিপির-হিসাব-কতটা-বিশ্বাসযোগ্য


What Prothom Alo report says is more applicable to BD when its GDP remains low but its water/river/air pollution went as high as Himalaya. When the govt is busy to build some prestige projects, the traffic lights in Dhaka do not work and people have to bring out Dingi Boats after a half an hour rainfall. All the four rivers surrounding Dhaka are polluted and the fish there have become a source of poison instead of protein. 

Govt should change all these and a hundred other things so that people can live a civilized life. But, the govt is focusing on GDP figure, real or falsified. By the way, @Homo Sapiens, have you already sent a few protest letters to those economists?

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## VikingRaider

bluesky said:


> What Prothom Alo report says is more applicable to BD when its GDP remains low but its water/river/air pollution went as high as Himalaya. When the govt is busy to build some prestige projects, the traffic lights in Dhaka do not work and *people have to bring out Dingi Boats after a half an hour rainfall*. All the four rivers surrounding Dhaka are polluted and the fish there have become a source of poison instead of protein.


Yes right bro , it's the real pain. But I am wondering how is it possible to solve this issue in Dhaka ? Is there really any way?How water logging problem can be solved, can you please give me some clue?


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## bluesky

Atlas said:


> Yes right bro , it's the real pain. But I am wondering how is it possible to solve this issue in Dhaka ? Is there really any way? *How water logging problem can be solved, can you please give me some clue?*


I will remember your post and will some other day write a more detailed answer on solving the waterlogging issue. For now, please note that,

- Dhaka is surrounded by four rivers. These and waterbodies like Hatir Jheel can be made *discharge points.* However, the water level in the rivers is almost higher than Dhaka itself. So, at present, these cannot function as discharge points as water will not go down there. 

- So, expert Japanese, Korean or European companies should be invited to fix the issue in a comprehensive way. A large-scale survey, stormwater design analysis, the building of drainage channels with *pumping stations* supported by raised river banks with embankments are needed to discharge the stormwater.

- A hundred other things are needed.

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## Homo Sapiens

bluesky said:


> By the way, @Homo Sapiens, have you already sent a few protest letters to those economists?


Why? I am not an obsessive fanatic like you. Perhaps you should do a Kamikaze attack on BBS building to protest their data ''falsification'' ?



Atlas said:


> Unfortunately hardcore supporters always ignore the another side of the coin. Extreme poverty reduced in Bangladesh that's true ( like reducing beggars etc etc) , but on the other hand poor ( actually lower middle class who can't do odd jobs) people are becoming more poor and rich becoming more rich.
> Any development is not directly making common people beneficial. Govt must create a balance. And also people should keep in mind that some selected developed area doesn't represent the whole Bangladesh.
> 
> And govt should seriously focus on many other issues as you mentioned.
> 
> Here is another analysis of prothrom alo related GDP growth and reality.
> 
> https://www.prothomalo.com/amp/opinion/article/1593975/জিডিপির-হিসাব-কতটা-বিশ্বাসযোগ্য


There is no 'perfectly balanced' development model in the world. In a high growth capitalistic economy, inequality is bound to increase, at least in early stages. Even in Communist China, there is a huge wealth and developmental gap resulting from rapid growth of Economy. It takes time to trickle down the wealth from top to bottom. Not all people are equally capable to seize the economic opportunity.

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## Nilgiri

UKBengali said:


> Just part of the overall energy mix.
> Dude you aware that BD spends 150 million dollars a year on nuclear tech research?



BD could claim it spends 15 billion or 15 trillion dollars a year on whatever....numbers from BD govt don't matter.

How much 3rd party-vetted hard stuff do you get in return for it?

Not very much:

https://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php?category=3106

https://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php?category=2104

Gets even worse when you see the actual patents you get granted in the field too.


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## bluesky

Homo Sapiens said:


> Why? I am not an obsessive fanatic like you. Perhaps you should do a Kamikaze attack on BBS building to protest their data ''falsification'' ?


But, you are obsessed with 2041 status as a developed Golden Bangladesh when the govt is using fake data. Now, so many thinktanks are talking otherwise and busted your dream you must protest it.

A country's economy is a product of all economic activities of its population. A nation works hard to achieve development but BD people are talking development, not really working on it yet projecting this and that. BD has failed in 1IR, 2IR, and 3IR but now its politicians are talking about 4IR as if it is something of a toy you can buy in a shop. 

Start from the bottom. I have seen many posts sent by @Bilal9 in the "Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development------". One of the videos says of producing Boilers by many companies. This is what I can call a real achievement. There should be similar activities by the local industries that will cause an upward surge of economic development.

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> Walton has claimed to manufacture tons of things. How much they actually manufacturer is a question tho.
> 
> Doesn't that mean that we have more money and establish the fact that Indians are miser...



Misers we are aye:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...in-2018-idc/articleshow/67957147.cms?from=mdr

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prAP44948519

Smartphone sales (2018):

India = 142 million
BD = 7 million

India average price quoted as 158 USD per smartphone

Seems BD at that price range (and even below it) suffered dropping sales in 2018....and now rebounding because of economy-rate cheapo "smartphones":

https://www.counterpointresearch.com/smartphone-market-bangladesh-grew-45-yoy-q1-2019/

Taking 2018 average BD smartphone to be costing the highest of the quoted range (75 dollars).

Thats 22.5 billion sales in India versus 525 million USD sales in BD.

Comes to about 5 times spent on smartphones per capita.

Still think Taka nominal GDP can be converted 1:1 to USD at same credibility with other countries (esp SDDS standard)? 

Then the noakhalia idiot blabs with pictures and posturing from "trials" LOL :

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/walton-kicks-trial-assembly-handsets-1467250

We all know what the sustained success rate of walton "trials" (when it comes to any production or any export) is in the end. Still waiting on those refrigerators to Thailand from 2015 .

The company that still does not release a basic revenue report lol (for 5+ years now?). Continually doing trials and brochures....and now some fellow scam company "symphony" has run roughshod over them on cheap <5% MVA (guess they realised the "trial" nonsense gets nowhere).

Then you really want to compare with (actual yearly financial report release) companies that actually know what they are doing when they quote what the MVA reality is where they operate and how they plan to expand it?:

https://telecom.economictimes.india...ing-in-india-setups-three-new-plants/63677803

https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...inted-circuit-boards/articleshow/63690249.cms

https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...ake-in-india-a-boost/articleshow/63552812.cms

https://www.ibtimes.co.in/make-indi...mestic-mobile-components-manufacturing-766171

https://www.electronicsb2b.com/eb-specials/industry-report/where-is-the-indian-pcb-industry-headed/

I mean can anyone find just one BD article that even talks about this stuff in the numbers that matter?:

========================

_As per industry sources, China's Oppo and Vivo have also started PCB assembling in India, but are yet to make formal announcements. Queries sent to these companies went unanswered. Korean handset major Samsung has been doing PCB assembly in the country since 2006.

PCBs make up about 50% of the cost of making a phone. South Korea’s Samsung is among the only major brand that assembles PCBs in India. BCD on populated PCBs, camera modules, and connectors will push local assembly or manufacturing of these components, as companies who make here will get a price advantage over those who don’t.

"Xiaomi's PCBA announcement should make it the second largest brand in terms of value addition in India after Samsung. It should also increase their value addition from single digit to close to 15%. This is critical for Xiaomi as sourcing and ironing out supply chain issues is very critical for its product planning
," Traun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research said. "Local value addition in India was 10% in CY 2017 from 5.6% in CY 2016," he added._

===========

Does BD have even one trade fair on actually making and selling SMT machines (forget showing SMT "trials" in some failed scam company) yourself in the country?:






Also calls @Armchair as a "sanghi" first thing:



Bilal9 said:


> First, correct your flag. Second, turn off your rental laptop at the Sangh Shakha and go home. Enough fun for today.



just because Armchair doesnt buy that its real manufacturing....you can't make up this emotional twats reactions lol. One cursory look at @Armchair posts will tell you otherwise:

https://defence.pk/pdf/search/17188035/

@bluesky can you tell me why ppl from noakhalia are known for just religious riots, extreme stupidity and why they are clustering in sanctuary cities in US (after overstaying their visa lottery?)...and braying about bhadralok tea....and making enemies out of everyone that simply questions them?


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## bluesky

Nilgiri said:


> @bluesky can you tell me why ppl from noakhalia are known for just religious riots, extreme stupidity and why they are clustering in sanctuary cities in US (after overstaying their visa lottery?)...and braying about bhadralok tea....and making enemies out of everyone that simply questions them?


Noakhilla people have a ghetto mentality. They try not to mix with others in BD and most other people also avoid Noakhailla people. While in Bd I had little chance to mix with them. In Japan, I try to avoid them, I am not alone. I was not surprised to know that @Bilal9 is a pure blooded Noakhailla. He shows this character very clearly being self-centered.

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## UKBengali

Nilgiri said:


> BD could claim it spends 15 billion or 15 trillion dollars a year on whatever....numbers from BD govt don't matter.
> 
> How much 3rd party-vetted hard stuff do you get in return for it?
> 
> Not very much:
> 
> https://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php?category=3106
> 
> https://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php?category=2104
> 
> Gets even worse when you see the actual patents you get granted in the field too.



Stop changing the subject.

The nuclear plant is part of something much bigger in BD.

BD is taking it's nuclear tech expertise to another level with Roopur.


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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> Even a former secretary of the statistics division claimed last year at a citizens' dialogue that she had seen how development statistics were polished or doctored during her tenure in the civil service.



Say it isn't so!



bluesky said:


> The above says of the reality of BBS falsification all the time. It is too shameful for any nation for this kind of altercation. I am always personally skeptical about the GDP figure.



Just give it time...everything airs out much better with time in the end. As more reality catches up and entrenches compared to the drama and dreams (that elites use to buy time till they find some other snake oil that sells better).



Mage said:


> Well I think it's not possible to fudge GDP growth for a long time.



You can't...any fudging BD is doing now (at such early stage quite unnecessarily) will catch up with it later. It does not have a massive forex pile in between like China does (if people want to compare there).



Mage said:


> If they claim growth is 8% then the growth can be 7% or even 6.5% but it's certainly not 4% or negative like Mr. Idune used to claim.



How did you come to that conclusion? What does real GDP growth of say 4% compared to 6.5% to 7% etc even look like for the 95% of people?

You understand that 4% growth era can be lot better than a 8% growth era...depending on where the actual growth is happening (say hard capex fuelled rather than equity inflation fuelled).

This is why its good to look at the lowest broad base input that cannot be lied about (like energy consumption, exports, investment, physical output parameters).

When you do that....... BD is not growing (when you correlate with other countries that went thru same stage) anywhere close to what it claims. What the actual real growth is....just depends on what clarity and scope of standards BD chooses to use to measure and implement w.r.t GDP.

They very key thing people should understand is that GDP is an ESTIMATE. It has intrinsic confidence and credibility intervals (like any estimate)....but those are not overtly calculated....but they can be roughly gauged.

In BD case its very wide and skewed towards a lower amount given its PPP ratio, use of only one industry (reliant 0 tariff access in its major markets) to gauge its exchange rate....and the faultiness of applying that exchange rate to Taka economy with same credibility implication as every other developing peer.



Mage said:


> If you look at GDP to tax ratio then you'll see it increasing.



You mean other way around? What does this have to do with the GDP? Given BD corruption level, it would do better improving (delivery wise) on the previous extraction rate margin rather than grabbing more. One would assume private sector with even basic competition returns much more to the BD economy for every taka collected/spent....compared to an atrocious govt that runs 95% win elections and uses ham fisted excise tax policy to sleazily keep all labour pools contained to just one industry (and I suppose labour export too) for forex sector.



Mage said:


> Exports are increasing.



Not really. Nowhere near enough (given low base still) to correlate to the GDP growth. And BD could muster from its earnings in the last decade "boom" or so about 2 dollars per person in reverse FDI (very key in growing more industry from foreign know-how and expertise)....when it should really be more like 5 times that level at least.

It really does not add up (it means lot of the profit buffer is just soaked up internally to keep status quo)

Then you refer to others as misers. Its really funny hearing that from a 360 million dollar FDI external stock country.



Mage said:


> Forex were increasing couple years back but not now due to high import payments.



BD was not posting huge surpluses or anything in the earlier era. The stagnancy now is more or less inevitable given it is running up against the RMG model ceiling (against lower labour cost with 0 tariff rate vs chinese bulk capital inertia) faster than it can diversify/harness into other streams.

This means to grow forex, BD must get more investors (its expats like India has notably done with NRI bonds....and also credible institutional investors..FDI+FPI etc). But that needs a govt that knows how to actually improve its credit rating, private investor confidence and base credibility etc. Running a 95% win election and dbling down on status quo and simply handing out brochures and fliers for "Walton" type scam groups.... hoping something miraculous clicks ....simply doesnt cut it.

Either you put country first, or you put your party+cushy living first. Which one is it for BAL?



Mage said:


> Also GDP PPP figures are also increasing.



Nowhere near suggesting the growth rate of GDP nominal claimed.



Mage said:


> It's certain that BD is improving.



Sure. But how much it is versus how much it ought to (with what it has) is something BD has to really explore now....rather than shy away from. Otherwise it will catch up with you later in bad way.

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## bluesky

Nilgiri said:


> This is why its good to look at the lowest broad base input that cannot be lied about (like *energy consumption, exports, investment, physical output parameters*).


I am not saying BD is not falsifying the GDP figure but the growth is not seen in daily life. However, one part of GDP growth seems to be arising from the *infusion of foreign money* every year in many prestige projects like Pyra Port, MetroLine, bridges, Karnaphuli Tunnel, etc. which are a part of the secondary sector of the economy.

Construction sector may not improve the lifestyle immediately but it is providing salaried employment to some people which *creates additional demand* for goods. So, the supply side gets a boost. This is how foreign construction money is also helping to a GDP growth but the lifestyle remains the same, at least for now.

What do you think about this? I wonder, how long this foreign money will keep on entering the market.

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## Nilgiri

bluesky said:


> I am not saying BD is not falsifying the GDP figure but the growth is not seen in daily life. However, one part of GDP growth seems to be arising from the *infusion of foreign money* every year in many prestige projects like Pyra Port, MetroLine, bridges, Karnaphuli Tunnel, etc. which are a part of the secondary sector of the economy.
> 
> Construction sector may not improve the lifestyle immediately but it is providing salaried employment to some people which *creates additional demand* for goods. So, the supply side gets a boost. This is how foreign construction money is also helping to a GDP growth but the lifestyle remains the same, at least for now.
> 
> What do you think about this? I wonder, how long this foreign money will keep on entering the market.



Well foreign money comes from exports, remittances (pooled and then invested) and loans (taken direct from an outside provider) mostly. FDI is still very low....and BD reverse FDI is basically zero.

Of course vast part of this is not in Taka...and has to be converted to Taka for use inside BD. The more it happens organically over time (through consumer+commercial demand and supply without too much artificial push/pull from govt or other such things)...the more BD economy when using some foreign exchange rate for final valuation will make sense.

As long as BD economy is behind world average (and then most developed countries), this will be recurring phenomenon and even grow in intensity since BD forex liquidity and world global integration is still quite limited.

The intensity is just different than you remember (from before) because BD is opening up to the world more compared to before and maybe there is issue of it not having more competitive "large scale" hands (business wise) outside of the govt....to better fill up the medium and small scale kind of foreign investment culture. So everything comes through one type of channel broadly only when it isn't being dispersed at the smallest hand-mouth level (like with remittance flow and RMG earnings etc). BD will need internal structural diversity as well to get the appropriate economic diversity in the "middle" economy stuff over time. It needs lot more commerce (with good basic know how and good links with providers of further know how) of all kind of scale....otherwise this extreme thing will be too dependent on the overall elasticity of the govt (which is not good in any developing country).

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## Homo Sapiens

Mage said:


> Well I think it's not possible to fudge GDP growth for a long time. If they claim growth is 8% then the growth can be 7% or even 6.5% but it's certainly not 4% or negative like Mr. Idune used to claim. If you look at GDP to tax ratio then you'll see it increasing. Exports are increasing. Forex were increasing couple years back but not now due to high import payments. Also GDP PPP figures are also increasing. Purchasing power is difficult to fudge. It's certain that BD is improving. Whether they are improving as fast as BAL want us to believe is debatable and the answer is perhaps not. But it's certainly not doing worse than before.


You can also co-relate our national budget with GDP. In 2018-2019 year our national budget is equivalent of 55 billion dollar(4.65 trillion Taka) at market exchange rate and GDP estimated by IMF for 2018 was 285 billion dollar. Now Bangladesh has one of the lowest tax to GDP ratio in the world and 90 percent of budget money sourced from within the country. Given such circumstances, is it possible for BD to present 55 billion dollar budget with just 100 or even 200 billion dollar GDP? Our tax to GD ratio is just 10 percent and national budget is 19 of GDP. With just 10 percent tax to GDP base, you can give budget maximum 20 percent of GDP with borrowing from internal and external sources, but it is impossible to raise that to 30 to 50 percent of GDP. So unless BD's GDP is anywhere near 300 billion, 55 billion dollar budget do not add up.

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## Nilgiri

Homo Sapiens said:


> You can also co-relate our national budget with GDP. In 2018-2019 year our national budget is 55 billion dollar and GDP estimated by IMF for 2018 was 285 billion dollar. Now Bangladesh has one of the lowest tax to GDP ratio in the world and 90 percent of budget money sourced from within the country. Given such circumstances, is it possible for BD to present 55 billion dollar budget with just 100 or even 200 billion dollar GDP? Our tax to GD ratio is just 10 percent and national budget is 19 of GDP. With just 10 percent tax to GDP base, you can give budget maximum 20 percent of GDP with borrowing from internal and external sources, but it is impossible to raise that to 30 to 50 percent of GDP. So unless BD's GDP is anywhere near 300 billion, 55 billion dollar budget do not add up.



Speaking as though BD govt collects in USD instead of Taka.

Try convert those claimed Taka's into USD. Just try.

The whole issue here is the applicability of converting anything macro-scale in Taka to a USD amount (based on exchange rate of just few kinds of non-diverse + heavily globalist aided transaction BD does with rest of the world).

BD effective inflation applies to everything Taka wise....the Taka is the currency the BD govt prints and actions levers on internally.

This is a key reason why BD cannot operationalise any real buying power in 3rd party disciplines.


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## Homo Sapiens

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/china-rmg-factories-may-shift-bangladesh-1752367

12:00 AM, June 02, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 08:10 AM, June 02, 2019
*China RMG factories may shift to Bangladesh*

*They eye joint ventures as trade war bites*

Bangladesh is still a competitive place for setting up factories because of lower cost of production. Photo: Star/File





Bangladesh is still a competitive place for setting up factories because of lower cost of production. Photo: Star/File

Refayet Ullah Mirdha and Jagaran Chakma

Some Chinese garment makers want to set up factories under joint venture in Bangladesh as they see the country as a competitive destination to relocate plants amid raging US-China trade war and the rising cost in the world’s second largest economy.

Chinese textile and garment industry owners have invested heavily in neighbouring Vietnam and Cambodia in the last two decades, but now they are focusing to shift their factories to Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The reasons for the change in focus include a lack of skilled workforce in Chinese textile and garment industry, rising cost of production, shifting industrial base to industries such as IT and over-investment in Vietnam and Cambodia where labour costs are lower.

“Now they are trying to shift the sunset industries to Myanmar and Bangladesh,” said Faisal Samad, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

The sunset industry refers to an industry that has existed for a long time and that is less successful and making less profit than previously.


Samad met with some entrepreneurs of Hong Kong-based Chinese Manufacturers’ Association during their visit to Dhaka from May 22 to May 26.

The entrepreneurs came to Bangladesh to explore investment opportunities.

“Bangladesh is still a competitive place compared to China, Vietnam and Cambodia for setting up industries because of lower cost of production, trade privileges granted in major markets such as the EU and China,” he said.

“They are interested to set up factories in fabrics, garment, printing and dyeing,” Samad said.

So far, Bangladesh hasn’t allowed foreign investment in basic apparels, limiting their presence in high-end and value-added textile and garment items.

A Chinese garment manufacturer, Robert Lok, managing director of Merit Tat International Ltd, said he was looking for potential business partner in Bangladesh to make fresh order for his brand. He was part of the Hong Kong delegation.

“I have seen very young and energetic labour force in Bangladesh in the readymade garment sector. Their skill and the quality of work is really world class,” he told The Daily Star.

He believes that his business will be viable if he manufactures in Bangladesh to export to the US and other countries.

“If I manufacture here, the price will be cheaper than in China,” he said, adding that the Chinese garment industry might be affected by the ongoing trade war.

Lok plans to make fresh order with potential garment manufacturers in Bangladesh before deciding to relocate his factory.

“Of course, I will tie up in joint venture with Bangladeshi partners in the future,” the manufacturer said, adding that some local garment giants have shown interest to team up with him to set up factories.

According to Lok, Merit Tat International has office and owns outlets in New York and Western Europe.

Lok said there is huge population in Bangladesh and it is advantageous for the sector to manage workers.

Moreover, the wage of the workers is lower compared to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Another Hong Kong-based Chinese garment maker Francis Man Piu Cheng said he was impressed with Bangladesh’s garment factories as they have skilled workers and mature management, which will be helpful to relocate his manufacturing plant to Bangladesh.

“I have already made some investment in the garment sector in Cambodia, but there is a lack of mature management there. So, I am thinking of establishing manufacturing plant in Bangladesh with potential partners.”

Cheng, also the chairman of fashion apparel group Wing Tai Asia, talked to three garment manufacturers in Bangladesh and his Bangladeshi counterparts have also shown interest.

He, however, expressed concern about the higher lead time in the garment sector in Bangladesh.

Most garment manufac-turers in China are worried about the ongoing US-China trade war, he said.

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## Bilal9

Homo Sapiens said:


> Moreover, the wage of the workers is lower compared to Vietnam and Cambodia.



That is literally the Million Dollar Benefit. And therein lies the key to success for apparel businesses from China and HK. However JV's with local businesses should be encouraged rather than outright foreign FDI. That way some of the investments (and profit) remain with local investors.

Which can then be re-invested back into the local economy.

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## Homo Sapiens

12:00 AM, June 02, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:39 AM, June 02, 2019
*Credit growth sinks to 56-month low
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/credit-growth-sinks-56-month-low-1752361*







AKM Zamir Uddin

Private sector credit growth sank to a 56-month low of 12.07 percent in April on the back of the ongoing liquidity crunch in the banking sector, in an ominous development that stands to slow down the economy’s tremendous growth momentum.

The growth is 4.43 percentage points less than the central bank’s target of 16.5 percent for the second half of the fiscal year. In the last two fiscal years, private sector credit growth hovered between 16 percent and 18 percent, only to dip at the turn of the fiscal year.

The declining trend will continue in the months ahead as the government is not bothered about addressing the problem, said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh.

One of the main reasons for the low credit growth is banks’ subdued deposit growth. “Neither the government nor the central bank has taken the matter into account,” he said.

Against the backdrop, many local businesses are now borrowing from foreign lenders because of the existing liquidity crisis and high lending rate, Mansur said.


“But, taking funds from foreign lenders is widening the financial risk.”

If the exchange rate of the taka drops against the US dollar, businesses would have to pay more, which would then have an adverse impact on the foreign exchange reserves, Mansur said.

The lower credit growth is an indication that the expansion of the private sector will grind to a halt in the near future, which will subsequently hit the GDP growth, said Mansur, also a former economist of the International Monetary Fund.

The economy is expected to expand at more than 8 percent this fiscal year and the next, catapulting it to the top three fastest growing nations in the world.

Without further ado, the government should cut the interest rate on national savings tools to stave off brewing tension in the private sector, Mansur said. 

“This is pivotal to strengthening the liquidity base of lenders.”

The continuous slide in credit growth has already created a vulnerable situation for both banks and the economy, said AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former adviser to a caretaker government.

If the trend of declining credit growth prolongs, profitability in the banking sector will shrink as lending is banks’ main income generator.

“Banks will have to recover their default loans at any cost to get rid of the liquidity crisis,” Islam added.

The majority of the banks are now under pressure to adjust the loan-deposit ratio as per the central bank’s instruction, said MA Halim Chowdhury, managing director of Pubali Bank.

Banks are now disbursing fresh loans in a cautious manner to maintain the ratio, which has ultimately hit the credit growth.

“Besides, the agreement between the government and the private banks’ sponsors to keep the interest rates for saving and lending at 6 and 9 percent respectively has also created a physiological problem for lenders.”

Many lenders are unwilling to disburse loans at 9 percent interest rate as they have to gather funds at a much higher rate, he added.

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## Mage

Nilgiri said:


> You can't...any fudging BD is doing now (at such early stage quite unnecessarily) will catch up with it later. It does not have a massive forex pile in between like China does (if people want to compare there).


You mean BBS have only started to fudge data now? BD have shown high growth rate 6% for decades. 


Nilgiri said:


> How did you come to that conclusion? What does real GDP growth of say 4% compared to 6.5% to 7% etc even look like for the 95% of people?
> 
> You understand that 4% growth era can be lot better than a 8% growth era...depending on where the actual growth is happening (say hard capex fuelled rather than equity inflation fuelled).
> 
> This is why its good to look at the lowest broad base input that cannot be lied about (like energy consumption, exports, investment, physical output parameters).
> 
> When you do that....... BD is not growing (when you correlate with other countries that went thru same stage) anywhere close to what it claims. What the actual real growth is....just depends on what clarity and scope of standards BD chooses to use to measure and implement w.r.t GDP.
> 
> They very key thing people should understand is that GDP is an ESTIMATE. It has intrinsic confidence and credibility intervals (like any estimate)....but those are not overtly calculated....but they can be roughly gauged.
> 
> In BD case its very wide and skewed towards a lower amount given its PPP ratio, use of only one industry (reliant 0 tariff access in its major markets) to gauge its exchange rate....and the faultiness of applying that exchange rate to Taka economy with same credibility implication as every other developing peer.


If the growth rate was significantly below the states growth rate the disparity would be noticeable by everyone. 

I do think that the GDP growth is not benefitting the majority though. Those who are very poor is earning more money with increase wage in garments and similar jobs. And those who are super rich or have govt job is earning much more too. But same cannot be said about middle class people. 

New food chains/restaurants, hotels, buildings are popping up everywhere. And they are making money too. Real estate price has increased and I don't think sales have dropped either. 


Nilgiri said:


> Not really. Nowhere near enough (given low base still) to correlate to the GDP growth. And BD could muster from its earnings in the last decade "boom" or so about 2 dollars per person in reverse FDI (very key in growing more industry from foreign know-how and expertise)....when it should really be more like 5 times that level at least.



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh#Gross_export_and_import

Export grew from 14 billion in 2007 to 34 billion in 2017. 250% growth in a decade. Likely that it will surpass 40 billion in 2019. 

FDI inflows haven't been satisfactory. But last year showed decent growth. Need to give couple more years to see where it goes. 


Nilgiri said:


> Then you refer to others as misers.


I see it got you triggered. 


Nilgiri said:


> Nowhere near suggesting the growth rate of GDP nominal claimed.


Increased from 4561$ to 4998$ according to IMF in a year. Not bad I'd say.

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## Homo Sapiens

Mage said:


> You mean BBS have only started to fudge data now? BD have shown high growth rate 6% for decades.


There is a limit on how much data can be fudged without getting caught. Even 1% GDP growth fudging over 20 years will create a big anomaly. With statistical maneuvering you can present 100 dollar worth goods as 110 or 120 dollar worth, but not 200 or 300. If such a large discrepancy existed in our GDP data then global lending giants like IMF and World Bank would have raised serious doubt long ago. But they did not. I remember, IMF and World Bank, for a long time did not accept Myanmar junta govt. provided data. As junta were always showing Myanmar economy was growing at double digit, and their currency was fixated against dollar at extremely high conversion rate but actual market exchange rate was much much lower. So they came up with their own estimate about the size of Myanmar economy and GDP growth.

If similar things happened with Bangladesh, their(IMF, World Bank) data would have shown vastly different than govt. provided data. If there was such a vast gap between Govt. provided data and the realities, our 'Doubting Thomas' in Bangladesh who are writing in newspapers or organizing seminars could have quantified the discrepancy rather than just raising doubt. So, if there is data fudging really present, is a small part of the overall picture and is not something which can show day as a night or night as a day.

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## UKBengali

Guys, 

Why you bothering with the Tamil low-life?

Just let him rant as much as he likes as it will not change anything for BD economy. 

Guy is seriously unwell and needs to be kept in a secure institution for his own well being.

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## bluesky

Nilgiri said:


> BD effective inflation applies to everything Taka wise....the Taka is the currency the BD govt prints and actions levers on internally.


I do not know about the situation in India but people do not accept even small 50 paisa coins in BD. So, 1 Taka has become effectively the minimum unit. Taka value is so low that the beggars will use rough words and throw back the money if it is two Taka. They do not like to accept less than a 5 Taka note. But, are all these because of inflation that is not counted properly?

Only @Homo Sapiens can say when there are no uses of small 1 or two paisa coins, why not the govt introduce 1 Taka, 2 Taka or 5 Taka coins, instead. The purchasing power of this 1 Taka has become almost the same as the value of 1 Paisa was before.

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## Bilal9

I had some choice words for this character, but will restrain myself since this is Ramadan.

Faisala abhi baki hai...

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## Bilal9

*MV Mahabaahu, a luxurious Indo-Bangla marine passenger vessel set sail on Brahmaputra*​
A Monitor Report
1 June, 2019

Dhaka : MV Mahabaahu, a luxurious Indo-Bangla marine passenger vessel set sail on Brahmaputra on April 29 from Assam for its first voyage to Kolkata, making a stop at Dhaka on May 6.

Dazzling sandbars, lush forests, close encounters with wildlife and ancient architecture - these are some of the delights that MV Mahabaahu offers to the guests.

Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Sundarbans, Mosque City of Bagerhat (Bangladesh) and Manas National Park in Assam - are among its stopovers.

They stayed on Assam for 7 days and left its Pandu port on a 17 day voyage with 43 persons on board including 10 foreign tourists, 8 British and 2 Indian. The rest are crew members.

They reached Dhaka on May 6 and again started for Kolkata on May 9. In September, they will start for Sundarbans from Kolkata.

"Our effort is to offer tourists to experience this 'off beat path' on the deliciously lush landscape where more than 700 rivers braid through the country.

Travelling by boat provides a fabulous opportunity to see the country differently,” said Neena Morada, Cruise Director, MV Mahabaahu.

This allowed the country to reveal its intricate weave of majority Muslims, Christian Adivasi Tribal, Buddhists and Hindu Cultures. Hilsha fishing with otters, floating markets and clay pottery are part and parcels of Bangla life which the guests got to enjoy.

In October last year, India and Bangladesh signed a new river route protocol, according to which tourist vessels from Assam will sail through Bangladesh for Kolkata. Following the treaty, MV Madhumati, RV Bengal Ganga and now MV Mahabaahu set sail.

MV Mahabaahu is a joint venture between Adventure Resorts and Cruises Limited and Assam Tourism Development Corporation. The local support in Bangladesh is provided by tour operator Journey Wallet Ltd.

"Foreigners are excited to take this trip. They used to cruise to Assam and Kolkata only. Now, they are getting to enjoy Bangladesh on the way. This 18-20 day long voyage on Assam-Bangladesh-Kolkata route is profitable for the ship companies and tour operators too. Many industries will benefit. The government will earn foreign currency as well," said Motiur Rahman, Managing Director, Journey Wallet Ltd.

The luxurious ship runs on three engines. It has a capacity of 44 persons. There are various categories of rooms. And the ship is equipped with all the 5-star facilities - spa, gym, game room, bar, restaurant etc. There are also local products displayed on the ship that foreigners can shop as per choice.

Accommodation costs Rs. 18,000 per person per night. Guests need to pay extra for additional facilities.

Source: Bangladesh Monitor
















*A Cruise Down the Brahmaputra*




*Cruise down the Brahmaputra on the luxurious MV Mahabaahu.*
*WHAT IS THE MAHABAAHU EXPERIENCE?*
*THE BRAHMAPUTRA*






Cruising the Brahmaputra, one of the great rivers of the world, on the truly luxurious MV Mahabaahu is surely one of life’s great pleasures. The Brahmaputra River originates in Tibet, where it is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo, and is considered holy by Hindus and Buddhists alike. Civilizations have lived along the river for thousands of years, many in isolation from each other due to the extensive forests. The Brahmaputra is the only river in India to be given a male name and travels 2,900 km from Tibet, through India to Bangladesh where it flows into the Bay of Bengal.

*ABOUT ASSAM*
Assam is one of India’s most fascinating and diverse states and the MV Mahabaahu is the perfect way to relax and enjoy the beauty of this oft forgotten region. Land travel in Assam is often difficult, but gliding along the Brahmaputra gets you close to the most wonderful destinations in Assam. Assam is home to many indigenous tribal groups, and along the way you will get to interact with them on village visits, and see their traditional tribal handicrafts being made. They are the perfect souvenir of this amazing trip.

*ABOUT MV MAHABAAHU*





With only 23 aesthetically designed spacious cabins and suites, and five decks, you can be assured of never feeling crowded. There is always somewhere for a moment of quiet contemplation.

Each accommodation is equipped with air conditioning, attached bathrooms, flat screen TV with satellite connection, mini bar, telephone and electronic safe.





On cruising days, you can delight in sunbathing on the Donyi Deck, taking a dip in the rooftop swimming pool, and just watching the world float by. You should keep your binoculars handy to glimpse the rare freshwater Gangetic dolphins as well as other plentiful wildlife. Enjoy a sunset cocktail on deck, and watch as the sun sets slowly across the jungles and river.

Just imagine evenings under the stars of the Indian sky, the Assamese jungle and the river flowing past, the mighty Himalaya close by, and then retiring after a sumptuous meal and conversations with new friends to your luxurious cabin for a wonderful peaceful sleep.

*THE CRUISE*




You will cruise through a natural history paradise, where there are over 850 bird species, fresh water dolphins, and plentiful elephants, wild buffalo, tigers and the endangered single horned rhino in the national parks. Escorted shore excursions to tea estates and national parks, evening talks about some of the unique features and cultures of Assam, and cultural performances will truly showcase this pearl of India, all the while ensuring your comfort and enjoyment aboard the MV Mahabaahu.

Shore visits are conducted via two tenders, escorted by our Excursion Officer to ensure your safety and enjoyment.

All our cruising is done between 6.00am and 5.00pm to ensure safe passage and comfortable nights on board.






*FUN FACT: *As it happened recently, it is even possible to possible to spot tigers in the wild from the deck of the boat. Now if that isn’t an adventurous cruise, then what is?

*DINING*





The fine dining on board offers you lavish local Assamese dishes, Indian and Continental cuisine prepared fresh by our chefs onboard. Fine wines, beers and spirits are available in the bar and with meals, as well as plentiful tea and coffee in our lounge. Meet your fellow passengers and enjoy a drink and conversation as our experienced crew pilot you through this wondrous scenery.

Our chef holds cooking classes, where you can learn how to prepare local dishes and delicacies, which you can then enjoy with a cup of tea.

*RELAXATION*





For those times when you want to relax and reflect, the lower deck has a jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room, as well as massage from our certified masseurs.

You’ll always look your best after a visit to our salon and hair spa, ready for another night of convivial companionship and fascinating entertainments on board.

If you prefer to settle in a comfortable chair with a book, the onboard library has books catering to many interest and you are sure to find something to whet your appetite. Perhaps you will find a four for one of our board games too!

Morning yoga is the perfect way to greet the day, pay homage to nature and uplift your senses. If you have never tried yoga, the Brahmaputra is an ideal place to start.

Visiting unspoiled places, experiencing tribal cultures, encountering rare and wonderful wildlife, all from the luxury of the magnificent MV Mahabaahu, is surely an experience you deserve.

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## Armchair

Regarding nuclear plants - sadly it seems the plants are run mainly by Russian technicians. Not sure how beneficial this is. Seems more like a show horse. 

Regarding growth rate, I believe the figures are doctored. We have a government that can tell BBS (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics) whatever it wants to show. 

Regarding growth in manufacturing, there is a huge potential and there has been quite some growth here. 

Still waiting for the evidence of any BD phone company manufacturing phones in Bangladesh. Between, I own a Symphony phone... and always prefer to buy local Bangladeshi products over foreign products (I'm nationalistic enough to try to find local toothpastes and soaps, but my family doesn't like it).

We need to get out of the dream-lala-land mindset. Very childish and very... well sorry niligiri... very Indian. There is great harm in this kind of mindset and even greater harm in the tribal mindest seen on this threat - Bangladeshis are so small minded that they didn't like being Indian, then didn't like being Pakistani, now they are down to their districts and hating each other over that... how sad, silly and ridiculous. A "nation" like this can never truly prosper. 

Between, defence.pk is banned in Bangladesh... I am having to use a proxy to gain access. Apparently, according to a few people in the know, a certain private university complained to the authorities regarding this thread: 
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/amer...y-in-bangladesh-to-brainwash-students.545716/

Causing the ban.

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## Nilgiri

Mage said:


> You mean BBS have only started to fudge data now? BD have shown high growth rate 6% for decades.



BBS will necessarily fudge more as BD hits the ceiling on what the earlier phase of what propelled the 6% low-base effect + RMG zero tariff model comes into view and then starts to apply counter pressure.

Its natural consequence of how BD is run (95% win election and all) and what BD capabilities are to diversify in todays modern economy.

You are welcome to see the growing clarion call with more frequency starting now.

M.A Taslim, Harvard, SANEM and now this CPD group (quoting actual BD bureaucrat talking about the fudging).

Really it is terribly atrocious that at this level of low energy consumption base, Bangladesh is already stagnating in last chunk of 3 years (roughly akin to time period the earlier model magic aka RMG LDC globalism propulsion...wearing off):






Want me to correlate with every other developing country that has gone through 6% growth phase on this? You won't like it one bit. Not one bit. NO ONE hit such a ceiling like this ...this early....and then claims same rate of growth as before. Just watch the next few years, its simple.

You want to know why? Energy consumption cannot be fudged....its a broad base input and large part of the reason why BD takes a hit when PPP is used compared to nominal USD.



Mage said:


> If the growth rate was significantly below the states growth rate the disparity would be noticeable by everyone.
> 
> I do think that the GDP growth is not benefitting the majority though. Those who are very poor is earning more money with increase wage in garments and similar jobs. And those who are super rich or have govt job is earning much more too. But same cannot be said about middle class people.
> 
> New food chains/restaurants, hotels, buildings are popping up everywhere. And they are making money too. Real estate price has increased and I don't think sales have dropped either.



No it wouldnt lol. A nominal GDP only really reflects what middle class and rich see in the first place. The growth rate could be far lower for BD if stricter standards are employed by those measuring it (simple things like weighting things...esp broad input stuff like energy... higher to their respective individual inflations rather than agglomerated inflation rate). I mean you have to know how GDP is actually tabulated in different countries statistical standards. Guess what SDDS standard is all about? Guess why BD has no intention of migrating to it? It would be like migrating to an actual fair, transparent election system. Both answers are connected.

You still seem to not basically understand, the GDP is an ESTIMATE.

The GDP is *not* the economy verbatim.

How good the GDP represents the economy depends on a large factor of things, none of which BD govt shows any keen interest in improving. So over time as the model that propelled a country gets more out of date...without reforms, it will start to atrophy. The very fact more and more basic consumption data is going out of whack with BD claimed GDP shows there is a systemic problem now.

I mean if you are innovating something that no country has ever done (i.e by improving energy efficiencies in some post-industrial scandinavian way for GDP)..in that you can get this GDP growth by growing energy (at low base) consumption by just 3% a year now (since the claim is lack of export growth compounding is made up by switch to some "domestic" growth).....lets see the evidence. But you got none for it. Occam's razor is easy to employ in the end.

I mean I can literally post you what the sustained energy growth rate in consumption was for India in say the 90s (that too already at higher base than you are now). Heres a clue: no it never was something terrible like 3% for any kind of stretch).



Mage said:


> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh#Gross_export_and_import
> 
> Export grew from 14 billion in 2007 to 34 billion in 2017. 250% growth in a decade. Likely that it will surpass 40 billion in 2019.
> 
> FDI inflows haven't been satisfactory. But last year showed decent growth. Need to give couple more years to see where it goes.



Now those exports are hitting the wall as low base effect wears off. Check the last cpl years growth rate compared to years ago growth rate.



Mage said:


> I see it got you triggered.



Honestly any country that has 2 dollars invested outside per person ought to introspect on what it is first....before labelling anyone else as something. It's really that simple.

No triggering involved....just common sense. It makes for a sad picture if you compare what the outside/inside flow ratio is for BD FDI compared to even 90s India. Again its related to actual capability and capacity intrinsic to a population. Its best to work on fixing that dont you think?



Mage said:


> Increased from 4561$ to 4998$ according to IMF in a year. Not bad I'd say.



Thats PPP. That's far different to GDP nominal in its calculation methodology. In fact the huge disparity BD has w.r.t India concerning the PPP mulitplier (and also with constant dollar GDP) in itself shows the level of buffer that BBS fudging envelope (combined with bad applicability* of the exchange rate of BDT compared to INR) could be (if you want some estimate of what the frontier envelope is for "fudging"/"limited GDP applicability"/etc).

Right now some mod has combined all the threads together here and its confused as heck now...so I dont feel like going into details about this...but maybe bit later if you keep this convo going.

*why is BDT-USD exchange rate worse to use to apply to Taka GDP compared to INR-USD exchange rate to INR GDP? Curious to see if you can explain, there is lot of hints already.



bluesky said:


> I do not know about the situation in India but people do not accept even small 50 paisa coins in BD. So, 1 Taka has become effectively the minimum unit. Taka value is so low that the beggars will use rough words and throw back the money if it is two Taka. They do not like to accept less than a 5 Taka note. But, are all these because of inflation that is not counted properly?
> 
> Only @Homo Sapiens can say when there are no uses of small 1 or two paisa coins, why not the govt introduce 1 Taka, 2 Taka or 5 Taka coins, instead. The purchasing power of this 1 Taka has become almost the same as the value of 1 Paisa was before.



Its broad trend everywhere in world, especially developing countries. What matters for inflation is how much of everything are you consuming compared to before. PPP is far superior measure for GDP regarding that.

But BD govt GDP (nominal) calculation is far different to calculating PPP. That is why a lot of countries have very different PPP multiplier ratios....not all of it is price level based or consumption basket weight based....lot of it is does the exchange rate and "disguised" inflation bump up the nominal USD value (of GDP) too.

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## Bilal9



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## The Ronin

*14 mega projects get Tk45,140 crore *

Rooppur gets highest allocation of Tk14,980 crore while the second highest allocation goes to Metro Rail project

The fourteen mega projects, which are now being implemented, have been proposed to get Tk45,140 crore in the budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

The government has proposed the highest allocation of Tk14,980 crore for the country’s first nuclear power plant at Rooppur, while the second highest allocation is set to go for Metro Rail project at Tk7,212 crore.

The mega Padma Bridge project has been allocated Tk5,370 crore, while its Rail Link project gets Tk3,995 crore.

In the proposed budget, the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar rail line project gets Tk1,105 crore, and Matarbari power plant at Moheshkhali gets Tk3,056 crore. 

The government proposed to allocate Tk1,407 crore for the power grid network, and Tk2,108 crore for the expansion of power system network.

In the outgoing budget, the government had allocated Tk40,000 crore to implement 10 mega projects to strengthen country’s communication network, and to develop the power and energy sector to boost the economy.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presented the proposed budget in the parliament on Thursday afternoon. However, he could not finish the presentation due to ill health. Later, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took over the budget presentation in place of the finance minister.

The prime minister, on behalf of the finance minister, in her speech said that the government is aiming to achieve the double digit growth as quickly as possible through timely implementation of all nationally important infrastructure projects including mega projects like the Padma Bridge, Padma rail link project, Dohajari-Cox's Bazar rail line, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Rampal Power Plant, Payra Sea Port, Matarbari Power Plant at Moheshkhali, and Dhaka Metro Rail.

“About 2km structure of the Padma Bridge, being constructed entirely with our own resources, has now become visible, and the overall physical progress of the project is 67%,” she said.

Some mega projects are being implemented at Paira, Moheshkhali, and Materbari, classifying these areas as power hub. “We selected these areas considering the land availability, transport facilities and load centers.” 

The government is implementing a number of mega projects to establish an integrated and uninterrupted communication network in the country. The Padma Bridge, the tunnel under the Karnaphuli riverbed, the Dhaka Elevated Expressway from HazratShahjalal International Airport to Kutubkhali of Dhaka- Chittagong highway, and many other projects are among those, she said.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...6Hl48q0QBwvoCCqAKwoD2MUW8MOdWSV7xGjAgXYO0TsXY

*Tk61,455cr allocation for communication infrastructure*

The budget for the communication infrastructure sector was Tk53,081 crore in 2018-19 fiscal year

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed Tk61,455 crore for the communication infrastructure sector in the national budget of the 2019-20 fiscal year.

“The implementing of the Padma Bridge is underway, along with the tunnel under the Karnaphuli riverbed, the Dhaka Elevated Expressway from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Kutubkhali on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway and many other mega projects.

"These projects have been undertaken and being implemented in order to establish an integrated and uninterrupted communication network in Bangladesh,” he said while placing the budget at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on Thursday.

“About two kilometre structure of the Padma Bridge, being constructed entirely with our own resources, is now visible, and the overall physical progress of the project is 67% ,” he added. 

The minister said: "The second Kanchpur, second Gomoti, and second Meghna Bridge have been opened for traffic after completing construction ahead of the stipulated time.

"South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation road connectivity projects one and two are being implemented in order to be connected with the global transport network to reap the benefits of globalization."

The minister added that the government is implementing the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (2015-2035) to develop internal road networks in the Dhaka metropolitan area, reduce traffic congestion at the entry and exit points of the capital and establish a planned as well as integrated modern public transport system and its adjacent areas.

Under this plan, the finance minister said the construction of the first Metro Rail in Bangladesh, MRT Line 6 from Uttara to Motijheel is in progress. 

Alongside, the implementation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Gazipur is also underway, the minister stated.

He said steps to build a safe, environment-friendly and modern information technology (IT) based road transport and control systems are underway. 

A plan has been taken up to install directional sign-signal and kilometre posts in 8,100 spots.

The minister said steps have been taken to gradually upgrade all national highways into four lanes or above in order to modernize the country's road transport system.

"In this respect, 509km national highway has been upgraded into four lanes while upgradation of another 507km highway is going on," he added. 

Kamal said: "The present government is giving top priority to the railway sector in order to make railway an economical, safe, and environment-friendly mode of transport. 

"For the overall development of railway, the government has undertaken a 30-year master plan spanning from 2016 to 2045 at a cost of Tk553,662 crore."

"Development of necessary infrastructure and facilities at sea ports are also in progress. A plan for construction of the Bay-Terminal at the Chittagong port at a cost of Tk17,000 crore has been undertaken. 

"The handling capacity of the Chittagong port will be enhanced in the next financial year from 2.8 million TEUs to 3 million TEUs,” the minister added.

Besides, the construction of the third terminal at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is in progress to enhance its passenger handling capacity to 12 million, he said, adding works for the site selection and feasibility study on the construction of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib International Airport is in progress.

The budget for the communication infrastructure sector was Tk53,081 crore in the last fiscal.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/busine...ovlRUQm76An4ikPgwG_kKP6018QBBnXV7ZBcMn4G-VQmc

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## The Ronin

*Bangladesh sees record growth in FDI, trend likely to continue*

A UN trade report says FDI inflows to Bangladesh have risen to a record level of $3.6 billion

Bangladesh has registered a record level of growth in foreign direct investment (FDI)—while investment inflows to South Asia increased by a modest 3.5% in 2018—according to a United Nations (UN) trade report.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2019 was released last Wednesday.

The report says FDI flows to Bangladesh rose by 68% to a record level of $3.6 billion.

“This was driven by significant investments in power generation and in labour-intensive industries such as ready-made garments; as well as the $1.5 billion acquisition of United Dhaka Tobacco by Japan Tobacco,” it says.

FDI to India—which has historically accounted for 70% to 80% of inflows to South Asia—increased by 6% to $42 billion. Investment was strong in manufacturing, communication, and financial services – the top three industry recipients.

Pakistan, the fourth largest recipient of FDI in the sub-region, registered a 27% decrease in investment to $2.4 billion.

“The prospects for FDI flows to the region in 2019 are moderately optimistic, thanks to a favourable economic outlook and ongoing efforts to improve the investment climate in several major economies,” said James Zhan, director of UNCTAD’s division on investment and enterprise.

In Bangladesh, the gains were mostly the result of a $1.5 billion mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal in tobacco, and new investments in power generation. Also, reinvested earnings in the country—mainly by multi-national enterprises (MNEs)—in banking, textiles, and wearing apparel, more than tripled to $1.3 billion.

The report notes explosive growth in the use of special economic zones (SEZs) as key policy instruments for the attraction of investment for industrial development. More than 1,000 have been developed worldwide in the last five years, and by UNCTAD’s count at least 500 more are in the pipeline. India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan—together—have more than 200 zones in the pipeline.

As an instrument to support structural transformation, these zones are designed to attract specific industries—such as manufacturing, natural resource processing, or technology-intensive industries and services— to support countries’ structural transformation.

However, the report also cautions against costly failures in SEZs for developing economies like Bangladesh. 

One of the big challenges, according to the report, is the new industrial revolution, which could erode the importance of low labour costs, the traditional competitive edge of most SEZs.“SEZs will need to anticipate trends in their targeted industries and adapt,” it says.

Economists and policymakers have lauded Bangladesh’s impressive economic growth and projected graduation from a least developed country to a developing country by 2024.

However, they have also suggested improvements to its business environment and reforms in investment laws and regulations to maintain the current growth trajectory.

The World Bank’s Doing Business report for 2019 lists Bangladesh as 176th out of 190 countries for ease of doing business. 

International bodies—including the United States—have repeatedly urged Bangladesh to continue progress on labour rights and work place safety in line with International Labour Organization standards.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangla...UAXPBQI3-wr-AuY7grmzIOKkrw39XuM7Pw6KZRpHmT9zg

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## Bilal9

BEZA has planned 100 SEZ's to be developed by 2030, 5 major ones have gone into production, another six completed and are ready to go.

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## UKBengali

Bilal9 said:


> BEZA has planned 100 SEZ's to be developed by 2030, 5 major ones have gone into production, another six completed and are ready to go.

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## Bilal9

Ariane Fine Porcelain is a subsidiary of Star Porcelain Limited in Bangladesh which supplies many OEM brands in EU and US Markets.

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## Bilal9

Plans for the second Padma bridge at Potuakhali and tunnel under the Jamuna river.






Dhaka Metrorail latest update...

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## Bilal9

Two videos on Payra Powerplant (1320 MW) recent activity.











Video of NWPGCL Powerplant in Khulna.






Three terminal builds at Payra Port proceeding under schedule

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## Bilal9

*Walton launches RAM, memory cards*
20 June 2019, 5:35:44





Walton has lunched a number of new accessories in the local market that include RAM and Micro SD cards. The high quality accessories with attractive designs are now available at all Walton Plaza and distributors’ showrooms across the country beside Agargaon’s IDB in the capital at affordable prices.

Walton Computer Products’ CEO Engineer Liakat Ali said that initially 3 models of DDR4 RAM were released in the market. Each RAM is of 4 gigabytes. Of these, 2 models of RAM are available for desktop computers pricing Tk2,300 and Tk2,400. Their data transfer bandwidth is 19,200 and 21,300 megabytes per/sec respectively. Another model of RAM is designed for laptops and notebooks with 19,200 data transfer bandwidth per/ sec. It costs Tk 2,200 only. 2-year warranty will be given to all models of Walton RAM.

The new Walton accessories include 4 models of memory cards. The capacity of these cards with high speed data transfer capability ranges from 16 to 128 gigabytes. These 10/U1 speed class cards can be used on any device with TF card slot. Waterproof and sustainable Walton micro SD cards function in zero to 70 degree Celsius temperature.

Walton’s 16 GB memory card will cost only Tk. 350 while 32 GB can be bought at Tk. 495, 64 GB at Tk. 995 and 128 GB at Tk. 1,690.

Besides, WiFi router is going to be added to Walton’s technology accessories very soon.

According to Walton Computer Department sources, there are currently 23 models of laptops, 13 models of desktops and 4 models of monitors available in market. Besides, Walton’s computer accessories have various models of gaming and standard keyboards and mouse, pen drives and earphones.

Meanwhile, under Walton Digital Campaign Season-4, customers, who will buy any Walton brand laptop from any Walton plaza, distributor outlet or E-plaza, are likely to get gold edition symbolic cricket bat-ball with the autograph of Bangladesh National Cricket Team ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, also the brand ambassador of Walton. The offer will continue until July 14.

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## Bilal9

Inauguration of second Meghna Bridge reduces DAC-CTG commute by several hours.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Latest on Rickshaw bans in Dhaka - City corporation staying on course to eventually completely get rid of slow-moving rickshaws, which are identified as the main cause for traffic jams.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Tangail Highway Update June 2019 Dewhata, Mirzapur to Natiapara Delduar. Present working progress of Dhaka Tangail Highway 4 lane progress in the area of Dew-hata mirzapur, mirzapur tangail, postkamuri chorpara, dulla munsur, kurni mirzapur, shuvulla mirzapur, kodim dholla, pakulla mirzapur, jamurki mirzapur, Dubail Delduar and natiapara delduar.






'Chalan Beel' is a wetland in Bangladesh and a highway cuts through the middle of it past the small town of Sirajganj in Pabna Upazila (district). Chalan Beel is a large inland depression, marshy in character, with rich flora and water-fauna. Forty-seven rivers and other waterways flow into the Chalan Beel including the river Atrai which is a tributary of the Jamuna. As silt has gradually built up in the 'Beel' (Marsh), its size is being slowly reduced.





A visit to Pakshi Hardinge Bridge area (named after Lord Hardinge) built in 1889 on the river Padma. Since then a road bridge has been built next to it and the bridge (of course more than a hundred years old) is still in use. A new rail bridge is to be built next to the old bridge soon.





Banalata Express is the new non-stop train service between Dhaka and Rajshahi. The speed is a little higher than normal, 140 KMH. And the new coaches have introduced hygienic Airplane-style Bio toilets.





River encroachers around Dhaka are facing tough times these days, no amount of bribing is working nowadays. Demolishing of illegal earthfill areas is continuing by BIWTA, now in 4th phase. Allah save these heroes of ours.






Panchagarh to Dhaka 793 Semi Non-stop Inter-city Panchagarh Express Train has its first run or grand inauguration on 25.05.2019 with PT INKA made automatic air brake rake powered by BR ALCO 6524 WDM 3A Locomotive of Bangladesh Railway.

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## Bilal9

Huawei and Robi planning to introduce 5G by 2020 - tests locally have proven speeds possible past 4 GBPS

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## monitor

Bangladesh govt is seeking financial option for a new bridge connecting island district of Bhola with rest of the country. Cost expected to be near 50000 cror. It will be longest bridge after padma bridge which is 6.45 km long. K

ভোলার সঙ্গে বরিশালসহ অন্য জেলাগুলোর যোগাযোগ সহজ করতে নির্মিত হবে দেশের দীর্ঘতম সেতু। এর দৈর্ঘ্য হবে ৮ দশমিক ৬৪ কিলোমিটার, যা নির্মাণাধীন পদ্মা সেতুর চেয়েও দীর্ঘ। ইতোমধ্যেই সেতুটি নির্মাণের জন্য সেতু বিভাগ প্রাথমিক উন্নয়ন প্রকল্প প্রস্তাবনা (পিডিপিপি) পরিকল্পনা কমিশনে পাঠিয়েছে। বিশাল দৈর্ঘ্যের এ সেতুটির নির্মাণব্যয়ও হবে বিশাল। প্রাথমিকভাবে অর্থের সন্ধানে পরিকল্পনা কমিশন এ পিডিপিপি অর্থনৈতিক সম্পর্ক বিভাগে (ইআরডি) পাঠিয়েছে।

ইআরডি সূত্র জানায়, প্রাথমিকভাবে প্রকল্পের প্রস্তাবিত ব্যয় নির্ধারণ করা হয়েছে ১২ হাজার ৯১৬ কোটি টাকা। ইআরডি এ অর্থ সংগ্রহে কয়েকটি দেশ ও সংস্থার সঙ্গে যোগাযোগ করছে। এর মধ্যে অন্যতম জাপান সরকারের উন্নয়ন সংস্থা (জাইকা), এশীয় উন্নয়ন ব্যাংক (এডিবি), ইসলামী উন্নয়ন ব্যাংক (আইডিবি) ও চীন।

ইআরডির এক ঊর্ধ্বতন কর্মকর্তা বাংলানিউজকে বলেন, বরিশাল ও ভোলাকে সংযুক্ত করতে দেশের সবচেয়ে বড় সেতু নির্মাণ করা হবে। এটা সরকারের অন্যতম মেগা প্রকল্প। সেতুটি নির্মাণের জন্য আমরা উন্নয়ন সহযোগী খুঁজছি। ইতোমধেই কয়েকটি দেশ ও সংস্থাকে চিঠি দিয়েছি। বাংলাদেশ এখন ঋণ পরিশোধে অন্যতম। আশা করছি, খুব শিগগরিই এ কাজের উন্নয়ন সহযোগী খুঁজে পাওয়া যাবে। তবে, আমরা ঋণ নেওয়ার ক্ষেত্রে তাড়াহুড়ো করছি না, ধীর গতিতেই এগোচ্ছি।

সেতু বিভাগ সূত্র জানায়, ‘কন্সট্রাকশন অব ভোলা ব্রিজ অন বরিশাল-ভোলা রোড ওভার দ্য রিভার তেতুলিয়া অ্যান্ড কালাবদর’ প্রকল্পের আওতায় বৃহৎ সেতুটি নির্মিত হবে। প্রকল্পটির মূল উদ্দেশ্য, বরিশাল ও ভোলা জেলার মধ্যবর্তী তেতুলিয়া ও কালাবদর নদীর ওপর সেতু নির্মাণের মাধ্যমে ভোলা জেলার সঙ্গে দেশের মূল অংশ বরিশালের সরাসরি সড়ক যোগাযোগ স্থাপন করা। 

প্রকল্পের আওতায় ৪৮৫ দশমিক ৯৭ হেক্টর জমি অধিগ্রহণ করা হবে। ১ দশমিক ০৬ কিলোমিটার দীর্ঘ এপ্রোচ সেতু, দুই কিলোমিটার সংযোগ সড়ক ও চার কিলোমিটার নদীশাসনের কাজ করা হবে। 

যমুনা নদীর ওপর বঙ্গবন্ধু বহুমুখী সেতুর দৈর্ঘ্য ৪ দশমিক ৮ কিলোমিটার। আর, পদ্মা সেতু ৬ দশমিক ১৫ কিলোমিটার দীর্ঘ। এতে ৪২টি পিলারের ওপর বসবে মোট ৪১টি স্প্যান। পদ্মা সেতুর মূল আকৃতি হবে দোতলা। কংক্রিট ও স্টিল দিয়ে নির্মিত হচ্ছে এ সেতুর কাঠামো। স্বপ্নের এ সেতুর নির্মাণকাজ শেষ করতে ব্যয় তৃতীয় দফায় আরও ১ হাজার ৪শ’ কোটি টাকা বাড়ানো হচ্ছে। এতে পদ্মা সেতুর মোট ব্যয় দাঁড়াবে ৩০ হাজার ১৯৩ কোটি ৩৮ লাখ টাকা। সে হিসাবে ভোলা ও বরিশাল জেলা সংযোগ সেতু নির্মাণে মোট ব্যয় ৫০ হাজার কোটি টাকা ছাড়াবে বলে ধারণা সংশ্লিষ্টদের। এ জন্যই বৈদেশিক ঋণ সহায়তার ওপর ভিত্তি করে সেতুটি নির্মাণের ইচ্ছা সরকারের।

সেতু বিভাগ সূত্র জানায়, ভোলা বাংলাদেশের সর্ববৃহৎ দ্বীপ। এর চারপাশে লক্ষীপুর, বরিশাল, পটুয়াখালী, নোয়াখালী ও বঙ্গোপসাগর। এ জেলায় রয়েছে প্রাকৃতিক গ্যাস, যা বিদ্যুৎ উৎপাদনে ব্যবহৃত হচ্ছে। তবে, জেলাটি দেশের মূল অংশ থেকে বিচ্ছিন্ন। বর্তমানে ফেরি ও অন্য নৌযানের মাধ্যমে ভোলার সঙ্গে পাশের জেলাগুলোর যোগাযোগ চালু আছে। সরাসরি সড়ক যোগাযোগ ব্যবস্থা না থাকায় ভোলা থেকে অন্য জেলাগুলোয় পণ্য আনা-নেওয়া ও যাতায়াত বেশ কঠিন। এটি জেলার ব্যবসা-বাণিজ্যসহ আর্থ-সামাজিক ক্ষেত্রে বিরূপ প্রভাব ফেলছে।

ভোলা ও বরিশালে দেশের দীর্ঘতম সেতু নির্মাণ প্রসঙ্গে সেতু বিভাগের অতিরিক্ত সচিব (উন্নয়ন) আনোয়ার হোসেন বাংলানউজকে বলেন, দেশের সবথেকে বড় সেতুটি নির্মিত হলে ভোলা পদ্মা সেতুর মাধ্যমে ঢাকার সঙ্গে সরাসরি সংযুক্ত হবে। এতে যাতায়াত ও উৎপাদন খরচ কমবে। ওই এলাকায় নতুন নতুন শিল্প-কারখানা গড়ে উঠবে। এর ফলে কর্মসংস্থান বাড়বে, যা দরিদ্র্যতা কমিয়ে দেশের অর্থনৈতিক উন্নয়নে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ অবদান রাখবে। এ জন্য সেতুটি নির্মাণে আমরা জোর প্রচেষ্টা অব্যাহত রেখেছি।

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## Homo Sapiens

Dhaka-Chattogram highway after completion of 3 bridges.

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## Arthur

monitor said:


> Bangladesh govt is seeking financial option for a new bridge connecting island district of Bhola with rest of the country. Cost expected to be near 50000 cror. It will be longest bridge after padma bridge which is 6.45 km long. K
> 
> ভোলার সঙ্গে বরিশালসহ অন্য জেলাগুলোর যোগাযোগ সহজ করতে নির্মিত হবে দেশের দীর্ঘতম সেতু। এর দৈর্ঘ্য হবে ৮ দশমিক ৬৪ কিলোমিটার, যা নির্মাণাধীন পদ্মা সেতুর চেয়েও দীর্ঘ। ইতোমধ্যেই সেতুটি নির্মাণের জন্য সেতু বিভাগ প্রাথমিক উন্নয়ন প্রকল্প প্রস্তাবনা (পিডিপিপি) পরিকল্পনা কমিশনে পাঠিয়েছে। বিশাল দৈর্ঘ্যের এ সেতুটির নির্মাণব্যয়ও হবে বিশাল। প্রাথমিকভাবে অর্থের সন্ধানে পরিকল্পনা কমিশন এ পিডিপিপি অর্থনৈতিক সম্পর্ক বিভাগে (ইআরডি) পাঠিয়েছে।
> 
> ইআরডি সূত্র জানায়, প্রাথমিকভাবে প্রকল্পের প্রস্তাবিত ব্যয় নির্ধারণ করা হয়েছে ১২ হাজার ৯১৬ কোটি টাকা। ইআরডি এ অর্থ সংগ্রহে কয়েকটি দেশ ও সংস্থার সঙ্গে যোগাযোগ করছে। এর মধ্যে অন্যতম জাপান সরকারের উন্নয়ন সংস্থা (জাইকা), এশীয় উন্নয়ন ব্যাংক (এডিবি), ইসলামী উন্নয়ন ব্যাংক (আইডিবি) ও চীন।
> 
> ইআরডির এক ঊর্ধ্বতন কর্মকর্তা বাংলানিউজকে বলেন, বরিশাল ও ভোলাকে সংযুক্ত করতে দেশের সবচেয়ে বড় সেতু নির্মাণ করা হবে। এটা সরকারের অন্যতম মেগা প্রকল্প। সেতুটি নির্মাণের জন্য আমরা উন্নয়ন সহযোগী খুঁজছি। ইতোমধেই কয়েকটি দেশ ও সংস্থাকে চিঠি দিয়েছি। বাংলাদেশ এখন ঋণ পরিশোধে অন্যতম। আশা করছি, খুব শিগগরিই এ কাজের উন্নয়ন সহযোগী খুঁজে পাওয়া যাবে। তবে, আমরা ঋণ নেওয়ার ক্ষেত্রে তাড়াহুড়ো করছি না, ধীর গতিতেই এগোচ্ছি।
> 
> সেতু বিভাগ সূত্র জানায়, ‘কন্সট্রাকশন অব ভোলা ব্রিজ অন বরিশাল-ভোলা রোড ওভার দ্য রিভার তেতুলিয়া অ্যান্ড কালাবদর’ প্রকল্পের আওতায় বৃহৎ সেতুটি নির্মিত হবে। প্রকল্পটির মূল উদ্দেশ্য, বরিশাল ও ভোলা জেলার মধ্যবর্তী তেতুলিয়া ও কালাবদর নদীর ওপর সেতু নির্মাণের মাধ্যমে ভোলা জেলার সঙ্গে দেশের মূল অংশ বরিশালের সরাসরি সড়ক যোগাযোগ স্থাপন করা।
> 
> প্রকল্পের আওতায় ৪৮৫ দশমিক ৯৭ হেক্টর জমি অধিগ্রহণ করা হবে। ১ দশমিক ০৬ কিলোমিটার দীর্ঘ এপ্রোচ সেতু, দুই কিলোমিটার সংযোগ সড়ক ও চার কিলোমিটার নদীশাসনের কাজ করা হবে।
> 
> যমুনা নদীর ওপর বঙ্গবন্ধু বহুমুখী সেতুর দৈর্ঘ্য ৪ দশমিক ৮ কিলোমিটার। আর, পদ্মা সেতু ৬ দশমিক ১৫ কিলোমিটার দীর্ঘ। এতে ৪২টি পিলারের ওপর বসবে মোট ৪১টি স্প্যান। পদ্মা সেতুর মূল আকৃতি হবে দোতলা। কংক্রিট ও স্টিল দিয়ে নির্মিত হচ্ছে এ সেতুর কাঠামো। স্বপ্নের এ সেতুর নির্মাণকাজ শেষ করতে ব্যয় তৃতীয় দফায় আরও ১ হাজার ৪শ’ কোটি টাকা বাড়ানো হচ্ছে। এতে পদ্মা সেতুর মোট ব্যয় দাঁড়াবে ৩০ হাজার ১৯৩ কোটি ৩৮ লাখ টাকা। সে হিসাবে ভোলা ও বরিশাল জেলা সংযোগ সেতু নির্মাণে মোট ব্যয় ৫০ হাজার কোটি টাকা ছাড়াবে বলে ধারণা সংশ্লিষ্টদের। এ জন্যই বৈদেশিক ঋণ সহায়তার ওপর ভিত্তি করে সেতুটি নির্মাণের ইচ্ছা সরকারের।
> 
> সেতু বিভাগ সূত্র জানায়, ভোলা বাংলাদেশের সর্ববৃহৎ দ্বীপ। এর চারপাশে লক্ষীপুর, বরিশাল, পটুয়াখালী, নোয়াখালী ও বঙ্গোপসাগর। এ জেলায় রয়েছে প্রাকৃতিক গ্যাস, যা বিদ্যুৎ উৎপাদনে ব্যবহৃত হচ্ছে। তবে, জেলাটি দেশের মূল অংশ থেকে বিচ্ছিন্ন। বর্তমানে ফেরি ও অন্য নৌযানের মাধ্যমে ভোলার সঙ্গে পাশের জেলাগুলোর যোগাযোগ চালু আছে। সরাসরি সড়ক যোগাযোগ ব্যবস্থা না থাকায় ভোলা থেকে অন্য জেলাগুলোয় পণ্য আনা-নেওয়া ও যাতায়াত বেশ কঠিন। এটি জেলার ব্যবসা-বাণিজ্যসহ আর্থ-সামাজিক ক্ষেত্রে বিরূপ প্রভাব ফেলছে।
> 
> ভোলা ও বরিশালে দেশের দীর্ঘতম সেতু নির্মাণ প্রসঙ্গে সেতু বিভাগের অতিরিক্ত সচিব (উন্নয়ন) আনোয়ার হোসেন বাংলানউজকে বলেন, দেশের সবথেকে বড় সেতুটি নির্মিত হলে ভোলা পদ্মা সেতুর মাধ্যমে ঢাকার সঙ্গে সরাসরি সংযুক্ত হবে। এতে যাতায়াত ও উৎপাদন খরচ কমবে। ওই এলাকায় নতুন নতুন শিল্প-কারখানা গড়ে উঠবে। এর ফলে কর্মসংস্থান বাড়বে, যা দরিদ্র্যতা কমিয়ে দেশের অর্থনৈতিক উন্নয়নে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ অবদান রাখবে। এ জন্য সেতুটি নির্মাণে আমরা জোর প্রচেষ্টা অব্যাহত রেখেছি।


Bhola needs good hospitals. Not a useless white elephant bridge.

WTF!

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## Homo Sapiens

Bilal9 said:


> River encroachers around Dhaka are facing tough times these days, no amount of bribing is working nowadays. Demolishing of illegal earthfill areas is continuing by BIWTA, now in 4th phase. Allah save these heroes of ours.


This is going to be the biggest project to make Dhaka a normal, livable city.

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## bluesky

Arthur said:


> Bhola needs good hospitals. Not a useless white elephant bridge.
> 
> WTF!


Bridge or no bridge, a local area cannot be developed without first arranging its road connections with other areas. Hospitals and others follow the constructions.

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## Bilal9

Homo Sapiens said:


> This is going to be the biggest project to make Dhaka a normal, livable city.



BIWTA demolishing drive is in 4th phase now. Yesterday Mr. Arifuddin (the BIWTA demolishing supervisor) and an onsite magistrate were assaulted by some local encroachers during the Rahim Steel demolishing drive (huge area) at Shyampur on the banks of the BurhiGanga who were immediately sentenced to three months jail-time by the acting magistrate on the spot and taken away. BRAVO!!

A win for the common citizens and the rivers of Bangladesh. The riverbank cleanup is fully on track. 

Let this be a lesson to all illegal river encroachers. No one person can be more powerful than the govt. and the rule-of-law (which is the constitution of our country).

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## Bilal9

Hatirjheel (হাতিরঝিল) is a lakefront in Dhaka, Bangladesh that has been transformed into a transportation medium for minimizing traffic congestion.






For the first time since independence, the channel of an entire river of 52 Bigha area is almost free of occupation and encroachment in Dhaka. This will be open for navigation in a few days. This is the disappeared channel of the Turag River which surrounds Dhaka and was occupied by Amin-Momin Housing illegally in the capital. BIWTA says the state has set an instance against encroachers by retrieving encroached and filled-up riverbeds and by pursuing court cases against them. At the demand of the Ministry and of the Navy, the same fate is awaiting for all the illegal rivers encroachers in the country. Bangladesh Govt. has established this as a rare example of governance and ecological conservation step in the region.






Interesting Milestone: Piling 100% completed for all 42 bridge pillars at Padma Bridge project. 299 piles have been driven and hammered deep into the riverbed.






The piling hammer used is the world's most powerful made by Menck in Germany who specialize in this sector. The hammer (MHU 2400S) boasts a 3,000-kilojoule capacity.

https://www.menck.com/index.php/projects/padma-bridge

Hear the sound of pile driving

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## Bilal9

Dhaka-Sylhet Highway 4 Lane upgradation Project





Rooppur Nuclear Power station update

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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge Link Road present status,





Padma Bridge Drone Footage showing present status,





Padma Bridge Video showing technical details

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## Bilal9

Latest builds ongoing at Western Marine. Now who can guess which is which? Hint: the one on the right is a series export build and a bulker.

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## monitor

কাজ দ্রুত গতিতে এগিয়ে চলছে।
Kornofully Tunnel construction going on finished almost 40% work 











Picture : from facebook

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## Bilal9

Ship launch from Meghna shipbuilding, a series of almost 50 inland-container ships (identical specs) being built.

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## Bilal9

Bangladeshi FMCG (Snack and condiments) major Pran expanding in Indian Market





Furniture exporters gearing up for significant increase in exports.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Bus body manufacturing in Bangladesh - Shohagh Enterprises

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## Bilal9

BEZA introduces improved One Stop Service (OSS) Centre for Investors and Business folks, streamlining all approvals under one roof.






Here are a few videos produced in collaboration with the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council.
















After three month Monsoon alluvial soil issue hiatus (due to opening of Farakka dam gates), Re-install of bridge spans opens in earnest again. Four spans supposed to be installed this month in rapid succession.

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## Bilal9

US-Bangla Airlines, one of the country’s leading private airlines, today added a brand new aircraft as part of its plan to increase flight frequency on domestic and regional routes.

The new 72-seat turboprop ATR 72-600 aircraft landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 3:20pm on Sept. 26, 2019, flying from France after re-fueling in Egypt and Oman.

The number of the airlines’ planes now rose to 10 along with existing four Boeing 737-800 and three DASH8-Q400 and two ATR 72-600, the largest fleet among the countries private airlines.

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## Bilal9

*The first reactor half-hull for Ruppur NPP in Bangladesh is assembled. 

It took 25 days, 35 kilometers of wire and 4 tons of flux to weld the two ring seams.*

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## Bilal9

Technical explanation of Rooppur NPP safety topics






*SalamAir launches flights to Chattogram*





SalamAir is launching flights on Muscat-Chattogram route effective October 7 in line with the carrier’s international expansion strategy.

Captain Mohamed Ahmed, CEO of SalamAir said, “Based on demand of passengers, we are excited to add Chattogram to our increasing list of destinations. The new flight route will represent convenience to the large Bangladeshi expatriate population living in Oman.”

The Oman based carrier will operate brand new Airbus A320neo to its new and second destination in Bangladesh.

There will be four weekly flights on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, departing Muscat at 13:55 local time and arriving in Chattogram at 20:45 local time. The flight will depart Chattogram at 21:30 local time arriving in Muscat at 00:35 local time.

One-way tickets to Chattogram are now available at a special promotional fare of BDT21,410.

Source: https://bangladeshmonitor.com.bd/new...-to-chattogram

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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge rail track installation to begin. Deck level Platforms installed.






Metrorail to extend MRT-6 line to Kamalapur Rail Station Terminal for connecting with Surface Rail Transport






*Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Railway Update*

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## Bilal9

Discussion on Rampal powerplant and its disastrous effect on the Sundarban area. And the occasional lies interspersed in the video being spread by the Kolkata Dada (with Yellow shirt) in charge of the project.

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## Bilal9

Naif Engineering has been completing a lot of industrial projects lately. They are a very large local construction firm having excellent portfolio in Industrial Factory installations (such as warehousing and ultra-flat floor technology for niche manufacturing sectors and plants) as opposed to a firm like Abdul Monem who do capital and transport infra projects.






Ultra Flat polished floors for super-heavy-duty rack-warehouses....

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## Bilal9

Latest on Karnafuli Tunnel connecting South bank of Karnafuli with the North.

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## Bilal9

Battery exports on the upswing, batteries are being exported to 70 different overseas markets. Local factories using robotics to double production and exports. Total exports are modest at US$60 Million annually. Total number of Batteries produced (IPS, Automotive etc.) are in the 1.8 million range.

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## Bilal9

*The rise and rise of Bangladesh-- but is life getting any better?*

The Guardian

*The country has undergone an economic miracle in recent years, albeit at huge cost to its garment workers. But things are finally starting to improve for them.*

Tasnia Akter has come home. It’s a public holiday in Bangladesh, the one time of year the 25-year-old can leave the mayhem of the city behind and see her family: her mother, her aunt.
And her daughter.

“There she is!” Her little girl is standing in front of the two-bedroom tin hut in a remote village 200km (125 miles) north of Chittagong, south-east Bangladesh. Mother and daughter embrace.

If she could, the young seamstress would still live here. The air is fresher, there is more space, and some of her friends still live in the village. There’s just one problem: “There isn’t any work.” Agriculture has ceased to be a feasible source of income. Money doesn’t grow on trees – it is spun in the textile looms of the city.

And so this family copes as best it can, the older women raising the child while Tasnia works six-day weeks, sewing T-shirts and jeans for global consumers, for about 8,400 taka (£80) a month.

These three generations are a neat microcosm of an entire nation. The older women, who grew up in the years after independence in 1971, worked in unpaid labour, trying to survive in the grinding poverty for which the country became renowned in the 1970s.

The young girl, a 21st-century child, schooled and spirited, will in all probability enjoy better prospects. And in the middle, Tasnia Akter, from the “factory generation”, one of approximately 4.5 million textile workers who have transformed the fortunes and reputation of Bangladesh.

The crucial question is this: is Akter a glorious paragon of the “rise and rise” of Bangladesh, with its 50-year journey to becoming a middle-income nation powered by hard-working women? Or is she a sickening example of an exploited labourer who ruins her health for companies making high margins and consumers who buy cheap jeans?
The answer: perhaps a bit of both.

“Sure, Tasnia suffers a lot, she has to support her family – but I had to suffer much more,” says her aunt, Honufa Begum. After her husband died, Begum worked as a maid in Chittagong. “Just provide food and lodging for me and my daughter,” she recalls asking the family. They did. But they did not pay her. Begum did not complain.

“I am uneducated,” Akter explains, sitting on a bed in her aunt’s house under a fan. “In the city I could work as a maid. But I don’t want to be a slave. I don’t want to always be on my toes, waiting for orders. At least when I come home in the evening from the factory, I am done for the day.”


*When the history is written of how much of humanity was lifted out of poverty in the decades after 1980, Bangladesh will provide one of the biggest chapters. GDP has soared vertiginously since 1980*.

*The number of people living below the poverty line has fallen from more than 44% in 1991 to less than 13%. Numbers for neonatal and maternal mortality have dwindled. Family sizes have fallen.*

*People now live on average one-third longer than they used to 40 years ago – a gain in longevity that is practically without rival anywhere in the world.*

But it has not come without tragedy, toil and exploitation. Six years ago, the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in Dhaka, killing more than 1,100 people, injuring more than 2,300. Rana Plaza became synonymous with textile workers’ atrocious working conditions; for the blood, sweat and sacrifice so easily overlooked by western consumers hunting bargain T-shirts on the high street. Bangladeshi workers are still among the lowest-paid in the world.

Over the years, however, activists, workers and researchers have fought for at least some change in the garment industry. The minimum wage has doubled. Safety improvements have been made. Many workers are able to put a little aside to ensure that their children get a proper education.

And for Akter and the millions of other women who make up around 80% of the textile workforce, the industry represents a possibility to earn money. They can attain at least some economic freedom in a society where women typically are housewives; where the only option in the countryside is to marry.


The vast industry generates myriad sub-industries too. The market along the dusty main road in Chittagong is usually bustling with people. Opposite the Clifton garments factory, Jallal Uddin, 38, is selling cake, bananas and tea to the workers on their way home. The father of two has had his stall for eight years now. He is proud of not having accumulated any debt. His formula is simple: the more garment workers there are, the more business for him.

Tasnia Akter has been working for her factory for the past four years. The small premises is owned by one of the country’s big manufacturers: there are more than 30,000 employees, with brand customers such as WalMart and H&M. For Akter, working in the factory means progress: it is a means of paying the debts of her family, to support her seven-year-old daughter, and to earn a living after her husband left her – a fate that many garment workers share.

“I don’t really have a choice,” she says. She sends around 2,000 taka home every month, as well as the occasional windfall: a rice cooker is stored in her parents’ cupboard; the company awarded it to her for not missing any days and for working quickly.

But if she can’t save anything for herself, is she really getting on? Is progressing from slave-like working conditions to meagre salaries really enough? Or is the country’s sweatshop image still accurate today?


Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a thinktank in Dhaka, shakes his head. “Not at all.” The economist believes that – at least in a broader sense – the textile industry has lifted millions out of poverty. In the 1980s, workers lived in shacks and toiled in factories with no toilets or safe drinking water. Now even a cursory look at their lunch boxes will show they are eating better than in the past, he says.

But he adds that many workers are malnourished and some still sleep on the floor. “Most workers can’t save anything for their post-work years.” Nevertheless, there are small indications that the quality of life is improving. “Workers like to spend the last penny for the betterment of the family: some send their children to private kindergarten, or to private tutors.”

It was the Rana Plaza disaster that arguably triggered the biggest safety improvements. Following a broad deal between unions and more than 200 garment companies such as Primark and H&M, more than 1,600 factories were inspected and hazards identified and dealt with. Factory owners invested in fire doors, sprinkler systems and electrical upgrades. Some tore down factories and built them anew to keep their business going. A general manager of the company where Tasnia Akter works says the new rules of business are simple: “No compliance, no contracts.”

“If you compare pre-Rana Plaza and post-Rana Plaza, the one thing that really has changed is safety,” says Kalpona Akter (no relation to Tasnia), a labour activist and executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity (BCWS). Between 2005 and 2012, more than 500 workers died in textile factories. After 2014, the annual number of fatalities has remained “well under 30”, according to the Stern Centre for Business and Human Rights at New York University .

“Workers are now more aware of their rights,” says Kalpona Akter. When she founded BCWS in 2000, few workers knew they had any rights at all.

“Now workers perhaps won’t die in the factory – but they will nevertheless slowly die of malnourishment,” Hasan Maruf Rumi says. The activist and politician explains how it is impossible to feed a family on the new minimum wage of 8,000 taka.

While the minimum wage has indeed been doubled, it is still only half of what the unions had suggested – and far from a living wage. A study by CPD found that the overall cost of living for garment workers had increased by 86% between 2013 and 2018, with food costs up 57%. Last December the influential manufacturers’ association BGMEA made it clear that owners would close factories if the minimum wage increased further. It called on brands to increase their prices as a result. Nothing happened.

When asked how much she thinks she deserves, Tasnia Akter says: 10,000 taka, around £96.

In Chittagong, many workers live near the factories. The streets, turned muddy by the rain, are lined with corner shops, barbers and vegetable sellers. Nadira Begum, a 26-year-old sewing operator, shares a room with her three-year-old daughter in a compound with other families. Her husband shows up from time to time; he has another wife as well.

“As soon as there is a raise, everything gets more expensive,” she says. She already pays around 3,000 taka per month for the room. While Begum earns about nine times as much as her mother, she is unsure whether her purchasing power has gone up much. She does have amenities such as a fan and a fridge. She joined the union after it helped her when she was about to be fired for being pregnant, she says. Now she has lost her job. Begum believes it is primarily because she is a union member. But she doesn’t seem too fazed. One thing that has changed is her self-assurance, the pride in her abilities: “I am not worried. I am a skilled worker; I will just go and get another job.”

© 2019 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-d...ers-rana-plaza

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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge Approach Road AKA Bhanga Expressway. I am sure this will be named Sheikh this or that Memorial Expressway in due course....

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Bangladesh - one of the global leaders in denim items production, has begun to move upmarket into high-margin fashion denim clothing material for value-added apparel production. One of the producers - SQUARE Denims, mentioned that they are offering material in twenty different high margin material categories (as oppose to basic denim, and which used to be ten categories or so prior) and the volume has now gone up to 40 crore meters.

Bangladesh is the top exporter to EU and it has the third highest export position to US.

Denim exports currently earn 300 crore dollars yearly, which is projected to go up to 700 crore dollars yearly by 2021...

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## Bilal9

Padma bridge Roadway and Railway slabs installation has begun about a month ago... Completed bridge view is slowly materializing.


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## Bilal9



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## UKBengali

Bilal9 said:


>



Fantastic plane at a great price for Biman.

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## Bilal9

UKBengali said:


> Fantastic plane at a great price for Biman.



Agreed. Fortunate happenstance of :

Boeing sales-guys knowing Bangladesh' need and a want and,
Hasina's penchant for a deal and percentage. 
Of course - if Biman can utilize these new routes properly, they can wrest back some quality seats from the Middle Eastern carriers using these new birds which - by dint of the ME carrier's hubs in the gulf, they can't utilize to full extent with new long range birds like the 787-9). Not the labor seats to and from the Middle East, they can keep those...

I understand that Biman can even operate JFK to Dhaka direct with 787-9's, and certainly with ease provided new 787-LR's and ER's are developed (or available, not sure). They most certainly can with the triple-7's in the fleet currently, don't know if the load factor can compensate.

If only Biman could upgrade their service level a bit, they are so behind the curve from operators like Thai and SQ, and *they now have as young or younger a fleet now compared with these carriers*.

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## Bilal9

From Boeing's Twitter feed (two additional this week would make six 787's in the fleet),






*Bangladesh is pulling ahead, rapidly. Here is why*

*With average growth rate of 8% as shown in the Asian Development Bank figures, Bangladesh has become as one of the fastest growing economies in the Asia-Pacific region.*
Katharine Rooney 20 November, 2019 5:30 pm IST






When it first became a country, in 1971, Bangladesh was incredibly poor. The GDP growth rate was -14%, political instability was rife, and the nation was devastated by floods and famine.
Things have moved. Bangladesh now has an average growth rate of 8% – well above the Asian average, Asian Development Bank figures show.

A decline in population growth is also helping an increase in per capita income. The number of employed workers living below the poverty line dropped from 73.5% in 2010 to 10.4% in 2018.

Bangladesh has been classed by the United Nations as one of the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) since 1975, but its current trajectory means it is likely to shed that description by 2024.

Graduating from LDC status is a sign that a country’s per capita gross national income, human assets, and resilience to economic and environmental shocks are robust enough to enable sustainable development.
Bangladesh was 105th in the The Global Competitiveness Report 2019 from the World Economic Forum. The more competitive a country is, the more likely it is that it will be able to improve living standards.

The garment trade that began in Bangladesh in the 1970s is now a $30 billion industry. But the economy is diversifying. The services sector – including microfinance and computing – makes up 53% of the country’s GDP.
The success of the IT industry is central to the digital transformation and ongoing economic growth of Bangladesh. It exports nearly $1 billion of technology products every year – a figure that the government expects to increase to $5 billion by 2021. The country also has 600,000 IT freelancers.

Bangladesh has seen wide improvements in health, education, infant mortality and life expectancy, according to Daniel Gay of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. This has driven growth and reduced economic vulnerability. “It’s really a success story,” he says.

https://theprint.in/world/bangladesh...is-why/323746/

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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Here is the latest BG purchase in BG paint - 787-9 (yet unnamed) courtesy of Quentin Larsen at PDX (Portland, Oregon).






Water bus service introduced from Downtown Chittagong (Sadarghat area on the banks of the Karnafuli) to Patenga at Shah Amanat Airport due to heavy traffic jam. Fare is Tk. 400 one way, a bit high.






https://www.jugantor.com/todays-pape...A6%B9%E0%A7%87

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## Bilal9

__ https://www.facebook.com/









__ https://www.facebook.com/









__ https://www.facebook.com/









__ https://www.facebook.com/


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## Bilal9

Facial recognition technology development and AI integration in Bangladesh context


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## Bilal9

So this is not AI related, far from it. But a maritime country like Bangladesh needs ship propellers.

This is how it is made, Bangladesh style...


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## Bilal9

19th Padma Bridge span was installed a couple of days ago. Total number of spans are 42 - out of those 19 now installed and 12 ready to go on shore. The remainder (11) are in the pipeline being assembled onsite or on the way from China (kits).











Cross-wise Roadway slabs being installed on top level of Padma Bridge. This is span 13 and about 6-12 slabs are installed daily depending on weather and other factors.

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## Bilal9

Bilal9 said:


> Here is the latest BG purchase in BG paint - 787-9 (yet unnamed) courtesy of Quentin Larsen at PDX (Portland, Oregon).



Well Biman's fifth of six total 787's arrived in Dhaka, named 'Achin Pakhi', this one is a lengthened 787-9, another 787-9 (named 'Sonar Tori') due shortly.

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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> Well Biman's fifth of six total 787's arrived in Dhaka, named 'Achin Pakhi', this one is a lengthened 787-9, another 787-9 (named 'Sonar Tori') due shortly.



Does air travelling is more preferred by Bangladeshi compared to train and bus in term of travelling inter Bangladesh city ? What type of aircraft is used for such trip, propeller or jet ?

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> Does air travelling is more preferred by Bangladeshi compared to train and bus in term of travelling inter Bangladesh city ? What type of aircraft is used for such trip, propeller or jet ?



The distances are very small 250 to 300 miles North or South of Dhaka to any city, so Bus is preferred, and then train, then Airplane.

The govt. airline currently uses propliners like Dash 8 Q400, as do some private airliners, others use the ATR 42/72 series.

But sometimes Jetliners in high density routes are also used (Embraer E145 commuter jets and of course B738's). Bangladesh has used Fokker F28 Fellowship commuter jetliners in these 300 mile legs starting in 1970's. Even earlier, ATP's and Fokker F27 Friendships were used.

Sometimes B773's and B788's/B789's will stop at Chittagong (2nd largest city/destination) from foreign cities and then come to Dhaka, the hub and capital. Same with third largest destination city Sylhet which has direct connection to London.

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## The Ronin

Bilal9 said:


> Well Biman's fifth of six total 787's arrived in Dhaka, named 'Achin Pakhi', this one is a lengthened 787-9, another 787-9 (named 'Sonar Tori') due shortly.



Sonari Tori arrived first on 22nd December and 'Achin Pakhi' arrived on 24th, both got inaugurated on 28th December.

https://www.thedailystar.net/city/d...khi-bangladesh-biman-apps-inaugurated-1846330





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1338390126337894







Indos said:


> What type of aircraft is used for such trip, propeller or jet ?



Helicopter and turboprop aircraft.

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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> The distances are very small 250 to 300 miles North or South of Dhaka to any city, so Bus is preferred, and then train, then Airplane.
> 
> The govt. airline currently uses propliners like Dash 8 Q400, as do some private airliners, others use the ATR 42/72 series.
> 
> But sometimes Jetliners in high density routes are also used (Embraer E145 commuter jets and of course B738's). Bangladesh has used Fokker F28 Fellowship commuter jetliners in these 300 mile legs starting in 1970's. Even earlier, ATP's and Fokker F27 Friendships were used.
> 
> Sometimes B773's and B788's/B789's will stop at Chittagong (2nd largest city/destination) from foreign cities and then come to Dhaka, the hub and capital. Same with third largest destination city Sylhet which has direct connection to London.



Thanks for the answer Bilal. I also want to know about Bangladesh education system. Do they use English extensively in primary schools and universities ? One of the reason of why India service industry is quite big is due to its graduates proficiency in English. So I am just curious whether Bangladesh service industry can also follow Indian steps.

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> Thanks for the answer Bilal. I also want to know about Bangladesh education system. Do they use English extensively in primary schools and universities ? One of the reason of why India service industry is quite big is due to its graduates proficiency in English. So I am just curious whether Bangladesh service industry can also follow Indian steps.



Yes English proficiency in Bangladesh is pretty good compared to most of Asia. There are English medium primary and secondary education (in addition to Bengali medium education) and some Universities (private ones) teach in English and are accredited by US University accredition council.

It is a class-based system. People from wealthy families send their kids to exclusive English medium schools. The situation is similar to that in India.

That said general English proficiency used to be slightly one notch below India because Indians speak English between each other in daily life (they are a much larger and diverse country) - we don't. But the gap is closing fast, Thanks to Internet and Media. Basic English is widely understood however, even on the streets by Becak/Rickshaw pullers.

Bangladesh earned one Billion in software last year, English proficiency is rapidly gaining hold among young people.



The Ronin said:


> Sonari Tori arrived first on 22nd December and 'Achin Pakhi' arrived on 24th, both got inaugurated on 28th December.
> 
> https://www.thedailystar.net/city/d...khi-bangladesh-biman-apps-inaugurated-1846330
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1338390126337894
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Helicopter and turboprop aircraft.



Thanks for correcting me @The Ronin bhai. Jebhabey plane kintesey, hodish rakha shombhob na....

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## Bilal9

World's seventh largest data center in Bangladesh now. 2 Petabyte capacity...

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## Indos

Bangladesh GDP will reach 1.2 Trillion dollar in 2034 according to latest foreign institution forecast. I hope Bangladesh can achieve that so that more Muslim nations join a Trillion dollar economy club. I also hope Bangladesh can successfully diversify its economy during the next 14 years journey. 

https://cebr.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/World-Economic-League-Table-Report-2020-Final.pdf

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> Bangladesh GDP will reach 1.2 Trillion dollar in 2034 according to latest foreign institution forecast. I hope Bangladesh can achieve that so that more Muslim nations join a Trillion dollar economy club. I also hope Bangladesh can successfully diversify its economy during the next 14 years journey.
> 
> https://cebr.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/World-Economic-League-Table-Report-2020-Final.pdf



Thanks for your good wishes and predictions, I am sure many more Trillion dollar economies will be Muslim ones. For starters, we Muslim countries should trade between each other, distances notwithstanding. Certainly Turkey and Indonesia are (or are already close to being) Trillion Dollar economies and smaller Muslim majority economies should have preferential trade agreements to trade with these two countries, if they already don't have.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

20 spans already installed in Padma Bridge - half of the bridge now visible.


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## Bilal9

This and the next few posts will outline the various Pharma companies established and exporting from Bangladesh in a few videos. This sector is a preferred export thrust sector as recognized by the govt.

Square Pharma - USFDA approval process





Square Pharma - MUPS Micro Pellet advanced pharma technology





Vietnam Ambassador visits Square Pharma facilities





Popular Pharma





Incepta Pharma

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## Bilal9

ACME Laboratories





Healthcare Pharma HPL (Oncology)





IBN SINA Pharma - Cephalosporin Project @Avec

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## Bilal9

Diplomatic words from a non-diplomat - Rubana Huq, President, BGMEA. I am sure she'd say the same things about Pakistan at some point....which I believe we should. We in the subcontinent have a shared stake in stopping the fighting and growing economically together.

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## Bilal9

APR Energy developed a 71,000 square meter plant site yo deliver 300MW of bridging power 




Hatil intro's robotics and CAD automation for exported furniture





Daily Star (news daily) Five part feature on concurrent five mega projects...sorry Bengali only

Matarbari Coal Power and Port Project (Japanese/Bangladeshi joint JV)





Rooppur Nuclear Powerplant





Dhaka Metrorail Project





Padma Bridge

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## Bilal9

And the last mega project...

CXB LNG terminal

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## Bilal9

Agricultural development, new fruit varieties produced in Bangladesh.

Japanese Persimmon





Crimson Seedless grapes | Menindee Seedless grapes


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## Bilal9

Two more fruit varieties from South East Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia) that are now in widespread cultivation locally,

Rambutan





Longan


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## Bilal9

Mini combine harvester designed and made in Bangladesh, with consultancy from Rice Research Institute and adapted to local conditions.






Local re-rolling mills planning to introduce high strength corrosion resistant ASTM 1035 re-bar in the local 
market. ASTM A1035 reinforcing bar, also branded as "MMFX" rebar, is one of the strongest grades on the market. Independent laboratory tests have shown that A1035 rebar resists corrosion up to five times better than conventional steel, making it an outstanding choice for applications involving humid or volatile environments.





Walton Laptops being exported to Africa

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## The Ronin



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## Bilal9

Dairy Farm investments have been rising in Bangladesh. Lately quite a few have been setup near Dhaka in Munshiganj area, focusing on dairy products, which are close to milk processing plants producing powder and having pasteurization facilities. These are modeled after Dutch and European dairy farm practices, the one below is run with about 1100 Frisian and Halsey breed cows in a modern sanitary facility.

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## The Ronin



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## Bilal9

Agricultural automation continues, latest trend is rice sapling re-planting by mechanized method.

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## Bilal9

Bhanga "Clover Leaf" interchange on the Expressway from Dhaka to Padma Bridge. Not complete yet, as can be seen with idiot bus-drivers driving free-style on the wrong side and creating blocks. Traffic cops aren't here yet.





Padma Bridge Housing Complex





Padma Bridge latest status - as of a few hours ago.





And another one from January 22, 2020.

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## Destranator

UKBengali said:


> Got any actual evidence that BBS stats are exaggerated?



https://www.thedailystar.net/busine...th-asian-network-on-economic-modeling-1741114

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/cpd-doubts-bangladesh-gdp-growth-8-plus-in-2019-20-1733533

http://www.newagebd.net/article/50918/bangladeshs-gdp-grew-by-record-786pc-in-fy18-experts-doubt

http://www.newagebd.net/article/74842/gdp-growth-doubted-quality-questioned

https://bdnews24.com/economy/2018/0...-casting-doubt-on-bangladesh-s-gdp-projection

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/wb-questions-government-data-about-gdp-growth-1523276955

https://tbsnews.net/economy/high-growth-yet-questions-galore

https://www.thedailystar.net/gdp-growth-the-numbers-game-29204


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail MRT Line-6 latest status, 3 KM rails laid, terminals almost completed 




*Progress Report for MRT-6 as of January 2020*
https://dmtcl.portal.gov.bd/sites/de...bae6ba65a7.pdf

CP02 (associated works of the Depot)- 62%
CP03 & CP04 (Uttara North to Agargaon)- 66%
CP05 (Agargaon to Karwan Bazaar)- 38.20%
CP06 (Karwan Bazaar to Motijheel)- 40.25%
CP07 (Mechanical and Electrical works)- 32.30%
CP08 (Rolling stocks and Depot equipment)- 20.50%

*Progress for other MRT lines (some underground)
*
*MRT Line-1*
Detailed study, survey and basic design have been completed. Work on detailed design and land acquisition for the depot is in progress. Works for MRT Line-1 will hopefully start in December 2020.

*MRT Line-5 Northern Route*
Feasibility Study has been completed. The Consultant company for Engineering services is being chosen now. Detailed study, survey and basic design will start in March 2020.

*MRT Line-5 Southern Route*
Project Readiness Financing (PRF) has been signed with the relevant authorities. Request For Proposal (RFP) has been issued to appoint a Consultant company. Feasibility study will hopefully start in July 2020.

*MRT Line-2*
The basic study has already begun. Hopefully, the Preliminary study will start in April 2020.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Latest updates on Matarbari (near Cox's Bazaar) Japanese-led Super-efficient Power Project and Deep Sea Port. Sorry Bengali only.*

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## Bengal71

Bilal9 said:


> Two more fruit varieties from South East Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia) that are now in widespread cultivation locally,
> 
> Rambutan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Longan



Longan is not new to Bangladesh. It's known as কাঠলিচু in BD. I have eaten it since I was little.

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## Bilal9

Bengal71 said:


> Longan is not new to Bangladesh. It's known as কাঠলিচু in BD. I have eaten it since I was little.



Oho I did not know. City kid so obviously not aware of a lot of stuff...thanks for letting me know.


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## Bengal71

Bilal9 said:


> Oho I did not know. City kid so obviously not aware of a lot of stuff...thanks for letting me know.



I am also a city kid. These used to be sold on cycle vans outside school gate along with Amra, jam, lotkon, panifol, makhna, bethun etc.

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## Bilal9

Bengal71 said:


> I am also a city kid. These used to be sold on cycle vans outside school gate along with Amra, jam, lotkon, panifol, makhna, bethun etc.



Yeah haven't had Bethun for a while. looks like little round marbles with thin scaly skin. Interesting fruit. Who needs candy when nature offers such wondrous bounty?


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## Bilal9

A few videos on Payra Coal Power station. Coal unloading process and shipment explained. Sorry Bengali only.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka-Chittagong Bullet train feasibility complete and soil testing proceeding...Govt. is serious about giving this project some boost. They are looking at 55 minutes for the 200 km leg between the two cities and a dedicated right-of-way other than the present low speed milk-train infrastructure. I will be very happy if they can pull off more than 120 KM per hour.

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## Bilal9

Bhairab in Kishoreganj is Bangladesh' major footwear-producing region. A few images from a very small non-automated factory.























*____________________________________________*

*Bashundhara launches largest bitumen plant in Bangladesh*

The Bashundhara Bitumen Plant plans to produce over 900,000 tonnes of bitumen and asphalt annually by 2021.

The plant has the capacity to produce bitumen grades such as Cutback, Emulsified, Oxidized and Polymer (SBS, Rubber Powder) and customised as per client's required specifications.

Apart from this, fuel oil and some other byproducts produced in the plant will be sold or disposed of to appropriate clientele.

Bangladesh presently imports 60/70 grade bitumen from Iran because that country's environment is very similar to ours.


Bangladesh's annual demand for bitumen is around 500,000 tonnes, and nearly 90 percent are being imported.
*Bashundhara launches largest bitumen plant in Bangladesh*
Bashundhara Bitumen Plant plans to produce over 900,000 tonnes of bitumen and asphalt annually by 2021
The Bashundhara Bitumen Plant in Pangaon area of South Keraniganj is set to go into commercial operation in March this year.






The Bashundhara Bitumen Plant in Pangaon area of South Keraniganj is set to go into commercial operation in March this year. Photo: TBS


The Bashundhara Group has launched Bangladesh's biggest bitumen plant with a large capacity to meet the annual domestic demand of the hydrocarbon product.

A concern of Bashundhara Oil and Gas Company Ltd, the Bashundhara Bitumen Plant is located in Pangaon area of South Keraniganj on 65 acres of land. The plant started its journey on Saturday with the goal to meet the growing market demand, and has plans to export the material to neighbouring counties.

Bitumen is a binding organic material made from the by-products of refined crude oil. It is widely used in road construction because it is easy to produce, reusable, non-toxic, and a strong binder.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid, Bashundhara Group's Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and Managing Director Sayem Sobhan Anvir inaugurated the country's only private-sector bitumen plant.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony as the chief guest, AHM Mustafa Kamal said, "Imported bitumen has caused us a lot of hassle by melting on contact with water or direct sunlight.

"We have long awaited for a proper solution to this issue. We were seeking a material free of such problems, but suitable with Bangladesh's environment. It is an excellent initiative for producing high quality bitumen in our country."

The minister added that Bangladesh will now be able to export high quality bitumen.





The inaugural programme of the Bashundhara Bitumen Factory

Meanwhile, State Minister Nasrul Hamid said, "The Bashundhara Group has created employment opportunities for thousands of people through the new bitumen plant. The conglomerate is investing in many projects not only for making money, but also to abide by their responsibility and love for the country and its people."

Speaking at the event, Bashundhara Group's Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan said, "We are trying to do something for the country's betterment. The group has built around 30 factories and two residential areas.

"Those who had bought land from Bashundhara, are now multimillionaires."

He added that Bashundhara is grateful to the government for maintaining a business friendly environment in the country for years.

"There was a time when we passed every single day in fear of strikes and other political unrests," said Ahmed Akbar, adding that he has given an assurance to the finance minister for establishing an industrial zone to create employment for at least 3 lakh people.

"The group also has plan to build an English medium school at Keraniganj's Bashundhara residential area within the next year," he said.

Honorary speaker Emirates Professor M Shamim Z Bosunia said, "It is a good news for us that the Bashundhara group will produce 60/70 grade bitumen, which is very compatible with this country's environment. We are optimistic that Bashundhara will offer the material for sale at a competitive price."

Professor Bosunia, who is also a consulting panel member of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project, added, "We presently import 60/70 grade bitumen from Iran to construct the Padma bridge's connecting roads and expressways, because that country's environment is very similar to us.

"Bangladesh's annual demand for bitumen is around 500,000 tonnes, and nearly 90 percent are being imported."

Industry sources said that the state-owned Eastern Refinery Ltd (ERL) has the capacity to produce around 10 percent of the domestic demand. Meanwhile, the annual market demand is growing at an average rate of 10-15 percent each year.

Speaking at the ceremony, Keraniganj Upazila Parishad Chairman Shahin Ahmed said, "To ease pressure on Dhaka, we should develop Keraniganj with a good plan. The Bashundhara Group is playing a pioneer's role for transforming villages to cities."

The Bashundhara Bitumen Plant plans to produce over 900,000 tonnes of bitumen and asphalt annually by 2021.

The plant has the capacity to produce bitumen grades such as Cutback, Emulsified, Oxidized and Polymer (SBS, Rubber Powder) and customised as per client's required specifications.

Apart from this, fuel oil and some other byproducts produced in the plant will be sold or disposed of to appropriate clientele.

Nafis Imtiaz, head of Bashundhara Bitumen Plant, told The Business Standard, "The total investment for the new facility is $143.7 million. All types of tests have been done as part of pre-commissioning. Now we are waiting for raw material to start commercial operation.

"We hope that the plant will begin operating commercially by the end of March this year. The new facility's ETP [Effluent Treatment Plant] would be the largest one among petroleum and chemical industries in the country."

According to industry sources, Bangladesh's monthly bitumen demand is around 42,000 tonnes.

The Roads and Highways Department statistics show that it has 22,000 kilometers of roads under their supervision, and most of those are getting expanded.

Preferring anonymity, a contactor of the department said that most bitumen are imported from Iran, India, Pakistan and China. Current price of a tonne of 60/70 grade imported bitumen is around Tk39,000.

However, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) officials said that local bitumen per tonne prices are around Tk59,330 for 60/70 grade and Tk56,660 for 80/100 grade.

Apart from the Roads and Highways Department, 105,000 kilometres of roads are carpeted, of the total 354,000 kilometres of roads in rural areas across the country under the Local Government Engineering Department.

The Bashundhara Group started its journey in 1987 through its real estate business. Now, the group is involved in over 30 businesses, many of them are producing cement, food and beverage, paper and pulp, tissue paper, LPG bottling and distribution, energy sector and a trading business.

Bashundhara Group's Co-Chairman Sadat Sobhan Tanvir, Vice Chairman Shafiat Sobhan Sanvir, Managing Director's son Walid Sobhan were present at the inauguration ceremony.






As of now, Bangladesh consumes five lakh tons of bitumen per annum, which is increasing by 10% to 15%

Bashundhara Group, a leading local conglomerate, on Saturday launched the country's first private bitumen plant at Pangoan of Keraniganj in Dhaka with a view to meeting the rising demand for bitumen in domestic market. 

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal inaugurated plant as chief guest, where Ahmed Akbar Subhan, chairman of Bashundhara Group, was present. State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid was present as special guest.

As of now, Bangladesh consumes five lakh tons of bitumen per annum, which is increasing by 10% to 15%. 

With an investment of $200 million, the company has established the plant on 63 acres of land and the yearly production capacity will be nine lakh tons. 

"We did not have a bitumen solution which matches our weather. So our roads were not durable. Now Bashundhara has come up with a solution. We don't have to import anymore,” said AHM Mustafa Kamal. 

"The company is also planning to export bitumen after meeting the country's demand. This is a big achievement for Bangladesh," he added.

Bitumen used in road construction is essentially a hydrocarbon product. It is a by-product of fuel oil which is used for road construction because it is easy to produce, reusable, non-toxic, and a strong binder.

“By 2021 we will become exporter of 4,00,000 tons, reaching the highest production capacity in Bangladesh with 9,00,000 tons annually,” said Ahmed Akbar Subhan, chairman of Basundhara Group.

"Apart from brightening the country's image in the global market, Bashundhara will do both saving and earning foreign currency for the country by exporting after meeting the demand of the country," he said. 

At present, the demand for bitumen in the country is around five lakh tones, of which 90 percent is imported. The rest 10 percent is supplied by the state-run Eastern Refinery. The demand for bitumen is about 42,000 tonnes per month in Bangladesh.

Of these, Eastern Refinery under Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) produces 70,000 tons of bitumen. The rest is imported from various countries in the Middle East. 

At the launching program, M Shamim Z Basunia, former professor at Bangladesh University of Engineering, said that the penetration grade of Basundhara bitumen would be 60-70 which was suitable for the weather of Bangladesh. 

“We were searching for this weather-friendly product for long. This grade bitumen is being used to construct our Padma Bridge,” he said.

He also said that this plant generated employment. 

According to the project description, the bitumen plant has largest drumming capacity, capable of producing 6,000 drums daily.

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## Bilal9

A day at FMC dockyard

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## Bilal9

12:00 AM, February 24, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 02:04 AM, February 24, 2020
*Ctg region’s economic zones to get five jetties*

*Project to cost Tk 1,923cr*






Jagaran Chakma

Five jetties and necessary infrastructure will be set up in the economic zones in the country's south-eastern part to ensure comfortable and safe movement of people as well as tourism and landing facilities.

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) will implement the project involving about Tk 1,923 crore in cooperation with the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) between July 2020 and June 2023.

The government will provide the fund and the Beza will come up with land to implement the project, according to the project proposal.

The jetties will provide infrastructure facilities to carry the rising volume of goods and items for local people in Chittagong and Cox's Bazar and they will contribute to the economic development, Paban Chowdhury, executive chairman of the Beza, told The Daily Star.

The agency has urged the BIWTA to establish the jetties in the zones.


The proposal has been sent to the shipping ministry seeking consent. Later, it will be sent to the planning commission for approval, said a source at the BIWTA.

The jetties will help expand tourism activities and attract foreign and domestic tourists through modern landing facilities, Chowdhury said.

They will also help expand economic activities by spurring water-borne transport businesses and generate jobs.

Local farmers and small businessmen will be able to transport their products within a short time and at lower costs, he said.

The planned jetties will be built on Sandwip channel on the banks of the Naf river in Teknaf and in Maheshkhali island.

The Mirsarai Economic Zone, which is located on the bank of Sandwip channel, will be the industrial hub where hundreds of thousands of workers will work, according to the Beza executive chairman.

They will move between the zone and Sandwip island and adjacent areas. So, jetties will be required for their smooth movement, he said.

At Subrang-Jaliar Dwip in Teknaf and Sonadia island in Cox's Bazar, eco-tourism parks are being set up with a view to attracting thousands of tourists every day in the future.

Under the project, the BIWTA will dredge 3.67 lakh cubic metres of area for safe berthing of water vessels and acquire 25.86 lakh acres of land.

It will construct 75,480 square feet in jetty space, 8,485 square metre in parking yard, 24,000 square metre access road, and 4,000 metre embankment to save river banks.

The BIWTA will construct the 23,488 square metre port complex.

The construction of several economic zones is going on in Mirsarai and Cox's Bazar region.

An expert team of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology has prepared the design for jetties and yards and carried out the feasibility study.

12:00 AM, February 19, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 11:54 AM, February 19, 2020
*‘Made in Bangladesh’ smartphones headed to US*

*Local electronic giant Walton pulls off the feat*






Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Walton is set to export smartphones to the US, in what can be viewed as a remarkable endorsement of the leaps taken by Bangladesh's manufacturing sector.

"The dream of exporting 'Made in Bangladesh' smartphones is now coming true," said SM Monjurul Alam, managing director of Walton, adding that the quality of the locally-made smartphones with advanced features has drawn buyers' attention.

The first consignment of the smartphones, which would be priced between $100 and $200, will be out of the gates of Walton Digi-Tech Industries's plant in Chandra, Gazipur in March 1.

The smartphones are bound for a renowned American brand and Walton is the original equipment manufacturer, Alam said, while declining to disclose the name of the brand.

This kind of production is known as contract manufacturing, which is commonplace in Bangladesh's garments sector.


"The US importer signed an agreement with us a few months ago and we were improving our quality before finalising the shipment."

The homegrown electronics giant is not stopping at this.

After the US it is planning to ship smartphones to Europe, Australia and other developed nations. "Walton is now producing international standard smartphone," Alam added.

"This will be a huge moment for Bangladesh and all Bangladeshis should feel proud of this achievement," Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar told The Daily Star.

Walton has been at the forefront in this field and keeps hitting new milestones, he said.

Indeed, the company was the first to set up a mobile phone manufacturing plant in Bangladesh in October 2017.

So far, the plant has churned out 60 lakh units: 17 lakh smartphones and 43 lakh basic phones.

"Walton along with some other companies is making the country proud as currently 40 per cent of the domestic demand for handsets is met by nine local firms," Jabbar said.

The assembly boom follows a government decision in 2015 to slash equipment importing tax to just 1 per cent from as high as 100 per cent.

"That was a changemaker. And we are now harvesting the results," he added.

Walton also excels in manufacturing of other high-tech products too: it is shipping a wide range of electronics and electrical appliances to about 35 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

It inked an agreement with global e-commerce giant Amazon last year to market 'Made in Bangladesh' electronics and ICT devices in the US. The shipments will start from this year, according to a Walton official requesting anonymity.

Walton is also manufacturing mobile phone accessories such as chargers, batteries, earphones and motherboards and meets its entire demand for accessories from local production.

The milestone of Walton's mobile export will be celebrated on the factory premises of; Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Jabbar and ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak will grace the occasion.

Another announcement will come on the same day: 26,000 laptops manufactured at the plant will be shipped to different markets.

Last year they sold 12.02 lakh smartphones and 41.76 lakh feature phones in the local market.

Since Walton is gradually finding its feet overseas, officials said they will now double down efforts to make it the best Bangladeshi brand in the global market by 2030.

12:00 AM, February 17, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 04:27 PM, February 17, 2020
*Time for ‘Made in Bangladesh’ tag to shine bright*







Muhammad Zahidul Islam

There was a time when mobile handset buyers were used to searching for 'Made in Finland' or 'Made in Korea' for good quality devices. Later, 'Made in China' took the mantle, followed by 'Made in Vietnam'.

Now, the time is for the 'Made in Bangladesh' tag line to dazzle. People are now purchasing good-quality locally finished smart devices without any hesitation, in what can be viewed as a proud moment for the country.

Two years back when Bangladesh was getting on the handset manufacturing bandwagon, there was hesitation among buyers. But the time has changed. The clouds engulfing the buyers' mind then have now cleared away.

Personally, I did not see any great effort to drive home the message of 'Made in Bangladesh' branding on the devices save for the odd media reports here and there. And yet, consumers took to the products from their heart.





The same fascination was also observed in 2005, when Teletalk had set off on its journey in the sea of largely foreign-owned carriers. But unfortunately, the state-owned operator could not make the most of people's affections and now, they are struggling.

But here, in the device manufacturing industry, everyone is observing an excellent and favourable environment for the local manufacturers and the manufacturers themselves have gotten a good sense of the situation.

Here, we are also observing that the common users are playing the crucial role of brand ambassadors. Those who already bought the locally made devices are spreading the word, out of their own volition, on the superlative quality.

That's where the real work is done; and in fact, only within two years Bangladesh is close to self-dependency on smart device production.

Statistics can be helpful to understand the situation.

Of the total smart gadgets sold in the country last year about 62 per cent were locally assembled, and for the current year the plant owners are gung-ho about being able to meet the whole country's smartphone demand.

It is certainly a spot of great news for the nation -- and especially for the Digital Bangladesh vision.

Over the past few years, it has been seen that about 80 to 90 lakh units of smartphones were sold in the country in a calendar year.

And last year, the local mobile plants churned out about 54 lakh units of smartphones, while another 20 million were either imported legitimately or sneaked in illegally. The local manufacturers are confident that they can pull off such a number this year.

Personally, I fell the just-concluded decade of digitalisation will be remembered for stepping into the path of gadget manufacturing in 2017, when local tech group Walton established the country's first mobile assemble plant.

In just two and a half years the 'Made in Bangladesh' has been fully established in the market.

But even a few years ago, did anyone think that a mobile plant in Bangladesh would be churning out the world's most advanced smartphones? Not just that, the locally assembled handsets are much better in terms of quality and more competitive in terms of price than the imported devices.

Once this realisation dawned in, at least a couple of companies have stopped their device imports entirely and are now serving the market for their own plants.

So far, nine plants have been set up in the country and the list includes world-renowned brands like Samsung, Chinese brands itel, Techno, Vivo and Oppo. Brands like Huawei and Motorola are also gearing up.

Samsung has promised that from the first quarter of 2021 it will manufacture its top of the line 'Note' series smartphones from its factory in in Narsingdi. Already it is assembling Note 10+ and Note 10 Lite at the plant.

When this news broke on The Daily Star it created a tremendous buzz. The news was also reported in the international media.

The South Korean electronics giant is now meeting 97 per cent of its local demand for its plant in Bangladesh. It is now planning to manufacture even the latest gadgets here.

In just one year, the two brands -- Techno and itel -- have fulfilled its demand for five lakh units a month for their local plant and they are planning to go for export within two years.

Walton's local manufacturing journey will soon complete two years; at present it is not importing any sets. As a Bangladeshi this news is making us proud.

But it is not too well known that in 2007 Samsung had expressed its interest to set up a factory in Bangladesh.

But it did not get much favourable response, which is why it took its investment plan to Vietnam. Over the last decade, Samsung has set up three factories in the Southeast Asian nation that churned out a staggering 120 million smartphones in 2018.

And when the China-US trade war began, Vietnam gained more momentum in handset manufacturing and now, more than half of Samsung's demand for the entire world is being provided by this country.

Thanks to Samsung's groundwork, Apple has recently announced its plan to shift its production from China to Vietnam.

Though we have started well, Vietnam's rapid strides in this arena could be frustrating news for us.

Here my point is, though we have failed to catch our first train a decade ago, we have to look at how we can hit fourth gear at the earliest.

The first task was done in the last budget, when the import duty for raw materials imports were slashed and the import tax on smartphones was bumped up to 57 per cent. So, everyone is now racing to set up factories.

Now, if quality is given a little attention, we could be straddling forward briskly.

We already know that some entrepreneurs are planning to setup factories for mobile-related accessories. In that case, the demand for various backward linkages -- including battery, phone cases, chargers -- may come from the local plants.

Perhaps, handsets can share some of the load of exports currently being shouldered largely by the garment industry.

Almost all the handset producers are talking about exporting from their plants. And if some of them can start export within at least a couple of years, this will be a game changer for the industry and the country as a whole.

We can also see glimpses of such potential in the laptop segment, where the 'Made in Bangladesh' tag is creating waves. This digital device is also being added to the export list, albeit a little clumsily.

And personally, I look forward to the day when Europe-America will also get a mobile device with the 'Made in Bangladesh' tag like shirts or denim as they do now.


























Ceramics Sector




Electronics and High-Tech Sector




Frozen Foods Sector




Light Engineering Sector




Leather Sector

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## Bilal9

*Badly burnt locomotive returns to track after 7 years*




A locomotive of Bangladesh Railway (BR), which was badly damaged in a fire after a derailment in 2013, has been finally made functional by the experts of Central Locomotive Workshop in Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur.

After a successful trial run, the engine was officially handed over to BR authorities yesterday.

"The repair work here took eight months and cost Tk 3 crore," said Mohammad Kudrat-e-Khuda, chief executive of the workshop.

According to the BR officials in Parbatipur, the locomotive (engine No 2933) of Parabat Express plying Dhaka-Sylhet route got badly damaged as it caught fire due to burst of its fuel tank after derailment near Noapara station in Habiganj district on October 7 in 2013.






After its salvage, the engine was taken to a workshop of BR in Pahartoli of Chattogram for repair but the experts there failed in the task as the damage was too extensive.

The BR authorities, however, decided to make further attempt to repair it locally and the engine was brought to Central Locomotive Workshop in Parbatipur on May 15 last year.

"Considering the nature and extent of the damage, it was a challenging task for us to repair the engine. Experts of the workshop disassembled the entire engine to identify the damaged spares, which took a lot of time and efforts," said Kudrat-e-Khuda.

"Experts at the factory made the required spares and reassembled it. Besides the engineering part, the repair work involved electrical and electronic sections of the locomotive, which was burnt badly due to the fire incident," said the chief executive of the workshop.

According to the BR officials in Parbatipur, Tk 33 crore would be needed to import such an engine.


https://www.thedailystar.net/country/news/badly-burnt-locomotive-returns-track-after-7-years-1873321

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## Bilal9

*'Made in Bangladesh' smartphone revolution*

ছবি: সংগৃহীত




Photo: Collected




Muhammad Zahidul Islam

After decades of digitalization, the people of Bangladesh will have to remember notables for a few reasons.

One is that at the very end of the second decade of this century, the people of Bangladesh applied themselves to the task of making smart devices. And in just two and a half years, just a few entrepreneurs have now established 'Made in Bangladesh' a reality in this sector.

But a few years ago, did anyone think that any factory in Bangladesh would be equipped to produce the world's most advanced mobile phones? And to top this, the price and value will be better than imported devices!

That dream has now become a reality for many companies who are no longer importing devices. Key basic phones or smartphones of the latest capabilities are being manufactured in the factory of Dhaka, Gazipur or Narsingdi.

Some are just assembling smartphones and some are in the process so that they can meet all their sourcing needs from a local factory.

Started with Walton on October 2017 and which was one of nine factories here. The list includes world-renowned brands like Samsung. There are Chinese brands such as ITEL and Techno that are gaining popularity in various regions. The domestic brand symphony didn't do too badly either.

Last year, Vivo and Oppo (two popular Chinese brands) launched their own factories here, as did Unimax which has done as well as the local five star brands. The waiting list also includes brands like Huawei and Motorola.

There was a time when shoppers were looking for 'Made in Finland' or 'Made in Korea' for quality mobile phones. Which then turned to 'Made in China' followed by 'Made in Vietnam'. Now the blazing name on this tag line is 'Made in Bangladesh'.

In the beginning there was a kind of staid hesitancy among the buyers about local made handsets. But, all of that has been superseded now. There are some reports in the media about 'Made in Bangladesh' branding on the local handsets. On the other hand, the quality of the handsets has been widely publicized by the users. And that's where the real work was done.

In fact, Bangladesh has come very close to self-sufficiency in smartphone production in just two years.

Sixty-two percent of all smartphones sold in the country in 2019 were produced from factories established in Bangladesh. And in the current year, the demand of smartphones in the market will be able to supply from domestic factories, says local mobile factory owners. Surely this is great news for us.

Over the past few years, it has been seen that around 8 to 9 million smartphones were sold in the country each year. Last year, around 5 and a half million smartphones were assembled and manufactured from scratch by various factories in the country. More than 2.4 million smartphones have either been imported in a legitimate way or entered the country illegally. Industry insiders believe that 100% of this demand will be produced in the country by 2020.

As a media worker working with the sector, I have been watching the sector grow from strength to strength very closely. I want to place confidence in the faith and commitment of the people involved in this industrial sector.

As Samsung had promised, the first quarter of 2020 they have added their best-tech smartphone series 'Note 11' to be assembled by a local factory in the country. It is now a matter of pride for the whole of Bangladesh. The news has also been aired in foreign media.

Samsung is now producing about 97 percent of their local demand in Narsingdi's factory.

In just one year of travel, the two brands - Techno and iTel - have assembled 100% of their local demand in their factories. It's been two years since Walton has not been importing any sets. These are news which are making us proud.

In fact, back in 2017 Samsung had expressed an interest in establishing a factory in Bangladesh. But, for various reasons they failed to do so and went to Vietnam. Then they have so far started three factories in Vietnam. Until last year, around 140 million smartphones were made by Samsung's factories in that country.

And when the Sino-US trade war began, Vietnam gained more momentum. Now, more than half of Samsung's cellphone demand for the entire world is being provided by that country.

This can be a frustration for us, and a sad lesson.

The thing I want to say here is that maybe we missed that train an era ago, but we have to look at how to increase the speed of the train that we have eventually caught, to catch up.

The important task was done in the last budget, import tax on smartphones has been increased to 57 percent. So everyone jumped into the bandwagon to set up their own factories. Now if quality is given a bit of attention then it will certainly be more effective for the future and eventually become a factor for export success.

We already know that some entrepreneurs are also working to build factories to create mobile-related accessories. In that case, the demand for various backward linkages, including batteries, phone cases, chargers may be met from local factories.

Who can say that the Bangladeshi cellphone exports will not been able to play a major role which once stood on garments alone?

Everyone is talking about exporting from their own factory. If not everyone can start work within at least a couple of years, maybe the device can become a mobile device industry in a matter of days.

Not only mobile devices, in laptops we also see the 'Made in Bangladesh' tag. This digital device is also being added to the export list, albeit slowly at first.

We are now looking forward to the day when Europe-America will get mobile devices marked with 'Made in Bangladesh' just like shirts or denim slacks marked likewise.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Construction of Karnaphuli tunnel now more than 50% completed (that means TBM boring AND concrete ring component installations). Completion Dec. 2022. Length 3.4 KM excluding approach roads (which add additional 5 KM).

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## The Ronin

*Ecnec clears 9 projects worth Tk 24113.27 cr*

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved a total of nine projects involving Taka 24,113.27 crore including Matarbari Port Development Project with Taka 17,777.16 crore in a bid to enhance the cargo handling capacity of the country.

The approval came from a meeting of the ECNEC held at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area with ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing the reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said that a total of nine projects were approved today involving an overall estimated cost of Taka 24,113.27 crore. “Of the total project cost, Taka 6,151.26 crore will come from the Government of Bangladesh, Taka 2,213.25 crore from the concerned organization’s own fund while the rest of Taka 15,748.76 crore as project assistance,”

Of the approved nine projects, seven are new while two others are revised projects.

The Chattogram Port Authority and the Roads and Highways Division under the Ministry of Shipping will implement the Matarbari Port Development project by December 2026.

The Planning Minister said the main objective of the project is to enhance the cargo handling capacity of Bangladesh through constructing this Matarbari Port including link road and thus fulfill the demand of international trade as well as facilitating speedy port services with the neighboring countries.

Mannan said the Matarbari sea port would be the country’s 4th port after Chattogram, Mongla and Payra and it would be built as a huge port due to the growing pressure of economic activities.

“This is another ‘dream’ project for the country and it will further strengthen our journey towards the ocean as well as boost our trade and commerce,” he said.

The Planning Minister said of the total project cost of Taka 17,777.16 crore for the Matarbari project, Taka 2,671.15 crore will come from the Government of Bangladesh portion, Taka 2,213.24 crore from the CPA while the rest of Taka 12,892.76 crore from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Another official at the Planning Commission said that this Matarbari Port would fulfill the government’s aspirations for a deep sea port side by side creating opportunities for anchoring container-laden vessels, open goods-laden vessels and oil tankers at the port jetty.

Besides, this port will minimize the pressure on the Chattogram Port alongside meeting the growing demand of the country’s import and export activities. Goods transportation to and from the potential industrial estates at Matarbari and Moheshkhali will also be facilitated once this port is established.

The Matarbari Port will have two separate Terminals having 300 meter and 460 meter length where ships having 8,000 TEUs containers could anchor due to its 16-meter draft at the port channel.

The main project operations include construction of a multipurpose terminal and a container terminal, procurement of necessary cargo handling equipments and construction of 26.7 kilometer link road.

Revealing the latest progress of the implementation of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the July-February period of the current fiscal year (FY20), Mannan said the the implementing agencies could spend Taka 79,785.86 crore during this eight-month period with an utilization rate of 37.09 percent.

The ADP implementation rate during the July-February period of the last fiscal year (FY19) was, however, 39.13 percent with an expenditure of Taka 70,771.78 crore.

The implementation agencies has spent Taka 9,014.08 crore higher during this eight-month period compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

Referring to the approval of the construction of a 1690-meter long bridge over River Payra on the Kachua-Betagi-Patuakhali-Lohalia-Kalaiya road with Taka 1,042.28 crore, the Planning Minister said Shirshendu Biswas, a 4th grader student of Patuakhali Government Jubilee High School earlier wrote a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to construct a bridge over River Payra.

Following the letter, Mannan said the Premier assured that student of constructing the bridge and after certain formalities; the bridge project has been approved by ECNEC.

Answering to a question on the possible impact of novel corona virus on the country’s economy, he said that the global economy is experiencing some turmoil due to the COVID-19. “There might be some impact on our economy, but we can’t say now to what extent the impact would be.”

The other projects approved in the meeting are Lebukhali-Rampur-Mirzaganj link road with Taka 419.89 crore, Modernization of the firing range of Special Security Force (SSF) with Taka 51.54 crore, Fisheries Development at the CHT region with Taka 118.28 crore, Nutrition Development through producing fruits round the year, 2nd revised with Taka 161.05 crore, Protecting Pakerdaha under Madarganj upazila in Jamalpur and Jamthol area under Sariakandi upazila in Bogra from the erosion of River Jamuna with Taka 584.72 crore, Construction of the headquarter of NSI, 2nd revised with an additional cost of Taka 102.75 crore and Dhaka Sanitation Improvement Project with Taka 3,855.60 crore.

Ministers and State Ministers attended the meeting while Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present.

http://www.theindependentbd.com/pos...p5ZduQBRS71WYqhdkMIHGjHgPieJEiJSzvBNvudqYpIpA

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## UKBengali

" 24,113.27 crore. “Of the total project cost, Taka 6,151.26 crore will come from the Government of Bangladesh, Taka 2,213.25 crore from the concerned organization’s own fund while the rest of Taka 15,748.76 crore as project assistance"


Guys this is very interesting information.

So 1/3rd of the money is coming from BD own resources and 2/3rds as project assistance. And this figure may well have been a little higher if it was not for BD still totally financing the Padma Bridge.

We are seeing a slow-creep up over time of the proportion of project financing that is coming from BD resources.
The day that BD can build it's own infrastructure using it's own resources is getting closer.

@mmr
@Bilal9
@Homo Sapiens

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## Bilal9

UKBengali said:


> " 24,113.27 crore. “Of the total project cost, Taka 6,151.26 crore will come from the Government of Bangladesh, Taka 2,213.25 crore from the concerned organization’s own fund while the rest of Taka 15,748.76 crore as project assistance"
> 
> 
> Guys this is very interesting information.
> 
> So 1/3rd of the money is coming from BD own resources and 2/3rds as project assistance. And this figure may well have been a little higher if it was not for BD still totally financing the Padma Bridge.
> 
> We are seeing a slow-creep up over time of the proportion of project financing that is coming from BD resources.
> The day that BD can build it's own infrastructure using it's own resources is getting closer.
> 
> @mmr
> @Bilal9
> @Homo Sapiens



Yup this is going to be the case more and more in the future.

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## mmr

UKBengali said:


> " 24,113.27 crore. “Of the total project cost, Taka 6,151.26 crore will come from the Government of Bangladesh, Taka 2,213.25 crore from the concerned organization’s own fund while the rest of Taka 15,748.76 crore as project assistance"
> 
> 
> Guys this is very interesting information.
> 
> So 1/3rd of the money is coming from BD own resources and 2/3rds as project assistance. And this figure may well have been a little higher if it was not for BD still totally financing the Padma Bridge.
> 
> We are seeing a slow-creep up over time of the proportion of project financing that is coming from BD resources.
> The day that BD can build it's own infrastructure using it's own resources is getting closer.
> 
> @mmr
> @Bilal9
> @Homo Sapiens


Excellent news.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail Coach Consists trialling in Kawasaki Factory in Japan






Padma Bridge and Dhaka-Padma Bridge expressway latest video update.

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## Bilal9

*Neon Xie, Branding Director of Realme on Smartphone’s Prospect in Bangladesh*
NAHID TABASSUM


With a vision to become a healthy and sustainable enterprise and in an expedition to let the young people enjoy the happy life brought by the beauty of technology, Realme launches their impeccably designed and robustly built smartphones in an unbelievably competitive price range. 

With a focus on the generations Y and Z, Realme was founded in May 2018, establishing itself as a smartphone brand offering devices with both strong performance and a trendy design in the broad context of e-commerce.






With core strands of being young, real, stylish and outstanding as the brand’s DNA, Realme products won wide recognition for their “Power” and “Style” immediately after the launch. 


“With the advancement of the new technology and communication, smartphones are now platforms to display, promote and exchange ideas with an effort of fingertips,” Neon starts with. 

In a market so vast and quintessentially competitive, Realme challenges the high-end brands with an equally equipped and impressively manufactured phone at a winning price range as its compelling selling trait. “We are ready to provide them with a leap of quality, design and technology as the strong suits of our devices,” Neon says.






“The tech-savvy millennials as the potential consumers have the highest requirements in terms of specifications, design and durability when it comes to committing to a device and making it an integral part of their daily lives. With a specific target audience, unique marketing strategies and product life, Realme strive to gain that confidence, reliance and build trust with consumers, so they dare to take the leap of faith by recognizing our products,” the Branding Director states.


As a newly emerged brand in Bangladesh and 20 other countries worldwide, with an equal calibre of challenging other contemporary brands such as One Plus, Vivo and Oppo, Realme is thriving to create a distinct product identity through the selection of its exceptional gadgets while making it irrefutably appealing for their great value for money. 

Stressing on its credibility, Neon Xie ensures, “We are trying to guarantee that in each price segment, the brand provides competitive products in terms of specs and design so that people can make the well-informed choice of entrusting our brand and ensuring us the sustainability in the market,” the spokesperson claims. 

In the neighbouring country, India, Realme created a sales miracle by selling 1 million mobile phones within three days during Diwali, while it broke the sales record on Lazada in Southeast Asia, and became the leading brand in the category. Thus, the Branding Director of the company sees an open market of around 70% of people in Bangladesh still using basic mobile phones and has the potential and ability to enjoy and upgrade themselves with the latest affordable amenities. 

Currently, Realme has entered the markets of around 20 countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Egypt and the Europe regions. On the occasion of the launch of Realme Bangladesh on March 17, 2020, the brand is going to introduce two stunningly sleek mid-range smartphones with a superior built pop-up camera, vivid spacious display and surprisingly extended battery life. 

With the renowned Bollywood celebrity, Salman Khan, as their global ambassador, Realme is planning on tying their brand name to locally celebrated personalities of Bangladesh to receive the credibility through personal endorsement. 

Apart from assembling smartphones of different price ranges; high and mid, flagships and regulars, the brand also plans to manufacture smartwatches and other essentials to enhance the Realme experience among youngsters. 

After purchase, the brand also offers 360◦ care services and a well- rounded online and tangible support system to its customers to strengthen the bond for the longer run. “We have planned to extend the name of the Brand with an array of gadgets for the smart gen and provide them with all sorts of support along the way,” Neon ensures. The cities will have designated care centres for the Realme customers committed to providing a quick support service whenever in need.

Neon Xie and Realme believe the innovations will help to bring out the true self of the rising generation and equip them to share ideas, create a positive impact, communicate and connect with a broader community and explore their true potentials.

“Our business ethics is solely dependent on benefiting people with our innovations, so they can procure and avail a better life,” with that Neon concludes.

*Eternal Sunshine of a Creative Mind*
TAWHIDUR RASHID








_What’s the most rewarding factor of founding something and seeing it grow up?_
Applebox Films has reached its first decade. Ten turbulent years into the creative industry produces heaps- a hallmark show-reel, boundless reminiscent and the unparalleled humans that grew around. Standing at the cross junction of time and looking back into these ten eventful years, the prominent keepsake of Applebox is the heritage of legacy, innovation and culture. Applebox has always been associated with the notion of legacy. I started the company with a seemingly minuscule yet profoundly fathomless effort. The production house briskly treaded into indie style; even in the overly constrained periphery of television commercials. An embodiment of the vision of down to earth approach for cinematic story-telling, sensitive handling and interplay of emotions, our films tend to target not only human eyes but also their souls.





_The nucleus of Applebox Films, Piplu R khan._
Having said that, the most exciting characteristic of Applebox is our work culture. It is flamboyant which we always keep a low profile about. It is the place where I have met some of the most amazing people in my life. Here, we interact with each other; we talk about everything from movies to life and from there, things happen. In a decade, we have amassed a fantastic workforce. It is a small team, but they have the capability and versatility to do astonishing things anywhere in the world. This amazing work culture is the result of the foresight that we needed to invest in our staffing. The landscape where we work is continually evolving, that prompted us to become more flexible. Change is one constant parameter in the production industry; being responsive to them helped to us reach where we are at the moment.

_Coming back to the story of how it started. What does the name Applebox signify?_
Apple box is an element we use in production, a tiny box made out of wood. Though it might appear trivial, it plays a very crucial role in the process. It is the personification of being humble while being essential. Concurrently, when we decided to start our new company, we wanted to express ourselves with the same mantra. We are not very loud about our existence; it is a reflection of the essence of what our name entails.





_Rumination of 10 long years_
You mentioned that you have an amazing team; how do you pick people for your team?
It is not a run-of-the-mill production house; it is a melting pot where young and brilliant people come in to stew in the art of filmmaking driven by utmost passion. Applebox has been swarmed with brilliance over the years, picking up talented pieces from all over this delta. Our selection criteria are very diverse. For example, during a visit to the theatre or any other workplace, if I meet someone interesting, I might end up recruiting that person. We also have an extended internship programme, where we recruit up to ten individuals for three months without any interview. Within this period, we evaluate and identify the individuals we want to go ahead with. After that, we start spending time and resources on them for an extended period; usually within this period, an employee adjusts to our vision. It is the strategy we have been using for a long time, and it is working as of now; it might change in future depending on the reliability of the process.

_Can we expect to see something big coming from Applebox in 2020?_
I believe we will become bolder and more vibrant with our latest extensions namely SHIFT and Chashingara. While SHIFT acts with an aim to shape up young minds for critical thinking who are willing to join the creative industry in future; Chashingara is an idea-hub of content and conversation. Applebox Films is a space with the sentiment of a refined aesthetic with a modern sophistication that pays tribute to the luminary intellectuals. Let’s me elaborate the vision for having extended to those arms. In a world where creativity is key; the struggle of striving with only the competence of a creative mind is discernible. Applebox Films intends to create more, create passionately and create honestly. The first key to mould and generate notable content in this geographical dimension is to co-exist, and this co-existence has to happen between the creative minds. At the edge of its 10 years, the company wants to establish this notion. Since culture and creativity has an increasing influence on both sustainability and resilient growth in the mindset of an entire nation, everyone belonging in the creative zone feels a stark need to find new areas of development that encourage innovation and development. The fundamental element for us is immense honesty in communication and creation, uplifting the artistic souls, gratifying our rooted visions.





_Inside the rehearsal of ‘Amra Jouboner e Dut’ by the mesmerising bunch of Applebox Films.
This office where are standing right now is beautiful. Was it your idea to give it such a cosy, vintage look?_
Since a lot of millennial work here, I wanted to appeal to their mindset. I wanted this office to become a place where they would enjoy spending time in. You might have noticed there are a few bunk beds here; this is to allow our employees to take a quick nap when there is a free time-slot. This place has a very homely feel to it instead of being a cut-throat workstation. There are no strict regulations; you come to work, talk to your colleagues while finishing your work. Applebox makes sure that the only constant factor in this ever-changing company should be to nurture souls here, and in that deliberate process, pioneering mindboggling ideas.

_You have passed one decade with incredible success. how are you planning for the next decade?_
We will try to express ourselves in a more significant way. I have already made a documentary, which was my first long format, and I am keen to work on more. My colleague, Raka, who is a fantastic director, will also do something new. Besides advertisements, we will also try to do some indie work for some clients and festivals. We will also try to connect with some talent-pool to finance and produce their stories.





_Looking back at all these years of ‘Light! Camera! Action!’, Applebox Films is merely anything but the collective identity of all its people.
Throughout the next decade, artificial intelligence and machine learning will become very big; do you think that is going to affect the production industry?_
I don’t think it is a wise idea to speculate the negative things (laugh) and spend time forecasting the fear; rather, we should concentrate on getting the basics right. I believe, in our line of work,story-telling is the key, as long as human civilisation exists, it(story-telling) will be relevant. If you are good at it, you will continue to flourish in the industry. Technology will keep evolving, but it will be the vehicle to express yourself. It is more important to be flexible and possess the mindset to adopt.

_Last question: what are you reading currently?_
I read a lot; most of them are about history. I have a keen interest in pre-liberation history, how intellectuals of that era led the push for independence. Currently, I am doing some research on Prof. Abdur Razzaq, keeping some projects in mind. The idea behind Applebox Films and the internal environment here was designed based on the inspiration of Prof. Abdur Razzaq’s informal way of education at his Fuller Road home in mind.


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## Bilal9

Pollution Research Vessel introduced at Kaptai Lake in Hill Tracts area - for Lake Water, Fishery and Pollution Management. The Catamaran houses dormitories for some researchers (working on their MS and Ph.D's) as well four separate labs geared toward different disciplines.

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## Bilal9

100% of pillars are now complete for Padma Bridge - work continues even in the middle of Covid 19 situation.






------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coronavirus derails Dhaka-Chittagong high-speed railway project
Shohel Mamun






Bigstock: representative image

Chinese consultants working on the project are stuck in China.

The coronavirus outbreak has halted the progress of the much hyped Dhaka-Chittagong high-speed railway project work.

The Chinese consultant team who were drawing up the detailed design of the new train link are stuck in China.
The 23-member Chinese team went back home early this year to celebrate the Chinese new year and couldn't return due to the corona-virus outbreak in Wuhan, China.

As China started bringing the situation under control, they were preparing to return to Bangladesh but WHO declaring coronavirus a pandemic, changed the situation again.

Bangladesh has also identified ten patients infected with coronavirus till now.

The Chinese consultants were scheduled to submit the detailed design report by April which is not possible in the current situation.

"Progress of the project is hampered as all the Chinese members are stuck in China," said Md Quamrul Ahsan, project director of Dhaka-Chittagong high-speed railway.

He told Dhaka Tribune that 70% work of the detailed design is done, adding that "the authority is likely to extend the project deadline to June 30 in light of the current situation."

China Railway Design Corporation (CRDC) of China has been preparing the detailed design of the high-speed railway, partnering with Bangladeshi firm Mazumder Enterprise.

The Chinese consortium submitted the feasibility study report of the project at a cost of Tk110.16 crore last year.
According to the report, the journey from Dhaka to Chittagong will take only 56 minutes once the high-speed trains begin service.

However, it will take 73 minutes if it makes stops at four stations between Dhaka and Chittagong.

In total, there will be six stations on the proposed route - Dhaka, Narayanganj, Comilla, Feni, Pahartali, and Chittagong.

The total length of the track is 227.3km where trains can move at a speed of 300km per hour and carry approximately 50,000 passengers each way, daily.

The train route will go through Narayanganj alongside the Dhaka-Chittagong highway instead of the existing Tongi-Narsingdi route which will be around 90km shorter.

The high-speed railway will be on a double-track, and mostly elevated, to ensure high speed at the level crossings and other entry points of the line.

It would be a ballastless track and for the first time in Bangladesh Railway history, it will be operated by electric traction.

Currently, Bangladesh Railway operates 360 passenger trains on its 3,000km network across the country, however none of those trains can go more than 70km per hour.

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## Bilal9

*Update on Multi-disciplinary and Super-specialized Hospital at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University(BSMMU)*

An interim inspection of the project has been carried out with Hyundai Development Company (the contractor) and Sunjin Engineering & Architecture (one of the consultants).

Construction of underground structure almost completed, frame construction of the 1st and 2nd floors is now in progress. At the same time, the foundation works of the entrance to the basement parking area is also ongoing. The new specialized hospital is planned for completion by 2022.

In this regard, since October 14th, Eulji Medical Center, Eulji University (one of the consultants) has invited doctors, nurses and hospital administrators who belong to BSMMU, and has been providing education and training to them.

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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh: a new frontier for Hong Kong companies*

Mark O'Neill







In a district of northern Bangladesh, Hong Kong entrepreneur Felix Chang employs 18,000 people in four factories making hair products. They account for 90 percent of his company’s revenue, against 10 percent from three plants in China.

“In 2009, we started to look at production sites in Southeast Asia,” said Chang, chairman of the Evergreen Products Group. “Costs were rising in China, including wages, rent and other fees.”

He chose Bangladesh because of its abundant labor and low production costs, including wages and land.

Chang is not alone. Hong Kong firms have invested US$800 million in 150 projects in Bangladesh, making them the eighth largest investor.

The largest sector, US$317 million, is services: textiles come next with US$276 million and third is chemicals with US$103 million.

The United States, Britain, mainland China and South Korea are the top four foreign investors. The monthly minimum wage is US$95, the cheapest in Southeast Asia after Myanmar, US$75.

Another factor driving Hong Kong and other foreign companies to Bangladesh is the Sino-US trade war. Most people believe that, under Trump and whoever succeeds him, economic relations between the two countries will deteriorate.

Goods made in China may face tariff or other barriers to enter the US – so it is safer to diversify risk and spread production over different countries.

On Feb. 26 the Hong Kong Trade Development hosted a seminar on investing in Bangladesh, attended by about 80 people, mostly from Hong Kong.

“Our economy is now 44th in the world. By 2041, it will be 23rd,” said Md. Shah Alam, deputy secretary to the government of Bangladesh, told the seminar.

Over the last decade, the country's GDP has grown by over 6 percent a year. Last year it grew 7.86 percent, a record.

“Your investment is secured by law against nationalization or expropriation,” he said. “There is equal treatment for local and foreign firms. You can have 100 percent foreign equity ownership and unrestricted exit of capital. Almost all sectors are open. In 30 years, we have never posted negative economic growth and never defaulted on debt repayments.

“We have bilateral investment treaties with 31 countries and double tax treaties with 28. We have an open, market-based economy,” he said.

Dr. Khalilur Rahman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said foreign investment would be safe from labor unrest and political stability.

“Last December, Sheikh Hasina was re-elected prime minister for a further five years. This is her third term. She is an exceptional leader who has provided political stability,” he said.

Hasina has led the Awami League political party since 1981. It won an overwhelming victory in the general election on Dec. 30 last year, taking 288 of 300 seats.

The most important sector is ready-made garments. Garment exports in July 2017 to June 2018 reached US$30.6 billion, accounting for 83.5 percent of total exports.

Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest garment exporter, after China. Total exports in 2017/18 hit a record US$36.7 billion, up 5.81 percent over a year earlier. The government's target is US$39 billion by 2019 and US$50 billion by 2021, to mark the country’s 50th birthday.

Jacqueline Yuen, an economist at HKTDC, told the seminar that the country was most suitable for labor-intensive industries.

“Many brands source garments there, such as H & M, Marks & Spencer, Adidas and Uniqlo. Because it is a least-developed country, its exports pay no duty in Australia, Canada, Japan and the European Union.

“Of the country, 80 percent is flood plain. From July to October, there are flooding problems because of insufficient drainage, so you need longer lead times for export. The port of Chittagong accounts for 90 percent of total trade. The journey from Dhaka takes 7-8 hours,” she said.

To deal with an uncertain power supply, many investors buy generators they use when the national supply drops. The government is spending billions of dollars on new power stations, coal and nuclear-powered, and new infrastructure, such as roads and railways.

Felix Chang has gone further than most other foreign investors. He has opened a training center for domestic maids to prepare them for work in Hong Kong. The young women learn Cantonese, Chinese cuisine and how to live and work in the home of a Hong Kong family.

His company also gives back to the community in Nilphilmari, where the factories are. It holds distributions of rice to people over 60, costing about HK$1 million, and gives HK$200,000 to a school for handicapped children every year.

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## ebr77

*External Debt: Repayment to hit record high*

_




Jagaran Chakma 
Bangladesh is going for a record amount in external debt repayment this fiscal year, putting pressure on the almost stagnant foreign currency reserves and tightening market conditions.

The Economic Relations Division data shows that the government has paid $1.34 billion to external lenders in the first 10 months till April of the outgoing fiscal year, up by 14.4 percent than what was paid over the corresponding period a year ago.

Bangladesh repaid $1.2 billion to its external lenders in fiscal 2017-18, according to the latest report on “Flow of External Resources into Bangladesh” compiled by the ERD.

*Since independence, the country’s foreign borrowing has been $51.83 billion till June 30, 2018. The government repaid $21.98 billion and the outstanding debt stood at $39.58 billion till April this year.*

The government set a target to bring in $7.2 billion in foreign loan in the ongoing fiscal year. During the last nine months, it borrowed $4.52 billion whereas the amount was $3.42 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Analysts said still Bangladesh was in the comfort zone but the situation would turn critical after five years when repayment of big and supplier credits begin.

Economists assume that the loan repayment allocation would significantly be hiked in the budget.

A senior ERD official told The Daily Star that there was no possibility of falling in a debt trap within the next 10 years as per their calculations despite the fact that the government would have to make big repayments in the next five years as large loans mature.

According to Zahid, loan repayment would not be a big problem for the government as it would be ensuring proper utilisation of foreign loans.

“Foreign loan repayment is not a burden for Bangladesh at this moment. It may put pressure on the economy after five to six years when repayment of big and supplier credit loans will start,” said Zahid Hussain, lead economist at World Bank Dhaka office.

However, he said, if the government uses it properly in a way to contribute to the economy and continue the present economic growth, it would not create any pressure.

According to him, the government is implementing some infrastructure projects which would not be economically viable as their cost overruns and implementation delays would put the economy at risk.

“Implementation delays of infrastructure projects will not bring expected returns,” he said. 

Zahid Hussain sees unnecessary expenditure in the implementation of big projects and the government taking up expensive loans irrespective of where it has been mobilised from.

He said loans from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency were still concessional but the others were really expensive and of short terms compared to those of multilateral lenders.

He further said the percentage of expensive credit was still not at a risky level and was still manageable, but in future it would create pressure on the economy due to cost overruns and project implementation delays. 

If the returns are lower than the implementation costs, it will definitely create pressure on the economy and the government will have to reduce allocation for education and health and social welfare to make loan repayments, he noted.

Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute, said Bangladesh will face a debt burden after five to six years when repayment of expensive loan starts.

The government should be careful in the selection of projects and only those with good returns should be implemented, he said.

“I think expensive projects like the Padma rail link, Karnaphuli tunnel and Dohazari to Cox’s Bazar rail line will not be economically viable as there will be no good returns,” he said.

“The government will have to make repayments higher than returns.” he said.

According to Mansur, if the export volume and remittance did not increase alongside the GDP growth, the government would have to impose taxes which would have to be borne by the citizens.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/external-debt-repayment-hit-record-high-1755166?amp


This economic impact we will have due to Covid-19 epidemic will effect o external debt payment . Let’s hope we don’t fall into a debt trap . 

_

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## Bilal9



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## fallstuff

Bilal9 said:


>


Awesome news, just keep it up !

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## Bilal9

28th span of Padma Bridge installed, work slowed but still proceeding...







fallstuff said:


> Awesome news, just keep it up !



Thanks Brother - appreciate the encouragement. 

*Chinese firm to build Osmani Airport extension*
BSS

 Published at 11:06 pm March 11th, 2020





File photo of Sylhet Osmani International Airport

The approval came from a meeting of the CCGP held at the Finance Division Conference Room at Bangladesh Secretariat 

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) on Wednesday approved a proposal from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) for awarding the contract to Beijing Urban Construction Group Ltd (BUCG) for conducting works at Sylhet Osmani International Airport. 

The BUCG will implement the public works at the Sylhet Airport under the “Sylhet Osmani International Airport Extension (1st phase) Project” with an expenditure of Taka 2,116.51 crore.

The approval came from a meeting of the CCGP held at the Finance Division Conference Room at Bangladesh Secretariat today with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said that a total of six firms submitted their bids for the Sylhet Osmani International Airport extension project where BUCG turned out to be the lowest bidder.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9



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## ebr77

https://www.thedailystar.net/busine...strongest-among-66-emerging-economies-1898995

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## Bilal9

Local Combine Harvester designed and manufactured by Janata Engineering in Bangladesh. Technical assistance given by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.

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## Bilal9

Cellphones assembled by ITEL Transsion brand.






Motorcycles being made at Runner Motorcycles...






Bicycles being made at Duranta Cycles


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## Bilal9

Comilla SEZ completes 3300 Crore of production every year on average. 240 companies established in this SEZ.

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## Bilal9

Honda establishes local manufacturing plant.





Yamaha establishes local manufacturing plant.





Runner Dominator 250cc bike being exported to foreign markets.





Same story here again.

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## Bilal9

Steel processing in Bangladesh at BSRM.

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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh economy better among LDCs, but faces risk: UN-DESA*
Given the magnitude of the Covid-19 crisis, the direct and spill-over effects could translate to at least 2-3% decline in the GDP growth for apparel exporter LDCs






Bangladesh is in a better position among most other least developed countries (LDCs) as it depends on manufacturing exports instead of commodities, prices of which are depressed now. 

However, high dependency on exports of income-elastic products such as apparel poses a risk of reduced export earnings amid insufficient internal consumption, while supply chain for imports of intermediate raw material also faces disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In addition to that, remittance dependency could hurt the GDP growth, balance of payment and employment, said the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs' (UN-DESA) recent policy brief.

The report said 70 percent of merchandise exports from least developed countries, on average, are mineral and agricultural commodities, while only Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti, Gambia, Nepal and Lesotho receive more than 50 percent of their export revenue from exporting manufactured goods. 

In 2018, manufacturing made 95.8 percent of Bangladesh's merchandise exports – top among the LDCs. 

But the problem is that a single type of product – clothing and apparel – accounts for more than 50 percent of exports from six manufacturing LDCs, which is over 85 percent for Bangladesh.

These countries are susceptible to external demand shocks. 

Household spending on clothing and apparel is discretionary and highly income elastic. Facing income shock, families can forego buying clothes.

Furthermore, demand for non-essential products does not necessarily pick up immediately after the crisis. 

In 2009, during the global financial crisis, 1.3 percent decline in the GDP Growth resulted in over 12 percent drop in apparel imports in the USA. 

As more than 80 percent of apparel exports go to Europe and North America, and demand is to decline there, the major apparel exporters could face at least 20 percent fall in exports. 

Given the magnitude of the Covid-19 crisis, the direct and spill-over effects could translate to at least 2-3 percent decline in the GDP growth for the apparel exporter LDCs. 

Their vulnerability is further compounded by the fact that these economies are also highly dependent on remittances, which are likely to experience a similar level of contraction this year. 

According to the UN-DESA forecasts, the GDP growth of these LDCs will decline, on average, by 4 percentage points relative to their growth rates in 2019. 

For Bangladesh, the report forecasts slightly over 2 percent GDP growth for 2020, which crossed 8 percent a year ago. 

The shocks could hurt employment and increase poverty, fears the UN-DESA.

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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge update, work ongoing, 29th span installed, 5 spans left, work on rail tracks and roadway slabs on top continue.
















Nahar Dairy - an high-technology automated Dairy farm in Bangladesh using the best global practices and little if any human contact, with 500 heads of cows. The products of this farm (11,000 to 12,000 liters of chilled RAW MILK, not pasteurized) are destined for Baby Food items, hence high standards of hygiene are maintained. I believe equipment were sourced from DeLaval and other Swiss vendors/suppliers. Average Milking quantity per head is 20-26 liters per day, some as high as 40 liters per day.






Ananta Jalil Industries (OK don't laugh, he did pretty good with automating his jeans unit with top-grade machines, commendable!). Probably a leading jeans unit in all of the subcontinent...






And more from another AJI unit

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## Bilal9

Cox's Bazaar Airport Expansion

Construction of Embankment with Slope protection work complete along the Moheshkhali Channel and Bakkhali River Bank and Other works (Phase-1)

Main Procurement Entity: Bangladesh Water Development Board
Date of award: 04 October 2016
Commencement Date: 01 Nov 2016
Completion Date: 25 Jun 2018
Time Extension: Jun 2020

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## Bilal9

Local industrialization in Rangpur continues with very large Sports shoe complex. This should help people get work closer to home instead of migrating to say, Dhaka or Chittagong and deal with housing issues etc.

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## Bilal9

Sikder Group Project for Iconic Tower AKA BangaBandhu Tri-Tower Project. Completion 2041. Easily the most ambitious project in Bangadesh right now. Let's pray it goes forward.

Piling work has started, other than the three main towers, about three dozen plus mid-rises are planned around the three main towers of 111, 71 and 52 stories.

This will define the primary CBD for Dhaka in the 2040's





__ https://www.facebook.com/





*Purbachal Central Business District (CBD)- Iconic Tower Project by Sikder Group*
Authority: RAJUK under the Ministry of Housing & Public Works, Bangladesh
*Project Developer: PowerPac Holdings Ltd. (concern of Sikder Group)
Technical Partner: Kajima Corporation, Japan
Project Management: Archetype Group, France
Master Plan Designer: Heerim Architect& Planners, South Korea*
Project Feasibility: PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PWC)
EIA & TIA: PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PWC)
*Construction Partner: Power China & Energy China
Project Cost: USD 8 Billion (appx.)*

Brief Description of the Project:
Location: Sector 19, Purbachal New Township Project
Site Area: 114 Acres (459,220 SQM)
Total Buildup Area: 4,445,641 SQM
Building Coverage Area: 45%
Open Space: 55%
Number of Residential Units: 5,122 Units
Total Commercial Spaces: 3,122,641 SQM
Total Parking: 33,813 Lots

*Total Number of Towers: 44 Towers
Number of Iconic Tower: 3 Towers
Legacy Tower: 111 Floor (473 meters)
Liberation Tower: 71 Floor (338 meters)
Language Tower: 52 Floor (259 meters)*

Number of Residential Tower: 10 Towers
Number of Mixed-use Tower: 10 Towers
Number of Office Tower: 15 Towers
Number of Shopping Center: 2 Towers
Number of International School: 1 Tower
Number of Hospital: 1 Tower
Convection Center: 1 Tower
Cultural Center: 1 Tower

Phase wise Plan: Total Construction Period 7 Years

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## DalalErMaNodi

Bilal9 said:


> Sikder Group Project for Iconic Tower AKA BangaBandhu Tri-Tower Project. Completion 2041. Easily the most ambitious project in Bangadesh right now. Let's pray it goes forward.
> 
> Piling work has started, other than the three main towers, about three dozen plus mid-rises are planned around the three main towers of 111, 71 and 52 stories.
> 
> This will define the primary CBD for Dhaka in the 2040's
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Purbachal Central Business District (CBD)- Iconic Tower Project by Sikder Group*
> Authority: RAJUK under the Ministry of Housing & Public Works, Bangladesh
> *Project Developer: PowerPac Holdings Ltd. (concern of Sikder Group)
> Technical Partner: Kajima Corporation, Japan
> Project Management: Archetype Group, France
> Master Plan Designer: Heerim Architect& Planners, South Korea*
> Project Feasibility: PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PWC)
> EIA & TIA: PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PWC)
> *Construction Partner: Power China & Energy China
> Project Cost: USD 8 Billion (appx.)*
> 
> Brief Description of the Project:
> Location: Sector 19, Purbachal New Township Project
> Site Area: 114 Acres (459,220 SQM)
> Total Buildup Area: 4,445,641 SQM
> Building Coverage Area: 45%
> Open Space: 55%
> Number of Residential Units: 5,122 Units
> Total Commercial Spaces: 3,122,641 SQM
> Total Parking: 33,813 Lots
> 
> *Total Number of Towers: 44 Towers
> Number of Iconic Tower: 3 Towers
> Legacy Tower: 111 Floor (473 meters)
> Liberation Tower: 71 Floor (338 meters)
> Language Tower: 52 Floor (259 meters)*
> 
> Number of Residential Tower: 10 Towers
> Number of Mixed-use Tower: 10 Towers
> Number of Office Tower: 15 Towers
> Number of Shopping Center: 2 Towers
> Number of International School: 1 Tower
> Number of Hospital: 1 Tower
> Convection Center: 1 Tower
> Cultural Center: 1 Tower
> 
> Phase wise Plan: Total Construction Period 7 Years



Has work actually started in purbachal new town? Or is it like everytime they say they will start and no dice.

Bal'er video.... morons couldn't wait 15 seconds to mention Hasina. Why not rename us Baldesh or HASIstan or BONGOdesh or aBALpara is also good.

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Has work actually started in purbachal new town? Or is it like everytime they say they will start and no dice.



Yes it has.

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Bal'er video.... morons couldn't wait 15 seconds to mention Hasina. Why not rename us Baldesh or HASIstan or BONGOdesh or aBALpara is also good.



Sycophant behavior like this is a must, when securing funding for big projects. Just be happy that you and I can separate BS from honest commentary.

These buildings will be there hopefully - when Hasina and her sycophants are long gone.


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## DalalErMaNodi

Bilal9 said:


> Sycophant behavior like this is a must, when securing funding for big projects. Just be happy that you and I can separate BS from honest commentary.
> 
> These buildings will be there hopefully - when Hasina and her sycophants are long gone.



Brother the buildings floor count coincide with her 1996 victory, this is beyond ridiculous..... 

I don't despise hasina as a person but it's almost as if she is testing the Patience of the people of Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

Here is one of Heerim's existing designs in Bangladesh for the BRAC 3 tower. Let's hope Heerim has free reign over these new Iconic tower designs mentioned above and that Hasina does not impose her 'taste' over them by dictating design elements...
















DalalErMaNodi said:


> Brother the buildings floor count coincide with her 1996 victory, this is beyond ridiculous.....
> 
> I don't despise hasina as a person but it's almost as if she is testing the Patience of the people of Bangladesh.



Sabr is a strong quality. Allah is testing us too, let's hope we're getting something useful out of this.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Bilal9 said:


> Here is one of Heerim's existing designs in Bangladesh for the BRAC 3 tower. Let's hope Heerim has free reign over these new Iconic tower designs and that Hasina does not impose her 'taste' over them by dictating design elements...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sabr is a strong quality. Allah is testing us too, let's hope we're getting something useful out of this.



I haven't been able to find any information on this proposed tower beyond the photos on here, I'm assuming it's for BRAC the NGO.

Do you perhaps have any information on the floor count ? Just curious, looks good.

Hasina will definitely put in a motif with Banghabandhus face on the buildings. She is destroying his legacy and depreciating what love people have for him.

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Do you perhaps have any information on the floor count ? Just curious, looks good.



Here is all Heerim has on their site (see description below), the BRAC 3 Project is close to the Aarong Plaza SuperMarket on the Gulshan-Tejgaon link road. Guessing these specs are for the largest of the buildings or for all three. The 3 building campus will replace the existing BRAC organizational HQ (world's largest NGO), two being office buildings and one being a new hotel. In definition these are all low-rises, and does not fit the name 'tower' when there are mid-rise towers with 39 floors that exist in Dhaka already. My understanding that piling and structural work is continuing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Location Dhaka, Bangladesh
Gross Floor Area (G.F.A) 77,678 m2
Floors (Floor/Basement) 15/3
Design 2012
Completion 2022
Client BRAC Bank
BRAC Bank is a social enterprise that leads changes to Bangladesh and currently provides new opportunities to its citizens to promote economic growth.

The company has decided to relocate the existing headquarters in Dhaka and build two office buildings (including a new headquarter) plus a 5-star hotel in the newly relocated site.

The new site is located within the new downtown area; at North - the Gulshan Link Road connects the site with the new downtown and a new road in front of the site is currently under construction.

At East - the Gulshan Lake and the extensive green park.

By situating the buildings at the intersection of the old and the new downtown, the new headquarters is expected to become a new landmark of Dhaka.

*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*


By the way BRAC has another large campus in Bashundhara (Pragati Sarani) under construction, which is the new town campus. I posted some renders of this campus a few pages back on this thread, you guys might remember...will look like a horticultural paradise of sorts if they can pull it off. Good luck to them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------






*Salient Features Of BRAC University New Campus*
BRAC University New Campus is located in the centre of communication at KHA 224, Progati Sarani, Merul Badda, Dhaka 1212. It is close to Hatirjhil, Rampura, Aftabnagar, Banasree, Niketon, Mohakhali, Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara Residential Areas. Total land area of the project is 5 acres and building will have a total of 17,00,000 square feet.

It is a 13 storey building with 3 basements. There is an auditorium with 700 seats, a multipurpose hall with 1850 seats, classrooms, labs, design studios, lecture theatres, 475 car parking places, rooftop playground, park, vertical transportation, substations, data centre for IT related use, UPS, CCTVs, solar panels, lifts, escalators, stairs, fire escapes, faculty and administrative offices, teacher’s lounges, a cafeteria, an e-library, recreation facilities and a lake.

It has facilities to accommodate around 12,000-15,000 students. It is a green conceptual building where natural light and air can easily flow into the building. Almost 50% of the land is used for building and the rest for water body, lake, plantation and other purposes aimed at providing biodiversity. The advanced, eco-friendly and attractive campus will enhance the University spirit, thereby creating a healthy and positive environment for the students. WOHA Designs Pte Ltd., Singapore based world-renowned architectural firm has designed this project.

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## Bilal9

Matarbari coal offload terminal for the Japanese powerplant. Similar facility has already been built at Payra for the large powerplant there. Current status at Matarbari is that land reclamation and development for the huge facility (combined container port/powerplant) is almost complete.

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## Bilal9



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## GHALIB

Bilal9 said:


> Cox's Bazaar Airport Expansion
> 
> Construction of Embankment with Slope protection work complete along the Moheshkhali Channel and Bakkhali River Bank and Other works (Phase-1)
> 
> Main Procurement Entity: Bangladesh Water Development Board
> Date of award: 04 October 2016
> Commencement Date: 01 Nov 2016
> Completion Date: 25 Jun 2018
> Time Extension: Jun 2020



beautiful locations .



Bilal9 said:


> Padma Bridge update, work ongoing, 29th span installed, 5 spans left, work on rail tracks and roadway slabs on top continue.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nahar Dairy - an high-technology automated Dairy farm in Bangladesh using the best global practices and little if any human contact, with 500 heads of cows. The products of this farm (11,000 to 12,000 liters of chilled RAW MILK, not pasteurized) are destined for Baby Food items, hence high standards of hygiene are maintained. I believe equipment were sourced from DeLaval and other Swiss vendors/suppliers. Average Milking quantity per head is 20-26 liters per day, some as high as 40 liters per day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ananta Jalil Industries (OK don't laugh, he did pretty good with automating his jeans unit with top-grade machines, commendable!). Probably a leading jeans unit in all of the subcontinent...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And more from another AJI unit




well done bangladesh . good progress .

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## bluesky

DalalErMaNodi said:


> I haven't been able to find any information on this proposed tower beyond the photos on here, I'm assuming it's for BRAC the NGO.
> 
> Do you perhaps have any information on the floor count ? Just curious, looks good.
> 
> Hasina will definitely put in a motif with Banghabandhus face on the buildings. She is destroying his legacy and depreciating what love people have for him.


- I will tell you the same thing that I told a few years ago to @TopCat. Do not please buy any kind of stocks of Sikder Group on the hope that this company will really build the towers. 
- Some people want us to believe in some dazzling architectural views of the towers. But, this has little value when a building's stability is taken into consideration.
- The subsoil below must be suitable to withstand the very heavy Dead Load (D.L) imposed by the RC structure.
- It must also bear the heavy wind load and/or the lateral component of earthquake loads. Structural designers take into account these two lateral loads and use the larger one to conduct the stress analysis. Architects only compile a few dazzling drawings to attract possible customers.
- The other load is Live Load which by ACI (American Concrete Institute) code may be 400 kg/m2 of the floor. 

My personal view is, this tall building cannot be built in any areas of BD because its soil is very soft to bear the imposed loads, not possible even with piled foundations unless these are supported by *hard rock strata* at, say, 50 m depth.

However, if a company like Kajima Corporation of Japan conducts soil investigations such as Standard Penetration tests (SPT) or does load tests on a few test piles, and certifies the soil is suitable, I will be here to spread the good news among our people in Japan. Kajima and all other Japanese big name companies are most reliable. They have more than 150 years of experience with soil investigation.



GHALIB said:


> beautiful locations .
> 
> well done bangladesh . good progress .


Some of our people in London learn to speak only a few English words. Those are, Yes, No, Very Good and Thank You. Here I find you talk similar, Very Good, Very Very Good Bangladesh. Do not you have nothing substantive to say? Why do you waste time?

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## GHALIB

bluesky said:


> -
> 
> 
> Some of our people in London learn to speak only a few English words. Those are, Yes, No, Very Good and Thank You. Here I find you talk similar, Very Good, Very Very Good Bangladesh. Do not you have nothing substantive to say? Why do you waste time?



I liked the locations , I like the progress of Bangladesh that is why appreciated it.
i don't have much knowledge of English , the day I am well versed in the language skill I will write full essay on your achievements .
joy bangla .

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## Tom-tom

bluesky said:


> - I will tell you the same thing that I told a few years ago to @TopCat. Do not please buy any kind of stocks of Sikder Group on the hope that this company will really build the towers.
> - Some people want us to believe in some dazzling architectural views of the towers. But, this has little value when a building's stability is taken into consideration.
> - The subsoil below must be suitable to withstand the very heavy Dead Load (D.L) imposed by the RC structure.
> - It must also bear the heavy wind load and/or the lateral component of earthquake loads. Structural designers take into account these two lateral loads and use the larger one to conduct the stress analysis. Architects only compile a few dazzling drawings to attract possible customers.
> - The other load is Live Load which by ACI (American Concrete Institute) code may be 400 kg/m2 of the floor.
> 
> My personal view is, this tall building cannot be built in any areas of BD because its soil is very soft to bear the imposed loads, not possible even with piled foundations unless these are supported by *hard rock strata* at, say, 50 m depth.
> 
> However, if a company like Kajima Corporation of Japan conducts soil investigations such as Standard Penetration tests (SPT) or does load tests on a few test piles, and certifies the soil is suitable, I will be here to spread the good news among our people in Japan. Kajima and all other Japanese big name companies are most reliable. They have more than 150 years of experience with soil investigation.
> 
> 
> Some of our people in London learn to speak only a few English words. Those are, Yes, No, Very Good and Thank You. Here I find you talk similar, Very Good, Very Very Good Bangladesh. Do not you have nothing substantive to say? Why do you waste time?




The burj kalifia tower was built on sand, i understand the scientific prinicipal behind it and dont remember the name. 

Its like getting two yellow pages book, telephone directory book. Binding each page to the second book and going each page of both books and binding each others pages together. 

No old or ground breaking scientific principal can be used to build a sky scrapper in Bd?


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## bluesky

Tom-tom said:


> The burj kalifia tower was built on sand, i understand the scientific prinicipal behind it and dont remember the name.
> 
> Its like getting two yellow pages book, telephone directory book. Binding each page to the second book and going each page of both books and binding each others pages together.
> 
> No old or ground breaking scientific principal can be used to build a sky scrapper in Bd?


I have discussed this matter long time ago with @Michael Corleone in another thread. So, I will not do it here again because it takes away my energy and people perceive me as talking negative of their Golden Bangladesh.

This is why I said if Kajima Corporation of Japan does the soil investigation tests called *Standard Penetration Test (SPT)* and decides the soil is good I have no reason not to trust its verdict. But, since people are unable to provide such reliable data but send architectural glazing pictures to tell it is possible I have reasons to believe that those people are supporting a fraud Sikder *perhaps* without knowing it.

Soil under Burj Khalifa is sandy soil, it is not sand. Piles in the sandy soil are supported by both *Point-bearing and Friction* of soil. Point bearing means the pile tip has the strength to bear a certain amount of load, like a column. And, Friction means, the soil around a pile resists the downward pressure/load. BD is full of clay and silty sand. Clayey soil is very precarious. It takes the pile down rather than putting upward resistance to support it. 

Foundation of *Burj Khalifa*

"The superstructure of *Burj Khalifa* is supported over a large reinforced concrete raft. This raft is in turn supported by bored reinforced concrete *piles*. ... The *piles* were 1.5m in diameter and have a length of 43m. Each *pile* has a capacity of 3000 tons".

Note that each pile in Burj Khalifa supports *3,000 ton.* In the normal case in BD soil, the pile bearing capacity is 30t to 50t+ for a 0.4m dia pile. You may bring it up to about 270 t if the pile dia is 1.2m instead of 0.4m. 

However, in the case of presence of *rock strata* at, say, 50 to 100 m, the piles will work almost as long columns on top of which an RC raft can be built. Something like Burj Khalifa.


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## Michael Corleone

any updates on the data gained by kajima corporation? from what i hear... their estimate is as low as 71 to as high as 142 stories

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## Bilal9

Michael Corleone said:


> any updates on the data gained by kajima corporation? from what i hear... their estimate is as low as 71 to as high as 142 stories



No info yet - will update once I hear progress. Right now everything is halted because of Covid. Including movement of people and funds.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Current status of Matarbari deep sea port and 1200 MW power project 











Floating LNG Terminal in operation in the area

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## Bilal9

Motorcycle industry in Bangladesh, the brand names which manufacture locally. Exports are gaining ground overseas...


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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> Motorcycle industry in Bangladesh, the brand names which manufacture locally. Exports are gaining ground overseas...



These motor bikes should aim to be as good quality as the best quality Chinese bike or maybe the modestly good priced and modestly quality bike. Also being slightly cheaper. By doing so maybe bd can export to china, Vietnam, thia, Indonesia, phillipines, malay and africa.

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## Bilal9

Tom-tom said:


> These motor bikes should aim to be as good quality as the best quality Chinese bike or maybe the modestly good priced and modestly quality bike. Also being slightly cheaper. By doing so maybe bd can export to china, Vietnam, thia, Indonesia, phillipines, malay and africa.



OK these are my thoughts.

Asian market (including China market) is swimming with thousands of types of bikes and bike companies. So it will be tough going in these markets, they are already protecting their own markets so there will be tariff and non-tariff barriers to market entry. Ditto with Indian Market. Malaysian Market - there may be a chance with lower end bike, but competition from Korean, Taiwanese and even Chinese lower end bikes will be fierce.

Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa, South America - those are the virgin markets to target, as exporters from our country in some other sectors have already found out. Especially the last two.

To compete against well-established Korean brands like Hyosung/Daelim and even China-made bikes, Bangladeshi products will need to be super economical as well - and be at least 20% cheaper than even China brands.


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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> OK these are my thoughts.
> 
> Asian market (including China market) is swimming with thousands of types of bikes and bike companies. So it will be tough going in these markets, they are already protecting their own markets so there will be tariff and non-tariff barriers to market entry. Ditto with Indian Market. Malaysian Market - there may be a chance with lower end bike, but competition from Korean, Taiwanese and even Chinese lower end bikes will be fierce.
> 
> Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa, South America - those are the virgin markets to target, as exporters from our country in some other sectors have already found out. Especially the last two.



Doesn't china's 97% no tariff include motor bikes from Bangladesh?

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## Arthur

Tom-tom said:


> Doesn't china's 97% no tariff include motor bikes from Bangladesh?


99% sure it's not. Automobile is a heavily protected sector in most indutrialised nations.

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## Bilal9

Arthur said:


> 99% sure it's not. Automobile is a heavily protected sector in most indutrialised nations.



Yup most of Asia (maybe except Japan, Korea and Taiwan) aren't past the development phase where light engineering is a big export sector. 

For China, it constitutes not only large factories and companies making motorbikes, but their small mom and pop companies who make sub-assembly parts for those motorbikes, such as wheels, springs, headlight assemblies, speed indicators, carburetors, handles, kick starter assemblies etc. Same for bicycles, flashlights, Locks, hand-tools (all the parts you can buy in Bongshal/old Dhaka) as well as pots/pressure cookers.

In the seventies and eighties, Japan (and later Korea and Taiwan in the nineties) was in that light engineering revolution. Today China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam (as well as Bangladesh) are in those fields. But China is gradually moving past that stage while the others like Thailand and Indonesia have not. The only reason China is still in that phase is because of the almost unstoppable supply of low cost labor compared to smaller countries.

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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2316987485276269

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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> Yup most of Asia (maybe except Japan, Korea and Taiwan) aren't past the development phase where light engineering is a big export sector.
> 
> For China, it constitutes not only large factories and companies making motorbikes, but their small mom and pop companies who make sub-assembly parts for those motorbikes, such as wheels, springs, headlight assemblies, speed indicators, carburetors, handles, kick starter assemblies etc. Same for bicycles, flashlights, Locks, hand-tools (all the parts you can buy in Bongshal/old Dhaka) as well as pots/pressure cookers.
> 
> In the seventies and eighties, Japan (and later Korea and Taiwan in the nineties) was in that light engineering revolution. Today China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam (as well as Bangladesh) are in those fields. But China is gradually moving past that stage while the others like Thailand and Indonesia have not. The only reason China is still in that phase is because of the almost unstoppable supply of low cost labor compared to smaller countries.




Some Chinese refer to their own country as the 'middle country ' due to not ALL it's people having a standard of living comparable to the developed world. 

So I don't know how the Vietnamanese think of themselves as a fully developed country


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## DalalErMaNodi

Tom-tom said:


> Some Chinese refer to their own country as the 'middle country ' due to not ALL it's people having a standard of living comparable to the developed world.
> 
> So I don't know how the Vietnamanese think of themselves as a fully developed country




Similar to how some Bangladeshis think we are "rich" now......

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## DalalErMaNodi

Pristine landscape and waters, looks strikingly different than the concrete jungles of Dhaka and Chittagong.

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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2317157995259218






@Michael Corleone @Bilal9 lmaoooo look at this, we gave the project to an Indian company and now they're delaying it out of sheer incompetence and baniyagiri.


Don't know what they were thinking, when they handed the project to an Indian company.

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## Tom-tom

DalalErMaNodi said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2317157995259218
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @Michael Corleone @Bilal9 lmaoooo look at this, we gave the project to an Indian company and now they're delaying it out of sheer incompetence and baniyagiri.
> 
> 
> Don't know what they were thinking, when they handed the project to an Indian company.




Where is this rail line, bd should look at getting bd construction engineering firms to increase its competence and capabilities by by getting them to do foreign partnerships in these projects.

It's no good having all these pricey projects done without increasing the hdi, or skills of bangladeshi people.

If bangladeshi companies can't trusted, then bd gov should put in a policy that the foreign company must employ 30℅ of bangladeshi top graduates and professionals in the field.

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## Bilal9

Tom-tom said:


> Where is this rail line, bd should look at getting bd construction engineering firms to increase its competence and capabilities by by getting them to do foreign partnerships in these projects.
> 
> It's no good having all these pricey projects done without increasing the hdi, or skills of bangladeshi people.
> 
> If bangladeshi companies can't trusted, then bd gov should put in a policy that the foreign company must employ 30℅ of bangladeshi top graduates and professionals in the field.



This should have been the impetus not today, but two decades ago. But who will listen?

Haramkhors can steal a portion of the proceeds, but ignorant idiots should at least get the basics tied up and arranged properly, meaning local skill upgradation. We must be the easiest stupid f*cks to sell stuff to. Even some African countries look at us and laugh at how we give away the farm every time a deal is struck. 

Neighboring country is so good at getting everything they bargain for, half the time the deals are a no-go situation and have to be started over. But at least they bargain extremely well...

Our gandoo ministers are such incompetent f*cks....



DalalErMaNodi said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2317157995259218
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @Michael Corleone @Bilal9 lmaoooo look at this, we gave the project to an Indian company and now they're delaying it out of sheer incompetence and baniyagiri.
> 
> 
> Don't know what they were thinking, when they handed the project to an Indian company.



Unbelievable. Remember the Bengali proverb, "Bald person does not go twice under the wood-apple tree...." (Nara beltolai duibar jaina). But we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again...


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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> This should have been the impetus not today, but two decades ago. But who will listen?
> 
> Haramkhors can steal a portion of the proceeds, but ignorant idiots should at least get the basics tied up and arranged properly, meaning local skill upgradation. We must be the easiest stupid f*cks to sell stuff to. Even some African countries look at us and laugh at how we give away the farm every time a deal is struck.
> 
> Neighboring country is so good at getting everything they bargain for, half the time the deals are a no-go situation and have to be started over. But at least they bargain extremely well...
> 
> Our gandoo ministers are such incompetent f*cks....
> 
> 
> 
> Unbelievable. Remember the Bengali proverb, "Bald person does not go twice under the wood-apple tree...." (Nara beltolai duibar jaina). But we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again...



I don't think buet uni existed then, or made a name for it's self in the country.


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## DalalErMaNodi

Tom-tom said:


> I don't think buet uni existed then, or made a name for it's self in the country.



What we call BEUT today has been operating as an engineering college since 1908 under the name Ahsanullah engineering college, originally founded in 1876 as the Dhaka Survey School.

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## Michael Corleone

DalalErMaNodi said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2317157995259218
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @Michael Corleone @Bilal9 lmaoooo look at this, we gave the project to an Indian company and now they're delaying it out of sheer incompetence and baniyagiri.
> 
> 
> Don't know what they were thinking, when they handed the project to an Indian company.


Simple. They were thinking of stealing

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## DalalErMaNodi

Nepalis praising Bangladeshi products, this video was shot in 2018, our presence in the Nepalese market has only since increased.


The government to government level relations are also at an all time high and are only going to get better now, there any many aggrements in place including but not limited to allowing Nepal to use our ports, roads and riverine ports to import and export goods.

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## Destranator

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Nepalis praising Bangladeshi products, this video was shot in 2018, our presence in the Nepalese market has only since increased.
> 
> 
> The government to government level relations are also at an all time high and are only going to get better now, there any many aggrements in place including but not limited to allowing Nepal to use our ports, roads and riverine ports to import and export goods.


Sorry to pull off a Maajid Nawaz/Sam Harris here but upon watching the video my subconscious mind told me right away that when it comes to BD products, Nepalis are indulging in "soft bigotry of low expectations". 

The products discussed here are far from top quality ( Hatil may be an exception, idk) but apparently competing Indian products are worse.


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## DalalErMaNodi

Al-Ansar said:


> Sorry to pull off a Maajid Nawaz/Sam Harris here but upon watching the video my subconscious mind told me right away that when it comes to BD products, Nepalis are indulging in "soft bigotry of low expectations".
> 
> The products discussed here are far from top quality ( Hatil may be an exception, idk) but apparently competing Indian products are worse.




Nepalis are not very rich, so I don't think they are into nitpicking, besides they import stuff from India, surely ours are better than Indian products.


Indian products are like what the people stereotype made in china products to be like but a whole lot worse.


Sam Harris is a right wing islamophobic biggot.

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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2321037708204580


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## JohnWick

DalalErMaNodi said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2321037708204580


A copy of Honda City Aspire from the front btw in BD which cars companies dominate?


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## DalalErMaNodi

JohnWick said:


> A copy of Honda City Aspire from the front btw in BD which cars companies dominate?





Toyota is king, out 10 privately owned cards 7 or 8 will be Toyotas, that have been modified to use CNG instead of petrol. 



This graphic though for a car sale platform called Bikroy.com will still give you some perspective. 









Of course, rich politicians have their imported Mercedes Sedans and SUVs, some travel in BMWs. 

And rich kids have exotic cars, just like rich kids in any other country.


Read more here.

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## JohnWick

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Toyota is king, out 10 privately owned cards 7 or 8 will be Toyotas, that have been modified to use CNG instead of petrol.
> 
> 
> 
> This graphic though for a car sale platform called Bikroy.com will still give you some perspective.
> 
> View attachment 652106
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, rich politicians have their imported Mercedes Sedans and SUVs, some travel in BMWs.
> 
> And rich kids have exotic cars, just like rich kids in any other country.
> 
> 
> Read more here.


Why there is an absence of SUZUKI? In the chart and Nissan, what car model it is selling?


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## DalalErMaNodi

JohnWick said:


> Why there is an absence of SUZUKI? In the chart and Nissan, what car model it is selling?




Suzuki isn't bit in Bangladesh, not for cars anyway.

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Suzuki isn't bit in Bangladesh, not for cars anyway.
> 
> 
> View attachment 652130



Exactly. Suzuki and Mitsubishi are well-known as second tier Japanese car brands. While Toyota, Nissan and Honda are first tier brands. The reliability, advanced features and quality is reflected in those rankings, same in Bangladesh as the rest of the world. Of course, more than half of the cars sold locally in Bangladesh are refurbished Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) cars, with advanced quality and features (as well as *lowered NVH*, meaning noise, vibration and harshness) not found in lower grade (even Japanese brand) cars made in the neighboring country for example. That is why buying JDM refurb cars in Bangladesh makes way more sense and that is why there is a robust market for these cars in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan, while not in the neighboring country.

JDM refurb market in Bangladesh also means Bangladeshis get a larger displacement engine and a far better (larger, safer) category of car, rather than an unsafe micro-mini size tin-can rattler that is a) a death trap and b) thoroughly unpleasant to ride in.

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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=691130031464702





Bangladeshi made OPV for the Kenyan Coast Guard.

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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2332518050389879

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## Indos

DalalErMaNodi said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2332518050389879



What is this ? Subway ?


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## DalalErMaNodi

Indos said:


> What is this ? Subway ?




Underwater (river) tunnel to improve the connectivity between two parts of the Chittagong district by road.

Two tunnels with two lanes each.



Chittagong the financial capital of Bangladesh is growing at an exponential rate and the land on West side of the karnafuli river is nearly all used up.

The East side of the river although connected to the West by land bridges is still underdeveloped due to poor connectivity. The said bridges are a little far from the main west city, so in order to encourage investors and the general public to make use the of the east sides untapped potential, the government is building this tunnel, which will make the East side more accessible than ever before.


The government has plans to set up many industrial areas in this side and there will be a property boom here as soon as the tunnel is completed.

Not to mention, the government doesn't want to repeat the mistakes it made with Dhaka, which led to that city becoming a crowded concrete jungle.


There are three 'new' cities that are currently their nascent (well two are, the other is experiencing growing pains) stages, but come their time in the near future, these cities will be the new Economic hubs of Bangladesh :


- Purbanchal ( Satellite town of Dhaka, perhaps even they new capital, every square metre of the city will be planned beforehand, construction is already underway [40+ sky scrapers] )

- Cox Baazar Tourism Hub as well the satellite town of Chittagong proper.

- Chittagong City along with the new East side ( Financial capital of Bangladesh and home to the premier seaport of Bangladesh, New Capital possibly ? )


Here is a map of the tunnel :





Cost and construction end dates have been revised.







This video should give you a more detailed idea.


I'm sorry, I can't be more concise and constructive at this time, writing this in somewhat of a hurry.


Latest news on this project here.

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## Indos

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Underwater (river) tunnel to improve the connectivity between two parts of the Chittagong district by road.
> 
> Two tunnels with two lanes each.
> 
> 
> 
> Chittagong the financial capital of Bangladesh is growing at an exponential rate and the land on West side of the karnafuli river is nearly all used up.
> 
> The East side of the river although connected to the West by land bridges is still underdeveloped due to poor connectivity. The said bridges are a little far from the main west city, so in order to encourage investors and the general public to make use the of the east sides untapped potential, the government is building this tunnel, which will make the East side more accessible than ever before.
> 
> 
> The government has plans to set up many industrial areas in this side and there will be a property boom here as soon as the tunnel is completed.
> 
> Not to mention, the government doesn't want to repeat the mistakes it made with Dhaka, which led to that city becoming a crowded concrete jungle.
> 
> 
> There are three 'new' cities that are currently their nascent (well two are, the other is experiencing growing pains) stages, but come their time in the near future, these cities will be the new Economic hubs of Bangladesh :
> 
> 
> - Purbanchal ( Satellite town of Dhaka, perhaps even they new capital, every square metre of the city will be planned beforehand, construction is already underway [40+ sky scrapers] )
> 
> - Cox Baazar Tourism Hub as well the satellite town of Chittagong proper.
> 
> - Chittagong City along with the new East side ( Financial capital of Bangladesh and home to the premier seaport of Bangladesh, New Capital possibly ? )
> 
> 
> Here is a map of the tunnel :
> 
> View attachment 658092
> 
> Cost and construction end dates have been revised.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This video should give you a more detailed idea.
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, I can't be more concise and constructive at this time, writing this in somewhat of a hurry.
> 
> 
> Latest news on this project here.



Thanks for the explanation, look like it is an important project for Bangladesh and I believe the river is very busy that make Bangladesh government need to make it underwater tunnel instead of just a conventional bridge.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Indos said:


> Thanks for the explanation, look like it is an important project for Bangladesh and I believe the river is very busy that make Bangladesh government need to make it underwater tunnel instead of just a conventional bridge.




Yes, when approaching the airstrip during landing, the river is clearly visible and ships big and small dot the rivers mouth ( where it meets the sea ) like ants.


These photos should give you a better perspective on the amount of surface vessels that ply the river.






This photo is facing towards the city on the left (not pictured).

On the right side, which is the 'new' side, you can see KAFCO, which is one of the main factories in that area, it's a fertilizer factory, If memory serves me right.











These two photos face towards the sea from the port.


Apparently it's the first of its kind in South Asia.

You can see the 3rd Karnafuli bridge named after the Islamic preacher Shah Amanat in the above photos.

Even it's multiple bridges the need for connectivity cannot be satisfied, which where this tunnel steps in.


You must bear in mind, Bangladeshis are very skeptical people when it comes to the future and future investment in property, businesses and industry, as are foreign investors who invest in Bangladesh.


This tunnel by virtue of being a first in region and by being so sensationalised and expensive, conveys to the people in no uncertain terms, that Government is not joking when they say they want to expand into the south side.


In essence, this project is doing a lot to put potential investors and the public at ease.







As you can see, fewer main roads on the right side and the few main roads that are there are poorly maintained.

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## The Ronin



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## Bilal9

Most Mega Projects in Bangladesh back on track and proceeding well, Covid hasn't slowed them down much.





GDP increase continues, last fiscal marked 8.15%





Mega projects gaining momentum, special initiatives needed to complete on time

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## The Ronin



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## DalalErMaNodi

Nikunju Lake project has just been completed. 

Under construction back in April : 









Here we can see how beautiful it looks after completion :

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Yes, when approaching the airstrip during landing, the river is clearly visible and ships big and small dot the rivers mouth ( where it meets the sea ) like ants.
> 
> 
> These photos should give you a better perspective on the amount of surface vessels that ply the river.
> 
> 
> View attachment 658131
> 
> This photo is facing towards the city on the left (not pictured).
> 
> On the right side, which is the 'new' side, you can see KAFCO, which is one of the main factories in that area, it's a fertilizer factory, If memory serves me right.
> 
> 
> View attachment 658132
> 
> View attachment 658133
> 
> 
> These two photos face towards the sea from the port.
> 
> 
> Apparently it's the first of its kind in South Asia.
> 
> You can see the 3rd Karnafuli bridge named after the Islamic preacher Shah Amanat in the above photos.
> 
> Even it's multiple bridges the need for connectivity cannot be satisfied, which where this tunnel steps in.
> 
> 
> You must bear in mind, Bangladeshis are very skeptical people when it comes to the future and future investment in property, businesses and industry, as are foreign investors who invest in Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> This tunnel by virtue of being a first in region and by being so sensationalised and expensive, conveys to the people in no uncertain terms, that Government is not joking when they say they want to expand into the south side.
> 
> 
> In essence, this project is doing a lot to put potential investors and the public at ease.
> 
> 
> View attachment 658137
> 
> 
> As you can see, fewer main roads on the right side and the few main roads that are there are poorly maintained.



Gorgeous post! Love it.


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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Nikunju Lake project has just been completed.
> 
> Under construction back in April :
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here we can see how beautiful it looks after completion :



Good move to turn an eyesore into something really to be proud of. Plus the net barrier prevents any unwanted trespassers into the residential areas.


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## DalalErMaNodi

Bilal9 said:


> Gorgeous post! Love it.




lol, too many typos though.


Was in a real hurry when I jotted that down.

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## Bilal9

New terminal to be constructed at Sylhet airport.







Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, Chairman of CAAB and Harold Huang, Country Chief of BUCG are seen exchanging documents at the signing ceremony held today

Dhaka: The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) signed an agreement with the Chinese company Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUGC) today for constructing a new terminal building at Osmani International Airport in Sylhet.

Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, Chairman of CAAB and Harold Huang, Country Chief of BUCG signed the deal on behalf of their respective organisations.

"This project is a visionary and important initiative taken by the government. After completion, it will play a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of the country," said Rahman.

The BDT 2,116 crore project includes construction of a terminal building, cargo building, ATC tower, taxiway, apron and fire station. The project is estimated to take two years and nine months for completion.

With the construction of the new terminal, the airport's capacity to handle passengers will reach 20 lac from the current 6 lac.

Over the years, BUGC has shown great expertise in building several international airports across the world including Beijing, mentioned Huang.

Other higher officials of CAAB and BUCB were also present on the signing ceremony.

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## Bilal9

HSIA Terminal 3 construction is at a standstill due to COVID-19


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## Bilal9

12:04 PM, July 03, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:24 PM, July 03, 2020
*Biman to start Dhaka-Toronto direct flight from October*





UNB, Dhaka

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is all set to start operating direct flights from Dhaka to Toronto and from there to New York by Air Canada from October this year.

"We'll start operating flights in the winter schedule according to the Air Agreement between Bangladesh and Canada," Mokabbir Hossain, managing director and CEO of Biman, told UNB.

There are two schedules in international routes - Winter and Summer, he said adding that the winter schedule starts in October.

If passengers want to go to New York from Bangladesh, they can go from Toronto, said Hossain adding, "In that case, we'll charge the passengers for a second destination to New York."

According to an agreement with Air Canada, they will take Biman passengers to any destination from Toronto. "Biman will carry passengers from Dhaka to Toronto only," Hossian said.


Asked about the number of flights in a week on Dhaka-Toronto route, Biman's MD said according to the Air Agreement, minimum three flights will be operated.

*Flights to Japan soon*
Biman will operate flights to Japan soon as there is an existing agreement between Bangladesh and Japan in this regard, Hossain said.

Flights to Tokyo will start when Japan opens the international route, he said. "We've already published advertisements in Japanese newspapers for appointing General Sales Agent (GSA) there. GSAs will be appointed soon."

Once flights start operating from Dhaka to Japan, passengers can go to New Zealand, Australia, Korea and other countries from there by other airlines easily, he hoped.

"We're planning to make an agreement with Japan Airlines for carrying Bangladeshi passengers to other countries from Tokyo," he added.

*Biman all set to resume flights*
Asked about the exact date of flight inauguration on Dhaka-Toronto route, Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry Senior Secretary Mohibul Haque said flight operation will begin after October 15.

Biman CEO Hossain said flight operations on Dhaka to Delhi, and Kolkata were stopped due to Covid-19 pandemic, but Biman flights from Dhaka to Chennai will be launched if India permits use.

GSA will be appointed in Chennai soon, he added.

In addition, steps will be taken to start flight operations from Dhaka to Guangzhou in China and Male in the Maldives after the coronavirus pandemic, said Hossain.

He also informed that Biman is all set to resume its flight operations on other international routes where it operated flights before Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, chartered flights with different countries including European nations are already in operation.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines stopped flight operation on March 30 thanks to Covid-19 pandemic and resumed on Dhaka-London-Dhaka route on June 21.

Two more scheduled flights will start operation on Dubai and Abu Dhabi routes July 6 and 7 respectively after three months of suspension.

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## Bilal9

*Biman plans introducing flights to Canada (Toronto) by October*
*This will bring down travelling hours for US-Dhaka passengers to 17 hours via Manchester*





File Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS

Biman Bangladesh Airlines plans to operate flights to Canada for bolstering connectivity between the East and the West.

The national carrier signed an agreement with the Bangladeshi government in this regard on Wednesday, confirmed its Managing Director Md Mokabbir Hossain.

Biman has started the process of applying to the Canadian authorities to secure permission for flight operations. Back in 2013, the Bangladeshi government signed an air agreement with Canada, but no local airlines have started operating in the country yet.

The national carrier is planning to start operating from October this year, said Mokabbir.

*If Biman starts flights to Canada, travelling hours for US-Dhaka passengers will come down to 17 hours from the current 23 to 24 hours, he said.*

*Biman will also introduce its flights in Tokyo, Japan soon.* The two destinations will make Dhaka a hub for East-West connectivity by connecting flights with other foreign airlines, he added.

*Biman was supposed to introduce flights from Dhaka to Guangzhou, China by May, but the coronavirus pandemic has delayed the permission process* from the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh.

Biman has six brand new Dreamliner aircraft for long haul flights.

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## Bilal9

Biman to buy two more Dash-8 aircraft to serve regional and domestic routes








Biman Bangladesh Airlines will purchase two more Dash-8 aircraft from De Havilland of Canada aiming to expand its flights on domestic routes.

The national carrier finalised its decision on March 2.

Dash-8 is a small-haul aircraft that can carry 50 to 80 passengers.

The purchase deal has already been finalised with the manufacturer – one aircraft will be delivered next year and the other in 2022, said Biman's Managing Director Md Mokabbir Hossain.

Currently, Biman has two Dash-8 aircraft taken on lease. The airline will return one of them in June this year.

The public limited company has already purchased three new Dash-8 aircraft from Bombardier and they will join the fleet in June this year.

The inclusion of three new aircraft will take the total number of Dash-8 in the Biman fleet to four.

The number of Dash-8 aircraft will be six by 2022 after the arrival of two new aircraft that Biman is going to purchase from De Havilland.

Currently, Biman is operating long-haul aircraft on domestic routes due to shortage of short-haul planes, said Mokabbir Hossain. "As a result, the airline is incurring losses on domestic routes."

He said after the inclusion of the new Dash-8 aircraft, it will stop using Boeing 737 planes on domestic routes aiming to come out of losses.

Moreover, Biman plans to increase inter-connectivity on domestic routes to cater to a growing number of passengers.

Currently, Dhaka is the hub for flying to other districts of the country. Biman is planning to introduce flights from Jashore to Chattogram to Cox's Bazar. As a result, passengers will not need to travel via Dhaka.

Biman will also use Dash-8 aircraft on some international routes like Chattogram to Bangkok.

Biman's fleet has increased manifolds over the years, and the current fleet size is the largest in its history. It has 18 aircraft – 12 are of its own and the rest are on lease.

Another three Dash-8 aircraft will arrive by June this year, taking the total fleet size to 20.

https://tbsnews.net/economy/aviation/biman-buy-two-more-dash-8-aircraft-53449

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Planned Buriganga restoration ongoing. Visualization of final state.

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## Bilal9

*Ship Recycling Industry Showing High Prospects*
Due to lower labor costs and a high proportion of usage of steel from recycled ships in domestic manufacturing, the ship scrapping segment of the maritime supply chain is dominated by the developing countries. By dismantling 236 ships in 2019, the country took the lead position in ship-breaking. *47.2 percent of the ocean-going vessels were dismantled by Bangladesh, followed by India with 25.6 percent, Pakistan with 21.5 percent, Turkey with 2.3 percent and China with 2 percent.[1]*





_FIGURE: Dismantling of ships in 2019, by country / Source: UNCTAD_
The following figure for the period 2014–2018 suggests that China and India, and to a relatively lower extent, Turkey, illustrate a reduction in scrapping activity while Bangladesh displays a steeply rising trend. China and India have limited the number of imports of scrapped vessels due to environmental concerns.





_FIGURE: Reported tonnage sold for demolition, selected countries, 2014–2018 / Source: Clarkson Research_
The trends are influenced by such regulatory advances and voluntary initiatives by industry associations to make ship recycling more environment-friendly which have put Bangladesh in a favorable position. 





_FIGURE: Reported tonnage sold for demolition by major vessel type / Source: Clarkson Research_
Oil tankers, bulk carriers and container ships are related to most of the tonnage sold for demolition. While previously bulk carriers were the most frequent vessel type sold for demolition, the type was replaced by oil tankers in 2018. Bangladesh was reported to sell 5,980,000 gross tons of oil tankers and 1,115,000 gross tons of bulk carriers.[1]


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## Bilal9

*COVID-19 Implications on Shipbreaking and Shipbuilding *
The adverse impact of COVID-19 on shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh steered spillover effects on associated industries including shipbuilding and steel. Owing to lockdowns imposed in March 2020, the shipbuilding industry has faced order cancellation issues, paralleled with the readymade garments sector. According to the Association of Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industries of Bangladesh (AEOSIB), the exporting companies have witnessed cancellation of export orders worth USD 120 million.[3]

Global shipbuilding giants were not immunized from the dire impact of COVID-19 as well. Chinese yards and South Korean yards have seen plunging orders, 50 percent and 81 percent of falls respectively. The number of orders is predicted to decline by 26 percent throughout the year.[4] In tune with the global scenario, FMC Dockyard, a shipbuilding company encountered postponement of 52 sale orders with 12 for exports.[3]

Meanwhile, the ship-breaker companies employing 0.2 million people could not supply scraps, the vital raw materials for steel, to the steel mills. In April 2020, the industry insiders had demanded BDT 3000 crore cash incentive with 2 percent interest for keeping the shipyards functional.[5] However, given the economy gradually reopening, both the shipbuilding and shipbreaking industry are expected to resume their operations and recover from the crisis in the near future.

*Policy Development: Key to Building a Sustainable Shipbuilding Industry *
As the evolving shipbuilding industry had attracted a strong focus from the government, a draft of the Shipbuilding Industry Development Policy 2019 was prepared by the Ministry of Industries. Being provided with necessary fiscal support, the industry is projected to earn USD 4 billion over the next five years by exploring its export potential.[6] Moreover, the policies are designed with high hopes of generating employment for 0.1 million people.

The policy suggested forming a national council of 24-members to supervise implementation, monitoring and evaluation of shipbuilding. Public-private partnerships for building futuristic shipyards, guidelines of backward linkage industry and lowering the bank interest rate to 4 percent with repayment period of 20 years are also proposed in the policies.[6] The government should fine-tune the policy as early as possible and enact the regulations for the quicker development of the industry.

In January 2020, the Ministry of Industry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two foreign companies, Damen Group of the Netherlands and Gentium Solutions of Australia to collaboratively establish a shipbuilding and ship recycling industry in Bangladesh. The state-of-the-art shipbuilding yard along with a backward linkage industry is about to be built on 105 acres of land at Patuakhali with an investment of USD 1 billion.[7] If the Shipbuilding Development Policy 2019 can maintain international standards of compliance, more foreign investments can be attracted.

Quality control along with human and environmental safety issues are also rising concerns in the shipbuilding nations. High quality professionals are needed to ensure quality of the ships for which exclusive training programs should be arranged by the government. In January 2020, the PHP Ship Breaking & Recycling Industries Limited was certified by ClassNK, verifying that the yard is in line with Hong Kong Convention for safe and environmentally friendly recycling of ships.[8] The shipbuilding policy should be inclusive of environmental compliance for greener and safer ship recycling practices.

Bangladesh currently builds smaller vessels of 10,000 DWT (dead weight tonnage).[6] To increase the capacity of building larger vessels in the future, alongside foreign investment and public sector assistance, major infrastructural changes and a highly skilled workforce are imperative. To conclude, finalizing the policy and translating it into reality should be prioritized to establish a sustainable shipbuilding and ship repairing industry in the country.


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## Bilal9

http://bida.gov.bd/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Sector-Profile_Shipbuilding.pdf


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## Bilal9

Story on Indian auto market vs. nascent Bangladeshi market and needed steps. Sorry Bengali only.






Indian imported heavy vehicles dominate Bangladeshi market but that is changing with local production. Bengali only.

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## Bilal9

PHP automobiles assembles Proton Models in Bangladesh from CKD kits.

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## Bilal9



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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


>



I'll give it 2 mins before it turns into shit. It has 2 enemy's bangladeshi mold/humidity and bangladeshi people.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Zajira-Bhanga Expressway (sorry Bengali only).

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## Bilal9

Picturesque 13 KM Flyover Freeway to connect Sunamganj and Netrokona in Haor area. Ecosystem sensitivity factors to be considered by LGED as it is a conservation area for migratory birds from as far afield as Northern Europe and Siberia. This is a separate project after the success of Mithamoin connector.






I guess they can build small resorts with Marinas along the sides of the Freeway just like key west in Florida (Highway 1 South to Key Largo). The area could become a tourist haven.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Elevated Expressway Latest Update 2020

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## Bilal9

Bhulta Gausia Flyover | Dhaka Sylhet Highway

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## Bilal9

Karnaphuli Tunnel update, one tube complete, another one started.

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## Bilal9

MRT Line-6 update from Agargaon to Mirpur, sorry Bengali only.

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## DalalErMaNodi



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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/planespottersbangladesh/posts/1541830865993818

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## DalalErMaNodi

Beautiful drone shots of Chittagong Port :







Instead of building multiple 'functional' (read: life saving) underpasses, government goes for the usual one and done trick with this new extravagant underpass.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Work has finally begun on the Bangabandhu Tri - Tower project.

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## Tom-tom

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Work has finally begun on the Bangabandhu Tri - Tower project.



Any idea on the specs I.e number of floors and total height?

Welcome back.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Tom-tom said:


> Any idea on the specs I.e number of floors and total height?
> 
> Welcome back.



This video will hopefully clear any queries you may have :


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## Tom-tom

DalalErMaNodi said:


> This video will hopefully clear any queries you may have :




I guess hasina has kind of left her mark on it.


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## DalalErMaNodi

Tom-tom said:


> I guess hasina has kind of left her mark on it.



Hasina's has touched the national fabric of Bangladesh, for the better or for the worse, her actions have left an unmistakable impact on Bangladesh and Bangladeshis.


The Bangladesh of 2020 is her legacy, it's almost strange typing this out, because deep down, I have irreconcilable ideological differences with SHW, but the truth must be said, she has made her mark and believe me, even if she were to step down and hide herself away from the public sphere, Every Bangladeshi who has lived through her tenure, will remember her.


She has quite bluntly put, artificially manufactured a legacy even before she is to need one.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Roads and Highways Department Headquarters






This is an old video, it was completed months ago.

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## Bilal9

Current Status of 8 lane Kanchpur Bridge on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro Agargaon section progress status.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Elevated Expressway latest status

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## Bilal9

Barisal to Kuakata Highway

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## Bilal9

6 lane Madani Avenue to connect rest of Dhaka with the suburb of Purbachal

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## DalalErMaNodi

200 km+ 8 lane expressway to be built right beside the existing 4 lane Dhaka - Chittagong highway, comes with a full suite of modern facilities such as automated toll plazas, weighting bridges (to weigh trucks), and stop stations every so often with recreation area for travellers, restaurants, hotels and gas stations.

This project, in my opinion, will have a significant impact on the economy and the rate at which we are able to get the goods from the industrial cities strewn around Dhaka and Chittagong to the port itself in the shortest amount of time possible, thereby saving money and countless manhours.

Coupled with the new deep sea port being built at matarbari, the new bay terminal of CTG port and the CTG port itself which is in the process of expansion and upgradation, this express way will bring big dividends to Bangladesh and the region as a whole.

More than ¼ of the Bangladeshi population lives along the path between Dhaka and Chittagong, so it's not suprise to know that this project will have a huge effect on the economy.

Maybe not as much as the overhyped Padma Bridge but it will nevertheless be up there.


More importantly, it will put an end to traffic jams on the Dhaka Chittagong highway and ensure smooth travelling between Dhaka and Chittagong, making it future proof for atleast the next 2 decades by when there will be ports based outside the Chittagong region.

Because upgrading the existing highway every 5 years is unsustainable, this project will not only remedy that issue but completely bypass it.







Here is the Roads and Highways Department's animation of the whole project, Imo the most important project undertaken apart from Padma bridge, :

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## Tom-tom

DalalErMaNodi said:


> 200 km+ 8 lane expressway to be built right beside the existing 4 lane Dhaka - Chittagong highway, comes with a full suite of modern facilities such as automated toll plazas, weighting bridges (to weigh trucks), and stop stations every so often with recreation area for travellers, restaurants, hotels and gas stations.
> 
> This project, in my opinion, will have a significant impact on the economy and the rate at which we are able to get the goods from the industrial cities strewn around Dhaka and Chittagong to the port itself in the shortest amount of time possible, thereby saving money and countless manhours.
> 
> Coupled with the new deep sea port being built at matarbari, the new bay terminal of CTG port and the CTG port itself which is in the process of expansion and upgradation, this express way will bring big dividends to Bangladesh and the region as a whole.
> 
> More than ¼ of the Bangladeshi population lives along the path between Dhaka and Chittagong, so it's not suprise to know that this project will have a huge effect on the economy.
> 
> Maybe not as much as the overhyped Padma Bridge but it will nevertheless be up there.
> 
> 
> More importantly, it will put an end to traffic jams on the Dhaka Chittagong highway and ensure smooth travelling between Dhaka and Chittagong, making it future proof for atleast the next 2 decades by when there will be ports based outside the Chittagong region.
> 
> Because upgrading the existing highway every 5 years is unsustainable, this project will not only remedy that issue but completely bypass it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here is the Roads and Highways Department's animation of the whole project, Imo the most important project undertaken apart from Padma bridge, :



I future hopefully we will be able to change India per a ton fee that's is adequate for Bangladesh.


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## DalalErMaNodi

Tom-tom said:


> I future hopefully we will be able to change India per a ton fee that's is adequate for Bangladesh.




India should absolutely not be allowed to use our roads for transporting theirs own goods into their own territory of North East India, a region inhabited by vile, inferiority complex ridden, Bengali hating, dog meat eating, backward tribals.



If they can't construct good roads through the Siliguri corridor, that's their issue, they can always give up on NE and let those halfwit racists go free.

India wants to trade with us by road ? No problem, we will trade with mainland India but we should not allow our country and infrastructure to be used as some sort of unappreciated transit device.


They pay very little in fees and that should be remedied too.


North East India survives because we let them get their supply of necessary amenities and medicines, If the GoB plays their cards right, we can literally hold India at ransom by threatning to starve NE but we are ruled by mutts.

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> India should absolutely not be allowed to use our roads for transporting theirs own goods into their own territory of North East India, a region inhabited by vile, inferiority complex ridden, Bengali hating, dog meat eating, backward tribals.
> 
> 
> 
> If they can't construct good roads through the Siliguri corridor, that's their issue, they can always give up on NE and let those halfwit racists go free.
> 
> India wants to trade with us by road ? No problem, we will trade with mainland India but we should not allow our country and infrastructure to be used as some sort of unappreciated transit device.
> 
> 
> They pay very little in fees and that should be remedied too.
> 
> 
> North East India survives because we let them get their supply of necessary amenities and medicines, If the GoB plays their cards right, we can literally hold India at ransom by threatning to starve NE but we are ruled by mutts.



My words exactly! Agree 100%. No special favors to these Sanghis. 

Always in their 'Faida Uthana' mode which often costs them nothing....

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## Tom-tom

DalalErMaNodi said:


> India should absolutely not be allowed to use our roads for transporting theirs own goods into their own territory of North East India, a region inhabited by vile, inferiority complex ridden, Bengali hating, dog meat eating, backward tribals.
> 
> 
> 
> If they can't construct good roads through the Siliguri corridor, that's their issue, they can always give up on NE and let those halfwit racists go free.
> 
> India wants to trade with us by road ? No problem, we will trade with mainland India but we should not allow our country and infrastructure to be used as some sort of unappreciated transit device.
> 
> 
> They pay very little in fees and that should be remedied too.
> 
> 
> North East India survives because we let them get their supply of necessary amenities and medicines, If the GoB plays their cards right, we can literally hold India at ransom by threatning to starve NE but we are ruled by mutts.




You are very right, but I was thinking along lines of the current constraints and bind tha


DalalErMaNodi said:


> India should absolutely not be allowed to use our roads for transporting theirs own goods into their own territory of North East India, a region inhabited by vile, inferiority complex ridden, Bengali hating, dog meat eating, backward tribals.
> 
> 
> 
> If they can't construct good roads through the Siliguri corridor, that's their issue, they can always give up on NE and let those halfwit racists go free.
> 
> India wants to trade with us by road ? No problem, we will trade with mainland India but we should not allow our country and infrastructure to be used as some sort of unappreciated transit device.
> 
> 
> They pay very little in fees and that should be remedied too.
> 
> 
> North East India survives because we let them get their supply of necessary amenities and medicines, If the GoB plays their cards right, we can literally hold India at ransom by threatning to starve NE but we are ruled by mutts.



You are 100% right in idealistic world India shouldn't be using bd infrastructure for its own needs. 


I was speaking along lines that present day bd constrained to.

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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/planespottersbangladesh/posts/1556158837894354

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## Bilal9

@DalalErMaNodi Apollo (Evercare) Hospital in Chittagong is nearing completion. Under US management now. Apollo sold controlling shares to US financial group.

*Evercare Hospital, Chittagong City





















*

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## bête noire

Bilal9 said:


> @DalalErMaNodi Apollo (Evercare) Hospital in Chittagong is nearing completion. *Under US management now. Apollo sold controlling shares to US financial group.*


Sh*t. They are the worst when it comes to healthcare. Rapacious mafia that would maximise profit over everything.


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## Bilal9

bête noire said:


> Sh*t. They are the worst when it comes to healthcare. Rapacious mafia that would maximise profit over everything.



Well let's hope we don't have to patronize them soon, then...


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## DalalErMaNodi

bête noire said:


> Sh*t. They are the worst when it comes to healthcare. Rapacious mafia that would maximise profit over everything.




Couldn't possibly be worse than Indian management.

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## Bilal9

*Metro rail construction reaches halfway stage
The rail project might be completed within December 2022





*

_File Photo of the under construction metro rail project in Dhaka_



> The construction work of Bangladesh’s first ever metro rail is progressing in full swing maintaining health guidelines amid Covid-19 pandemic with completion of its overall 49.15% construction, an official said.
> 
> [...]
> 
> The overall physical progress of the first phase construction of the metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon is 75.50%, he said, adding the construction progress of the second phase from Agargaon to Motijheel stood at 42.50%.
> 
> He said at present, 10.86 km viaduct out of 11.73 km metro rail between Uttara and Agargaon has become visible.


Source: Metro rail construction reaches halfway stage

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## Bilal9

*BRT to be linked to metro rail*








> The authorities have taken an initiative to connect two major projects -- MRT-6 and BRT -- through a "link service" between Diabari and House Building areas of the capital's Uttara.
> 
> The country's first metro rail -- formally known as Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) -- is being constructed from Diabari to Motijheel. On the other hand, construction works of the Bus Rapid Transit -- a dedicated bus service line -- from Airport to Gazipur is also going on. The line will go through House Building area.
> 
> Question remained how people will catch the metro leaving from BRT in House Building area easily and comfortably and how a metro rail passenger would reach the House Building area, which is around 1.5 kilometer from Daibari.


Source: BRT to be linked to metro rail

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## Bilal9

*Photo Updates of Metrorail and Stations Construction



















*

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

*Progress of under construction project of Cox's Bazar Airport. New International passenger terminal.*

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## Bilal9

Payra Supercritical Powerplant 50% operational. Rest is being implemented.

*Payra Plant
























*

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## Bilal9

*The first reactor vessel and steam generator for Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant (NPP), being constructed at Rooppur, have been shipped out from Russia in late August.*

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## DalalErMaNodi



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## bête noire

DalalErMaNodi said:


>


Need THIS! But everywhere in Dhaka city. Most of Dhaka city has similar types of building heights and roads (although not so straight and well designed) widths like this one. But they look like absolute sh*t compared to this. They can certainly be made to look at least somewhat closer to this if they cared enough for it. I can understand if its a money problem for rest of Dhaka city to look like this but at least they can clean up the roads, put signs and road markings everywhere, get rid of posters and rickshaws etc.

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## Bilal9

bête noire said:


> Need THIS! But everywhere in Dhaka city. Most of Dhaka city has similar types of building heights and roads (although not so straight and well designed) widths like this one. But they look like absolute sh*t compared to this. They can certainly be made to look at least somewhat closer to this if they cared enough for it. I can understand if its a money problem for rest of Dhaka city to look like this but at least they can clean up the roads, put signs and road markings everywhere, get rid of posters and rickshaws etc.



Civic sense and Civic pride is not present in areas where uneducated and crass people live.

It's not even a question of money. Look at certain areas in old Dhaka. These people have to realize slowly that sub-optimal living conditions are not acceptable, and band together to hire help to clean drains, clean waste channels etc. Change will come, but slowly.

People have to DEMAND better living conditions by force, or by threat of violence from their ward commissioners. That is not happening. Realization has to come first, and that push has to come from the citizenry. Ward commissioners have to be afraid of their people (their wards to be exact). Not the other way round.

Bangladesh is not Syria, we can affect change slowly but surely.

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## The Ronin



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## The Ronin



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## Tom-tom

The Ronin said:


>



What's the tunnel for? And where?


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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> Payra Supercritical Powerplant 50% operational. Rest is being implemented.
> 
> *Payra Plant
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *



Is this coal fired?


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## Bilal9

Tom-tom said:


> Is this coal fired?



Yes it is - but it is not like the older polluting type. The coal is burned more completely (super critical process) and then the effluents discharged (if at all) go through a complete scrubber process.

Also, airborne smoke/effluents flow out into the ocean usually.


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## The Ronin

Tom-tom said:


> What's the tunnel for? And where?


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## The Ronin

Feni-Noakhali four lane highway under construction.

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## SpaceMan18

The Ronin said:


> Feni-Noakhali four lane highway under construction.
> 
> View attachment 671116
> 
> 
> View attachment 671117
> 
> 
> View attachment 671118





Instead of building highways , I think we should make our own silicon valley to become a post industrial nation in the near future. Maybe empower our youth to makes websites and or apps big as Amazon, Snapchat, Paypal etc.


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## Destranator

SpaceMan18 said:


> Instead of building highways , I think we should make our own silicon valley to become a post industrial nation in the near future. Maybe empower our youth to makes websites and or apps big as Amazon, Snapchat, Paypal etc.


Yes and in the meanwhile people will use jet packs to get to Chittagong Division.

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## Bilal9

Al-Ansar said:


> Yes and in the meanwhile people will use jet packs to get to Chittagong Division.



Past the current main arteries being converted to four lane int'l standard freeways (similar to Mawa Bhanga freeway), I believe govt. will now concentrate more on railway upgradation rather than building new roadways. 

There is also a project to connect Bangladesh in semi-circular Freeway network a la Indian Golden Quadrilateral. However the bottom one fourth will only be connected partially as there are too many rivers in Southern Khulna and Barisal areas. Other than say Patuakhali Barisal connector and Khulna connector highways from Padma Bridge, there will only be a few newer roads and most communication will be by using ferries and launches.

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## SpaceMan18

Al-Ansar said:


> Yes and in the meanwhile people will use jet packs to get to Chittagong Division.




Dawg I just want Bangladesh to grow not by making clothing but by other reasons like apps and or heavy industries.


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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> Dawg I just want Bangladesh to grow not by making clothing but by other reasons like apps and or heavy industries.



There is thriving IT sector locally for APP development and also freelance work. We top everyone, except India which has clearly magnitudes of more people involved. Clearly you are not aware,

Shipbuilding is also a very large sector in Dhaka (N'Ganj) and Chittagong.

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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> lmao IT ? My dude with ship building the top countries are Korea,China and Japan. Our metallurgy also sucks and we need to use foreign design to make our normal ships.
> 
> Shipbuilding isn't that impresse neither is IT , Amazone alone can buy Bangladesh if they wanted too
> 
> Let's be honest Bangaldesh lacks creativity due to our poor mindsets and copy cat mindset.
> 
> We can't grow the country like this , plus the garment industry is a scam cause the west makes more money in the end of the day.



Your post has been reported. Either make relevant and informed comments or else.

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> Your post has been reported. Either make relevant and informed comments or else.




Lmao are you really that much of a snowflake ? You reported my post because I have a different opinion than you ? 


Facts really ? I guess you couldn't handle my facts , just look with your eyes and tell yourself will Bangladesh ever develop. 

Everyone knows the answer , just accept the Ls that we have been getting ever since British times. 

" or else " Yeah you from the hood or some shet ? Threating someone because of an opinion

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## bête noire

SpaceMan18 said:


> My dude with ship building the top countries are Korea,China and Japan.


No way! Highly developed countries and an industrial nation are better at ship building than Bangladesh!? Are you high or what, to make such a silly comparison. No one with positive IQ would think Bilal was insinuating Bangladesh being better than SK, Japan or China,


SpaceMan18 said:


> Let's be honest Bangaldesh lacks creativity due to our poor mindsets and copy cat mindset.


Stop projecting. No one asked you to generalise based on your own mindset and creativity skill.


SpaceMan18 said:


> We can't grow the country like this


Are you another idune? What is the reason for all these years of economic growth then? Specially the last few years?


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## Bilal9

^^

Reported again for trollbait flamer posts.

We come to this forum with a more or less humble demeanor and hoping to learn something from others in other countries, if necessary.

If relevant to communicate our opinions on HOW TO CONTRIBUTE AND MAKE THINGS BETTER IN OUR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES. I know I have exceeded my limit a few times, but people (and the mods) know where my general intent is.

If we are intent to flame others with an IMMATURE, cavalier, disrespectful attitude like that shown in the post above, and MOREOVER, from the get-go, then the posts are tantamount to disrupting the normal discussion in this sub-forum and prone to invite mud-slinging. Which is pointless.

I am ignoring this person's posts going forward - others are welcome to do the same.

@waz, @krash, @WebMaster, @jaibi bhais your moderating assistance is needed. My apologies for the bother.

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> ^^
> 
> Reported again for trollbait flamer posts.
> 
> We come to this forum with a more or less humble demeanor and hoping to learn something from others in other countries, if necessary.
> 
> If relevant to communicate our opinions on HOW TO CONTRIBUTE AND MAKE THINGS BETTER IN OUR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES. I know I have exceeded my limit a few times, but people (and the mods) know where my general intent is.
> 
> If we are intent to flame others with an IMMATURE, cavalier, disrespectful attitude like that shown in the post above, and MOREOVER, from the get-go, then the posts are tantamount to disrupting the normal discussion in this sub-forum and prone to invite mud-slinging. Which is pointless.
> 
> I am ignoring this person's posts going forward - others are welcome to do the same.
> 
> @waz, @krash, @WebMaster, @jaibi bhais your moderating assistance is needed. My apologies for the bother.




So I'm a troll for expressing opinions about my nation ? 


Lmao so me going against your beliefs gets me reported ? 

" We're here to learn things " 

Yes so am I , and I can express things , you might not agree to me sure fare but calling me a troll makes you look worse. 

if you think I'm bad , welcome to America where people generally talk like this. 

I didn't troll nor did I harass , it sounds like a YOU problem and bringing mods doesn't help your case since there's no trolling here. 

with your logic , I can take that logic and do the same


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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> ^^
> 
> Reported again for trollbait flamer posts.
> 
> We come to this forum with a more or less humble demeanor and hoping to learn something from others in other countries, if necessary.
> 
> If relevant to communicate our opinions on HOW TO CONTRIBUTE AND MAKE THINGS BETTER IN OUR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES. I know I have exceeded my limit a few times, but people (and the mods) know where my general intent is.
> 
> If we are intent to flame others with an IMMATURE, cavalier, disrespectful attitude like that shown in the post above, and MOREOVER, from the get-go, then the posts are tantamount to disrupting the normal discussion in this sub-forum and prone to invite mud-slinging. Which is pointless.
> 
> I am ignoring this person's posts going forward - others are welcome to do the same.
> 
> @waz, @krash, @WebMaster, @jaibi bhais your moderating assistance is needed. My apologies for the bother.



Also you can ignore me no problem with that , but ignoring that Bangladesh will always be a country no one will respect due to it's own issues and it's people and will likely never truly develop it gonna be hard. 

And this is coming from a Bangladeshi , I don't want bad for Bangladesh if you're call me a troll what would call Sheik Hasina then ?


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## Bilal9

Story about Dhaka circular road project. Sorry Bengali only.

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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/planespottersbangladesh/posts/1565488636961374

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## Bilal9

The Ronin said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/planespottersbangladesh/posts/1565488636961374



I am guessing they will still install the additional boarding gates. The plan was to add a couple more. 

But ZYL was not as busy as DAC or CTG at any time...


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## Bilal9

In Bangladesh we hear about Govt. shipyards like those in N'Ganj and Khulna and private shipyards like Western Marine, but not many talk about Karnafuly, which is a huge yard in their own right.

As the need for Tugboats (of various sizes) and Large Cutter suction dredgers in Bangladesh have exploded, Karnafuly has risen to meet the challenge (forming a large scale JV with internationally renowned suppliers of dredgers, such as IHC Holland and VOSTA LMG). This is an image of the tugboats and dredgers in their yard in various stages of build-progress (not a video link below).


























Another piece of great news is that other than CDDL in the Govt. sector, Karnafuly themselves have taken on the job of building the second super high capacity Dry dock of their own accord in Bangladesh. This drydock will be able to handle a 100,000 DWT vessel (অথবা দুই থেকে তিনটা ফ্রিগেট ), এইবার বুইজা লন . 

This development is described in their video from late last year and the image below.







*Functions of Dry-dock:* Shipbuilding/ repair up to 100,000 tonnes dead-weight.

*Yard Area:* 2805 Decimal

*Basin Size:* 255 m x 48 m x 14.5 m

*Fabrication Shed:* 2 nos (under construction)

*Open Shipbuilding Area:* 4,50,000 Square Feet (Four lac fifty thousand)

*Powering:* 1 Mega Watt

*Lifting Facility (Fixed Crane):* 50 tonnes

*Generator:* 500 x 2 KVA

*Mobile Crane Capacity:* 4 Mobile Crane x 25 Tonnes

*Docking Capacity:* 1,00,000 DWT

*Lofting Facility:* Available

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## Bilal9

Matarbari deep sea port construction work is progressing fast

The construction work of the country's first deep seaport at Matarbari in Maheshkhali at a cost of Taka 16,06.17 crore is progressing fast. Japan is providing 12 thousand 792 crore 8 lakh rupees for this project. Of the rest, Tk 2,081.15 crore will be provided by the government and Tk 2,213.24 crore by the Chittagong Port Authority. The project initiated by the Ministry of Shipping will be jointly implemented by the Chittagong Port Authority and the Roads and Highways Department by 2026. Matarbari Port is an under-construction deep seaport at Matarbari in Maheshkhali Upazila of Cox's Bazar District, Bangladesh. At the first stage, one 300 meters long multipurpose terminal and one 460 meters long container terminal will be constructed within 2026. Friends, if you like my video, please like and share. Subscribe to the channel to get new videos immediately. Then turn on the bell button. Then you will get the next videos immediately.

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> Matarbari deep sea port construction work is progressing fast
> 
> The construction work of the country's first deep seaport at Matarbari in Maheshkhali at a cost of Taka 16,06.17 crore is progressing fast. Japan is providing 12 thousand 792 crore 8 lakh rupees for this project. Of the rest, Tk 2,081.15 crore will be provided by the government and Tk 2,213.24 crore by the Chittagong Port Authority. The project initiated by the Ministry of Shipping will be jointly implemented by the Chittagong Port Authority and the Roads and Highways Department by 2026. Matarbari Port is an under-construction deep seaport at Matarbari in Maheshkhali Upazila of Cox's Bazar District, Bangladesh. At the first stage, one 300 meters long multipurpose terminal and one 460 meters long container terminal will be constructed within 2026. Friends, if you like my video, please like and share. Subscribe to the channel to get new videos immediately. Then turn on the bell button. Then you will get the next videos immediately.




Not bad even though only I think like 8,000 TEU ships can dock there , and by 2026 ? That feels like forever


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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> Story about Dhaka circular road project. Sorry Bengali only.




Hmmm how about we limit how much cars can one family buy or make cars not that accessible and limit CNGs and private owned buses ? 

Traffic seems like the issue


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## SpaceMan18

The Iconic Tower or Bangubandhu Tri tower has started construction and will go into full effect after Covid-19 

See ya BOIS in 4-5 years


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## The Ronin



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## Bilal9

PT INKA, is transporting the *latest batch* of 250 train coaches to Bangladesh. Brother @Indos posted the news in this link.





__





Indonesia Economy Forum


Jokowi orders aides to prepare food estate development master plan 4 hours ago President Joko Widodo has instructed to prepare a master plan for food estate...



defence.pk

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## SpaceMan18

The Ronin said:


>




Cool but did this guy just say we have to compete with Singapore ? 

No way , they're smaller than us yet better


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## Bilal9

Official piling work started for 111 story Bangabandhu tri-tower.

This is a commercial project and connecting it to historical events is unprecedented and hokey. like that skyscraper hotel in PyongYang.

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## Bilal9

Marriott Chittagong 120m, 24 Fl.







as of august 2020

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## The Ronin



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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> PT INKA, is transporting the *latest batch* of 250 train coaches to Bangladesh. Brother @Indos posted the news in this link.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Indonesia Economy Forum
> 
> 
> Jokowi orders aides to prepare food estate development master plan 4 hours ago President Joko Widodo has instructed to prepare a master plan for food estate...
> 
> 
> 
> defence.pk



It is the final batch and by October the order will already be completed.

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> It is the final batch and by October the order will already be completed.



Thank you for updating us brother.

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## The Ronin

*Dhaka-Mymensingh highway to be upgraded to expressway*

Dhaka (Joydebpur)-Mymensingh Highway is going to be upgraded to an expressway as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a proposal to develop the road under public-private partnership (PPP).

South Korea’s state-owned company Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation (KIND) will invest an estimated amount of Tk3,353 crore in the project titled “Improvement of Dhaka (Joydebpur)-Mymensingh Road into Expressway with Service Lane on both sides.”

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, who presided over the cabinet body meeting, informed the media that the Korean firm will bear the full cost of the project while the Bangladesh government will only spend Tk280 crore for the rehabilitation of the affected people and Tk100 crore for utility service relocation.

He said this highway has already been built as a four-lane one by the Roads and Highway Division.

*Four more projects*

Another meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase was held later with the Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair. This meeting approved procurement proposals.

These include Public Works and Housing Ministry’s proposal to award a contract of Tk160.73 crore to Noorani Construction Ltd to build 76 flats each having a size of 1,800 square feet for government officials at the Azimur Government Colony.

Three proposals of the Industries Ministry also received a nod from the cabinet body.

As per the proposals, the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will import 25,000 metric tons (MT) bulk granular urea fertilizer from Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) at Tk56.96 crore while another 25,000 MT bulk granular fertilizer from Ruwais Fertilizer Industries (Fertiglobe) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The BCIC will procure 30,000 metric tons (MT) of bagged granular urea fertilizer from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (Kafco) at a cost of Tk64.73 crore.









Dhaka-Mymensingh highway to be upgraded to expressway


Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said this highway has already been built as a four-lane one by the Roads and Highway Division




www.dhakatribune.com

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## Bilal9

Since Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation is involved, the freeway promises to be world class and hopefully as good or better than the Mawa-Bhanga expressway. Korean Freeways were world class even in the 1980's. The Chaebols such as Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung etc. all were heavily involved in civil infra projects, not only at home, but especially in the Gulf countries and Saudi, where they built the majority of the road infra and buildings in the 1970's and 80's. This is true even today.

Bangladeshi and Pakistani firms should join hands with these firms to get pieces of this pie. Korean work practices and technology (same as Chinese) is halfway in sophistication (ten/fifteen years behind and more economical) when compared to US and EU practice. So this will be ideal for desi firms to bridge the technology gap as far as gaining skills in newer civil technology.









Korean builders dominate Middle East







www.koreatimes.co.kr

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> Since Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation is involved, the freeway promises to be world class and hopefully as good or better than the Mawa-Bhanga expressway. Korean Freeways were world class even in the 1980's. The Chaebols such as Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung etc. all were heavily involved in civil infra projects, not only at home, but especially in the Gulf countries and Saudi, where they built the majority of the road infra and buildings in the 1970's and 80's. This is true even today.
> 
> Bangladeshi and Pakistani firms should join hands with these firms to get pieces of this pie. Korean work practices and technology (same as Chinese) is halfway in sophistication when compared to US and EU practice.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Korean builders dominate Middle East
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.koreatimes.co.kr



Eh I'm not sure about Pakistan, but yeah Korea is good


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## The Ronin



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## DalalErMaNodi

Bangladeshi cities are not ugly because of overpopulation, contrary to popular belief but rather cluttered due to mismanagement, land grabbing and improper or total lack of planning.

Here we can see, Bangladeshi townships can also be beautiful, If well planned:









This gives me hope for purbanchal and the future.

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Bangladeshi cities are not ugly because of overpopulation, contrary to popular belief but rather cluttered due to mismanagement, land grabbing and improper or total lack of planning.
> 
> Here we can see, Bangladeshi townships can also be beautiful, If well planned:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This gives me hope for purbanchal and the future.



I agree but again we're talking about Bangladesh here if not planned or done right it will be ugly again. 

Let's not forget corruption


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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/planespottersbangladesh/posts/1575749632601941

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## SpaceMan18

The Ronin said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/planespottersbangladesh/posts/1575749632601941




Isn't Biman flying to America by 2021 ?


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## The Ronin



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## SpaceMan18

Just an Terminal 3 airport update , piling will begin in November


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## ZAMURD

Padma bridge completion date?? That bridge will help BD very much.


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## DalalErMaNodi

ZAMURD said:


> Padma bridge completion date?? That bridge will help BD very much.




Late 2021.

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## The Ronin



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## The Ronin



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## DalalErMaNodi

@Bilal9 @Michael Corleone Subramanian grabbed his dhoti and ran, I say good riddance.



Now, kick them off Roopur Nuclear power plant project, India shouldn't be allowed to get involved in the next Nuclear power plant project either.




Btw, I find the Birdseye view from the Drone so impressive, lush green fields, rivers-khals and steel-concrete infrastructure make for an awesome contrast.

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> @Bilal9 @Michael Corleone Subramanian grabbed his dhoti and ran, I say good riddance.
> 
> 
> 
> Now, kick them off Roopur Nuclear power plant project, India shouldn't be allowed to get involved in the next Nuclear power plant project either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Btw, I find the Birdseye view from the Drone so impressive, lush green fields, rivers-khals and steel-concrete infrastructure make for an awesome contrast.



Idek why tf India joined our nuclear power project , Indians are so dam insecure for gods sake. 

Also yes those green lushy land looks pretty nice ngl , almost comparable to Switzerland or Korea


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## Michael Corleone

DalalErMaNodi said:


> @Bilal9 @Michael Corleone Subramanian grabbed his dhoti and ran, I say good riddance.
> 
> 
> 
> Now, kick them off Roopur Nuclear power plant project, India shouldn't be allowed to get involved in the next Nuclear power plant project either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Btw, I find the Birdseye view from the Drone so impressive, lush green fields, rivers-khals and steel-concrete infrastructure make for an awesome contrast.


good, aro subidha kore de

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## Tom-tom

DalalErMaNodi said:


> @Bilal9 @Michael Corleone Subramanian grabbed his dhoti and ran, I say good riddance.
> 
> 
> 
> Now, kick them off Roopur Nuclear power plant project, India shouldn't be allowed to get involved in the next Nuclear power plant project either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Btw, I find the Birdseye view from the Drone so impressive, lush green fields, rivers-khals and steel-concrete infrastructure make for an awesome contrast.




Will bd gets it money back from India over reactor?


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## DalalErMaNodi

Tom-tom said:


> Will bd gets it money back from India over reactor?




Nah, it's not a question of money, Indian firm withdrew it's own deposit before they left, only issue is they haven't paid some of the local subcontractors, but the Chinese firm was in a Joint Venture with the Indians, so they're legally bound to pay the dues and finish the work, and they have agreed to complete the work.


I think the work at Rampal power plant is nearly over, about 'reactor' I presume you're referring to the Roopur Nuclear power plant, India has no money invested in that, just Russia and Bangladesh government, India only signed in to bog us down and just keep tabs on it because they're an insecure bunch.

The project has stalled recently due to Indian red tape gridlock, I hope it doesn't get resolved and they're either removed from the project or they quit themselves.

Curious, do you understand spoken Bangla ?

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## Tom-tom

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Nah, it's not a question of money, Indian firm withdrew it's own deposit before they left, only issue is they haven't paid some of the local subcontractors, but the Chinese firm was in a Joint Venture with the Indians, so they're legally bound to pay the dues and finish the work, and they have agreed to complete the work.
> 
> 
> I think the work at Rampal power plant is nearly over, about 'reactor' I presume you're referring to the Roopur Nuclear power plant, India has no money invested in that, just Russia and Bangladesh government, India only signed in to bog us down and just keep tabs on it because they're an insecure bunch.
> 
> The project has stalled recently due to Indian red tape gridlock, I hope it doesn't get resolved and they're either removed from the project or they quit themselves.
> 
> Curious, do you understand spoken Bangla ?



I don't understand pure syhleti and don't understand fast spoken Dhaka basha I get bits and pieces if spoken slowly. I can understand shunamganj syhleti Bengali and speak it.

Bangladesh gov should sue the Indian company the longer it gets stalled the more damage to BD economy.


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## DalalErMaNodi

Tom-tom said:


> I don't understand pure syhleti and don't understand fast spoken Dhaka basha I get bits and pieces if spoken slowly. I can understand shunamganj syhleti Bengali and speak it.
> 
> Bangladesh gov should sue the Indian company the longer it gets stalled the more damage to BD economy.





Well, suing them would be a long and drawn out process, they will most likely be placed on a blacklist. 


I just want the Indians out no matter the cost, keep them far away from infrastructure projects, they were supposed to make a bridge for our railways authority and they haven't finished it in 8 years, I will find a video of it, If I can.



It's an old Indian technique, take up projects and then stall them or finish them but 15 years later and with sub par materials.

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## Tom-tom

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Well, suing them would be a long and drawn out process, they will most likely be placed on a blacklist.
> 
> 
> I just want the Indians out no matter the cost, keep them far away from infrastructure projects, they were supposed to make a bridge for our railways authority and they haven't finished it in 8 years, I will find a video of it, If I can.
> 
> 
> 
> It's an old Indian technique, take up projects and then stall them or finish them but 15 years later and with sub par materials.



Indians rob bds money we should Rob them from time to time. I agree Indians should not be allowed near bd projects. 

They lobbied the international community as well to be involved in this project as they have experience in nuclear tech and a 'friendly county to BD' . 

I just wanna do damage to India
.

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## SpaceMan18

Tom-tom said:


> Indians rob bds money we should Rob them from time to time. I agree Indians should not be allowed near bd projects.
> 
> They lobbied the international community as well to be involved in this project as they have experience in nuclear tech and a 'friendly county to BD' .
> 
> I just wanna do damage to India
> .



All we need is a leader who doesn't like foreign interference and that's all , India is lucky there's a pro India leader in charge of Bangladesh but there will not always be a pro Indian leader in the coming future. 

If Bangaldesh can become South Asia's developed country and reduce the amount of corruption it has then I bet India will be quite pissed. 

It's a shame Bangaldeshis became more corrupt as time went on , all they care about is money and investing it to the west like the inferior slave they are.


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## DalalErMaNodi



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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> @Bilal9 @Michael Corleone Subramanian grabbed his dhoti and ran, I say good riddance.
> 
> 
> 
> Now, kick them off Roopur Nuclear power plant project, India shouldn't be allowed to get involved in the next Nuclear power plant project either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Btw, I find the Birdseye view from the Drone so impressive, lush green fields, rivers-khals and steel-concrete infrastructure make for an awesome contrast.



How did PGCB make a deal with this cheater Indian Banyas?

Those corrupt officials should be hung or quartered.

We have known this for four/five decades. Can't trust these dhokeybaaj Indian Banya idiots.

Fraud and cheatery is in their blood. The whole world knows this.

Subroto Roy and Vijay Mallya are prime examples. Playing extravagant lifestyles with Gareebon-ka-huq. May they die quick deaths and burn in purgatory.

Hope the 90% of the performance guarantee is still left and this should be applied toward paying the new Chinese contractors to get the project completed on time.

Bangladesh should come up with fail-safe business and financial guarantee mechanisms beyond simple performance guarantees. Like ensuring people get thrown in jail for not following business pledges, like they did to Subroto Roy (Sahara Group).

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


>



Aight bois we have beaten India's gdp per capita , but now let's try to get even a higher gdp per capita


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## DalalErMaNodi

Anyone dare to ride bikes here at night ?

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Anyone dare to ride bikes here at night ?



That'd be quite a thrill, until you land in the water...


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## The Ronin



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## SpaceMan18

The Ronin said:


>



2027 ? My dude it takes 7 years to build 3 towers lol ? 

Honestly I like the KPC design better but again corruption from the government didn't help. 

I dont know how long the CBD will take


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## DalalErMaNodi

SpaceMan18 said:


> 2027 ? My dude it takes 7 years to build 3 towers lol ?
> 
> Honestly I like the KPC design better but again corruption from the government didn't help.
> 
> I dont know how long the CBD will take




Seven years is quite normal, they've got to build 39 more 40 storey+ high rises surrounding these three skyscrapers.... They also have to build the underground sewage and electricity network, which is unprecedented in the history of Bangladesh, not to mention road work and other time-consuming processes besides building the towers themselves. 

This is only just sector 19, more to come.

Piling work takes time, seven years is very quick, If you ask me, look up how long Burj khalifa took or Makkah clock tower or Tokyo skytree....

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## Bilal9

Historic largest exports of steel billets to China, Bangladesh has become exporter instead of steel importers






Battery industry overview, cellphone infra, solar power generation and potential electrical vehicle adoption drives local production and exports to new levels.

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## Bilal9

*Upcoming New Integrated Steel Plant in Bangladesh

GPH Ispat Ltd and Primetal Technologies Austria GmBH (a joint venture of Siemens VAI & Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and partners) have signed agreement on 19th January signed an agreement at to establish an integrated steel plant having most sophisticated production facilities which will be first of its kind in Bangladesh as well as in Asia Region.*










*Production Capacity: *The state of the art technology will ensure world class supreme quality products having production facilities including endless continuous casting & rolling for achieving the production of 840,000 MT per annum of liquid steel and out of which 640,000 MT of long products (rebars& sections). 

*M.S. Billet : 840,000 MT/Year

Rebars and Sections : 640,000 MT/Year

The total production capacity including existing one would be M.S. Billet 1,008,000 MT and Rebars & Sections 760,000 MT.*

The state of the art Technology will not only ensure world class products but also reduce the use of power and gas consumption during production. Power consumption would be reduced by 300 KWh/MT and gas consumption would be reduced by 35 Nm3/MT against traditional practices of Bangladesh.

The new technology would also help to save foreign currency by importing HMS as raw materials instead of importing MS Billets, H-Beam, I Beam etc.

*Ensuring of high quality products:*
The State-of-the-Art Technology with highest level of automation, precision, and engineering would ensure world-class products. This upcoming Integrated Steel Plant incorporating Melting,Refining, Casting and Rerolling facilities in one go that would be first in Bangladesh as well as in the Asian region. Products would be Reinforced Bars and structural Sections whose quality would confirm various national and international Standards Specifications covering chemical, physical, mechanical, and metallurgical properties.

Highly sophisticated Quality Control Laboratories with stringent QC practices would ensure all sorts of testing facilities of physical, chemical, mechanical and metallurgical properties of on-process and finished products. The company is committed to assure excellent and unparallel quality products in the National and International Markets.

The production process would ensure huge savings with the finished products compared to conventional and existing industries in the arena.

*Competitive price:*
This project would ensure lower price compared to that of competitors due to lowest operational cost such as:

Saving in power consumptions : 300 kwh/T compared to induction furnace route

Saving in Gas consumptions : 35 M3/T compared to conventional rolling process.

Savings in yield loss on finished products: 2% Max.

Savings in material handling & Transportation cost: 0.2%

By the saving from Power and Gas the society will be benefitted by getting high quality products with competitive prices.

*Foreign Currency Savings:*
Normally international price difference between billets and scrap is about $150/MT and price difference between Section Steels ( H-beams, I beam etc.) and HMS is about USD 300/MT.

Total FC savings from using HMS as raw material instead of importing MS billet and Section Steel would be 130 Million USD EACH YEAR. This savings will help the country to enrich FC reserve.

*Savings in Power:*
This project would reduce power consumption by 300KWh/MT against existing steel production practices of Bangladesh, which will save power consumption of 227 Million KWh per year which will make the society benefitted.

*Saving in Gas:*
The project would reduce natural gas consumption about 35 m3/MT against existing steel production practices in Bangladesh, which will save 17 Million NM3 Natural Gases each year.

*Employment opportunity:*
There will be an employment opportunity of about 10000 Bangladeshi Workforce, of whose 1050 people will work directly, and about 8950 will work indirectly.

*It would help society to get employment resulting reduction of unemployment and poverty of the country.

Emission Control :*

*5 mg/cubic meter of carbon emission to atmosphere after de-dusting which is 90% less compare to WB (50mg/m3).*
*Plant will ensure the following level of environmental parameter:*
Using this technology, carbon emission will be 90% less than the World Bank’s prescribed limit and 96% less than the Bangladesh Standards’ recommendedlimit. Reduce Suspended Particulate Matters (SPM) of Flue Gases by 60% against Bangladesh standards. The existing contemporary practice has a tendency of violating the standards. But GPH will not only confirm but also keep lesser values of SPM that has been recommended. There would be water treatment facilities with no effluent and Zero discharge technology. It means that waste water would not come out from the plant and all waste water would be recycled inside the plant. As a result the Natural Environment would not be affected.

*Specific Area of Differentiation with existing plants in our country:*

The State-Of-The-Art Technology will require less than 2 hrs Time for production of finished product from raw materials in one go process.
No re-heating Furnace required as it is integrated continuous one go process. As a result no usages of Natural Gas for Re-heating the billets. In the continuous process billet with required temperature goes directly into the Re-rolling mills.
Wider range of products: Rebars of various sizes and Structural Sections like Channel, Angle, I-Beam, H-Beam, IPE, IPN, Flat bar would be produced in the same production unit.
Lower cost of production, including lower yield losses.
Lower Billet inventory due to production of finished product in the one go continuous Winlink process.
Stabilization of Electrical Power during operation of the plant minimizing flickers and harmonics through Static VarController(SVC), which will never disturb the Nation Power Grids.
Highest mill utilization with efficiency and better productivity.
*Contribution to National Exchequer:*
The project would contribute Tk. 245 Cr every year to National exchequer by means of corporate Tax, VAT, and Custom Duty, etc.. This will ensure significant contribution to the GDP that will support development of Bangladesh.

*Skill Development:*
For development of expertise of the employees, adequate domestic and foreign trainings would be conducted by the national and international experts. The trained employees would enrich human resources of Steel Sector in Bangladesh with skill, expertise and experiences.

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Seven years is quite normal, they've got to build 39 more 40 storey+ high rises surrounding these three skyscrapers.... They also have to build the underground sewage and electricity network, which is unprecedented in the history of Bangladesh, not to mention road work and other time-consuming processes besides building the towers themselves.
> 
> This is only just sector 19, more to come.
> 
> Piling work takes time, seven years is very quick, If you ask me, look up how long Burj khalifa took or Makkah clock tower or Tokyo skytree....



I guess you're right , I'm just hoping to God that nothing hinders or stalls this project. 

You have seen how long this MRT line 6 is taking


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## The Ronin



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## DalalErMaNodi

Teesta comprehensive river management and restoration project is at its final stages before implementation begins. 







__ https://www.facebook.com/1766281370346886/posts/2395070874134596

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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/110131083879737/posts/207626037463574

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/110131083879737/posts/207626037463574



No way ! Finally we get something good , do you know what's the range on them ?


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## Shorisrip

What do you guys think of the prospect of reaching (and sustaining) double digit GDP growth?


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## DalalErMaNodi

Shorisrip said:


> What do you guys think of the prospect of reaching (and sustaining) double digit GDP growth?





Possible but highly improbable given our weak and untimely policymaking process.


Our government is not proactive, that's their #1 issue.



They don't see a problem until it slaps them on the face.

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## Shorisrip

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Possible but highly improbable given our weak and untimely policymaking process.
> 
> 
> Our government is not proactive, that's their #1 issue.
> 
> 
> 
> They don't see a problem until it slaps them on the face.



Apparently they have set a goal to realize it soon, but seems like empty talk. 









Double-digit GDP growth in next five years: Finance minister


Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today (Sunday) said Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) growth will touch the double digit within the next five years. The country will make it with completion of the Padma bridge and other mega structures, he said while speaking as the chief guest at a...




www.thefinancialexpress.com.bd


----------



## SpaceMan18

Shorisrip said:


> What do you guys think of the prospect of reaching (and sustaining) double digit GDP growth?



Silly , we ain't Korea lol 


Jk but yeah corruption is the issue here


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## DalalErMaNodi

Shorisrip said:


> Apparently they have set a goal to realize it soon, but seems like empty talk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Double-digit GDP growth in next five years: Finance minister
> 
> 
> Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today (Sunday) said Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) growth will touch the double digit within the next five years. The country will make it with completion of the Padma bridge and other mega structures, he said while speaking as the chief guest at a...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.thefinancialexpress.com.bd




10% is possible, like bare minimum double digit, don't hope for anything above 12% and this is hypothetical, all the variables must be just right for that to happen, which they won't.




Still, I will take sustainable growth over anything else, 6%+ for another two decades is the way to go.

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## SpaceMan18

Well guys I think one of the nuclear generators have arrived in Bangladesh from Russia in Mongla Port. 

Saw it on the news rn


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## DalalErMaNodi

SpaceMan18 said:


> Well guys I think one of the nuclear generators have arrived in Bangladesh from Russia in Mongla Port.
> 
> Saw it on the news rn




Yeah, the pressure vessel and the generator.


Project has slowed down due to Indian red tape.

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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/1766281370346886/posts/2395330147442002

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## The Ronin



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## SpaceMan18

The Ronin said:


>



Yeah that one lol


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## DalalErMaNodi

Clowns are giving all airport except Chittagong a face lift, Hell, even Cox's bazar is getting more love now than CTG airport.


The city, the airport and the roads are all a dump, government seems to be least bothered, do they plan on turning the second city into a irredeemable dump ?



The city that is key to the economy is being sidelined, while the dump that is Dhaka is being pampered, even though Dhaka is beyond any repair now....


Senseless Morons

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Clowns are giving all airport except Chittagong a face lift, Hell, even Cox's bazar is getting more love now than CTG airport.
> 
> 
> The city, the airport and the roads are all a dump, government seems to be least bothered, do they plan on turning the second city into a irredeemable dump ?
> 
> 
> 
> The city that is key to the economy is being sidelined, while the dump that is Dhaka is being pampered, even though Dhaka is beyond any repair now....
> 
> 
> Senseless Morons




If Bangladeshi city planners played City Skylines they would make the worse hèll hole ever so bad that the happiness level would be -9999 

And idk if they are planning on making a new capital city ? Cause Dhaka looks like if you gave a blind child some buildings and told the kid to place it anywhere it wants. And BAM ! You get Dhaka , why can't they just decentrailze it ? 

Me as a Barishali , our airport sûcks too


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## DalalErMaNodi

SpaceMan18 said:


> Me as a Barishali











@Michael Corleone 




SpaceMan18 said:


> If Bangladeshi city planners played City Skylines they would make the worse hèll hole ever so bad that the happiness level would be -9999
> 
> And idk if they are planning on making a new capital city ? Cause Dhaka looks like if you gave a blind child some buildings and told the kid to place it anywhere it wants. And BAM ! You get Dhaka , why can't they just decentrailze it ?
> 
> Me as a Barishali , our airport sûcks too





Dunno about that but Chittagong is the economic capital of Bangladesh, I mean we have our own stock exchange where millions upon millions are traded everyday.


One cannot underscore the importance of this city enough and yet, GoB is blind to the issues that plague the city, which mind you, has been the trade hub of Bengal for centuries, harbouring one of the oldest ports in the world.


GoB has just using and abusing the city, milking it's populace giving nothing in return.


I mean except CXB airport expansion and Karnafuli Tunnel, what have they done for the region that generates upwards of 90 billion USD for the country, not to mention facilitating 95% of the exports and nearly all of the tourism industry ?



Btw, you mean borishailla, borishali sounds like an elaborate cuss word.


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## Michael Corleone

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Clowns are giving all airport except Chittagong a face lift, Hell, even Cox's bazar is getting more love now than CTG airport.
> 
> 
> The city, the airport and the roads are all a dump, government seems to be least bothered, do they plan on turning the second city into a irredeemable dump ?
> 
> 
> 
> The city that is key to the economy is being sidelined, while the dump that is Dhaka is being pampered, even though Dhaka is beyond any repair now....
> 
> 
> Senseless Morons


Ching chong, what’s Chittagong?


SpaceMan18 said:


> If Bangladeshi city planners played City Skylines they would make the worse hèll hole ever so bad that the happiness level would be -9999
> 
> And idk if they are planning on making a new capital city ? Cause Dhaka looks like if you gave a blind child some buildings and told the kid to place it anywhere it wants. And BAM ! You get Dhaka , why can't they just decentrailze it ?
> 
> Me as a Barishali , our airport sûcks too


Will you tell me why your curries are like soup? 😂

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## DalalErMaNodi

Michael Corleone said:


> Ching chong, what’s Chittagong?




It is where you wish you were from, cellar dweller.


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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> View attachment 681494
> 
> 
> 
> @Michael Corleone
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dunno about that but Chittagong is the economic capital of Bangladesh, I mean we have our own stock exchange where millions upon millions are traded everyday.
> 
> 
> One cannot underscore the importance of this city enough and yet, GoB is blind to the issues that plague the city, which mind you, has been the trade hub of Bengal for centuries, harbouring one of the oldest ports in the world.
> 
> 
> GoB has just using and abusing the city, milking it's populace giving nothing in return.
> 
> 
> I mean except CXB airport expansion and Karnafuli Tunnel, what have they done for the region that generates upwards of 90 billion USD for the country, not to mention facilitating 95% of the exports and nearly all of the tourism industry ?
> 
> 
> 
> Btw, you mean borishailla, borishali sounds like an elaborate cuss word.



Yeah lol


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## Michael Corleone

DalalErMaNodi said:


> It is where you wish you were from, cellar dweller.


Come to bikrampur, better than any trash place in bd, including jailbait dwelling areas


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## DalalErMaNodi

Michael Corleone said:


> Come to bikrampur, better than any trash place in bd, including *jailbait dwelling areas*




Shut your trap, peasant.

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> It is where you wish you were from, cellar dweller.



Bruh moment , but honestly these dam leaders don't care and they act all rich and shet cause they flex their money which they have stolen from the people


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## Michael Corleone

SpaceMan18 said:


> Yeah lol


Yo man, barishaler torkari panir moto ken?


DalalErMaNodi said:


> Shut your trap, peasant.


Ok dead people curry muncher

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## DalalErMaNodi

Michael Corleone said:


> Ok dead people curry muncher











You know you want some.... 


What's Dhaka's delicacy ? Smog ?


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## Michael Corleone

DalalErMaNodi said:


> What's Dhaka's delicacy ? Smog ?


More than rusted ships breakers can afford

ok seriously though. Who makes shit parata like that.


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## DalalErMaNodi

Michael Corleone said:


> More than rusted ships breakers can afford
> 
> ok seriously though. Who makes shit parata like that.




People who can afford to eat meat with yet more meat.


Rice and Roti is for peasants with 40 GM meat intake once in a blue moon.




lol lol, those working at ship breaking yards are migrant workers from noakhali and elsewhere, there are only 9 million actual Chittagonians.


Mostly landowners, farmers or business owners.




On a more serious note, what's wrong with ship breaking, it contributes to the economy, and that's where all the steel in Bangladesh comes from.



We break the ships, supply the metal to BSRM in Sitakundu and they chug out rods.


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## Michael Corleone

DalalErMaNodi said:


> People who can afford to eat meat with yet more meat.
> 
> 
> Rice and Roti is for peasants with 40 GM meat intake once in a blue moon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lol lol, those working at ship breaking yards are migrant workers from noakhali and elsewhere, there are only 9 million actual Chittagonians.
> 
> 
> Mostly landowners, farmers or business owners.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And what's wrong with ship breaking, it contributes to the economy, and that's where all the steel in Bangladesh comes from.
> 
> 
> 
> We break the ships, supply the metal to BSRM in Sitakundu and they chug out rods.


That’s most Bengali kanjoos people 🤷🏻‍♂️
but hey they’re gonna blame our privileged life because our fathers immigrated to provide better life for the family?
I say **** that. We will munch as much beef we want without a care for the “poor who can afford to shop in India”


----------



## DalalErMaNodi

Michael Corleone said:


> That’s most Bengali kanjoos people 🤷🏻‍♂️
> but hey they’re gonna blame our privileged life because our fathers immigrated to provide better life for the family?
> I say **** that. We will munch as much beef we want without a care for the “poor who can afford to shop in India”




Awkward Segue, but you're right nonetheless.


Although I hate the "haughty" probashis, you know who they are.



Living in the west in housing projects, Family of 8 cramped into a 2 room apartment, working odd jobs... Oh but when they return to Bangladesh, the attitude, the sense of entitlement.


Bunch of ©##k fondlers.

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## SpaceMan18

Michael Corleone said:


> Yo man, barishaler torkari panir moto ken?
> 
> Ok dead people curry muncher



Idk dawg cause maybe we have access to the ocean 


DalalErMaNodi said:


> Awkward Segue, but you're right nonetheless.
> 
> 
> Although I hate the "haughty" probashis, you know who they are.
> 
> 
> 
> Living in the west in housing projects, Family of 8 cramped into a 2 room apartment, working odd jobs... Oh but when they return to Bangladesh, the attitude, the sense of entitlement.
> 
> 
> Bunch of ©##k fondlers.



Pssh the housing prices over here in NYC is ridiculous, but yeah I do feel superior when I visit Bangladesh :3

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## DalalErMaNodi

SpaceMan18 said:


> *Idk dawg cause maybe we have access to the ocean *
> 
> 
> Pssh the housing prices over here in NYC is ridiculous, but yeah I do feel superior when I visit Bangladesh :3





In Chittagong, we have a rude saying, 'Borishailla Fani Agora',... I'll let you figure out what that means.




You serious about feeling 'superior' ? Not Cool.

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## Michael Corleone

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Awkward Segue, but you're right nonetheless.
> 
> 
> Although I hate the "haughty" probashis, you know who they are.
> 
> 
> 
> Living in the west in housing projects, Family of 8 cramped into a 2 room apartment, working odd jobs... Oh but when they return to Bangladesh, the attitude, the sense of entitlement.
> 
> 
> Bunch of ©##k fondlers.


Hey at least we middle eastern immigrant fucks have made good investments and lived tax free to turn our life around. We don’t even feel the need to act or feel superior. Ask any toilet scrubbing freedom seeker how has their financial situation changed over the years and it’s always for the worst


----------



## DalalErMaNodi

Michael Corleone said:


> Hey at least we middle eastern immigrant fucks have made good investments and lived tax free to turn our life around. We don’t even feel the need to act or feel superior. Ask any toilet scrubbing freedom seeker how has their financial situation changed over the years and it’s always for the worst



These guys barely scrape the bottom of the barrel, worst quality of life indicators of all desi communities in the west.


Probably lowest household income of all ethnicities, be it in the US or UK. Highest Corona fatalities too among all ethnicities in the UK.




It is of their own doing, importing whole tribe is not the way to go. Let's not talk about the sham marriages.



Bringing disrepute to the nation, hell, I'd rather live in Bangladesh than live in the west, in housing projects with 4 family members cramped into one room.



The Bangladeshi diaspora hasn't been able to build influence and respect precisely because of this, their village mentality, I don't know where these people are from, but they have questionable mentalities.

Instead of solidifying their own place in society and acquiring proper credentials or occupations, these guys set their minds to the sole task of importing the whole village, these happy-go-lucky folks then ruin the image of Bangladesh and the community by engaging in petty theft and overall being a menace.


Shaping foreign perceptions of Bangladesh in a negative manner.

The Indians have made their mark on the UK, while ours cook curry in 'indian' restaurants.




This is state of being of our diaspora and then the haughtiness, simply unacceptable.

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> In Chittagong, we have a rude saying, 'Borishailla Fani Agora',... I'll let you figure out what that means.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You serious about feeling 'superior' ? Not Cool.



Nah jk I don't feel superior , lmao idek what that rude saying meant 


DalalErMaNodi said:


> These guys barely scrape the bottom of the barrel, worst quality of life indicators of all desi communities in the west.
> 
> 
> Probably lowest household income of all ethnicities, be it in the US or UK. Highest Corona fatalities too among all ethnicities in the UK.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is of their own doing, importing whole tribe is not the way to go. Let's not talk about the sham marriages.
> 
> 
> 
> Bringing disrepute to the nation, hell, I'd rather live in Bangladesh than live in the west, in housing projects with 4 family members cramped into one room.
> 
> 
> 
> The Bangladeshi diaspora hasn't been able to build influence and respect precisely because of this, their village mentality, I don't know from these people are, but very backward mentality.
> 
> Instead of solidifying their own place in society and acquiring proper credentials or occupations, these guys set their minds to the sole task of importing the whole village, these happy-go-lucky folks then ruin the image of Bangladesh and the community by engaging in petty theft and overall being a menace.
> 
> 
> Shaping foreign perceptions of Bangladesh in a negative manner.
> 
> The Indians have made their mark on the UK, while ours cook curry in 'indian' restaurants.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is our state of being and then the haughtiness, simply unacceptable.



Ah yes village mentality , orroa carap ami ke korbo 

It's due to Bangladesh not having free education


----------



## DalalErMaNodi

SpaceMan18 said:


> Nah jk I don't feel superior , lmao idek what that rude saying meant
> 
> 
> Ah yes village mentality , orroa carap ami ke korbo
> 
> It's due to Bangladesh not having free education





Primary and Secondary education is free in Bangladesh, university education is very cheap in government institutions. 




It's just that, those who make it their singular goal to go abroad are the worst Bangladesh has to offer.


----------



## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Primary and Secondary education is free in Bangladesh, university education is very cheap in government institutions.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's just that, those who make it their singular goal to go abroad are the worst Bangladesh has to offer.



Yeah but the quality kinda sucks plus the kids can cheat if they have enough money. 

Yeah brain drain , instead of idk making apps and getting rich in Bangaldesh they decide to go work for NASA. 

goverment doesn't empower our youth as much


----------



## Michael Corleone

SpaceMan18 said:


> Ah yes village mentality , orroa carap ami ke korbo
> 
> It's due to Bangladesh not having free education


Bangladesh has free education. It’s due to the mentality that everything in life must be free. Those who knows you’ve to go out there and get what you want usually break their backs in Middle East


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## X-ray Papa

DalalErMaNodi said:


> View attachment 681503
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know you want some....
> 
> 
> What's Dhaka's delicacy ? Smog ?


That some nice food Sir,
Could you show us some of your famous dance from Chittagong?


----------



## SpaceMan18

Michael Corleone said:


> Bangladesh has free education. It’s due to the mentality that everything in life must be free. Those who knows you’ve to go out there and get what you want usually break their backs in Middle East



True , I mean free education isn't free it's with your taxes in the west. 


What I hate the most is corrupt high official Bangladeshis that steal money and invest or put it in the west. Like wtf the west doesn't need your dam money and the white man doesn't give 2 shíts about a third world corrupt official. 


These officials hate their own race , and due to this Bangladesh missed an opportunity to become a developed country. 

It took South Korea 40 years until they became developed , Bangaldesh is becoming 50 next year and we still haven't become developed. 

Number 1 reason is corruption and number 2 reason is mentality that's all


----------



## Tom-tom

Michael Corleone said:


> Yo man, barishaler torkari panir moto ken?
> 
> Ok dead people curry muncher



To those concerned, in this conversation, we are all Bangladeshi one shape or another form. We have more pressing problems. 

I do acknowledge that chittagong is the pearl of Bangladesh, and more even development I needed not just in chittagong or Dhaka but through out Bangladesh.


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## DalalErMaNodi

X-ray Papa said:


> That some nice food Sir,
> Could you show us some of your famous dance from Chittagong?





No special dance per say, unless you want to see chakma and marma dance, they have nice dances btw.


----------



## DalalErMaNodi

Highly profitable crocodile farming venture in Mymensingh, upto 1000+ crocodile hides exported per year.

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Highly profitable crocodile farming venture in Mymensingh, upto 1000+ crocodile hides exported per year.



Florida : Allow me to introduce myself


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## DalalErMaNodi

Instead of listening to BAL or BNP propaganda, I would request people to watch expert speak on Bangladesh's economy, its current state and road to recovery from Covid-19, very interesting discussion.

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Instead of listening to BAL or BNP propaganda, I would request people to watch expert speak on Bangladesh's economy, its current state and road to recovery from Covid-19, very interesting discussion.



If we had more Bangladeshis like him Bangladesh would have been developed already. 

We also would of have a very strong passport and people would less likey migrate to a different country


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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/1766281370346886/posts/2396886780619672







8 lane bridge in the works to compliment the existing 4 lane Aminbaazar bridge at Gabtoli.

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## DalalErMaNodi



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## DalalErMaNodi

34th span of Padma Bridge has been installed earlier today, 35th to be installed on the 30th of this month.


6 remaining spans to be installed by December, work is ongoing at commendable speed.

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## Bilal9

*Expressways and bridges change Korea - Is Bangladesh walking that path?*


When we planned to build the Padma Bridge, many international organizations and important people, starting from the World Bank to many others, ignored us and/or turned us away. They never thought that Bangladesh would be able to do such a big project with its own funds. They knew that even if a small project worth Tk. 500 crore could be implemented, Bangladesh would have to reach out to the rest of the world.

The largest economists in the country with reputed degrees, politicians and even ordinary people said - it is not possible. Termed this as a Luxury project, Unnecessary… etc.

But ignoring all, only because of the mentality of not giving up, we started the Padma Bridge with our own funds. With the help of this Padma Bridge, local companies like Abdul Monem got the job of connecting roads.

After the start of the work, a special coterie created corruption rumors about the Padma Bridge. The investigation began. The matter was later taken to a Canadian court. In the end, the verdict came, there was no evidence of corruption. Interestingly, the same World Bank official who raised and started the rumors of corruption was later dismissed for corruption in another incident.

We resolved that we must be able to build the Padma Bridge with our own funds. Other projects centered on the Padma Bridge were started with this conviction. The Payra deep sea port project was undertaken. Railway from Dhaka to Payra was another project. No one had any idea that any company in this country could build a railway line. "Max" is doing that. Maybe their position is still small. Maybe one day they too will raise their capabilities not only in Bangladesh but all over the world. We can - and this is what we know.

When the work on this Padma bridge is completed, when Payra becomes a port, If connected to the railway, innumerable industrial establishments will be formed around this region. Dhaka-Chittagong four lane work has been completed. Work on the expressway will also begin soon.

The first expressway in Bangladesh (Dhaka Mawa expressway) is in full swing. Work on the Nabinagar Second Expressway from Gabtoli will also start soon. Many people are upset about these developments.

But you can see in the next 8-10 years how much benefit it will bring to the economy. In this country, we still oppose these projects. We say, excuse me, I can't eat, what should I do with the bridge? Many also troll about sending satellites. Rumors spread that these would be of no use. Those whose thoughts are like that, they will also get the benefits.

The moment is now our moment to turn around. No one can say that a strong Bangladesh will not emerge like South Korea.

South Korea's highway has shown how fast a country's economy can change. We have a lack of infrastructure. It may not be possible to spend on repairing existing roads to build new expressways. But when these projects are implemented, radical change is bound to come. Looking forward to that new day.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Bilal9 said:


> When we planned to build the Padma Bridge, many international organizations and important people, starting from the World Bank to many others, ignored us and/or turned us away. They never thought that Bangladesh would be able to do such a big project with its own funds. They knew that even if a small project worth Tk. 500 crore could be implemented, Bangladesh would have to reach out to the rest of the world.
> 
> The largest economists in the country with reputed degrees, politicians and even ordinary people said - it is not possible. Termed this as a Luxury project, Unnecessary… etc.
> 
> But ignoring all, only because of the mentality of not giving up, we started the Padma Bridge with our own funds. With the help of this Padma Bridge, local companies like Abdul Monem got the job of connecting roads.
> 
> After the start of the work, a special coterie created corruption rumors about the Padma Bridge. The investigation began. The matter was later taken to a Canadian court. In the end, the verdict came, there was no evidence of corruption. Interestingly, the same World Bank official who raised and started the rumors of corruption was later dismissed for corruption in another incident.
> 
> We resolved that we must be able to build the Padma Bridge with our own funds. Other projects centered on the Padma Bridge were started with this conviction. The Payra deep sea port project was undertaken. Railway from Dhaka to Payra was another project. No one had any idea that any company in this country could build a railway line. "Max" is doing that. Maybe their position is still small. Maybe one day they too will raise their capabilities not only in Bangladesh but all over the world. We can - and this is what we know.
> 
> When the work on this Padma bridge is completed, when Payra becomes a port, If connected to the railway, innumerable industrial establishments will be formed around this region. Dhaka-Chittagong four lane work has been completed. Work on the expressway will also begin soon.
> 
> The first expressway in Bangladesh (Dhaka Mawa expressway) is in full swing. Work on the Nabinagar Second Expressway from Gabtoli will also start soon. Many people are upset about these developments.
> 
> But you can see in the next 8-10 years how much benefit it will bring to the economy. In this country, we still oppose these projects. We say, excuse me, I can't eat, what should I do with the bridge? Many also troll about sending satellites. Rumors spread that these would be of no use. Those whose thoughts are like that, they will also get the benefits.
> 
> The moment is now our moment to turn around. No one can say that a strong Bangladesh will not emerge like South Korea.
> 
> South Korea's highway has shown how fast a country's economy can change. We have a lack of infrastructure. It may not be possible to spend on repairing existing roads to build new expressways. But when these projects are implemented, radical change is bound to come. Looking forward to that new day.











It's a copy of this video.

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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> It's a copy of this video.


Ah Patukhali , that's where I was born lol

But yeah , we can become like South Korea but again we face serious corruption issues that Korea didn't face. Don't also get me started on religious issues going on ,and needing the right progressive mindset of our people.


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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> It's a copy of this video.



Thanks for finding this brother...


----------



## Shorisrip

Love that we're building highways and bridges, but we should also focus on our bountiful waterways. Major parts of the country can be connected through this route and cargo shipment will come down immensely if the government takes an initiative.












There was a video by the World Bank regarding this couple years back

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## DalalErMaNodi



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## Bilal9

Shorisrip said:


> Love that we're building highways and bridges, but we should also focus on our bountiful waterways. Major parts of the country can be connected through this route and cargo shipment will come down immensely if the government takes an initiative.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There was a video by the World Bank regarding this couple years back



Navigability and transport over our Waterways is dependent on India illegally and unilaterally withdrawing water, over which we have very little control at present. India withdraws water during lean winter season and lets go of water during rainy season, causing flooding and overflow.

Unless we have barrages upstream at our borders (Teesta barrage up North with Chinese assistance) and also one in Farakka in the West (needs to be re-hashed now), we will not have waterways navigability and draft guaranteed. Which would put in risk any transport plans. That is why I believe govt. is concentrating on road and rail infra for now.

The only feasible waterway is from Chittagong port to Dhaka riverine container terminal in Narayanganj. That is already in full operation and will be expanded, as an alternative to container transport by road and rail.

Bhai that video you posted is dated and is from four years ago. A lot has changed since then.


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## The Ronin



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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/planespottersbangladesh/posts/1600615726781998

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## Chakar The Great

Good to see Bangladesh developing. Excellent work done.

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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/planespottersbangladesh/posts/1605399026303668

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## mb444

*Bangladesh’s software, IoT developers gaining ground on global market*
*Industry-specific manpower vital to utilise prospects of 4IR, measures absent*
HM Murtuza | Published: 22:38, Nov 10,2020







Workers manufacture Internet of Things-based water management system at DataSoft Manufacturing and Assembly factory in Hi-Tech Park at Kaliakoir in Gazipur recently. Bangladesh’s information and communication technology firms have been gradually gaining a strong foothold on the global arena with promising prospects in the field of software and Internet of Thingsdriven product and service development waiting to be grabbed ahead of the fourth industrial revolution. — New Age photo
Bangladesh’s information and communication technology firms have been gradually gaining a strong foothold on the global arena with promising prospects in the field of software and Internet of Thingsdriven product and service development waiting to be grabbed ahead of the fourth industrial revolution.
Along with drawing global attention by exporting products and services, the country’s ICT firms have also been successfully fulfilling the highend technological needs of local businesses, corporate houses, banks and government agencies.
Even though the coronavirus outbreak hit the economy hard in the initial stages, the outbreak has also opened up new opportunities for the sector since most firms have seen sharp growths in revenue in recent months with some companies reporting growths of around 70 to 80 per cent, said businesses.

Online transaction management, online education management along with content development, telemedicine and business processing have emerged as major sectors for software and ICT firms to be explored in the new normal after the COVID-19 outbreak.
In terms of export, 188 local firms have already registered with the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services as ICT product and service exporters exporting to around 80 destinations across the globe while a large number of firms and individual freelancers are exporting products and services about which there is no database.
Apart from exporting ICT products and services, a number of entities have started to produce ICT and IOT devices and artificial intelligence- and cloud-based solutions for different countries.
Of the 188 entities, four companies have started providing ICT-related services to government agencies in different countries.
The central bank provided Tk 216 crore in 2019 and 2020 in cash incentives against the export of ICT-based products and services.
BASIS sources said that the country’s export of software and ICT products has already exceeded more than $1 billion and was eyeing to achieve an annual export worth $5 billion by the year 2024.
In terms of providing local services, 31 out of 58 banks have availed core banking solutions from Bangladeshi software vendors and developers along with many microcredit firms, non-bank financial institutions, brokerage firms and garment industries.
By providing CBS to the banks, local firms have saved around Tk 1,000 crore as each CBS developed by foreign firms cost between Tk 30 crore and Tk 40 crore while locally developed solutions come at a cost of Tk 8 crore to Tk 12 crore.
Locally and internationally, the demand for software and ICT-driven products and services would see a sharp rise as people become habituated to online shopping and service procurement after the COVID-19 outbreak, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services president Syed Almas Kabir told New Age.
Software developers and information and communication technology businesses have the potential to give new dimensions to the country’s economy given the required manpower if the country can prepare itself for the fourth industrial revolution, DataSoft managing director Mahboob Zaman told New Age.

Re-scaling human resources based on the needs of the industry would help the country to explore the field of smart homes, smart offices, smart cities, augmented reality, virtual reality, IoT, big data analytics, artificial intelligence and fintech more effectively.
Stating that collaboration between industry and universities was vital for development of need-based human resources, Mahboob said, ‘Such collaboration is hardly seen in our country.’
DataSoft, a CMMI level 5 certified software product and service company, has created an IoT-based toll management system for the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa and is providing software development solutions to multinational company Johnson ControlsHitachi Air Conditioning for the running of artificial intelligence- and cloud-based air conditioning systems in Japan.
Apart from these, the entity has also provided solutions for the automation of the Dhaka and Chattogram customs houses and has received much global attention after implementation of the project, the DataSoft chief said.
Another firm called Dream71 Bangladesh was awarded the task to develop two educational videogames for the Southeast Asian nation of East Timor located in the Pacific by the United Nations Development Programme among 38 other firms from Bangladesh, India, Australia, Brazil, Vietnam and the Philippines, BASIS director and Dream71 managing director Rashad Kabir told New Age.
Local technology firm DohaTec designed the electronic government procurement system for Bhutan after the successful rollout of the country’s e-GP system.
Kazi IT works on the US market while Reve Systems works in different countries, including Singapore.
Like these companies, many other software and ICT firms in the country have managed to get a foothold on the global market, including the United Kingdom, the US, Middle East, Europe, African and Asia.
Speaking about the major challenges faced by the sector, Syed Almas Kabir, Mahboob Zaman and Rashad Kabir emphasised human resource development based on the future needs of the sector so that the sector can take advantage of the opportunities that will arise in the upcoming fourth industrial revolution.
They also underlined the need for adopting an integrated plan that would guide students from school to university levels to acquire the skills required to cope with the needs of the future.
Posts and telecommunications minister Mustafa Jabbar, also a former president of BASIS, thinks that the country’s education curriculum from the primary to the university levels are far away from developing the required manpower for the sector.
The required manpower development would not be possible without bringing about gross changes in the education curriculum, he said.
‘It would not be possible for us to gain any benefit out of the fourth industrial revolution with the existing manpower,’ Jabbar said, adding that the Information Communication Technology Division had taken some initiatives to train people but those skills were only fit for very low-end tasks.
‘Education in programming should be incorporated at the primary level. Otherwise it would be difficult for children to cope at the university level,’ he said, adding that he had not seen such measures in place yet.
Almas Kabir said that ensuring high speed broadband internet at the root level would be another vital factor as it would not be possible to develop high-end software and ICT-products with the existing internet ecosystem.
At present, a very small segment of the population has access to broadband, he said.
Out of the country’s 11.11 crore internet users, only 86.56 lakh people have broadband connectivity as the remaining population of 10.25 crore use low-speed mobile internet.
Mustafa said that a number of initiatives were underway to take broadband connectivity to all unions across the country by 2021 while connecting villages would depend on the demand and supply situation.

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## SpaceMan18

mb444 said:


> *Bangladesh’s software, IoT developers gaining ground on global market*
> *Industry-specific manpower vital to utilise prospects of 4IR, measures absent*
> HM Murtuza | Published: 22:38, Nov 10,2020
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Workers manufacture Internet of Things-based water management system at DataSoft Manufacturing and Assembly factory in Hi-Tech Park at Kaliakoir in Gazipur recently. Bangladesh’s information and communication technology firms have been gradually gaining a strong foothold on the global arena with promising prospects in the field of software and Internet of Thingsdriven product and service development waiting to be grabbed ahead of the fourth industrial revolution. — New Age photo
> Bangladesh’s information and communication technology firms have been gradually gaining a strong foothold on the global arena with promising prospects in the field of software and Internet of Thingsdriven product and service development waiting to be grabbed ahead of the fourth industrial revolution.
> Along with drawing global attention by exporting products and services, the country’s ICT firms have also been successfully fulfilling the highend technological needs of local businesses, corporate houses, banks and government agencies.
> Even though the coronavirus outbreak hit the economy hard in the initial stages, the outbreak has also opened up new opportunities for the sector since most firms have seen sharp growths in revenue in recent months with some companies reporting growths of around 70 to 80 per cent, said businesses.
> 
> Online transaction management, online education management along with content development, telemedicine and business processing have emerged as major sectors for software and ICT firms to be explored in the new normal after the COVID-19 outbreak.
> In terms of export, 188 local firms have already registered with the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services as ICT product and service exporters exporting to around 80 destinations across the globe while a large number of firms and individual freelancers are exporting products and services about which there is no database.
> Apart from exporting ICT products and services, a number of entities have started to produce ICT and IOT devices and artificial intelligence- and cloud-based solutions for different countries.
> Of the 188 entities, four companies have started providing ICT-related services to government agencies in different countries.
> The central bank provided Tk 216 crore in 2019 and 2020 in cash incentives against the export of ICT-based products and services.
> BASIS sources said that the country’s export of software and ICT products has already exceeded more than $1 billion and was eyeing to achieve an annual export worth $5 billion by the year 2024.
> In terms of providing local services, 31 out of 58 banks have availed core banking solutions from Bangladeshi software vendors and developers along with many microcredit firms, non-bank financial institutions, brokerage firms and garment industries.
> By providing CBS to the banks, local firms have saved around Tk 1,000 crore as each CBS developed by foreign firms cost between Tk 30 crore and Tk 40 crore while locally developed solutions come at a cost of Tk 8 crore to Tk 12 crore.
> Locally and internationally, the demand for software and ICT-driven products and services would see a sharp rise as people become habituated to online shopping and service procurement after the COVID-19 outbreak, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services president Syed Almas Kabir told New Age.
> Software developers and information and communication technology businesses have the potential to give new dimensions to the country’s economy given the required manpower if the country can prepare itself for the fourth industrial revolution, DataSoft managing director Mahboob Zaman told New Age.
> 
> Re-scaling human resources based on the needs of the industry would help the country to explore the field of smart homes, smart offices, smart cities, augmented reality, virtual reality, IoT, big data analytics, artificial intelligence and fintech more effectively.
> Stating that collaboration between industry and universities was vital for development of need-based human resources, Mahboob said, ‘Such collaboration is hardly seen in our country.’
> DataSoft, a CMMI level 5 certified software product and service company, has created an IoT-based toll management system for the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa and is providing software development solutions to multinational company Johnson ControlsHitachi Air Conditioning for the running of artificial intelligence- and cloud-based air conditioning systems in Japan.
> Apart from these, the entity has also provided solutions for the automation of the Dhaka and Chattogram customs houses and has received much global attention after implementation of the project, the DataSoft chief said.
> Another firm called Dream71 Bangladesh was awarded the task to develop two educational videogames for the Southeast Asian nation of East Timor located in the Pacific by the United Nations Development Programme among 38 other firms from Bangladesh, India, Australia, Brazil, Vietnam and the Philippines, BASIS director and Dream71 managing director Rashad Kabir told New Age.
> Local technology firm DohaTec designed the electronic government procurement system for Bhutan after the successful rollout of the country’s e-GP system.
> Kazi IT works on the US market while Reve Systems works in different countries, including Singapore.
> Like these companies, many other software and ICT firms in the country have managed to get a foothold on the global market, including the United Kingdom, the US, Middle East, Europe, African and Asia.
> Speaking about the major challenges faced by the sector, Syed Almas Kabir, Mahboob Zaman and Rashad Kabir emphasised human resource development based on the future needs of the sector so that the sector can take advantage of the opportunities that will arise in the upcoming fourth industrial revolution.
> They also underlined the need for adopting an integrated plan that would guide students from school to university levels to acquire the skills required to cope with the needs of the future.
> Posts and telecommunications minister Mustafa Jabbar, also a former president of BASIS, thinks that the country’s education curriculum from the primary to the university levels are far away from developing the required manpower for the sector.
> The required manpower development would not be possible without bringing about gross changes in the education curriculum, he said.
> ‘It would not be possible for us to gain any benefit out of the fourth industrial revolution with the existing manpower,’ Jabbar said, adding that the Information Communication Technology Division had taken some initiatives to train people but those skills were only fit for very low-end tasks.
> ‘Education in programming should be incorporated at the primary level. Otherwise it would be difficult for children to cope at the university level,’ he said, adding that he had not seen such measures in place yet.
> Almas Kabir said that ensuring high speed broadband internet at the root level would be another vital factor as it would not be possible to develop high-end software and ICT-products with the existing internet ecosystem.
> At present, a very small segment of the population has access to broadband, he said.
> Out of the country’s 11.11 crore internet users, only 86.56 lakh people have broadband connectivity as the remaining population of 10.25 crore use low-speed mobile internet.
> Mustafa said that a number of initiatives were underway to take broadband connectivity to all unions across the country by 2021 while connecting villages would depend on the demand and supply situation.



Hmm , Walton makes decent smartphones but if the government funded them a ton of money he can make these smartphones compete with Apple , Samsung or Hauwei


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## The Ronin



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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/BDAviationHub/posts/3463404323708069









__ https://www.facebook.com/planespottersbangladesh/posts/1612714952238742









__ https://www.facebook.com/mofadhaka/posts/872702780136964

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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/1766281370346886/posts/2413892068919143

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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/madeinrussianfederation/posts/1786456281508053

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## The Ronin

Five EMD GT42ACL broad-gauge locomotives from Progress Rail are ready to be delivered to Bangladesh Railway.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Preliminary work has begun at the Tri Trowers project site in Sector 19, Purbanchal.

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## DalalErMaNodi

*How well do Walton’s PC parts perform?*

_*Walton’s PC parts are cheaper than their international counterparts and in most cases offers at par performance*_







Setting up a desktop computer using different parts from different brands has been a long practice in our country. Very few of us actually buy a full set from one single brand, out of numerous considerations, including the price. Instead, we usually build a desktop out of various brands that deliver the best performance in that specific category.

For the longest time, we had to depend on international brands to get the best performance out of a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc. Off late however, local brand Walton has entered the race of creating PC parts and is steadily making a headway in the market. 

Walton offers PC parts at very affordable price which none of the international or local brands have ever offered. People who are looking for things at lower cost with capable performance should go for Walton. However, buyers aiming for higher quality without any wallet issue can explore other established international brands.


Walton has come up with numerous products, feature variations and reasonable prices. Among the 19 PC parts they have so far produced, I have used only six products and its different models.


So, I would like to share my user experience and rate each product out of five.


*Monitor*

Walton has monitors which are within 18.5 inches to 23.5 inches. And, prices are also pretty budget friendly as you can purchase those at Tk5,790 to Tk13,500.

At cheapest, WD185T01 is available which has resolution of 1366 × 768 at 60Hz. It has VGA connector instead of HDMI port whereas most graphics cards do not have VGA port now. Upon verifying compatibility, buyers can try with VGA to HDMI adapter cable whatsoever.

However, this recommendation can be valid for all the model of Walton monitors as users can also explore other options to have a comparative understanding.

I would give 3 out of 5 to Walton monitors for its offered features.

*RAM*
Walton has five products of this category in market; four being for desktops and one for laptops. The price of RAM is within Tk2,200 to Tk6,250.

For RAM, Walton Antique is a high performing series and among all those models – WDR4L0826NN3 serves well. It offers 8 GB Memory at Tk3250 with 2666 MHz data transfer bandwidth.

However, at this same price one can go with Corsair's Vengeance series or Thermaltake's Toughram series which are arguably superior than what Walton is offering to the customers.

I will rate it 2 out of 5 as it does not worth the price as per the performance value.

*Memory Cards*

Capacity of Walton's memory card starts from 16GB to 256GB. The price is within Tk395 to Tk3395. All of these ensure high speed data transfer with Class 10 speed.

Being cost-effective, it provides top-notch service. Though it is not the best, service and reasonable price have made it good enough. I find these memory cards can compete with any well-known international brand in this same price range.

So, I would give it 4 out of 5 as per its performance.

*SSD*

In my view, Walton's SSD can compete with any of the international brands in market. After using the first one around one year ago, I am using another Walton SSD with 480GB space from Antique series. I bought this around three months ago and its high-speed data transferring and data caching performance have amazed me.

In Walton's SSD, there are two types of built in interface – SATAIII and M.2 NVME – that come with 240GB and 480GB storage space. Currently, these models are not in stock.

The prices of NVME drives of 256GB and 512GB storage space are respectively Tk3150 and Tk5950. I would highly recommend these to the buyers with confidence for their daily use and storage.

Walton offers three years warranty on each SSD and it is also fast, reliable and reasonable at price.

After considering all these features, I would rate it 5 out of 5.

*Mouse*

It offers a wide range of mouse – from smaller ones to big and heavy ones for gaming purpose. I think it is quite good at this value.

All the mouses within Tk1000 and I believe no other brands are offering such varieties at this price. Though all these do not provide quality service, I would highly recommend WMG003WB and WMG009WB as these two are the best in this line-up. Walton can raise the price a little and can offer a few more mouses, while ensuring the quality.

Considering the price and performance, I would rate this product 3 out of 5.

*Keyboard*

When it comes to keyboard, I have always preferred the mechanical ones. Walton, however, does not make any mechanical keyboards though it does have a few keyboards that provide a subtle mechanical feature.

Walton's offered keyboards are membrane keyboard. It comes with backlit keys and also perform well at this price range. Walton has kept the price pretty reasonable as it is within Tk240 to Tk1,550.

I would specifically mention WKG005WB as it provides high precision inputs at Tk950. These keyboards are also pretty good for gaming, but when it comes to look, I find a few of those are up to the mark.

After thinking all the points, I would give it 3 out of 5.




Source

Reactions: Like Like:
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## SpaceMan18

DalalErMaNodi said:


> *How well do Walton’s PC parts perform?*
> 
> _*Walton’s PC parts are cheaper than their international counterparts and in most cases offers at par performance*_
> 
> View attachment 689300
> 
> 
> 
> Setting up a desktop computer using different parts from different brands has been a long practice in our country. Very few of us actually buy a full set from one single brand, out of numerous considerations, including the price. Instead, we usually build a desktop out of various brands that deliver the best performance in that specific category.
> 
> For the longest time, we had to depend on international brands to get the best performance out of a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc. Off late however, local brand Walton has entered the race of creating PC parts and is steadily making a headway in the market.
> 
> Walton offers PC parts at very affordable price which none of the international or local brands have ever offered. People who are looking for things at lower cost with capable performance should go for Walton. However, buyers aiming for higher quality without any wallet issue can explore other established international brands.
> 
> 
> Walton has come up with numerous products, feature variations and reasonable prices. Among the 19 PC parts they have so far produced, I have used only six products and its different models.
> 
> 
> So, I would like to share my user experience and rate each product out of five.
> 
> 
> *Monitor*
> 
> Walton has monitors which are within 18.5 inches to 23.5 inches. And, prices are also pretty budget friendly as you can purchase those at Tk5,790 to Tk13,500.
> 
> At cheapest, WD185T01 is available which has resolution of 1366 × 768 at 60Hz. It has VGA connector instead of HDMI port whereas most graphics cards do not have VGA port now. Upon verifying compatibility, buyers can try with VGA to HDMI adapter cable whatsoever.
> 
> However, this recommendation can be valid for all the model of Walton monitors as users can also explore other options to have a comparative understanding.
> 
> I would give 3 out of 5 to Walton monitors for its offered features.
> 
> *RAM*
> Walton has five products of this category in market; four being for desktops and one for laptops. The price of RAM is within Tk2,200 to Tk6,250.
> 
> For RAM, Walton Antique is a high performing series and among all those models – WDR4L0826NN3 serves well. It offers 8 GB Memory at Tk3250 with 2666 MHz data transfer bandwidth.
> 
> However, at this same price one can go with Corsair's Vengeance series or Thermaltake's Toughram series which are arguably superior than what Walton is offering to the customers.
> 
> I will rate it 2 out of 5 as it does not worth the price as per the performance value.
> 
> *Memory Cards*
> 
> Capacity of Walton's memory card starts from 16GB to 256GB. The price is within Tk395 to Tk3395. All of these ensure high speed data transfer with Class 10 speed.
> 
> Being cost-effective, it provides top-notch service. Though it is not the best, service and reasonable price have made it good enough. I find these memory cards can compete with any well-known international brand in this same price range.
> 
> So, I would give it 4 out of 5 as per its performance.
> 
> *SSD*
> 
> In my view, Walton's SSD can compete with any of the international brands in market. After using the first one around one year ago, I am using another Walton SSD with 480GB space from Antique series. I bought this around three months ago and its high-speed data transferring and data caching performance have amazed me.
> 
> In Walton's SSD, there are two types of built in interface – SATAIII and M.2 NVME – that come with 240GB and 480GB storage space. Currently, these models are not in stock.
> 
> The prices of NVME drives of 256GB and 512GB storage space are respectively Tk3150 and Tk5950. I would highly recommend these to the buyers with confidence for their daily use and storage.
> 
> Walton offers three years warranty on each SSD and it is also fast, reliable and reasonable at price.
> 
> After considering all these features, I would rate it 5 out of 5.
> 
> *Mouse*
> 
> It offers a wide range of mouse – from smaller ones to big and heavy ones for gaming purpose. I think it is quite good at this value.
> 
> All the mouses within Tk1000 and I believe no other brands are offering such varieties at this price. Though all these do not provide quality service, I would highly recommend WMG003WB and WMG009WB as these two are the best in this line-up. Walton can raise the price a little and can offer a few more mouses, while ensuring the quality.
> 
> Considering the price and performance, I would rate this product 3 out of 5.
> 
> *Keyboard*
> 
> When it comes to keyboard, I have always preferred the mechanical ones. Walton, however, does not make any mechanical keyboards though it does have a few keyboards that provide a subtle mechanical feature.
> 
> Walton's offered keyboards are membrane keyboard. It comes with backlit keys and also perform well at this price range. Walton has kept the price pretty reasonable as it is within Tk240 to Tk1,550.
> 
> I would specifically mention WKG005WB as it provides high precision inputs at Tk950. These keyboards are also pretty good for gaming, but when it comes to look, I find a few of those are up to the mark.
> 
> After thinking all the points, I would give it 3 out of 5.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Source



If Walton had a lot of R&D money , they could actually make even better quality products.


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## DalalErMaNodi



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## SpaceMan18

BRT system


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## DalalErMaNodi

Site office and Equipment staging area under construction at Tri-Towers project site.






The project is fast reaching the point of no return, for those who can't believe such a skyscraper would ever be built in Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9



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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/BDAviationHub/posts/3488791027836065









__ https://www.facebook.com/BDAviationHub/posts/3483000205081814

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## Bilal9

The Ronin said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/BDAviationHub/posts/3488791027836065
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For non-Bengalis 'Dhrubotara' is the Bangla name for Pole star or Polaris ( designated *α Ursae Minoris)*. It can be seen only in the night. It appears in the true north above the horizon at an angle equal to the latitude of the place.
> 
> Dhrubo = pole and tara = star.

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## Indos

Look like Bangladesh is still not yet a top world textile producer. Chinese market is huge.

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1


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## DalalErMaNodi

Indos said:


> Look like Bangladesh is still not yet a top world textile producer. Chinese market is huge.



They have 2.8 billion buttcheeks that need covering up bro, by comparison us in Bangladesh and our customers in Europe and North America only have 1 billion buttcheeks to cover.


More buttcheeks, More Underwear, More Market share.



Genius economics

Reactions: Like Like:
2 | Haha Haha:
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## Arthur

DalalErMaNodi said:


> *How well do Walton’s PC parts perform?*
> 
> _*Walton’s PC parts are cheaper than their international counterparts and in most cases offers at par performance*_
> 
> View attachment 689300
> 
> 
> 
> Setting up a desktop computer using different parts from different brands has been a long practice in our country. Very few of us actually buy a full set from one single brand, out of numerous considerations, including the price. Instead, we usually build a desktop out of various brands that deliver the best performance in that specific category.
> 
> For the longest time, we had to depend on international brands to get the best performance out of a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc. Off late however, local brand Walton has entered the race of creating PC parts and is steadily making a headway in the market.
> 
> Walton offers PC parts at very affordable price which none of the international or local brands have ever offered. People who are looking for things at lower cost with capable performance should go for Walton. However, buyers aiming for higher quality without any wallet issue can explore other established international brands.
> 
> 
> Walton has come up with numerous products, feature variations and reasonable prices. Among the 19 PC parts they have so far produced, I have used only six products and its different models.
> 
> 
> So, I would like to share my user experience and rate each product out of five.
> 
> 
> *Monitor*
> 
> Walton has monitors which are within 18.5 inches to 23.5 inches. And, prices are also pretty budget friendly as you can purchase those at Tk5,790 to Tk13,500.
> 
> At cheapest, WD185T01 is available which has resolution of 1366 × 768 at 60Hz. It has VGA connector instead of HDMI port whereas most graphics cards do not have VGA port now. Upon verifying compatibility, buyers can try with VGA to HDMI adapter cable whatsoever.
> 
> However, this recommendation can be valid for all the model of Walton monitors as users can also explore other options to have a comparative understanding.
> 
> I would give 3 out of 5 to Walton monitors for its offered features.
> 
> *RAM*
> Walton has five products of this category in market; four being for desktops and one for laptops. The price of RAM is within Tk2,200 to Tk6,250.
> 
> For RAM, Walton Antique is a high performing series and among all those models – WDR4L0826NN3 serves well. It offers 8 GB Memory at Tk3250 with 2666 MHz data transfer bandwidth.
> 
> However, at this same price one can go with Corsair's Vengeance series or Thermaltake's Toughram series which are arguably superior than what Walton is offering to the customers.
> 
> I will rate it 2 out of 5 as it does not worth the price as per the performance value.
> 
> *Memory Cards*
> 
> Capacity of Walton's memory card starts from 16GB to 256GB. The price is within Tk395 to Tk3395. All of these ensure high speed data transfer with Class 10 speed.
> 
> Being cost-effective, it provides top-notch service. Though it is not the best, service and reasonable price have made it good enough. I find these memory cards can compete with any well-known international brand in this same price range.
> 
> So, I would give it 4 out of 5 as per its performance.
> 
> *SSD*
> 
> In my view, Walton's SSD can compete with any of the international brands in market. After using the first one around one year ago, I am using another Walton SSD with 480GB space from Antique series. I bought this around three months ago and its high-speed data transferring and data caching performance have amazed me.
> 
> In Walton's SSD, there are two types of built in interface – SATAIII and M.2 NVME – that come with 240GB and 480GB storage space. Currently, these models are not in stock.
> 
> The prices of NVME drives of 256GB and 512GB storage space are respectively Tk3150 and Tk5950. I would highly recommend these to the buyers with confidence for their daily use and storage.
> 
> Walton offers three years warranty on each SSD and it is also fast, reliable and reasonable at price.
> 
> After considering all these features, I would rate it 5 out of 5.
> 
> *Mouse*
> 
> It offers a wide range of mouse – from smaller ones to big and heavy ones for gaming purpose. I think it is quite good at this value.
> 
> All the mouses within Tk1000 and I believe no other brands are offering such varieties at this price. Though all these do not provide quality service, I would highly recommend WMG003WB and WMG009WB as these two are the best in this line-up. Walton can raise the price a little and can offer a few more mouses, while ensuring the quality.
> 
> Considering the price and performance, I would rate this product 3 out of 5.
> 
> *Keyboard*
> 
> When it comes to keyboard, I have always preferred the mechanical ones. Walton, however, does not make any mechanical keyboards though it does have a few keyboards that provide a subtle mechanical feature.
> 
> Walton's offered keyboards are membrane keyboard. It comes with backlit keys and also perform well at this price range. Walton has kept the price pretty reasonable as it is within Tk240 to Tk1,550.
> 
> I would specifically mention WKG005WB as it provides high precision inputs at Tk950. These keyboards are also pretty good for gaming, but when it comes to look, I find a few of those are up to the mark.
> 
> After thinking all the points, I would give it 3 out of 5.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Source


Walton's memory cards & SSD's are world class. Last year I bought a 64 GB memory card, I actually got 64.15 GB out of it. 

Out of curiosity I brought in one through a friend, 240GB M2 NVME, couple of months ago & I would say it can give many big names a run for that money.

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1


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## DalalErMaNodi

Arthur said:


> Walton's memory cards & SSD's are world class. Last year I bought a 64 GB memory card, I actually got 64.15 GB out of it.
> 
> Out of curiosity I bought a 240GB M2 NVME couple of months ago & I would say it's the best.





Yeah, I was backing up my data from my laptop (it's was going fucky fucky) to a relatives SSD (2.5" in case) and it was super fast, and seemed pretty nice using a piece of electronics made in your own country.... More so because it was bang on.... 


Good stuff and well priced, no complaints. 



Lappy went kaputt though

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## Arthur

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Lappy went kaputt though


Must be those moves.....

N.B. Don't keep "kudrati videos " in your lappy.....

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## DalalErMaNodi

Arthur said:


> Must be those moves.....
> 
> N.B. Don't keep "kudrati videos " in your lappy.....




Nice try, I call them 'Nurani Bideo'

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## Arthur

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Nice try, I call them 'Nurani Bideo'


I know of a bong named "Kudrat " who acts in those shit.......

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## DalalErMaNodi

Arthur said:


> I know of a bong named "Kudrat " who acts in those shit.......


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## Indos

Indos said:


> Look like Bangladesh is still not yet a top world textile producer. Chinese market is huge.



In term of clothe exporting, Bangladesh do have good position as number two of the world after China.

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## SpaceMan18

Indos said:


> In term of clothe exporting, Bangladesh do have good position as number two of the world after China.



Yeah not a bad spot to be in , one issue though

We kinda have to be making other things besides underwears for people in the west , we have to start mass producing top quality phones, Tvs , Laptops , Smart Fridges etc and exporting every where. 

Kinda wished we had top notch international brands like MC , GAP ,Nike but the Bangladeshi version of it

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## DalalErMaNodi

*



*

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## DalalErMaNodi



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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> *
> 
> 
> 
> *



I hope they re-use the facility to use as an assembly hall for ships and large structures. It is perfect for that purpose. They might sell it to a private shipyard or keep it for the Navy to use as one.


Dhaka-Faridpur-Barisal-Payra-Kuakata railway line construction project latest update







Padma Bridge latest





Ishwardi Railway junction after renovation work...





Karnaphuli tunnel latest update.






Dhaka Metrorail eight projects (packages) latest update 






Apologies if these were posted earlier.

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## Bilal9

*Revolution in the steel sector in Bangladesh*

Another 5 lakh tonne unit of *BSRM *will go into production in 2023. The investment of this factory is 600 crore Taka.

*Unitex Group* is going to invest Tk. 650 crore in Mirsarai Economic Zone. Chemicals, steel and paints will be produced here on 20 acres of land.

Last month, the world's second and Asia's first quantum arc-furnace technology *GPH *steel plant worth
Tk. 2,500 crore went into production in Bangladesh.

The country's largest *PHP *mega factory worth Tk. 34,000 crore is in the pipeline and going into production in the near future.

There has been a silent revolution in Bangladesh in various categories of steel product production. The steel market in the country is currently Tk. 45,000 crore. According to the 2016 census, the per capita steel consumption in the country stood at 46 kg per capita then.

The work of the mega project is in progress and when these are completed, the per capita steel consumption is expected to stand at 216 kg per capita.

In 2016, the total production capacity of the country was 6.5 million tons. And the demand was 6 million tons. As this production capacity has increased in the last two years, so has the demand.

Such development of heavy industry indicates a strong Bangladesh of the future in terms of viable industrial capability of producing value-added products like heavy industrial machinery, construction machinery and also, shipbuilding.

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## DalalErMaNodi

14 Storey, Daak Bhaban, Headquarters of Bangladesh Postal Service.







Interesting design, reminiscent of an actual old school letter box.

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## Bilal9

IPRS promises booming fish production in Chapainawabganj


Around 32 tons of fish could be produced from every 250 cubic metres using the IPRS




www.dhakatribune.com





*IPRS promises booming fish production in Chapainawabganj*
Anwar Hossain, Chapainawabganj




IPRS fish farming, an effective intensive aquaculture is being practiced on 60 Bigha land in Chapainawabganj *Dhaka Tribune*


Photo: *Dhaka Tribune*


Photo: *Dhaka Tribune*


Photo: *Dhaka Tribune*


Photo: *Dhaka Tribune*


Photo: *Dhaka Tribune*


Around 32 tons of fish could be produced from every 250 cubic metres using the IPRS

The visually attractive and most scientifically advanced aquaculture practice for farmable carps and catfishes, known as In-pond Raceway System (IPRS), promises a dramatic rise in fish production in Chapainawabganj.

Akbar Hossain, the owner of "Nawab Matsya Khamar Prakalpa [Nawab Fish Farm Project]" has been using IPRS in his ponds to commercially produce different carps, Tilapia and Pangas.

He installed the system in altogether 20 hectares (60 bighas) of his land in Noyagola Bolunpur, located in the outskirts of Chapainawabganj district town.

"Where 300 to 400 fishes could be farmed at a time in a bigha of a traditional pond, with the IPRS up and running, about 10,000 fishes can be farmed in the same area," says Akbar, a national award winning fisheries entrepreneur, who just about two years ago used to farm fish by dividing his land into 36 ponds.

Dr Amimul Ehsan, the district fisheries officer in Chapainawabganj said: "Around 32 tons of fish could be produced from every 250 cubic metres using the IPRS. In Akbar's farm, all the conditions of Good Aquaculture Practices (GAP) have been followed, and export-quality fishes are being produced."

During an on-spot visit at Akbar's fish farm this correspondent observed the lucrative prospect of IPRS as well as its environment friendly perks which clearly sets the system apart from other methods of fish farming in the country.

In an IPRS farm, fishes are raised in cells or “raceways” within a pond. Constant water circulation is maintained for optimal water quality and to improve feed management.

The IPRS also has the potential to reduce solid waste loading in the pond by concentrating and removing it from the downstream end of raceway units. The wastes can be used as fertilizers, thus reducing the harmful impact on nature.

Water circulation, mixing and aeration are critical elements to this approach because it accelerates assimilation of organic material in the pond required for raising a high number of fishes in a comparatively smaller area.

In Akbar's farm, there are 13 raceways, where 12,000 to 20,000 pieces of fishes are being farmed in each of them. 




After waste is accumulated in this section of the pond high quality fertilizers are being be produced | *Dhaka Tribune*

Akbar's IPRS -- built as a fixed floor project (not a floating model), was installed on poured concrete walls that has footing with bottom drains. Each raceway has width, length and height of 5m, 25m and 2m respectively (250 cubic meter raceway volume).

The raceways are equipped with regenerative blowers. Additionally, the pond has Asian-style paddlewheels installed in the open water area, which helps mix and circulate water around the pond.
Akbar said: "The technique was first introduced in the USA in 2007. I began interested in implying it in my farm after being mesmerized seeing that such a huge quantity of fish could be farmed in such a small space. 

"In 2019, an expert team from China has provided us the design for constructing the technological foundations for the farm. The system was built by local engineers and until now is being managed and maintained through support from local fisheries office.

"This technique for fish farming is very popular in China. There they have 3,000 ponds with IPRS. India has three of them and Pakistan has four," says Akbar adding the claim that his IPRS pond is the largest one in South Asia.

"I believe that the soil-condition, weather, and overall climate are much better in our country than it is in China. So this thought has also led me to bring the technology into our country. I am looking forward to exporting the fish in Europe and the Middle East.

"A river-like environment is created in the raceways, so the fish could be farmed in much less time in comparison to farming in ponds. Once the system is established, the cost will be equal to that of fish farming in ponds.”

Farmers can operate two to three raceways if they cannot afford the system in a large area, Akbar added.
Dr Amimul, the district fisheries officer says: "The IPRS technique is environment friendly and viable. River-like environment is created through circular reinforced poured concrete structures and is filled with water using advanced technology. Therefore, the taste of these fishes will be similar to that of fishes in the river.” 
"Moreover, adequate oxygen is supplied in the water and all waste and harmful ammonia gas is eradicated through advanced machinery. As a result, diseases are less frequent in the farmed fishes and the production increases. At present no other method is capable of overtaking the rate of production of this method.”




Parts of a regenerative blower which maintains necessary water circulation in the system | *Dhaka Tribune*

"We are regularly monitoring the project. High quality fertilizer can be produced from the wastes produced in the system, which is one of the eco-friendly advantages."

When asked about the prospect of the IPRS method in Bangladesh, Dr Ehsan said: "As we have already established the system here, the fisheries department can provide experts’ assistance to any farmer who is willing to farm fishes in this technique.”

Chapainawabganj, a district that falls under the Barind region in northwestern Bangladesh was once composed of mostly barren lands.

Years back, due to the nature of land and other geographical features, it was quite difficult to produce crops. In the drought-prone Barind Tracts, people suffered from a drinking water crisis when the level of ground water fell.

As there was scarcity of water throughout the year, people never imagined investing in fish farms. Now one can see a variety of crops being cultivated there and fish farming is going on in full swing.

With the introduction of IPRS in ponds, Chapainawabganj is once again on the verge of achieving yet another milestone in agriculture despite the climate challenges and sets an example for the country.
Sources from the agriculture office say that when the IPRS is introduced in every possible fish farm in the district, 300 tons of additional fish could be produced after meeting the local demand.

This will not only reduce the harmful impact on climate, but will also earn the country frequent revenue and prestige through export.

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## Bilal9

Energypac makes High Capacity (Up to 500 MVA) Heavy Electrical Transformers.


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## Bilal9

*Cashews are expected to generate 100 million in exports in five years




*

Chittagong Hill Tracts Minister Bir Bahadur Ushaising has visited the country's first integrated cashew processing factory at Dailpara in Patenga, Chittagong.

During the visit, he toured the factory. He said a new project has been taken up to provide free saplings and training to farmers to increase the coverage of cashew cultivation in the hilly areas.

In 2016, entrepreneur Shakil Ahmed set up the first integrated cashew processing factory in the country. The name of the factory is 'Greengrain Cashew Processing Industry'. About 60 women workers are working in the factory.

The minister said that even if cashews were harvested in the hills at one time, there was no opportunity to sell them. Now there is an opportunity to sell raw cashew as a crop. Entrepreneurs have the opportunity to procure raw cashews as well as farmers have the opportunity to sell their produce.

Entrepreneur Shakil Ahmed said that he has been exporting raw cashews produced in the hills since 2010. He is the first to export raw cashews from Bangladesh. Then in 2016 he set up the first integrated factory for processing cashew nuts in the country.

The concerned ministries of the government including the Ministry of Agriculture are now assisting in this sector. With the help of the government, it is possible to earn 100 million dollars from this sector in the next five years.

After the ceremony, the minister planted cashew saplings on one side of the factory premises. Guests included Ikram Morshed, co-entrepreneur of the factory.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, the country is now cultivating cashews only in hilly areas. Most of the cashew groves are in Bandarban. Currently there are 6 lakh 79 thousand cashew trees in Bandarban. Of these, 4 lakh 8 thousand trees have borne fruit last season.

In the just-concluded season, 1,313 tonnes of raw cashews were harvested in Bandarban. In 2016, the yield was 917 tons.

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## Bilal9

Third Shitalakhya Bridge update





Bangladesh Military Museum construction new update

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## Bilal9

New Hyundai Rotem GT38 Ace 3000 Series Locomotive Trial Update

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## Bilal9

22 story Navana project in Dhaka with 3 levels of underground parking.




Niharika Concord completed in Banani Commercial Area

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## Bilal9

New BR 1676mm Broad Gauge 6600 series EMD-GT42ACL heading toward Lamberts Point Docks at Norfolk, VA were they would be put onto a ship for transport to Bangladesh.











These are similar to those sold to Peru as seen below.

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## bête noire




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## SpaceMan18

bête noire said:


>



Yeah saw that video 

We have to train our people to become more skilled so the Japanese investment gets utilized properly like for ex Taiwan when they received Japanese investment

And then spend the money on healthcare, better education and of course infrastructure


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## X-ray Papa

SpaceMan18 said:


> Yeah saw that video
> 
> We have to train our people to become more skilled so the Japanese investment gets utilized properly like for ex Taiwan when they received Japanese investment
> 
> And then spend the money on healthcare, better education and of course infrastructure


What are the investment myanmar is getting from the japanese other than a toyota factory?

Exactly.


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## SpaceMan18

X-ray Papa said:


> What are the investment myanmar is getting from the japanese other than a toyota factory?
> 
> Exactly.



Japan doesn't trust a sanctioned nation , of course they will logically invest in Bangladesh


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## Bilal9

Festive atmosphere prevails as Padma Bridge Final Span gets ready to be installed. 

All 7 KM will be visible (work still continues on viaducts on both sides).

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## Bilal9

Payra-Lebukhali bridge approaches completion near Payra Port. Will get commissioned before Padma Bridge, in June 2021. When Padma Bridge is complete in March 2022, it will offer free unhindered access from Dhaka (capital) via freeway to the coastal area near Payra port, where Export Zones and Naval bases are already under construction and has a large powerplant.

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## ZAMURD

Bilal9 said:


> Festive atmosphere prevails as Padma Bridge Final Span gets ready to be installed.
> 
> All 7 KM will be visible (work still continues on viaducts on both sides).


This bridge is v. imp and vital for that south west region.

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## DalalErMaNodi

The 6.15 km long superstructure of the Padma Multipurpose bridge is now visible after the installation of the last (41st) span earlier today!


Best news from Bangladesh in all of 2020, If I may opine so.


Hopefully, everything proceeds as planned and the bridge is opened for public use by 2022.

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> The 6.15 km long superstructure of the Padma Multipurpose bridge is now visible after the installation of the last (41st) span earlier today!
> 
> 
> Best news from Bangladesh in all of 2020, If I may opine so.
> 
> 
> Hopefully, everything proceeds as planned and the bridge is opened for public use by 2022.



Masha'Allah a great milestone in the history of our progress as a nation. Hoping for smooth completion InshaAllah by early Q1 2022.

Three great firsts in the world of civil engineering around the world were pioneered for this bridge, such as,

1. Deepest specialized piling for all on-water piers, down to 122 meters using 3 meter radius piles using specialized custom German piling hammer, also the world's largest. Soil is very soft in the river bottom, base rock is very deep.

2. Friction bearing pendulum capability is 10,000 tons, capable of withstanding earthquake force at Richter scale 9.

3. Largest ever River Training Works contract (14 km length) by SinoHydro for 4 years+1year (defect liability period). Contract Cost : BDT: 8707.81 crore.

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## Bilal9

*A river, a bridge, a dream taking form and substance*
Ali Asif Shawon, Tanjil Hasan from Munshiganj

Published at 11:48 am December 10th, 2020






Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune*

With the installation of its last span, the long-awaited multipurpose bridge is now fully visible
In a historic day for the nation, the long-awaited Padma Multipurpose Bridge, a lifelong dream for the southern districts of the country, has become fully visible following the installation of its last span.
The Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project (PMBP) authorities installed the 41st and last span of the 6.15km long bridge on Thursday.

PMBP Executive Engineer Dewan Md Abdul Quader confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.
According to PMBP officials, the 41st span (2-F) was installed on pillars 12 and 13 at the Mawa end.

More than 81% of the total construction work has been done and 91% of the construction work of the main bridge is complete, officials told Dhaka Tribune.
The bridge, which was funded domestically, will connect the capital with 21 southern districts through road and railways. The first span of the bridge was installed in September 2017. Three years later, the last span has been installed.

Beginning in the morning, a lot of people gathered on the Padma River to watch the installation. However, they had to observe the span installation from a distance as a patrol boat of the Bangladesh Army was patrolling in the area to ensure safety.

To celebrate the momentous occasion, the flags of Bangladesh and China were posted on the last span. 
People moved around on the river in small boats and speed boats, took pictures and selfies beside the Padma Bridge. They expressed their gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as the premier herself had committed to the construction of the bridge despite negative attitudes from the World Bank and some other big merchant groups on allegations of corruption. The allegations were later found to be not true.




Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 | *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune *

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, state minister for shipping, told reporters on Monday that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had nipped all conspiracies in the bud by having the Padma Bridge built.

“By installing the last span of the Padma Bridge, Bangladesh has shown the world that we can achieve the impossible. No one can express this feeling in words. We, indeed the entire country, are grateful to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” Khalid Mahmud said while on his way to the Padma River to visit the construction site of Ilias Ahmed Chowdhury ferry ghat of Madaripur.

“Bangabandhu taught us how to achieve something. Under his leadership, we got the country, we got independence, sovereignty. Today we got the Padma Bridge through his daughter,” the state minister added.

*Also Read- **Padma Bridge: Dream becoming a reality against all odds*

Al Nahian Khan Joy, president of Bangladesh Chhatra League, visited the Padma River to observe the last span installation process of the bridge along with Chhatra League’s General Secretary Lekhak Bhattachariya and some others.

While talking to Dhaka Tribune on Thursday afternoon, Joy said it was another victory for Bangladesh in the Month of Victory.

“It was done under the leadership of our pride Sheikh Hasina. She made this impossible thing possible in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Joy added.

*How much work is still left?*
Although the installation of the spans are completed, there is still some work left.




Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 | *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune *

Installation of prefabricated slabs over the spans is also underway to prepare the bridge for traffic. Around 2,917 slabs need to be installed over the spans while 1,333 slabs are already installed. 

Similarly, 2,959 railway sleepers are required for the bridge, with 1,942 sleepers already installed.

Prof Shamim Z Bosunia, chairman of the government’s expert panel on the PMBP, said there was still a lot of work to be done after the installation of the spans.

He said: “As far as I know, it will take 22 months to install the railway sleepers, but the contractor has been instructed to do it in two shifts per day in order to finish the work within 11/12 months.

“After the slabs are installed, concrete casting, road division and road marking need to be done simultaneously.”

*When will the bridge be opened for traffic?*

Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said the Padma Multipurpose Bridge was likely be opened to traffic after being completed by June 2022.




Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 | *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune *

“The Padma Bridge is now a reality. It is physically completed. I think by June 2022, we will open the Padma Bridge for traffic,” he said while speaking at a meeting of the Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance at Osmani Memorial Auditorium on Thursday.

“I am still looking after the project,” he added, mentioning that he had served as secretary of the bridge department for eight years.

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Monday said it would take 10-12 months to complete the other remaining works of the Padma Bridge after the installation of the last span.
The Bridges Division projected that the total construction of the bridge would likely reach completion in mid-2022.

*Also Read- Overall progress of Padma Bridge rail link project now at 28.23%*

The current deadline for the project is June 2021, meaning that the project is likely to see another revision for time extension. The project cost rose to Tk30,193 crore after several revisions.

With the extension of the deadline comes the possibility of an increase in cost. The Bridges Division, however, projected that the cost would not escalate again. As of September 30, Tk23,796.24 had been spent on the project.

The construction of the bridge began in November 2015, with a view to connecting the country's south-western region with the capital via road and rail. Once in service, the 6.15km bridge will connect the capital with 21 south-western districts. It is expected to boost the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.2%.
Obaidul Quader had previously, however, stated that GDP would increase by 1.50%-2% after the completion of the bridge.

The long-anticipated Padma Bridge is expected to change the socioeconomic structure of southern Bangladesh and have a positive effect on the country’s economy.




Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 | *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune *

It will also connect many countries of South and Southeast Asia and contribute to communication, trade, industry, tourism and many other sectors in various ways.

*‘Padma Bridge becomes visible fully defying all odds’*
Obaidul Quader on Thursday said the Padma Bridge had now become visible, defying all sorts of conspiracies and hurdles, under the prudent and dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, reports BSS.

“Because of the courageous and humanitarian leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has shown the entire world that it also can turn the impossible into the possible,” he said.

Quader, who is also the general secretary of the Awami League, was responding to journalists’ questions after addressing the council session of the Joypurhat district unit of the party.

He took part in the session through videoconferencing from his official residence in Dhaka.

The minister said with domestic funds, the last span of the 6.15-kilometer Padma Bridge, which was a dream for millions of people, was installed on Thursday, leaving the world stunned.


----------



## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> *A river, a bridge, a dream taking form and substance*
> Ali Asif Shawon, Tanjil Hasan from Munshiganj
> 
> Published at 11:48 am December 10th, 2020
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune*
> 
> With the installation of its last span, the long-awaited multipurpose bridge is now fully visible
> In a historic day for the nation, the long-awaited Padma Multipurpose Bridge, a lifelong dream for the southern districts of the country, has become fully visible following the installation of its last span.
> The Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project (PMBP) authorities installed the 41st and last span of the 6.15km long bridge on Thursday.
> 
> PMBP Executive Engineer Dewan Md Abdul Quader confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.
> According to PMBP officials, the 41st span (2-F) was installed on pillars 12 and 13 at the Mawa end.
> 
> More than 81% of the total construction work has been done and 91% of the construction work of the main bridge is complete, officials told Dhaka Tribune.
> The bridge, which was funded domestically, will connect the capital with 21 southern districts through road and railways. The first span of the bridge was installed in September 2017. Three years later, the last span has been installed.
> 
> Beginning in the morning, a lot of people gathered on the Padma River to watch the installation. However, they had to observe the span installation from a distance as a patrol boat of the Bangladesh Army was patrolling in the area to ensure safety.
> 
> To celebrate the momentous occasion, the flags of Bangladesh and China were posted on the last span.
> People moved around on the river in small boats and speed boats, took pictures and selfies beside the Padma Bridge. They expressed their gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as the premier herself had committed to the construction of the bridge despite negative attitudes from the World Bank and some other big merchant groups on allegations of corruption. The allegations were later found to be not true.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 | *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune *
> 
> Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, state minister for shipping, told reporters on Monday that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had nipped all conspiracies in the bud by having the Padma Bridge built.
> 
> “By installing the last span of the Padma Bridge, Bangladesh has shown the world that we can achieve the impossible. No one can express this feeling in words. We, indeed the entire country, are grateful to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” Khalid Mahmud said while on his way to the Padma River to visit the construction site of Ilias Ahmed Chowdhury ferry ghat of Madaripur.
> 
> “Bangabandhu taught us how to achieve something. Under his leadership, we got the country, we got independence, sovereignty. Today we got the Padma Bridge through his daughter,” the state minister added.
> 
> *Also Read- **Padma Bridge: Dream becoming a reality against all odds*
> 
> Al Nahian Khan Joy, president of Bangladesh Chhatra League, visited the Padma River to observe the last span installation process of the bridge along with Chhatra League’s General Secretary Lekhak Bhattachariya and some others.
> 
> While talking to Dhaka Tribune on Thursday afternoon, Joy said it was another victory for Bangladesh in the Month of Victory.
> 
> “It was done under the leadership of our pride Sheikh Hasina. She made this impossible thing possible in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Joy added.
> 
> *How much work is still left?*
> Although the installation of the spans are completed, there is still some work left.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 | *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune *
> 
> Installation of prefabricated slabs over the spans is also underway to prepare the bridge for traffic. Around 2,917 slabs need to be installed over the spans while 1,333 slabs are already installed.
> 
> Similarly, 2,959 railway sleepers are required for the bridge, with 1,942 sleepers already installed.
> 
> Prof Shamim Z Bosunia, chairman of the government’s expert panel on the PMBP, said there was still a lot of work to be done after the installation of the spans.
> 
> He said: “As far as I know, it will take 22 months to install the railway sleepers, but the contractor has been instructed to do it in two shifts per day in order to finish the work within 11/12 months.
> 
> “After the slabs are installed, concrete casting, road division and road marking need to be done simultaneously.”
> 
> *When will the bridge be opened for traffic?*
> 
> Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said the Padma Multipurpose Bridge was likely be opened to traffic after being completed by June 2022.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 | *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune *
> 
> “The Padma Bridge is now a reality. It is physically completed. I think by June 2022, we will open the Padma Bridge for traffic,” he said while speaking at a meeting of the Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance at Osmani Memorial Auditorium on Thursday.
> 
> “I am still looking after the project,” he added, mentioning that he had served as secretary of the bridge department for eight years.
> 
> Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Monday said it would take 10-12 months to complete the other remaining works of the Padma Bridge after the installation of the last span.
> The Bridges Division projected that the total construction of the bridge would likely reach completion in mid-2022.
> 
> *Also Read- Overall progress of Padma Bridge rail link project now at 28.23%*
> 
> The current deadline for the project is June 2021, meaning that the project is likely to see another revision for time extension. The project cost rose to Tk30,193 crore after several revisions.
> 
> With the extension of the deadline comes the possibility of an increase in cost. The Bridges Division, however, projected that the cost would not escalate again. As of September 30, Tk23,796.24 had been spent on the project.
> 
> The construction of the bridge began in November 2015, with a view to connecting the country's south-western region with the capital via road and rail. Once in service, the 6.15km bridge will connect the capital with 21 south-western districts. It is expected to boost the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.2%.
> Obaidul Quader had previously, however, stated that GDP would increase by 1.50%-2% after the completion of the bridge.
> 
> The long-anticipated Padma Bridge is expected to change the socioeconomic structure of southern Bangladesh and have a positive effect on the country’s economy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Engineers install the final span of the 6.15km long Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Thursday morning, December 10, 2020 | *Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune *
> 
> It will also connect many countries of South and Southeast Asia and contribute to communication, trade, industry, tourism and many other sectors in various ways.
> 
> *‘Padma Bridge becomes visible fully defying all odds’*
> Obaidul Quader on Thursday said the Padma Bridge had now become visible, defying all sorts of conspiracies and hurdles, under the prudent and dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, reports BSS.
> 
> “Because of the courageous and humanitarian leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has shown the entire world that it also can turn the impossible into the possible,” he said.
> 
> Quader, who is also the general secretary of the Awami League, was responding to journalists’ questions after addressing the council session of the Joypurhat district unit of the party.
> 
> He took part in the session through videoconferencing from his official residence in Dhaka.
> 
> The minister said with domestic funds, the last span of the 6.15-kilometer Padma Bridge, which was a dream for millions of people, was installed on Thursday, leaving the world stunned.



This is huge and long bridge, so there is train rail way as well below the first level bridge ? Interesting

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> This is huge and long bridge, so there is train rail way as well below the first level bridge ? Interesting



Yes brother. 2+2 lanes (service lanes on each side as well) for road traffic on upper deck slab and one railway single broad gauge track on bottom level. 7 km plus length with approach roads and rail viaducts.

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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> Yes brother. 2+2 lanes (service lanes on each side as well) for road traffic on upper deck slab and one railway single broad gauge track on bottom level.



The other island that the bridge is trying to connect is still relatively empty, any big plan for that island ?? Will it be another residential to support Dhaka or there is plan to make it completely a different new city that is intended for office headquarters ?


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## Indos

DalalErMaNodi said:


> The 6.15 km long superstructure of the Padma Multipurpose bridge is now visible after the installation of the last (41st) span earlier today!
> 
> 
> Best news from Bangladesh in all of 2020, If I may opine so.
> 
> 
> Hopefully, everything proceeds as planned and the bridge is opened for public use by 2022.



June 2022 for completion, I think this bridge is already enough to connect those islands, I saw you have another project using underwater bridge to connect similar lands, maybe that project should be rethinked once again.

Better use the money intended for MRCA for this project and other following project while waiting for KFX/IFX development completion in 2026 for first block (inshaAllah) he he he

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> The other island that the bridge is trying to connect is still relatively empty, any big plan for that island ?? Will it be another residential to support Dhaka or there is plan to make it completely a different new city that is intended for office headquarters ?



The islands (or chars, please see below) are unstable land areas because the river has shifted course in that area before. This is a large river and banks are well-trained and stabilized now. But industry or office buildings are not planned anywhere near river vicinity, except a military cantonment and missile base (to protect the bridge). 1 inch = 4 km.






The bridge is supposed to connect the 2nd and 3rd ports of Bangladesh (Mongla and Payra) and connect them to Dhaka via road/rail because these ports will be hubs of export/import activity. 1st port is of course Chittagong.

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> June 2022 for completion, I think this bridge is already enough to connect those islands, I saw you have another project using underwater bridge to connect similar lands, maybe that project should be rethinked once again.
> 
> Better use the money intended for MRCA for this project and other following project while waiting for KFX/IFX development completion in 2026 for first block (inshaAllah) he he he



These are infra projects, I doubt the money will be diverted to buy fighters.

The underwater tunnel you refer to is under the Karnafuli river (more than 400 km away from Padma bridge) and is already more than 60% complete. This will be used to connect Bangladesh 1st port Chittagong to the 4th port Matarbari under construction near Cox's Bazaar.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Indos said:


> The other island that the bridge is trying to connect is still relatively empty, any big plan for that island ?? Will it be another residential to support Dhaka or there is plan to make it completely a different new city that is intended for office headquarters ?





The bridge will help in connecting the lower South West and Greater South (Khulna & Barishal) with Dhaka and the rest of Bangladesh.


The geography is interesting in that some divisions and districts of Bangladesh inhabited at times by millions are actually massive islands created by rivers bisecting them and separating them from the mainland.


While the rest of Bangladesh has rivers, they also have natural crossing points where the water level is low or where the land itself acts as a bridge, this region is unique in that it is completely inaccessible from the mainland unless you use bridges or ferries.


While there are bridges connecting this region to the mainland, they are too few and stretched far apart so getting to the bridges themselves is an inconvenience from another section who didn't live anywhere near the bridge.


That's where this bridge the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, named after the river Padma, comes to play.


This is built right in the middle of high traffic area, where you have just exited Dhaka Division and the distance to the other districts is at its lowest.

Not to mention, it's also a 4+2 lanes and a railway bridge with support for both broad guage and meter guage as well.

The bridge is expected to boost the GDP of Bangladesh by as much as 1.2% although this is a conservative figure, If you ask me.


The price of land in certain parts of the district of Barishal has grown five fold in past year or so, the government is setting up the second Nuclear Power Plant there as well as a deep sea port, Economic Zone and many powerplants as well as improving the overall connectivity within the region itself.






All of this is only possible, thanks to these bridges, it's a tool to get local investors to invest in the relatively under developed southern region of Bangladesh.


By the time this bridge is completely operational, the Economy of Bangladesh will be valued at atleast 400 Billion USD (Nominal), so the 1.2% boost would factor out to a 4 billion USD boost and that's even before the new industries kick in.


There is a mini revolution in Bangladesh thanks to this bridge and an entire region home to tens of millions of people, Is only now becoming home to industries in a country where land is scarce.


Normally these districts can only be accessed by far flung bridges or by ferries which sink atleast twice or thrice a year resulting in loss of life, the river Padma, is very very treacherous.


The bridge is also funded with 100% Bangladeshi government funds, in form of loans from local financial institutions, a first in the history of Bangladesh but certainly not the last.


The government and the people have now gained valuable experience in funding projects out of our own coffers.


This may be a 3.3 billion USD bridge but I see the impact in atleast 10 to 15 billion USD being added to the local GDP by 2030 and the upliftment of millions from poverty.



This bridge is the steel and concrete flavoured manifestation of the dream of a strong Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

Port Terminal construction has commenced at Matarbari port.

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## Bilal9

Smart apparel factory with real-time production planning in Bangladesh.

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## Shorisrip

How much does land even cost in Bangladesh? By that, I mostly mean non-urban land. Asking for future investment purposes.


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## Bilal9

Shorisrip said:


> How much does land even cost in Bangladesh? By that, I mostly mean non-urban land. Asking for future investment purposes.



Local speculators snap up industrial land before the planning for industry even starts.

For example I can tell you that my extended family members own ancestral land in the Savar area, those parcels have skyrocketed ever since they started industrializing that area initially a decade ago.

More recently this has happened near Payra and Matarbari port areas where EPZs/SEZs are planned.

Pricing varies per location and demand. I am not in touch with this, you have to contact someone in Dhaka.

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## Landmine

Looks like "Kalna bridge" is getting its shape. 





I can still remember the car wreck we faced during our first site visit. 

A photo of the existing ferry ghat dated back to 2015.

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## The Ronin



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## Bilal9

Metrorail Line 6 Station construction proceeds apace...apologies if this was posted already.





Karnaphuli Tunnel construction update...sorry Bengali only.

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## Bilal9

Iconic Tower Project (Bangabandhu Tri Tower) Project progress in Purbachal...construction started on 10,000 sqft. construction management facility.

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## The Ronin



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## DalalErMaNodi

__ https://www.facebook.com/1766281370346886/posts/2443238349317848

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## ayodhyapati

BDforever said:


> *Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology on Thursday disclosed that the works for establishing an electronic city at Companyganj upazila in Sylhet are underway and the works of Taka seven crore has already been completed, reports BSS. The ICT Division has taken the project to establish the electronic city in 162 acres of land at Companyganj upazila, this was revealed at a meeting of the committee at the Sangsad Bhaban. Presided over by Committee Chairman Imran Ahmed, the meeting was attended by State Minister for Post and Telecommunication Tarana Halim, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Moyazzam Hossain Ratan, Shawkat Hasanur Rahman (Rimon), Sharid Ahmed, Kazi Feroz Rashid and Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia. The project sources said an electronic city will be set up with three types of facilities -- training centre, ICT parks and electronic project. At the meeting, the committee made a recommendation to the ministry to take necessary measures for ensuring proper monitoring over the development project under ICT division.*
> source: Govt to establish electronic city in Sylhet



well done bangladesh .


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## Bilal9

OK well 'Love Boat' it isn't for sure.

But we have the next best thing, a semi luxury cruise ship ('Karnaphuli' Venture - MV 'Bay One') from Cox's Bazaar to St. Martin's Island for the couple of hours it takes to get there. Take a gander, not bad.


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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> OK well 'Love Boat' it isn't for sure.
> 
> But we have the next best thing, a semi luxury cruise ship ('Karnaphuli' Venture - MV 'Bay One') from Cox's Bazaar to St. Martin's Island for the couple of hours it takes to get there. Take a gander, not bad.



Is there any luxury ships that we can rent to sail and stay some night in Sundarban water ? It will be quite exciting to sail a long the Sundarban coast thinking that wild tigers are living there where some tigers may also swim or appear on the coast areas that we could see while on the ship.

You can check on Indonesian Labuan Bajo luxury ship service to understand more about what I see as potential in Sundarban eco-tourism.


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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> Is there any luxury ships that we can rent to sail and stay some night in Sundarban water ? It will be quite exciting to sail a long the Sundarban coast thinking that wild tigers are living there where some tigers may also swim or appear on the coast areas that we could see while on the ship.
> 
> You can check on Indonesian Labuan Bajo luxury ship service to understand more about what I see as potential in Sundarban eco-tourism.



There are smaller two story boats which conduct eco-tours in the Sundarban rivers. If you google 'Sundarban Eco Tour' you will get lots of hits, some of them from Kolkata in India, some from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

I have not tried them but travel agencies in Dhaka or Jakarta can find out I'm sure.

In the meantime, I will try to find out some info, give me a few days.

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## Bilal9

Bilal9 said:


> There are smaller two story boats which conduct eco-tours in the Sundarban rivers. If you google 'Sundarban Eco Tour' you will get lots of hits, some of them from Kolkata in India, some from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
> 
> I have not tried them but travel agencies in Dhaka or Jakarta can find out I'm sure.
> 
> In the meantime, I will try to find out some info, give me a few days.



@Indos Here's a link. Looks like group tours of 3+ days are the norm.









Sundarban tour by operator tourism company from Khulna in Bangladesh


Sundarban tour run by local best professional tour operator and tourism company from Khulna and Dhaka in Bangladesh. Enjoy largest forest.




orientecotourism.com





Seems like a legit outfit. Make sure you ask around to make sure you are not parting your hard-earned money with scam outfits, caveat emptor! 


DalalErMaNodi said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/1766281370346886/posts/2443238349317848



Buying machines to produce 3+ layer single-sided motherboards (pick and place smt m/c and wave soldering m/c etc.) is good progress. And that too by more than one local company.

I am very stoked, this is better than our giant neighbor for sure. They only have one motherboard mfr. (Simmtronics) that I know of, and that too using VIA Taiwan's designs. They make DIMM and Micro SD cards, though not all of them in India (if at all).

Someone should edit the Wikipedia page, only Walton is listed. There should be at least three/four more entries.





__





Category:Electronics companies of Bangladesh - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org


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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> Here's a link. Looks like group tours of 3+ days are the norm.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sundarban tour by operator tourism company from Khulna in Bangladesh
> 
> 
> Sundarban tour run by local best professional tour operator and tourism company from Khulna and Dhaka in Bangladesh. Enjoy largest forest.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> orientecotourism.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seems like a legit outfit. Make sure you ask around to make sure you are not parting your hard-earned money with scam outfits, caveat emptor!
> 
> 
> Buying machines to produce 3+ layer single-sided motherboards (pick and place smt m/c and wave soldering m/c etc.) is good progress. And that too by more than one local company.
> 
> I am very stoked, this is better than our giant neighbor for sure. They only have one motherboard mfr. (Simmtronics) that I know of, and that too using VIA Taiwan's designs. They make DIMM and Micro SD cards, though not all of them in India (if at all).
> 
> Someone should edit the Wikipedia page, only Walton is listed. There should be at least three/four more entries.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Category:Electronics companies of Bangladesh - Wikipedia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> en.wikipedia.org




I can't read bangla, did bdesh military establishment make that motherboard or a private company?


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## Bilal9

Tom-tom said:


> I can't read bangla, did bdesh military establishment make that motherboard or a private company?



The motherboards (composite pieces) shown in the picture you refer to is made by Symphony - a private electronic hardware manufacturer specializing in cellphone manufacturing.

There is also Walton, who are a huge electronics manufacturer, specializing in PC/Laptop RAM boards, USB devices, SD cards etc.

Both of these private manufacturers manufacture _*from scratch locally*._

As opposed to assembling electronic sub-assemblies for devices like cellphones, of which there are also half a dozen other private and local hardware assemblers.


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## Bilal9

300 ft. wide Purbachal link road update. Looks like the concept illustration was no fluke really.


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## Bilal9

Recently Padma Bridge completed it's last span installation and will be inaugurated for traffic some time in FY 2021-22. Outsiders and non-Bangladeshis will say, what is the really big deal? This is just a bridge. Well - read on. Apologies for the machine translation from Bengali.

# Padma_Bridge_Unknown_Facts

Maybe very few people will have the patience to read the whole article below, but if you read it you will know a lot.

There are very few people in Bangladesh who have not seen the Padma face to face. When you see Padma, what do you see? Its width ?? Width of course. Because the depth, the vastness of the current is not so easily understood.

Do you know the depth of the river? The bottom of the river is about forty meters below the water. Meters Not feet. Forty meters means about 131 feet. Ten feet is usually the height of one story building. As such, the height of the water surface from the bottom of the Padma River is equal to that of a 13-storey building.

Then the columns of the bridge (which are actually called piers in civil language) should be equal to 13 storey building. But if the column is not tied to the ground, the current of the Padma, the column will be washed away. Do you think that a column equal to 13 floors will not float? Yes, brother. This is Padma.

So the column has to be built on the ground. How much to build? The soil at the bottom of the Padma is sand type, soft mud type. Not as hard as stone. Bedrock is thought to be about 6 km down. 6 km is the height of Mount Everest! So it is better not to dream of going to Bedrock. In many countries Bedrock is found a little below. Building any structure in their country is much less costly because building their foundation is much easier, less costly. Our fortunes are bad in that regard.

However, how much do you have to pay for the piling of the Padma river bridge?

When there are excess currents in the rainy season, the soil, like the sand at the bottom of the Padma, washes away. This is called scouring.

The highest record of scouring of Padma river is 85 meters (approximately) (or 71 meters). This means that 65 meters of soil has been washed away from the bottom of the river. That means 213 feet. This means that the soil of the same height as the 21-storey building has been washed away. (Hard to believe, how so much soil was washed away!) There is no other river that has the record of washing away so much sediment (soil particles) of this 21 level floor of the Padma. In this case, if you want to get the soil under the water, you have to go down 13 + 21 = 34 floors!

Then the columns of the bridge that you have to give, they have to be more than 40 + 75 = 105 meters long! That means a longer column than a 34-storey building!

Now, the scour is more somewhere in the river, less somewhere. You are not sure, no matter how much you scour the column of Padma bridge will be exposed (exposed), will not be stuck in the ground, as a result your long column will be washed away!

For this, an average pile of 120 meters has been given. 120 meters means a 40-storey building! Piles, as tall as this 40-storey building, have been erected. (At first I thought 120 meters was wrong, 120 feet must be. After listening to it many more times, I realized, not 120 feet, meters!)

Now let's see what is the size of the pile. The piles are round. Round cylinder equal to 40 storey building! The diameter of this cylinder is 3 meters. That means almost from the floor to the ceiling of your room! This is the diameter!

The piles are made of steel sheets. Quite thick (I don't remember the thickness, 60/70 mm or less / more) these sheets are being made into cylinders. These cylinders will be attached at geometric rates. That means with one meter long cylinder, one meter long and one part. Now with this two meter long cylinder, and one with a two meter long cylinder. In this way, a pile is being made with a pair of piles equal to the length of a 20 storey building and a pile equal to the length of a 20 storey building!

These huge long piles, do you think, who picked them up? Who put these into the ground? Superman? Special hammers have been brought from Germany for these piles. I heard that a hammer was made for the Padma bridge. Special crane, special hammer! Massive Hammer custom made by a German company Menck, who specializes in hammers of this type.

These piles are hollow. After settling on the ground, they will be filled with sand. Piles can rust, although 10 millimeters will erode in 100 years. 50/60 mm will still be there. (It is tested, how much damage will be caused by rust) The design life of Padma bridge is 100 years. This means that in 100 years, the thickness of the pile will be nothing but a comma. In sha Allah. These piles are actually called caissons. In the language of Pure Civil Engineering

So much for the story of a pile! Do you think the column of our Sadh Padma Bridge, which we call Pier, will stand on this one pile? What if the ground beneath this pile moves? If the pile is broken! For this there will be 6 piles at the bottom of each column. The piles of this pier (column) will be scattered in the same direction as the spider has 6 feet.

The piles will be placed vertically but not on the ground. By bending, the inclined way will be inserted. Include 1H: 6V ratio. So a 120 meter long pile, if inserted in a crooked way, the feet of 6 of them will be far below the ground. Inshallah, the soil on these 6 sides will not be washed together (scour). The fact that they will be inclined, it will also increase their load carrying capacity a little. The thing is that the reporters who report during the cyclone are seen to be on either side, far away. If you stand up straight, there is a risk of overturning in the air. This is done because the lateral load (wind load) comes when the two legs stand together as easily as it is possible to stand with both legs on both sides, the load can be resisted more. But this is also an engineering plan. So, even these 6 piles will take more lateral load just to stay inclined. (Lateral load means that which is coming from the side, such as the current that is pushed).

Again, just being inclined, the 120 meter long pile will go 118.3 meters below the ground. Because when we bend a stick, its height decreases even if it is the same length. For example, if the ladder is mounted on a steep wall, the higher the head of the ladder, the lower the head of the ladder will be. The same is true of piles.

A program called PIGLET was used to design these piles. The optimum / most efficient pile has been found with this program. This study is done on three types of pile foundations. These three types of foundations are:
1. 6 raking steel tubular piles
2. 8 raking steel tubular piles
3. 12 cast in situ vertical concrete pile
The study shows that the foundation of 6 inclined steel piles is the most efficient. (raking means inclined)

The pile cap will be on top of these 6 piles. You will see this thing floating in the water. But it does not float at all! It is standing with 8 legs (piles). This pile cap is so big, a family of 3/4 people can make a family in such a place! A very rough estimate says there is more than 900 square feet of space here! That means a pile cap is larger than 900 square feet. This pile cap is made entirely of concrete. I have no idea about the thickness / height.

The pile below the two piers will be a little different. to be vertical bored concrete pile. Which will go up to 60 meters deep. This means that these piles will not be inclined, will go straight under water. These will be piles of concrete, like ordinary columns in our homes. The funniest part is, these piles will be cast in water! That means pouring concrete in the water! But the concrete will become a column without floating! Yes brother, there is this technology too! In the case of this pile, 12 piles will be given under one pier.

Pier or bridge columns will stand on this pile cap. This pier is entirely of concrete. reinforced concrete. The whole bridge will be supported by 41 piers. However, the design / number of piles may change as hard soil without mud could not be found at the bottom of the river at the Mawa end. The number of piers may increase to 42/43. I heard such bizarre talk in many news reports. 

The solution which would be the most effective, and will be the least costly, was to be implemented in practice.

Each end of the bridge spans will sit at the head of these piers. The length of each span is 150 meters. 

That is to say, from the Bata signal to the Kantaban turn (Dhaka), will be the length of two spans.

For this span design, analytical models of 3 types of spans (on computer, with analysis software) were made and checked, and were chosen on the basis of safest at the lowest cost. There were three spans - 120 meters, 150 meters and 160 meters. Of these, 150 m span was the most efficient so in reality 150 m span has been installed.

These spans are Warren type steel truss girders and concrete slabs roadway on upper deck. All the spans together are 6,150 meters. That is, the length of the whole bridge is 6.15 km. This means that the whole Padma Bridge is: the same length from Science Lab bus stand to Kalyanpur bus stand or from Shahbagh roundabout to Mohakhali flyover. (approximate)

Padma Bridge is a two storey bridge. The train will still pass through the truss. The railway line is dual gauge. This means broad gauge and meter gauge, two types of trains can cross the Padma Bridge. Broad gauge railway line on the west side of our country (Rangpur Rajshahi, Kushtia Khulna side). And the rest of the country's railway line is meter gauge. One type of rail cannot run on another. But these two types of trains can run with dual gauge. So, in fact, any railway in Bangladesh can run through Padma Bridge. There will be an emergency access point so that in case of any problem on the train, people can be taken off the train and taken to their safe place.

Again, this is no ordinary railroad. Arrangements have been made so that the wagon can go with double-container stacking. In Bangladesh, trains usually take single stack container. But this is being done here so that in the future the train can go with one container on top of another i.e. two storey container. The load capacity of the main bridge had to be increased to accommodate these two-story containers. That load will actually be taken first by the rail line, from the rail to the truss, from the truss to the pier (column), from the pier to the pile. This has made the pile stronger, and as a very normal result, the cost has increased.

A concrete deck will sit on top of this two-story bridge. I mean the roof. The car will run on it. The lightest material that can be used to make the deck will be used. Deck, meaning the road over the bridge will be 22 meters or 62 feet wide. Cars/Trucks will run in four lanes here.

Seismic isolation bearing has been used before placing this span. Without it, the energy with which the earthquake would hit the structure would be much reduced. The technology used here is Base Isolation, which will move the foundation during an earthquake but not the upper bridge. There will be a system of movement. This is called pendulum bearing. That is being used. It can slide back and forth. It has been used in many places in the world. But it has never been used in such a big project. Due to this technology the number of piles, the size of the pile cap has been reduced a bit.

Some utilities will cross the river through the bridge! There will be a gas transmission line. Optical fiber and telephone lines will be carried. And of course the electricity transmission line will pass through.

This is just the bridge. Only the Padma Bridge. But there is much more left in the project, such as river governance work, approach road work. Now let's look at them.

What is the approach road? You don't just build a bridge. The bridge has to be connected to the roads that are now there, to the cars that are running on that bridge. This connecting road is the approach road. This approach road to the Padma Bridge is twice the length of the bridge. Which is 12 km. Abdul Monem Limited, a company in the country, has done the work of making this approach road.

Among the works of this approach road was 

1. the connection from Jazeera to the national highway. 
2. the road near Mawa which was brought to international fame due to its construction standard. 
3. And service area. Which is the main office of this huge construction site. Offices and residences will be built here during construction and when construction is completed. 

Of these, five bridges are required at the junction of Jazeera. Adding the length of these bridges alone, it stands at about one kilometer.

This task was also difficult from the engineering point of view. The road to Jazeera was once a char (river island) area having very soft soil. It is a problem to make roads on such soft soil, because it will cause the road to sink in places and as a result the pitch road will have sunk portions. Also, any road put in has to be placed much higher than the flood level again. That means the flood record needs to be researched on how much and where water rose the most. Then we will see how much water can rise in a certain period of time (maybe in the next 100 years). Then the road will be built in such a way that there is a road above the highest water level.

For this purpose, high places like dams have been built by soil deposits and leveling. Then an attempt was made to increase the density of soil under the road. The machine had to be brought from Germany for this work. The name is Sand Compaction Pile. It is not very difficult technically. Inserts into the soft soil like a pipe. Pressure is applied inside the pipe with a machine from above. The bottom of the pipe is closed. In this process the soil is pushed down. And when the pipe is lifted again, sand is thrown from it. Thus the density of soil has been increased. It is hoped that this road will not collapse when a vehicle is moving. Many have been tested. The car is also running, there is no problem. The work of this approach road is almost finished now.

Two huge construction yards have been built at Mawa and Jazeera, at both ends, to build the Padma Bridge. I have no doubt that it will take a whole day to walk around the entire construction yard. For this huge construction yard and approach road, huge amount of land has to be acquired. About 13,000 homes, home to about 74,000 people, have been displaced by the project. Seven resettlement areas have been allotted for these people on both sides of the river. Their houses, mosques, schools, markets have all been built there.

Many trees have been cut down in the vicinity of Padma river for this construction yard, approach road, resettlement area and service area. For this, afforestation has also been done. As of December 2015, 80,452 trees were planted. This was the responsibility of the forest department.

I heard in a news report that during the breeding season of Hilsa fish, their normal environment was not to be disturbed, therefore the piling work was halted! I don't know if there is such a beautiful project in any other country, where such a sincere effort is made to come to terms with nature.

Another very important work of the Padma Bridge is the work of river management. Let's first see what river governance is, why it is needed. The river breaks banks. The river changes its course. Now the bridge is on Mawa Jazeera, the river may have changed its course and gone somewhere else. Then the Padma Bridge will become so simple like the Bhanga bridge of Jamalpur. (There is a bridge in Jamalpur called Bhanga Bridge, where the river bank is broken and the river has moved away, but the bridge has remained in its previous place.) That is why the work of river management is being done so that the car can get the way down from the bridge.

Now let's see what we mean by river governance! I mean, what a task at hand!

River governance refers to the structural work that is done to protect the course and banks of a river. This means that when bricks or stones or something like that is used to save the edge, to protect the edge.

After analyzing the flood data of different years, it is estimated that 140,000 cubic meters of water could flow into the sea every second for the next 100 years through the Padma. (This means that if I could stop the flow of water in the Padma for 20 seconds, then 16 million people in the greater Dhaka city would have a day's worth of drinking water.) 

In terms of flow volume Amazon is first, but Padma is a close second. This water has to be taken through the bottom of the bridge. That arrangement should be made so that the water can flow through the bottom of the bridge and go to the Bay of Bengal. If this water gets stuck in any way it will simultaneously flood upstream (west-north side of the river) and at the same time this water will put a lot more pressure or push on the bridge. It would be very normal for the bridge to fail as a result. These are the challenges of river governance. There are very few contractors in the world who can do this job.

When tenders were called for river management work on the Padma Bridge, only 3 companies submitted tenders.

1. Hyundai Engineering and Construction Ltd of South Korea
2. Jan De Nul N.V. of Belgium
3. Sinohydro Corporation Ltd of China

Sinohydro received the tender in July 2014.

River dredging is going on in this work. Dredging means removing the clay from the bottom and moving it elsewhere. So that there is less obstruction in the movement of water. So that more amount (more volume of water) water can go. This is expected to reduce the water pressure on the shore. 10 million cubic meters will be dredged at the end of Mawa. And 40 million cubic meters will be dredged at the end of Jazeera.

Dredging in this river is more than 100 feet. Under water. It has already been calculated how the river bank will be under the water. According to experts, the soil on the banks of the river had to be re-shaped. One needs to use a special dredger for that. Controlled by GPS , the underwater soil can be calculated and cut by this automated dredger.

Another part of the river system is the dumping of stones, concrete blocks and geo-bags along the river banks. 850,000 tons of stone were required at the end of Mawa and 3 million tonnes at Jazeera. 3,906,500 Geo bags weighing 600 kg will be deposited. Geo bags weighing 125 kg will be dumped - 18,26,500 of them. The total number of cc blocks (cement concrete blocks) deposited is 13,301,248.

River management work will be done at the end of Mawa covering 1.6 km. And 12.4 km at the Jazeera end. The reason why there is so much work at the Jazeera end can be understood by looking at the map of Bangladesh. The reason is that the water comes from the northwest at a very high speed and pushes the Jazeera side more. The water goes to the south-east by pushing here.

Again the type of soil at Mawa site is somewhat clay or clay type soil. There is no clay on the Jazeera site to the south. There is silt, sand and sandy loam. The higher the current, the more likely it is to erode. So this river has been ruled for about 10 and a half kilometers on the site of Jazeera. And Mawa site is only one and a half kilometers. In 2017, an unexpected sudden issues were seen at the Mawa site. Then some more work was completed.

River governance is very difficult. Because the scouring in the river (soil washing away) can go so deep that maybe some protection is given upwards. It was seen that the soil was washed away from below. Then the edge will break from the top. Because there is no support below, the soil of support has been washed away. For this, stones, concrete blocks and some new technology geo-textile bags have been used far below the visible shore.

However, it is often disheartening to think that if a gigantic river like the Padma can scour 75 meters of soil depth, how much it can be trained/managed, or what is the benefit of managing the scouring. However, the effort can not be stopped. We have to keep trying.

The river management work may have to continue for all time now. The contract will be renewed or a new tender will have to be issued. Otherwise this bridge will be difficult to save. 

I read somewhere a long time ago that building the Bangladesh National Parliament was like buying an expensive elephant for the poor in Bangladesh. It costs a lot to maintain. New elephants are coming to the country now! However, these prove that the country may no longer be so poor!

Now let's look at some back events. A report called Prefeasibility Study of this project was given in 2000. The initial feasibility study of the entire project was reported in 2005. Feasibility study can be said in very simple language, to calculate how much money will be poured behind it, how profitable it is, or whether it is profitable at all. Or where and how to get the most benefits for the least money.

The purpose of the Prefeasibility Study was to find the most suitable location for the Padma Bridge. In this study, during the planning of Padma bridge, preliminary survey was conducted in two places - Paturia-Daulatdia, another is Mawa-Jazeera.

The consulting firm was told, our main objective is to cross the river. So that vehicles can go up or down the river. The consulting firm first studied the bridge and the tunnel. It turned out that the tunnel cost a lot more in terms of investment. Then the tunnel plan was abandoned, and the plan for the bridge remained to cross the river.

Feasibility Study funded by JICA started from 2001. New site selection had started again. A study from Goaland to Chandpur showed that Mawa-Jazeera site is the best for the river crossing.

There are many things to consider in a feasibility study, one is - which direction will attract more vehicles, which means exactly where the road needs people the most, or needs more people. The second is where the course of the river is relatively less variable. The Padma can move a couple of kilometers on both shores in some areas and in certain years. If you want to select a site for this, you have to see which one is stable for a long time, which means the river has been in the same place for a long time. In this case also Mawa-Jazeera was found to be a suitable place. The Feasibility Study (FS) recommended a preliminary design comprising a prestressed concrete extradosed bridge with railway provision.

However, the whole project is divided into two parts.
Phase 1: From project design to tender
Phase 2: Construction

Phase 1, meaning the work of designing this Padma Bridge started in 2009. A team of national and international experts was formed to design the Padma Bridge in detail, headed by AECOM. The team also included SMEC International, Northwest Hydraulic Consultants and ACE Consultants, with additional assistance from Aas Jakobsen and HR Wallingford.

The Bangladesh Bridge Authority formed a panel of 5 national and 5 international level experts. The task of this panel was to review the design of the Padma Bridge from time to time.

The BS 5400 (British bridge design code) code has been weighed to design. Because its load and other things match the traffic condition of Bangladesh.

A shipping study was done while designing the bridge. The study was that if there is enough space under the bridge, all the ships plying in Bangladesh will be able to cross under the bridge. The Bangladesh Inland Waterway Transport Authority (BIWTA) reports that the water level should rise to a record high of 18.3 meters (60 feet), with a minimum of 3 spans. But there was trouble here too.

Padma is an unpredictable river. The Padma sometimes carries a huge amount of soil from the bottom with the current. Sometimes a lot of sediment accumulates with the current. Sometimes the river breaks its banks and changes its course. It was seen that the bridge remained in one place, the river broke and diverted to the other side. As a result, the construction of the bridge was almost in vain. Again the river sometimes wakes up suddenly. It was seen that the three spans that were made 60 feet high for the ship to go, the char woke up, the way to the ship was closed. Because all the other spans are not so high. It is not possible for ships to pass under them.

That's why if you span a ship to go somewhere high for the next 100 years (design life of Padma Bridge), it will survive, the pirates will not wake up under it, the ship will be able to go, it was very critical to estimate the matter. It was later decided that the number of spans as high as ships would be increased. All the spans will be raised high enough to cover a distance of about 4.6 km in the middle of the river so that ships can pass under any one of them. Again, the Padma River is a very fast flowing river. With its propensity to scour the bottom of the river as well as its location in places like an earthquake, the design and construction of the bridge has been, or continues to be, quite challenging.

During the design of the Padma Bridge, detailed research was done on earthquakes. This was done by BUET. Two levels of earthquakes are studied.

1. Operating level earthquake: The probability of it happening once in 100 years is 75%. It is more terrible than a small earthquake in Dhaka or the country, but less harmful than the next level.

2. contingency level earthquake: This earthquake is of a very severe level. It comes once in 475 years. The probability of this happening in the 100 years design life of the bridge is 20%.

(These are all probability, data analysis. It may or may not be. But it will be, statistics and probability says so.)

A three dimensional non linear time history dynamic analysis, using a modified Penzien model was adopted.

By selecting suitable / efficient seismic parameters from this study, the bridge has been designed with them.

So this in summation is the Padma Bridge. Padma Multipurpose Bridge. The main challenges of this bridge were:

- River governance work
- Floods every year
- It's in an earthquake-prone place
- Deep Pile Foundation
- Soft clay at the bottom of the river
- extreme scour depth
- Rehabilitation of people who will be affected
- To ensure that there is no damage to the nature / environment for the project
- Land acquisition
- After awarding contracts to so many companies, to maintain coordination among them
- To build Padma bridge with own funds.

Author: Sravasti Rumman, Civil Engineer from BUET.


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## Bilal9

One more update on Purbachal (Dhaka Suburb) Link Road.


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## Bilal9

*Akij to go big at Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar*





Jagaran Chakma

Akij Venture, a concern of Akij Group, has expressed its intention to invest Tk 3,480 crore to set up 18 manufacturing facilities at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) in Chattogram.
The investment will be made over the next 10 years in three phases.

An initial proposal for the investment project has already been placed with the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) for approval, said Ferdoush Saleheen, chief supply chain officer of Akij Venture.

"Akij Group always makes quality investments and ensures the development of international standard facilities to grab the domestic and global markets," he said.

As per the plan, Akij Venture would make the investment to establish production facilities, which will create 2,740 new jobs.

Although the project is still in its early stage, Akij Venture has sought cooperation from the Beza to help materialise its plans by providing required land.

Akij Venture has sought 307 acres of land at the BSMSN to accommodate the project, which includes a private port to load and unload goods.

The 18 new units would be divided into five industrial sectors: chemical, agribusiness, electrical, food, and beverage.

The group expects the investment to contribute Tk 1,725 crore per annum to the gross domestic product.
Akij Group is one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Bangladesh and consists of 24 subsidiaries. Its history dates back to 1950 and employs more than 35,000 people at present. 

The project is expected to begin next year and be complete in 2031. However, the port and land development will begin as soon as possible after securing the land.

Beza Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury said that the agency would accommodate the proposal as the group wants to facilitate quality investments.

Akij Group is a large conglomerate that would ensure quality products, which would contribute to the country's export basket, he added.

The investment would also help make foreign investors more confident about investing in the country, Chowdhury said.

"The Beza is continuously improving its services and creating a business-friendly environment for investors, both local and foreign," he said.

The agency is developing the BSMSN on 30,000 acres of land as part of its plan to construct 100 economic zones across the country by 2030.

Investment proposals worth $20 billion have already been approved at the BSMSN that might create jobs for 10 lakh people.

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## Bilal9

This is the AKIJ HQ in Gulshan, AKIJ House.





This is their most recent venture in Mymensingh. AKIJ Tablewares (Porcelain and Ceramics).





Another recent venture AKIJ Particle Board Mills





In all their ventures - architectural design has been strongly emphasized.

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## Bilal9

NASIR Group is a large conglomerate in Bangladesh, they have ventures in many areas. Not shown here are recent ventures in Opalescent glass products (Corelle Type Dinnerware), which is a by-product of their float glass factory. Video for NGIL,






All the structures shown below for Nasir Group were made locally by PEB Steel Alliance.

Nasir Opal Glass Unit under construction
http://www.meclbd.com/images/RecentCom/nasir1.jpg

Administrative Building for industrial complex in Gazipur





NASIR FLOAT GLASS (NGIL)



NGIL is a multi-functional 250 ton float glass complex (525,000 sqft.) set up and sprawled over 23 acres of lush green land at Joinabazar, Sreepur, Gazipur, Bangladesh, NGIL has some structures rising over 80 feet. With 37 meters (121 feet) high imposing water tower and 75 meters (246 feet) chimney.




Nasir Float Glass Industries is one of the few float glass manufacturers in the subcontinent. Fully automated with strict process control at every step from sand processing to finished ware delivery. Raw Materials used : High Grade Silica sand (Fe2O3 : <0.02%), Soda Ash, Limestone, Dolomite, Salt cake, Al. Hydrate, Sod. Nitrate, Potash Carb. , Borax, Barium Carb., Red Lead, Potash Nitrate etc.
…….
Read More





Bangladesh Melamine is the pioneer of manufacturing melamine tableware in Bangladesh which started in the early 1980's. Its continual effort undeniably acquired ‘people’s trust’ in the process. Not only Bangladesh Melamine succeeded in the field of local market but also in the same time, it begun to spread its wings over the sky of global market for its very efficient use of modern technology, skilled management, strict quality control…..





Starting in 1997, Bangladesh Footwear Industries Limited has turned into one of the biggest footwear manufacturers in Bangladesh. With a highly professional, skilled and well-trained production unit we are specialized in manufacturing gents, ladies & kids footwear such as shoes, keds and sandals using the best quality EVA & PVC materials…….




Nasir Leaf Tobacco Industries Ltd. a unit of Nasir Group of Industries is a grower, processor, packer and exporter of different varieties of Bangladeshi Tobacco. Starting in 1998 it has been catering the needs of many local cigarette manufacturers and since 2001 has been regularly exporting tobacco to USA, European and Asian markets. …….




Nasir Energy Saving Lamp Industries Ltd (NESLIL) is a part of Nasir Group of Industries. They manufacture energy saving lamps (LED and coiled mini fluorescent) using state of the art technology & technicians. Their extensive collection of energy saving lamp products offers a wide range of earth friendly alternatives to the traditional lamps in our home and business centers...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are captive packaging businesses supplying product packaging for all the industries above.

Type of business: Corrugated paper board making, Multicolor printing and Carton making.
Products: Corrugated paper boards with and without prints.
Carton boxes for packaging of glassware, garments, tobacco, frozen shrimps, cosmetics, food materials, medicines, ceramics, lighting wares, etc.
Plant Capacity: about 30 million pcs of boxes / annum (assorted)





Biswas Printing & Packaging Industries Ltd (BPPIL) is a leading Printing industry in Bangladesh. We are specialized in multi-color printing and carton making for packaging of medicines, foods, cosmetics, frozen shrimps, tobacco, garments, glassware, ceramics and lighting wares. They use fully automated production technologies and best quality Kraft & medium weight packaging papers from Korea, Australia, USA and Brazil to ensure quality.

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## Bilal9

Factory process and discussion of Float glass production situation for PHP Glass in Chittagong. PHP is also a large assembler of Proton Malaysia vehicles in Bangladesh. It is possible, that they may end up producing laminated shatter-resistant safety glass for the vehicles they assemble and also for export market, which is increasing common for furniture and structure-cladding usage.

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## Bilal9

Taking the local sheet glass manufacturing and value addition one step further, there is a company called "Euro-Bangla Glass" which manufactures Bulletproof, Laminated, High-E, Tempered and Dual/Triple pane insulated glass for heat and noise insulation.

They have been very busy supplying the commercial and residential real-estate sectors locally, because most high rises (whether commercial or residential) being built locally nowadays require glass curtain walls for exterior cladding as well as interior demarcations. Exterior cladding glass also comes in solar reflective and Nitrogen or other gas insulated dual pane varieties.

For higher priced varieties, Pilkington USA advanced coated float glass stock is used as feedstock.

For those curious about what "Double-glazed" or "Double-pane" glass is,

*DOUBLE GLAZING*
Insulated glass unit (IGU), also known as double glazed unit (DGU), is made of two glass panes separated by dry air with an aluminum spacer*.* The two glass panes are held together by a spacer, made of aluminum, which also acts as a bed for the desiccant. The spacing could be between 6mm and 20mm. A desiccant is a drying agent and performs the role of absorbing the humidity inside the IGU.

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## Bilal9

Vehicle (Personal sedan, truck, bus) assembly situation in Bangladesh, a short outline...sorry Bengali only.






Although so far CKD assembly has been the norm, in the past decade, SKD assembly has increased, and slowly more and more local content is being incorporated. Often local content capability is being added in-house in captive manufacturing. 

Video above also shows Armed Forces activity in assembling its own trucks from CKD kits.

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## Destranator

*2020: Bangladesh looks to turn the tide after pandemic batters economy*
2020-12-30 14:22:40
Abdur Rahim Harmachi, Chief Economics Correspondent, bdnews24.com






For Bangladesh, 2020 began with plenty of cause for optimism against the backdrop of political stability coupled with a burgeoning economy. But a deadly virus, almost unheard of before the start of the year, quickly intensified into a full-blown pandemic that upended daily life in unprecedented ways.
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The coronavirus pandemic brought the economy to its knees even before the first quarter of the fiscal year ended with numerous shutdowns and job losses painting a grim short-term outlook.
Although there have since been signs of a recovery in the final quarter, a second wave of the outbreak, which has already been trampling the country’s most important markets such as the US and Europe, still poses a grave threat. Bangladesh, therefore, is set to ring in the New Year with many of the same concerns from 2020.
A series of timely initiatives taken by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has helped the country cushion the economy from ill-effects of the pandemic. Incentive packages worth Tk 1.25 trillion played a major role in keeping the economy rolling. 
The main structure of the ‘dream’ Padma Bridge, the largest infrastructure being built with the country’s own funds, came into full view at the end of the year. Record surges in remittances have also been a source of encouragement for the government.





Taking the adverse circumstance into account, the economy of Bangladesh “is in a much better position in comparison with any other country”, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal opined while reviewing the country’s economic performance throughout the year.

“To everyone’s astonishment, our expatriate brothers and sisters have sent more and more remittances despite the pandemic, pushing the (foreign exchange) reserves past the $42-billion milestone. Export earnings have still been in the positive zone and inflation has remained tolerable,” he said.
“The completion of the main structure of our dream Padma Bridge has given us (government) courage, just as it has done to the people. We will stand up with our heads held high by confronting the COVID-19 pandemic with this courage. We’ll build a ‘golden Bangladesh’ as envisaged by the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.”
The business community, as well as economists, see a ray of hope in the news that the newly-developed coronavirus vaccine doses are arriving in the country soon while the US and Europe have begun inoculating their people. It is, however, still difficult to say when the situation will go back to normal, but they are sure about one thing – the main focus in 2021 will be on ways to bring the country’s economy back on track.
And for this, the government should pay attention to different kinds of economic reforms, according to Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute.
“We need to give the necessary medication to the economy in order to keep it healthy. I mean economic reforms are a must. Especially, large-scale reforms are needed to ensure greater revenue collection. Strong measures are needed to bring back discipline in the banking sector,” he said.





*GDP FALTERS*

Bangladesh has targeted an 8.2 percent GDP growth in fiscal 2019-20 after smooth progress to 8.15 percent in 2018-19. The economy, however, suffered a huge setback due to a stagnant global market and a two-month nationwide lockdown in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Bangladesh has reported 5.24 percent GDP growth in FY20 with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the economy for at least a third of the financial year, according to the Bureau of Statistics. Many analysts believe that the figure was much lower.
With the economy almost fully reopened, the government has stuck by its annual GDP growth target of 8.2 percent in FY21.
International agencies are not so optimistic. The World Bank in a forecast in October said the pandemic may push the country’s economic growth down to as low as 1.6 percent in 2020-21 and 3.4 percent in 2021-22.





An official taking temperature of workers at the entrance of Snowtex Group's readymade garment factory in Dhaka's Mouchak as the plants continue production after reopening amid the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi
Bangladesh's gross domestic product would grow by 6.8 percent in FY21 as its economy has begun to turn around, the Asian Development Bank predicts.

Finance Minister Kamal dismissed the World Bank forecast as “unrealistic”. “Bangladesh's economy has made a turnaround. All indicators are positive now. I believe the GDP growth will remain over 8 percent,” the minister said.
The first six months of the fiscal year were "okay,” said analyst Mansur. But Bangladesh “can never” achieve an 8.2 percent GDP growth unless some big development is made, he said.
“I can say it clearly that it will be a great achievement if Bangladesh can post 5 percent growth amid this tough time. Many countries will fail to achieve even this much growth.”
One of the economic issues in focus in the year was an International Monetary Fund forecast that Bangladesh’s per capita GDP will be higher than India’s.
Citing the IMF’s global economic outlook report in October, the Indian media reported that Bangladesh per capita GDP may grow by 4 percent to $1,888 in 2020 while India’s would drop by 10.5 percent to $1,877 after the contraction due to lockdown restrictions.
But India will post a quick recovery and surpass Bangladesh in per capita GDP again in a year, the IMF said.





Most of the expatriates returning from Kuwait at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Aug 24, 2020 had their iqamas (work permits) expired. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi
*REMITTANCE: A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS*

When the pandemic upended the global economy, scores of Bangladeshi migrant workers lost their jobs in many parts of the world. More than 326,000 of them returned home between Apr 1 and Nov 30.
But unlike exports, a steadily growing flow of inward remittances has helped keep Bangladesh’s economy afloat, defying fears of a slump in the inflow of money.
According to Bangladesh Bank, the country received $21.4 billion from Jan 1 to Dec 24 in remittances this year, which is 17.75 percent more than the amount received in the entirety of 2019.
Bangladeshi expatriates clocked a new record in remittance by sending over $6.71 billion in the July-September period in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.
The amount is 48.57 percent higher than the money received in the same period last year.
In September alone, the expatriates sent back more than $2.15 billion, the second-highest in a month after $2.6 billion in July.





*FOREX RESERVES NEAR $43 BILLION*

Buoyed by remittances, Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserves have continued to surpass one milestone after another as it nears the $43-billion mark. 
The forex reserves at the Bangladesh Bank stood at an all-time high of $42.8 billion on Dec 27.
The achievement was possible mainly due to the money sent by Bangladeshis working abroad.
The growth in exports and foreign loans, alongside a drop in imports, has also contributed to the swelling of the reserves.
With the current reserves, it is possible to clear the import costs of over 10 months.





*1% GROWTH IN EXPORT*

Bangladesh’s readymade garment manufacturers hoped exports would boost by December, buoyed by a surge in the demand in the Western world ahead of Christmas, after a huge slump in the early months of the pandemic. 
Their expectations were hit heavily when export earnings slipped back into the negative territory with the second wave of coronavirus infections surging in Europe and the US.
Finally, exports returned to growth on cheap knitwear amid hopes raised by the arrival of coronavirus vaccines in the West.
After the pandemic began in China in late 2019, Bangladesh’s export earnings dipped to as low as $520 million, including $360 million of the apparel industry, in April 2020.
Export earnings rebounded somewhat in May, growing almost three times over the April receipts, as factories began reopening with relaxed restrictions. But it still marked a 61.56 percent year-on-year drop.
Exports bounced back to grow in July and continued the trend steadily in the following two months, beating the targets. A subsequent slump in October was followed by another spell of growth in November.
In the first five months of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh exported goods worth over $15.92 billion with an around 1 percent year-on-year growth. 
As much as 45 percent of the earning in the July-November period came from knitwear export while the contribution of overall readymade garment export, including woven and knitwear, was 81 percent.
Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, however, thinks the pandemic crisis will continue to affect exports for several more months as the second wave of the outbreak and subsequent restrictions in Europe and the US continue.
Analyst Mansur, however, believes merely posting a growth is a “big thing” for Bangladesh now amid a raging pandemic.





Cargo containers are being moved at the Chattogram port which remains operational amid the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Suman Babu
*IMPORTS PLUNGE*

In fiscal 2019-20, the import cost dropped 8.56 percent than the previous year. It came down further in the first quarter of 2020-21 as the coronavirus pandemic dealt a body blow to the economy. A slump in import means lower public consumption and waning investment in establishing new industries in the country.
According to the central bank, the country has shipped in products worth $ 15.78 billion from July to October in FY20, which was 13 percent less than the imports made in the same period last year.
Import orders dropped across the board except for that of food products. The opening of letters of credit (LC) to import capital machinery dipped 7.67 percent, while LCs for fuel saw a 35 percent decrease. Raw material imports slid 5.33 percent.





*BOP SURPLUS*

A surplus in the balance of payment, one of the major indicators of the economy, has been steadily increasing amid the pandemic.
The surplus stood at $4.05 billion in the period of July-October. In the last fiscal year, there was a deficit of $1.52 billion in the same period.
The big surplus was triggered by the rise in remittance inflow and a dip in import costs, according to Mansur.
“A third wave of the COVID-19 has gripped different countries, including in Europe and the Americas. Bangladesh, too, has seen an uptick in infections and deaths. If this continues and the remittance inflow and export incomes ebb, the economic indicators, especially the balance of payment, will not be so comforting.”





Customers queue up at the principal branch of state-owned Sonali Bank in Dhaka’s Motijheel commercial area on Tuesday as the government gradually starts to ease the lockdown rules during the coronavirus crisis.
*‘TOLERABLE INFLATION’*

The point-to-point general inflation rate dropped to 5.52 percent in November from a 7-year high of 6.44 percent in October, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
Researcher Mansur thinks the arrival of winter vegetables in the market and a drop in prices of potato and onions have helped ease inflation.
*GROWTH IN REVENUE COLLECTION*
In the fiscal year 2019-20, revenue collection dropped 2.45 percent year-on-year. Economists expected it to dip during the coronavirus crisis ravaging the global economy, but the situation has not been as bad as predicted.
The government collected over Tk 870.92 billion in revenues from July to November, with a 3.19 percent growth, according to the National Board of Revenue. But it still fell Tk 260 billion short of the target.
*PRIVATE SECTOR CREDIT FLOW*
The flow of credit into the private sector is one of the main drivers of investment. However, the credit flow, which has been depending on the government’s coronavirus stimulus packages, again hit rock bottom.
The private sector credit growth dropped to its lowest level - 8.61 percent - in June, the last month of the previous fiscal year. Credit growth stood at Tk 10.95 trillion at the end of July, marking a 9.2 percent increase from the same period last year.
Banks disbursed loans worth Tk 11.16 trillion at the end of August, with a 9.36 percent year-on-year growth, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank. But it dropped to 8.61 percent once again in October.
*GOVERNMENT BORROWING DROPS*
The government set a borrowing target of Tk 850 billion from banks in the current budget, but it took only Tk 9.45 billion in four months of the ongoing fiscal year.
Experts had thought the government would have to borrow a huge amount from the banks to tackle the pandemic crisis, but their estimations have not materialised.
This has been attributed to the surge in the sale of savings certificates while the international development agencies have also provided enough loans.
*SALE OF SAVINGS CERTIFICATES SKYROCKETS*
The government’s borrowing from the savings certificates saw an abnormal growth in the pandemic.
In the first four months of the current fiscal year, July to October, the government has secured Tk 156.42 billion from the sale of savings certificates, which was Tk 12.14 billion more than the entire fiscal year of 2019-20.
The sales during that time were three times as much as the same period last year.
Last year the government borrowed Tk 144.28 billion from the sector.
*83% INCREASE IN FOREIGN FUNDS*
Bangladesh has secured more than $1.65 billion in mid- and long-term foreign funds from July to October in the current fiscal year, an 83.24 percent increase from $901 million in the same period last year.
Hefty amounts in loans from the World Bank, IMF, ADB and others to address the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic pushed the foreign funds up.
Donors provided $7 billion in loans in the last fiscal year, which was 11.7 percent more than the year before.
*NO PROGRESS IN ADP IMPLEMENTATION*
Despite the influx of foreign funds, there has not been much progress in the government’s development work amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Only 12.79 percent of the Annual Development Plan was implemented from July to October. The implementation rate was 13.25 percent in the same period last fiscal year.





*BOUYANT CAPITAL MARKET*

After a long time, Bangladesh’s capital market has returned to a bullish trend. Aside from the gains in the key index, trading in the country’s premier bourse has also seen an upturn, buoyed by renewed optimism among investors.
In the wake of the capital market crash in 2010, a number of initiatives were taken to boost the stocks. Despite the occasional upswing, these measures failed to have a lasting impact. The capital market was hit by another setback in January 2020 as most shares hit rock bottom.
Trading in the country's two bourses was later closed for two months after the outbreak of the coronavirus reached Bangladesh in March. The bourses later reopened on May 31.
The DSEX, the main index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange which had dropped below 4,000 in June in the midst of the epidemic, has since gained momentum in the following months, crossing 5,000.
On Dec 24, the closing day of last week’s trade, the DSEX gained 85 points to 5,218 with a turnover of Tk 14.05 billion.





Craftsmen are spending busy time at the boutique houses ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove
*BANKS BUSY WITH STIMULUS PACKAGES*

Other than the implementation of the stimulus packages, the disbursement of loans for other purposes by banks has almost come to halt. Moreover, the collection of loan instalment has also stalled.
The Bangladesh Bank had issued a stay order on the classification of loans from January to June after the coronavirus pandemic became rampant. Later, the order was extended to December.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and other business bodies appealed for an extension of the stay once the second wave of the coronavirus infection hit the country. The authorities will decide on the issue considering every aspect, the central bank said.
*SMALL BUSINESSES LEFT IN THE LURCH*
The government announced a total of 21 stimulus packages worth Tk 1.25 trillion to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The biggest package of Tk 330 billion was earmarked for the industries and service sectors, while cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSME) were slated to get a Tk 200-billion stimulus.
The entrepreneurs are receiving the incentives in the form of bank loans, with Bangladesh Bank funding half of these two packages.
The interest rate has been set at 9 percent for both packages. The entrepreneurs need to repay 4 percent interest on their own while the government is subsidising the remaining 5 percent.
Big entrepreneurs have already finished taking out loans from their Tk 330 billion stimulus package announced by the government to help them recover the losses wrought by the pandemic. But the banks could not speed up the loan disbursement process for small businesses despite efforts of the government and the central bank.
The small business owners received Tk 82.18 billion, or less than half the Tk 200 billion stimulus package allotted to them, until Nov 30, according to a recent finance ministry report.
The finance ministry and Bangladesh Bank repeatedly pushed the banks to disburse the loans and also extended the deadline to do so, but the efforts came to no avail.
The government report on creating jobs and revival of the rural economy states that the finance ministry is dissatisfied with the pace of work to disburse loans among CMSMEs.
Although the central bank took on the liabilities of small loans, the banks have failed to provide the funds to the CMSMEs, a fact that Finance Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder described as “unfortunate” in a report on the implementation of the packages.
FBCCI President Sheikh Fazle Fahim has been left bewildered by the banks’ reluctance to provide loans to small businesses, even though such enterprises tend to default less.
“The banks should stand beside all,” he said.
*FOREIGN INVESTMENT PLUMMETS*
With the pandemic rattling the global economy, foreign investments nosedived in Bangladesh. The country received foreign direct investment or FDI worth $720 million in the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year, which was 31 percent less than the $1.04 billion received in the same period last year.
The net FDI dropped 50.16 percent to only $153 million in this period. The net FDI stood at $307 million in the same period last year.





Mongla Port and Benapole Land Port will get connected to Dhaka and Chattogram Port directly through road once the Tk 301.93 billion project ends.
*PADMA BRIDGE: A NEW HOPE*

The dream of the people of 21 southern districts to get connected to Dhaka by road nears completion as the installation of the final span has made the entire basic structure of the 6.15-kilometre Padma Bridge visible.
The bridge will open to traffic once the concrete is cast, the roads are laid out and the slabs for the railway are installed. It is expected to be operational within a year.
The Padma Bridge is expected to have an enormous impact on the country’s economy once it is operational, far greater than that of the Bangabandhu Bridge on the Jamuna river, according to Zaid Bakht, a researcher at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.
Dhaka and its surrounding areas, as well as the southern districts, have already started to attract investments in different sectors as the bridge edges closer to completion. Many industrial factories, big and small, are likely to crop up soon.
“Most importantly, it will shave four hours of road and rail communications. People will be travel more easily and new businesses will emerge.”
In its feasibility study, the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) forecast a 1 percent GDP growth from the construction of the Padma Bridge. But in reality, the growth will outstrip the BIDS’ estimation under the present circumstances, according to Bakht.
“The market will expand, especially the market for farm products. Farmers will be able to send their produces to Dhaka. People in the southern part of the country are expected to have their income doubled.”
The project is also set to establish direct road links for Mongla and Benapole ports to Dhaka and Chattogram Port.
“This is why I believe that the Padma Bridge, the dream project, will entail much more success than we expect,” Bakht said.
Bangladesh’s GDP growth will hit double-digits once the Padma Bridge becomes operational, hopes Finance Minister Kamal.
“When operational, the Padma Bridge will breathe a new life to the economy of Bangladesh. The GDP growth will increase by 1.5 percent. The government research also substantiates it,” he said.








2020: Bangladesh looks to turn the tide after pandemic batters economy


For Bangladesh, 2020 began with plenty of cause for optimism against the backdrop of political stability coupled with a burgeoning economy. But a deadly virus, almost unheard of before the start of the year, quickly intensified into a full-blown pandemic that upended daily life in unprecedented...



bdnews24.com

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## Bilal9

Experimental berthing of first ship in Matarbari deep sea port. Testing of 17m draft continues.


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## Bilal9

Informative Bengali presentation of Matarbari Deep Sea Port statistics and planning.

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## Bilal9

Informative Bengali Presentation of different types/sizes of Battery production in Bangladesh, especially automotive lead acid types. Export amount has exceeded USD 25 crores per annum and the industry is increasingly using robotics in production automation.

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## Bilal9

Battery-operated Passenger Tricycle production in Bangladesh. Local transport category name is 'E-Z-Bike'. Sorry Bengali only.

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh is the world's third-largest exporter of Pedal Bikes, after Taiwan and Cambodia. But those times are now past when Bangladesh assembled and exported bike from imported components, as level of local inputs and value addition have increased tremendously compared to even recent times, as the video shows. Bike exports from China have reduced in volume, due to increased input cost and labor cost, so many Chinese firms are also relocating factories here. Many Taiwanese firms were already exporting manufactured bikes from local shores (Special zones) for two decades now. 

Bangladesh-exported bikes sell in Europe in many price points from under a hundred Euros to over twelve hundred Euros in some cases. The higher end bikes are sold under reputed brands, which are manufactured under OEM specs as dictated by buyers. Sorry Bengali only.

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## Destranator

Our bicycle exporters should do something to weed out Indian and Chinese bikes from the local market. I understand Bd is a price sensitive market due to income while we mainly produce high end bikes but we should be able to come up with some compromise between price and quality.


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## Bilal9

Destranator said:


> Our bicycle exporters should do something to weed out Indian and Chinese bikes from the local market. I understand Bd is a price sensitive market due to income while we mainly produce high end bikes but we should be able to come up with some compromise between price and quality.



This will take time. Bike parts made in China and India are cheaper because of economies of scale. As local market (mainly for low income folks and for middle class kids etc.) is price-driven, the local market bike products are made using assembly of cheaper components (such as cranksets, chains, brake parts, handlebars, forks) from those countries. Economies of scale is always a bane for smaller countries, until production reaches a certain high level. That said, local market is also quite large, and should be able to produce bike components at just as low a price point (or lower) provided govt. provides duty support, which it did for the cellphone industry ( *Et* *voilà*! there's your vive la différence).

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## Bilal9

BMTF (as a Bangladesh Army subsidiary) continues on self-sufficient production of various military-use commercial vehicles such as trucks, buses (from CKD instead of SKD kits nowadays, including recent addition of heat/weight abuse torture-testing unit), and various other items I did not even know about, such as Footwear and boots for armed forces, upholstery and fittings for produced vehicles, embossed number plates for local BRTA-issued DMV use, design/production of various types of furniture for armed forces, electronic items for DESA including transmitters, CFL bulbs, RCC poles for electrical transmission uses etc.

These are the vehicles assembled from CKD kits at BMTF:

Arunima Bolyan 3 Ton Medium Truck (built with ToT from Isuzu Japan)
Toyota Model 69 1.5 ton pickup and Toyota Model 80 1 ton land cruiser utility vehicle.
Nissan UT - 32 Seat Crew Transport AC Bus.
Daewoo Express - 52 Seat Troops Transport Bus 
Mitsubishi Rosa - 32/40 Seat Troops Transport Bus / Prison Van 
Mitsubishi Triton Pickup Police Van
Ashok LeyLand - 6 Ton Medium Truck (India) - [User - BTRC, Border Guard Bangladesh]
JMC - 1.5 Ton and 3.5 Ton Pickup Trucks (China) - [Commercial Purpose Addition and Supply]
Sino 3 Ton and 5 Ton Trucks (China) - [Commercial Purpose Addition and Supply]

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## Bilal9

*Dhakai Muslin set to get GI certification*
Staff Correspondent | Published: 22:45, Dec 31,2020







Dhakai Muslin, one of the extinct finest hand woven cotton fabrics of middle ages, is set to get geographical indication certificate as the government is trying to revive the old glory of the famous fabric.

Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks of the industries ministry has already sent a journal to the government press for publication as a prerequisite by the law before issuing the GI certificate.

DPDT deputy registrar Md Azim Uddin on Thursday told New Age that they might get the journal in early next week and the GI certificate would be handed over after two months if none from home and abroad raised any objection on the issue.

Bangladesh Handloom Board applied for GI tag for the product, he said.

Muslin will be the fourth GI certified products after Jamdani sari, Hilsa fish and Khirsapat mango.

A GI is a name or sign used on certain products, which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin.

According to DPDT officials, the use of GI increases the value of product and it brings additional premium on price.

According to the BHB, muslin was produced from handloom and was one of the purest, simplest, most gentle and most comfortable, perfect fabrics in the world.

It is believed to have originated in Bangladesh during the middle ages, it said.

Muslin, a brand name of pre-colonial Bengal Textile, especially of Dhaka Region, was specially produced from ‘carpus fibre’ in special weather and it was perfect plain, even, thin and transparent.

During the British rule, skilled weavers of Bengal attained worldwide fame for their Muslin weaved with locally produced cotton and it was branded as the Dhakai Muslin, it said.

The finest sort of Muslin was made of ‘phuti’ cotton, which was grown in certain localities on the banks of the River Sitalakhya.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on October 2014 gave instructions to the textiles and jute ministry for taking steps to revive the muslin industry.

The ministry is now implementing a project to revive the muslin fabric.

The West Bengal Khadi and Village Industry Board also applied to the office of the Geographical Indications Registry of India for GI tag for Bengal muslin in November 18, 2019 and the application is now at the pre-examination level.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka rivers shoreline beautification project continues apace. Currently this concerns shorelines of BurhiGanga, Balu and Turag rivers around Dhaka. Improvements include walkways & trails along reinforced RCC pilings, childrens' play areas, amphitheaters, wide stairways, other entertainment areas etc.

Current situation is far from optimal, shorelines covered with garbage and taken over by small boats plying people across rivers in uncontrolled fashion.

BIWTA (Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority) is now controlled by a deputed Navy administrator (Commodore Ghulam Sadeque) and he is responsible for most of the changes.


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## Bilal9

Star Porcelain is a new venture from legacy parent company Star Ceramics. They make ultra-durable (some are stackable) porcelain ware mainly for the European restaurant (some are whiteware, others are not), hospitality and catering industry and are the first factory in Bangladesh to use the services of French tableware designers. French tableware designers are very closely aligned with their clients on the other side, highly-rated chefs in three star Michelin-rated restaurants, which are a hallmark of fine dining quality for Haute Cuisine restaurants in Europe.


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## Bilal9

Bangladesh Furniture Industry was always inward focused, but exports have been increasing steadily.

Local Brands are always being launched locally and one of them is "ISHO", which is sort of equivalent as a mini IKEA brand, targeted at tastes of younger adults and new families with modern designs.

https://www.facebook.com/ishobd/?tn-str=k*F





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=393823414551165


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## SpaceMan18

Just some Metro Rail news , heard they will delay it til June of 2022 sighs  

Ngl the train cars look pretty good , but I wish the sides of the train had some LCD displays. 

For ex , this is a NYC subway R160 with LCD displays on the side ( rode this train couple of times ngl it's my favorite)


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## Bilal9

One industry I have covered in the past, and don't do so much nowadays is the female related fashion/decor/event-planning industry in Bangladesh. This is rapidly changing the face of womens' clothing locally and other fields like event planning. Some examples (some in Bengali/English).


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## Bilal9

FMC Dockyard CTG launched a Multi Purpose Passenger Vessel (Large Catamaran) recently.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=836672517171817





Some of there builds from a few years ago,





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=590275764875860





Other builds in progress,



























































Dockyard employee lounge





Site office

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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh Startup Ecosystem- The Untapped Digital Goldmine of Asia*






*Bangladesh startup ecosystem is coming of age riding on key drivers:

Strong Economy Vitals for Startups: *Tech adaptable young population *62%+ under 35 *years, *164 million *people (*8th largest *in the world) with high density (1200 people/Sq Km). *Middle class growing at 10% per annum *to reach* 34 million by 2025*, *98% *mobile phone connection*, 62% *internet penetration, *102 million+ *people on the internet with *94 million *mobile internet penetration. The pandemic has also accelerated the use of ICT technology, including digital commerce, education, healthcare, agriculture.

*Demographic Bulge with the Right Skill-sets: *The country generates 5,000+ IT graduates each year is creating a strong group of entrepreneurial waves focused on solving critical problems, including those during the pandemic. The country’s *median age of 27.9 years *means more young people are willing to take risks and explore innovations in the economy. With limited opportunities from STEM graduates (due to the absence of large scale industrialization except for RMG/Textile, which is still more labor-intensive than automation) – they are looking into forming ICT enabled companies and Startups. NRBs (Non-Resident Bangladeshis) are also returning, bringing in both investment capital and knowledge remittance.

*Bangladesh Startup Ecosystem at an Inflection Point: *The Bangladesh Entrepreneurship Ecosystem is at an inflection point with an excess of *U$ 200 million* in international investments from big-name corporate investors and venture capitals, investing in industries like FinTech, Logistics, and Mobility over the last four years. The emergence of active Angel Investment Networks, Impact Investing, host of local and international operating accelerators/ incubators propelled *1,000+ active Startups*, generating *1.5 million+ employment *– embracing products and services of Startups as part of the country’s everyday life. Additionally, B-SEC (Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission) has also approved small-cap stock exchange guidelines, which is a big step towards providing investors with Startup exits.

*Government Support:* The Government of Bangladesh deployed the National ICT Policy in 2009 to become Digital Bangladesh by 2021. Government policies and projects from the ICT Ministry, such as IDEA Project and Startup Bangladesh Limited with 100 crore BDT (*U$ 11.5 Million*) funds, are taken to improve the local startup ecosystem. Additionally, GoB is setting up 28+ Hi-Tech Parks, including infrastructure support like data centers, to support technology companies.

*COVID-19 Impact:* Since March 2020, the country and all its businesses and startups have been affected drastically by the COVID-19 disruption. 24% of companies reported to have stopped operations, with *56% of startups seen at least a 50% drop on revenue generation*. 60% of Startups have runway less than three months threatening 1.5 million employment and an annual loss of over U$ 53 Million in 2020. The disruption, however, is *also propelling accelerated adoption of digital services *with Digital Financial Services, Logistics, and Grocery on-demand, EdTech, HealthTech seeing steep growth.

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> *Bangladesh Startup Ecosystem- The Untapped Digital Goldmine of Asia*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Bangladesh startup ecosystem is coming of age riding on key drivers:
> 
> Strong Economy Vitals for Startups: *Tech adaptable young population *62%+ under 35 *years, *164 million *people (*8th largest *in the world) with high density (1200 people/Sq Km). *Middle class growing at 10% per annum *to reach* 34 million by 2025*, *98% *mobile phone connection*, 62% *internet penetration, *102 million+ *people on the internet with *94 million *mobile internet penetration. The pandemic has also accelerated the use of ICT technology, including digital commerce, education, healthcare, agriculture.
> 
> *Demographic Bulge with the Right Skill-sets: *The country generates 5,000+ IT graduates each year is creating a strong group of entrepreneurial waves focused on solving critical problems, including those during the pandemic. The country’s *median age of 27.9 years *means more young people are willing to take risks and explore innovations in the economy. With limited opportunities from STEM graduates (due to the absence of large scale industrialization except for RMG/Textile, which is still more labor-intensive than automation) – they are looking into forming ICT enabled companies and Startups. NRBs (Non-Resident Bangladeshis) are also returning, bringing in both investment capital and knowledge remittance.
> 
> *Bangladesh Startup Ecosystem at an Inflection Point: *The Bangladesh Entrepreneurship Ecosystem is at an inflection point with an excess of *U$ 200 million* in international investments from big-name corporate investors and venture capitals, investing in industries like FinTech, Logistics, and Mobility over the last four years. The emergence of active Angel Investment Networks, Impact Investing, host of local and international operating accelerators/ incubators propelled *1,000+ active Startups*, generating *1.5 million+ employment *– embracing products and services of Startups as part of the country’s everyday life. Additionally, B-SEC (Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission) has also approved small-cap stock exchange guidelines, which is a big step towards providing investors with Startup exits.
> 
> *Government Support:* The Government of Bangladesh deployed the National ICT Policy in 2009 to become Digital Bangladesh by 2021. Government policies and projects from the ICT Ministry, such as IDEA Project and Startup Bangladesh Limited with 100 crore BDT (*U$ 11.5 Million*) funds, are taken to improve the local startup ecosystem. Additionally, GoB is setting up 28+ Hi-Tech Parks, including infrastructure support like data centers, to support technology companies.
> 
> *COVID-19 Impact:* Since March 2020, the country and all its businesses and startups have been affected drastically by the COVID-19 disruption. 24% of companies reported to have stopped operations, with *56% of startups seen at least a 50% drop on revenue generation*. 60% of Startups have runway less than three months threatening 1.5 million employment and an annual loss of over U$ 53 Million in 2020. The disruption, however, is *also propelling accelerated adoption of digital services *with Digital Financial Services, Logistics, and Grocery on-demand, EdTech, HealthTech seeing steep growth.




This is great but one issue , Bangladesh needs wayyy better infrastructure to be able to support any new ideas that will come it's way. Amazon was able to succeed cause of American infrastructure and it eventually grew to become major.


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## mb444

Bilal9 said:


> Local speculators snap up industrial land before the planning for industry even starts.
> 
> For example I can tell you that my extended family members own ancestral land in the Savar area, those parcels have skyrocketed ever since they started industrializing that area initially a decade ago.
> 
> More recently this has happened near Payra and Matarbari port areas where EPZs/SEZs are planned.
> 
> Pricing varies per location and demand. I am not in touch with this, you have to contact someone in Dhaka.



In dhaka proper the cost of a khata of land (about 720 sq feet) would start from 30 lakh or 3 million taka upwards for the very cheapest, anywhere reasonable around 8m per khata and upscale areas around 100m per khata...

Surroundings dhaka will start at 2 million taka upwards.

Cheapest land in BD anywhere in BD would be about 1 million per khata minimum.

I

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## Bilal9

Govt. mulling over raising the CC displacement limit of motorcycles from existing 165 cc to possibly 250cc or more. after IFAD Autos proposes assembly of Royal Enfield and other larger engine Bikes locally. Most proponents say the displacement limits should be abolished altogether. Existing investors who invested in smaller displacement motorbike assembly want some time to adjust.


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## Bilal9

Mirsarai BangaBandhu Industrial Park detailed plan


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## Bilal9

Kuril Highway Interchange - Dhaka

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## Bilal9

Shahjalal airport 3rd Terminal Construction Update (will look like S'pore Changi newer terminals when done)


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## Bilal9

Still not up to Indian standards but getting there. Our well-off people don't ride trains.

Subarna Express (DAC-CTG)





Mohanganj Express (DAC-Mymensingh-Netrokona)


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## Bilal9

Rail history in Bangladesh is ancient. During the British Raj period, the British Govt. established railways in different parts of Bangladesh and India to collect various resources from different regions of these regions. These railroads were then the only rapid way to go from one end of the country to the other. In fact, the entire Indian subcontinent was connected by railways. At that time a railway factory was set up at Saidpur in the present Nilphamari district, which is still operational. The city of Saidpur was the center of this railway factory, whose economic importance has been increasing over time.


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## Bilal9

New Mid-rises above 25 stories in Dhaka, quite a few.

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## Bilal9

Couple of stories on the Restaurant and food service sector in Dhaka
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*Arsalan Ahmed | Connecting Cultures: One Flavour at a Time*
_by_ ICE TODAY

One of the three Peyala locations (interior)










Wandering around the world in a quest for getting his palate tantalised, Arsalan Ahmed’s love for food seems eternal. A foodie since childhood, Arsalan is now working towards his passion for food for over four years. Currently working with local chain restaurant Peyala, he shares his plans for a post-pandemic era. Here’s what he shared with ICE Today and much more!

*What intrigued you to become a foodie? Any memorable childhood or travel memories?*
I’ve always enjoyed the food and yes, its cliche. Since I was a kid (a rather overweight one), from binging on Biriyani and Burgers to exploring many new flavours around the globe, food has always been and still is, the one thing myself and my family delve into. I think the most memorable childhood food memory is to be able to share the moment of enjoying good food with family and friends.

*What is the most rewarding aspect of being a globe trotter? Do you think that aspect of being a traveller is threatened right now due to the pandemic?*
I wouldn’t call myself a globe trotter, but I most definitely miss travelling. The most rewarding aspect of travelling is to see how cuisine comes without borders and how it connects people from different backgrounds with different stories.

The majority of the world came to a halt a few months ago. As everything’s slowly reopening, I’m sure many people, including myself, are looking forward to border restrictions getting lifted. Since our customers can’t travel to explore different cuisines and flavours, we will continue to bring that to them at Peyala cafe. We’ve been able to deep dive into several cuisines and remake iconic dishes by learning from the locals.


*




What attracts you most while visiting a new city? The people, the culture, or the shopping scene?*



Most definitely, the food and the culture.
*Please give us a lowdown about the current projects you are working on. How do you plan to proceed in the post-COVID era considering all the existing challenges?*





I’m currently working with a local restaurant chain called Peyala Cafe. Currently, we have three stores and have plans to expand our reach in the future.

Our concept is based on the travelling and global food scene. From the spicy shores of Chittagong’s Beef Bhuna to the Hawker Centers in Singapore serving up Satays, it could all be packed in a day’s travel. We take popular items from different cuisines and put them in a Wrap or a Salad Bowl with the add-ons and dressings of the customer’s choice, so there are that collaboration and a bit of ‘DIY’ that adds to the whole experience.

We just re-launched dine-in, but it’s not the same as it was before. We’ve taken strict precautionary measures and were among the first restaurants to close down, to keep our staff and customers safe. We plan on continuing to push the boundary and try to recreate the experience more safely. The DIY experience has entirely been digitized, thanks to the Peyala App that has been running for a year.







We have also set a limit on the number of guests per table; we’re even providing pick-ups and drop-offs for our colleagues to commute safely.

Other policies and procedures have been placed to ensure the safety of our customers and colleagues at every outlet, and of course, be able to satisfy every single diner.

As far as our management team goes, everything’s been digitized as well. We just launched a whole new Burger line not too long ago. Usually, we’d be visiting our Test Kitchen to conduct R&D sessions and experiment with different recipes, ingredients and taste test.

However, this time around, due to the current circumstances, we had to dial in on Zoom to work on our biggest launch of the year. And yes, we’ve faced challenges and will continue to do so, but it’s just a matter of keeping our head up to ensure we keep delivering a high-quality product to our customers.


*In the post-COVID world, do you think foodies will enjoy their food in a restaurant with the same ease they used to do it earlier? How can restaurants work to offer them the same feelings?*





I don’t believe we can ultimately go back to normal, at least not until there’s a vaccine. For now, we have to be careful and responsible as our actions and whereabouts may affect our loved ones around us.

And it’s the restaurants’ responsibility to ensure there is safe distancing, constant disinfecting and sanitization of surfaces and utensils, masks being worn by staff and also guests as they enter until they’re at least seated. All of us must have more patience as we go through this uncertain time.

*What’s your vision with the ventures you look after in Bangladesh?*





Arsalan Ahmed with Gaggan Anand at the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards. The latter earned Michelin stars and was awarded Best Restaurant in Asia a handful of times.

The vision is to see Peyala cafe as an extension to every Dhaka citizen’s life.

We know a lot is going on in everyone’s lives, so we want to create that environment where they can come in for a cup of Cha, maybe some food, listen to some tunes and escape from the madness. We intend to have every single customer that walks into an outlet have the full Peyala experience.

One of our core values is to provide the best product possible. By product, we don’t only mean the food and beverages, but also the warmth of our service and the ambience.

*Any plan for global expansion of business? It depends, you know?*
We’ve got three stores and a couple more coming up. But we have had Non-Resident Bangladeshis appreciate our food and more so the ambience, especially when they still can’t believe it’s a homegrown brand! Only time will tell, but a great response from our customers will give us the courage to consider taking Peyala international.

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*Peyala Café — A cup of delight*











Ashif Ahmed Rudro

Have you ever felt a sudden craving for a good cup of coffee, or a soothing cup of tea out of nowhere?

You are not alone. We have all been there, but sadly, more often than not, our need for a delightful hot beverage is not met either because we cannot find the proper place to sit down, or because we could not pick a suitable snack that goes with it.
The wonderful news is that Peyala café is prepared to greet you and meet your need for a light meal, even a heavier one as well should you feel the strong bite of hunger.

Peyala Café has three outlets at the moment throughout Dhaka city, with a flagship café at Gulshan Avenue, overseeing Banani Lake and opposite to Gulshan Club. The first thing you will notice is its modern design, with the glass walls allowing plenty of natural light to enter the establishment creating a soothing sense of freedom that is rather uncommon in most restaurants.

There is a sitting area up the stairs, which will surely remind you of a crow’s nest — Ship’s lookout point — and you can enjoy your snacks up there in privacy. And the subtle decorations of the ongoing festival hold a promise to cheer you up.

You will notice the latest pop music playing in the background in a light tone, complemented with a strong coffee or any one of their breakfast items will boost you for your day.

For those of you who like brunch, you can find even the breakfast items at any time of the day.

What’s more interesting about this café is that instead of having a hard and rigid menu, they have the basics on their menu such as wraps, salads, and rice bowls. But, every time you go there, you are likely to find a different taste as they rotate their ‘flavour of the day’ regularly. Currently, they are hosting multiple cuisines from different regions which include, but are not limited to, Indian, Mexican, Italian, English, Thai and so on. And every day, there is a different flavour for the day.

“We want people to be pleasantly surprised,” pointed out Arsalan Ahmed, senior brand executive of Peyala.

Of course, a café would not be complete without desserts and they are very confident about their gulab jamun cheesecake and six-layered Nutella cake.

But that is just the icing on the cake (or cup?). The real exciting addition is their newest launch of the ‘high tea.’ This is a very British approach, with the creative idea of serving everything in a large cup which will have three different layers, each layer embedded with either desserts or snacks. And do not forget about the tea as they have a number of options available for you to pick from.






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*Opulent Oasis- Smith’s Caffe Regalo

A little European style upscale boutique cafe suddenly seemed to bloom at Progress Tower, Gulshan-1. The space that previously held a flower-gift shop went through a minimal facelift to now house the welcoming Smith’s Caffe Regalo.*




Smith’s gives off a strong contemporary vibe with the bright colour palette interspaced with black and matte gold. Yet, the cafe was designed with enough care that it retains a significant aura of elegance.

The establishment is a small nook, about 1000 sq ft altogether. Use of ample lighting and splashes of white everywhere gives the illusion that it’s larger. The white shelves running across the cafe showcases handcrafted ceramics, artwork, handmade espresso machines etc. which help to give the interior some extra personality.




































The focus of the interior is perhaps the sprawling retro wooden counter, but let’s not overlook the vintage iron table bases either.

But this specific nook is really eye-catching because of its exterior which is the smoking zone. Clever sitting arrangement and potted plants aside, the classic lighting that look like old gas lamps really gives this cafe that vintage European look. The custom made zig-zag awning is an absolute show-stopper.

A surprising fact is that this cafe came into being only a month after conceptualization, which is no small feat.


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## Bilal9

More places to have a bite in Dhaka, I find it nice to cover this, won't be able to do it in real life now for sure...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Retreat amidst the Hustle – The Courtyard at Park Heights

The Courtyard at Park Heights restaurant located in the heart of Dhanmondi brings a rare retreat amidst the daily hustle and bustle. It has two significant functions: an art gallery and a multi-concept restaurant. The lounge-inspired space also serves as an ideal venue to display paintings and sculptures during exhibitions. With a rock pool beside the gallery, the eatery combines an environment that is alluring and intimate.*





The Courtyard at Park Heights is the second restaurant project of Bay Developments Ltd.

The venture began its journey back in 1990 by architect Iftekhar A. Khan. With a team of hundreds of members, today Bay has footprints in real estate business, building maintenance and logistics, F & B projects, and as well fine art ventures.

The Courtyard at Park Heights was launched in October 2019 and its interior design is done by InterStudio, Bay’s in-house design team. Since its launch, it has become a go-to destination for the Dhanmondi locals that bring together the passion for food and art with an exciting ambience.

Covering 5,200 square feet, the restaurant includes spacious seating, kitchen, drink station and an exclusive courtyard. As soon the guests enter the restaurant, they indulge in the panoramic experience. Its open-plan has large and spacious seating arrangements, surrounded by gardens, an open courtyard, murals, gallery walls and all the essential amenities.

In the day time, diffused natural light is borrowed from the glass-covered patio.














> The designers also took advantage of the view to the south- palm trees swaying against the southern sky above the park next door.


“We aimed to create a pleasant destination that combined a chic eatery with a patio that doubled as a sculpture gallery. We set the tone with a surprise water feature, to help guests transit from the busy street into this retreat”, says Saffat Sanin, lead architect of InterStudio.

“We went for an urban-chic theme, by offsetting the hard-grey of the fair face concrete structure with the soft salmon of recycled handmade bricks.

Then we tied the whole thing together with a dark grey acid finish. Finally, some handpicked plants and shrubbery was added to set the mood for sunshine or rain, and cool winter evenings,” the architect continues.














> Sitting in a garden with a view of the sky; with works of art hanging amidst greenery and flowers, guests can relish on the varied delightful cuisines of the Courtyard.













One can start with the Bengali street food, served up with a twist or some fusion Dim Sum. Others may enjoy the exotic Asian noodle bowls with an authentic touch of Thai and Schezwan. For more homely tastes, one can try the continental classics as well as Old Dhaka’s famous ‘mutton kosha’ and ‘kala bhuna’ with ‘jeera rice’. The Courtyard is the perfect choice expressing the coalescence of space and purpose, transporting the guests into a surprise retreat.
The main dining area is given a minimalist gallery look and feel. The designers concentrated on getting the cooling and lighting just right for the diners and channelled their budget towards the rich teakwood and high-quality solid surface for the endless bar area for hygiene and durability. Some coloured upholstered pieces are positioned in two areas to soften up the lines and give that welcoming all-day coffee shop look. Great care was taken to plan the flow of incoming fresh supplies, proper storage and hygienic services. The back of the house and the dining areas have been separated with an L-shaped service bar and digital art which gives a backdrop of subtle colours and patterns to the service activity.


















The design team further shared that the lighting design had been a challenge when the interiors needed to compete with the natural light of the patio. Essentially, a clever and variable ambient lighting system was adopted that modulates from the bright daytime settings to the night, as well highlights variable surfaces, while focusing on each of the artworks in the studio.

Another major challenge for the design team was to use materials that would be one of a kind and which had to be built on-site with the desired physical qualities. In order to do so, the team had to go through rigorous sampling until they found the perfect match. Although the process was time-consuming, it was worth it in the end.

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*Inside look at Ajo Idea Space

In conversation with Khalid Mahmud*

Foysal Mahmud Niloy






Khalid Mahmud. Photo: STAR

_Khalid Mahmud, Owner of Ajo Idea Spcae, speaks to The Daily Star about the story behind the origins of Ajo, Which has especially picked up distinction for its unique establishment. He talks about his journey from being an artist to creating a tranquil idea space in Dhaka and how he has managed to overcome tough competition in recent years through his eccentric architecture style and distinctive ways of management._

*1. Ajo has established itself as a thought leader in revolutionizing how a restaurant should operate in Dhaka, focusing not only on food, but also providing a different ambience for its consumers. How did the inspiration strike you?*

I had a couple inspiration. I wanted to contribute in reality, not only on the surface level. I wanted to connect with people in reality with a simple thing outside my artistic work. I traveled in a lot of countries because of my art and I saw how people in some countries valued every single job as essential. So, when a lot of people told me not to go into this business, out of fear or laughter, I did not get frazzled by their words. I found the idea of opening up a place where people can come, relax and even brainstorm ideas in an ideal place very comforting and simple.

My family business was food as well. My family has been in the business of food for nearly 60 years. Growing up, I saw my father work in his small local bakery for a long time and saw him being happy where he was. I wanted to urbanize his idea of delivering quality food and keep the legacy of our food business alive through Ajo.









*2. What challenges did you face initially?*

My background was not something related to food or the restaurant business. But, when I was constructing Ajo, I realized that it did not fall into a restaurant category, we were more in relax dining and fine casual category. I wanted to focus on the space more, because this was the bigger part of our story, food is just a small part. We wanted to create a place for you to create memories, because food is something that you don't remember quite often.

We wanted focus on creating a space where you will come with your friends and family and create wonderful memories. Next, we wanted to focus on our pricing. Anyone can procure coffee and sell them, the main thing is to give the best quality of coffee in a price where most people could afford it and we can sustain our business as well. Designing a process of delivering quality food at an affordable price is more important than designing interior.

We wanted to keep our interior simple, keep the price of food right and provide quality food. And if you look at our interior, furniture's and everything, it is all refurbished items that we have collected to make it more environmentally friendly. Metals that were thrown away, wood boards from old ships and other things have been refurbished and made into materials that we can use in our restaurant and make it environmentally sustainable, organic and simple.







*3. Ajo has managed to stay as one of the hangout spots in Dhaka for many years now. How did you manage to keep it relevant for so long in an age where consumers rapidly move on to newer things?*

I don't like to think that I have competitors. Competitor word belongs to a kind of a war mentality. I just want my space to exist and work in a sustainable way. Newer restaurants are more and more getting dependent in their interior, flashiness and other stuff that are constantly increasing their operational cost. As a result, they are increasing the price of their food as well, which in turn is discouraging the customers to come.

I try to cut back on those operational costs through new innovations and try to keep my prices constant so that customers don't hesitate to come to my restaurant by looking at the prices. I don't use AC in Ajo because the architectural design of Ajo is done in a way that there is constant air flow within the restaurant and it is saving me thousands of Taka every month. Simple design, interior, tranquility and quality food will drive the customers in no matter what.

I also try to treat my employees as colleagues rather than employees and make them feel a part of my establishments. They are always paid on time, their medical expenses is taken care of if they get into an accident and I even rented them an apartment to stay together.

*4. What are the steps you have taken for your restaurants to adopt to the new normal?*






Our business policies of cutting cost and not over extending our operational costs have helped us in keeping our business afloat during the pandemic. We have trained the people who worked in Ajo through the help of health expert as to how to maintain the health safety measures during the pandemic.

We also constantly share videos from YouTube about this matter within our working group. We also have hand sanitizers in all the tables for the safety of our customers and the whole establishment is constantly being clean as well. We use Evaporator Machines as well where we use a certain chemical that travels through the air to kill germs in the vicinity.

*5. We have seen a lot of people trying their hands in different cuisine during the lockdown. Any advice for the aspiring Chefs/home cooks of Dhaka?*

My advice for them is to completely go for it. Jump at any opportunity they can get their hands on. Because we don't have enough Job for the people who are graduating every year. Hence, they need to use these opportunities to make their own establishments or earning source.

Online is a place where it is very easy to market products. So, Young Entrepreneurs should make use of these opportunities for the betterment of themselves. Lastly, I would say for them to love this city. If you love your city, treat it kindly, it will love you back.







*6. We know you are not someone to stay quiet for long. Any exciting news for coming anytime soon?*







Next for us is to make a new Ajo, with a new architect and a new language. But we are yet to decide on a place where we could construct it. We have a foundation as well, which is called "Satori", which is a meditation practice & research establishment. So we are now doing meditation as well, apart from food and gastronomy. So, if you're looking for peace in your mind and soul, you can seek Satori out.

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh's largest solar power plant was inaugurated in Mymensingh recently. The government is putting more emphasis on power generation by using renewable energy to maintain the balance of the environment. To meet the demand for electricity, 95 per cent work of the country's largest solar power project at Mymensingh's Gauripur has been completed, now awaiting inauguration.

26,000 mounting piles have been installed in a solar power plant on 164 acres of land in Bhangnamari village on the banks of the Brahmaputra river. 183,000 solar panels have been installed. These panels will generate 50 MW of electricity per day through 332 inverters. The generated power will be connected to the national grid within the next three months through Kewatkhali power substation.

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## Bilal9

Bus Route Rationalization | Uplift Bangladesh

Company based bus service will be launched in Dhaka in March The bus owners' chaos is coming to an end

The Dhaka City Corporations are finally launching company-based bus service in Dhaka. In all, 22 companies will operate buses on 42 routes. The first route is Ghatarchar-Motijheel-Kanchpur.

An initial list of 206 buses have been drawn up for the routes, which are now being operated by three companies. The joint venture formed with these companies will be in charge of management.

According to the plan, the company will run six-color buses in Dhaka. The colors are pink, blue, maroon, orange, green, purple. The buses on Ghatarchar-Motijheel-Kanchpur route will be green. The two city corporations of Dhaka are planning to launch the route on the first day of Boishakh or any day in April.

Video shows a planned inter-district bus services terminal outside Dhaka connecting long distance and local buses and waterways.






City corporation meeting detailing decisions in Bengali.

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## Bilal9

Rangs Babylonia is a uniquely done structure in the middle of Gulshan.


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## Bilal9

Keraniganj Flyover (Highway Interchange) is partially open.


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## Bilal9

Recent Dhaka updates, sorry Bengali only.

Dhaka Metro Rail Depot and Station Infra proceeding apace. Coach maintenance and storage facilities visible at 2:00.






Airport road infra (near Kurmitola) being fixed up.

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## Bilal9

Automated Hollow Brick, Hollow Block, Erosion control block, Pavers, embossed block and Curbstone manufacturing in Bangladesh


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## Bilal9

Justice Shahabuddin Park, Gulshan, Dhaka

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail update from Somoy TV


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## Bilal9

*Business Report, January 25, 2021*
(Bengali)

In this episode- 

1. In the first six months of the financial year, the revenue income fell short of the target by Tk 31,000 crore; Realization is good, says NBR ... 

2. Chinese traders urged govt. to reduce time and cost of transporting goods; Wants easy business environment and security ... 

3. Target 4 billion in ship exports in 2025; Policy Approval ... 

#BusinessReportBD


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## Bilal9

Some recently launched Arhcitectural projects,

Ventura Properties

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## Bilal9

Recently launched Private University Campuses (increasingly, these are outside Dhaka City limits).

*Northern University Permanent Campus, Ashiyan City




*







*UITS Campus, Badda












Shanto Mariam University of Creative Technology, Uttara Third Phase






Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Academic & Administrative Building, Savar*

20 storied building



































*Eastern University Permanent Campus, Ashulia*





AIUB (American International University-Bangladesh) campus, Kuril, Dhaka.

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## Bilal9

Another story about empowering women entrepreneurs in Dhaka


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## Indos

@Bilal9 Look like Dhaka still has some green land, I wonder whether the land will be used for construction development or will be some kind of green park ?


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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> @Bilal9 Look like Dhaka still has some green land, I wonder whether the land will be used for construction development or will be some kind of gree park ?



Newer areas will feature some open areas for planned recreation hopefully. Like this,






But the level of greed in the mind of real estate developers is very high. Developers mainly launder black money to make it legit in real estate ventures. 

But there is active civil society (some architects and urban planners in that group) that has fought to retain green areas and reclaim recreational space. Some of these areas (parks, walking trails) have been renovated recently. Dhaka is actually surrounded by water bodies, the municipal authorities are now digging these natural water bodies so water drainage occurs naturally.

This is a park in Gulshan, a Northern suburb of Dhaka. Nothing compared to Jakarta, but much better than how it was ten years ago.






This is a typical neighborhood recreation area, but as you can see, not a lot of open area, space is at a premium and it is expensive.

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## Mohamed Bin Tughlaq

Indos said:


> @Bilal9 Look like Dhaka still has some green land, I wonder whether the land will be used for construction development or will be some kind of green park ?



Bangel lands are green-forest climate if I am not mistaken?


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## Bilal9

Mohamed Bin Tughlaq said:


> Bangel lands are green-forest climate if I am not mistaken?



Yes it rains very heavily around three months out of the year. Humid weather - so trees/bushes are everywhere. Very Green.

However in the winter (November through February/March weather is quite pleasant and humidity pretty low - like Southern California. It is dusty and rather dry during winter months.


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## The Ronin



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## Bilal9

Recently announced Upper Middle Class Multi-Family Residential Projects...

*INNSTAR METROPOLIS 8 (typical 8 story condo complex)*







*SEL Tower, Dhanmondi (typical 14 story condo complex)






Upcoming Navana Real Estate Projects*

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## Bilal9

Payra Bridge (Suspension Bridge) is almost 50% completed. This is supposed to connect Payra port with Dhaka.






Wintry fog near Abdullahpur on the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway











Dhaka-Mawa Expressway as it ascends the twin bridges on the Dhaleshwari river

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## Destranator

*Why Bangladesh has beaten India in export growth*

*Bloomberg*
31 January, 2021, 10:55 am
Last modified: 31 January, 2021, 11:04 am
Bangladesh has beaten India on exports in the past decade, and the Economic Survey 2021 explains why.
Bangladesh exports posted a compounded annual growth rate of 8.6% over 2011-2019 versus India's export growth of 0.9% and a world average of 0.4%, the survey said.
This outperformance, the survey said, is because Bangladesh "exports those commodities in which it has competitive advantage".
Based on 2017-19 data, the survey showed that four of the top five export commodities, in terms of share and value, are items in which Bangladesh has the largest revealed comparative advantage. Whereas, none of the export commodities in which India has highest RCA is among its top export commodities.
India's top RCA export commodities are mainly labour-intensive such as cotton, carpets and other textiles, etc. (second quadrant in the chart), while India exports more of capital-intensive products such as transport equipment, machinery and mechanical appliances (fourth quadrant in the chart), etc.
For Bangladesh, the top five export commodities such as textiles and apparels, footwear, etc account for more than 90% of total exports since 2015. These are highly labour-intensive and employs unskilled and semi-skilled labour.
India, on the other hand, the survey said, has more broad-based exports. The top five export commodities contribute to 40% of overall exports. And these commodities are capital and technology-intensive such as transport equipment, machinery and mechanical appliances, etc




As a result, Bangladesh witnessed its share in world exports increase from 0.1% in 2011 to 0.3% in 2019. This "holds lessons for India to build specialisation in products in which it is competitive", the survey said.










Why Bangladesh has beaten India in export growth


Bangladesh has beaten India on exports in the past decade, and the Economic Survey 2021 explains why. Bangladesh exports posted a compounded annual growth rate of 8.6% over 2011-2019 versus India's export growth of 0.9% and a world average of 0.4%, the survey said. This outperformance, the...




tbsnews.net

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## Destranator

*Why Bangladesh recovered better than its South Asian neighbours*

*Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem*
05 February, 2021, 12:10 pm
Last modified: 05 February, 2021, 12:14 pm





The success of the Bangladesh economy rests on the contribution of the 3Rs - ‘Rice’, ‘RMG’ and ‘Remittance’





Recovery in major industries like RMG will dictate the rate at which Bangladesh economy can return to its original growth trend
The recent UNDESA report, released on January 25, found that the GDP growth rate for Bangladesh fell to 0.5 percent in 2020 from 8.4 percent in 2019 when measured in terms of a calendar year. However, the growth rate has been estimated at 4.3 percent for the FY 2019-20 and 5.1 percent for FY 2020-21. 
On the other hand, estimates from the World Bank and the IMF projected the growth rate for the FY 2019-20 to be 2 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively. Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) estimated the GDP growth rate for fiscal year 2020 to be at best 2.5 percent. However, all of these estimates also held Bangladesh as a better performing economy, compared to its South Asian counterparts. 
Why do different estimates project a different GDP growth rate?
Generally, the GDP growth estimates prepared by the government (i.e., Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics based on data collected by its field surveyors) is the most robust. However, there always seems to be some degree of controversy regarding the reliability of these estimates, at least in the case of Bangladesh, due to alleged administrative intervention in the process. 
For example, the finance minister in his budget speech for FY2021 projected the GDP growth in FY 2019-20 to be at 5.2 percent. The budget documents portrayed an estimated overall drop in investment to 12.5 percent of GDP in projecting this GDP growth. However, private investment-GDP ratio, as shown in Bangladesh Economic Review 2020 was astonishingly high, in comparison to the last year (23.6 percent vis-à-vis 23.5 percent in FY2019). 
How did the two official sources portray opposite data regarding private investment while keeping the GDP growth rate at the same level? Astonishingly, the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected the second half of the fiscal year of 2020 (January-June, 2020) and severely during the last quarter (April-June, 2020) did not have any impact in growth in private investment (9.58 percent in FY20 vs. 9.62 percent in FY19). Such inconsistencies and discrepancies in public data have severely damaged the reliability of data of the national accounts and other important economic indicators. 
Such inconsistencies in data collection and estimation, may encourage concerned parties to seek alternate sources (e.g., World Bank, IMF, ADB etc.) for a reliable estimation of growth rate. It is worth mentioning that these sources generally depend on historical data of public accounts in order to make projections on economic performance. 
To accommodate a prompt analysis of the economy, they rely on projection models based on available data. The methodology adopted in these projections and subsequent estimations is widely regarded as broadly acceptable, among the international community. Based on this estimation, pertinent stakeholders like investors, development organisations, academia, think tanks etc. do their analysis on the national economy, draw their conclusions and adapt their strategies and plan accordingly. 
These models generally incorporate crucial assumptions based on which the projections are estimated. These assumptions often vary from one organisation to another, resulting in marginally divergent projected GDP growth rate. These projections are, therefore, considered indicative, instead of an accurate assessment of the economy, as expected from the government. 
However, there are times when there is considerable deviancy in the projections of different organisations like ADB, World Bank, etc. This may happen during times of uncertainty or shock, when it is difficult to manage assumptions during such periods, and organisations may adopt drastically differing assumptions in evaluating the state of an economy. 
Irrespective of the differences, all of these organisations applauded Bangladesh for its exemplary performance during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in comparison to fellow South Asian countries. 
Why Bangladesh had a better recovery compared to other South Asian countries
Structurally, there are some fundamental characteristic differences between the economy of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. These divergent, context-specific circumstances interact in different manners, especially during times of uncertainty and affect economies in different ways.
A moderate level of stability in macroeconomic condition during the time of crisis is a major supporting factor to quickly address the challenges. In the context of Covid-like crisis, the economy is structurally more balanced compared to other South Asian economies where distribution of employment is still biased to agriculture. 
For instance, Bangladesh's economy is dependent on the agriculture, manufacturing and services sector differently, on different accounts. More specifically, the success of Bangladesh economy is regarded as the contribution of '3Rs' which include 'Rice', 'RMG' and 'Remittance'. In terms of employment, the agricultural sector plays a vital role in the economy. On the other hand, the economy of India and Pakistan are heavily dependent on the agricultural and the service sector. 
However, industries (even the service sector) in Bangladesh are labour intensive, whereas in India, they are more capital intensive and skill-oriented. Thus the scope of employment in India's formal service sector is relatively less. Since the service sector (formal or informal) took a massive hit during the pandemic, it has resulted in economic stagnancy and increasing unemployment. 
Furthermore, economists were talking about the "jobless growth" in India even before the pandemic hit. That is, the rapid growth in India was not being accompanied by a proportionate growth in employment opportunities. The situation only got worse when the lockdown was introduced during the pandemic. 
In comparison, manufacturing, as well as the agricultural sector in Bangladesh, absorbed the pandemic-induced shock quite well. Apart from a few floods, the agricultural sector performed well, which cushioned any major job losses in large industries. 
Furthermore, a sizable fraction of the service sector is informal and does not fall under any institutional infrastructure. When the government took the risk of loosening the lockdown measures, people gradually went back to work and the wheels of the economy began rolling. Fortunately, Covid-19 did not hit Bangladesh as hard as its South Asian counterparts. Consequently, the initiation of the recovery phase for Bangladesh has been comparatively smoother, although complete recovery will require at least another 12 months. 
In the case of Pakistan, the pre-existing huge debt burden has worsened during the time of crisis and hit hard the country's macroeconomic management. Although the country's agriculture remained resilient, the manufacturing industry could not accommodate the employment challenges. The export-oriented industries in Pakistan are not as labour intensive as that of Bangladesh. Overall macroeconomic instability has become costly for Pakistan during the recovery period. 
In general, macroeconomic stability is another important aspect of the recovery phase. Bangladesh had huge foreign reserves as well as stable remittance inflow which provided some form of cushion for the economy. Consequently, development partners could keep their faith in the economy and extended necessary credit support, something Pakistan could not achieve. 
Evaluating the recovery phase for Bangladesh and what more should be done
The UNDESA report suggested that while government stimulus packages may function as a bailout in the short term, it has limited level of impact on the long-term. It has also been said that trade-dependent nations like Bangladesh should prioritise trade in their recovery. To achieve that, trading partners in Europe and the US must resume international trade and economic activities. 
Unfortunately, the recovery process in these countries have been quite stagnant and it may take considerably longer than expected to return to normalcy- something concerning the export-oriented industries in Bangladesh. 
Other emerging economies like India, China, and South Korea are also the destination of billions of dollar worth Bangladeshi exports. These economies are also experiencing similar stagnancy. Under such circumstances, the pace of recovery for Bangladesh will be considerably slower and may require longer time than anticipated. 
It is to be noted that about 3 lakh expatriates have returned home because of Covid-19. An additional 6 lakh to 7 lakh migrants are expected to emigrate to the Middle East and other host countries. The GOB must ensure a smooth migration process for these migrants. Despite all of these efforts, the economic conditions in the Middle Eastern countries as well as other popular destinations for migrants- as determined by oil prices and other relevant indicators- will play a vital role in determining the smoothness of migration for Bangladeshi migrants. 
Government intervention may also be crucial for the recovery period. Most of the initial stimulus packages were aimed at short-term recovery to curb the immediate crisis. When it comes to long-term recovery, stimulus packages should be addressed at smallholder farmers as well as small business holders instead of major industries, especially those that did not receive these earlier. In this context, recently announced stimulus packages targeting SMEs and micro-enterprises are pertinent and using non-bank sources (e.g. MFIs) for providing this subsidised credit is an appropriate measure.
On top of that, the government should partake in employment generation activities like increasing the budget on development projects that could create employment opportunities for thousands of people. The national budget for FY 2020-21 included such projects that would constitute jobs worth 1.12 crore of working hours. 
The GOB recently introduced two such projects with a combined budget of Tk8300 crore. Instead of relying on the private sector, the government should invest on projects like "Amar Gram, Amar Shohor" that focuses on infrastructural development in rural and sub-national areas and employs migrants that either returned from urban areas or abroad as well as unemployed youth. 
Finally, such projects should not be confined to a particular region or type of region (e.g., rural, urban, city corporation etc.) but should rather be introduced throughout the country. Different ministries should develop project proposals for such employment generation activities which could be approved in the next national budget (FY2022).




Golam Moazzem Photo: TBS Illustrations
Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem is a Research Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)











Why Bangladesh recovered better than its South Asian neighbours


The success of the Bangladesh economy rests on the contribution of the 3Rs - ‘Rice’, ‘RMG’ and ‘Remittance’




tbsnews.net

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## Bilal9

Huge 540 KW Chinese DC Motor being overhauled (roller bearing change) in a rolling mills location in Chittagong. Interesting video. At one point - they called the bearing change, "Berating Change".


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## Bilal9

One can take the MV Bay One, a mini cruise ship to St. Martin's Island, the lowest point geographically in Southern Bangladesh. The ship is berthed at the Patenga Waterbus terminal in Chittagong City, and not at Teknaf, which was the take off point for St. Martin before. Ship is equipped with Fin stabilizers, which reduces yawing and rolling in rough seas. Don't mind the bizarre Christmas music by TV morons with sub-par taste.


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## Bilal9

Updates on Padma Rail Link Bridge, building of viaducts has started on BuriGanga and Dhaleshwari rivers.










Updates on Purbachal Expressway Project going from Airport to the suburbias in Purbachal . Flanked on both sides by 100 feet wide canals, walkways, greenery and landscaping.


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## Bilal9

Six Mega Projects in Bangladesh outlined in one video. Sorry Bengali only.

Dohazari-Ramu-Cox's Bazar-Ghumdhum Railway 
Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant 
Padma Bridge 
Padma Rail Connection Project 
Dhaka Metrorail 
Bangabandhu Tunnel - "One City Two Towns" Three and a half kilometer long tunnel is being constructed at the bottom of Karnafuli river to connect Anwara with Chittagong city. China Communications Construction Company is working on the Chinese-funded Bangabandhu Tunnel project. At the beginning of the epidemic, 51 percent of the project was implemented till last March. Progress till December 2020 is 71 percent. In the meantime, excavation work and installation of a ring between two tubes about two and a half kilometers long along the bottom of the river has been completed. The excavation work of the second tube has started on December 12. Work on the project, which was approved in 2015, started at the end of 2016 due to untimely release of funds. The target is to complete the work by December 2022. The total cost of Bangabandhu tunnel has been estimated at Tk. 9,880 crore.

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh Diesel Plant is a CNC lathe and machining center equipped facility that can turn out custom (bespoke) and off-the-shelf forged and machined spares and parts for automotive, Feed Mill, Jute Mill, Dredger and Printing press uses. Their products are generally known by users as having even higher quality than original spares, some of which can no longer be sourced.

The products they make is as diverse as Stainless Steel Concertina wire for warfield/border uses and also molds of various types such as for blow-molded (PET bottles), roto -molded (large water tanks) and injection-molded plastic items (PP/PS/PE toys/furniture).






















Die and Mold (Spinner MVC 1300 3-axis CNC vertical machining center, then shot blasted)










Other than forged and machined items, they also make/assemble various technical infra items for the govt. such as Ambient Water Supply units, Prepaid digital electric meters, Shallow water pumps (medium and heavy duty, both electric and engine driven).

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail Update 2/17/21

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## Bilal9

1st Terminal progress video of Payra Port (third largest port in Bangladesh and one of two new ones). Altogether 5 terminals will be built here at Payra. Terminals will be completed by 2022 and the total container handling capacity for Payra will be 8,00,000 TEUs per year in addition to 2,00,000 tons of general cargo yearly.

In two years' time - Bangladesh will have five large seaports, one of them a deep sea port, capable of servicing mother container vessels.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail Line-5 (Hemayetpur to Bhatara via Mirpur/Banani) Soil testing continues. Line 5 will be next Line after the current Line-6 completes.

Line-5, (like line-6) will be a 20 KM long line but unlike Line-6 will be built in elevated and underground portions and will go from West to East-end of town, with 14 stations altogether.

There will be a total of 5 lines built under the current Dhaka MetroRail plan, which maybe expanded in later stages.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka University TSC (Teacher Student Center) renovation. Good news is that they will NOT demolish the old structure, and will renovate them to modern standards.

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## Bilal9

Details for Dhaka Metrorail Line-6, line-5 and line-1 stations shown below. Line 5 will be partly undergorund as well and Line 1 will be completely underground From Kamalapur Rail complex all the way to Airport. 

Line 6 will be commissioned later this year, line 5 is next, then line 1. Sequence for Lines 5 and 1 may also be reversed, per latest reports.

Line-6 (Project is roughly 24 months late)






Line-5 (Soil test ongoing)






Line-1 (Late Planning Stage)





The Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP) will include the construction of 5 Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) or metro rail lines in Dhaka to be implemented in three phases.

There is an excellent white paper (actually a detailed report) on this.



https://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/sites/default/files/gallagher_urban_transport.pdf



*Line 6:* The construction of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (DMRTDP) which includes the first metro rail line the MRT Line 6 from Uttara to Motijheel is expected to completed by 2019-2020 at the cost of Tk21,000 crore. The Line 6 is a north south line with a total length of 41 kilometre that will eventually connect Uttara to Ashulia and Motijheel to Kamalapur by 2025.

*Line 1:* The second line to be completed will be the MRT Line 1 also a north south line which will connect from Dhaka airport to Kamalapur at first and extended eventually connect Gazipur, Kamalapur to Keraniganj’s Jhilmil Residential Area and Khilkhet to Purbachal Residential Area. Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) has completed a pre-feasibility study which was accepted by Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA). The report says the MRT will reduce the travel time to a mere 23 minutes from Dhaka airport to Kamalapur while going from Purbachal to Kamalapur will take just 39 minutes.

*Line 5:* The third metro rail line is a east west route the MRT Line 5 which will connect from Bulta to Badda with stops at Mirpur, Gabtoli bus terminal, Dhanmondi, Basundhara city mall and Hatirjheel link road at a total length of 35 kilometres. Jica’s feasibility study of the second and third metro rail MRT Line 1 project will be completed by 2016 and construction work will hopefully begin in 2017 and completed by 2025,” said Road Transport Highway Division secretary MAN Siddique.

*Line 2:* The fourth metro rail The MRT Line 2 will be constructed to connect Ashulia, Savar, Gabtoli, Dhaka University, DSCC Nagar Bhaban and Kamalapur at a length of 40 kilometres which will directly connect Dhaka EPZ to Kamalapur ICD.

*Line 4:* The MRT Line 4 will connect Kamalapur to Narayanganj at a length of just 16 kilometre. According to MAN Siddique the fourth and fifth metro rail will be completed by 2035. He also said that certain parts of MRT Line 2, 4 and 5 will be underground.

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## SpaceMan18

Ngl those N scale model trains look cool


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## Bilal9

Rajshahi Street Lights installed recently


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## Bilal9

Karnaphuli Multi-Lane Tunnel Project inside activity

The Karnaphuli Multilane Tunnel is in the port of Chittagong, Bangladesh is a proposed 3.32 kilometer-long, 10 meter-Dia tunnel under the river Karnaphuli.

The tunnel is expected to be completed in 2021, and will be the first of its kind in Bangladesh.

Total length of the tunnel is 3.32 km. including approach road total length of the tunnel is around 9.34km.

One tunnel already completed. 2nd tunnel boring work will start soon.

In this video you will see some technical works of inside of tunnel. CCCC Ltd. is the construction company of this Tunnel.







Some other Karnaphuli Tunnel related videos:

Construction and mortar fill





Wall Segment production


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## Bilal9

New Dhaka Metrorail Hub at Kamalapur won't require demolition of old Station & Terminal Structure





Video Report on Shahjalal 3rd Terminal


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## Bilal9

Keraniganj Flyover Freeway Interchange






Purbachal Central At-grade Intersection - 3D






Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway to be expanded to 10 lane status


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## Bilal9

Madani Avenue with 6 lanes from Gulshan/Baridhara suburbs connecting to Purbachal suburbs.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Elevated Expressway Update | Uplift Bangladesh
The elevated expressway is being connected to the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Non-stop work is continuing to finish the work on time. Project stakeholders said that with the launch of Dhaka Elevated Expressway, the connection between the north and south of Dhaka city will be easier, traffic capacity will increase, travel time will be reduced and travel will be made comfortable. In today's video we will see the progress of construction work from Tejgaon to the airport and inform the details of the whole project.

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## Bilal9

Chittagong to Cox's Bazaar Railway line is 50% complete. Will be inaugurated by December 2022.

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## Bilal9

The movement of local vehicles on the Patenga Coastal area in Chittagong is considered to be a major obstacle to the movement of vehicles on the Outer Ring Road. Which will hamper the purpose of the much anticipated Karnaphuli Tunnel project. And to overcome this obstacle, new projects have been taken at a cost of more than a thousand crore taka. The initiative has been taken through several initiatives including construction of a sub road.

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## Bilal9

I will post some videos today of the local informal sector of bus body manufacturing. Public transport especially bus chassis was dependent on local assembly from imported CKD kits, sometimes inter-city luxury buses were dependent on entire package imported like High-Deck Laksana/Scania buses from Indonesia and Double Decker buses from Malaysia.

However local luxury buses especially High-Deck and sometimes Double-Decker bodies are increasingly now being made entirely in Bangladesh (some very similar to Laksana/Scania type style, but based on smaller Hino Single Axle Chassis) in the informal sector. Acquisition costs (and of course fares) are decreasing and specialized bodies like sleeper coaches and High-Deck A/C coaches are getting very popular with the transport companies now.

IMHO instead of copying Laksana bodies, Bangladeshi bus manufacturers and workshops should contact companies in Spain and Holland like SETRA to get CAD enabled designs for locally used HINO and other chassis which suit local conditions. Or better yet, have local CAD consulting companies (there are plenty) collaborate with these reputed bus companies for CAD designs on fee basis.

Pardon the messy road and workshop conditions, the places where these are made are not exactly prime property.

Locally made Hybrid Bus





Smaller Laksana Copy but single rear axle and with Hino Chassis, Sleeper Coach style










Some older formerly single rear axle buses are also being converted to HighDeck Aerodynamic A/C style. (repetitive video)





Hanif Transport making buses in their own garages

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## Bilal9

*



*

*A new distributor for IVECO in Bangladesh*

_IVECO is expanding its operation in Bangladesh by appointing _*Runner Trading Limited (RTL) *_as its new distributor in the market. The brand is also introducing a full range of vehicles and services to provide complete solutions for the country’s commercial vehicles industry._

IVECO, a global leader in on- and off-road transport signed a distributorship agreement on October 1 with Runner Trading Limited (RTL), a subsidiary of Runner Group, one of the major commercial vehicle distributors in Bangladesh.

In the past years, IVECO vehicles have gained a reputation in the marketplace as the preferred choice of many government agencies, having won numerous tenders. The appointment of RTL is a part of the brand’s vision and long-term strategy to expand and supply high-quality vehicles to its customers in Bangladesh.

RTL complements IVECO’s product portfolio by offering a full range of after-sales services and supplying genuine spare parts through its local network, comprising two facilities, one in Dhaka and the other in Chittagong. Thanks to this agreement, IVECO’s product offering in Bangladesh will initially include the *Trakker* trucks for long haul logistics and construction sectors; the *682* trucks in the heavy segment and the *Daily* in the light commercial segment for high-end city transportation.

*Michelangelo Amelia*, Business Director for IVECO South East Asia and Japan, stated that the brand was delighted to have found a reliable and committed partner in RTL for Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh is a fast-growing market whose economic growth is highly boosting demand for commercial vehicles. The development of heavy industries and the improvement of new infrastructure as well as the growing population are just some of the drivers for the increased demand for goods transport vehicles and commercial passenger vehicles, such as buses.

IVECO, with its European roots and established legacy, aims to support the country’s development by supplying high-quality vehicles. We are confident that discerning fleet, transport operators and business owners in this country will appreciate the proven quality, durability, reliability and, most importantly, the cost-efficiency of our vehicles, whose technology has been proven on roads around the world and in the most extreme conditions,” said Mr. Amelia.

*Broad product offering for Bangladeshi customers*
The IVECO *Trakker* is designed for the most extreme off-road missions such as quarry and construction. It is built to withstand constant stress and to deliver strong performance with low Total Cost of Ownership. The Trakker is designed to operate tirelessly in all weather conditions and on all terrains – including the tough off-road conditions typical of the construction and mining industries. Starting from the extra strong steel frame, every single component is chosen for durability. The proven IVECO Cursor engine delivers long-lasting power and resistance. This vehicle combines robustness, reliability and efficiency to deliver high productivity.

The IVECO *682* represents the optimal solution between cost efficiency and strength, supported by the brand’s highly advanced technology and quality standards. The 682 articulated and rigid on-road cabs are available both in Sleeper (high and low roof) and Day versions ensuring great comfort and living area. The versatility and strong nature of this vehicle makes it the perfect solution for every kind of mission, including off-road conditions.

The IVECO *Daily* has built a strong reputation for innovation, strength and great customer satisfaction in its over 40 years of success. The Daily Minibus combines all the latest advantages of the Daily, from the advanced connectivity and assisted driving features, reliability and versatility that are the hallmark of this vehicle family.

It can be mentioned here that Pak Adam Motors in Pakistan is the assembler/dealer of IVECO and there is also a assembly point in Mumbai for the Indian market (not sure for either buses/trucks or both).

IVECO also offers the *Centauro II wheeled tanks* from the Iveco-Oto Melara consortium JV which has started to supply the Italian Army - of which the first ten were supplied to the tune of 159 million Euro, which includes the procurement of vehicles, equipment, and logistics, and is the first tranche of a planned procurement of 136 vehicles.


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## Bilal9

Bangladesh' first smart city being built in Jolshiri Abashon - being built by the Army Corps of Engineers so expecting high standard civil engg. work (as evidenced at north of Dhaka Cantt.) quick progress and completion. This will essentially be another Defence Housing Society - or, DOHS (as we call these here in Bangladesh). The difference is that it will have a large CBD in the middle - as shown below.






Intro videos





Location details and cheesy animation 





My gripe is that they could've made the mosque far more modern than what is shown. But things have probably changed as this is a five year old video above.

Current Status

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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> Bangladesh' first smart city being built in Jolshiri Abashon - being built by the Army Corps of Engineers so expecting high standard civil engg. work (as evidenced at north of Dhaka Cantt.) quick progress and completion. This will essentially be another Defence Housing Society - or, DOHS (as we call these here in Bangladesh). The difference is that it will have a large CBD in the middle - as shown below.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Intro videos
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Location details and cheesy animation
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My gripe is that they could've made the mosque far more modern than what is shown. But things have probably changed as this is a five year old video above.
> 
> Current Status




What is cbd?


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## Bilal9

Tom-tom said:


> What is cbd?



Central Business District - downtown.

Dhaka CBD's would be Motijheel, Banani Kemal Ataturk avenue, Gulshan 1 and 2 and others.

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## Bilal9

Our Airports are more protected & secured as Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) have introduced most advanced Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Vehicles.

Navana Interlinks Limited recently delivered one of three of this ARFF to CAAB for Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka which has been taken care of by Navana Logistics Limited.

Another two are for Osmani International Airport, Sylhet ‍and Saidpur Airport. Those will be arriving soon.

The Rosenbauer PANTHER is one of the most successful, efficient, and flexible ARFF vehicles worldwide. Its multi-award-winning design and powerful performance make it one of the most modern fire fighting vehicle in the world today.

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## Bilal9

Jan de Nul (International sea dredging firm) has started shipping channel dredge work with cutter suction dredge at Payra Port.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Bashundhara Bitumen starts production, will reduce imports in massive quantities. Timely start means new road maintenance using local bitumen supply will be enabled significantly.

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## Bilal9

Payra Port 4 Lane Connector Road (RCC cast which is novel in Bangladesh)


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro Rail current status...drone video. Loved it. Shows how crowded (like HK) Dhaka is.


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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> Dhaka Metro Rail current status...drone video. Loved it. Shows how crowded (like HK) Dhaka is.



The video quality is not good.

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> The video quality is not good.



I agree. Smog was pretty bad plus it was shot from a drone. in Winter there is smoke haze which covers most of the subcontinent. Caused by people burning wood to stay warm.

But I had no issues with playback.

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## Bilal9

*Local toymakers elbow out Chinese imports*

Industry insiders estimate the market size of the toy industry is no less than Tk6,000 crore and local toy manufacturing companies have already captured 80 percent of the market share.

Women make toy rifles in a toy making factory at Kamrangirchar on the outskirts of the capital. This plastic replica of the AK-47 is a very popular toy among children, especially among the boys. The photo was taken recently.







On a February morning, a group of eight women were busy assembling assault rifles AK-47, one of the world's deadliest weapons in the 21st century, on the second floor at a factory in Kamrangirchar on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Moni Begum, one of the workers, was fully occupied with fitting different parts such as pipes, springs, magazine locks, triggers and gas tubes on the rifles, while others were tightening small-sized black screws into the rifle with an automated hand-held screwdriver which was buzzing continually.

On the rifles, there was a warning sticker inscribed in capital letters: DO NOT SHOOT AT ANY HUMAN OR ANIMAL.





Photo: Noor A Alam/TBS.

Scared? The nearly two-feet long assault rifles are actually made of plastic. But they are flamboyant. The buttstock, heatshield and the pistol grip are a rife yellow colour while the main body and magazine are black.

This replica of the AK-47 is a very popular toy among children, especially among boys.

Everest Toy Industries Limited, one of the country's leading toy manufacturers, produces around 2,000 pieces of AK-47 rifles daily. The company is also manufacturing replicas of other assault rifles, ambulances, racing cars, buses and mobile phones.

"Approximately 60 percent of all our toys are guns. We are producing around 10 lakh pieces of guns annually," said Shahjahan Majumder, one of the owners of Everest Toy Industries Limited. The company has two factories with more than 400 workers and produces 200 types of toys for children.

Shahjahan is also the president of Bangladesh Toy Merchants Manufacturers and Importers Association, the apex body of the toy industry.





This replica of the AK-47 is a very popular toy among children, especially among boys. Photo:TBS

"Different companies prioritize different products. We have chosen guns," Shahjahan told the correspondent, adding, "When this product used to be imported from China, the price of an AK-47 was around Tk.200. Our wholesale price for this gun is Tk.80." 

Everest Toy Industries Limited is not the only toy factory in this business. Almost 150 small and large factories are making toys which were completely import-dependent nearly 10 years back. Industry insiders estimate the market size of the toy industry is no less than Tk.6,000 crore. Local toy manufacturing companies have already captured 80 percent of the market share.

"We are now making the products we once imported from China. These are all copied from Chinese toys, which were unknown to us two decades back," Shahjahan said, sitting at his desk surrounded by an array of toys in his wholesale shop at the Chawkbazar area. 

Shahjahan told us that more than 1,500 types of toys are being made in the country's local factories.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*API park to be ready by June for Bangladesh pharma industry*
Bangladesh Pharmaceutical companies hope they will be able to start producing raw materials of medicines in 2022.






Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies will see the existing intellectual property fees on imports of raw materials for medicines go up following the country's graduation from the least developed country status. This elevation is expected to lead to a rise in production costs and push the pharmaceuticals industry into a crisis.

Stakeholders concerned, however, hope that the sector will be able to ward off the challenge by starting production of the necessary raw materials in the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Industrial Park even before the LDC graduation.

Syed Shahidul Islam, project director of the API Industrial Park, said all the infrastructure of the pharmaceutical industry park would be completed by June this year.

"Work on a section of the Central Waste Treatment Plant (CETP) will also be completed during this period. Companies that have been allotted plots can start production of raw materials in the industrial park after this June if they want," he told The Business Standard.

Some 27 companies have obtained plots for setting up factories in the industrial park, he mentioned, adding, "Of those, constructions of the Acme and Health Care factories have come a long way. These factories are expected to go into production by 2022."

Pharmaceutical companies concerned also have expressed the hope that their factories will be able to start production in June 2022.

Rafiqul Islam, company secretary of Acme Laboratories, said construction work on the Acme factory building would be completed by December this year. "It will take some more time to complete other preparations, including setting up capital machinery. We hope we will be able to start production in June 2022."

The UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP) on 28 February this year made final recommendations for Bangladesh's transition to the status of a developing country after reviewing the country's position in three indices –per capita income, human resource development and economic and environmental vulnerability. As per the recommendations, the country will get official recognition as a developing country in 2026.

Because Bangladesh is currently a least developed country, pharmaceutical companies here do not have to pay intellectual property rights to the institutions that have developed particular medicines.
The API-producing countries are offering this facility to curb rises in drug prices in poor countries. And taking advantage of this facility, the pharmaceutical industry of Bangladesh now stands on a solid foundation.

At present, the country's pharmaceutical industry market has surpassed Tk25,000 crore with an annual growth of over 10%. The sector's annual export earnings are also over Tk1200 crore.

However, Bangladesh is importing 97% of the raw materials of the pharmaceutical industry through open patent facilities.

According to existing rules, the country will no longer enjoy this facility once it graduates to the developing country status.

Experts think the pharmaceutical industry of the country will face serious challenges when this facility is no more there.

"After LDC graduation, our pharmaceutical industry will be in trouble. It will not be able to survive in the export market by buying raw materials at higher prices, as the API Industrial Park is not ready yet", said Professor Rehman Sobhan at a seminar organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue on the impact of LDC-graduation on businesses.

However, Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign affairs, said that the API Park was ready. "Now the companies can go into production if they want," he said quoting Salman F Rahman, private sector industry and investment adviser to the prime minister.

On a recent visit to the pharmaceutical industrial park under construction at Gazaria in Munshiganj, The Business Standard found that construction of necessary infrastructures, such as the development of plots, construction on roads, drainage system, power transmission line, power sub-station, main and sub-lines for supplying water, had come to an end.

Construction work on the Central Waste Treatment Plant (CEPT) has also started.

Project Director Shahidul Islam said investments in the API Industrial Park had been exempted from all types of taxes, including income tax and value-added tax (VAT) till 2032.

The 27 companies that have got plots in the industrial park include Square, Beximco, Incepta and Acme. A maximum of 10 acres and a minimum of 5 acres of land have been allotted for each of the companies.

However, in the case of companies that will be allotted plots later, plot sizes will be smaller.

The API park project got approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in 2008. After several revisions of its completion deadline and cost, the project is now scheduled to be completed in June 2021 at a cost of around Tk400 crore.

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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh to emerge as automobile industry hub by 2030: Humayun*

Humayun said Bangladesh is creating domestic demand in the automobile industry and increasing the export capacity of domestically produced automobile products.






Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun today said the government has taken a plan to make Bangladesh as a regional automobile manufacturing hub by 2030.

"To achieve the goal, the government is giving utmost importance to the development of automobile industry. The automobile industry entrepreneurs should come forward more to this end," he said.

The minister said this while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of manufacturing world-class air-conditioned bus and commercial bus bodies and truck cabins at IFAD Autos Limited Bangladesh, said a press release.

Humayun said Bangladesh is creating domestic demand in the automobile industry and increasing the export capacity of domestically produced automobile products.

He expressed the hope that the automobile industry would play an important role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and building a better income country by 2041.

Humayun said IFAD Autos Limited has been making significant contributions to the country's transport sector for almost three decades.

Due to the quality, he said, the products of IFAD Multi Products of IFAD Group are being exported to 32 countries across the world.

Since its beginning, he said, IFAD Group has been able to gain the trust and confidence of the general public by marketing good quality products.

State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur Rahman, Lawmaker Benjir Ahmed and Chairman of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission Munshi Shahabuddin Ahmed attended the function as special guests.

IFAD Group Chairman Iftekhar Ahmed Tipu presided over the function.

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## Bilal9

Dhanmondi Lake to Gulshan/Baridhara Lake Connector Water Taxi Project

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## ar45hi

Bilal9 said:


> *Local toymakers elbow out Chinese imports*
> 
> Industry insiders estimate the market size of the toy industry is no less than Tk6,000 crore and local toy manufacturing companies have already captured 80 percent of the market share.
> 
> Women make toy rifles in a toy making factory at Kamrangirchar on the outskirts of the capital. This plastic replica of the AK-47 is a very popular toy among children, especially among the boys. The photo was taken recently.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On a February morning, a group of eight women were busy assembling assault rifles AK-47, one of the world's deadliest weapons in the 21st century, on the second floor at a factory in Kamrangirchar on the outskirts of Dhaka.
> 
> Moni Begum, one of the workers, was fully occupied with fitting different parts such as pipes, springs, magazine locks, triggers and gas tubes on the rifles, while others were tightening small-sized black screws into the rifle with an automated hand-held screwdriver which was buzzing continually.
> 
> On the rifles, there was a warning sticker inscribed in capital letters: DO NOT SHOOT AT ANY HUMAN OR ANIMAL.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Photo: Noor A Alam/TBS.
> 
> Scared? The nearly two-feet long assault rifles are actually made of plastic. But they are flamboyant. The buttstock, heatshield and the pistol grip are a rife yellow colour while the main body and magazine are black.
> 
> This replica of the AK-47 is a very popular toy among children, especially among boys.
> 
> Everest Toy Industries Limited, one of the country's leading toy manufacturers, produces around 2,000 pieces of AK-47 rifles daily. The company is also manufacturing replicas of other assault rifles, ambulances, racing cars, buses and mobile phones.
> 
> "Approximately 60 percent of all our toys are guns. We are producing around 10 lakh pieces of guns annually," said Shahjahan Majumder, one of the owners of Everest Toy Industries Limited. The company has two factories with more than 400 workers and produces 200 types of toys for children.
> 
> Shahjahan is also the president of Bangladesh Toy Merchants Manufacturers and Importers Association, the apex body of the toy industry.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This replica of the AK-47 is a very popular toy among children, especially among boys. Photo:TBS
> 
> "Different companies prioritize different products. We have chosen guns," Shahjahan told the correspondent, adding, "When this product used to be imported from China, the price of an AK-47 was around Tk.200. Our wholesale price for this gun is Tk.80."
> 
> Everest Toy Industries Limited is not the only toy factory in this business. Almost 150 small and large factories are making toys which were completely import-dependent nearly 10 years back. Industry insiders estimate the market size of the toy industry is no less than Tk.6,000 crore. Local toy manufacturing companies have already captured 80 percent of the market share.
> 
> "We are now making the products we once imported from China. These are all copied from Chinese toys, which were unknown to us two decades back," Shahjahan said, sitting at his desk surrounded by an array of toys in his wholesale shop at the Chawkbazar area.
> 
> Shahjahan told us that more than 1,500 types of toys are being made in the country's local factories.




I mean..


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## Bilal9

Purbachal New Town will have one of Bangladesh' first few smart cities. And discussion about development partners in Bangladesh.

Dhaka Capital Development Authority (RAJUK) has taken initiative to set up a 320 km water supply line to make the Purbachal New City project habitable. The project will cost Tk. 592.39 crore to install pipeline network and 15 deep tube wells along the road alignment. The period of infrastructure development work of this project has been fixed for 2019-2023. And the period of operation and maintenance has been fixed from 2020 until 2033. If the project is implemented, there will be few obstacles for living in Purbachal project. The project has already made significant progress in infrastructure, roads and electricity services.

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## SpaceMan18



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## Homo Sapiens



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## Bilal9

*Mega Projects in Bangladesh Update 2021*


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## Shorisrip

The plan for economic corridors under the Delta Plan 2100 is the most promising development in our post independence history IMO (if it materialises). There is no other country that can to compare to Bangladesh in being so well suited to channel its rivers for economic development.

_The Padma-Jamuna river system and the eastern coastline i.e., Gaibanda-Goalanda-Ramgati-Chandpur-Mirsharai-Patenga-Cox's Bazar Corridor can be the National (Principal) Economic Corridor. It can then be branched out as (a) Hatibanda-Gangachara-Gaibandha along the Teesta river, (b) Iswardi-Goalanda along the Padma river, (c) Kushtia-Gopalganj-Khulna-Mangla along the Madhumati-Pasur river link, (d) Chandpur-Barishal-Paira along the Kirtonkhola-Paira river link and (e) Fenchuganj-Bhairab Bazar-Chandpur along the Meghna-Kushiyara river link as five regional economic corridors. Then, there will be local connectors along other rivers, highways and railways corridors. The whole system thus provides an economic grid connecting the whole country as a comprehensive economic hub, imagining 2050-Bangladesh as a mega-Singapore. Looking into the Delta Plan this option looks promising._









Economic corridors and Delta Plan: Integration for sustainable development


Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) has initiated development of two economic corridors in the country. This are-- North-East Corridor to connect the economic hubs mostly along the Dhaka-Sylhet highway, and the South-West Corridor to connect the economic hubs along the...




www.thefinancialexpress.com.bd

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## Paul2

Bangladeshis

Tell me what are rates for factory labour in your country?

What is a salary of:

Mechanical engineer 3-4 years work experience
Mechanical engineer fresh grad
Electronics engineer 3-4 years work experience
Electronics engineer fresh grad
Assembly line worker 3-4 years experience
Assembly line worker random man from the street
Software developer 4-5 years experience
Office worker hr/financial
Office worker shipping/logistics
What is the price of industrial property, and land?

What is the price of utilities?

How mature is the supply chain? How easy it is to get hands on components, etc?

How fluid is the labour market? How fast can you hire people listed above?

How fast it is for a foreign company to setup there?

How easy it is to get into industrial parks with concessionary tax rates?


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## Shorisrip

Paul2 said:


> Bangladeshis
> 
> Tell me what are rates for factory labour in your country?
> 
> What is a salary of:
> 
> Mechanical engineer 3-4 years work experience
> Mechanical engineer fresh grad
> Electronics engineer 3-4 years work experience
> Electronics engineer fresh grad
> Assembly line worker 3-4 years experience
> Assembly line worker random man from the street
> Software developer 4-5 years experience
> Office worker hr/financial
> Office worker shipping/logistics
> What is the price of industrial property, and land?
> 
> What is the price of utilities?
> 
> How mature is the supply chain? How easy it is to get hands on components, etc?
> 
> How fluid is the labour market? How fast can you hire people listed above?
> 
> How fast it is for a foreign company to setup there?
> 
> How easy it is to get into industrial parks with concessionary tax rates?



A bit simplistic but engineers average about 1000-3000 $/per month. Entry level ones may make a little less while senior engineers with extensive experience make more than this typically. Software/web/misc ICT developers probably average 500 or up (hard to say since it's full of freelancers). Office workers are entry level 300 to 500 a month, more experienced folks of course are getting paid more. Assembly workers typically are paid 200ish $ a month, but the minimum wage is 100 $.

Technically, one is able to buy any property, and convert it into industrial land, but assuming you're only talking about already established SEZs and EPZs, It varies from land to land. But for e.g. land in the Mirsarai economic zone and adjacent, which is close to the ports is about 0.30-1.75 $ per square meter annually or 15.00-30.00 $ per square meter one-time pay depending on if already developed or not.

There are tax concessions in industrial zones. If export-oriented products are being made in those types of areas, then no tax needs to be paid for a period of 10 years. After 10 years, the tax rates also become relatively minimal vis a vis other businesses. Utility-wise, its fairly cheap, and government subsidizes parts of it in export oriented industrial lands. A more detailed plan of the Mirsarai economic zone is shown here.

Labour market-wise, its easy to hire and replace both blue collar and white collar workers, obviously the former is much easier to do since the workforce is so large. Supply-chain wise, it is fairly easy to get hold of most supplies in industries like textiles-garments, agro-food-processing, cement, steel etc, especially in industrial zones. Foreign companies would typically take 2-4 months to fully set-up, but depends on a number of parameters.

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## Paul2

Shorisrip said:


> A bit simplistic but engineers average about 1000-3000 $/per month.


Is it net, or gross?


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## Shorisrip

Paul2 said:


> Is it net, or gross?



Gross, but net income would be mainly the same, since income taxes are pretty low in Bangladesh, and a lot of people don't even pay. There are also bonuses that some receive during holidays like Eid or Durga Puja.


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## Paul2

Shorisrip said:


> Gross, but net income would be mainly the same, since income taxes are pretty low in Bangladesh, and a lot of people don't even pay. There are also bonuses that some receive during holidays like Eid or Durga Puja.


Does the figure include things like social security/pension payments, and etc?


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## Shorisrip

Paul2 said:


> Does the figure include things like social security/pension payments, and etc?



Yes. But, it varies according to private firms. Most big private companies have good benefits as well as bonuses but its not mandatory, while government sectors are required to pay pensions and such.

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## Paul2

Shorisrip said:


> Yes. But, it varies according to private firms. Most big private companies have good benefits as well as bonuses but its not mandatory, while government sectors are required to pay pensions and such.


Are there any Chinese expats working in Bangladesh?


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## Shorisrip

Paul2 said:


> Are there any Chinese expats working in Bangladesh?



Yes, quite a few. Outside of people from other parts of South Asia, Chinese and Koreans are the most common expat population. You can always see some Chinese or Korean individuals in Dhaka or Chittagong.

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## Paul2

Shorisrip said:


> Yes, quite a few. Outside of people from other parts of South Asia, Chinese and Koreans are the most common expat population. You can always see some Chinese or Korean individuals in Dhaka or Chittagong.


Any names of what companies moved there? I heard of a number individuals who commute to Dhaka for engineering contracts setting up factories, but those keep very low profile, and don't want to talk.


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## Shorisrip

Paul2 said:


> Any names of what companies moved there? I heard of a number individuals who commute to Dhaka for engineering contracts setting up factories, but those keep very low profile, and don't want to talk.



Most Chinese business people are mainly in the textile/garments or niche sectors until recently, as well employees of Chinese, multinational and local engineering and finance sectors. I don't know a lot of individual names but the number of companies present is 400-500, which is likely to triple or quadruple in the next decade due to rising wages in China and PTA with Bangladesh. A lot of major Chinese engineering firms are also present due to projects like the Karnaphuli tunnel and the Padma bridge among others. Since the last half decade, Chinese investors are also diversifying, and I've heard a lot of steel conglomerates are establishing some manufacturing plants in Bangladesh, and Chinese companies in biopharma, cement, power etc are seeing major growth. There are Chinese-exclusive and Japanese-exclusive economic zones being established, on the likeness of Korean zones which have been present since the 70s/80s.

This is the official organization for Chinese investment in the country, and they can likely provide more info: https://bccci-bd.org/
E-Mail: bccci2015@gmail.com

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## Bilal9

Paul2 said:


> Are there any Chinese expats working in Bangladesh?



Every apparel factory is supposed to have a few QA person of Chinese origin, And the half-dozen Chinese mega projects have thousands of Chinese experts working in those.

Chinese expats are so many, that there are food (vegetables) exclusively grown for Chinese consumption. And that is growing in volume rapidly.

If you go to supermarkets, some cater exclusively to Chinese clientele.


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## Bilal9

Paul2 said:


> Any names of what companies moved there? I heard of a number individuals who commute to Dhaka for engineering contracts setting up factories, but those keep very low profile, and don't want to talk.



The names of companies are understandably low profile because they don't want to give other Chinese firms the labor cost advantage they themselves have. 

There are innumerable smaller Chinese investor-led companies in the apparel, shoes and leather sector present in Dhaka and Chittagong - too many to list.

BIDA has investment details,





__





BIDA - Home







bida.gov.bd





Many Chinese cellphone companies have Bangladesh operations to mention just one sector for larger Chinese companies (the same ones that have these operations in India). Huawei, RedMi etc.

For a list of large Chinese investments, look in this KPMG guide, Pg. 37 and 38,



https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/bd/pdf/-investment-guide/KPMG_Bangladesh_Investment_Guide_China_(July_2020).pdf


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## Bilal9

Paul2 said:


> Any names of what companies moved there? I heard of a number individuals who commute to Dhaka for engineering contracts setting up factories, but those keep very low profile, and don't want to talk.



There are quite a few common direct air routes to Dhaka from Chinese cities now, of which five years ago had only one route (Guangzhou) and about a hundred people travelling weekly.
Now you have daily flights with at least five airlines (three from Bangladesh alone, then Kuwait Airways and China Eastern from Kunming and China Southern from Guangzhou).
While most flights are operated from China are with larger narrow-bodies, that from HKG to DAC is operated with a B777-300. China Southern operates a B787-9 depending on heavy demand.
So - long story short, number of Chinese expats traveling to/from Bangladesh to/from China has increased in magnitudes.

Although last year flights were curtailed due to COVID, things are yet to go back to normal.


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## Bilal9

*Story of the Iconic Legacy Tower in Bangladesh*
*Bangladesh is now walking on its way to build Legacy Tower, the tallest buildings in Asia*





Photo: Collected

The race to touch the sky, the need to emerge taller, is as old as time. Yet during the past century, we have seen numerous skyscrapers being built. However, all of them are located in other parts of the world. When you think of skyscrapers, the Burj Khalifa, the Shanghai Tower in China, or One World Trade Center in the USA will pop up in your mind. Being said that, Bangladesh is now on its way to build Legacy Tower, the tallest building in Asia.

*Background of Legacy Tower*
Although the construction was scheduled to begin in 2016, it did not come to fruition. Initially, it was decided that the height would be 142 floors. Since the old plan did not see any shed of hope, the construction started with the new plan.

The idea to make a tall skyscraper in Bangladesh took quite a while to get approval from Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) and from the Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB). After several revisions, the project got approval in 2019. Both the Bangladesh government and a private organisation, Powerpac Holdings limited, agreed to invest in the project. PowerPack bought 46.1-hectares of land in 2019 at Purbachal, new town sector 19.

*Financials*

In 2020 Powerpac managed to secure a $7.7 billion equivalent to Tk600 billion funding from a foreign source. Later they also worked to get an additional $4.3 billion from undisclosed sources. So far, the estimated cost would be Tk 96,000 crore. However, it may increase as the project progresses.

*Detail*
The legacy tower will be 428 m (1,404 ft) tall, while the tip will be measured at 473 m (1,552 ft) tall. It will have 111 floors in total, and from 96F-111F it will feature a legacy lounge. The lounge will offer a fantastic view of the Purbachal new town from the highest observation deck in Bangladesh as it is going to be Asia's one of the tallest buildings.

The construction has started in October 2020, which is expected to finish in 2027. However, the authority also keeps the scope of extending the finish date.

*Design*
The legacy tower is a part of the 'Bangabandhu Tri Tower,' which consists of two more skyscrapers beside the Legacy Tower. The other two buildings are the 51-story Language tower and the 71-story Liberation tower. Considering the three towers as hubs, 38 additional buildings will also be built around the Bangabandhu Tri Tower.

It is designed by Heerim Architects. Besides, the Planners of South Korea suggested many unique structural and aesthetic features. The Towers are being constructed jointly by the three different organisations. Among the three, two of them are Bangladeshi, and the other one is from Japan. PowerPac Holding and Shaker Group will join the Kajima Corporation of Japan.

*Technologies*
The buildings will be able to generate power via solar and from waste energy. However, the three towers will have three different observatory decks, namely Purbachal Eye, Dhaka Eye, and Dhaka Moon.

*Surroundings*
As mentioned earlier, the Bangabandhu Tri Tower will work as a central part surrounded by several other buildings. However, we have already talked about the Liberation and Language tower.

The whole project is entitled the Purbachal Central Business District (CBD) development. The other buildings will be a part of the CBD project.

However, the additional building will be ranging from 38-40 floors which will include numerous facilities such as-

Convention centre: CBD will have a dedicated 45 storied commercial tower which will be 220 m or 720 feet tall. The total area of the convention centre will be 3.6 million square feet.
Business Hotel: The 42-floor business hotel will surely entertain foreign delegates and visitors.
Commercial zone: A separate commercial zone will also be there, which will have nine floors and an area of 243620 square meters.
Grade A Offices: These buildings will be 45 storied with a height of 225 m or 673 feet.
Purbachal Infra Zone: The Infra Zone will consist of 10 commercial towers, each of them consisting 42 floors.
Residential Zone: The ten residential buildings of 42 floors each will have a height of 170 m or 560 feet.
Hospital Zone: A 200-bed hospital also be included in the design.
Educational Zone: Schools are a part of the residential area. Therefore, the schooling facility will be located in the residential area.
Central Park: Waterfront space, along with the water deck facilities, will be a great source of entertainment for both residents and visitors.
*Other Facilities*
The authority will implement an underground common duct system to make the water and sewage system convenient. Besides, the electricity and communication lines will also go underground. High tech and modern wall will be established to surround the area, which will serve as a protection boundary and elevated walkway for cycling or jogging.

Additionally, the automated waste management system has also been added to the plan, and the wastages will be discharged in the common ground. However, the project also keeps the proper drainage system in the plan, and heavy rainfall will not be an issue. The intelligent traffic system supplies convenient traffic information so that the residents will not have to face traffic issues.

Approximately 60% of the cost has already been arranged, while two other countries the UAE and the Philippines, are interested in making an investment in Bangabandhu Tri Tower. Many Bangladeshi people may disagree with this project, but the project will lead to building the economic strength of Bangladesh. Besides, the perceptions of Bangladesh will also be bright abroad.

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## Shorisrip

^ They mean South Asia right, there are a handful of buildings taller in the Asian continent.


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## Bilal9

Shorisrip said:


> ^ They mean South Asia right, there are a handful of buildings taller in the Asian continent.



Exactly, If built.

Right now everyone in South Asia (except Nepal and the smaller countries) have us beat. Tallest tower we have is 45 floors. There are valid reasons on why we cannot build tall towers. This Legacy Tower will be very expensive as far as piling and footing depths are concerned.

They started construction a few months ago - which will take at least five years, maybe more.

Mumbai has a few dozen 75+ story towers (one 84 stories) but they have not exceeded 1000 feet.

Our legacy tower is kind of baffling...if they are claiming it will be 1400 feet tall with 111 floors.

Currently Colombo Lotus *Tower*, is 350 m (1,150 ft) tall, is located in Colombo, *Sri* *Lanka, and *is the *tallest* self-supported structure in South Asia.

I don't know details but Karachi, has some tall buildings too, Bahria Icon *Tower* (62F) building is located in Clifton, Karachi with a height of 320 meters which is as tall as Mumbai's towers. 

I guess India's floor heights are lower, or there are TV/Antenna towers at the top on some buildings.

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## Paul2

Bilal9 said:


> Exactly, If built.
> 
> Right now everyone in South Asia (except Nepal and the smaller countries) have us beat. Tallest tower we have is 45 floors. There are valid reasons on why we cannot build tall towers. This Legacy Tower will be very expensive as far as piling and footing depths are concerned.
> 
> They started construction a few months ago - which will take at least five years, maybe more.
> 
> Mumbai has a few dozen 75+ story towers (one 84 stories) but they have not exceeded 1000 feet.
> 
> Our legacy tower is kind of baffling...if they are claiming it will be 1400 feet tall with 111 floors.
> 
> Currently Colombo Lotus *Tower*, is 350 m (1,150 ft) tall, is located in Colombo, *Sri* *Lanka, and *is the *tallest* self-supported structure in South Asia.
> 
> I don't know details but Karachi, has some tall buildings too, Bahria Icon *Tower* (62F) building is located in Clifton, Karachi with a height of 320 meters which is as tall as Mumbai's towers.
> 
> I guess India's floor heights are lower, or there are TV/Antenna towers at the top on some buildings.


I think in light of the proposed 8 storey limit it sound awkward. Dhaka must have not 8 storey towers, but 80 to accommodate your population density.

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## X-ray Papa

Paul2 said:


> I think in light of the proposed 8 storey limit it sound awkward. Dhaka must have not 8 storey towers, but 80 to accommodate your population density.


If china builds high rise residential buildings in bangladesh, they will earn alots of money.

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## Paul2

X-ray Papa said:


> If china builds high rise residential buildings in bangladesh, they will earn alots of money.


I believe Dhaka will inevitably become something akin to what Tokyo-Yokohama is for Japan given the geography, and economics.

Bangladesh is better to prepare for Dhaka becoming such city, and not swimming against the current, losing money, and steam in economic development.

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## SpaceMan18

Paul2 said:


> I believe Dhaka will inevitably become something akin to what Tokyo-Yokohama is for Japan given the geography, and economics.
> 
> Bangladesh is better to prepare for Dhaka becoming such city, and not swimming against the current, losing money, and steam in economic development



Eh I wish , the leaders don't care about Dhaka and Dhaka is unplanned as heck and as usual so it'll be hard to develop it


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## Bilal9

Paul2 said:


> I think in light of the proposed 8 storey limit it sound awkward. Dhaka must have not 8 storey towers, but 80 to accommodate your population density.



They need to spread out, as well as build upward.

The city is extremely dense, even considered smaller than many third-tier Chinese cities. It really needs to spread out. The new smart city mentioned above with super-talls is situated in one planned suburb. There are quite a few others being built and planned.

The six line Metro Rail being built (first line is ready) will help, as will the Bus Rapid Transit, in-city and circular Expressways around the city. Bus System needs a huge revamp, but efforts are underway.

One reason is that zoning is not enforced, and all apparel manufacturers need to vacate the city so they (and the workers who apply pressure on the city's utilities) can be accommodated in the SEZ's closer to the ports or logistics arteries.

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## Paul2

Bilal9 said:


> One reason is that zoning is not enforced, and all apparel manufacturers need to vacate the city so they (and the workers who apply pressure on the city's utilities) can be accommodated in the SEZ's closer to the ports or logistics arteries.


Not pushing out workers is super-important. You can easily kill the industry in a city if you let expensive developments to push out low class accommodations. CHEAP RENT == CHEAP WORKERS

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## Bilal9

Paul2 said:


> Not pushing out workers is super-important. You can easily kill the industry in a city if you let expensive developments to push out low class accommodations. CHEAP RENT == CHEAP WORKERS



Bangladesh is creating 100 special economic zones all over Bangladesh where local people can work without coming to Dhaka.

Rent outside Dhaka is always cheaper than in Dhaka.

Wages in Bangladesh are far below China, and even a fraction of that of India.







This is however probably old information, but minimum wage is for unskilled worker. Trained workers will of course demand higher wages. The wage differential still stands as a ratio.

Industry in Dhaka have created the need for temporary slums in Dhaka where Workers live. Which are both unhealthy for the workers themselves and to the rest of the city.

However the govt. is also creating low-end housing for some middle income govt. workers in massive fashion. kind of like China did.


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## Shorisrip

Bilal9 said:


> Bangladesh is creating 100 special economic zones all over Bangladesh where local people can work without coming to Dhaka.
> 
> Rent outside Dhaka is always cheaper than in Dhaka.
> 
> Wages in Bangladesh are far below China, and even a fraction of that of India.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is however probably old information, but minimum wage is for unskilled worker. Trained workers will of course demand higher wages. The wage differential still stands as a ratio.
> 
> Industry in Dhaka have created the need for temporary slums in Dhaka where Workers live. Which are both unhealthy for the workers themselves and to the rest of the city.
> 
> However the govt. is also creating low-end housing for some middle income govt. workers in massive fashion. kind of like China did.




Taposh said that he's planning a central business district on the banks of the Burigaganga from land taken back from land grabbers, any news on that? We need dedicated CBDs for other upcoming cities before its too late like in Dhaka, where buildings are spread randomly. These projects might seem vain, but a good commercial district really affects the city's perception, and can make or break it's image. Chittagong has Agrabad as a wholly commerical area and is seeing a boom in skyscrapers lately, but I hope they plan out a proper district like in Purbachal, when the city expands to the Southern Bank of the Karnaphuli, after the tunnel is completed.

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## Bilal9

Shorisrip said:


> Taposh said that he's planning a central business district on the banks of the Burigaganga from land taken back from land grabbers, any news on that? We need dedicated CBDs for other upcoming cities before its too late like in Dhaka, where buildings are spread randomly. These projects might seem vain, but a good commercial district really affects the city's perception, and can make or break it's image. Chittagong has Agrabad as a wholly commerical area and is seeing a boom in skyscrapers lately, but I hope they plan out a proper district like in Purbachal, when the city expands to the Southern Bank of the Karnaphuli, after the tunnel is completed.



Good points.

I don't know how much land was taken back from the land grabbers, but I suspect it probably was not sufficient to build a proper sized CBD. Taposh is sometimes given to colorful statements without having solid information from his underlings in the planning/zoning depts.

A modern CBD not only needs open areas for parking structures (for long distance commuters) and high-grade housing surrounding the CBD (housing for educated well paid workers who choose to live closer to the CBD), but also adjoining areas for rest and entertainment (restaurants, theaters, plazas, malls) which can support more well-heeled clientele. 

Smart CBD's will need more in terms of data centers and supporting commercial/utility installations. If you see the plan for Burz Al Arab in Dubai, or even how our own Jolshiri and Purbachal CBDs were planned, they have those things.

LA-San Diego Corridor for example (where I live) has at least a dozen regional CBD's like this (this is a huge megacity spread out, not up). But CBD's are here mainly as commercial spaces for offices, with surrounding residential areas (the main portion). They have projected planning for everything from 1960's to the 2060's. How much salary people will make, where they will decide to live, what will be the projected occupancy and how busy the highways will be, when will the freeways need expansion etc.

In Bangladesh, city planners are usually not listened to and zoning is never enforced. RAJUK (Dhaka Improvement Trust) people can allot any land anywhere in Dhaka for any use for exchange of bribes, there is no oversight over that nefarious activity. There is no zoning enforcement because everyone in city hall, from the peon, all the up to the Mayor is party to this bribery. You can start an industrial concern right next to a residential area, provided the residents are uneducated and poor. May not work in places like Dhanmondi or Bashundhara, but works fine in Narayanganj, for example. Just criminal....

That being said - Mayor's office is still afraid of the media, if there is no serious legit effort by AL to muzzle the press.

I am afraid that a CBD (especially a smart CBD) can only be built using new land in the Northern areas of Dhaka, where relatively unpopulated areas still exist. Like Jolshiri and Purbachal, but further out. This is easier to do in unoccupied land.

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> Good points.
> 
> I don't know how much land was taken back from the land grabbers, but I suspect it probably was not sufficient to build a proper sized CBD. Taposh is sometimes given to colorful statements without having solid information from his underlings in the planning/zoning depts.
> 
> A modern CBD not only needs open areas for parking and high grade housing surrounding the CBD (for educated well paid workers, but adjoining areas for rest and entertainment. Smart CBD's will need more in terms of data centers and supporting commercial structures.
> 
> LA for example (where I live) has at least a dozen regional CBD's (this is a huge megacity spread out, not up). But CBD's are here mainly as commercial spaces for offices, with surrounding residential areas. They have projected planning for everything.
> 
> In Bangladesh, city planners are usually not listened to and zoning is never enforced. Rajuk people can allot any land anywhere in Dhaka for any use for exchange of bribes, there is no oversight over that nefarious activity. There is no zoning enforcement because everyone in city hall, from the peon, all the up to the Mayor is party to this bribery. You can start an industrial concern right next to a residential area, provided the residents are uneducated and poor. May not work in places like Dhanmondi
> 
> That being said - Mayor's office is still afraid of the media, if there is no serious legit effort by AL to muzzle the press.
> 
> I am afraid that a CBD can only be built using new land in the Northern areas of Dhaka, where relatively unpopulated areas still exist.




Bangladeshis needs to get serious , we can't even make a proper planned city which is fricking embarrassing. 


We really have to force our dam zones otherwise we get a mess like Dhaka , only god knows how long it will take to fix Dhaka.


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## Bilal9

*Hilton Gulshan *

The 250-room Hilton Gulshan is located at Gulshan Avenue, one of the Northern central business districts (CBDs) and commercial zones of Dhaka city. There are 37 floors and it is 150 m tall.

Hilton Dhaka, Bangladesh is Premier Hotels & Resorts' first collaboration with Hilton Worldwide.

The hotel will offer one all-day dining restaurant, two specialty restaurants, a deli and lobby lounge, as well as a bar. It will also have a full service spa and fitness center, a roof-top pool, a ballroom, lifestyle meeting floor and car park facilities.






Current Status






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Navana Silverwood, Rd 8, Baridhara*

8 storied apartment building with 3425 sq. ft. units, community hall, gym and rooftop swimming pool




















--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Meghbon Condominium by United Group, Satarkul*

The residential development is on a 54 Acre site and is designed to be a high end residential development benchmarked against the condominiums in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The residential development comprise of 24 twin towers (the tallest being 40 storeys) and is seamlessly integrated with residential amenities including 2 levels of basement carparking. The residential development features 171,000 sq.m of landscaped area which is a major selling point given the lack of greenery space for residential living in Bangladesh and the landscape is designed by Surbana Jurong’s international landscape team from Singapore.


*









*


There are an estimated 1,750 apartments in this high end residential development and the buyers of this high end residential condominium development (Property developer is targeting high net worth individuals or wealthy families) will require interior design consultancy and interior fit out for their apartments.


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## Bilal9

*ICON TOWERS BY RANCON DEVELOPMENTS, GULSHAN*

The Icon Towers are a chic and elegant addition to RANCON’s rich portfolio of Limited Edition Luxury Residences.

The modish architecture registers an overwhelming impression and is not only bound to forge perceptions but form the very essence of the evolving neighborhood. Nestled in the heart of Dhaka, a stone’s throw from the nostalgic Gulshan Lake, these towers encapsulate the ultimate landscape in terms of society, culture, and commerce. Harmonizing the unique concept of luxury and affordability, the Icon Towers promise an _iconic_ lifestyle in one of Dhaka’s most sought-after localities. This particular project was executed in a comparatively more youthful and ageless fashion for those patrons who prefer the crispness and functionality of simple designs.

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## Bilal9

*ARTISTI RESIDENCES, GULSHAN (STYLE: NEOMODERNIST, as in all other RANCON projects nowadays)*

RANCON envisioned what the future might hold with an 8,050 Sqft flagship residence in Gulshan-II, one of Dhaka's most elite localities. Artisti, accordingly, was designed to extend a calibre of luxurious lifestyle afforded only beyond national borders.

The opulent, tranquil, and considerate features apparent in these living spaces embody the highest possible standards, constituting an intelligent design that exudes taste and class. A haven that captures the notion of the perfect luxurious neomodernist apartments, Artisti had been expressively designed in order to appeal to the unostentatious connoisseur who prefers all his/her servings full-bodied.








---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adventure a seamless medley of nature and aesthetic beauty, drew up for you at JCX SIGNATURE, in BASHUNDHARA R/A.

Luxurious 3,000 Sft & 2850 Sft apartments, complemented with lifestyle amenities and uninterrupted views of BASHUNDHARA R/A, all at affordable pricing!


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## Shorisrip

Bangladesh government released its 8th 5-year plan for July 2020 - June 2025, a month ago if anyone's interested.

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## Paul2

Bilal9 said:


> *Hilton Gulshan *
> 
> The 250-room Hilton Gulshan is located at Gulshan Avenue, one of the Northern central business districts (CBDs) and commercial zones of Dhaka city. There are 37 floors and it is 150 m tall.
> 
> Hilton Dhaka, Bangladesh is Premier Hotels & Resorts' first collaboration with Hilton Worldwide.
> 
> The hotel will offer one all-day dining restaurant, two specialty restaurants, a deli and lobby lounge, as well as a bar. It will also have a full service spa and fitness center, a roof-top pool, a ballroom, lifestyle meeting floor and car park facilities.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Current Status
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Navana Silverwood, Rd 8, Baridhara*
> 
> 8 storied apartment building with 3425 sq. ft. units, community hall, gym and rooftop swimming pool
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Meghbon Condominium by United Group, Satarkul*
> 
> The residential development is on a 54 Acre site and is designed to be a high end residential development benchmarked against the condominiums in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The residential development comprise of 24 twin towers (the tallest being 40 storeys) and is seamlessly integrated with residential amenities including 2 levels of basement carparking. The residential development features 171,000 sq.m of landscaped area which is a major selling point given the lack of greenery space for residential living in Bangladesh and the landscape is designed by Surbana Jurong’s international landscape team from Singapore.
> 
> 
> *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *
> 
> 
> There are an estimated 1,750 apartments in this high end residential development and the buyers of this high end residential condominium development (Property developer is targeting high net worth individuals or wealthy families) will require interior design consultancy and interior fit out for their apartments.


1750 apartments? That's less than 2 apartments per floor.

A 50 storey residential around Guangzhou can easily top 1000 in one building.


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## SpaceMan18



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## Bilal9

Paul2 said:


> 1750 apartments? That's less than 2 apartments per floor.
> 
> A 50 storey residential around Guangzhou can easily top 1000 in one building.



These are more like luxury condos rather than apartments. I don't know if you noticed but they're probably talking about 24 twin towers (so, 48 towers) and average floors of 25~30 EACH.

Luxury condos usually have one or maximum two per floor. In Dhaka minimum luxury condo square footage per condo is 3500 sqft to 5000 sqft.

There are Super Luxury Condos which have 8000 sqft. per condo sometimes.

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## Paul2

Bilal9 said:


> These are more like luxury condos rather than apartments. I don't know if you noticed but they're probably talking about 24 twin towers (so, 48 towers) and average floors of 25~30 EACH.
> 
> Luxury condos usually have one or maximum two per floor. In Dhaka minimum luxury condo square footage per condo is 3500 sqft to 5000 sqft.
> 
> There are Super Luxury Condos which have 8000 sqft. per condo sometimes.


That's huge, the biggest apartment I've ever seen was 550m² 2 storey mansion apartment in Shanghai, and it was not even owned.

Who in the world will buy those in Bangladesh?


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## F-6 enthusiast

why not build soviet style apartment complexes that are planned ?


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## SpaceMan18

F-6 enthusiast said:


> why not build soviet style apartment complexes that are planned ?
> 
> View attachment 729868



Kinda depressing lol , not much vibrance


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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> Kinda depressing lol , not much vibrance



All the gray cement excitement of Smolensk, if you will pardon the expression....

Reactions: Like Like:
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## Bilal9

Paul2 said:


> That's huge, the biggest apartment I've ever seen was 550m² 2 storey mansion apartment in Shanghai, and it was not even owned.
> 
> Who in the world will buy those in Bangladesh?



Ha ha 

No shortage of buyers my friend.

550 Square Meters is equivalent to only 5920 Square Feet. That is just a normal luxury condo.

When you have money, the sky is the limit.


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## F-6 enthusiast

SpaceMan18 said:


> Kinda depressing lol , not much vibrance


no alternative to this

Reactions: Wow Wow:
1


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## SpaceMan18

F-6 enthusiast said:


> no alternative to this



Singapore style apartments ?


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## Bilal9

There are now very high standards of bus body manufacture compared to even five years ago. Chassis are assembled from CKD components.

Even moderate length intercity bus travel require the use of high floor buses, exceeding standards set a couple of years ago. Local manufacture means cost is lowered as well. One recent model...


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## F-6 enthusiast

SpaceMan18 said:


> Singapore style apartments ?


BD deserves brutalist Soviet architecture. only way to make affordable housing for millions and protect environment. 
Workplaces should be shifted away from the capital where possible

Reactions: Like Like:
2


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## Bilal9

Sleeper Coaches are also being fabricated locally in Bangladesh now, by half a dozen larger bus body manufacturers.

Reactions: Like Like:
1


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## Bilal9

*ShopUp raises $22.5 million to digitize millions of mom-and-pop shops in Bangladesh*
Manish Singh@refsrc





*Image Credits: *Richard I'Anson (opens in a new window)/ Getty Images

A startup that is aiming to digitize millions of neighborhood stores in Bangladesh just raised the country’s largest Series A financing round.

Dhaka-headquartered ShopUp said on Tuesday it has raised $22.5 million in a round co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Flourish Ventures. For both the venture firms, this is the first time they are backing a Bangladeshi startup. Veon Ventures, Speedinvest and Lonsdale Capital also participated in the four-year-old ShopUp’s Series A financing round. ShopUp has raised about $28 million to date.

Like its neighboring nation, India, more than 95% of all retail in Bangladesh goes through neighborhood stores in the country. There are about 4.5 million such mom-and-pop stores in the country and the vast majority of them have no digital presence.

ShopUp is attempting to change that. It has built what it calls a full-stack business-to-business commerce platform. It provides three core services to neighborhood stores: a wholesale marketplace to secure inventory, logistics (including last-mile delivery to customers) and working capital, explained Afeef Zaman, co-founder and chief executive of ShopUp, in an interview with TechCrunch.





*Image Credits:* ShopUp

These small shops are facing a number of challenges. They are not getting inventory on time or enough inventory, and they are paying more than what they should, said Zaman. And for these businesses, more than 73% (PDF) of all their sales rely on credit instead of cash or digital payments, creating a massive liquidity crunch. So most of these businesses are in dire need of working capital.

Zaman declined to reveal how many mom-and-pop shops today use ShopUp, but claimed that the platform assumes a clear lead in its category in the country. That lead has widened amid the global pandemic as more physical shops explore digital offerings to stay afloat, he said.

The number of neighborhood shops transacting weekly on the ShopUp platform grew by 8.5 times between April and August this year, he said. The pandemic also helped ShopUp engage with e-commerce players to deliver items for them.

“Sequoia India has been a strong supporter of the company since it was part of the first Surge cohort in early 2019 and it’s been exciting to see the company become a trailblazer facilitating digital transformation in Bangladesh,” said Klaus Wang, VP, Sequoia Capital, in a statement.

The startup has no intention to become an e-commerce platform like Amazon that directly engages with consumers, Zaman said. E-commerce is still in its nascent stage in Bangladesh. Amazon has yet to enter the country and increasingly Facebook is filling that role.

ShopUp sees immense opportunity in serving neighborhood stores, he said. The startup plans to deploy the fresh capital to deepen its partnerships with manufacturers and expand its tech infrastructure.


----------



## Bilal9

*A young entrepreneur is building the Amazon of Bangladesh*

*Blending online and offline commerce, Deligram is one of a number of emerging startups in the country*
Jon Russell@jonrussell / 8:00 PM PDT•May 21, 2019






*Image Credits: *Deligram

At just 26, Waiz Rahim is supposed to be involved in the family business, having returned home in 2016 with an engineering degree from the University of Southern California. Instead, the young entrepreneur is plotting to build the Amazon of Bangladesh.

Deligram, Rahim’s vision of what e-commerce looks like in Bangladesh, a country of nearly 180 million, is making progress, having taken inspiration from a range of established tech giants worldwide, including Amazon, Alibaba and Go-Jek in Indonesia.

It’s a far cry from the family business. That’s Rahimafrooz, a 65-year-old conglomerate that is one of the largest companies in Bangladesh. It started out focused on battery manufacturing, but over the years its businesses have branched out to span power and energy and automotive products while it operates a retail superstore called Agora.

During his time at school in the U.S., Rahim worked for the company as a tech consultant whilst figuring out what he wanted to do after graduation. Little could he have imagined that, fast-forward to 2019, he’d be in charge of his own startup that has scaled to two cities and raised $3 million from investors, one of which is Rahimafrooz.





Deligram CEO Waiz Rahim [Image via Deligram]

“My options after college were to stay in U.S. and do product management or analyst roles,” Rahim told TechCrunch in a recent interview. “But I visited rural areas while back in Bangladesh and realized that when you live in a city, it’s easy to exist in a bubble.”

So rather than stay in America or go to the family business, Rahim decided to pursue his vision to build “a technology company on the wave of rising economic growth, digitization and a vibrant young population.”

The youngster’s ambition was shaped by a stint working for Amazon at its Carlsbad warehouse in California as part of the final year of his degree. That proved to be eye-opening, but it was actually a Kickstarter project with a friend that truly opened his mind to the potential of building a new venture.

Rahim assisted fellow USC classmate Sam Mazumdar with Y Athletics, which raised more than $600,000 from the crowdsourcing site to develop “odor-resistant” sports attire that used silver within the fabric to repel the smell of sweat. The business has since expanded to cover underwear and socks, and it put Rahim’s mind to work on what he could do by himself.

“It blew my mind that you can build a brand from scratch,” he said. “If you are good at product design and branding, you could connect to a manufacturer, raise money from backers and get it to market.”

On his return to Bangladesh, he got Deligram off the ground in January 2017, although it didn’t open its doors to retailers and consumers until March 2018.

*E-commerce through local stores*
Deligram is an effort to emulate the achievements of Amazon in the U.S. and Alibaba in China. Both companies pioneered online commerce and turned the internet into a major channel for sales, but the young Bangladeshi startup’s early approach is very different from the way those now hundred-billion-dollar companies got started.

Offline retail is the norm in Bangladesh and, with that, it’s the long chain of mom and pop stores that account for the majority of spending.

That’s particularly true outside of urban areas, where such local stores almost become community gathering points, where neighbors, friends and families run into each other and socialize.

Instead of disruption, working with what is part of the social fabric is more logical. Thus, Deligram has taken a hybrid approach that marries its regular e-commerce website and app with offline retail through mom and pop stores, which are known as “mudir dokan” in Bangladesh’s Bengali language.

A customer can order their product through the Deligram app on their phone and have it delivered to their home or office, but a more popular — and oftentimes logical — option is to have it sent to the local mudir dokan store, where it can be collected at any time. But beyond simply taking deliveries, mudir dokans can also operate as Deligram retailers by selling through an agent model.

That’s to say that they enable their customers to order products through Deligram even if they don’t have the app, or even a smartphone — although the latter is increasingly unlikely with smartphone ownership booming. Deligram is proactively recruiting mudir dokan partners to act as agents. It provides them with a tablet and a physical catalog that their customers can use to order via the e-commerce service. Delivery is then taken at the store, making it easy to pick up, and maintaining the local network.

“We’ll tell them: ‘Right now, you offer a few hundred products, now you have access to 15,000,’ ” the Deligram CEO said.






Indeed, Rahim sees this new digital storefront as a key driver of revenue for mudir dokan owners. For Deligram, it is potentially also a major customer acquisition channel, particularly among those who are new to the internet and the world of smartphone apps.

This offline-online model — known by the often-buzzy industry term “omnichannel” — isn’t new, but in a world where apps and messaging is prevalent, reaching and retaining users is challenging, particularly in emerging markets.

“It’s not easy to direct people to a website today, and the app-first approach has made it hard,” Rahim said. “We looked at how companies in Indonesia and India overcame these challenges.”

In particular, he studied the work of Go-Jek in Indonesia, which uses an agent model to push its services to nascent internet users, and Amazon India, which leans heavily on India’s local “kirana” stores for orders and deliveries.

In Deligram’s case, the mudir dokan picks up sales commission as well as money for every delivery that is sent to their store. Home deliveries are possible, but the lack of local infrastructure — “turn right at the blue house, left at the white one, and my place is third from the left,” is a common type of direction — makes finding exact locations difficult and inefficient, so an additional cost is charged for such requests.

E-commerce startups often struggle with last-mile because they rely on a clutch of logistics companies to fulfill orders. In a rare move for an early-stage company, Deligram has opted to run its entire logistics process in-house. That obviously necessitates cost and likely provides significant growing pains and stress, but, in the long term, Rahim is betting that a focus on quality control will pay out through higher customer service and repeat buyers.





A prospective Deligram customer flips through a hard copy of the company’s product brochure in a local store [Image via Deligram]

*Startups on the rise in Bangladesh*
Rahim’s timing is impeccable. He returned to Bangladesh just as technology was beginning to show the potential to impact daily life. Bangladesh has posted a 7% rise in GDP annually every year since 2016, and with an estimated 80 million internet users, it has the fifth-largest online population on the planet.

“We are riding on a lot of macro trends; we’re among the top five based on GDP growth and have the world’s eighth-largest population,” Rahim told TechCrunch. “There are 11 million people in middle income — that’s growing — and our country has 90 million people aged under 30.”

“An index to track the growth of young people would be [capital city] Dhaka… you can just see the vibrancy with young people using smartphones,” he added.

That’s an ideal storm for startups, and the country has seen a mix of overseas entrants and local ventures pick up speed. Alibaba last year acquired Daraz, the Rocket Internet-founded e-commerce service that covers Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal, while the Chinese giant also snapped up 20% of bKash, a fintech venture started from Brac Bank as part of the regional expansion of its Ant Financial affiliate.

Uber, too, is present, but it is up against tough local opposition, as is the norm in Asian markets.
That’s because Bangladesh’s most prominent local startups are in ride-hailing. Pathao raised more than $10 million in a funding round that closed last year and was led by Go-Jek, the Indonesia-based ride-hailing firm valued at more than $9 billion that’s backed by the likes of Tencent and Google. Pathao is reportedly on track to raise a $50 million Series B this year, according to Deal Street Asia.





Pathao is one of two local companies that competes alongside Uber in Bangladesh [Image via Pathao]

Its chief rival is Shohoz, a startup that began in ticketing but expanded to rides and services on-demand. Shohoz raised $15 million in a round led by Singapore’s Golden Gate Ventures, which was announced last year.

Deligram has also pulled in impressive funding numbers, too.

The startup announced a $2.5 million Series A raise at the end of March, which Rahim wrote came from “a network of institutional and angel investors;” such is the challenge of finding a large check for a tech play in Bangladesh. The investors involved included Skycatcher, Everblue Management and Microsoft executive Sonia Bashir Kabir. A delighted Rahim also won a check from Rahimafrooz, the family business.

That’s not a given, he said, admitting that his family did initially want him to go to work with their business rather than pursuing his own startup. In that context, contributing to the round is a major endorsement, he said.

Rahimafrooz could be a crucial ally in future fundraising, too. Despite an improving climate for tech companies, Bangladesh’s top startups are still finding it tough to raise money, especially with overseas investors that can write the larger checks that are required to scale.

“I think the biggest challenge is branding. Every time I speak with new investors, I have to start by explaining where Bangladesh is, or the national metrics, not even our business,” Pathao CEO Hussain Elius told TechCrunch.

“There’s a legacy issue. Bangladesh seems like a country which floods all the time and the garment sector going down — that’s a part of the story but not the full story. It’s also an incredible country that’s growing despite those challenges,” he added.

Pathao is reportedly on track to raise a $50 million Series B this year, according to Deal Street Asia. Elius didn’t address that directly, but he did admit that raising growth funding is a bigger challenge than seed-based financing, where the Bangladesh government helps with its own fund and entrepreneurial programs.

“It’s hard for us as we’re the first ones out there, but it’ll be easier for the ones who’ll follow on,” he explained.

Still, there are some optimistic overseas watchers.

“We remain enthusiastic about the rapidly expanding set of opportunities in Bangladesh,” said Hian Goh, founding partner of Singapore-based VC firm Openspace — which invested in Pathao.

“The country continues to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, underpinned by additional growth in its garments manufacturing sector. This has blossomed into an expanding middle class with very active consumption behavior,” Goh added.

*Growth plans*
With the pain of fundraising put to the side for now, the new money is being put to work growing the Deligram business and its network into more parts of Bangladesh, and the more challenging urban areas.
Geographically, the service is expanding its agent reach into five more cities to give it a total of seven locations nationwide. That necessitates an increase in logistics and operations to keep up with, and prepare for, that new demand.





Deligram workers in one of the company’s warehouses [Image via Deligram]

Rahim said the company had handled 12,000 orders to date as of the end of March, but that has now grown past 20,000 indicating that order volumes are rising. He declined to provide financial figures, but said that the company is on track to increase its monthly GMV volume by six-fold by the end of this year. Electronics, phones and accessories are among its most popular items, but Deligram also sells apparel, daily items and more.

Interestingly, and perhaps counter to assumptions, Deligram started in rural areas, where Rahim saw there was less competition but also potentially more to learn through a more early-adopter customer base. That’s obviously one major challenge when it comes to growth, and now the company is looking at urban expansion points.

On the product side, Deligram is in the early stages of piloting consumer financing using its local store agents as the interface, while Rahim teased “exciting IOT R&D projects” that he said are in the planning stage.

Ultimately, however, he concedes that the road is likely to be a long one.

“Over the last 18-20 years, modern retail hasn’t made much progress here,” Rahim said. “It accounts for around 2.5% of total retail, e-commerce is below 1% and the long tail local stores are the rest.”

“People will eventually shift, but I think it’ll take five to eight years, which is why we provide the convenience via mom and pop shops,” he added.

Reactions: Like Like:
1


----------



## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> *A young entrepreneur is building the Amazon of Bangladesh*
> 
> *Blending online and offline commerce, Deligram is one of a number of emerging startups in the country*
> Jon Russell@jonrussell / 8:00 PM PDT•May 21, 2019
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Image Credits: *Deligram
> 
> At just 26, Waiz Rahim is supposed to be involved in the family business, having returned home in 2016 with an engineering degree from the University of Southern California. Instead, the young entrepreneur is plotting to build the Amazon of Bangladesh.
> 
> Deligram, Rahim’s vision of what e-commerce looks like in Bangladesh, a country of nearly 180 million, is making progress, having taken inspiration from a range of established tech giants worldwide, including Amazon, Alibaba and Go-Jek in Indonesia.
> 
> It’s a far cry from the family business. That’s Rahimafrooz, a 65-year-old conglomerate that is one of the largest companies in Bangladesh. It started out focused on battery manufacturing, but over the years its businesses have branched out to span power and energy and automotive products while it operates a retail superstore called Agora.
> 
> During his time at school in the U.S., Rahim worked for the company as a tech consultant whilst figuring out what he wanted to do after graduation. Little could he have imagined that, fast-forward to 2019, he’d be in charge of his own startup that has scaled to two cities and raised $3 million from investors, one of which is Rahimafrooz.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Deligram CEO Waiz Rahim [Image via Deligram]
> 
> “My options after college were to stay in U.S. and do product management or analyst roles,” Rahim told TechCrunch in a recent interview. “But I visited rural areas while back in Bangladesh and realized that when you live in a city, it’s easy to exist in a bubble.”
> 
> So rather than stay in America or go to the family business, Rahim decided to pursue his vision to build “a technology company on the wave of rising economic growth, digitization and a vibrant young population.”
> 
> The youngster’s ambition was shaped by a stint working for Amazon at its Carlsbad warehouse in California as part of the final year of his degree. That proved to be eye-opening, but it was actually a Kickstarter project with a friend that truly opened his mind to the potential of building a new venture.
> 
> Rahim assisted fellow USC classmate Sam Mazumdar with Y Athletics, which raised more than $600,000 from the crowdsourcing site to develop “odor-resistant” sports attire that used silver within the fabric to repel the smell of sweat. The business has since expanded to cover underwear and socks, and it put Rahim’s mind to work on what he could do by himself.
> 
> “It blew my mind that you can build a brand from scratch,” he said. “If you are good at product design and branding, you could connect to a manufacturer, raise money from backers and get it to market.”
> 
> On his return to Bangladesh, he got Deligram off the ground in January 2017, although it didn’t open its doors to retailers and consumers until March 2018.
> 
> *E-commerce through local stores*
> Deligram is an effort to emulate the achievements of Amazon in the U.S. and Alibaba in China. Both companies pioneered online commerce and turned the internet into a major channel for sales, but the young Bangladeshi startup’s early approach is very different from the way those now hundred-billion-dollar companies got started.
> 
> Offline retail is the norm in Bangladesh and, with that, it’s the long chain of mom and pop stores that account for the majority of spending.
> 
> That’s particularly true outside of urban areas, where such local stores almost become community gathering points, where neighbors, friends and families run into each other and socialize.
> 
> Instead of disruption, working with what is part of the social fabric is more logical. Thus, Deligram has taken a hybrid approach that marries its regular e-commerce website and app with offline retail through mom and pop stores, which are known as “mudir dokan” in Bangladesh’s Bengali language.
> 
> A customer can order their product through the Deligram app on their phone and have it delivered to their home or office, but a more popular — and oftentimes logical — option is to have it sent to the local mudir dokan store, where it can be collected at any time. But beyond simply taking deliveries, mudir dokans can also operate as Deligram retailers by selling through an agent model.
> 
> That’s to say that they enable their customers to order products through Deligram even if they don’t have the app, or even a smartphone — although the latter is increasingly unlikely with smartphone ownership booming. Deligram is proactively recruiting mudir dokan partners to act as agents. It provides them with a tablet and a physical catalog that their customers can use to order via the e-commerce service. Delivery is then taken at the store, making it easy to pick up, and maintaining the local network.
> 
> “We’ll tell them: ‘Right now, you offer a few hundred products, now you have access to 15,000,’ ” the Deligram CEO said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed, Rahim sees this new digital storefront as a key driver of revenue for mudir dokan owners. For Deligram, it is potentially also a major customer acquisition channel, particularly among those who are new to the internet and the world of smartphone apps.
> 
> This offline-online model — known by the often-buzzy industry term “omnichannel” — isn’t new, but in a world where apps and messaging is prevalent, reaching and retaining users is challenging, particularly in emerging markets.
> 
> “It’s not easy to direct people to a website today, and the app-first approach has made it hard,” Rahim said. “We looked at how companies in Indonesia and India overcame these challenges.”
> 
> In particular, he studied the work of Go-Jek in Indonesia, which uses an agent model to push its services to nascent internet users, and Amazon India, which leans heavily on India’s local “kirana” stores for orders and deliveries.
> 
> In Deligram’s case, the mudir dokan picks up sales commission as well as money for every delivery that is sent to their store. Home deliveries are possible, but the lack of local infrastructure — “turn right at the blue house, left at the white one, and my place is third from the left,” is a common type of direction — makes finding exact locations difficult and inefficient, so an additional cost is charged for such requests.
> 
> E-commerce startups often struggle with last-mile because they rely on a clutch of logistics companies to fulfill orders. In a rare move for an early-stage company, Deligram has opted to run its entire logistics process in-house. That obviously necessitates cost and likely provides significant growing pains and stress, but, in the long term, Rahim is betting that a focus on quality control will pay out through higher customer service and repeat buyers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A prospective Deligram customer flips through a hard copy of the company’s product brochure in a local store [Image via Deligram]
> 
> *Startups on the rise in Bangladesh*
> Rahim’s timing is impeccable. He returned to Bangladesh just as technology was beginning to show the potential to impact daily life. Bangladesh has posted a 7% rise in GDP annually every year since 2016, and with an estimated 80 million internet users, it has the fifth-largest online population on the planet.
> 
> “We are riding on a lot of macro trends; we’re among the top five based on GDP growth and have the world’s eighth-largest population,” Rahim told TechCrunch. “There are 11 million people in middle income — that’s growing — and our country has 90 million people aged under 30.”
> 
> “An index to track the growth of young people would be [capital city] Dhaka… you can just see the vibrancy with young people using smartphones,” he added.
> 
> That’s an ideal storm for startups, and the country has seen a mix of overseas entrants and local ventures pick up speed. Alibaba last year acquired Daraz, the Rocket Internet-founded e-commerce service that covers Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal, while the Chinese giant also snapped up 20% of bKash, a fintech venture started from Brac Bank as part of the regional expansion of its Ant Financial affiliate.
> 
> Uber, too, is present, but it is up against tough local opposition, as is the norm in Asian markets.
> That’s because Bangladesh’s most prominent local startups are in ride-hailing. Pathao raised more than $10 million in a funding round that closed last year and was led by Go-Jek, the Indonesia-based ride-hailing firm valued at more than $9 billion that’s backed by the likes of Tencent and Google. Pathao is reportedly on track to raise a $50 million Series B this year, according to Deal Street Asia.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pathao is one of two local companies that competes alongside Uber in Bangladesh [Image via Pathao]
> 
> Its chief rival is Shohoz, a startup that began in ticketing but expanded to rides and services on-demand. Shohoz raised $15 million in a round led by Singapore’s Golden Gate Ventures, which was announced last year.
> 
> Deligram has also pulled in impressive funding numbers, too.
> 
> The startup announced a $2.5 million Series A raise at the end of March, which Rahim wrote came from “a network of institutional and angel investors;” such is the challenge of finding a large check for a tech play in Bangladesh. The investors involved included Skycatcher, Everblue Management and Microsoft executive Sonia Bashir Kabir. A delighted Rahim also won a check from Rahimafrooz, the family business.
> 
> That’s not a given, he said, admitting that his family did initially want him to go to work with their business rather than pursuing his own startup. In that context, contributing to the round is a major endorsement, he said.
> 
> Rahimafrooz could be a crucial ally in future fundraising, too. Despite an improving climate for tech companies, Bangladesh’s top startups are still finding it tough to raise money, especially with overseas investors that can write the larger checks that are required to scale.
> 
> “I think the biggest challenge is branding. Every time I speak with new investors, I have to start by explaining where Bangladesh is, or the national metrics, not even our business,” Pathao CEO Hussain Elius told TechCrunch.
> 
> “There’s a legacy issue. Bangladesh seems like a country which floods all the time and the garment sector going down — that’s a part of the story but not the full story. It’s also an incredible country that’s growing despite those challenges,” he added.
> 
> Pathao is reportedly on track to raise a $50 million Series B this year, according to Deal Street Asia. Elius didn’t address that directly, but he did admit that raising growth funding is a bigger challenge than seed-based financing, where the Bangladesh government helps with its own fund and entrepreneurial programs.
> 
> “It’s hard for us as we’re the first ones out there, but it’ll be easier for the ones who’ll follow on,” he explained.
> 
> Still, there are some optimistic overseas watchers.
> 
> “We remain enthusiastic about the rapidly expanding set of opportunities in Bangladesh,” said Hian Goh, founding partner of Singapore-based VC firm Openspace — which invested in Pathao.
> 
> “The country continues to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, underpinned by additional growth in its garments manufacturing sector. This has blossomed into an expanding middle class with very active consumption behavior,” Goh added.
> 
> *Growth plans*
> With the pain of fundraising put to the side for now, the new money is being put to work growing the Deligram business and its network into more parts of Bangladesh, and the more challenging urban areas.
> Geographically, the service is expanding its agent reach into five more cities to give it a total of seven locations nationwide. That necessitates an increase in logistics and operations to keep up with, and prepare for, that new demand.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Deligram workers in one of the company’s warehouses [Image via Deligram]
> 
> Rahim said the company had handled 12,000 orders to date as of the end of March, but that has now grown past 20,000 indicating that order volumes are rising. He declined to provide financial figures, but said that the company is on track to increase its monthly GMV volume by six-fold by the end of this year. Electronics, phones and accessories are among its most popular items, but Deligram also sells apparel, daily items and more.
> 
> Interestingly, and perhaps counter to assumptions, Deligram started in rural areas, where Rahim saw there was less competition but also potentially more to learn through a more early-adopter customer base. That’s obviously one major challenge when it comes to growth, and now the company is looking at urban expansion points.
> 
> On the product side, Deligram is in the early stages of piloting consumer financing using its local store agents as the interface, while Rahim teased “exciting IOT R&D projects” that he said are in the planning stage.
> 
> Ultimately, however, he concedes that the road is likely to be a long one.
> 
> “Over the last 18-20 years, modern retail hasn’t made much progress here,” Rahim said. “It accounts for around 2.5% of total retail, e-commerce is below 1% and the long tail local stores are the rest.”
> 
> “People will eventually shift, but I think it’ll take five to eight years, which is why we provide the convenience via mom and pop shops,” he added.




This is pretty cool one issue 

*INFRASTRUCTURE *

Amazon only works very fast due to leadership and proper infrastructure


----------



## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> Amazon only works very fast due to leadership and proper infrastructure



Their strategy is to eliminate competition in ruthless manner and at any cost, even at massive short term loss.

Look at Amazon Basics line, which will explain their strategy.

But we're getting off the subject.

As long as Amazon does not have their eyes on a small market like ours, I'm happy. They are already in India.

Let Deligram grow from strength to strength. Rahimafrooz family has a very nice track record in Bangladesh marketplace and I wish them the best.

I hope they can introduce modern and efficient warehousing logistics with automated and/or robot order pickers (from Jungheinrich, Epson, Brother and other brands). And also benchmark Amazon's distribution and logistics practices to streamline operations.


----------



## F-6 enthusiast

Korean EPZ in Bangladesh 





Mirsarai EPZ

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1 | Love Love:
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----------



## Bilal9

Payra Sea port technical hydrology simulation


----------



## Bilal9

Deutsche Welle story on Western Marine Shipyard Chittagong (partial coverage). Video within linked page.









Series Work Places: Recycling ships – DW – 01/31/2020


When ships reach the end of their service life, they're often sent to Asia for scrap. The European Union has introduced strict laws on how ships are scrapped and their parts recycled. That's benefited shipyards both in Europe and Asia.




www.dw.com


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## Bilal9

Bangladeshi farmers adapt to climate change using locally adapted hydroponics growing techniques. Starts at 8:50.









Global 3000 - The Globalization Program | DW | 09.04.2021


Farmers in Bangladesh are innovating their methods in response to climate change, while in Rio de Janeiro a former drug lord is now an evangelical preacher.




www.dw.com


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## Bilal9

*Water taxi from Dhaka's Dhanmondi Lake to Gulshan*

https://www.banglatribune.com/655215

Shahed Shafiq
01 December 2020, 13:00





Hatirjheel water taxi







The canal occupied on the existing road in the capital Panthapath will be restored. Through this, city dwellers will be able to reach Gulshan-Baridhara from Dhanmondi Lake by boat or water taxi via Hatirjheel. The Capital Development Authority (RAJUK) has taken such an initiative. The long-distance navigable route will be constructed by restoring the evicted capital's Panthapath canal and connecting Dhanmondi Lake and Hatirjheel.

It is known that this Panthapath road was a canal even in the 1960s. There were at least 15 km more canals including this one. Where the road is currently paved through a box culvert. As a result, the canals have lost their original existence.

The canals in the capital Dhaka are mainly owned by the Dhaka district administration. But in the eighties Dhaka WASA got the responsibility of maintaining the canal. In 2001, WASA filled most of the canals and undertook the project of constructing box culverts in them. This does not reduce water retention but increases it. As the project failed, on 15 June 2017, ECNEC decided to open the box culvert from the canals in Dhaka. Dhaka WASA, RAJUK and City Corporation were then instructed to restore the canal.

In this situation, RAJUK has taken initiative to rescue Panthapath canal. Dhanmondi Lake will be connected to Hatirjheel through canal. RAJUK will finance the rescue of the canal. If Hatirjheel Lake is connected with Dhanmondi Lake, an uninterrupted waterway system of about eleven kilometers from Baridhara to Dhanmondi will be established.

According to the decision of the board meeting of the Capital Development Authority (RAJUK), the company will rehabilitate the Panthapath canal and develop the canal area to connect Hatirjheel Lake and Dhanmondi Lake by water. The resolution in the board meeting said that there is no alternative to protect the reservoirs by ensuring proper livability of Dhaka metropolis. However, due to various illegal occupations, the canals, ponds and floodplains of this city are getting filled up. In order to remedy this situation, on the one hand, it is necessary to conduct strict surveillance and eviction operations, on the other hand, it is equally important to take initiative to restore the reservoirs.

It further said that the two notable reservoirs of Dhaka metropolis are Hatirjheel Lake and Dhanmondi Lake. If it is possible to restore the Panthapath canal, a waterway connection will be established between these two large reservoirs. This will increase the amount of reservoirs on the one hand and improve the drainage system of Dhanmondi, Shukrabad, Kawran Bazar etc. on the other hand. The flood trend in the city will decrease. The chances of groundwater recharge will increase. Above all, the livability of the area will be improved. The civic amenities of the area can be created by providing simple linear parks, walkways, jogging lanes, bicycle lanes, rest areas etc. in the canals and canal adjoining areas.

It further said that since Hatirjheel Lake is connected with Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake. In that case, if the connection between Hatirjheel Lake and Dhanmondi Lake is established through the restoration of Panthapath canal, an uninterrupted waterway system of about eleven kilometers from Baridhara to Dhanmondi will be established. Which will play an effective role in reducing traffic congestion in Dhaka city.

It is learned that the feasibility study of the project, completion of detailed physical survey and cost estimate of the Detailed Action Area Plan for canal rescue and development of the canal area were approved at the board meeting of RAJUK. Sends letters seeking directions from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works to take the cost of conducting the feasibility study from government sources. Later, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works issued a letter on July 15 instructing that the project could be implemented with RAJUK's own funds.

According to RAJUK sources, there are 15 km of box culverts in the capital Dhaka at present. 8 km south of the city corporation. These include Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel from Russell Square via Green Road, Motaleb Plaza in Hatirpul to Sonargaon Hotel, Panthapath to Paribagh, Ibrahimpur Bazar to Mirpur Baunia Khal, Segunbagicha to Arambagh, some more roads to Bangladesh Bank, Khilgaon to Khilgaon. There are. Almost the entire Panthapath from Russell Square to SAARC Fountain is on the Box Culvert.

Ashraful Islam, project director of the Detailed Area Plan (DAP), said steps have been taken to restore the canal from Russell Square in Dhanmondi to Hatirjheel. We will assign BUET to conduct a feasibility study on the matter.

He added that there is no canal. There is a box culvert in place of the canal. There is also a road up top. We will open the channel. It will connect Hatirjheel with Dhanmondi.

He said there is a road. What will be the traffic impact in the vicinity? No matter how many canals the drainage capacity will be fine. Besides, there are buildings in the vicinity. In this reality, how wide should the canal be? We will send a proposal to BUET for a feasibility study on these overall issues.

Besides, after the regular cabinet meeting at the Secretariat on July 31, 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina instructed the Local Government Minister to rescue the canal in the capital in an unscheduled discussion. He said the box culverts should also be opened if necessary. A small overpass can be built over the box culvert for traffic.

(Translated for report in Bengali - pardon any mistakes)

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হাতিরঝিলের ওয়াটার ট্যাক্সি


রাজধানী পান্থপথের বিদ্যমান রাস্তায় দখল হওয়া খালটি পুনরুদ্ধার করা হবে। এর মাধ্যমে ধানমন্ডি লেক থেকে নৌকা বা ওয়াটার ট্যাক্সিতে হাতিরঝিল হয়ে গুলশান-বারিধারায় যেতে পারবেন নগরবাসী। এমনই একটি উদ্যোগ নিয়েছে রাজধানী উন্নয়ন কর্তৃপক্ষ (রাজউক)। বেদখল হয়ে যাওয়া রাজধানীর পান্থপথ খালটি পুনরুদ্ধার করে ধানমন্ডি লেক ও হাতিরঝিলকে যুক্ত করে তৈরি করা হবে দীর্ঘ এ নৌ-রুট।

জানা গেছে, ১৯৮০-এর দশকেও এই পান্থপথ সড়কটি ছিল খাল। এই খালটিসহ আরও অন্তত ১৫ কিলোমিটার খাল বিদ্যমান ছিল। যেখানে বর্তমানে বক্স কালভার্টের মাধ্যমে সড়ক করে দেওয়া হয়েছে। ফলে খালগুলো মূল অস্তিত্ব হারিয়েছে।

রাজধানী ঢাকার খালগুলোর মালিক মূলত ঢাকা জেলা প্রশাসন। কিন্তু আশির দশকে খালের রক্ষণাবেক্ষণের দায়িত্ব পায় ঢাকা ওয়াসা। ২০০১ সালের দিকে অধিকাংশ খাল ভরাট করে তাতে বক্স কালভার্ট নির্মাণের প্রকল্প হাতে নেয় ওয়াসা। এতে জলাবদ্ধতা না কমে উল্টো বেড়ে যায়। প্রকল্পটি ব্যর্থ হওয়ায় ২০১৬ সালের ১৫ জুন একনেকে ঢাকার খালগুলো থেকে বক্স কালভার্ট তুলে উন্মুক্ত করে দেওয়ার সিদ্ধান্ত আসে। তখন খালের আগের রূপ ফিরিয়ে আনতে ঢাকা ওয়াসা, রাজউক ও সিটি করপোরেশনকে নির্দেশনা দেওয়া হয়।

এ অবস্থায় পান্থপথ খালটি উদ্ধারের উদ্যোগ নিয়েছে রাজউক। খালের মাধ্যমে হাতিরঝিলের সঙ্গে যুক্ত করা হবে ধানমন্ডি লেককে। খাল উদ্ধারে অর্থায়ন করবে রাজউক। হাতিরঝিল লেক ধানমন্ডি লেকের সঙ্গে যুক্ত হলে বারিধারা হতে ধানমন্ডি পর্যন্ত প্রায় এগারো কিলোমিটার অবিচ্ছিন্ন জলপথ ব্যবস্থা প্রতিষ্ঠিত হবে।

রাজধানী উন্নয়ন কর্তৃপক্ষের (রাজউক) বোর্ড সভার সিদ্ধান্ত অনুযায়ী হাতিরঝিল লেক এবং ধানমন্ডি লেকের মধ্যে জলপথে সংযোগ স্থাপনের লক্ষ্যে পান্থপথ খাল পুনরুদ্ধার ও খাল এলাকার উন্নয়ন করবে সংস্থাটি। বোর্ডসভায় রেজুলেশনে বলা হয়, ঢাকা মহানগরীর যথাযথ বসবাসযোগ্যতা নিশ্চিত করে জলাধারগুলো রক্ষার বিকল্প নেই। অথচ ক্রমান্বয়ে বিভিন্ন অবৈধ দখলের কারণে এই শহরের খাল, পুকুর, বন্যা প্রবাহ এলাকাগুলো ভরাট হয়ে যাচ্ছে। এ অবস্থার প্রতিকারে একদিকে যেমন শক্ত নজরদারি ও উচ্ছেদ অভিযান পরিচালনা করা জরুরি, অন্যদিকে জলাধারগুলো পুনরুদ্ধারের উদ্যোগ নেওয়াটাও সমভাবে জরুরি।

এতে আরও বলা হয়, ঢাকা মহানগরীর দুইটি উল্লেখযোগ্য জলাধার হলো—হাতিরঝিল লেক এবং ধানমন্ডি লেক। পান্থপথ খাল পুনরুদ্ধার করা সম্ভব হলে এই বৃহৎ জলাধার দুটির মধ্যে জলপথে সংযোগ স্থাপিত হবে। এতে একদিকে যেমন জলাধারের পরিমাণ বাড়বে অন্যদিকে ধানমন্ডি, শুক্রাবাদ, কাওরান বাজার প্রভৃতি এলাকার ড্রেনেজ ব্যবস্থার উন্নতি হবে। শহরে বন্যা প্রবণতা হ্রাস পাবে। ভূগর্ভস্থ পানি রিচার্জের সুযোগ বৃদ্ধি পাবে। সর্বোপরি উক্ত এলাকার বসবাসযোগ্যতার উন্নতি হবে। খাল ও খাল সংলগ্ন এলাকায় সরল রৈখিক পার্ক, ওয়াকওয়ে, জগিং লেন, বাইসাইকেল লেন, বিশ্রামের স্থান প্রভৃতির সংস্থান করে উক্ত এলাকার নাগরিক সুবিধাদি সৃজন করা যাবে।

এতে আরও বলা হয়, হাতিরঝিল লেক যেহেতু গুলশান-বনানী-বারিধারা লেকের সঙ্গে সংযুক্ত। সেক্ষেত্রে পান্থপথ খাল পুনরুদ্ধারের মাধ্যমে হাতিরঝিল লেক ও ধানমন্ডি লেকের মধ্যে সংযোগ স্থাপিত হলে এক্ষেত্রে বারিধারা থেকে ধানমন্ডি পর্যন্ত প্রায় এগারো কিলোমিটার অবিচ্ছিন্ন জলপথ ব্যবস্থা প্রতিষ্ঠিত হবে। যা ঢাকা শহরের যানজট নিরসনে কার্যকর ভূমিকা রাখবে।

জানা যায়, খাল উদ্ধার ও খাল এলাকার উন্নয়নের নিমিত্তে উক্ত প্রকল্পের ফিজিবিলিটি স্টাডি, বিস্তারিত ভৌত জরিপ সম্পাদন এবং ডিটেইলড অ্যাকশন এরিয়া প্ল্যান এর ব্যয় প্রাক্কলন রাজউকের বোর্ড সভায় অনুমোদন করা হয়। ফিজিবিলিটি স্টাডি সম্পাদনের ব্যয়ভার সরকারি উৎস থেকে গ্রহণ করার নিমিত্তে গৃহায়ন ও গণপূর্ত মন্ত্রণালয়ের অনুশাসন চেয়ে পত্র প্রেরণ করে। পরবর্তীতে গৃহায়ন ও গণপূর্ত মন্ত্রণালয় গত ১৫ জুলাই এক পত্রে প্রকল্পটি রাজউকের নিজস্ব অর্থে বাস্তবায়ন করা যেতে পারে মর্মে নির্দেশনা প্রদান করে।

রাজউক সূত্র জানিয়েছে, বর্তমানে রাজধানী ঢাকায় ১৫ কিলোমিটারের মতো বক্স কালভার্ট রয়েছে। এর ৮ কিলোমিটার দক্ষিণ সিটি করপোরেশনের। এর মধ্যে রয়েছে রাসেল স্কয়ার থেকে গ্রিন রোড হয়ে প্যান প্যাসিফিক সোনারগাঁও হোটেল, হাতিরপুলের মোতালেব প্লাজা থেকে সোনারগাঁও হোটেল, পান্থপথ থেকে পরীবাগ, ইব্রাহিমপুর বাজার থেকে মিরপুর বাউনিয়া খাল, সেগুনবাগিচা থেকে আরামবাগ হয়ে বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক, খিলগাঁও থেকে তিলপাপাড়া পর্যন্তসহ আরও কয়েকটি স্থানে স্বল্পদৈর্ঘ্যের বক্স কালভার্ট সড়ক রয়েছে। রাসেল স্কয়ার থেকে সার্ক ফোয়ারা পর্যন্ত পান্থপথের প্রায় পুরো রাস্তাই পড়েছে বক্স কালভার্টের ওপর।

এ বিষয়ে ডিটেইলড এরিয়া প্ল্যানের (ড্যাপ) প্রকল্প পরিচালক আশরাফুল ইসলাম বলেন, ধানমন্ডির রাসেল স্কয়ার থেকে হাতিরঝিল পর্যন্ত যে খালটি ছিল তা পুনরুদ্ধারের উদ্যোগ নেওয়া হয়েছে। আমরা বিষয়টির ফিজিবিলিটি স্টাডির জন্য বুয়েটকে দায়িত্ব দেবো।

তিনি আরও বলেন, খাল নেই। খালের জায়গায় বক্স কালভার্ট রয়েছে। ওপরে রাস্তাও রয়েছে। আমরা চ্যানেলটা ওপেন করে দেবো। এটি ধানমন্ডির সঙ্গে হাতিরঝিল সংযুক্ত করবে।

তিনি বলেন, সেখানে একটি রাস্তা রয়েছে। এর আশেপাশের ট্রাফিক ইমপ্যাক্ট কেমন হবে। কতোটুকু খাল হলে ড্রেনেজ ক্যাপাসিটি ঠিক থাকবে। এছাড়া আশেপাশে ভবন হয়ে গেছে। এ বাস্তবতায় খাল কতটুকু প্রশস্ত হওয়া উচিত। এসব সামগ্রিক বিষয় নিয়ে ফিজিবিলিটি স্টাডির জন্য আমরা বুয়েটকে একটি প্রস্তাব পাঠাবো।

এছাড়া ২০১৭ সালের ৩১ জুলাই সচিবালয়ে মন্ত্রিসভার নিয়মিত বৈঠক শেষে অনির্ধারিত আলোচনায় স্থানীয় সরকার মন্ত্রীকে রাজধানীর খাল উদ্ধার করার জন্য নির্দেশ দিয়েছেন প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা। তিনি বলেন, প্রয়োজনে বক্স কালভার্টগুলোকেও উন্মুক্ত করে দিতে হবে। যান চলাচলের জন্য বক্স কালভার্টের ওপরে ছোট আকৃতির ওভারপাস তৈরি করা যেতে পারে।

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## Bilal9

1st 45 story tower starts construction in Dhaka. Because of soil conditions, such a building will cost twice as much in piling and foundation cost of equivalent height buildings in either Karachi or Mumbai. Bedrock in Bangladesh is at extreme depth.

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## Bilal9

*Navana Silverwood, Baridhara*

9 storied apartment building with 3425 sq. ft. units, swimming pool, gym and community hall

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## Bilal9

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Outfall Children Playground and Community Centre is a dot of a place nestled inside the Government Housing Quarter in Maniknagar, Dhaka. The project stemmed from one primary intention of looking at a neighbourhood and thinking of something that adds a positive value for the community and overlapping generations. Designed by Salauddin Ahmed and his Atelier Robin Architects team, the place builds a sense of a community for the people residing in the area.





The 11600 sqft (approx) size of the project does not justify in any way for the large residence of the housing blocks. For a total of 140 families, the scale of the project offered little rooms for all the young, restless boys and girls, who crave for an open playground within the compound. “Luckily, Golapbagh playground is not too far from the housing compound. Hence, there is a sense of relief; but truth is, Dhaka needs one too many public spaces and playgrounds for her inhabitants, especially the young generation. May they be large or small in scale, every inch of public space addition is a blessing in disguise. Without balanced public and private spaces, a city can turn its back toward her citizens and in the long run, can make the city a difficult place to be. Dhaka is very much on that negative zoning luck of no public spaces and growing to be a difficult landscape to grasp,” explains Ar Salauddin.





To relief this pressure on ‘not haves’, the Outfall Children Playground gives a glimmer of hope for many residence children within the compound. In both the playground and the community building, the design approach was simple and straightforward. In addition, a proposal for a Community Plaza, a Library for the young minds, Girls’ Friendly spaces and a rooftop Butterfly Garden was made. These residual spaces support the main space with a positive note and offer rooms to those who did not ask for them. The place stands for the hope of sustaining with tenacity and perseverance and offering a sense of place for the residence and its communities beyond.



> If one takes a walk around its playground, a serpent-like mosaic will lead the person to discover all its offered variety.








The structure and the materials that put together the building are conventional ones, comprising posts and columns. Walls as skin are made out of locally handmade bricks. There are no attempts to bring unnecessary architectural tactics or languages for the end-users. Its simple white walls and clear lines are as symbolic as it can be to reflect an imbedded meaning of truth and simplicity. Large windows as opening allow natural light and air to ventilate the building and establish with assurance its sustainability and environmental accountability. If one takes a walk around its playground, a serpent-like mosaic will lead the person to discover all its offered variety. In some ways, the architecture of the building guide the users and allow them to discover at their leisure and convenience. The construction period of the project extended from January 2018 to December 2019.





Sharing his experience in designing the Outfall, Ar Salauddin enthused, “To design and execute this project as governmental work, has been a learning curve.


> To relief this pressure on ‘not haves’, the Outfall Children Playground gives a glimmer of hope for many residence children within the compound.








To my surprise, the bureaucratic process and at times antithetical views to do good for the society at large from the government side, I was happy to be a part of the whole process of design and construction. I did not expect but the project got what it wished for. So, the lesson to be shared with the rest would be- be at it and never take things for granted. You just have to work hard and believe you can do it. Rest is perhaps luck”.


> Its simple white walls and clear lines are as symbolic as it can be to reflect an imbedded meaning of truth and simplicity.


*Architect Profile*





Ar. Salauddin Ahmed
Ar. Salauddin Ahmed is a contemporary architect in Bangladesh. He is the founder of Atelier Robin Architects, a renowned architectural firm in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He holds the Principal Architect’s position in the practice and has been the driving force in running a 12 person’s office since 2001. Some of his notable projects include Karim Residence in Bashundhara, Ishtiaq Residence in Nikunja, Head Office of Concern Worldwide in Gulshan, Cafe Mango etc. Salauddin Ahmed is also the director of Curatorial and Design Program at Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements.

Source: Showcase Magazine
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## Bilal9

Keraniganj flyover Latest Status as of today - looks like 95% completed.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail Update April 2021

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## Bilal9

*A Tropical Oasis – My Interior Life*



Tasmiah Chowdhury
May, 2020





*A copious tropical terrace highlights the design of the couple’s Khandkar Nayemul Hassan and Alveena Tasneem dream abode. The home provides a tranquil environment that liberates both the body and mind and a place to let emotions take root. The overall space is characterized by concise and simplistic design languages – not restricted by styles or labels, the design team of Syed Kushol Architects rethinks what home means for the client.*




Located in the restful Gulshan residential area, the renovation of the 11200 square-feet residence takes shape from the idea of utilizing the leftover space of the terrace. From the architect, terrace remains a significant feature in tropical architecture. Taking this into account, the designer team started to design a vibrant tropical landscape in the terrace with semi-shaded outdoor space in parts. The whole landscape design was created with potted plants covered with MS sheet. The landscape element was disconnected with the roof surface for better drainage and thus reducing the possibilities of damping the floor below. Initially, as the building construction lack in waterproofing, the client refused the idea of landscaping due to their previous bad experience of dampness on the lower floor. To resolve this issue, the design team came out with the idea of placing the landscape without touching the roof surface. A steel framework is designed that is lifted above the ground and 22 inches plastic basket has been used for the flower bed. More than a hundred baskets are used as a planter box, to which steel sheet was clad to hide the basket; favouring a seamless landscape garden.
















Selection of the plant was limited to create unity and harmony in the design. The planted plants are easy to maintain and renders a tropical essence by every means. Birds of paradise and fern are used to enhance the effect of green, while the dark grey colour in the wall and MS frames complements the green contrast. “Residents can alternatively head up to the home’s outdoor terrace for the unspoilt vistas of Dhaka city. Outdoor seating is specially designed for gathering and family parties. A couple of benches have been arranged with MS and WPC material which adds elegance to the surrounding. The steel pergola gives a semi-shaded section, and the steel as a material gives a slick contemporary aesthetics. The lighting elements have been creatively designed to create a playfulness character in the terrace at night. The light fixtures are custom made with steel framework and opaque acrylic cover and LED strip light inside. Liner light bellow the planter box gives a spatial feeling at night in the outdoor environment. Putting all together, the views of sky, surrounding nature and the terrace perform as magisterial gestures towards this house,” expresses Syed Abu Sufian Kushol, principal architect of the firm.


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## Bilal9

(continued from above)

The client’s wish was to create a serene space, a place where they would not feel overwhelmed by decorative information and whereas much of the original features could be celebrated. Keeping that in mind, the design is fully devoted to the functional necessity with minimalist aesthetic, and any sort of ornamentation is avoided. Grey and white are used mostly in the house. Apart from this, brown colour opts for the bedroom and toilet areas. The living room is adorned with black and white colour scheme with minimum furniture for a lofty experience. White and Black marble used to differentiate circulation space and living area. Hi-gloss white finish is used for the furniture. “I urged for a place in the living area for setting the home-theater and space for a friendly gathering. The light installing is, therefore, carefully done to avoid direct light. The ceiling has been coloured dark grey for a better experience of the home theater. I enjoy my time in my place, watching my favourite shows with the family. No matter whichever place I visit or stay, I get my pace back here; sitting in my couch, binging to TV-shows and overlooking the vibrant green tropical terrace. For me, the best design pursues to serve the mind – that is austere yet profound, simple yet lasting, and that permits to put the body and mind in a comfortable state,” conveys owner Khandkar Hassan. For the bedrooms, a brown colour scheme in floor and wall is chosen with rounding off white furniture. To maximize the floor height, false ceiling is scaled down, while the closet panel embedded with mirror makes the space bigger spatially.





















Each space has been designed specifically for its functionality and ambience. The rooftop which was left unused has now been utilized as a gymnasium and indoor and outdoor play area for kids. A structure is made with steel and glass fulfills as a gymnasium and indoor play area. The transparent glass in all sides allow the changing sunlight to enter through the passing of each day, and freeing the urban view.





















Architecture can change the living pattern and lifestyle. The designer designed each space specific for its functionality and ambience. From the owners, their home offers a wonderful experience of living and gathering of family and friends. Each member has their own space and also, they have their common space for sharing. This project of a total transformation of an apartment could be like a change of life.

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## Bilal9

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*Serene Modern Villa- Jinat Batika*



Abesh Mehjabeen
April, 2021

*3 Points Consultant thoughtfully designed the whole scheme of Jinat Batika, a modern villa standing amid lush green lawn and a water body with a sense of tranquility, in Chittagong. The villa with a pond view makes for a vacation house of dreams to any family, and a safe haven to get away to. *







The highlight of Jinat Batika has to be the pond, which one has always associated with the simplicity of village life: peaceful and quiet. Hence, it doesn’t get better than having a pond with a modern villa, to spend a vacation. The pond comes with two _ghats_, one which is directly linked to the villa and is for private use, the other one is at the opposite end of the pond, for public use.
















*The walkway of the pond prepares one to be led into the villa.*

In the day time, be ready to behold the play of light and shadow around the villa. It is positioned at north-south orientation to get maximum benefits of natural light and cross ventilation. The abode is surrounded by lush green grass and a small decorative pool on one side. The very openness of it is like a welcoming gesture.























Upon entering the villa, one can find that the lower level living room is at the south, and the dining is in the north with a double-height space. The carefully planned positioning allows fluidity of the space with the presence of lots of natural light sipping in and air to move through freely. The villa is filled with several picture windows, some of which have wall-to-to wall height, which is not only energy-efficient but also lights up the rooms naturally. The big volume and large openings enhance the indoor-outdoor relations.

The upper floor is connected with an internal stair alongside the double-height wall. Hence, the duplex opening creates a scope for better interaction. Family living is extended with a balcony, down to green verandah looking upon the surroundings. The upper floor contains rooms that give away the mesmerizing landscape through the openings and attached verandah.
Moving forward, the rooftop comprises a small meeting room with an open terrace. The rest of the roof is kept spacious with a seating facility and vegetation. The Pergolas placed above the roof minimizes heat; casting beautiful play of light and shadow.




Interior architecture was kept minimum and simple for the project. The soft golden glow of the West sun on the outdoor staircase wall, waterbody, lush lawn, and ghats invite to spend more time outdoor. These features help to tie up the whole complex together. Reflection of the building on the pond is like a relationship between a body and soul, truly a sight to behold.











*With a unique character that expresses itself in the overall aesthetics of the structure, its surroundings and the interior, Jinat Batika is one of a kind. 
Architect Profile*

3 points consultant- an architecture design firm was formed in March 2012. The young but promising firm is now involved with various types of projects such as residential, commercial, industrial, garments and interior design and execution. Principal architect, Tapon Kanti Sarker, himself is the founder of this firm. He is a BUET graduate and also MIAB. He has over five years of job experience under some renowned consultancy firms of Dhaka city. Over the years, he has been involved with over 20 projects of various scales. As of now, he and his team, Ar. Tanveer Hasan Tonmoi, Ar. Md. Mithu Hossain, Jr. Ar. Enamul Haque, are fully involved with 3 points and working for better design and environment.

@Indos brother, these are the single family homes I was talking about.

Link: https://www.showcase.com.bd/architect-column/serene-modern-villa-jinat-batika/

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## Bilal9

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*Robust yet Subtle – Indoor Stadium*


 Tasmiah ChowdhuryFebruary, 2021
The Indoor Stadium in Munshiganj district is robust in structure but delicately blends with the surrounding context. The complex designed by architecture firm Artek, emphasizes the characters of solidarity and hospitality with its clean, slender, and subtle architectural impressions segmented throughout the design.






























Artek team believes the beauty of refurbishment in architecture takes place when new construction and existing infrastructure blend into one composition. With this perspective, the design team took the challenge to amalgamate the previous architectural elements to the present scene to let the structure not arouse something as a visual shock to locale and the surrounding. Covering 2.23 acres of land, the complex is divided into two functional programs: a playground and swimming pool. “The challenge of the project was to make a definite structure beside the old swimming pool. Our goal was to make a complex which is simple and clean, that is not overpowering to the eye”, says Arif Anowar, chief architect of Artek. “As the site is dominated by agricultural fields, woodlands and few suburban dwellings, we primarily chose a muted colour scheme on the exterior of the structure with a pop of yellow at the entrance of the stadium. The muted colour with the pop of yellow seamlessly blends with the countryside locale aesthetic”.











*The subtle awning of the complex combined with the tilted structure on the roof gives an impression of lightness to the whole structure. Besides, the polished muted colour of the ACP on the exterior enhances the lighter feel eventually.*



The roof consists of a heavy cover tray at the bottom and a tilted tray at the top. This arrangement allows indirect sunlight on the lawn, avoiding grey areas on the ground and thus the risk of frost in winter. Another design concern was to avoid the direct sunlight which was achieved through full-height tilted windows featuring louvre at the upper-half, and yellow coated lining walls in-between the windows. This façade treatment breaks the monotonous structure of the rectangle shape and brings a visual-interest among visitors passing by it while moving towards the swimming pool.











The design consists two courts of indoor-games and transforms the site into a new state-of-the-art venue by introducing double-height indoor stadium, having audiences’ facilities, a swimming pool on the outside of the complex, upgraded parking facilities, exclusive seating for audience and a raised spectator levelled stairs inside the main building to observe the games more clearly. The indoor stadium also includes a pro shop, lounge, expansive high-end locker rooms including toilets, meeting spaces and hard paved garden areas.






The indoor area features wooden pave and the player’s seating area is given a yellow backdrop; representing the yellow-themed aesthetic of the entrance in the stadium. The stadium equips proper lighting for the day and night games both at indoor and outdoor respectively, by all means. The project creates a place such that sportspeople feel spirited and motivated while the audience enjoys being part of the fantastic game and the overall experience of the Indoor Stadium.




*Company Profile:*
Artek – one of the emerging architecture consultancy firms is making its place by creating a definite position through architecture and interior design since 2011. The dream of the company is ‘to make a space in peoples mind’. Whether in architecture or in interior, its goal is giving a smart and cheerful art of sense in their design evolution. The team of Artek always tries to build a new look in every other project so people have different feelings and options to know better and more. The Artek team accomplished many potential big scale projects like Syed Nazrul Islam National Swimming Complex, Munshiganj Indoor Stadium, Grameen Trust Office, Peyala Café, Hotel Asia, Sami residence, etc.









A Subtle Architecture in Resonance with the Landscape


The Indoor Stadium in Munshiganj district is robust in structure but delicately blends with the surrounding context. The complex designed by architecture firm Artek, emphasizes the characters of solidarity and hospitality with its clean, slender, and subtle architectural impressions segmented...




www.showcase.com.bd


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## Bilal9

Some recent architectural projects (Interiors) by ARTEK, a local atelier.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3737468809635504

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## Bilal9

Buriganga River demarcation pillar and walkway project update - includes Aminbazaar and Diabari Jetty construction. River water clean up continues. Kudos to the two Dhaka mayors.





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6 lane Madani Avenue Update (Purbachal to Baridhara connector - 7 km)

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## F-6 enthusiast

Cox's Bazar rail link project can link us to China Vietnam

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## Bilal9

Some nice places for Iftar around Dhaka, when lockdown ends.

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*The Reincarnation of Cafe Mango*



Naila Binte Zakaria

*In the vein of its previous locales, the much revered Cafe Mango has been built on the idea of ‘presence of absence’ in its newest address in Gulshan 1. Instigated with simplicity and contrast by owner and architect Salauddin Ahmed Palash, the place reveals the honesty it possesses in each layer of its design.*















Cafe Mango had emerged as an attempt to bring forth public living rooms in Dhaka, a city that thrives on untold complexities. “It started as a small, tiny public living room that I designed to share with the rest on the idea of possibility in a city that craves for validation. You cannot bring every friend to your own domestic front, yet at the same time, it’s wonderful to spend time with them. And Dhaka, despite having culturally balanced living rooms, did not welcome a variety. Cafe Mango was a mere attempt to fill that void,” shares Salauddin Ahmed. In its 20 years of journey, Cafe Mango moved around from one leftover corner of the city to the next and always bathed with love and affection from its deserving crowd. “In this venture, I have always been extremely careful to not follow typical footsteps of quick success and hence, in a way, Cafe Mango has always remained an outsider, away from the high streets and perhaps the marker of new ideas”, he adds.











*Salauddin Ahmed considers designing Cafe Mango a creative discovery rather than a creative journey and thus, has never shied away from discovering neglected pieces of the city, full of potent possibilities and untapped beauty.*

Similarly, his recent intervention is situated in one of the darkest corners of Gulshan, historically. Instead of changing the course of history, he wanted to reinterpret the idea of the location and aspire the neighbours to come out. The design process of the place was quite organic, as it was the feedback of the context, environment and desire of the place. “I do recycle many things but there is always some fresh ideas being inserted that are unique to the space. So, it is always a risk, to reintroduce the same wine in a new bottle. And in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the place has had its difficulties to establish,” Salauddin Ahmed says about the new establishment.

































*Customizing new design elements and recycling and repurposing some old, Cafe Mango instils a sense of place where one can indulge, heal the mind and body, and discover the blend of both old and new.*
The 2400 sqft double-height space had an abundance of scope to be innovatively explored. Before one enters the space, a solid black steel door inflicts an element of surprise. Small glimpses of the interior can be viewed from the sideways but one has to come inside to fully unravel what the place holds. Upon entrance, the place has a welcoming yet intimate undertone where one can breathe in, not breathe out. A myriad of seating arrangement can accommodate around 100 people. Tufted sofas, bar stools, long tables etc. can cater to different crowds. The handcrafted long bar table on the ground floor takes inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting ‘The Last Supper’. The live kitchen gives diners a sense of anticipation by showcasing a preview of the food that’s about to be served.


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## Bilal9

Cafe Mango Continued...





















On closer inspection, one can observe the great attention to detail given by Salauddin Ahmed in each corner. His accumulated collection of reclaimed furniture, artworks and artefacts add a touch of personality to the space.

*Curated elements like window panels, small bamboo models, Buddhist sculpture etc serve as points of interest and subvert the overall interior design direction.*


























Even the facility toilets have been painted with vibrant rickshaw art by local rickshaw painter Pappu. In many ways, the design of Cafe Mango is an ode to local craftsmanship that promotes the work of traditional artisans. “I’m keener to make others understand the people who are involved in these jobs. I will quietly introduce and reveal them to you through my design”, explains Salauddin Ahmed.

The colour tone of Cafe Mango was kept neutral in black and brown with pops of red, blue and yellow ochre in some nooks. Greens and foliage are strewed throughout the place to bring the outdoor in. In terms of lighting, the ground floor is kept well-lit while as you move up, the setting becomes more subdued. In the design of Cafe Mango, Salauddin Ahmed has left more possibilities to add, subtract and build up whatever is required to make the place more meaningful. His objective as an architect is to always give scope to the end-users to participate and also help them uncover the hidden possibilities that a place may hold.


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## Bilal9

*Finely Detailed- ORO*


 Naila Binte ZakariaFebruary, 2021
Amalgamating contemporary cuisines from Europe, the neighbourhood eatery ORO located at the Gulshan Avenue oozes with glorious personality. With a multilayered and sensible interior, designed by the owner himself, the place takes its guest on an artful journey that is not only a feast for the taste buds but also for the other senses.




The name ‘Oro’ translates as ‘gold’ in Spanish and is indeed a golden find like its name suggests. The flavour profiles of ORO is a culmination of the owner’s travels to different restaurants of the world and his attempt to offer the patrons a taste of these distant places with every carefully crafted and exquisitely plated dishes. Classic recipes from around the world are served using skills and techniques developed in collaboration with chefs from Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Singapore and Japan. ORO gives you the ideal setting to savour an array of scrumptious offerings such as homemade pasta, seafood or steak specialities, fresh salad or the ever-changing weekly specials. Exceptional presentation is exemplified by dishes like the Grilled Snow Fish, Wagyu Steak, Japanese Style Duck Breast, Pan Seared & Smoked Pacific Octopus. You may even spot the owner lending hands in the kitchen which demonstrates his passion to serve the guests tasteful gourmet dishes. “Our balanced menu comprises of delicious entrees and European classics. Besides, our team can even work with the guests to create a bespoke menu suiting their requirements. We invite our diners to pause and linger in the company of family and friends, as we guide them through refreshing culinary adventure, unlike any other in Dhaka”, the owner explains.










*As the restaurant is a spatial representation of the owner’s journey, the design is quite idiosyncratic, taking inspiration from eclectic styles with hints of Eastern detailing.*

Upon entrance, diners are greeted with a surprisingly light and airy space, spread over an expanse of 1800 sq ft (approx). “The emphasis was given on a natural palette and materials that lends subtle inspiration from Sri Lankan heritage. The dominant warm hues chosen for the walls and floors showcase the shades commonly found in old Sri Lankan architecture”. To his favour, the space was previously laid out in a way he desired. “I always wanted an open kitchen for an immersive dining experience. My work was made easy as this place was set up just how I envisioned it! The creative process was hence quite organic, where I simply translated my taste into the design”, he adds.





















Several wooden elements were implemented to create a sense of comfort and warmth. The open-kitchen dining counter at the ground floor adds to the theatrical element, as the chef demonstrates his cooking techniques for the seated guests in the restaurant. A discreet spiral staircase made of brass leads the guests to the upper floor, which can be booked for private dining. An abundance of greenery instils a tropical vibe and is evocative of Sri Lanka’s lush green forests and warm climate.


























To create a space that tells a story, many custom furnishings and reclaimed items were used in the space. Vintage chairs and tables were given new meaning within a modern context, embodying both traditional and modern values. In a way, the design of ORO is an ode to local craftsmen and artisans as they were commissioned to furnish every detail that brings the place together. A local artisan built the bespoke brass staircase and partitions while the wooden sculpture at the entrance was made by a local carpenter.
*The owner’s admiration for contextual art is demonstrated through the wondrous mural art extended from the walls to the ceilings, skillfully done by artist Ashraful Hasan.*
In addition, rattan colander baskets were installed on the ceilings and walls to serve the function of both soundproofing and concealing pipes. Large artworks by young artist Sultan Ishtiaque bring a touch of colour against the warm, earthy setting. All these minutiae add a unique flair to the design of the space. The floor-to-ceiling glass windows in the front allow a spectacular view of the large circular fountain and the busy city street. All in all, the textures, shapes and colours fused together at ORO create a sensory experience for its guests.


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## Bilal9

Latest Condition Of Diyabari Metro Rail Station, looks to be 80% complete, Membrane roof needs to be installed as well as turnstile hardware/ticketing booths. This guy does some jerky/blurry videos, sheesh!

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## Bilal9

Birds Eye View Of Diya Bari & Metro Rail Project


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## Bilal9

*Indulge in the Finest – Laughing Buddha*


 Tasmiah ChowdhuryDecember, 2020
*The newly-set finest authentic Thai restaurant Laughing Buddha situated at Gulshan North Avenue invites eateries to enter an intimate yet eclectic hub. Its inclusive interior offers a culmination of grey rustic finishes and luxurious furnishings, as well as a touch of wood that adds warmth to the overall design.*




















*The fine-dining eatery boasts authentic Thai cuisine experience in Dhaka made by their very own Thai chefs, making their way long from Changmai, Thailand.*





Farazi Ghani and Nayeemun Nabi Azad





The ambience and menu of the restaurant are right on, definite and original. Starting with the wholesome staple food of Thailand, Tom Yum Chicken Noodle soup or the Hot and Sour Beef soup, one can dip their taste buds to their addictive blend of fresh flavours. Offerings like the Stir-Fried Lobster or the mouthwatering clay pot dishes let food enthusiasts indulge in an unforgettable authentic Thai food experience. The high-end restaurant is founded by very young restaurateur partners, Farazi Ghani and Nayeemun Nabi Azad. For Farazi, doing a desk job is not his rapport. He looked into building something for himself. After failing a millionth time at some random ventures, Farazi and Nayeemun, best friends now cum business partners, initiated to try their luck on one thing they both love, food. “I love to eat, and Nayeem loves to cook, and our favourite cuisine is Thai. The thought of the restaurant really excited us, and then we worked on putting things to place. We have our roles divided into looking after different aspects of the restaurant,” says Farazi. “We never compromise on taste, hospitality, quality of food or in décor; we are largely involved in the whole process of our restaurant business”.



















The interior design is done by Ar. Sudeshna S Chowdhury, partner of DOT Architects and Ar. Nazila. They focused on presenting a complete visual experience through zoning and flow, where the clean and overall palette of the interior is dominated by dark and neutral colour which is complemented by pop of dark blue and deep green tone upholsters, in order to highlight the sense of space and zoning through the simple and warm tones. The interior brought edgy, streamlined furniture accent sofas and some more modest pieces of armchair and dinner tables, all that brings more sumptuous, luxurious and formal feel. The only metal chosen to enhance the decor is golden. Minute details of the furnishing are edged in gold-hued metal, creating something grandiose and illustrious. In addition, different lighting fixtures have been spruced up in different sections. The shimmering bling of the ornate light fixture adds an immediate drama and style to the place. Apart from this, the whole space uses a variety of arrangements and sitting scenarios where everyone can find a comfortable place to suit their taste. A u-shaped sofa-deck for a large company is placed at one corner of the hall, and along the walls, there are comfy and plush seaters for four and two. One of the interesting sections of the restaurant is the lotus wall with a boat placed centrally so that it becomes the focal point. With the starry ceiling and mirrors, it gives this section a cosy and dreamy ambience.




































The name of the restaurant is derived from the statue of ‘Laughing Buddha’, generally attributed to be of Chinese origin, based upon some Chinese folktales of the 10th century. The cult of the Laughing Buddha is not confined to China, but with different nomenclatures, it also extensively pervades in many other countries, including Thailand. Like many other, the owners Farazi and Nayeemun believe the idol will prove to be the harbinger of good fortune and prosperity. And, this belief has been worthwhile; the restaurant is getting an incredible response for its authentic flavours and supreme setting.


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## Bilal9

*Retreat amidst the Hustle – The Courtyard at Park Heights*


 Tasmiah Chowdhury

*The Courtyard at Park Heights restaurant located in the heart of Dhanmondi brings a rare retreat amidst the daily hustle and bustle. It has two significant functions: an art gallery and a multi-concept restaurant. The lounge-inspired space also serves as an ideal venue to display paintings and sculptures during exhibitions. With a rock pool beside the gallery, the eatery combines an environment that is alluring and intimate. *




The Courtyard at Park Heights is the second restaurant project of Bay Developments Ltd. The venture began its journey back in 1990 by architect Iftekhar A. Khan. With a team of hundreds of members, today Bay has footprints in real estate business, building maintenance and logistics, F & B projects, and as well fine art ventures. The Courtyard at Park Heights was launched in October 2019 and its interior design is done by InterStudio, Bay’s in-house design team. Since its launch, it has become a go-to destination for the Dhanmondi locals that bring together the passion for food and art with an exciting ambience. Covering 5,200 square feet, the restaurant includes spacious seating, kitchen, drink station and an exclusive courtyard. As soon the guests enter the restaurant, they indulge in the panoramic experience. Its open-plan has large and spacious seating arrangements, surrounded by gardens, an open courtyard, murals, gallery walls and all the essential amenities.
In the day time, diffused natural light is borrowed from the glass-covered patio.














> The designers also took advantage of the view to the south- palm trees swaying against the southern sky above the park next door.


“We aimed to create a pleasant destination that combined a chic eatery with a patio that doubled as a sculpture gallery. We set the tone with a surprise water feature, to help guests transit from the busy street into this retreat”, says Saffat Sanin, lead architect of InterStudio. “We went for an urban-chic theme, by offsetting the hard-grey of the fair face concrete structure with the soft salmon of recycled handmade bricks. Then we tied the whole thing together with a dark grey acid finish. Finally, some handpicked plants and shrubbery was added to set the mood for sunshine or rain, and cool winter evenings,” the architect continues.














> Sitting in a garden with a view of the sky; with works of art hanging amidst greenery and flowers, guests can relish on the varied delightful cuisines of the Courtyard.













One can start with the Bengali street food, served up with a twist or some fusion Dim Sum. Others may enjoy the exotic Asian noodle bowls with an authentic touch of Thai and Schezwan. For more homely tastes, one can try the continental classics as well as Old Dhaka’s famous ‘mutton kosha’ and ‘kala bhuna’ with ‘jeera rice’. The Courtyard is the perfect choice expressing the coalescence of space and purpose, transporting the guests into a surprise retreat.
The main dining area is given a minimalist gallery look and feel. The designers concentrated on getting the cooling and lighting just right for the diners and channelled their budget towards the rich teakwood and high-quality solid surface for the endless bar area for hygiene and durability. Some coloured upholstered pieces are positioned in two areas to soften up the lines and give that welcoming all-day coffee shop look. Great care was taken to plan the flow of incoming fresh supplies, proper storage and hygienic services. The back of the house and the dining areas have been separated with an L-shaped service bar and digital art which gives a backdrop of subtle colours and patterns to the service activity.
















The design team further shared that the lighting design had been a challenge when the interiors needed to compete with the natural light of the patio. Essentially, a clever and variable ambient lighting system was adopted that modulates from the bright daytime settings to the night, as well highlights variable surfaces, while focusing on each of the artworks in the studio. Another major challenge for the design team was to use materials that would be one of a kind and which had to be built on-site with the desired physical qualities. In order to do so, the team had to go through rigorous sampling until they found the perfect match. Although the process was time-consuming, it was worth it in the end.


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## Bilal9

*Reflections in Red*



 SHOWCASE

Rich, dark ambience, play of light and shadow, lush floors and luminous lighting- the Red Chamber offers a glimpse of authentic Chinese food and atmosphere- smack dab in the heart of Banani.




To any family in Dhaka, going to a Chinese restaurant is reminiscent of time spent with family. Whether to celebrate some occasion or just to unwind after a stressful work week, Chinese restaurants are always the go-to choice for a family outing. To spend a lively lunch or dinner with family while enjoying authentic chinese food, Red Chamber is a fine choice.




The name of Red Chamber itself evokes a compelling visual in the mind’s eye. A large, imposing room dominated by the colour red, the heady scent of incense and the ubiquitous Chinese motif of a Dragon- that’s the scene that imagination brings forth. In reality, the Red Chamber presents quite a similar view. The name was adopted from the famous Chinese book by Gao E called ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, explained Rafia Mariam and Shaker Ibne Amin, the couple who jointly owns the restaurant with family members. They wanted it to bear the aesthetics of post world war westernize China.







The restaurant’s decor starts from its entrance. Unlike the modern practice of transparent glass doors, the owners opted for a pair of heavy, red stained wooden doors embellished with metal. From here, the atmosphere builds and keeps building. The indoors do not disappoint. Keeping up with the opening theme, the inside of the restaurant is decked in rich, saturated tones. 




“We wanted the interior to have a dark and elegant colour palette, mostly black, gold and reds,” explained the owner. 




Red Chamber occupies a very beautiful space in terms of nature. There are lots of natural light as well as some green views. The lights are carefully planned to keep the restaurant looking equally mesmerizing day and night.




Total space of the Red Chamber is 3500 square feet, explained Rafia Maria Ahmad, the architect behind the restaurant’s glamour who grew up in a family full of architects and had a passion for it since childhood. It wasn’t easy making this space look like a classic Chinese grand ball room, as the owner desired. So the architect went with an open layout. 




Full of wood paneling, customized furniture, Chinese screens and chandelier, and the use of mirrors make the space look a lot bigger than it actually is. Thanks to the partition, up to 100 people can be seated indoors, and because of the use of mirrors, they do not feel claustrophobic despite the dark color scheme.




The seating arrangements were planned keeping large groups in mind. And the furniture also hold a surprising twist.”The furniture including lamps and lanterns are not only customized, but also actually made by us. We took a hands-on approach to it,” the owner stated. Just like the layout of the restaurant was planned from the scratch by the owner and his family, they also contributed to the decor. 




Red Chamber’s carefully curated menu is arguably just as – if not more – impressive as the decor. The owner decided to have a variety of Chinese cuisine. They have three chefs- each dedicated to a different type of food. One of them specializes in spicy Schezwan dishes, one is a dab hand at Hong-kong and Cantonese food such as noodles, and the other one is entirely dedicated to different types of dim-sums. This diversity is why the food at Red Chamber is anything but bland. 





Inaugurated without much fanfare in November, 2018, Red Chamber has gone through three menu extensions so far, explained the owner. All their effort has undoubtedly made the place a success, and the customer base has been very supportive and appreciative of their efforts, he said.


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## Bilal9

*The New Face of Tarka*


 Naila Binte Zakaria

*The newly relocated Tarka completely reimagines what was a casual eatery lacking the space required for its extensive customer base and created a refined and stylish restaurant, enhancing the overall experience for the diners. Spread over an expanse of 4000 sq ft, the freshly fitted venue embodies a timeless appeal. *




The feature that primarily drew the owners towards the new location was its open-plan layout, possessing the wealth of the stunning city view. “While looking for a new location, our main intent centred on the customer experience. Since this place offered a fantastic panoramic view, we decided to settle on it”, says Ashfaq Rahman Asif, the Managing Director of Tarka. He further shares how the old restaurant had existing areas for development which can now be looked into. “As Tarka was our first venture in the food business, we learned immensely about the things we could improve. The former place was quite packed with a very straightforward menu.









For 6 years, we solely relied on the quality of our food without any promotional offers. There was a growing need for a bigger space as we also had to cater to corporate clients. Hence, relocation was inevitable. Starting from introducing newer items in the menu to serving larger crowds, we now have a vast area to explore”, he adds. The other two partners of Tarka are Nazmul Sakib and Nasima Haq. All the owners of Tarka ensure the food quality and pricing remain the same as before but the environment is much more polished and inviting.







> _The design concept emphasizes keeping a naturally well-lit and spacious look without screaming Indian. Instead, subtle hints of the Indian theme were fused through the wall decor, colour scheme and cutleries._


For designing the space, the obvious choice for the owners were Ar. Raisa Chowdhury and Aminur Rahman from White Design Solutions, who have previously designed other outlets for them. The design was executed in a contemporary style, preserving the Indian essence through pops of bright colours. The design project started in the second week of December and was completed within two months because of a relatively tight schedule. “When designing a space, settling on a theme first makes things easier. Next comes developing a unique concept and making cost-effective decisions.








Upon asking the owners, their requirement was quite clear- giving the diners an ambience of a ‘fine dining’ restaurant. Hence, visualizing the design was made simple; a formal restaurant, nothing like a cafe or a casual around the corner diner. Tarka was already an established brand so the aim was to create an ambience that gave the customers an experience better than before”, explains Raisa Chowdhury. The genre of Tarka may have gone through a complete transformation, but instead of fitting in with a fad, the design feels as though it has always been this way. “You could be a youngster or a more mature person but still feel like you are in the right place”, says Ashfaq Rahman Asif.




The design concept emphasizes keeping a naturally well-lit and spacious look without screaming Indian. Instead, subtle hints of the Indian theme were fused through the wall decor, colour scheme and cutleries. “With ample natural light coming in during the day, we decided to go for a bright shade as the primary colour. There weren’t too many walls to highlight either so we wanted to introduce bright upholstery. Although our first pick was green, the particular shade we wanted was not available in the local market and importing fabric would’ve been time-consuming. Hence, we settled for the existing royal blue. The decision worked in our favour as the colour helped to tie the place together”, exclaims Raisa Chowdhury. To give the restaurant a formal appearance, gold accents were added while the upholstered furniture remained in solid fabric colour.




The materials for the place were kept fairly simple with teak boards for all the polished surfaces and furniture, particle boards for decorative wall claddings, and painted shelves. All the furnishings were custom-made from scratch. Lighting was of key importance for the project. The only items that were imported right after confirming the colour scheme were the individual mini lamps on each table. When lit in the evenings, the lamps take the entire ambience to the next level by giving it a cosy yet formal look. The rest of the lighting was kept subtle with individual zones being illuminated using few pendants. One statement chandelier adorns the entry area.










> _The design was executed in a contemporary style, preserving the Indian essence through pops of bright colors._


Undoubtedly, the star attraction of Tarka is its feature wall, being the only wall situated on the private corner of the place. Speaking of the highlighted wall, Raisa Chowdhury shares, “I feel, one eccentric corner or a highlighted piece in a monochromatic design is always nice as it helps to break the monotony. The chaotic Indian print on the wallpaper was the last touch we added, which added drama to the overall look.” The only challenge for the architect was the low height ceiling which was kept clean and basic to avoid any sort of attention. With its enticing décor and unbeatable food quality, it is safe to say that the new face of Tarka will satiate both your eyes and your stomach.





Ashfaq Rahman Asif


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## Bilal9

Video on apparel production. Bangladesh has 14 of the 26 best apparel factories in the world.





High Technology items and electronic items production by Walton in Bangadesh

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail project proceeding round the clock in 3 shifts.

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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/madeinrussianfederation/posts/1914813625338984

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## F-6 enthusiast

A brief and informative video about our economy (don't be fooled by the title) . 





Maybe it has been posted before. I just hope we can sustain this level of growth

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## ZAMURD

Bilal9 said:


> *The New Face of Tarka*
> 
> 
> Naila Binte Zakaria
> 
> *The newly relocated Tarka completely reimagines what was a casual eatery lacking the space required for its extensive customer base and created a refined and stylish restaurant, enhancing the overall experience for the diners. Spread over an expanse of 4000 sq ft, the freshly fitted venue embodies a timeless appeal. *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The feature that primarily drew the owners towards the new location was its open-plan layout, possessing the wealth of the stunning city view. “While looking for a new location, our main intent centred on the customer experience. Since this place offered a fantastic panoramic view, we decided to settle on it”, says Ashfaq Rahman Asif, the Managing Director of Tarka. He further shares how the old restaurant had existing areas for development which can now be looked into. “As Tarka was our first venture in the food business, we learned immensely about the things we could improve. The former place was quite packed with a very straightforward menu.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For 6 years, we solely relied on the quality of our food without any promotional offers. There was a growing need for a bigger space as we also had to cater to corporate clients. Hence, relocation was inevitable. Starting from introducing newer items in the menu to serving larger crowds, we now have a vast area to explore”, he adds. The other two partners of Tarka are Nazmul Sakib and Nasima Haq. All the owners of Tarka ensure the food quality and pricing remain the same as before but the environment is much more polished and inviting.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For designing the space, the obvious choice for the owners were Ar. Raisa Chowdhury and Aminur Rahman from White Design Solutions, who have previously designed other outlets for them. The design was executed in a contemporary style, preserving the Indian essence through pops of bright colours. The design project started in the second week of December and was completed within two months because of a relatively tight schedule. “When designing a space, settling on a theme first makes things easier. Next comes developing a unique concept and making cost-effective decisions.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Upon asking the owners, their requirement was quite clear- giving the diners an ambience of a ‘fine dining’ restaurant. Hence, visualizing the design was made simple; a formal restaurant, nothing like a cafe or a casual around the corner diner. Tarka was already an established brand so the aim was to create an ambience that gave the customers an experience better than before”, explains Raisa Chowdhury. The genre of Tarka may have gone through a complete transformation, but instead of fitting in with a fad, the design feels as though it has always been this way. “You could be a youngster or a more mature person but still feel like you are in the right place”, says Ashfaq Rahman Asif.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The design concept emphasizes keeping a naturally well-lit and spacious look without screaming Indian. Instead, subtle hints of the Indian theme were fused through the wall decor, colour scheme and cutleries. “With ample natural light coming in during the day, we decided to go for a bright shade as the primary colour. There weren’t too many walls to highlight either so we wanted to introduce bright upholstery. Although our first pick was green, the particular shade we wanted was not available in the local market and importing fabric would’ve been time-consuming. Hence, we settled for the existing royal blue. The decision worked in our favour as the colour helped to tie the place together”, exclaims Raisa Chowdhury. To give the restaurant a formal appearance, gold accents were added while the upholstered furniture remained in solid fabric colour.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The materials for the place were kept fairly simple with teak boards for all the polished surfaces and furniture, particle boards for decorative wall claddings, and painted shelves. All the furnishings were custom-made from scratch. Lighting was of key importance for the project. The only items that were imported right after confirming the colour scheme were the individual mini lamps on each table. When lit in the evenings, the lamps take the entire ambience to the next level by giving it a cosy yet formal look. The rest of the lighting was kept subtle with individual zones being illuminated using few pendants. One statement chandelier adorns the entry area.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Undoubtedly, the star attraction of Tarka is its feature wall, being the only wall situated on the private corner of the place. Speaking of the highlighted wall, Raisa Chowdhury shares, “I feel, one eccentric corner or a highlighted piece in a monochromatic design is always nice as it helps to break the monotony. The chaotic Indian print on the wallpaper was the last touch we added, which added drama to the overall look.” The only challenge for the architect was the low height ceiling which was kept clean and basic to avoid any sort of attention. With its enticing décor and unbeatable food quality, it is safe to say that the new face of Tarka will satiate both your eyes and your stomach.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ashfaq Rahman Asif


Why is real estate not a big business in BD like in Pak?? It should be considering the pop. density.

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## Bilal9

ZAMURD said:


> Why is real estate not a big business in BD like in Pak?? It should be considering the pop. density.



Real Estate IS big business in Bangladesh. It is one of the major sectors of the economy.

I don't know if you know otherwise.

Here is a small article,


*The Real Estate Sector in Bangladesh*
Posted on Sep 21, 2019 Category Blog, Real Estate Industry By Sadia T. Ahmed






Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries. With an urban population of 30 million, the urban land shares are 2% of all lands and approximately 10% of the lands are not settled. 25% of the land is already being used for settlements and relatable human purposes.






Due to numerous reasons, the urban growth and development of the country is Dhaka-centric. As Dhaka being the nucleus city, the current real estate sector is highly emphasized with variable prospects. The real estate sector has been introduced in our country nearly after the liberation. And from then on, it has become an earnest interest of the people. Real estate sector is an integral part of the country’s economy. This sector is directly contributing to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by building residential & commercial spaces, developing unused land, helping other businesses to grow, inviting local and foreign investments and generating employment.






With the major segment of the population with a middle and low-income group, ensuring standard housing for the whole population is not an easy task here. Though, the private real estate developers have been successful in meeting a large proportion of the national housing demand in the last 40 years. The real estate is developing day by day and proving its fluidity in case of demand and supply.






The development of building structures being constructed in an unplanned manner is not always in favor of following the building codes. Real estate companies of the country are real growing towards the complete socio economic development. The real estate market of Bangladesh is fixed between 10-15 companies which hold approximately 95% of the entire market shares. The influencing factors are based on the expansion of the efficiency of the overall sector. This data has been collected from 220 customers, 15 real estate experts and 20 real estate professionals from capital city & the nearby outskirts.


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## Bilal9

A few properties being developed by Shanta Holdings, a local developer,

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## ZAMURD

Bilal9 said:


> Real Estate IS big business in Bangladesh. It is one of the major sectors of the economy.
> 
> I don't know if you know otherwise.
> 
> Here is a small article,
> 
> 
> *The Real Estate Sector in Bangladesh*
> Posted on Sep 21, 2019 Category Blog, Real Estate Industry By Sadia T. Ahmed
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries. With an urban population of 30 million, the urban land shares are 2% of all lands and approximately 10% of the lands are not settled. 25% of the land is already being used for settlements and relatable human purposes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Due to numerous reasons, the urban growth and development of the country is Dhaka-centric. As Dhaka being the nucleus city, the current real estate sector is highly emphasized with variable prospects. The real estate sector has been introduced in our country nearly after the liberation. And from then on, it has become an earnest interest of the people. Real estate sector is an integral part of the country’s economy. This sector is directly contributing to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by building residential & commercial spaces, developing unused land, helping other businesses to grow, inviting local and foreign investments and generating employment.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> With the major segment of the population with a middle and low-income group, ensuring standard housing for the whole population is not an easy task here. Though, the private real estate developers have been successful in meeting a large proportion of the national housing demand in the last 40 years. The real estate is developing day by day and proving its fluidity in case of demand and supply.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The development of building structures being constructed in an unplanned manner is not always in favor of following the building codes. Real estate companies of the country are real growing towards the complete socio economic development. The real estate market of Bangladesh is fixed between 10-15 companies which hold approximately 95% of the entire market shares. The influencing factors are based on the expansion of the efficiency of the overall sector. This data has been collected from 220 customers, 15 real estate experts and 20 real estate professionals from capital city & the nearby outskirts.


Sorry, I didn't knew about that. It shouldn't be Dhaka-centric.
& what is progress on that bridge connecting Dhaka to 1/5th of the country.

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## Bilal9

ZAMURD said:


> Sorry, I didn't knew about that. It shouldn't be Dhaka-centric.
> & what is progress on that bridge connecting Dhaka to 1/5th of the country.



Well Real-Estate is mainly Dhaka-centric right now because that is where all the Political, social, business, financial, industrial and cultural activities are. 

Just what it is - but then that pattern is visible in other nearby countries too, namely Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (KL) and Indonesia (Jakarta).

If you are talking about Padma Bridge, construction work is largely completed and work on roadways and railway track is progressing well. Opening ETA would be sometime early next year.

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## Bilal9

PM herself arranged for 100 more reaper-harvester combines for Sunamganj haor area Boro rice harvest activities because of severe labor shortage in that area. This is in addition to 130 or so provided earlier. Total area under harvest scope is 15000 hectares and the total Boro rice output expected is about 8,85,000 metric tonnes.

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## Bilal9

Some small outfit is bringing in Indonesian CKD kit in Bangladesh for an SUV, they have assembled the first batch. But calling this "Made in Bangladesh" is going a bit far. Some one should explain this to the company directors. Shame. @Indos brother what is the reputation of this SUV in Indonesia? Thanks for your reply.






https://www.dfskmotors.co.id/id/cars/glory-i-auto

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## The Ronin



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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> Some small outfit is bringing in Indonesian CKD kit in Bangladesh for an SUV, they have assembled the first batch. But calling this "Made in Bangladesh" is going a bit far. Some one should explain this to the company directors. Shame. @Indos brother what is the reputation of this SUV in Indonesia? Thanks for your reply.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.dfskmotors.co.id/id/cars/glory-i-auto



I am not an automotive enthusiast, can you give me the original name of the car ? As far as I know we only produce Japanese made SUV where one of them is developed in Indonesia like Toyota Kijang. One of Wuling car from China produced in Indonesia also has more than 70 % their components made in Indonesia.

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> I am not an automotive enthusiast, can you give me the original name of the car ? As far as I know we only produce Japanese made SUV where one of them is developed in Indonesia like Toyota Kijang. One of Wuling car from China produced in Indonesia also has more than 70 % their components made in Indonesia.



Brother this SUV is made by DFSK motors in Indonesia. Model is called Glory-i-auto.

https://www.dfskmotors.co.id/id/cars/glory-i-auto

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## The Ronin



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## Bilal9

*Rupayan Business Park, I Block, Bashundhara*

15 storied office building with 3 levels for underground parking, firefighting system and grand entrance
*















Morphosis Tower, Tejgaon
















GREEN HANNAN TOWER*










Video about the five/six planned satellite cities around Dhaka




Proposed commercial project at Tejgaon



















Dhaka in lockdown from the air.




Around Gulshan...

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## Bilal9

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recent single family residence planned/executed by 'Shatotto' which is one of the leading and award-winning architectural ateliers in Dhaka.

Project Brief:-
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Land Area: 5399.99 sft.
Year Of Completion: 2018
Client: Majumder Arif Family
Design Firm: SHATOTTO architecture for green living
Principal Architect: Ar. Rafiq Azam
Photography by: Ar. Rafiq Azam & Will Scott

The Majumder Arif Residence, a single extended family house, is a contemporary architectural design of edifying relationships among built materials and natural elements. Dhaka-based architecture studio SHATOTTO completed this project in 2018 in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. SHATOTTO’s intention was to create a space for living in privacy along with cross ventilation, ample daylight, and vegetation. The challenge of the plot was its north-facing orientation. The north-facing buildings are deprived of the monsoon summer wind and winter sun in Dhaka because of its subtropical climate due to 24.5° latitude. Furthermore, the other sides of the plot are surrounded by the backsides of seven and eight storied buildings that do not allow the sun to enter the building and the eye to enjoy the sky and nature from the building. To deal with the challenges, the design decision was to divide the whole building into three segments to welcome the sunlight whole day. Eastern segment is left empty from the third floor for the courtyard and garden up to the top. The intentional use of glass roof with some small holes and glass stairs in this segment welcome the sunlight to peep and rain to fall into the house. This segment provides amicable view of bouncing greenery, play of sunlight and rain drops to the residents of the house.

Placement of utilities and parking spaces on basement; reception, games room and substation on the ground level; parents’ living area on first floor; formal living, dining, and family living on the duplex, containing second and third floor; library, formal living and bar area on fourth floor; conference room with large void space on fifth floor; electro-mechanical support facilities of swimming pool, gymnasium and pavilion on sixth floor, swimming pool with deck, bar-b-que space and green orchard on seventh floor; garden with open space on eighth floor - has opted for implementing the "stacking" design to provide much space on the ground and other levels. The use of exposed concrete, having an unfurnished surface was done intentionally to make the building sustainable in the highly humid climate of Bangladesh which gives the house a "natural" look. Alternation of water in different water bodies, gardens with bouncing greeneries, passage for breezes to create natural ventilation to the many openings, windows and terraces on each floor and hollow spaces - has brought "fluidity" in the design of the house.

The architect’s philosophy was to design the house in such a way that it does not deprive people from enjoying the sky and the natural beauty. So, the endeavor was to embed porosity in design to delight the eye with vista rather than limiting the vision. When the pedestrians look at the house from the street, they can see the sky through the house and the trees coming out of the house. Interestingly, in winter, the sunlight enters into the house and the building passes the sunlight to shine the road, in front of the house, while adjacent buildings cast shadow on the street. Intense desire and relentless effort for establishing the connection with nature have made the house a space for living in nature.



















=AZUMBMhe2hQy5NaxrrQWXCcDpokKoBRI06kAlupZDR14Y_5sPK2NxQS3xmQ3ctbxE67qbKQNmA6WYBGjLKgvMMAM9eHYAlZTZZyDUb4oCsYDE3j2tpdj1pZj4zU6OyUzEBLxH_SMw9EAgi6AzNPiV9oBkY4zy0Ag8TwOn97MUIhhTj-AZxLGtPqcSWL6kLM4J7Y&*tn*=*bH-R']



=AZUMBMhe2hQy5NaxrrQWXCcDpokKoBRI06kAlupZDR14Y_5sPK2NxQS3xmQ3ctbxE67qbKQNmA6WYBGjLKgvMMAM9eHYAlZTZZyDUb4oCsYDE3j2tpdj1pZj4zU6OyUzEBLxH_SMw9EAgi6AzNPiV9oBkY4zy0Ag8TwOn97MUIhhTj-AZxLGtPqcSWL6kLM4J7Y&*tn*=*bH-R']

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## Saiful Islam

This part of the subsection is a breath of fresh air, I like spending on time this thread. To the brothers keeping eyes on developments and what not. Thank you.

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## F-6 enthusiast

exploiting the resources of Bay if Bengal could boost the economy. A survey of the gas fields in our maritime area is essential.

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## The Ronin



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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> exploiting the resources of Bay if Bengal could boost the economy. A survey of the gas fields in our maritime area is essential.



USGS has an ongoing program to survey the gas-extraction possibilities in the Bay of Bengal.





__





After India, Bangladesh discovers natural gas in the Bay of Bengal


South Korean conglomerate Daewoo has made a natural gas discovery in Block D-12 in the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh.




www.indoasiancommodities.com


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## F-6 enthusiast

Bilal9 said:


> USGS has an ongoing program to survey the gas-extraction possibilities in the Bay of Bengal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After India, Bangladesh discovers natural gas in the Bay of Bengal
> 
> 
> South Korean conglomerate Daewoo has made a natural gas discovery in Block D-12 in the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.indoasiancommodities.com


what's taking them so long (to extract) ?
it's almost 3 years since they did the survey.


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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> what's taking them so long (to extract) ?
> it's almost 3 years since they did the survey.



Block-Lease Negotiation and feasibility measurement takes time.

To begin extraction is a relatively short process but companies (like BP and EXXON) have to make absolutely sure that it makes financial sense for them after sinking bore holes, renting derricks, laying pipelines, paying off these govt. idiots (goes all the way to the top) that they can extract the gas and sell it to make a profit.

We also cannot count out the influence of the competition of imported LNG from Kuwait, thanks to Summit Group, whose directors are all Hasina friends.

If imported LNG is cheaper, then extraction is moot.


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## Bilal9




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## The Ronin

__ https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune/posts/5382704385138169

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## The Ronin




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## SpaceMan18

The Metro Trains running , pretty cool I guess

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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> The Metro Trains running , pretty cool I guess



Yup preliminary trial testing, prior to an actual trial run. Will be a while before actual service.

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## Bilal9

Some retail news, but please do not go to this outlet before Eid. Shop online please....have it delivered for a few taka.

*Aarong Flagship Outlet (new), Ashfiya Tower, Banani-11
































































*


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## Bilal9

*Dhaka Central International Medical College, Dhaka




*


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## Bilal9

*DHANMONDI LAKE




*







8- lane Purbachal Link Road current status

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## Bilal9

Metrorail line progress in Shahbagh, Old Sheraton area







Dhaka Metrorail stations approaching completion

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## The Ronin



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## SpaceMan18

The Ronin said:


>



Those trains look pretty clean except I wish that on the side of the trains specifically the windows to have like an LCD screen displaying the next station or what Number train is this. 

Here's R160 of the New York City Subway ( I rode this many times) 




You can see the LCD screens on the side displaying the Letter of the train and next station


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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> Those trains look pretty clean except I wish that on the side of the trains specifically the windows to have like an LCD screen displaying the next station or what Number train is this.
> 
> Here's R160 of the New York City Subway ( I rode this many times)
> View attachment 742708
> 
> You can see the LCD screens on the side displaying the Letter of the train and next station



All modern Metro/Subway trains have train identifiers and other enunciators on the sides (some inside windows). Dhaka Metro will be no exception. I'm sure this is a basic requirement and will be met.

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## Bilal9

OK this is sort of a funny story that became funny because the writers do not understand the basics of how logistics and transport works. In spite of DAC-CTG highway becoming a four lane highway, these guys in Comilla are asking to re-open the airport there. I cannot fathom why....this is kinda similar to "Noakhali Bivag Chai" demand to make Noakhali into a division, while it is a simple district.

For those who do not know the town of Comilla is about 44 miles South of Dhaka.

The best thing would be to convert the grounds to an EPZ since it is right next to Comilla EPZ.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Due to lack of initiative, Comilla Airport has been closed for 44 years and no one is watching*
*Today's Comilla.com:*
May 11, 2021





Desk Report:

Comilla is in the middle of Dhaka-Chittagong and bordering India. The highest number of expatriates in Bangladesh is in this district. There are about 1.5 million expatriates here. Comilla district also has the highest remittance. The geographically important airport in Comilla district has been closed for the last 44 years (with the exception of two weeks in between).

In 1940, during the Second World War, Comilla Airport was established near Neura-Dhulipara. Until 1966, the airport was used by the army on domestic routes. The port has been open to the public since that year.

Until 198, the aircraft took off and landed at this port. Then it was closed due to passenger crisis. Although the airport was reopened in 1994, the airlines stopped taking off and flew in two weeks due to lack of passengers. Originally domestic flights were operated at this port.

It can be seen on the ground in the area of Comilla Airport that grass has been cultivated in most of the areas of the airport established on 6 acres of land. Besides, there are small ponds in the port land. Gate No. 3 of Comilla EPZ is in Comilla Airport area. It is surrounded by Neura, Dhulipara, Rajapara, Unaisar, Dishaband and Rasulpur areas of Comilla City Corporation.

Roads built for the airport are located in parts of Dhulipara, Rasulpur and Rajapara. The road was opened to the public after the work of picking up and dropping off passengers was stopped.

Authorities at the port said the airport could be operational with just a Tk 30 crore renovation. If it was launched, many more foreign investments would have come to the Comilla EPZ adjacent to the airport and a large number of people would have been employed. A new dimension was added to the economy of Comilla.



The airport now serves international route signaling. Every day 35 to 40 aircraft use this signal. Domestic flights to India operate more frequently. The flight to Agartala Airport runs on this route. There are also flights to Bangkok, Singapore. The airport is earning 30-40 lakh Taka per month for signaling. No more money is needed to open the airport. There is a huge amount of land available.

There is no hassle of buying or acquiring land. Runway carpeting, fire service and air traffic control tower manpower required. At present there are 20 manpower in this airport.

According to the Comilla EPZ traders, if the airport was opened, more foreign investors would come to Comilla EPZ and a large number of people would be employed. It is important to open Comilla Airport for foreign investors.

Meanwhile, the expatriates of Comilla are angry over the closure of passenger transport at Comilla Airport for a long time. Despite having an airport, the people of Comilla have been regularly expressing their anger on Facebook as its activities are incomplete.

*Md. Mizanur Rahman, an Oman expatriate, said, 'Coming to a village in Comilla via Dhaka-Chittagong is time consuming and expensive. The number of expatriates in Comilla is more than the rest of the country. Besides, Comilla district is also rich in tourism. We strongly demand to activate the airport in Comilla.*

Zafar Ahmed, a Bahraini expatriate, said, “Now is a difficult time for Corona. We expatriates submit samples just two days before they go abroad. After a day the fruit comes. Sometimes I hear the results of the sample come on the day of going abroad. At this time it is difficult to go abroad after collecting the coroner's certificate. If the plane had landed at Comilla port, there would have been no worries.

Comilla Chamber of Commerce President Masood Parvez Khan Imran said, “Now is the time for aviation to increase foreign investment in the EPZ adjacent to the airport. Besides, most of the people of Comilla are living in exile in Bangladesh. There is a demand for aviation on their domestic routes.

Abul Hasnat Babul, former president of Comilla Press Club, said, “Comilla Airport was opened during the Second World War before Dhaka. Comilla has lagged far behind due to the closure of the airport.

Comilla Airport Managing Engineer Abdul Gani said, “Most of the things at the airport are operational. At a cost of Tk 20-25 crore, aircraft can be loaded and unloaded at this port. We have talked in the upper house.

He further said, “At one time, the airlines were reluctant to fly as there were not many passengers in Comilla. Now there are a lot of passengers in Comilla. Next to it is Comilla EPZ. If the port could be reopened, the economy of Comilla would also turn around."

Abdul Gani said, “Former Railway Minister Mujibul Haque, when he was a member of the Standing Committee on the Ministry of Aviation, tried hard to get the airport opened. After that no one else expressed such goodwill. If the politicians of Comilla are sincere about the launch of this port, then I think it will see the light of day.

Former Railway Minister and Comilla-11 MP Mujibul Haque said, “I have spoken for a while to open the airport. Now that the highway is four lanes, the travel time has come down. My guess is that the government is not reopening the port thinking about the time.


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## Bilal9

They used an AN-124 super heavy cargo carrier jet to airlift the Menck Piling Hammers for Padma bridge from Germany to Dhaka. Largest ever made by Menck, airfreighted all the way. Padma bridge depth is around 1500 feet, the pilings went three times that deep.

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## Bilal9

*Sheer Elegance*
_by_ ICE TODAY





000
In the Residential sphere, Shanta develops Apartment buildings as well as larger-scale Condominium projects. Their Residential projects are built with the highest quality construction and finishing materials sourced locally and globally. Based on the size of the projects, they incorporate modern lifestyle amenities such as fully equipped gyms, swimming pools, steam/sauna facilities, children’s play areas, billiard rooms, management offices, fully furnished community/party rooms, complemented with professional interior design, landscaping, and lighting. The company always strives for innovation; for instance, they are proud to be the introducer of parking-free ground floor designs in Residential buildings in Bangladesh.
























They believe the entry to your home should be full of natural elements such as professional landscaping, water features, green lawns etc in order to create a welcoming experience. Attention to detail in every aspect of each project is how they aim to win the hearts of our clients, because at the end of the day – home is where the heart is.
*Photographs by *Shanta*

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## Bilal9

OK now a story about automobile production. There are pilot assembly projects all around Bangladesh, Don't laugh at the limited numbers, these are just trial runs.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


12:00 AM, May 07, 2021 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:01 AM, May 08, 2021
*“Made in Bangladesh” cars: how far are we?*










Rahbar Al Haq

The personal ownership of a car in Bangladesh has always been an expensive prospect. High import taxes, combined with the lack of an indigenous auto industry in Bangladesh, mean prospective buyers have to pay to double over a car's original price, sometimes even more.

However, with the massive 1,106% increase in car ownership (from 303,215 units to 4,471,625 units) in the past 15 years, combined with rapid industrialisation, local production of cars has become very close to reality.

Some companies have already begun locally assembling cars for foreign brands, while others are planning for future joint production. With this in mind, we have put together a summary of all these companies and their achievements to date.

*

For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.*

For this article, we are excluding the development of commercial and motorcycle assembly in Bangladesh, as those topics are best covered with their own separate dedicated reports.

*Pragati Industries Limited | Multiple brands*





_Mitsubishi Pajero Sport. Pragati assembles the "QX" variant of this car._

Pragati's history of local car assembly goes back before our country's independence, when —Back then it was known as Gandhara Industries— in the 60's it entered into an agreement with General Motor's European division to put together the Vauxhall Viva sedan.

In more recent times, the Japanese automotive giant Mitsubishi has entered a five-year agreement with Pragati around 2010 to locally assemble the second generation Pajero Sport SUV. Both companies maintain this agreement to this day, with assembly switching to the new third-generation QX model.

In recent years, the State-run enterprise reportedly also began working closely with Mitsubishi to make their brand of motor vehicles. In a report published on The Daily Star last year, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said that Japanese Ambassador Ito Naoki had told him "He [Ito Naoki] also said that Japan would provide technical assistance for the production of Bangladesh's own brand of motor vehicles. He further offered to assist Bangladesh in developing the vendor industry related to automobile and light engineering industries and setting up an Automobile Testing & Research Institute in Bangladesh."

_Mahindra Scorpio. Pragati assembled 36 of such units in 2017. (trial run)_





Other than Mitsubishi, Pragati also assembled 36 Mahindra Scorpio SUVs in 2017. The enterprise also offers the Foton SUV and various other commercial vehicles.

*Rangs Limited | Mitsubishi Motors*





_Mitsubishi Outlander. Rancon Auto Industries Limited (RAIL) plant at Bhabanipur, Kashimpur, Gazipur assembled 200 of such vehicles_.

Although Pragati has been putting together cars with the three-diamond badge for a while, most of their output ended up in the government fleet. The cars that do end up on the consumer market, are sold by Rangs Limited, a concern of Rangs Group.

The local industrial giant has been putting together the cars on their own as well, assembling the Mitsubishi Outlander SUV at their Kashimpur, Gazipur plant for well over three years, with more than 200 units being successfully completed.

Currently, the plant can assemble 4 units per day with Shoeb Ahmed, divisional director of Rangs Limited, informed daily star in February that for 2021 they hope to assemble 200 SUVs in a single year.

*Read More*



*A brief look at the auto industry in Bangladesh*


*Gracefully matured: 2020 Honda City RS*
*PHP Motors | Proton Holdings Berhad*





_2018 Proton Preve. One of the first models assembled by PHP Motors._





_A view of the assembling plant of PHP Automobiles in Chattogram._

PHP Motors, a sister concern of the PHP Family based in Chattogram, has been putting together Malaysia's Proton car as early as 2017. Their facility at Sagarika in Chattogram is capable of the annual production of 1,200 units a year and currently employs about 265 workers to assemble 10-12 vehicles per shift. PHP started with the assembly of the Proton Preve, a decently equipped family sedan, but also began assembling the 2021 Proton Saga, according to PHP Automobile chairman Sufi Mohammed Mizanur Rahman.

Akhtar Parvez, managing director of the company, told The Daily Star last February that PHP currently locally produces 25 of the 800 parts required to build a car. He hopes they will be able to manufacture most of the important parts in their factory by next year.

*Upcoming projects*

_*Fair Technology Limited | Hyundai Motor Company*_





_Hyundai Elantra. One of the models currently offered by Fair Technology Limited._

Fair Technology Limited's entry into the Bangladesh auto industry has been recent, but it has already made significant headway toward setting up local production. Being the new sole distributor of Hyundai cars in Bangladesh, the company signed a contract in January with Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) to establish an assembly plant at Kaliakair, Gazipur.

Mohammed Mesbah Uddin, Chief Marketing Officer of the Fair group, told the Daily star last February that they plan to invest $125 million in the next three to five years to set up a plant capable of producing 5,000 vehicles a year.

Fair Technology, which has also been manufacturing Samsung smartphones since 2019, hopes to begin production as soon as 2022 and claims the locally assembled cars are likely to be 25 per cent lower than prevailing market rates.

*Uttara Motors Limited | Maruti Suzuki*





_Suzuki Vitara Brezza. One of the models currently offered by Uttara Motors Limited._

Another dealership that has switched its focus on local car assembly is Uttara Motors Ltd. They are investing $33.63 million to build a local assembly and manufacturing plant for Maruti Suzuki cars in Bangladesh. The company signed a lease for a 50-acre plot at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar in Chattogram, last march.

Matiur Rahman, Uttara Motors Chairman and Managing Director, said the high-quality plant will generate employment for 800 people.

*Read More*

*Honda debuts Bangladesh specific Dream 110, celebrates production of 2 lac units*
*Mid-sized luxury: 2021 BMW 530e*

*Stalled prospects*

Although the companies mentioned above are already producing or soon to start production, many other local automotive ventures had their venture abruptly halted because of the ongoing pandemic.

Bangladesh Auto Industries Ltd. (BAIL), was planning to establish an electric vehicle factory on Bangabandhu Industrial Park. With an initial investment of $200 million that would total to $1 billion within the next five years, the company planned to manufacture from two-wheelers to sedans, SUVs, pick-ups, mini-trucks, and multipurpose vehicles.

Unfortunately, the pandemic slowed down BAIL's plans considerably, with all plans being moved back a year. In an interview with The Daily Star Mir Masud Kabir, managing director of BAIL, said "We missed the target as the suppliers could not ship the required equipment on time even though we opened letters of credit earlier on," said Mir Masud Kabir, managing director of BAIL. "We were on track before the Covid-19 crisis hit but the prevailing situation has not been favourable for us. Regardless, we are maintaining correspondence with our foreign partners via digital platforms to keep the project alive," he added.

Nitol Motor's Suvare electric cars project also suffered similar delays because of the Coivd-19. The company has finished the construction of the assembly plant building on 10 acres of land in Pabna, but are unable to import the machinery required to build the car themselves.

"As per new target, we will bring the EV within next two and a half years," informed Abdul Matlub Ahmad, chairman of Nitol-Niloy Group.

Asked about the car, he said the locally designed 25-Kwh battery-electric car would have the size and feel of regular sedans and will cost about Tk 10 lakh to Tk 12 lakh.

In more recent times Bangla cars, a sister concern of the Hossain group, entered talks with Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Motors to start local vehicle production under their own marque. Because of covid complication, however, the plans have been put on hold and the company is assembling DFSK car in their assembly plant at Narayanganj as an interim solution.

Md Abdus Sattar, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Bangla cars, informed The Daily Star that the plant is now fully operational, having successfully assembled 6 new DFSK "Glory" crossovers. The company plans to officially inaugurate the assembly plant after Eid, or whenever the lockdown eases.

Here is DFSK Bangladesh website,





__





DFSK Bangladesh


DFSK Bangladesh Official




dfsk.com.bd





This are the initially offered models






-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a similar piece on Motorcycles made in Bangladesh, which has much deeper backward integration (local parts manufacturing support). Sometimes parts are sourced from local third parties, but mostly made in house. The story below is in part a precursor to the story above, but discusses motorcycles as well.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


12:00 AM, February 13, 2021 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:35 AM, February 13, 2021
*A brief look at the auto industry in Bangladesh*


Photo: Akif Hamid
" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px !important; cursor: pointer; position: relative; display: table; z-index: 1;">




Photo: Akif Hamid




Rahbar Al Haq

The rapid growth of our economy and people's purchasing power has seen a rise in demand for personal transport. People are buying more cars and motorcycles than ever before, being able to pay their way through the duty inflated prices. To support this higher demand, more and more transport manufacturers have set up or setting up plants for local production. We have analysed both industries to see their current state and what the future holds for them.

Starting with four wheels, the car market in Bangladesh is small compared to many of our neighboring countries. Bangladesh's automobile density -- the number of vehicles per unit length of the roadway -- is as low as 0.5 percent, compared to the global average of 12 percent. Data from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) shows that there are a total of 4,471,625 registered vehicles in the country, of which only 370,519 are registered as 'Private Passenger Car' followed by 105,896 'Microbus' and 66,219 'Jeeps'.

*

For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.*

On the other hand, the number of registered motorised vehicles has observed a fourfold increase in just 15 years, as it was only 303,215 units in 2003. People have been buying more cars than ever before, which presents a large opportunity for the local auto industry.

According to a report in this newspaper, the country has 12 million people in the medium-income generating affluent bracket and this segment of the population is growing very fast -- by 10 percent a year. Many of these consumers are not getting their desired vehicles because of high import duties, ranging from 130 per cent to 850 per cent.

To circumvent this issue, many companies are setting up or have set up local facilities.

Fair Technology Limited, the sole distributor of Hyundai cars in Bangladesh, is the most recent car company to make moves toward local production. The company signed a contract with Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) to establish an assembly plant on six acres of land. The company plans to invest $125 million in the next three to five years to set up a plant capable of churning out 5,000 vehicles a year. The company plans to begin production as soon as 2022 and claims the locally assembled cars are likely to be 25 percent lower than prevailing market rates.

PHP Motors, a sister concern of the PHP Family based in Chattogram, already manufactures cars made by Malaysia's Proton. Proton Preve, a decently equipped family sedan, has been locally put together for almost half a decade. The company also began assembling the 2021 Proton Saga, according to PHP Automobile chairman Sufi Mohammed Mizanur Rahman.





_Photo: Akif Hamid_

In terms of full production, the state-run Pragati Industries is working closely with Japanese automotive giant Mitsubishi Corporation to make Bangladesh's own brand of motor vehicles. Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said in 2020 that Japanese Ambassador Ito Naoki had told him "(They) are interested in increasing investments in Bangladesh". Currently, Pragati assembles cars designed by Mitsubishi Motors.

Moving from internal combustion engines to battery electric vehicles, BEV, the local automobile company Bangladesh Auto Industries Ltd. (BAIL), is building a BEV plant on Bangabandhu Industrial Park. The company planned to invest $200 million with total investment for the project reaching $1 billion within the next five years. They planned to "manufacture two-wheelers, three-wheelers, sedan, hatchback, and sport utility vehicle, SUV, and had plans to produce pick-ups, mini-trucks, and multipurpose vehicles," a report in 2019 claimed. Unfortunately, the pandemic slowed down BAIL's plans considerably, with all plans being moved back a year. "We missed the target as the suppliers could not ship the required equipment on time even though we opened letters of credit earlier on," Mir Masud Kabir, managing director of BAIL, told The Daily Star.

"We were on track before the Covid-19 crisis hit but the prevailing situation has not been favorable for us. Regardless, we are maintaining correspondence with our foreign partners via digital platforms to keep the project alive," he added.

The introduction of BAIL's BEVs will provide a major boost to the local auto scenario, especially if the company manages to meet its ambitious price point. BAIL went on public saying their SUV will sell at around Tk 25 lakh while sedans will be priced between Tk 12 lakh to Tk 15 lakh. Hatchbacks will go for Tk 8 lakh or less. Meanwhile, the price of motorcycles will range from Tk 50,000 to Tk 1.5 lakh. Whether the company will be able to fulfill this claim, remains to be seen.





_Photo: Akif Hamid_

Another local BEV venture that has been stalled by the lockdown is Nitol Motor's Suvare electric cars. The locally designed 25-Kwh battery-electric car will have the size and feel of regular sedans and will cost about Tk 10 lakh to Tk 12 lakh, according to Abdul Matlub Ahmad, chairman of Nitol-Niloy Group.

The company has already finished the construction of the assembly plant building on 10 acres of land in Pabna. The plant, currently awaiting installation of machinery, will be able to annually produce 20,000 EVs. The total set-up of the plant is estimated to be Tk 350 crore.

Asked about the delay, Matlub Ahmad said, "As per new target, we will bring the EV within next two and a half years."

When it comes to two-wheelers, there have been much more extensive developments.
The number of motorcycle users in Bangladesh has grown rapidly in the past few years. According to BRTA. the number of registered motorcycles increased about four times in the last decade, from 759,257 in 2010 to 2,991,612 in 2020. A report from the Daily Star in June last year showed around 5 lakh motorcycles were sold in FY 2018-19, up 25 per cent from 4 lakh a year ago. It means nearly 1,500 motorcycles are being purchased every day.

Subrata Ranjan Das, executive director of ACI Motors, reported in an interview in 2019 that the highest growth took place in the 150cc segment, followed by 110cc ones. Among the general growth, there also has been a sharp increase in the consumer demand for premium motorcycles. In an industry analysis conducted by Safat Ishtiaq, Head of Operations, Asian Motorbikes Limited, it was observed a strong demand for "Complete Built-Up" (CBU) motorcycles, such as their Ninja 125 along with Honda CBR and Yamaha R15v2. Around 300 of such high-priced motorcycles are sold every year, the analysis claims.
To support this rapid demand, the local motorcycle industry has snowballed, which has received 8,000 cr investment so far. Currently, the sector employs around 200,000 people in direct and indirect jobs and pays Tk 2,000 cr in duties every year.

In another report published in the Daily Star in July 2019, around 80 percent of motorcycles running in the country have either been locally manufactured or assembled. Bangladesh Honda (Private) Ltd has recently celebrated their 200,000 unit's cumulative production milestone. On the other hand, local motorcycle company Runner reported the production of 1,000 motorcycles a day in 2019. The company also debuted in exporting two-wheelers in 2017 to Nepal and Bhutan and shipped more than 700 units of bikes in 2019, followed by another 300 in 2020.





Photo: Rahin Shadman Islam

However, with these massive growths, there have been some setbacks. The displacement limit enforced by the government, which limits motorcycle engine capacity to 165cc, has caused trouble both for local export and growth of foreign industry investments. In terms of local growth,

Amid Sakif Khan, Director at Runner Group of Companies, informed Daily Star the company ran into a problem trying to ensure the Q&C of these high displacement motorcycles. Because of the local cc restriction, Runner was unable to road test any of the bikes before sending them aboard. As a result, the numerous production flaws plagued those models, hurting both Runner's reputation and sales.

When it comes to foreign investments, Kawasaki approached Bangladesh's Ministry of Commerce in December 2019 about setting up a local production facility. However, to make the venture profitable, they requested the displacement limit be raised to at least 250, as the company primarily specializes in making premium motorcycles of 250cc and up. The proposal fell on deaf ears and joined the list of lost opportunities for the local motorcycle industry. 

As it is, the displacement cap remains a major thorn in the side of the local motorcycle industry, but with recent talks of raising the limit, many have been hopeful. Doing so will greatly increase the opportunity for foreign investments and will open the market to bigger opportunities.


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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Design of Dhaka Metro Rail Line 6 viaduct and stations 






Padma River and Padma Bridge Cinematic View

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## Bilal9

*ANDRITZ Successfully Starts up Turnkey Tissue Production Line at Bashundhara Paper Mills*
*International technology Group ANDRITZ has successfully started up the PrimeLineCOMPACT VI tissue production line – including stock preparation and automation system – delivered to Bashundhara Paper Mills Limited in Bangladesh.*



Successful start-up of the ANDRITZ PrimeLineCOMPACT VI tissue production line at Bashundhara Paper Mills Limited in Bangladesh. -Credit: ANDRITZ-

The ANDRITZ tissue machine – with a design speed of 2,100 m/min and a paper width of 2.85 m – produces tissue for high-quality facial wipes, toilet paper, and napkins. The 16 ft. PrimeDry Steel Yankee is made entirely of steel, thus enabling high and efficient drying performance, and was manufactured at the ANDRITZ Steel Yankee Business Center in Foshan, China, which offers customers in Asia state-of-the-art manufacturing, local field service, and comprehensive quality management. For ANDRITZ, it is the first high-speed tissue machine to be installed in Bangladesh. 

The tissue production line is equipped with the ANDRITZ PrimeControl automation system for a high-performance production process. For the very first time, ANDRITZ has supplied a multi-motor drive (MMD) system with active line modules (ALM). The ALMs are designed for feeding energy back into the grid as a renewable energy solution, they offer low line harmonics that meet the demands of IEEE 519, and they enable stable operation of the motor, even with irregular power supply systems. All the tissue machine MMDs are powered from a common DC-busbar as are the approach flow and the air ventilation systems at times. The ANDRITZ LV motors are installed from fiber preparation to the tissue machine auxiliary system.

The scope of supply also included the complete stock preparation plant with approach flow system, fiber recovery and broke handling. The system features the ANDRITZ ShortFlow concept, an overall and compact process design that significantly reduces the number of single machines and storage volumes. Market bales are dissolved in a FibreSolve FSV pulper, which enables efficient slushing without damaging the fibers. TwinFlo refiners ensure balanced and efficient operation as well as superior fiber properties. Fiber recovery is mainly handled by a RotoWash, which achieves low solids content in the effluent water. Two further pulpers from the FibreSolve product family are part of the broke system. 

The successful start-up confirms ANDRITZ’s strong position as one of the global market leaders for supply of complete tissue production lines, key components, and services.

*ANDRITZ GROUP*
ANDRITZ is a globally leading supplier of plants, equipment, and services for hydropower stations, the pulp and paper industry, the metal working and steel industries, and for solid/liquid separation in the municipal and industrial segments. Other important fields of business are animal feed and biomass pelleting, as well as automation, where ANDRITZ offers a wide range of innovative products and services in the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) sector under the brand name of Metris. In addition, the international technology Group is active in power generation (steam boiler plants, biomass power plants, recovery boilers, and gasification plants) and environmental technology (flue gas cleaning plants) and offers equipment for the production of nonwovens, dissolving pulp, and panelboard, as well as recycling plants.

A passion for innovative technology, absolute customer focus, reliability, and integrity are the central values to which ANDRITZ commits. The listed Group is headquartered in Graz, Austria. With over 160 years of experience, 29,000 employees, and more than 280 locations in over 40 countries worldwide, ANDRITZ is a reliable and competent partner and helps its customers to achieve their corporate and sustainability goals.

*ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER*
ANDRITZ Pulp & Paper is a leading global supplier of complete plants, systems, equipment, and comprehensive services for the production and processing of all types of pulp, paper, board, and tissue. The technologies cover processing of logs, annual fibers, and waste paper; production of chemical pulp, mechanical pulp, and recycled fibers; recovery and reuse of chemicals; preparation of paper machine furnish; production of paper, board, and tissue; sizing, calendering and coating of paper; as well as treatment of reject materials and sludge. The service offering includes system and machine modernization, rebuilds, spare and wear parts, on-site and workshop services, optimization of process performance, maintenance and automation solutions, as well as machine relocation and second-hand equipment. Biomass, steam and recovery boilers for power production, gasification and flue gas cleaning plants, systems and plants for the production of nonwovens, dissolving pulp, and panelboard (MDF), as well as recycling and shredding solutions for various waste materials also form a part of this business area.

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## Bilal9

01:57 AM, May 23, 2021 / Last modified: 02:06 AM, May 23, 2021
*Bombay litchi will be available in the first week of June*
*Farmers and traders are hopeful that the prices will be good*






This year, 50 to 60 percent of litchi has been harvested in most areas. Photo: Ahmed Humayun Kabir Tapu
, Pabna

*Abdus Salam, a litchi farmer and seasonal litchi trader from Char Silimpur village in Ishwardi upazila of Pabna, has bought three orchards this year. There are more than one hundred and fifty litchi trees in his three gardens. Most of which are hybrid Bombay variety litchi. Also, there are native species of Ati litchi trees. Although the Bombay litchi is not yet fully ripe, Salam has started marketing Ati litchi. Although Salam was happy to get a good price, he said the litchi crop would not be as profitable as expected.*

Litchi trader Salam told The Daily Star: “Every year, about 15,000 to 20,000 litchis are grown from one big tree. However, this time more than 10 to 12 thousand litchis are not available from big trees due to crop failure. The small trees have also been affected by the crop failure.

Salam said he had to buy three litchi orchards for around Tk 2.5 lakh and sell litchi worth Tk 3.5 to 4 lakh, but now he is struggling to make ends meet due to crop failure.

Every litchi farmer and seasonal litchi trader in Ishwardi upazila, known as the capital of litchi, is in the same situation as Salam. Litchi farmers and traders in Ishwardi and Pabna, one of the major litchi producing areas of the country, are worried as they have not been able to get the desired yield due to crop failure.

Char Silimpur village litchi garden owner and businessman. Dulal Hossain told The Daily Star, “Most of the litchi buds have dried up this year due to severe drought. Due to excessive drought, litchis do not get enough water when they grow and many litchi trees are destroyed. Although there was no damage due to the storm during the litchi harvest, this time most of the litchi has been destroyed due to the drought.





About 15 to 20 thousand litchis are produced annually from one big tree. Photo: Ahmed Humayun Kabir Tapu

In most areas, 50 to 60 percent of the litchi orchards have been harvested and the rest has been destroyed. Although farmers tried to reduce the damage with fertilizers and poisons, this year's litchi crop was disrupted due to unfavorable nature, said Dulal Hossain.

Abdul Quader, Deputy Director, Pabna Agricultural Extension Department, told The Daily Star, “Litchi has been planted on 3,400 hectares of land in Pabna this year. From which the target of litchi production has been set at about 41,000 metric tons.

However, he acknowledged that there had been some crop failures this year due to the drought, but said there was no reason for farmers to panic.

Although farmers claimed that about 50 per cent of litchis were damaged due to the drought, Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension Abdul Quader claimed that 20 to 25 per cent of litchis were damaged.

Litchi traders said that since Eid, the work of breaking litchi in Ishwardi and surrounding areas of Pabna has started. Ati litchis are being marketed in the first phase, they said. This litchi will be broken in another week. The high yielding Bombay litchi will be available in the market from the first week of June.





Every day 20 to 30 trucks of litchi are being sent to different parts of the country from Ishwardi. Photo: Ahmed Humayun Kabir Tapu

Abdul Mannan Shamim, a litchi trader from Digha area of Ishwardi, told The Daily Star, “Farmers are getting good price of litchi from the very beginning. Hundreds of litchis are being sold from the garden for around 180 to 200 rupees. If the market is so high, litchi farmers and traders will be able to make up for the loss by marketing litchi in Bombay.

Shamim said 25 per cent of litchis have not been broken yet, with 20 to 30 trucks of litchis being sent from Ishwardi to different parts of the country for marketing every day. Once the litchi is completely broken, hundreds of trucks of litchi can be sent to different parts of the country every day for marketing.

Meanwhile, various areas of Ishwardi and its environs have been visited on the spot, litchi is being picked from the trees, litchi is picked, litchi is packed, litchi is loaded on the truck and the whole area is busy with litchi. The garden owners and traders involved in litchi said that it will be busy for the next two to three weeks.

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## Bilal9

*Seriously, Bangladesh is the country to beat on e-payments*

Exclusive interview with Anir Chowdhury, the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Innovation.
By Joshua Chambers and Nurfilzah Rohaidi
SMART GOV

Forget everything you know about finance.

What if you could pay your taxes with SMS? What if you could send and receive money without ever visiting a bank – or even having an account? What if biometrics could ensure that you are who you say you are, without needing an appointment or a signed letter or a proof of address?

This is already happening in Bangladesh, a developing nation that skipped a step when it comes to shillings. And as nations look to transform their payments systems, they shouldn’t just look at New York, London or Singapore. They need to train their eyes on the developing world, which is eating them up for breakfast.

GovInsider sought out Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, to understand how government is leading these reforms – and how a developing nation with massive problems is still innovating to get one step ahead of the rest. Chowdhury heads the Access to Information (a2i) program, an innovation lab within the Prime Minister’s Office that is driving these changes.

Bangladesh goes mobile

First, some context. Bangladesh has a large rural population that mostly deals in cash. A traditional banking system doesn’t work here, Chowdhury says, and there are high service charges that put people off from using financial services.

However, more than 130 million of 160 million Bangladeshis own mobile phones. Beyond making calls, these phones can also be used to connect rural citizens to financial services. a2i has partnered with bKash, the largest mobile financial service organization in the country, to allow rural customers to deposit cash or send money using text messages.

A new project will take this a step further. a2i is working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to build a new system for citizens to receive social welfare payments. This is vital for the government: Bangladesh sends out over US$5 billion each year – almost 3% of its GDP – according to Chowdhury.

The new system registers citizens using their biometric data, such as fingerprints, and then lets them receive payments on their phone or on a smart card. “A person with a bank account and a biometrically-verified identity can have extreme mobility in terms of making and receiving payments from anywhere in the country – and most importantly – at his or her doorstep without going to a financial institution,” Chowdhury says. The platform will be integrated with Bangladesh Bank and the local banks.

“A person with a bank account and a biometrically-verified identity can have extreme mobility.”
In fact, it has already been trialed out. Together with the Department of Social Services and the Ministry of Social Welfare, a2i conducted a pilot for this payment service in the Tangail district. Around 7,000 citizens were biometrically registered and received their allowances through pre-paid debit cards at the Bangladesh Post Office. a2i is now looking into scaling up this pilot to 13 more districts, according to a brief on the topic.

Creating new financial hubs

The government has built a network of “access points” across rural areas that allow citizens without phones to make payments. “A typical bank would have 50-100 branches, but these digital centres can create 4,500 bank branches in rural areas and 700 in urban areas overnight,” says Chowdhury. The wide reach of this network also opens up possibilities to partner with banks and other private sector organisations to better serve rural farmers and villagers.

Last year, a new service called “agent banking” was introduced to over a third of these access points. It sees traditional banks place representatives in government offices to conduct banking services, like loans.

These access points with banking agents are now considered as full banks – even without a safe stuffed with bullion. “In the past one year alone, we have set up about 1,200 bank branches in these 4,500 locations, and that number is continuing to rise,” Chowdhury explains.

The origins of a2i

However, a cash-reliant culture faces a big problem: corruption. Bangladesh topped the Corruption Perceptions Index five years in a row from 2002 to 2006, and officials hoped that “technology will bring some measure of transparency”, Chowdhury says. That’s where a2i got its name – it means ‘access 2 information’.

An early lesson for his unit was to moderate their language. “Talking about transparency was counterproductive among mid-level and even senior officials. They felt that an attempt to bring transparency would be a threat to the way they functioned,” Chowdhury explains.

_“Talking about transparency was counterproductive.”
“We learned not to use the words ‘transparency’ and ‘corruption’ too much,” he says, and instead, they use the words “innovation” and “dashboards”. This was much better received, and let them achieve the same results._

The present day a2i has three objectives: creating digital services across government; setting up access points for service delivery; and developing a “culture of innovation” within the civil service.

In its early days, there was a heavy focus on technology and websites, Chowdhury says. This was part of government’s attempt to break away from the “command and control” bureaucratic structure – a relic of colonialism, he says. “That [structure] brought a lot of turf issues. But if you introduce technology, many turfs break down,” he explains.

Chowdhury found that his early work faced many structural barriers, causing a2i to reconsider its mission. Creating a culture of innovation became important, he notes. “I would say was the biggest breakthrough of a2i. You can talk to almost all civil servants now about innovation practices, and have him or her not laugh at the idea,” he says.

Chowdhury is not a natural bureaucrat. He studied computer science at the Ivy League, with stints in tech companies and business roles in Fortune 500 firms. But the lure of doing good proved too strong, so he returned to his home nation to change the public sector.

Looking ahead, a2i will continue to digitize government services across the board, he says. There are also plans in place to develop a franchise model for the access points with the private sector taking over. “These digital centers [will] function as entities, loosely supervised by us,” he says.

a2i will similarly change its business model, becoming a “social enterprise”, Chowdhury explains. “Currently, it is a government program; but in the next one year it will emerge as a foundation or even a company – using these 5,300 centers as point-of-service delivery,” he says.

It seems fitting that an agency that changed payments is now changing itself. It did away with banking infrastructure; maybe it’ll do the same for government.

In fact, perhaps there should be a new rule for 21st century finance. While you’ll want to learn from Wall Street, don’t forget Dhaka.

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## Bilal9

*By 2030, Bangladesh will be the 24th largest economy. Here's how ICT is driving that growth*




By 2021, Bangladesh expects its ICT exports to be worth $5 billion
Image: Beyond Access/Flickr










In Bangladesh, more than 120 companies export information and communications technology (ICT) products worth nearly $1 billion to 35 countries. By 2021, it’s expected that this will increase to $5 billion. Indeed, the growing strength of the ICT Industry underpins the four vital pillars that will support Bangladesh’s transformation to a digital economy by 2021, and a knowledge economy by 2041.

Announced in 2008 and officially launched by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2009, the Digital Bangladesh Vision identifies human resource development, connecting citizens, digital government and the aforementioned promotion of the ICT industry as critical to meeting these transformation targets. Here’s why they are so important: 

*Human resource development*
The government wants Bangladesh to be a gateway for the digital world and has started multiple initiatives to develop a skilled, equipped and digital-ready pool of talent. Our education system produces more than 500,000 university graduates every year and, thanks to the introduction of several dedicated training programmes to get the talent pool ready to deliver value on a global scale, we have trained more than 65,000 Information Technology Enabled Services (IT/ITeS) professionals in the past year.

*Have you read?*

How the digital economy is shaping a new Bangladesh
How Bangladesh can thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
According to the Oxford Internet Institute, Bangladesh has the second largest pool of online workers in the world. To further enhance skills, we have established specialized labs in all of the country’s 130 universities. We are investing in frontier tech centers of excellence with global technology partners such as IBM, and we have a strong focus on training professionals in emerging technologies – the Internet of Things, blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and analytics.

*Connecting citizens*
The next pillar is about connecting citizens - and Bangladesh is committed to ensuring 100% internet connectivity by 2021. We have already made good progress with currently more than 93 million internet subscribers and 160 million mobile subscriptions throughout the nation, making Bangladesh the fifth largest mobile market in Asia Pacific and the ninth largest in the world.

We have ensured seamless connectivity through two submarine cable connections with 1,700 gigabits per second (Gbps) and seven ITC connections with 400 Gbps. We plan to further enhance this by becoming an early adopter of 5G. By the end of 2019, we will provide high-speed internet connectivity to even remote villages.

In order to ensure a cost-effective space for companies interested in investing in Bangladesh, we are building 28 high-tech parks around the country and plan to increase this to 64. There is a focus on developing a thriving environment for partners and investors who are keen to take advantage of the opportunity that Bangladesh presents.

*Digital governance*
E-governance is the next step in driving the Digital Bangladesh engine forward. The government is proactively pursuing the digitalization of all government portals, such as passport applications and visa applications, by the year 2023. In 2014, we developed the National Portal which now houses more than 45,000 websites and services of different government offices. We have developed more than 5,000 digital centres across the country to help provide various digital services to citizens, while addressing the issue of a digital divide.

Our Bangladesh National Digital Architecture (BNDA), which ensures interoperability, won a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) award this year and WSIS has recognized Bangladesh for different e-government or digital government initiatives for the past six years in a row.

We have established a Digital Service Accelerator to expedite and facilitate the e-services of all ministries and have issued more than 100 million digital IDs to our citizens – one of the highest volumes in the world. Services are very carefully designed to ensure they are relevant to all three groups of Bangladeshi citizens: younger, tech-savvy generations growing up with technology; “digital adapters,” who are middle-aged individuals who have adopted technology; and the minority who stay away from technology. The scale of digital governance in Bangladesh has a tremendous impact on the transformation of the nation.

*Promotion of the ICT industry*
The vibrant and rapidly growing ICT industry in Bangladesh is the fourth area supporting digital transformation. We serve clients in an array of domains, including financial services, telecoms and healthcare, and drive the IT/ITES engine behind some of the world’s most global companies.
The four pillars behind Digital Bangladesh are strengthened by strong government commitment and support.

Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. We are 34th in the World Economic Forum’s _Inclusive Development Index_, ahead of many established nations, and by 2030, we will be the 24th largest economy in the world. The essential ingredient behind this growth has been the smart use of ICT to spur progress in all sectors.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


*How the digital economy is shaping a new Bangladesh*




Freelancing is a good option for highly educated women in Bangladesh.
Image: REUTERS/Andrew Biraj

With the advent of rapid digitalization, many developing countries like Bangladesh are focusing on the digital economy: a global market for digital outsourcing.

The digitalization of a country’s economy not only drives innovation in its service industry, it also fuels domestic job opportunities, enabling faster economic growth. In the quest to lower costs and risks, many large corporations in developed nations like the US, UK and Australia are turning to IT outsourcing from countries including Bangladesh, leading to a recent boom in freelancing.

Freelancing jobs include everything from computer programming to web design, tax preparation, and search engine optimization. This has generated a wide range of new opportunities for people in emerging markets that did not previously exist. Asia has become the number-one region for providing outsourcing services to the rest of the world.




The Online Labour Index, by region
Image: Oxford Internet Institute

Freelancing offers many advantages, including the freedom to choose clients and projects, access to the global market, and flexibility over location. Most importantly, freelancers can avoid the long, frustrating hours commuting in traffic in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.

Consequently, freelancing has become a popular career option for many Bangladeshi people, offering a new and flexible source of income that suits their lifestyles.

The rapid digitalization of Bangladesh - including easy internet access in urban areas and government and non-government initiatives to promote freelancing - has contributed to the recent growth of this way of working.

As a result, Bangladesh has already become the second-largest supplier of online labour, according to the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). About 500,000 active freelancers are working regularly, out of 650,000 registered freelancers in the country; between them they are generating $100 million annually, according to the ICT Division of Bangladesh.




The Online Labour Index, by country
Image: Oxford Internet Institute

India is the largest supplier of online labour, with close to 24% of total global freelance workers, followed by Bangladesh (16%) and the US (12%). Different countries focus on different sectors of freelancing services. For instance, technology and software development is dominated by Indian freelancers, while Bangladesh is the top supplier of sales and marketing support services.

*Freelancing: a solution to the unemployment problem*
One in every 10 of Bangladesh's 44 million young people is unemployed, according to research by World Vision Bangladesh. Moreover, thousands of graduates who are finishing their studies at different public and private universities in Bangladesh are failing to find suitable positions in the job market each year.

As a result, the rate of educated unemployment in the country is increasing exponentially. However, these young unemployed people can easily start their career by taking some IT training and freelancing online. By doing so, they not only make a living but also contribute to the economy by earning a salary in a valuable foreign currency.

*Opportunities for women*
A lot of women in Bangladesh, including highly educated women, often sacrifice their careers in order to take care of their families. Freelancing is becoming a preferred career option for many Bangladeshi women, as it provides them with an opportunity to work from home.

Bangladeshi women who are looking to take a step out of their traditional domestic roles are finding freelance jobs to be a great solution. Research shows that in terms of the quality of the work, Bangladesh's female freelancers have started gaining more credibility than their male counterparts. Increasing women's participation in freelancing is therefore boosting trust in the sector.

*Challenges*
Government initiatives to develop the ICT service sector, such as creating a high-tech park in every district, coupled with the low-cost workforce, have made Bangladesh a key player in the global outsourcing market.

Nevertheless, several challenges hinder the growth of this industry in Bangladesh. The absence of an uninterrupted power supply is still a major problem for the country. Freelancing work, like complex coding for software development, requires a high level of concentration, which is often shattered by the frequent power cuts.

A lack of quality internet services, along with higher broadband prices, is a major problem for freelancers in rural areas. In spite of having broadband connections in some areas, freelancers often find it too slow to suit their work.

The lack of an easy payment system – especially for receiving payments from foreign clients – is another problem for this fast-growing industry.

And women's participation in freelancing, although increasing gradually, is still not high enough.

*The way forward*
Bangladesh is one of the few countries in Asia that has a huge youth population. Of its 163 million people, almost 65% are under the age of 25. This vast, young and strong human resource, however, is still lacking in the knowledge necessary to thrive in the competitive global market.

Although freelancing as a career has gained in popularity over the last few years, thousands of Bangladesh's young people are in need of proper training and government support to help them take advantage of this opportunity.

The government should focus on turning unemployed young people into tech-savvy workers and engage them in IT-based freelancing. In this way, the government of Bangladesh can attain its goal of translating the vision of Digital Bangladesh into a reality by focusing on human capital development for the global digital economy.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*How Bangladesh can thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution*

Bangladesh is one of the world's fastest-growing economies

I recently learnt the story of a fascinating Bangladeshi couple, Rini Ishan and Rakib Reza. The pair have quietly been manufacturing commercial robots in Bangladesh, including a 3D concrete-printing robot. So far in 2018, their company Planetary Limited has exported 11 robots to South Korea.


For some time, I have been telling friends around the world that Bangladesh has arrived at the nuclear age and space age, and that it’s a ‘shirt-to-ship’ story. I can now proudly say that Bangladesh is also in the age of robotics and 3D printing.

Rini and Rakib are not alone. Thousands of young Bangladeshi people have already put the country on the global IT freelancing map. Thanks to the passion, imagination and steady work of a few, ‘Digital Bangladesh’ is now a reality, contributing to the transformation of our social and economic landscape at the grassroots. For instance, 4,554 Union Digital Centres, more than 100 simplified public services, e-procurement and smart health cards are leading Bangladesh down the 4IR path.

I once asked Professor Schwab why he had labelled the fourth generation technological changes as a ‘revolution’. So many of us in Bangladesh grew up knowing revolution as something cataclysmic. Professor Schwab responded that these upcoming technologies are bringing transformative impacts to the thinking, values, life and work of every person, enterprise, industry and nation in ways that have been unfathomable until recently.

While revolutions in history have been loud, visible and often bloody, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is rolling out so quietly, yet bringing effects infinitely more profound than earlier technological and political upheavals. We are seeing how a tsunami of science, technology and innovation, and the creative use of 4IR tools and applications, are changing the lives of individuals, companies and countries across the world, from entertainment to education to employment.

Drawing inspiration from Professor Schwab’s words, the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, recently organized a national workshop on the 4IR and its impacts on the country. The event was designed to help stakeholders appreciate that the 4IR is real and present, even in Bangladesh.

Every one of us must get ready, whether we are in government, business or research. And we must move fast. We need to employ imagination, creativity and innovation, without hindrance or inhibition, in our schools, factories, companies and even in government. Indeed, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos in 2017, Bangladesh is open and ready to move on the 4IR, to support start-ups, and to pilot innovative applications in our farms and factories.

Bangladesh has long been a story of the aspiration, resilience and innovation of millions of young women and men across villages and towns. In our brief, five-decade history, the country has constantly battled against natural and man-made disasters, and yet has sustained high economic growth. Today, we are one of the fastest-growing economies globally, expanding at over 7% annually. During the past decade, under the stewardship of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we also significantly reduced poverty and inequality.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution coincides with the period when Bangladesh transitions towards a developed country. By 2030, around half of Bangladesh will be living in urban areas. These people will demand all kind of goods and services that we cannot predict today.

There is no point in debating whether the Fourth Industrial Revolution is good or bad, or whether it will benefit Bangladesh or not. It’s not something for us to accept, reject or regulate. It is time that we join hands with everyone to embrace the 4IR robustly. By hosting a first-ever national conversation and workshop on the 4IR, I believe we have made the first step towards achieving that objective.
*What’s behind Bangladesh’s surging consumer market?*




Zarif Munir
Writer, BCG
_This article is published in collaboration with BCG Perspecitives._

You feel the energy soon after disembarking at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. All of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, seems to throb with bustling masses of people. Bridges, expressway overpasses, and major new neighborhoods are continually under construction. Evidence of the country’s rising disposable income is on display at crowded shopping malls such as Jamuna Future Park, the largest in South Asia, and new billboards, which seem to cover every available space, advertise products as varied as packaged foods and smartphones.

To much of the outside world, Bangladesh remains synonymous with poverty. It is time to take a new look at this land of 160 million: this rapidly developing economy is one of the world’s next great growth markets for discretionary consumption.

Although the number of middle-class and affluent consumers in Bangladesh remains small compared with those of other big emerging markets in Asia, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing markets worldwide. We project that, each year for the next decade, the annual income of around 2 million additional Bangladeshis will reach $5,000 or more. 

That means that they will be earning enough to afford goods that offer convenience and luxury, such as air conditioners, imported shampoos, and cosmetics. And although half of Bangladeshis still live at the so-called bottom of the pyramid, economists estimate that another 30 million to 40 million will make the leap from poverty to the entry rungs of the middle class by 2025.

To help companies gain a deeper understanding of the middle and affluent class (MAC) in this increasingly important—but often neglected—market, The Boston Consulting Group’s Center for Customer Insight surveyed around 2,000 households across the country. We asked consumers about their sense of financial well-being, their purchasing habits, and their consumption priorities for some 70 product categories. To help companies anticipate when consumption is likely to take off in these categories, we also analyzed changes in Bangladeshi household consumption of specific goods and services relative to rising incomes.
The following are among our key findings:

_*Bangladesh’s consumer class is swelling and dispersing*._ Although only some 7 percent of the country’s current population can be classified as middle income or affluent, compared with 38 percent in Indonesia, MAC Bangladeshis will account for around 17 percent of the population by 2025. Consumer wealth is also dispersing regionally: projections indicate that within the next decade, 63 cities will have MAC populations of at least 100,000, compared with 36 now.
_*Consumers intend to spend but are wary of debt.*_ Sixty percent of consumers report that they expect their incomes to rise over the next 12 months, and 69 percent say that there are more things they want to buy. But they are restrained by concerns—due perhaps to social taboos or to a lack of familiarity with debt instruments—that they will run up debt that they won’t be able repay. Alleviating this concern could unlock great growth opportunities.
_C*onsumers are highly loyal to brands, but they are also budget and quality conscious*._ Most Bangladeshi consumers—more than 80 percent in the case of durables—cite brand as a top factor that influences their buying decisions. These consumers work within a budget, and price is often cited as a second priority over quality. Far fewer Bangladeshis than consumers in Southeast Asian emerging markets say that price discounts sway their decisions.
_*Consumers increasingly use the mobile Internet.*_ Forty-one percent of Bangladeshi consumers surveyed—and 68 percent of MAC consumers—own Internet-enabled smartphones. Currently, most transactions are in cash, but the popularity of smartphones suggests that more consumers will be making the leap to mobile payment, creating an opportunity for reaching households through wireless mobile services. Eighty-one percent of consumers said that they trust what they read online, and 66 percent search for product information online.
Although these findings suggest that tremendous growth opportunities will unfold over the coming decade, companies must approach this market with a sophisticated understanding of the Bangladeshi consumer. They should also address the constraints that prevent consumers from acting on their strong desire to purchase brands and should introduce products that meet household budgets. Companies can expand their reach through different retail channels and in more locations.

For the next few years, companies should focus on ramping up their operations to meet growing demand from MAC households in Dhaka, Chittagong, and a handful of other cities. But at the same time, they should begin laying the groundwork for a broader expansion as the MAC population continues to grow and as buying power spreads swiftly throughout the country. 

The strong brand consciousness of Bangladeshi consumers suggests that the companies that can now establish themselves as trustworthy, build market share, and develop a reputation for delivering good quality will be those that reap the biggest rewards in what promises to be one of world’s next big growth markets.

_Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

Author: Zarif Munir, Olivier Muehlstein, and Vivek Nauhbar are writers at BCG Perspectives._

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> *By 2030, Bangladesh will be the 24th largest economy. Here's how ICT is driving that growth*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> By 2021, Bangladesh expects its ICT exports to be worth $5 billion
> Image: Beyond Access/Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In Bangladesh, more than 120 companies export information and communications technology (ICT) products worth nearly $1 billion to 35 countries. By 2021, it’s expected that this will increase to $5 billion. Indeed, the growing strength of the ICT Industry underpins the four vital pillars that will support Bangladesh’s transformation to a digital economy by 2021, and a knowledge economy by 2041.
> 
> Announced in 2008 and officially launched by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2009, the Digital Bangladesh Vision identifies human resource development, connecting citizens, digital government and the aforementioned promotion of the ICT industry as critical to meeting these transformation targets. Here’s why they are so important:
> 
> *Human resource development*
> The government wants Bangladesh to be a gateway for the digital world and has started multiple initiatives to develop a skilled, equipped and digital-ready pool of talent. Our education system produces more than 500,000 university graduates every year and, thanks to the introduction of several dedicated training programmes to get the talent pool ready to deliver value on a global scale, we have trained more than 65,000 Information Technology Enabled Services (IT/ITeS) professionals in the past year.
> 
> *Have you read?*
> 
> How the digital economy is shaping a new Bangladesh
> How Bangladesh can thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
> According to the Oxford Internet Institute, Bangladesh has the second largest pool of online workers in the world. To further enhance skills, we have established specialized labs in all of the country’s 130 universities. We are investing in frontier tech centers of excellence with global technology partners such as IBM, and we have a strong focus on training professionals in emerging technologies – the Internet of Things, blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and analytics.
> 
> *Connecting citizens*
> The next pillar is about connecting citizens - and Bangladesh is committed to ensuring 100% internet connectivity by 2021. We have already made good progress with currently more than 93 million internet subscribers and 160 million mobile subscriptions throughout the nation, making Bangladesh the fifth largest mobile market in Asia Pacific and the ninth largest in the world.
> 
> We have ensured seamless connectivity through two submarine cable connections with 1,700 gigabits per second (Gbps) and seven ITC connections with 400 Gbps. We plan to further enhance this by becoming an early adopter of 5G. By the end of 2019, we will provide high-speed internet connectivity to even remote villages.
> 
> In order to ensure a cost-effective space for companies interested in investing in Bangladesh, we are building 28 high-tech parks around the country and plan to increase this to 64. There is a focus on developing a thriving environment for partners and investors who are keen to take advantage of the opportunity that Bangladesh presents.
> 
> *Digital governance*
> E-governance is the next step in driving the Digital Bangladesh engine forward. The government is proactively pursuing the digitalization of all government portals, such as passport applications and visa applications, by the year 2023. In 2014, we developed the National Portal which now houses more than 45,000 websites and services of different government offices. We have developed more than 5,000 digital centres across the country to help provide various digital services to citizens, while addressing the issue of a digital divide.
> 
> Our Bangladesh National Digital Architecture (BNDA), which ensures interoperability, won a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) award this year and WSIS has recognized Bangladesh for different e-government or digital government initiatives for the past six years in a row.
> 
> We have established a Digital Service Accelerator to expedite and facilitate the e-services of all ministries and have issued more than 100 million digital IDs to our citizens – one of the highest volumes in the world. Services are very carefully designed to ensure they are relevant to all three groups of Bangladeshi citizens: younger, tech-savvy generations growing up with technology; “digital adapters,” who are middle-aged individuals who have adopted technology; and the minority who stay away from technology. The scale of digital governance in Bangladesh has a tremendous impact on the transformation of the nation.
> 
> *Promotion of the ICT industry*
> The vibrant and rapidly growing ICT industry in Bangladesh is the fourth area supporting digital transformation. We serve clients in an array of domains, including financial services, telecoms and healthcare, and drive the IT/ITES engine behind some of the world’s most global companies.
> The four pillars behind Digital Bangladesh are strengthened by strong government commitment and support.
> 
> Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. We are 34th in the World Economic Forum’s _Inclusive Development Index_, ahead of many established nations, and by 2030, we will be the 24th largest economy in the world. The essential ingredient behind this growth has been the smart use of ICT to spur progress in all sectors.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> *How the digital economy is shaping a new Bangladesh*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Freelancing is a good option for highly educated women in Bangladesh.
> Image: REUTERS/Andrew Biraj
> 
> With the advent of rapid digitalization, many developing countries like Bangladesh are focusing on the digital economy: a global market for digital outsourcing.
> 
> The digitalization of a country’s economy not only drives innovation in its service industry, it also fuels domestic job opportunities, enabling faster economic growth. In the quest to lower costs and risks, many large corporations in developed nations like the US, UK and Australia are turning to IT outsourcing from countries including Bangladesh, leading to a recent boom in freelancing.
> 
> Freelancing jobs include everything from computer programming to web design, tax preparation, and search engine optimization. This has generated a wide range of new opportunities for people in emerging markets that did not previously exist. Asia has become the number-one region for providing outsourcing services to the rest of the world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Online Labour Index, by region
> Image: Oxford Internet Institute
> 
> Freelancing offers many advantages, including the freedom to choose clients and projects, access to the global market, and flexibility over location. Most importantly, freelancers can avoid the long, frustrating hours commuting in traffic in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.
> 
> Consequently, freelancing has become a popular career option for many Bangladeshi people, offering a new and flexible source of income that suits their lifestyles.
> 
> The rapid digitalization of Bangladesh - including easy internet access in urban areas and government and non-government initiatives to promote freelancing - has contributed to the recent growth of this way of working.
> 
> As a result, Bangladesh has already become the second-largest supplier of online labour, according to the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). About 500,000 active freelancers are working regularly, out of 650,000 registered freelancers in the country; between them they are generating $100 million annually, according to the ICT Division of Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Online Labour Index, by country
> Image: Oxford Internet Institute
> 
> India is the largest supplier of online labour, with close to 24% of total global freelance workers, followed by Bangladesh (16%) and the US (12%). Different countries focus on different sectors of freelancing services. For instance, technology and software development is dominated by Indian freelancers, while Bangladesh is the top supplier of sales and marketing support services.
> 
> *Freelancing: a solution to the unemployment problem*
> One in every 10 of Bangladesh's 44 million young people is unemployed, according to research by World Vision Bangladesh. Moreover, thousands of graduates who are finishing their studies at different public and private universities in Bangladesh are failing to find suitable positions in the job market each year.
> 
> As a result, the rate of educated unemployment in the country is increasing exponentially. However, these young unemployed people can easily start their career by taking some IT training and freelancing online. By doing so, they not only make a living but also contribute to the economy by earning a salary in a valuable foreign currency.
> 
> *Opportunities for women*
> A lot of women in Bangladesh, including highly educated women, often sacrifice their careers in order to take care of their families. Freelancing is becoming a preferred career option for many Bangladeshi women, as it provides them with an opportunity to work from home.
> 
> Bangladeshi women who are looking to take a step out of their traditional domestic roles are finding freelance jobs to be a great solution. Research shows that in terms of the quality of the work, Bangladesh's female freelancers have started gaining more credibility than their male counterparts. Increasing women's participation in freelancing is therefore boosting trust in the sector.
> 
> *Challenges*
> Government initiatives to develop the ICT service sector, such as creating a high-tech park in every district, coupled with the low-cost workforce, have made Bangladesh a key player in the global outsourcing market.
> 
> Nevertheless, several challenges hinder the growth of this industry in Bangladesh. The absence of an uninterrupted power supply is still a major problem for the country. Freelancing work, like complex coding for software development, requires a high level of concentration, which is often shattered by the frequent power cuts.
> 
> A lack of quality internet services, along with higher broadband prices, is a major problem for freelancers in rural areas. In spite of having broadband connections in some areas, freelancers often find it too slow to suit their work.
> 
> The lack of an easy payment system – especially for receiving payments from foreign clients – is another problem for this fast-growing industry.
> 
> And women's participation in freelancing, although increasing gradually, is still not high enough.
> 
> *The way forward*
> Bangladesh is one of the few countries in Asia that has a huge youth population. Of its 163 million people, almost 65% are under the age of 25. This vast, young and strong human resource, however, is still lacking in the knowledge necessary to thrive in the competitive global market.
> 
> Although freelancing as a career has gained in popularity over the last few years, thousands of Bangladesh's young people are in need of proper training and government support to help them take advantage of this opportunity.
> 
> The government should focus on turning unemployed young people into tech-savvy workers and engage them in IT-based freelancing. In this way, the government of Bangladesh can attain its goal of translating the vision of Digital Bangladesh into a reality by focusing on human capital development for the global digital economy.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *How Bangladesh can thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution*
> 
> Bangladesh is one of the world's fastest-growing economies
> 
> I recently learnt the story of a fascinating Bangladeshi couple, Rini Ishan and Rakib Reza. The pair have quietly been manufacturing commercial robots in Bangladesh, including a 3D concrete-printing robot. So far in 2018, their company Planetary Limited has exported 11 robots to South Korea.
> 
> 
> For some time, I have been telling friends around the world that Bangladesh has arrived at the nuclear age and space age, and that it’s a ‘shirt-to-ship’ story. I can now proudly say that Bangladesh is also in the age of robotics and 3D printing.
> 
> Rini and Rakib are not alone. Thousands of young Bangladeshi people have already put the country on the global IT freelancing map. Thanks to the passion, imagination and steady work of a few, ‘Digital Bangladesh’ is now a reality, contributing to the transformation of our social and economic landscape at the grassroots. For instance, 4,554 Union Digital Centres, more than 100 simplified public services, e-procurement and smart health cards are leading Bangladesh down the 4IR path.
> 
> I once asked Professor Schwab why he had labelled the fourth generation technological changes as a ‘revolution’. So many of us in Bangladesh grew up knowing revolution as something cataclysmic. Professor Schwab responded that these upcoming technologies are bringing transformative impacts to the thinking, values, life and work of every person, enterprise, industry and nation in ways that have been unfathomable until recently.
> 
> While revolutions in history have been loud, visible and often bloody, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is rolling out so quietly, yet bringing effects infinitely more profound than earlier technological and political upheavals. We are seeing how a tsunami of science, technology and innovation, and the creative use of 4IR tools and applications, are changing the lives of individuals, companies and countries across the world, from entertainment to education to employment.
> 
> Drawing inspiration from Professor Schwab’s words, the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, recently organized a national workshop on the 4IR and its impacts on the country. The event was designed to help stakeholders appreciate that the 4IR is real and present, even in Bangladesh.
> 
> Every one of us must get ready, whether we are in government, business or research. And we must move fast. We need to employ imagination, creativity and innovation, without hindrance or inhibition, in our schools, factories, companies and even in government. Indeed, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos in 2017, Bangladesh is open and ready to move on the 4IR, to support start-ups, and to pilot innovative applications in our farms and factories.
> 
> Bangladesh has long been a story of the aspiration, resilience and innovation of millions of young women and men across villages and towns. In our brief, five-decade history, the country has constantly battled against natural and man-made disasters, and yet has sustained high economic growth. Today, we are one of the fastest-growing economies globally, expanding at over 7% annually. During the past decade, under the stewardship of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we also significantly reduced poverty and inequality.
> 
> The Fourth Industrial Revolution coincides with the period when Bangladesh transitions towards a developed country. By 2030, around half of Bangladesh will be living in urban areas. These people will demand all kind of goods and services that we cannot predict today.
> 
> There is no point in debating whether the Fourth Industrial Revolution is good or bad, or whether it will benefit Bangladesh or not. It’s not something for us to accept, reject or regulate. It is time that we join hands with everyone to embrace the 4IR robustly. By hosting a first-ever national conversation and workshop on the 4IR, I believe we have made the first step towards achieving that objective.
> *What’s behind Bangladesh’s surging consumer market?*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Zarif Munir
> Writer, BCG
> _This article is published in collaboration with BCG Perspecitives._
> 
> You feel the energy soon after disembarking at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. All of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, seems to throb with bustling masses of people. Bridges, expressway overpasses, and major new neighborhoods are continually under construction. Evidence of the country’s rising disposable income is on display at crowded shopping malls such as Jamuna Future Park, the largest in South Asia, and new billboards, which seem to cover every available space, advertise products as varied as packaged foods and smartphones.
> 
> To much of the outside world, Bangladesh remains synonymous with poverty. It is time to take a new look at this land of 160 million: this rapidly developing economy is one of the world’s next great growth markets for discretionary consumption.
> 
> Although the number of middle-class and affluent consumers in Bangladesh remains small compared with those of other big emerging markets in Asia, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing markets worldwide. We project that, each year for the next decade, the annual income of around 2 million additional Bangladeshis will reach $5,000 or more.
> 
> That means that they will be earning enough to afford goods that offer convenience and luxury, such as air conditioners, imported shampoos, and cosmetics. And although half of Bangladeshis still live at the so-called bottom of the pyramid, economists estimate that another 30 million to 40 million will make the leap from poverty to the entry rungs of the middle class by 2025.
> 
> To help companies gain a deeper understanding of the middle and affluent class (MAC) in this increasingly important—but often neglected—market, The Boston Consulting Group’s Center for Customer Insight surveyed around 2,000 households across the country. We asked consumers about their sense of financial well-being, their purchasing habits, and their consumption priorities for some 70 product categories. To help companies anticipate when consumption is likely to take off in these categories, we also analyzed changes in Bangladeshi household consumption of specific goods and services relative to rising incomes.
> The following are among our key findings:
> 
> _*Bangladesh’s consumer class is swelling and dispersing*._ Although only some 7 percent of the country’s current population can be classified as middle income or affluent, compared with 38 percent in Indonesia, MAC Bangladeshis will account for around 17 percent of the population by 2025. Consumer wealth is also dispersing regionally: projections indicate that within the next decade, 63 cities will have MAC populations of at least 100,000, compared with 36 now.
> _*Consumers intend to spend but are wary of debt.*_ Sixty percent of consumers report that they expect their incomes to rise over the next 12 months, and 69 percent say that there are more things they want to buy. But they are restrained by concerns—due perhaps to social taboos or to a lack of familiarity with debt instruments—that they will run up debt that they won’t be able repay. Alleviating this concern could unlock great growth opportunities.
> _C*onsumers are highly loyal to brands, but they are also budget and quality conscious*._ Most Bangladeshi consumers—more than 80 percent in the case of durables—cite brand as a top factor that influences their buying decisions. These consumers work within a budget, and price is often cited as a second priority over quality. Far fewer Bangladeshis than consumers in Southeast Asian emerging markets say that price discounts sway their decisions.
> _*Consumers increasingly use the mobile Internet.*_ Forty-one percent of Bangladeshi consumers surveyed—and 68 percent of MAC consumers—own Internet-enabled smartphones. Currently, most transactions are in cash, but the popularity of smartphones suggests that more consumers will be making the leap to mobile payment, creating an opportunity for reaching households through wireless mobile services. Eighty-one percent of consumers said that they trust what they read online, and 66 percent search for product information online.
> Although these findings suggest that tremendous growth opportunities will unfold over the coming decade, companies must approach this market with a sophisticated understanding of the Bangladeshi consumer. They should also address the constraints that prevent consumers from acting on their strong desire to purchase brands and should introduce products that meet household budgets. Companies can expand their reach through different retail channels and in more locations.
> 
> For the next few years, companies should focus on ramping up their operations to meet growing demand from MAC households in Dhaka, Chittagong, and a handful of other cities. But at the same time, they should begin laying the groundwork for a broader expansion as the MAC population continues to grow and as buying power spreads swiftly throughout the country.
> 
> The strong brand consciousness of Bangladeshi consumers suggests that the companies that can now establish themselves as trustworthy, build market share, and develop a reputation for delivering good quality will be those that reap the biggest rewards in what promises to be one of world’s next big growth markets.
> 
> _Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.
> 
> Author: Zarif Munir, Olivier Muehlstein, and Vivek Nauhbar are writers at BCG Perspectives._




Cool I guess , but will that old hag live for that long though  to ensure political stability ?


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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> Cool I guess , but will that old hag live for that long though  to ensure political stability ?



We need to find another old hag - pronto (JK). 

Looks like one of the little Mujib-lings (Hasina's daughter Putul maybe) in place for now...hope she likes dirty politics and can control the goonda cadres.






Now watch all the Bhakt fans come running with praises of "Naree Shakti"...

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## DalalErMaNodi

Bilal9 said:


> We need to find another old hag - pronto (JK).
> 
> Looks like one of the little Mujib-lings (Hasina's daughter Putul maybe) in place for now...hope she likes dirty politics and can control the goonda cadres.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now watch all the Bhakt fans come running with praises of "Naree Shakti"...





Putul is not cut out for the top job... Nor is Sajib.. it's going to be Obaidul Quader.

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Putul is not cut out for the top job... Nor is Sajib.. it's going to be Obaidul Quader.



New Cally ! Royal District in Charge again. 

Shobtey Khamosh Hoi Ja !!

Paye Fori Muf Cha !!

Obaidul Quader the womanizer.






In any case - I agree he can probably control the cadres a lot better than any woman.

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> We need to find another old hag - pronto (JK).
> 
> Looks like one of the little Mujib-lings (Hasina's daughter Putul maybe) in place for now...hope she likes dirty politics and can control the goonda cadres.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now watch all the Bhakt fans come running with praises of "Naree Shakti"...



Sike the next ruler of Bangladesh is probably @DalalErMaNodi

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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> Sike the next ruler of Bangladesh is probably @DalalErMaNodi



Well he's got my vote for sure. Show us one of the dance videos.

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## Bilal9

Agargaon Metro Rail Station being built. Old Tejgaon Airport and Parade grounds (as well as aviation museum) can be seen in the drone shots.

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## Bilal9

2:41 PM, May 22, 2021 / LAST MODIFIED: 02:45 PM, May 22, 2021

*Bangladeshi Himsagar mangoes on the way to Italy, France and UK*





Star file photo


UNB, Satkhira

*Europe will soon get to taste delectable mango from Bangladesh's Satkhira district.*

Mango exports from Bangladesh for the 2021 season has finally started, with the first consignment of Himsagar variety leaving for three European countries yesterday (Friday).

Some 4,000 kg of Himsagar mangoes from the orchard of Hafizur Rahman in Sadar upazila's Madhabkati Choygharia have been sent to Italy, France and UK -- thanks to a special project called "SaFal" started by Solidaridad Network Asia with financial assistance from the Netherlands.

According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Satkhira, the local mango farmers expect a two-fold increase in export orders from Europe this year as the king of fruits is fast gaining popularity in the continent.

Satkhira's Deputy Commissioner SM Mostafa Kamal inaugurated the export activities in the district yesterday.

"The export activities of mangoes and other vegetables from Satkhira district under the SaFal project will continue. The DAE will supervise the activities," said Mostafa.

*Khirsapat mango of Chapainawabganj, popularly known as Himsagar, last year got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag as the third Bangladeshi product after Hilsa and Jamdani.*

GI is a name or sign used on products to certify that it possesses certain qualities for being made or produced as per traditional methods or enjoys a certain reputation due to its geographical origin.

Khirsapat mangoes are one of the tastiest and account for 20-25 percent of the total mangoes produced in Bangladesh every year. This variety is exported to many countries of Europe and the Middle East every year.
Officials believe the GI tag will not only inspire farmers to boost production but also help strengthen the economy of the country.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Him Sagar variety has the smoothest and creamiest flesh of all mangoes in Bangladesh - one can literally carve the flesh with a spoon and scoop it out. There is virtually zero stringiness (aansh).

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail Technical features explained (sorry Bengali only)

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## Bilal9



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## sallador saan

any news on the Bangabandhu Tri Tower?


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## DalalErMaNodi

sallador saan said:


> any news on the Bangabandhu Tri Tower?




Yes.. currently the site office is under construction, this is where the engineers and labour will stay... Expect structure of the actual tower to be visible by 2024...


Bear in mind.. it's not just this tri tower... Rather 39 other 40+ floor skyscrapers as well.

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## Anubis

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Yes.. currently the site office is under construction, this is where the engineers and labour will stay... Expect structure of the actual tower to be visible by 2024...
> 
> 
> Bear in mind.. it's not just this tri tower... Rather 39 other 40+ floor skyscrapers as well.


First time Im hearing about this...could you post some links?

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## SpaceMan18

Anubis said:


> First time Im hearing about this...could you post some links?

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## DalalErMaNodi

Anubis said:


> First time Im hearing about this...could you post some links?



The BanghaBandhu Tri Towers are being built under the Purbanchal New Town project, IIRC it's 20 minutes from the Northern parts of Dhaka...

It's a planned city, I have heard numbers like 3 to 4 million residents Maximum and shifting off all foreign embassies to this area when the project is completed.

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## The Ronin



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## Bilal9

sallador saan said:


> any news on the Bangabandhu Tri Tower?



The project is underway and folks at the construction site are doing land development and site survey.

At a later stage, when they start hammering for piling and start underground garage construction - then it will be a lot more visible.

I am happy about this, but when you look at Malaysia infra development, the comparison is rather humbling. Even 3rd tier Malaysian cities are more developed than Dhaka.

I think urban Malaysia has more development going on than all of India combined, forget about Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

Smart Phone Market growth in Bangladesh and thoughts regarding boosts for next annual budget, post-pandemic. Sorry Bangla only.

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> The project is underway and folks at the construction site are doing land development and site survey.
> 
> At a later stage, when they start hammering for piling and start underground garage construction - then it will be a lot more visible.
> 
> I am happy about this, but when you look at Malaysia infra development, the comparison is rather humbling. Even 3rd tier Malaysian cities are more developed than Dhaka.
> 
> I think urban Malaysia has more development going on than all of India combined, forget about Bangladesh.



Even Malaysia still needs to improve certain infrastructure besides Kuala Lumpur , they focus too much on the capital that's all lol. 

But BD needs a whole MAKEOVER not just in Dhaka but the whole dam nation

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Payra Powerplant (Patuakhali)

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


>



The new terminal will be separate from the older ones I think , also I think the airlines like Emirates,Qatar,Etihad,Saudi will switch to Terminal 3 right ?


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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> The new terminal will be separate from the older ones I think , also I think the airlines like Emirates,Qatar,Etihad,Saudi will switch to Terminal 3 right ?



Yes completely separate and the middle east (gulf) airlines will get the new boarding bridge options in the new terminal 3 I'm sure. However there will be a connector bridge from the older terminals 1 and 2 [and hopefully a horizontal automated walkway (Travellator) too - I'm guessing].

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## The Ronin




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## Bengal71

DalalErMaNodi said:


> The BanghaBandhu Tri Towers are being built under the Purbanchal New Town project, IIRC it's 20 minutes from the Northern parts of Dhaka...
> 
> It's a planned city, I have heard numbers like 3 to 4 million residents Maximum and shifting off all foreign embassies to this area when the project is completed.



WOW, never heard about it. Looking awesome.

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## Bengal71

Bengal71 said:


> WOW, never heard about it. Looking awesome.



The tallest one is even taller than Malaysia's Petronus twin towers and almost the same height as the Taipei tower. WOW

@DalalErMaNodi

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## Bilal9

Bengal71 said:


> The tallest one is even taller than Malaysia's Petronus twin towers and almost the same height as the Taipei tower. WOW
> 
> @DalalErMaNodi



Shomoi lagbey.

Dilli door ast.

But at least they are trying at putting up a smart city in Purbachal which as a city still looks horrible in my opinion. Narrow roads not in keeping with traffic predictions. Just like Bashundhara. The main thoroughfares that branch off from Purbachal Highway should at least be four lanes altogether.

I shudder to think what will happen when it gets as busy as Boshundhara does with all the eight story condo towers and the roads look like Canyons carved out like in Grand Canyon. Typical greedy chhotolok planning with no foresight. Almost zero setbacks, or very little, if any. I mean setbacks are one factor that is non-negotiable in a supposed upper-middle-class neighborhood. These RAJUK idiots won't listen to any local city planners about setbacks and landscaping, and we have some very good ones.

These planning mistakes are what separates our RAJUK ghushkhor idiots from developments in Indonesia (and Pakistan too) in most cases. The mistakes are there to stay for life.

Jolshiri Abashon DOHS will be another smart city (second one in Bangladesh) from the ground up (in between Boshundhara R/A and Purbachal). Hope that doesn't turn out like this Purbachal which is a comedy of errors, one right after another.

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## Bengal71

Bilal9 said:


> Shomoi lagbey.
> 
> Dilli door ast.
> 
> But at least they are trying at putting up a smart city in Purbachal which as a city still looks horrible in my opinion. Narrow roads not in keeping with traffic predictions. Just like Bashundhara. The main thoroughfares that branch off from Purbachal Highway should at least be four lanes altogether.
> 
> I shudder to think what will happen when it gets as busy as Boshundhara does with all the eight story condo towers and the roads look like Canyons carved out like in Grand Canyon. Typical greedy chhotolok planning with no foresight. Almost zero setbacks, or very little, if any. I mean setbacks are one factor that is non-negotiable in a supposed upper-middle-class neighborhood. These RAJUK idiots won't listen to any local city planners about setbacks and landscaping, and we have some very good ones.
> 
> These planning mistakes are what separates our RAJUK ghushkhor idiots from developments in Indonesia (and Pakistan too) in most cases. The mistakes are there to stay for life.
> 
> Jolshiri Abashon DOHS will be another smart city (second one in Bangladesh) from the ground up (in between Boshundhara R/A and Purbachal). Hope that doesn't turn out like this Purbachal which is a comedy of errors, one right after another.



So these towers are not being built?


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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> Shomoi lagbey.
> 
> Dilli door ast.
> 
> But at least they are trying at putting up a smart city in Purbachal which as a city still looks horrible in my opinion. Narrow roads not in keeping with traffic predictions. Just like Bashundhara. The main thoroughfares that branch off from Purbachal Highway should at least be four lanes altogether.
> 
> I shudder to think what will happen when it gets as busy as Boshundhara does with all the eight story condo towers and the roads look like Canyons carved out like in Grand Canyon. Typical greedy chhotolok planning with no foresight. Almost zero setbacks, or very little, if any. I mean setbacks are one factor that is non-negotiable in a supposed upper-middle-class neighborhood. These RAJUK idiots won't listen to any local city planners about setbacks and landscaping, and we have some very good ones.
> 
> These planning mistakes are what separates our RAJUK ghushkhor idiots from developments in Indonesia (and Pakistan too) in most cases. The mistakes are there to stay for life.
> 
> Jolshiri Abashon DOHS will be another smart city (second one in Bangladesh) from the ground up (in between Boshundhara R/A and Purbachal). Hope that doesn't turn out like this Purbachal which is a comedy of errors, one right after another.



At this point I would just pay the Japanese or Koreans to plan cause Rajuk can't do shit lol

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## Bengal71

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Yes.. currently the site office is under construction, this is where the engineers and labour will stay... Expect structure of the actual tower to be visible by 2024...
> 
> 
> Bear in mind.. it's not just this tri tower... Rather 39 other 40+ floor skyscrapers as well.



Can you tell me a bit more or link me to some more info? Has funding been allocated or the works started?


SpaceMan18 said:


> At this point I would just pay the Japanese or Koreans to plan cause Rajuk can't do shit lol



BCS officers, extremely incompetent. It's not their fault either. It's the fault of the outdated education system, outdated recruitment system of government employees.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Bengal71 said:


> Can you tell me a bit more or link me to some more info? Has funding been allocated or the works started?




Yes, work has already started.. they're building the site office right now.. which will house the engineers and various contactors.. they've also constructed three helipads so foreign experts can come and go easily.

I'm in a hurry, so I'm attaching this video, if you have any further questions, feel free to ask, I'll answer later tonight.







Video from TWO MONTHS AGO.

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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> At this point I would just pay the Japanese or Koreans to plan cause Rajuk can't do shit lol



Purbachal smart city will be built with Chinese consultants, as they have experience on building these infra. They are contracted already.


Bengal71 said:


> So these towers are not being built?



They are. Progress is being made (though slow) and some piling for some buildings have started. 

It is understandable - knowing that there are hundreds of other mega projects ongoing in Bangladesh right now.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Bashundhara Sports Complex Update


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## Surya 1

Bangladesh has witnessed an excellent progress in last few years which is driven by the vibrant Bengali culture and excellent leadership of haseena didi. Bangladesh should now prepare for the next League of progress which will be driven by high end Technologies. Bangladesh should make some excellent world class Engineering and Management colleges that will drive the IInd phase of development. Cheers for Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

The ferry-free road link to the southernmost Kuakata beach and the Paira seaport is set to open in September this year. Authorities say 95 percent of the bridge work has already been completed. Last minute beauty enhancement work is going on now. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of Lebukhali Paira Bridge on March 19, 2013. 

Contractors are working round the clock for completion. Locals are happy with the news of opening the bridge. Desk report on information and pictures of Rahat Khan from Barisal.

Construction of the Paira Bridge over the Paira River at Lebukhali on the Barisal-Kuakata Highway began on July 24, 2016. The contractor has been entrusted with the construction of the bridge at a cost of Tk 1,447 crore. The project was extended in two phases and was scheduled to be completed on June 30, 2022. However, before that, the authorities are working to launch the bridge in mid-September, 2021. 

The Bridge is 1,460 meters long and with a width of 6 meters. 

In addition to keeping the waterways active, Paira Bridge has been built with aesthetics in mind considering the tourist center Kuakata. The people of the Southern Bangladesh are excited by the news of the inauguration of the bridge. Two longest spans of 200 meters have been installed on the Pigeon Bridge. A 130 meter long pile has been placed at the bottom of the river. 

News Report by NEWS24 on 6th June, 2021

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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

New Housing Development near Madani 100 ft road in Baridhara area.

Forget the Beverly Hills comparison - but I do agree. For Bangladesh, it is rather nice - well designed and landscaped.


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## Bilal9

RFL Group Production Process. They have to be one of the most diverse product manufacturers/exporters in this country, having a share in almost every product category. The numbers and sizes of their industrial parks is also mind-boggling. Take a look.


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## Avicenna

Bangladesh stocks hold 'hidden gems' for investors, HSBC says


The Bangladesh stock market has over 300 listed companies, and only 7 stocks have a market capitalization of more than $1 billion, according to HSBC.




www.cnbc.com





*Bangladesh stocks hold ‘hidden gems’ for investors, HSBC says*

PUBLISHED TUE, JUN 8 20219:16 PM EDT


Bangladesh has two stock exchanges — Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange.
The country’s top 30 listed companies by market capitalization and liquidity are on the DS30 index, which is up more than 65% over a 12-month period.
HSBC’s Devendra Joshi explained that the Bangladeshi economy is larger than Vietnam and growing at a faster clip than the Southeast Asian nation. Vietnam is a favored frontier market among investors.

HSBC says Bangladesh stocks hold opportunities for fund managers looking to diversify their portfolios — and there could be “hidden gems” among the public-listed companies there.
The South Asian country has two stock exchanges — Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange. The top 30 listed companies by market capitalization and liquidity in Bangladesh are on the DS30 index, which is up more than 65% over a 12-month period.

In a report published this month, HSBC said the Bangladesh stock market is where Vietnam was five years ago — the Southeast Asian nation is a frontier market favorite among investors. The bank says Bangladesh is well placed to start closing the gap with Vietnam.
“It is less correlated with global macro and equity themes than Vietnam and also receives far less attention from analysts, creating opportunities for fund managers looking for diversification and ‘hidden gems,’” HSBC analysts said in the report.
While the Bangladesh market is relatively small, illiquid and not easy to access, it has a market capitalization-to-GDP ratio of 14%, according to HSBC. The ratio measures the total value of a country’s publicly listed stocks, divided by its GDP and can shed light on whether stocks in the country are overvalued or undervalued. A number below 50% indicates a market is undervalued.

“The market is illiquid, but that’s where the opportunity is,” said Devendra Joshi, ASEAN and frontier markets equity strategist at HSBC said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.” He is one of the co-authors of the report.
The Bangladesh stock market has more than 300 listed companies, and only 7 stocks have a market capitalization of more than $1 billion, according to the HSBC report. The broader DSEX index has long been dominated by financial stocks but the weightage of consumer and health-care companies is increasing.

*Economic growth*
Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Prior to the pandemic, the country registered an 8.2% growth rate in 2019, according to the World Bank.
Joshi explained that the Bangladeshi economy is larger than Vietnam and also growing at a faster pace than the Southeast Asian nation. “They will need more and more investment to capital markets if they were to sustain the growth,” he said.

With a population of some 163 million people, the country’s GDP per capita is inching closer to $2,000. That is set to bring about a shift toward discretionary sectors such as those related to non-essential consumer goods and services, which tend to increase as disposable incomes rise.





Ready made garments workers works in a garments factory in Dhaka on July 25, 2020.

Though Bangladesh’s garments export and remittance sector have been key drivers of its economy over the last 30 to 40 years, that mix is changing, according to Joshi. “The next leg of growth is going to come from the domestic consumption, the domestic engine of the economy,” he added.
In the report, HSBC also noted that Bangladesh is showing signs of diversifying away from garments by setting up infrastructure to allow companies such as South Korean tech giant Samsung and Japanese automaker Honda to build production facilities. Meanwhile, domestic pharmaceutical companies and some home-grown consumer brands have started exporting to overseas markets.
*Currency stability*
The country’s currency, the Bangladeshi taka, has been relatively stable, Joshi said. As of Tuesday afternoon, it changed hands at about 84.79 per dollar and has remained relatively rangebound over the last 12 months.
Joshi said that one reason for the stability is that there aren’t as many portfolio investors in the market, which shelters the taka from volatility.
“From the external position also, the country’s balance sheet sounds strong, the external debt to GDP is quite low — so the currency has been quite stable,” he added.
The report also noted that an active and deep two-way market in the dollar-taka trade has yet to develop.

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## Bilal9

Latest Status - Dhaka Elevated Expressway. Will open summer next year.








Avicenna said:


> Bangladesh stocks hold 'hidden gems' for investors, HSBC says
> 
> 
> The Bangladesh stock market has over 300 listed companies, and only 7 stocks have a market capitalization of more than $1 billion, according to HSBC.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.cnbc.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Bangladesh stocks hold ‘hidden gems’ for investors, HSBC says*
> 
> PUBLISHED TUE, JUN 8 20219:16 PM EDT
> 
> 
> Bangladesh has two stock exchanges — Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange.
> The country’s top 30 listed companies by market capitalization and liquidity are on the DS30 index, which is up more than 65% over a 12-month period.
> HSBC’s Devendra Joshi explained that the Bangladeshi economy is larger than Vietnam and growing at a faster clip than the Southeast Asian nation. Vietnam is a favored frontier market among investors.
> 
> HSBC says Bangladesh stocks hold opportunities for fund managers looking to diversify their portfolios — and there could be “hidden gems” among the public-listed companies there.
> The South Asian country has two stock exchanges — Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange. The top 30 listed companies by market capitalization and liquidity in Bangladesh are on the DS30 index, which is up more than 65% over a 12-month period.
> 
> In a report published this month, HSBC said the Bangladesh stock market is where Vietnam was five years ago — the Southeast Asian nation is a frontier market favorite among investors. The bank says Bangladesh is well placed to start closing the gap with Vietnam.
> “It is less correlated with global macro and equity themes than Vietnam and also receives far less attention from analysts, creating opportunities for fund managers looking for diversification and ‘hidden gems,’” HSBC analysts said in the report.
> While the Bangladesh market is relatively small, illiquid and not easy to access, it has a market capitalization-to-GDP ratio of 14%, according to HSBC. The ratio measures the total value of a country’s publicly listed stocks, divided by its GDP and can shed light on whether stocks in the country are overvalued or undervalued. A number below 50% indicates a market is undervalued.
> 
> “The market is illiquid, but that’s where the opportunity is,” said Devendra Joshi, ASEAN and frontier markets equity strategist at HSBC said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.” He is one of the co-authors of the report.
> The Bangladesh stock market has more than 300 listed companies, and only 7 stocks have a market capitalization of more than $1 billion, according to the HSBC report. The broader DSEX index has long been dominated by financial stocks but the weightage of consumer and health-care companies is increasing.
> 
> *Economic growth*
> Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Prior to the pandemic, the country registered an 8.2% growth rate in 2019, according to the World Bank.
> Joshi explained that the Bangladeshi economy is larger than Vietnam and also growing at a faster pace than the Southeast Asian nation. “They will need more and more investment to capital markets if they were to sustain the growth,” he said.
> 
> With a population of some 163 million people, the country’s GDP per capita is inching closer to $2,000. That is set to bring about a shift toward discretionary sectors such as those related to non-essential consumer goods and services, which tend to increase as disposable incomes rise.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ready made garments workers works in a garments factory in Dhaka on July 25, 2020.
> 
> Though Bangladesh’s garments export and remittance sector have been key drivers of its economy over the last 30 to 40 years, that mix is changing, according to Joshi. “The next leg of growth is going to come from the domestic consumption, the domestic engine of the economy,” he added.
> In the report, HSBC also noted that Bangladesh is showing signs of diversifying away from garments by setting up infrastructure to allow companies such as South Korean tech giant Samsung and Japanese automaker Honda to build production facilities. Meanwhile, domestic pharmaceutical companies and some home-grown consumer brands have started exporting to overseas markets.
> *Currency stability*
> The country’s currency, the Bangladeshi taka, has been relatively stable, Joshi said. As of Tuesday afternoon, it changed hands at about 84.79 per dollar and has remained relatively rangebound over the last 12 months.
> Joshi said that one reason for the stability is that there aren’t as many portfolio investors in the market, which shelters the taka from volatility.
> “From the external position also, the country’s balance sheet sounds strong, the external debt to GDP is quite low — so the currency has been quite stable,” he added.
> The report also noted that an active and deep two-way market in the dollar-taka trade has yet to develop.



https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/06/...start-exporting-outside-the-country-hsbc.html








Bangladesh is 'moving up' the value chain by exporting higher end goods: HSBC


Devendra Joshi of HSBC says Bangladesh's pharmaceutical and consumer electronics industries have been exporting their goods overseas, and this can be seen in the stock exchange where there is now far more representation from the pharma industry.




www.cnbc.com

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## SpaceMan18

Hazrat Shahjalal Airport Terminal 3

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## Bilal9

Matarbari Project update - long one. Sorry Bengali only.

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## Bilal9

*BGMEA gets global recognition for green factories*

*UNB
12th June, 2021 08:19:45 PM

*








Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has won the prestigious "US Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership Award" for its efforts in developing Bangladesh as the "home of green garment factories of the world".

BGMEA is the first organization in the world to receive such an award and it is a big international recognition, said BGMEA President Faruque Hassan Saturday during a virtual media briefing from the association's office in the capital.

*Bangladesh now has 143 instances of "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified" garment factories – the highest in the world.

Of these factories, 41 are platinum rated and the rest are gold and silver-rated ones certified by the USGBC.

Also, around 500 more apparel factories are waiting to be certified by the USGBC as green factory buildings, the BGMEA president said.*

"As the country's pioneering export industry, the apparel industry holds the responsibility of running the engine of economic growth. But while we do it, we cannot stay indifferent to the negative externalities of growth – especially when it comes to the environment," Faruque Hassan said.

"Green factory buildings are environment friendly in planning, design, construction and operation, which reduce or eliminate negative impacts and improve our quality of life through its lifetime."

"These buildings have cleaner air circulation, more access to daylight, less pollution, harm-free chemical paints and finishing, which create a healthier working environment. The improved quality of the environment does not only reduce the prevalence of asthma and respiratory allergies but also encourages workers and boosts retention rate and productivity," the BGMEA president said.

BGMEA Vice-President Md Shahidullah Azim and directors Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee and Md Mohiuddin Rubel were also present at the briefing.
*7 OF THE TOP 10 LEED® CERTIFIED FACTORIES IN BANGLADESH*


> By Zulker Naeen


Bangladesh is grossing a silent revolution by setting up continuous eco-friendly factories. About 7 #green#infrastructures for factories among highest 10 are in now Bangladesh for scoring the highest standard. And each is #garment industries.

U.S. Green Building Council, #USGBC gives the LEED® certificate for green industries. #LEED stands for ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’. Recently, #USGBC has published the updated list of LEED® certified Green #factoryconstruction, though newly industries are getting their enlistment regularly.






7 of the Top 10 LEED® certified factories in the world are in Bangladesh:

1st Position | 97 point |Remi Fashions.
2nd Position | 92 point |Plummy Fashions.
3rd Position | 90 points | Vintage Denim Studio Ltd.
5th Position | 85 points | SQ Celsius 2.
9th Position | 81 points | Genesis Washing.
9th Position | 81 points | SQ Cole Blends.
9th Position | 81 points | SQ Birichina Ltd.

To receive LEED® certificate, every factory has to meet 9 requirements. Those building materials have to be used, which emits less #carbon. Even, for further construction, the materials of brick, cement, steel also have to meet that standard. Within 500 sq. feet distance from the factory, there should have the residence, school facility, market, transport stands for the workers. This facility takes the workers less time to come at factories, which also helps to reduce fuel use as well as carbon.

To energy conservation issues, use of proper sunlight, solar power, energy saving bulbs has to be used. The factory arrangement should avoid the use of underground water by saving the rain water and water saving tap. A minimum free space should be kept also. The work environment should be friendly and up to date equipment should be used for manufacturing.

There is a total of 110 points to fulfill 9 conditions. 80 points on the ‘Lead Platinum’, 60-79 points for ‘Lead Gold’, 50-59 points for Lead, Silver, and the 40-49 points for ‘Lead’ in the certificate match. From Bangladesh, so far, about 32 factories have earned LEED® certificate for infrastructure environment. Many industry entrepreneurs are approaching to develop of #eco-friendly factories. In this case, however, RMG Industry is ahead of these trends.

#Green Factory Certification needs more branding, which may raise competition among the factory owners. They need to be aware of the LEED® #certification, as a lack of maintenance may also void the certification. It is heard that UGSBC may start their own office in our country or they may deploy a dedicated institution for this responsibility.

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## Bilal9

*LEED Certified Green Factory - Bangladesh*
LEED Factory is a holistic concept where the multiple aspects pertaining to design, construction and operations are integrated to achieve sustainable performance. Also, the design and processes vary based on the type and nature of building and climatic conditions. A sustainable design is the core of a LEED Factory, which automatically ensures the efficiency of the building during the post occupancy stage. Factually speaking, Green Building movement has modified many parts of contemporary factory architecture in a more vernacular way. 

Besides tangible benefits like project costs, interest payback and energy efficiency which are visible to all, green factories also work on areas like water, waste, indoor air quality, heat island effect, etc. which are not visible and often not given their due importance. For a factory project with a life cycle of more than 50 years, these aspects have to be accounted for. Green factories bring all this into perspective by setting practical benchmarks to take raise the level of performance.

Green factories also ensure that there is improved productivity of the employees through green health standards without impacting the natural environment habitat. Green factories include mechanisms through which both construction and post occupancy wastes are handled effectively, thereby reducing pollution and improving local environment quality. At last, but not the least, Green Factories reduce greenhouse gases emissions and have less carbon footprints on environment. As per the Green Building rating systems, construction materials must be procured locally to boost the regional economy. This would reduce the carbon footprint by minimizing the emissions arising from transport. Besides this, green buildings encourage the use of recycled material, reused and salvaged material to reduce the use of virgin material.

One of our recently completed projects *‘*Mithela Textile Industries Ltd.’ is the World’s First LEED Platinum Certified Dyeing Factory and 3rd highest as any factory in the world*. *As a sustainability consultant, we try and understand the vision of architects and clients and work as a bridge between different project stakeholders to make their vision come true.






Very interestingly, unlike other Bangladesh Platinum rated factories, while designing our main focus was on the passive design and not active components like solar power, STP etc. Real success came when we were able to achieve 91 points without incurring any cost on Solar-power, STP, high performance glass, imported materials etc. While consulting for LEED certification our concern is always the Return of Investment (ROI). An optimized ROI not only save a lot of capital expenditure for the developer but also encourages developers to think further on environment without a pinch in their pocket.

Green building certification program is focused to measure and reduce the negative impacts on nature due to the construction. For ease of implementation, LEED green building rating has been divided into following major modules: - Sustainable Sites, , Water Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Green Building Materials & Resources, Indoor Environment, Sustainable Design & Innovation etc.






In each module of LEED rating, there are certain *mandatory requirements *and some *tradable compliance*. Mandatory are must to do requirements and one cannot apply for rating if we do not comply with them. Regarding the tradable compliances, if we comply with them we get one or more points based on the degree of compliance that we achieve. The more points we get, the greener the project becomes.

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## F-6 enthusiast

Pharmaceutical industry of Bangladesh and its future.

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## Bilal9

*DSE leads Asian frontier markets’ rally in May*
*DSEX, the broad-based index at Bangladesh’s premier bourse, gained more than 9.3% in May*





*The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has been the best performing bourse among the Asian frontier markets in May, according to Asia Frontier Capital. *

DSEX, the broad-based index at Bangladesh's premier bourse, gained more than 9.3% in May, while the key indices in the markets of Pakistan, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia lagged behind with lower gains. 

Over the same month, AFC Asia Frontier Fund, which has an investment in Bangladesh, saw its net asset value going up 3%. 

The DSEX saw the big jump in May as a strong quarterly result and the control of new Covid-19 cases swiftly brought back investor confidence, said analysts at the international investment firm having bases in Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands. 

Of the portfolio companies of AFC Asia Frontier Fund, commercial vehicle assembler Ifad Autos gained 28.1% and Brac Bank 23.9% in May "on the back of very impressive quarterly results in a tough operating environment."

On the other hand, local analysts are concerned about the extra-ordinary rallies, like around a hundred or more percent gains in a month, in the small-cap scrips at both the DSE and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) and many of them believe this is taking place amid excessive speculation and a lack of regulatory supervision. 

The Bangladesh stock market, which historically lacks sufficient depth, has come through two major boom and bust cycles in 1996 and 2010. 

A decade of depressed journey appears to have ended in the middle of 2020 as the extreme market dip then was accompanied by a bold monetary easing by the Bangladesh Bank on top of the better-than-expected outcome in the battle with the pandemic, in terms of both the public health and economic recovery. 

Since the middle of last year, the DSE and the CSE have topped the international return tables twice in 2020, in September and October. 

Also over the second half of 2020, DSEX was at the top of the return table for globally tracked indices. 

However, a fair extent of correction over the initial months this year resulted in a moderate year-to-date rally in the DSEX as the index gained 11% while AFC Asia Frontier Fund and MSCI World Index, a benchmark that tracks shares in 50 countries, also gained the same percentage points. 

Up to the end of May this year, DSEX outperformed its counterparts in Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, the Philippines and underperformed those in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Iraq, and Pakistan.

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## F-6 enthusiast

something we can learn from
export-lead industrialisation of south korea

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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> something we can learn from
> export-lead industrialisation of south korea



Thanks for posting this.

However we don't have a meritocratic cabinet even today, compared to what South Korea had in the sixties. Less than ten percent of our cabinet currently has any higher education degree or with only a paper degree. These people are mainly goondas and political cadres and have no qualification to lead. No comparison with Korea situation.

Korea had some dedicated and highly educated bureaucrats driving export-led growth - mainly of light industrial goods which was (and continues to be) highly profitable. I have had personal interactions with Korean higher middle class business leaders. They are all western educated and highly practical evolved business leaders.

And unlike Japan next to us, which was an industrial juggernaut at that time (1950's and 1960's) that helped Korea with exports and ToT, we have India next to us, which is an impoverished ill-managed 3rd world entity, exporting their garbage culture and people to us, and exploiting us financially at every opportunity.

*We are growing economically in spite of Indian exploitation, not because of their help.*

But essentially - we are at the stage where Korea was in the 1970's (and 1980's in some cases)

In the 1990's devaluation of the US Dollar against the Yen and Deutsche Mark impacted the exports of Japan and Germany, but was an unexpected boon to the S. Korean economy.

The trade was of USA and China is also an opportunity for countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh, wherein China can resituate its low-skill and low-value-addition industries to these countries.

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## F-6 enthusiast

Apparently SL asked india for a loan first. I hope SL financial situation improves and they get back on track. 
SL per capita gdp is ~ 4000$

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## SpaceMan18

F-6 enthusiast said:


> Apparently SL asked india for a loan first. I hope SL financial situation improves and they get back on track.
> SL per capita gdp is ~ 4000$



4,000 is better than us lmao good luck to them , sadly Sri Lanka got unlucky


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## F-6 enthusiast

SpaceMan18 said:


> 4,000 is better than us lmao good luck to them , sadly Sri Lanka got unlucky


That's more than double what we have currently. We must maintain our pace and overtake them.





BTW, I believe that leather-based items, which we can sell to China, the EU/US, as well as South America and Africa, will be Bangladesh's largest export in the future. I was pleasantly delighted to find Timberland merchandise.



"Made in Bangladesh," it says.





@Bilal9 @SpaceMan18 
soon we will take over new york

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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> That's more than double what we have currently. We must maintain our pace and overtake them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BTW, I believe that leather-based items, which we can sell to China, the EU/US, as well as South America and Africa, will be Bangladesh's largest export in the future. I was pleasantly delighted to find Timberland merchandise.
> 
> 
> 
> "Made in Bangladesh," it says.
> View attachment 754063
> 
> @Bilal9 @SpaceMan18
> soon we will take over new york
> View attachment 754064



Yes Leather products including bags, wallets, stationery items, and of course shoes are volume export products. mid-grade Leather shoes have been a staple export from Bangladesh for a long time (at least three decades).

Our next door neighbor is not really our competitor, because their leather shoes (mostly made in South Indian factories) are not quality-wise in the same market. Indian shoes go to the US market (cheap outlets like Walmart and Target), where average consumer don't understand the quality of shoes - like they do in the UK and EU.

Only a few aficionados truly appreciate quality shoes in the US and there is more demand in Europe for nicer shoes. US has mostly sports-shoe wearing people. Which we are exporting too by the way. There are OEM exporters in Bangladesh for Nike, Adidas and others.

I was told by one of the largest shoe exporters in Bangladesh personally that they supply leather shoe upper parts to Ermenegildo Zegna and several other luxe shoe brands. These uppers are then mated with a sole in Italy (five seconds tops) and sold as Italian made product. These are shoes that go for around $900 a pair or more...






ZEGNA Men's Smooth Leather Oxford Shoes | Neiman Marcus


Get free shipping on ZEGNA Men's Smooth Leather Oxford Shoes at Neiman Marcus. Shop the latest luxury fashions from top designers.



www.neimanmarcus.com





I have seen even Goodyear-welted leather shoes made in Bangladesh (CTG EPZ). I have friends who are exporters in this industry.

They still make $350-500 Goodyear welted shoes in the US. These are called Lawyer dress shoes, you can pass them on to your children, they are so tough. Florsheim used to make these in the US, as well as Red Wing, Allen Edmonds etc.









Goodyear welt - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org





Talking about Allen Edmonds, they have a sale ongoing right now, $425 now on special, $300. These are a steal at that price considering they are a lifetime investment - these are built like tanks! This one is a personal favorite.









Marin Double Monk Strap with Dainite Rubber Sole | Men's Dress | Allen Edmonds


Shop Allen Edmonds Dress and Shoes. Footwear, apparel, & leather goods like the Marin Double Monk Strap with Dainite Rubber Sole in Black and more!




www.allenedmonds.com

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## F-6 enthusiast

Bilal9 said:


> Our next door neighbor is not really our competitor, because their leather shoes



🐮 



Bilal9 said:


> I was told by one of the largest shoe exporters in Bangladesh personally that they supply shoe upper parts to Ermenegildo Zegna and several other luxe shoe brands. These uppers are then mated with a sole in Italy (five seconds tops) and sold as Italian made product. These are shoes that go for around $700 a pair or more...
> 
> I have seen even Goodyear-welted shoes made in Bangladesh (CTG EPZ). I have friends who are exporters in this industry.


Impressive , not just the BD export destinations but also your excellent understanding and insight into the world of import-export. I would like to believe there is Huge market for leather goods in China that needs to be tapped. 
Most of the Nike shoes (AirMax, Airforce 1 etc) are made in Thailand , cambodia and Vietnam but i guess BD specialises in formal wear ?

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> Yes Leather products including bags, wallets, stationery items, and of course shoes are volume export products. mid-grade Leather shoes have been a staple export from Bangladesh for a long time (at least three decades).
> 
> Our next door neighbor is not really our competitor, because their leather shoes (mostly made in South Indian factories) are not quality-wise in the same market. Indian shoes go to the US market (cheap outlets like Walmart and Target), where average consumer don't understand the quality of shoes - like they do in the UK and EU.
> 
> Only a few aficionados truly appreciate quality shoes in the US and there is more demand in Europe for nicer shoes. US has mostly sports-shoe wearing people. Which we are exporting too by the way. There are OEM exporters in Bangladesh for Nike, Adidas and others.
> 
> I was told by one of the largest shoe exporters in Bangladesh personally that they supply leather shoe upper parts to Ermenegildo Zegna and several other luxe shoe brands. These uppers are then mated with a sole in Italy (five seconds tops) and sold as Italian made product. These are shoes that go for around $900 a pair or more...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ZEGNA Men's Smooth Leather Oxford Shoes | Neiman Marcus
> 
> 
> Get free shipping on ZEGNA Men's Smooth Leather Oxford Shoes at Neiman Marcus. Shop the latest luxury fashions from top designers.
> 
> 
> 
> www.neimanmarcus.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have seen even Goodyear-welted leather shoes made in Bangladesh (CTG EPZ). I have friends who are exporters in this industry.
> 
> They still make $350-500 Goodyear welted shoes in the US. These are called Lawyer dress shoes, you can pass them on to your children, they are so tough. Florsheim used to make these in the US, as well as Red Wing, Allen Edmonds etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Goodyear welt - Wikipedia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> en.wikipedia.org



I wonder if our own indigenous companies can grow out to be as good as like Nike or Adidas ? I mean we make shoes for foreign companies that is what gives us the profits but why can’t we make quality top tier shoes for our own brands in BD and then export these to the West or East ?

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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> 🐮
> 
> 
> Impressive , not just the BD export destinations but also your excellent understanding and insight into the world of import-export. I would like to believe there is Huge market for leather goods in China that needs to be tapped.
> Most of the Nike shoes (AirMax, Airforce 1 etc) are made in Thailand , cambodia and Vietnam but i guess BD specialises in formal wear ?



No - Bangladesh has long history of exporting sports shoes, since late eighties. Unlike India, which never tried their hand at exporting world class sports shoes. They make sub-par quality for local market, my understanding.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s there was a boom in sports shoe (jogging and tennis shoes) export from Bangladesh (because Taiwan and Korea labor costs were getting too expensive) but unfortunately the industry was new and there was little policy or financial support from the goru-gadhas in Bangladesh govt. or EPZ. Shoe components were all made in Korea/Taiwan at that time and incurred transport and time difficulties (1 month transit).

This is why I say Bangladesh is improving in spite of Awami League and not because of it. These are a bunch of uneducated goondas and they know nothing about providing fillip to export industry using tariff policies. Everything was because of informed Bangladeshi local entrepreneurs and risk-takers.

So Bangladesh as a result was not as competitive like Indonesia, Thailand or Vietnam because govts in those countries provided more support for exporting sports shoes, which was hugely popular at the time. Later China came on the scene in early nineties and beat every other country because they had component suppliers set up locally Thanks to help from Chinese central govt. Plus their factories were all in coastal EPZ's next to ports, so export was super easy. I have seen this myself.

Youngone was a Korean company in Bangladesh and they got into the sports shoe export game in the early 90s and they made a killing exporting brand-name sports shoes, primarily Nike and Adidas. These exports go mainly to Europe, and these exports are increasing more now because China is getting expensive and they don't want to make shoes anymore, ditto with Vietnam/Indonesia in a couple of years.

Youngone has a huge factory in the Korean EPZ making something like 30,000 pairs a day or something. Has been a while - so I have to check with my sources again.


SpaceMan18 said:


> I wonder if our own indigenous companies can grow out to be as good as like Nike or Adidas ? I mean we make shoes for foreign companies that is what gives us the profits but why can’t we make quality top tier shoes for our own brands in BD and then export these to the West or East ?



Marketing shoes and making them are two different things.

Skechers is a US brand that sources its shoes from Chinese factories. Those factories cannot compete with Skecher's understanding of the US market, advertising, channel marketing partners etc.

Two different ball-games entirely.

IMHO Bangladesh should be flexible and be happy we can utilize our labor to make whatever OEM orders we get. Getting into floating brand-names, e-commerce, too complicated. The Koreans or Taiwanese never did this, the Chinese did not either, retailing and marketing too culture-specific.

Automobiles, maybe you can, shoes - not so much.

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## Bilal9

One of Dhaka's little-known attractions, "Freedom Tower" (Swadhinata Stambha) is getting a mild revamp and refresh soon.

The Tower of Light, the focal point of the Independence Monument - was designed by architects Marina Tabassum and Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury from Urbana, winners of the national design competition held by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs and the Public Works Department in 1997. Novum Structures USA was retained to supply the UV proof structural glass stacked cladding bricks and steel inner support structure. Light Collab from Singapore designed the Lighting Infrastructure within the tower.

The site for the Independence Monument is where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation, delivered the historic speech that united the people of Bengal to fight for liberation and self-rule. The Independence Museum is replete with mementos of the Liberation War of 1971.

The entry fee to the museum is Tk. 20 for adults and Tk. 2 for children under 12. It remains open from Saturday to Wednesday from 10:30am to 5:30pm, while on Fridays people can enter the museum from 3:00pm to 8:00pm.

The 150-foot high glass tower is part of a 67-acre complex which includes an underground museum, mural works, a 2,000-seat theatre/auditorium, a number of walkways, a 'reflecting pool' water body and a very special Shikha Chirantony (eternal flame) symbolizing Bengali nationalism, and a mural based on the struggle for independence.

The glass tower project was delayed by successive govts., however it was finally opened for the public on 26 March, 2015, and the museum complex on March 7, 2011. The ray of light from its base reaches up to 5 km into atmosphere above the tower. There is a 155-seat modern auditorium within the complex at the base of the glass tower. More details below.

Some pictures,






















































*Dhaka Freedom Tower*
The Bangladeshi Government authorized a national monument to honor their independence. The selected design features a 50m tall glass pinnacle illuminating the night sky as a beacon of freedom. Novum engineered, supplied and built the steel support frame and the unique glass brick cladding. Each glass brick is comprised of 21 number 1500mm x 50mm x 20mm deep low iron glass fins which are bonded into individual panels 1500 long x 50 deep and 450mm tall. 1200 bricks bolt to the steel structure using stainless steel brackets screwed into aluminum blocks bonded into the glass block. Testing verified the performance of the “bricks”. The tower features a platform at the top to facilitate lighting and external cleaning devices.

Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Size: 9,690 sq ft / 900 sq m
Systems Used: AES, PSG
Architect: Marina Tabassum

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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> Yes Leather products including bags, wallets, stationery items, and of course shoes are volume export products. mid-grade Leather shoes have been a staple export from Bangladesh for a long time (at least three decades).
> 
> Our next door neighbor is not really our competitor, because their leather shoes (mostly made in South Indian factories) are not quality-wise in the same market. Indian shoes go to the US market (cheap outlets like Walmart and Target), where average consumer don't understand the quality of shoes - like they do in the UK and EU.
> 
> Only a few aficionados truly appreciate quality shoes in the US and there is more demand in Europe for nicer shoes. US has mostly sports-shoe wearing people. Which we are exporting too by the way. There are OEM exporters in Bangladesh for Nike, Adidas and others.
> 
> I was told by one of the largest shoe exporters in Bangladesh personally that they supply leather shoe upper parts to Ermenegildo Zegna and several other luxe shoe brands. These uppers are then mated with a sole in Italy (five seconds tops) and sold as Italian made product. These are shoes that go for around $900 a pair or more...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ZEGNA Men's Smooth Leather Oxford Shoes | Neiman Marcus
> 
> 
> Get free shipping on ZEGNA Men's Smooth Leather Oxford Shoes at Neiman Marcus. Shop the latest luxury fashions from top designers.
> 
> 
> 
> www.neimanmarcus.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have seen even Goodyear-welted leather shoes made in Bangladesh (CTG EPZ). I have friends who are exporters in this industry.
> 
> They still make $350-500 Goodyear welted shoes in the US. These are called Lawyer dress shoes, you can pass them on to your children, they are so tough. Florsheim used to make these in the US, as well as Red Wing, Allen Edmonds etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Goodyear welt - Wikipedia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> en.wikipedia.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Talking about Allen Edmonds, they have a sale ongoing right now, $425 now on special, $300. These are a steal at that price considering they are a lifetime investment - these are built like tanks! This one is a personal favorite.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Marin Double Monk Strap with Dainite Rubber Sole | Men's Dress | Allen Edmonds
> 
> 
> Shop Allen Edmonds Dress and Shoes. Footwear, apparel, & leather goods like the Marin Double Monk Strap with Dainite Rubber Sole in Black and more!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.allenedmonds.com



Well my leather shoes for meeting clients is Indonesian made, it is relatively cheap compared to Western brand. Indonesian brand and Indonesian made, Andre Valentino. They use that brand name as if it is Italian brand 

They have store in Pondok Indah Mall which is my favorite place to buy something or hang out with friends and not far from my place.

My sneaker is Nike and also other which brand is not wellknown, but strong as I use it for almost all my outside activites, color is black. Both my Nikes and other sneakers are actually broken but instead of buying another one I get both fixed in Shoes repair 

Andre Valentino is about 100 USD and I have better style than what I got from Google








https://www.zalora.co.id/andre-valentino-avm-30233za-black-2579098.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwwqaGBhBKEiwAMk-FtEEBRz8v3taDvsNkudxFznIxIu8Mu_MWEaswsCNwmYhw1GjdpCIxpRoCSyIQAvD_BwE



Pondok Indah Mall (PIM)

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> Well my leather shoes for meeting clients is Indonesian made, it is relatively cheap compared to Western brand. Indonesian brand and Indonesian made, Andre Valentino. They use that brand name as if it is Italian brand
> 
> They have store in Pondok Indah Mall which is my favorite place to buy something or hang out with friends and not far from my place.
> 
> My sneaker is Nike and also other which brand is not wellknown, but strong as I use it for almost all my outside activites, color is black. Both my Nikes and other sneakers are actually broken but instead of buying another one I get both fixed in Shoes repair
> 
> Andre Valentino is about 100 USD and I have better style than what I got from Google
> 
> View attachment 754130
> 
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.zalora.co.id/andre-valentino-avm-30233za-black-2579098.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwwqaGBhBKEiwAMk-FtEEBRz8v3taDvsNkudxFznIxIu8Mu_MWEaswsCNwmYhw1GjdpCIxpRoCSyIQAvD_BwE
> 
> 
> 
> Pondok Indah Mall (PIM)



Nice quality shoes you have there @Indos brother. Looks like goat leather to me - very nice and supple !

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## Bilal9

*Walton’s snapdragon phone hits markets with pre-book at 10,999 BDT*
written by Tech Teen June 12, 2021





Bangladeshi handset maker Walton has announced the release of its new gaming smartphone ‘Primo RX8 Mini’ enriched with snapdragon processor, large full HD plus display, powerful RAM-ROM, fast charging, and triple back camera features.

Asifur Rahman Khan, head of Walton Cellular Phone Sales department, said they are taking pre-order for the handset. The pre-bookers will get tk 1000 discount from regular price of the phone. This means, customers can purchase the phone at BDT 10,999 only till 16th June. The smartphone has already gained huge popularity among tech-lovers and they are terming it as the best device in this price. Customers can place pre-order from E-Plaza (eplaza.waltonbd.com) or at all Walton Plaza, brand and retail outlets across the country.

Habibur Rahman Tuhin, Walton cellular phone marketing in-charge, said the new device features a 6.3-inch full HD plus display with 2340X1080 pixel screen resolutions. The 8.36 mm slim black colored smartphone looks stunning as glass is used in the back cover.

It sports a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon’s 6 Series Octa-Core processor with Qualcomm Adreno 512 GPU which will ensure higher speed and performance for heavy gaming. The device runs on Android 10 operating system and has a 4 GB RAM with 64 GB internal memory which is expandable up to 256 GB via micro SD card.

The phone comes with f/1.8 aperture AI triple cameras with PDAF technology and LED flash. Its 13-megapixel main camera with Sony sensor and 6P lens will ensure sharp and colorful photos. The smartphone has another 8MP wide angle camera and 5MP depth sensing senor. The device sports another f/2.2 aperture 13MP selfie camera with PDAF technology and 5P lens. It has many interesting features including Face Detection, Digital Zoom (8.0x), BSI, Touch Focus, Touch Shot, Finger Capture, Self-timer, Logo Watermark, Filters, Gridlines, Anti Flicker, Normal mode, Beauty mode, Face Cute, Bokeh, Night, Panorama, Watermark, GIF, Time-Lapse, Beauty Video, PRO Mode (White Balance, ISO, Exposure, Saturation, Contrast, Sharpness), QR Code, Wide, HDR, Portrait, Filter etc.

The phone has a 3600 mAh lithium polymer battery with type-C 18-watt fast charging for sufficient power backup. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11, bluetooth version 5.0, LAN hotspot, OTA and OTG. Sensors include proximity, light, accelerometer (3D), fingerprint scanner, GPS, A-GPS navigation etc.
Other features include face unlock, dual 4G SIM slot, FM radio with recording facility, Full HD video recording and playback, RGB notification LED, Dark Theme etc.

Customers will get 30 days instant replacement facility along with one-year service warranty for the ‘Made in Bangladesh’ smartphone.

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## Bilal9

*Walton starts business in Iraq through exporting compressors*






Walton, one of the largest South Asian electronics manufacturing companies based in Bangladesh, has started its business in the Republic of Iraq through exporting hermetic reciprocating refrigerator compressors. Walton authorities are also hoping to expand their business in the middle-east country with various other products.

As Walton has its own compressor manufacturing facilities, compressor parts and components are already being exported to many renowned manufacturers around the globe including Germany, Slovakia and Austria. Walton is also in advancement to establishing compressor brand business in Russia, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Mohanad Al Drraji, Charges d’Affaires of the embassy of the republic of Iraq to Bangladesh, inaugurated the compressor export in a function at Walton Hi-Tech Industries Ltd. (WHIL) in Chandra of Gazipur on Tuesday (October 1, 2019) as chief guest. The function was also attended, among others, by senior Walton managers CTO, International Business Unit and the Chief Executive Officer of Walton Refrigerator division, COO of Compressor manufacturing, and other executive level staff.

Mohanad Al Drraji commented that he was happy to see the gigantic factory operations at Walton. 

Walton has recently started exporting compressors from Bangladesh but Iraq has a huge potential market for all electronic and durable consumer goods made in Bangladesh. I believe Walton products will be well accepted in Iraq. I welcome Walton to Iraq, the Iraqi diplomat added.

Terming the compressor export as the beginning of a new business era from Bangladesh to Iraq, Walton managers commented that they had become a trusted local brand in the consumer Electrical and Electronics (E&E) industry in Bangladesh through a strong manufacturing base, quality product, competitive price, extensive market coverage and prompt after sales services. 

As a result, they had captured substantial market share within a very short period of time, and had positioned ourselves as one of the key market players in the E&E industry in Bangladesh as well as South Asia, Middle East, African & European countries.

Bangladesh is moving toward a new milestone of exporting electronic products and within a very short time Walton will be placing Bangladesh on the map as one of the largest consumer electronics exporters. Walton had a strong determination and a detailed master plan to be recognized as the most reliable business partner of many global brands as OEM supplier, they added.

Informing that Walton products are being exported to more than 35 countries, the CEO of Walton mentioned that in order to drive and expand Walton's global business operations in the electronics segment, the company was moving towards establishing offices and presence in markets of North and South America, Middle East, Africa, Russia and European countries very committedly. 

He mentioned that exports to MENA and South Asian markets was just the beginning and they are getting many new orders of electronics goods constantly as in all Walton items, the company maintained CE, CB, RoHS, REACH, EMC, EU, USA along with other global quality standards.

Recently, Walton signed contracts with South-Korean brands for supplying huge quantity of consumer electronics and durables as OEM supplier. 

‘Made in Bangladesh’ Walton products were also becoming available in North American market through world’s top e-commerce platform Amazon.

Prior to inaugurating compressor export to Iraq, Mohanad Al Drraji and his entourages visited the product display center and various production units including refrigerator, compressor, dye mold, glass-door, air conditioner, LED TV, laptop etc.

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## Bilal9

Mechanized Rice harvesting is getting rather popular in Bangladesh nowadays. 37 Decimal area harvested in about 9 minutes or so (equates to one acre in an hour). The Harvester is a Kubota Pro 588 i-G model. This was recorded in the Narail (Jessore) area in Bangladesh. Per decimal harvest cost is around Tk. 75-80 however this is a lot lower than doing this using manual labor which costs Tk. 100~120 per decimal.

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## Bilal9

*BSRM Steel reports stellar growth in first 3 quarters*

*The consolidated sales of BSRM Ltd increased 4% to Tk4,216.09 crore in the first three quarters of FY21 compared to the same period in previous year.*





*Chattogram-based business conglomerate BSRM, which has maintained its dominant position in Bangladesh's steel sector for years, has reported astounding growth in profit as its finance and management cost decreased.*

The consolidated sales of Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited (BSRM Ltd) increased 4% to Tk4,216.09 crore in the first three quarters of FY21 compared to the same period in previous year.

During this period, its consolidated net profit also grew by 248% to Tk273.16 crore and earnings per share stood at Tk10.93.

The company's sales have gone up by 1,258% to Tk8,311 crore over a decade till fiscal 2019-20.

It has been providing rods to various government megaprojects. Its production capacity has reached seven lakh tonnes annually.

BSRM Ltd Company Secretary and General Manager Shekhar Ranjan Kar told The Business Standard, "Despite the steel price hike, the demand for steel increased in the first three quarters of this fiscal year. Besides, low interest on loan and reduced management cost also helped the group to post such growth."

*BSRM Steels Ltd*

BSRM Steels Ltd was set up to produce billets to averse the risk of potential loss from volatile billet prices in the international market.

Currently, the BSRM Limited holds a 44.97% equity share of the BSRM Steels, whose annual production capacity is 8.62 lakh tonnes. Most billets produced by it has been consumed by BSRM Ltd.

BSRM Steels' sales grew by 24% in the first nine months of the 2020-21 financial year, and its profits jumped by 260%, compared to the same period previous year.

Its sales in the first three quarters of the current financial year was around Tk4,078 crore and it registered a net profit of Tk258.61 crore.

During this period, its earnings per share stood at Tk6.88.

BSRM produces billets and later stage re-bars, angle iron and other extrusion profile iron products. It uses top-of-the-line Danieli Steel producing lines and processes.

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## Bilal9

Payra Lebukhali bridge will finally put an end to ferries on the road to the Southern coast of Patuakhali and Kuakata beach. The bridge piles go down to 130m below the pier bases and it also has a bridge structure health monitoring system, which is one of the firsts in Bangladesh bridge sector. Completion ETA is October/November of this year.

*Bridge length is 1470 m, 52 pilings in the footings. This bridge is twice as long as Howrah Bridge and about one fourth the length of the Padma Bridge (6000m or 6KM).*

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## Bilal9

Expressways update

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## Bilal9

Motorcycle assembler, manufacturer and exporter sector overview in Bangladesh. Almost all Japanese and Indian Brands (who were once Japanese JVs themselves) are represented by local Bangladeshi JV manufacturing partners. 

Bajaj, TVS and Hero got ToT from Kawasaki, Suzuki and Honda, respectively - some two/three decades ago.

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## leonblack08



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## F-6 enthusiast

Soviet industrialisation montage in 3 minutes (watch till the end)

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## F-6 enthusiast

Big developments in Narayangonj

Defense Technology of Bangladesh-DTB on Twitter: "Narayanganj's Araihazar economic zone is set to become Japan's largest investment hub in Asia. According to BEZA, automobile factories will be set up in this EEZ. At the same time, there will be production of electronic products &amp; automobile equipment. https://t.co/dMdrYKExIK" / Twitter

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## SpaceMan18



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## X-ray Papa

Any updates about purbachal?

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## Bilal9

X-ray Papa said:


> Any updates about purbachal?



Check out the new food court on Purbachal link road if you haven't already. I hear the fast food on offer is pretty nice. Good for a quick informal bite.

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## Bilal9

About Purbachal Link Road (Expressway) itself, nothing interesting to update, work by 24th Engg. Construction Brigade ongoing at full swing.

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## Bilal9

Veloce Bicycles Bangladesh has started to market their upmarket Bicycles overseas and also across India, their first foreign foray - but of course is being delayed by Covid.

They have 6061 Alloy tubing frames at the higher priced echelon and offer hybrid, Roadbike as well as Mountain models.

Below is a *GRAVEL PRO 3.0 at ₹51,990.00 retail*, and probably will be discounted heavily when Covid dies down a bit, just a guess. Looks like 700c wheels, disc brakes and Shimano mid-end shifter like Tourney. The shifter components on lower priced models are Claris and Sora respectively. Brakes on all models are from Tektro. 

*Pricewise in India, these biked are way below the competition, comparable bikes sold in India start at ₹75,000.00 retail and go up from there.*

@padamchen I thought you were a bike enthusiast. What are similar competitive brands of bikes being sold in India that these would compete against? Other than the ones mentioned in the Indian review below,









Gravel Biking in India: Why You Should! | Cycling Monks


We sit down with AP from ATH to understand gravel bikes, what they are good for or not and why gravel biking in India makes sense...




www.cyclingmonks.com













Gravel Pro 3.0 - Veloce India


GRAVEL PRO SERIES Get the sportiness of a road bike, the versatility of a mountain bike in one frame! Introducing the Veloce Gravel Pro series. Specifications FRAMESET DRIVETRAIN COMPONENTS WHEELSET Frame – 6061 LIGHT WEIGHT ALLOY Frame Size – 18 INCH, 20 INCH, 22 INCH Speed – 18 SPD Fork –...




velocebike.com

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## Bilal9

Supposedly, Bangladesh is first among South Asian countries to open and operate e-gates for e-Passport holders at Dhaka Airport.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=957158744849396

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## Agha Sher

Bangladesh is quickly becoming one of the pearls in the islamic world. Keep it up! 🇧🇩

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## F-6 enthusiast

Bilal9 said:


> Veloce Bicycles Bangladesh has started to market their upmarket Bicycles overseas and also across India, their first foreign foray - but of course is being delayed by Covid.
> 
> They have 6061 Alloy tubing frames at the higher priced echelon and offer hybrid, Roadbike as well as Mountain models.
> 
> Below is a *GRAVEL PRO 3.0 at ₹51,990.00 retail*, and probably will be discounted heavily when Covid dies down a bit, just a guess. Looks like 700c wheels, disc brakes and Shimano mid-end shifter like Tourney. The shifter components on lower priced models are Claris and Sora respectively. Brakes on all models are from Tektro.
> 
> *Pricewise in India, these biked are way below the competition, comparable bikes sold in India start at ₹75,000.00 retail and go up from there.*
> 
> @padamchen I thought you were a bike enthusiast. What are similar competitive brands of bikes being sold in India that these would compete against? Other than the ones mentioned in the Indian review below,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gravel Biking in India: Why You Should! | Cycling Monks
> 
> 
> We sit down with AP from ATH to understand gravel bikes, what they are good for or not and why gravel biking in India makes sense...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.cyclingmonks.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gravel Pro 3.0 - Veloce India
> 
> 
> GRAVEL PRO SERIES Get the sportiness of a road bike, the versatility of a mountain bike in one frame! Introducing the Veloce Gravel Pro series. Specifications FRAMESET DRIVETRAIN COMPONENTS WHEELSET Frame – 6061 LIGHT WEIGHT ALLOY Frame Size – 18 INCH, 20 INCH, 22 INCH Speed – 18 SPD Fork –...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> velocebike.com


my personal bike made in bangladesh (got it from argos 80% assembled) 
Alluminium alloy frame made in Dhaka and Tires (27.5'') from RFL group

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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> my personal bike made in bangladesh (got it from argos 80% assembled)
> Alluminium alloy frame made in Dhaka and Tires (27.5'') from RFL group
> View attachment 761956
> View attachment 761957
> View attachment 761958



Masha-Allah looks great!

Mountain/Hybrid with knobby tires there.

Guessing Shimano groupset, maybe a Tourney? Or did you upgrade?

And does Argos import/source its bikes from Bangladesh?

Not familiar with the Argos brand (maybe UK specific)?

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## Bilal9

Agha Sher said:


> Bangladesh is quickly becoming one of the pearls in the islamic world. Keep it up! 🇧🇩



We need more pearls like this. Otherwise the Ummah will not be strong.

Focus on livelihoods and inclusive export-based growth, not enriching corrupt leaders.

Of course both can sometimes happen together, but we need more of the former and less of the latter.

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## F-6 enthusiast

Bilal9 said:


> Masha-Allah looks great!
> 
> Mountain/Hybrid with knobby tires there.
> 
> Guessing Shimano groupset, maybe a Tourney? Or did you upgrade?
> 
> And does Argos import/source its bikes from Bangladesh?
> 
> Not familiar with the Argos brand (maybe UK specific)?


Thanks , i've just started cycling.
My bike is more of an entry level mountain bike.
Its a mountain bike from Cross which is a Bulgarian company (which is what google tells me). Gear and brakes were from shimano ,everything is stock.
Cross must have subcontracted some company in *Dhaka *to make the frame (which is the manufacturer's address) and Tyres are sourced from RFL ,A product of Bangladesh.

Argos mainly sells electronics but also sells bikes.

i had to do some minor assembly , but it was ok





I think BD made close to 150million USD last year selling bikes to Europe only

Those who belittle, cannot do.
Insha Allah we will march ahead.

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## Bilal9

*Purbachal: An extension of chaotic Dhaka?*
On the same path as unplanned capital after multiple revisions in design, deadline


Asifur Rahman, Helemul Alam
Wed Jun 9, 2021 12:00 AM

A massive development work at 300-feet Purbachal Road is underway. The government is constructing an eight-lane expressway to connect Kuril with Kanchan Bridge via Purbachal. Besides, 100-feet canals are being built on both sides of the road from Kuril to the Balu river. 

The photo was taken on Monday. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq





A massive development work at 300-feet Purbachal Road is underway. The government is constructing an eight-lane expressway to connect Kuril with Kanchan Bridge via Purbachal. Besides, 100-feet canals are being built on both sides of the road from Kuril to the Balu river. The photo was taken on Monday. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq

The "ideal town" planned in Purbachal to ease Dhaka's burden of overgrowing population is likely to become yet another extension of the unplanned capital, thanks to the long delay in implementation and constant changes in project design, according to urban planners.

They said the population within the project area and its surrounding places will nearly triple the initial projection by the time it is likely to be completed.

The Purbachal New Town project was initiated by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) in 1995 on around 6,227 acres of land in the south of Dhaka.

Located between Gazipur's Kaliganj and Narayanganj's Rupganj, with the Shitalakkhya river to the east and the Balu river to the west, it was designed to accommodate 10 lakh people in around 25,000 plots of various sizes.

However, it took the government 10 years to approve the Purbachal project -- its largest housing scheme -- at an initial cost of Tk 3,312 crore. With the initial deadline having elapsed in 2010, the cost has now more than tripled to a whopping Tk 10,329 crore with various other components added. 

The project, which has seen five revisions to its design so far, is now expected to be completed by 2025, after several revisions of the deadline.

Although the initial plan was to only build a residential township, many commercial buildings have been included later on -- replacing playgrounds and other civic amenities.

The Purbachal New Town area will also be under pressure from the private housing sprouting around the project site.

During a recent visit, The Daily Star found former greenery has now turned grey in the project area with workers dismantling a newly-built road to make it wider.

Construction of 100-feet canals on both sides of the road were also going on simultaneously.

The boulevard, known as 300 feet, meanwhile, has become a popular hangout for Dhaka residents.

Md Ashraful Islam, project director of Detailed Area Plan of Rajuk, said as per the building construction rules-2008, which sets the highest number of buildings within a given area and how much empty space has to be kept, the population living inside the Purbachal project will be around 27 lakh.

Such a population is destined to create great pressure on services and facilities already constructed or under construction based on a design for 10 lakh people.

"Purbachal is destined to fail as a planned town due to long delays and accommodation of commercial and business zones in a residential-only hub without any proper assessment," said Adil Mohammad Khan, secretary general of Bangladesh Institute of Planners.

"Although it is called new town, Purbachal is developing as an unplanned extension of Dhaka city," he told The Daily Star.

Ujjwal Mallick, project director and chief engineer of Rajuk, said the project has so far seen 70 percent physical progress and 65 percent financial progress.

"We are expecting to complete the whole project by 2025," he said.






*EVER-CHANGING PLANS*
Since the development work of the project started in 2002-03, Rajuk revised its design in 2004, 2005, 2009, and in 2013.

Following a public interest litigation in 2013, the High Court endorsed the fourth revision and directed Rajuk not to "efface, subtract, vary or modify the forest, lakes, canals, urban green, parks, playgrounds", as shown in the fourth revised layout plan, without the court's permission.

But Rajuk introduced a fifth revision in 2017, violating the 2014 HC judgment and allegedly allotted 89 plots secretly in 2018 taking land from areas earmarked for schools and their playgrounds, open fields and spaces, as The Daily Star previously reported.

It included an "iconic" tower on around 100 acres, more residential plots, and an increased number of hospitals and clinics as part of Rajuk's plan to introduce a Central Business District (CBD) in the project area, according to Rajuk officials.

Rajuk appealed to the HC for approval of the fifth revision but was rejected in 2018.

At the monthly coordination meeting of Rajuk held last March, officials said they are still trying to involve the attorney general's office in this regard.

Rajuk Chief Engineer Ujjwal Mallick, however, said they will do their job as per the court's direction.

Adil Mohammad Khan said the plan to accommodate the CBD will create greater pressure of people in the project area.

He alleged that the additional commercial and residential plots are being created to accommodate those influential and politically connected.

"According to the existing rules there is scope for constructing a 10- or 12- or 14-storey building on a seven to eight katha plot," he said, questioning how habitable Purbachal will be with up to 20-25 lakh people.

*COST HIKED, MONEY AND TIME WASTED*
The urban planner also said due to the long delays and many changes in the planning, many roads under the project area now need to be repaired or upgraded.

"Due to the lack of transparency in the planning, main roads which have been constructed as four lanes are now being upgraded to eight lanes, which is a sheer waste of public money and time," he said.

He said this delay was due to Rajuk's failure to determine how the main roads of the project would be classified -- as a national highway or regional highway after construction.

After a digital land survey, land acquisition and development work in the first phase started in the 2002-03 fiscal year. The initial project cost was Tk 3,312 crore and was revised to Tk 7,782 crore in 2010.

In 2015, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved another Tk 5,000 crore for the "Excavation and development of a 100 feet wide and 13.2km canal on both sides of Kuril-Purbachal Link Road (from Kuril to Balu river)."

On November 4, 2018, Ecnec also approved a revised project cost of Tk 10,329.66 crore, which was a revision of the 2015 canal development project with the addition of three more canals, eight-lane expressway, bridges, and other ancillary issues, according to project documents.

The government decision to construct the 12.36km eight-lane expressway from Kuril -- including a six-lane expressway from the Balu river to Kanchan Bridge, three service lanes on each side and other ancillary facilities -- was a belated one.

As a result, Rajuk is now dismantling the existing four-lane road, completed in 2018 at a cost of Tk 275 crore from the second revised budget.

Rajuk's Mallick said, "The proposal of an eight-lane expressway was in the first plan, but we had no money to execute the plan at that time. After getting the money we started it."

He said 80 percent of the canal development work from Kuril to Balu river has been completed.

Regarding the three additional canals, Mallick said the land acquisition is yet to be completed. The canal development project completion deadline is in December this year, as is that for the road expansion.

The project director claimed that plot owners could start living in the project area from July 2022. "The area will be suitable for living by July next year as the water supply will be set up by then," he said.

Adil Mohammad Khan also said overhead power lines were initially constructed but Rajuk is now shifting to an underground cable ducting system, adding that there are no clear guidelines or planning about other utility lines like sewerage, water, and gas.

Asked about sewerage and other facilities, Rajuk's Mallick said these facilities and electricity will only be completed by 2030. Between 60-70 percent of electric lines have already been completed while they will start distributing water in sectors 5 and 6 in the first phase from next February.

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> *Purbachal: An extension of chaotic Dhaka?*
> On the same path as unplanned capital after multiple revisions in design, deadline
> 
> 
> Asifur Rahman, Helemul Alam
> Wed Jun 9, 2021 12:00 AM
> 
> A massive development work at 300-feet Purbachal Road is underway. The government is constructing an eight-lane expressway to connect Kuril with Kanchan Bridge via Purbachal. Besides, 100-feet canals are being built on both sides of the road from Kuril to the Balu river.
> 
> The photo was taken on Monday. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A massive development work at 300-feet Purbachal Road is underway. The government is constructing an eight-lane expressway to connect Kuril with Kanchan Bridge via Purbachal. Besides, 100-feet canals are being built on both sides of the road from Kuril to the Balu river. The photo was taken on Monday. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq
> 
> The "ideal town" planned in Purbachal to ease Dhaka's burden of overgrowing population is likely to become yet another extension of the unplanned capital, thanks to the long delay in implementation and constant changes in project design, according to urban planners.
> 
> They said the population within the project area and its surrounding places will nearly triple the initial projection by the time it is likely to be completed.
> 
> The Purbachal New Town project was initiated by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) in 1995 on around 6,227 acres of land in the south of Dhaka.
> 
> Located between Gazipur's Kaliganj and Narayanganj's Rupganj, with the Shitalakkhya river to the east and the Balu river to the west, it was designed to accommodate 10 lakh people in around 25,000 plots of various sizes.
> 
> However, it took the government 10 years to approve the Purbachal project -- its largest housing scheme -- at an initial cost of Tk 3,312 crore. With the initial deadline having elapsed in 2010, the cost has now more than tripled to a whopping Tk 10,329 crore with various other components added.
> 
> The project, which has seen five revisions to its design so far, is now expected to be completed by 2025, after several revisions of the deadline.
> 
> Although the initial plan was to only build a residential township, many commercial buildings have been included later on -- replacing playgrounds and other civic amenities.
> 
> The Purbachal New Town area will also be under pressure from the private housing sprouting around the project site.
> 
> During a recent visit, The Daily Star found former greenery has now turned grey in the project area with workers dismantling a newly-built road to make it wider.
> 
> Construction of 100-feet canals on both sides of the road were also going on simultaneously.
> 
> The boulevard, known as 300 feet, meanwhile, has become a popular hangout for Dhaka residents.
> 
> Md Ashraful Islam, project director of Detailed Area Plan of Rajuk, said as per the building construction rules-2008, which sets the highest number of buildings within a given area and how much empty space has to be kept, the population living inside the Purbachal project will be around 27 lakh.
> 
> Such a population is destined to create great pressure on services and facilities already constructed or under construction based on a design for 10 lakh people.
> 
> "Purbachal is destined to fail as a planned town due to long delays and accommodation of commercial and business zones in a residential-only hub without any proper assessment," said Adil Mohammad Khan, secretary general of Bangladesh Institute of Planners.
> 
> "Although it is called new town, Purbachal is developing as an unplanned extension of Dhaka city," he told The Daily Star.
> 
> Ujjwal Mallick, project director and chief engineer of Rajuk, said the project has so far seen 70 percent physical progress and 65 percent financial progress.
> 
> "We are expecting to complete the whole project by 2025," he said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *EVER-CHANGING PLANS*
> Since the development work of the project started in 2002-03, Rajuk revised its design in 2004, 2005, 2009, and in 2013.
> 
> Following a public interest litigation in 2013, the High Court endorsed the fourth revision and directed Rajuk not to "efface, subtract, vary or modify the forest, lakes, canals, urban green, parks, playgrounds", as shown in the fourth revised layout plan, without the court's permission.
> 
> But Rajuk introduced a fifth revision in 2017, violating the 2014 HC judgment and allegedly allotted 89 plots secretly in 2018 taking land from areas earmarked for schools and their playgrounds, open fields and spaces, as The Daily Star previously reported.
> 
> It included an "iconic" tower on around 100 acres, more residential plots, and an increased number of hospitals and clinics as part of Rajuk's plan to introduce a Central Business District (CBD) in the project area, according to Rajuk officials.
> 
> Rajuk appealed to the HC for approval of the fifth revision but was rejected in 2018.
> 
> At the monthly coordination meeting of Rajuk held last March, officials said they are still trying to involve the attorney general's office in this regard.
> 
> Rajuk Chief Engineer Ujjwal Mallick, however, said they will do their job as per the court's direction.
> 
> Adil Mohammad Khan said the plan to accommodate the CBD will create greater pressure of people in the project area.
> 
> He alleged that the additional commercial and residential plots are being created to accommodate those influential and politically connected.
> 
> "According to the existing rules there is scope for constructing a 10- or 12- or 14-storey building on a seven to eight katha plot," he said, questioning how habitable Purbachal will be with up to 20-25 lakh people.
> 
> *COST HIKED, MONEY AND TIME WASTED*
> The urban planner also said due to the long delays and many changes in the planning, many roads under the project area now need to be repaired or upgraded.
> 
> "Due to the lack of transparency in the planning, main roads which have been constructed as four lanes are now being upgraded to eight lanes, which is a sheer waste of public money and time," he said.
> 
> He said this delay was due to Rajuk's failure to determine how the main roads of the project would be classified -- as a national highway or regional highway after construction.
> 
> After a digital land survey, land acquisition and development work in the first phase started in the 2002-03 fiscal year. The initial project cost was Tk 3,312 crore and was revised to Tk 7,782 crore in 2010.
> 
> In 2015, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved another Tk 5,000 crore for the "Excavation and development of a 100 feet wide and 13.2km canal on both sides of Kuril-Purbachal Link Road (from Kuril to Balu river)."
> 
> On November 4, 2018, Ecnec also approved a revised project cost of Tk 10,329.66 crore, which was a revision of the 2015 canal development project with the addition of three more canals, eight-lane expressway, bridges, and other ancillary issues, according to project documents.
> 
> The government decision to construct the 12.36km eight-lane expressway from Kuril -- including a six-lane expressway from the Balu river to Kanchan Bridge, three service lanes on each side and other ancillary facilities -- was a belated one.
> 
> As a result, Rajuk is now dismantling the existing four-lane road, completed in 2018 at a cost of Tk 275 crore from the second revised budget.
> 
> Rajuk's Mallick said, "The proposal of an eight-lane expressway was in the first plan, but we had no money to execute the plan at that time. After getting the money we started it."
> 
> He said 80 percent of the canal development work from Kuril to Balu river has been completed.
> 
> Regarding the three additional canals, Mallick said the land acquisition is yet to be completed. The canal development project completion deadline is in December this year, as is that for the road expansion.
> 
> The project director claimed that plot owners could start living in the project area from July 2022. "The area will be suitable for living by July next year as the water supply will be set up by then," he said.
> 
> Adil Mohammad Khan also said overhead power lines were initially constructed but Rajuk is now shifting to an underground cable ducting system, adding that there are no clear guidelines or planning about other utility lines like sewerage, water, and gas.
> 
> Asked about sewerage and other facilities, Rajuk's Mallick said these facilities and electricity will only be completed by 2030. Between 60-70 percent of electric lines have already been completed while they will start distributing water in sectors 5 and 6 in the first phase from next February.



Hopefully Purbanchal doesn't become a mess lol

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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> Hopefully Purbanchal doesn't become a mess lol



Bzzzzt - too late. 

Already a mess.

a) These Rajuk idiots do NOT know how to build a smart city.

b) They confused the Chinese company which was supposed to build a smart city in there with changing the plan some fifteen times.

c) Roads are narrower than Baridhara so eight story condo complexes on both sides of the roads will look like concrete canyons. No concern for property offsets. People will never see sunshine or breath fresh air living in these places. Will look like third rate shantytowns in Hong Kong.

Few civic amenities, parks, children's playgrounds or sports fields for teenagers.

A bunch of Gadhas in other words that got jobs because they knew somebody - the blind leading the blind.

I mean in places like S'pore and Malaysia you have qualified people designing the newer smart cities, who are led by international-level experts.

At Rajuk you have unqualified gadhas with no experience and exposure *who have never known what a proper modern city should be designed like, much less a smart city*.

I guess live and learn....

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## SpaceMan18

Bilal9 said:


> Bzzzzt - too late.
> 
> Already a mess.
> 
> a) These Rajuk idiots do NOT know how to build a smart city.
> 
> b) They confused the Chinese company which was supposed to build a smart city in there with changing the plan some fifteen times.
> 
> c) Roads are narrower than Baridhara so eight story condo complexes on both sides of the roads will look like concrete canyons. No concern for property offsets. People will never see sunshine or breath fresh air living in these places. Will look like third rate shantytowns in Hong Kong.
> 
> Few civic amenities, parks, children's playgrounds or sports fields for teenagers.
> 
> A bunch of Gadhas in other words that got jobs because they knew somebody - the blind leading the blind.
> 
> I mean in places like S'pore and Malaysia you have qualified people designing the newer smart cities, who are led by international-level experts.
> 
> At Rajuk you have diploma engineer gadhas who have never known what a proper modern city should be designed like, much less a smart city.
> 
> I guess live and learn....




Screw it , I have no hope for Bangladesh after this lol

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## Bilal9

ISO (Int'l Standards Org) has a standard for smart cities. You guys are welcome to read what the compliance standards are for being a smart city. I'd say Purbachal (that I can see so far in the planning documents) does not even meet 10% of those. Kotoguli Rajuk er gadha-goru ar minister (like Obaidul Qader) shudhu ekta nam shikhsey "Smart City" oita boley ar lafai.



https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/developing_standards/docs/en/smart_cities_report-jtc1.pdf

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## Bilal9

Keraniganj Flyover latest status...

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## Bilal9

*Rest In Peace Bangladeshi Maestro Architect Bashirul Haq*
*Bangladesh Architecture News - Apr 7, 2020 - 10:15 8471 Views*
*Flip*






Today one of the pioneers in shaping the architectural identity of Bangladesh and contemporary architects' community, Aga Khan Award winner architect Bashirul Haq (H-008) took his last breath at Gonoshasthaya Hospital on April 4, 2020. 

Bangladeshi architects mourn the passing of Bashirul Haq, one of the most respected architects of Bangladesh, and a beloved mentor to many.

Architect Nuru Rahman Khan said: "His architecture is not about being visual. It is about content. He is a modernist and a rationalist. His integrity, competence, and dedication towards architecture are unparalleled."




Architect’s Family Home & Studio. Image © Al Amin Abu Ahmed Ashraf (Dolon)

"He has not created the luxury iconic image for you in this city but wonderful places for families, for children and it is all about creating that community which is important in a housing complex," he said.

"Architect Bashirul Haq, being one of the most critically acclaimed architects of South Asia is an unbound source of inspiration for our young architects. His works have been widely discussed and praised both nationally and internationally," stated Context Design Architecture Culture.

Bashirul Haq is Bashirul Haq & Associates Ltd's Chief Architect. He graduated from the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan in 1964 with a bachelor in architecture. Haq finished his Master of Architecture degree in 1975, after his degrees in John Heimrich Tuition, Scholarship and Teaching Assistant degree at the University of New Mexico, in 1971. His reluctance to operate in the United States to develop a practice in Dhaka has also been stated as motivation for young graduates. His works have been critically acclaimed for sensible and environment-responsive architectural style.

"The future of architecture is hinged on what constitutes sustainable architecture – an architectural footprint that trod carefully in nature," quoted by Bashirul Haq. 




Architect’s Family Home & Studio. Image © Al Amin Abu Ahmed Ashraf (Dolon)

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## Bilal9

*WOHA Unveils Its Vision For Sustainable Inner-City Campus And Public Park In Dhaka, Bangladesh*
*Bangladesh Architecture News - Mar 11, 2020 - 09:56 8495 Views*
*Flip*





Singapore-based architecture practice WOHA and BRAC University have unveiled design for sustainable inner-City campus and public park in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the redevelopment of a 5.3-acre university campus broke ground in 2017 and is scheduled for completion in 2021.

WOHA’s design creates a new model for sustainable development in the region and tropical spaces that do not require full air conditioning.

WOHA is known for its green-community-based architecture that is inspired by the local climate of that region. As a reference to their architectural approach, the firm's Kampung Admiralty building in Singapore won the World Building Of The Year Award in 2018.

Developed as an extension of BRAC, the largest non-governmental organization (NGO) in the world, BRAC University was established in 2001 and aims to instil in its students a commitment to working towards national development and progress.

This mission is reflected in WOHA’s new campus design for the university, which will transform a former flooded wasteland into a liveable, tropical, and sustainable inner-city campus and public park.

The masterplan takes inspiration from the region’s Sundarbans, which have separate ecosystems above and below tidal level, WOHA’s 950,000 square foot design for the campus is divided into two distinct programming layers: a private “Academia” raised canopy for learning and the ground-level public “Campus Park” created by remediating the existing polluted swamp into a bio-retention pond with lush native landscaping.






As the heart and social nucleus for over 10,000 students and the wider community, the lower stratum will act as a gathering place complete with the University’s auditorium, multi-purpose hall, and public gallery.
The “Academia” will shelter the “Campus Park” from Dhaka’s strong sun and heavy monsoon rains, while water-enhanced evaporative cooling will further reduce the ambient temperature, creating a comfortable micro-climate.






With space at a premium due to Dhaka’s urban density, the roof will serve as the “University Green,” a large recreation sky park that accommodates a recreational field, a swimming pool and a 200m running track under the shade of a large photovoltaic (PV) solar canopy. The solar energy harvested will power giant High Volume Low Speed (HVLS) fans as well as common area lighting.






WOHA’s design for BRAC University employs architectural and environmental strategies that will achieve a new model for sustainable development in the region and university campuses worldwide. Innovative adaptive cooling strategies developed with world-class engineers and sustainability consultants will create tropical learning spaces that do not require full air conditioning, while a matrix of sun-shading fins and vertical green walls address solar heat gain.

The building’s green facades - composed of simple, low-cost technology - translate to more than 280,000 square feet of landscaping and act as environmental filters that cut out glare and dust, help keep rooms cool, and dampen traffic noise.





In section, WOHA’s design reveals how a visually connected series of vertical spaces promote a learning environment that breathes. Open and airy, yet sheltered from the sun and rain, WOHA’s ‘single-room-thick’ floor plans further facilitate cross ventilation and daylighting to every classroom.

Based on a 9x9-meter structural module, all rooms are flexible and can combine to form larger units or be subdivided as required. This potential, combined with the block’s compact, continuous form, allows for resizing the faculties in the future.





"We were inspired by BRAC University’s mission to foster development process of Bangladesh by creating opportunity for excellence in higher education that is responsive to the local communities’ needs," said Richard Hassell, WOHA Co-Founder.

"The new campus will provide an environment that is conducive to learning and human interaction and its integrated landscaping will enhance urban biodiversity."

"Where there used to be a flooded wasteland, the design of the new building implements strategies that help to reduce waste as well as save energy and water," added Hassell.





The campus also adopts a robust aesthetic that maximises the use of local materials, traditional crafts and skills. For ease of maintenance and cost effectiveness, minimal applied finishes are used within the general teaching areas.

The backdrop of bare concrete floors and exposed slab soffit ceilings are made colourful and vibrant by student life and activities.





WOHA was founded by Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell in 1994. Rather than being overwhelmed by the challenges of climate change, population growth and urbanisation, the Singapore-based practice researches and innovates new architectural and urban solutions to tackle the problems of the 21st century.

The practice currently has projects under construction in Singapore, India, Bangladesh, China, and Australia.

*Project facts
Design Inception: *September 2011
*Start of Construction: *July 2017
*Completion: *2021
*Plot Area: *232,500 sq. ft.
*Gross Floor Area:* 950,000 sq. ft.
*Height of Building: *150 ft.
*No. of Stories: *13
*Client: *BRAC University
*Architects:* WOHA Architects Pte Ltd
*Consultants: *7+ total including Transsolar, Atelier Dreiseitl, and Arup Singapore
*Contractor:* 1 total
All images courtesy of WOHA

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

*Imported p**ackaged** food and smartphone prices are rising in Bangladesh - to help local production

Voice of Bengal* // 

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has presented the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2021-22. He presented the budget in the National Assembly on Thursday. 

In this year's budget, the finance minister has proposed to impose duties and taxes on various products. 

*According to the proposed budget, the price of imported smartphones may go up further due to the imposition of tariffs on the protection of domestic products.*

In the budget, it has been proposed to increase the supplementary duty from 10 percent to 15 percent as opposed to receiving services using mobile SIM. This will increase the cost of talking, texting and using data on mobile phones. 

Apart from this, the Finance Minister has also recommended to impose new tariffs on the import of luxury products such as imported body spray, *cosmetic products, juices, packaged food *etc. in the budget. As a result, the prices of these products may go up.


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## Bilal9

*Rationalised land price in Bangladesh for light engineering sector suggested*
FE DESK REPORT | Published: July 12, 2021 10:12:20 | Updated: July 13, 2021 22:47:52



DCCI President Rizwan Rahman (top, left) presented the keynote paper at the 2nd dialogue on 'Challenges and way forward on export diversification of Bangladesh upon LDC graduation: A regulatory reform perspective' organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) in association with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) on Sunday. Md. Tofazzel Hossain Miah, Secretary, Prime Minister's Office, joined the event as the chief guest while Vice Chairman & CEO of EPB AHM Ahsan delivered the opening remarks.

Policy reforms, aligned polices with the WTO directives, fiscal and non-fiscal benefits and domestic measures are key to overcome the challenges of LDC graduation for Bangladesh, speakers said in a dialogue on "Challenges and Way forward on Export diversification of Bangladesh upon LDC graduation- A regulatory reform perspective", organized by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) in association with Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) on Sunday.

They also said equal treatment to the potential export-oriented sectors, competitiveness, skill development and technological advancement are similarly important in this regard.
Md. Tofazzel Hossain Miah, Secretary, Prime Minister's Office, joined as the chief guest.

Vice Chairman & CEO of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) A.H.M. Ahsan made the opening remarks. He said that many experts estimated that due to pandemic, export of Bangladesh might fall to USD 4-6 billion. He informed that last year export earning was USD 38.75 billion, of which RMG sector alone contributed 81%, but it was 84% in the previous fiscal. It showed that non-RMG export increased despite it is not in line with the faster pace of RMG sector. He said policy reforms and policy support will expedite boosting non-RMG export. "End of the day, this is the world of business and government do not do business rather play a role of facilitator," he said.

Md. Tofazzel Hossain Miah, Secretary, Prime Minister's Office, said that we may lose a lot of waivers after graduation. But now it is the right time to grow other potential export items. Moreover, he urged to utilize country's local market. Terming private sector as the engine of growth, he said every person is the brand ambassador.

We must be competitive, he said. How can we go for more FTA or RTA we need to work out. High value product quality and stringent compliance will increase our branding.

He also underscored importance on human resource development, research and development, value chain, backward linkage.

DCCI President Rizwan Rahman presented the keynote paper. He highlighted that light engineering, jute and jute goods, IT & ITES, pharmaceutical, agro & agro-processing, leather & leather goods are some of the promising sectors other than RMG that should be facilitated before entering into the list of middle income country status.

He termed limited access to finance, shortages of skilled human resources, high duty on import of raw materials, non-tariff barriers, lengthy customs and testing processes, lack of certification, low-cost bank loan, required policy reforms, delay in implementing API Park, weak backward linkage network, lesser agricultural productivity and limited negotiation capability are some of the major challenges of these sectors to be more competitive in the international market.

With a view to promote these potential sectors ahead of LDC graduation, especially in this transition period, Rizwan Rahman put forwarded a few recommendations. He suggested to provide bonded warehouse facility like RMG, arrange low cost fund and rationalized land price for the light engineering sector.

For the jute and jute goods sector, he proposed for a simplified tax, VAT and port rules, investing in traceable research, replacing old technologies and removing VAT at all stages of manufacturing and selling of jute and jute goods. Rizwan Rahman also emphasized for proper IP valuation guidelines, data security and data privacy for IT & ITES sector.

The DCCI President further recommended for a strong negotiation with the WTO to avail exemptions on patent rights for pharmaceuticals for another 12 years under TRIPS agreement.

Technology transfer and reducing cost of production will surely boost this sector, he told. Regarding agriculture sector, Rizwan Rahman recommended for bonded warehouse facility, developing backward linkage and investing in post-harvest technology adaptation. He finally urged to create a "Food Industrial Zone" to attract foreign investors.

Shaikh Yusuf Harun, Executive Chairman (Senior Secretary), Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) said after LDC graduation Bangladesh will lose its preferential benefits. But Bangladesh is a country of sustainable economy and with the help of our resilient private sector we will be able to diversify our products base, he said. To diversify products and market Bangladesh need to be engaged with different regional trade group, he suggested.

"We have a good advantage of demographic dividend, but we have to convert it into a skilled workforce. Corporate tax rate in Bangladesh is comparatively high, we need to balance it, he suggested. BEZA has already signed agreement with 400 investors which would add extra USD 7 million to export earning in next two years. Now we have to give them all trade logistics including utility supports."


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## Bilal9

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Star Business Report
Tue Jul 20, 2021 12:00 AM

*Chinese company Vanessa Enterprise has signed a $41.77 million deal with Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza)* to produce accessories for ladies' intimate garments in the Ishwardi export processing zone (EPZ) in Pabna.

Bepza said *the factory would employ at least 4,028 Bangladeshi nationals*.

Bepza Member (Finance) Nafisa Banu and Vanessa Enterprise Managing Director Choi Chun Ho signed the agreement recently at Bepza Complex in Dhaka.

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## Bilal9

Well I would not call it a revolution, but heavy industrial activity has started to shift to local shores in Bangladesh, as demand increases locally, it makes more sense to integrate more local components into products like agri-machinery, Power distribution and Power generation equipment and do more value addition locally. Energypac has been at the forefront of these sectors in Bangladesh.

Power and distribution transformers










Power generators 40 KVA to 1000 KVA

















Resin Cast Transformers being manufactured at their Savar Facility










------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Power Transformers Exported to Thermal Power Station in India
Publish Date: *07/13/2020





Energypac Engineering to export *power transformers* to *West Bengal Power Development Company Ltd.*, renowned government power generation organization of India. The transformers will be placed at existing substation in Bandel Thermal Power Station (BTPS). This is a major step forward in enhancing the bilateral relation between India and Bangladesh.
Energypac previously crossed the milestone of having exported over 100 transformers to India.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Energypac Secures Order for 70 Transformers from Indian Electrical Giant, ADANI ELECTRICITY
Publish Date: *08/25/2020





Energypac secures order for 70 transformers from Indian electrical giants, *ADANI ELECTRICITY MUMBAI LTD.*, including *power transformers* up to 16/20MVA and fireproof *cast resin transformer*. This is a major step forward in enhancing the bilateral relation between India and Bangladesh.

Energypac previously crossed the milestone of having exported over 100 transformers to India.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


*Energypac Exports 51.5/63MVA 132/33kV Power Transformer to Nepal
Publish Date: *07/13/2020





Energypac has been awarded a major turnkey contract for constructing a 132/33kV substation at Sunwal, for *Nepal Electric Authority* for which they will be exporting 3 *power transformers* to the project. The substation will support greater grid connectivity. The scope of supply for Energypac comprises 2 nos. 132/33 kV, 51.5/63 MVA and 1 nos. *132/11 kV, 18/22.5 MVA Power Transformers* and there are 8 nos. 132 kV bays including future provisions for 2 nos. 132 kV bay extension and 9 nos. 33 kV bays.

This substation has been built in a bid to keep up with the rapid development of social, economic, industrial as well as is expected to cater for the increasing future energy demand of the city.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Energypac secures 13.75 Million USD deal for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant from AtomStroy Export
Publish Date: *09/03/2020





Energypac secures 13.75 Million USD deal for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant from Joint Stock Company AtomStroy Export (JSC-ASE) for construction and erection of transformers and auxiliary structures. The scope of project includes- Construction of Transformer Foundation, Construction of GIB Foundation, Erection of Gas Insulated BusDuct, and Erection of Transformer for Unit 1 & 2 and related work like Fire Protection System Erection etc

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## Bilal9

*DSEX index at the highest position*





Star Online reports
Sunday, July 18, 2021 10:22 PM




*The DSEX, the main index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), rose by 58 points to a record 7375.11 points on Sunday. Which is 0. 91 percent more than yesterday.*

On the same day, the turnover in the stock market increased by 0.22 percent to Tk 1,693 crore, which was Tk 189 crore yesterday.

Trading in the stock market started about an hour and a half later due to a technical error on the record day of the index. That is why the DSE authorities increase the transaction time till 3:30 pm.

At the end of the day, the price of shares of 210 companies has increased on the DSE, 150 shares have decreased. And the price of 13 was unchanged.

The biggest gainers were Miracle Industries, which rose 9.96 percent, followed by Legacy Footwear, Index Agro Industries, Samata Leather and Aziz Pipes.

The most traded stock was Beximco Limited. The value of which is 152 crore rupees. It is followed by SS Steel, Fu-Wang Ceramics and Saif Powertech Industries and Shinepukur Ceramics.

Tamizuddin Textiles, whose share price fell nearly 10 percent, was at the top of the list. It was followed by Fareast Finance, Familytex BD, Tung High Knitting and Rupali Bank.

Trading on the Chittagong Stock Exchange has also increased today. The overall price index of the exchange, CASPI, rose 0.33 percent to 16,369. Which is 60 points more than the previous day.

Of the 320 companies that took part in the transaction, 180 rose. Prices of 136 were reduced and 13 remained unchanged.

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## ALShill

Bilal9 said:


> Bzzzzt - too late.
> 
> Already a mess.
> 
> a) These Rajuk idiots do NOT know how to build a smart city.
> 
> b) They confused the Chinese company which was supposed to build a smart city in there with changing the plan some fifteen times.
> 
> c) Roads are narrower than Baridhara so eight story condo complexes on both sides of the roads will look like concrete canyons. No concern for property offsets. People will never see sunshine or breath fresh air living in these places. Will look like third rate shantytowns in Hong Kong.
> 
> Few civic amenities, parks, children's playgrounds or sports fields for teenagers.
> 
> A bunch of Gadhas in other words that got jobs because they knew somebody - the blind leading the blind.
> 
> I mean in places like S'pore and Malaysia you have qualified people designing the newer smart cities, who are led by international-level experts.
> 
> At Rajuk you have unqualified gadhas with no experience and exposure *who have never known what a proper modern city should be designed like, much less a smart city*.
> 
> I guess live and learn....



You don't know anything about urban planning anyways. Designing a city around cars is dumb and has never worked just look at the US and China to some extent. Streets should be narrow just look at cities in the Netherlands. Density is always good and a million times better than sprawl. "Smart city" is an empty buzzword that means nothing. The city is being designed around walking and not multiton hunks of metal with ACs in them


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## Bilal9

ALShill said:


> You don't know anything about urban planning anyways. Designing a city around cars is dumb and has never worked just look at the US and China to some extent. Streets should be narrow just look at cities in the Netherlands. Density is always good and a million times better than sprawl. "Smart city" is an empty buzzword that means nothing. The city is being designed around walking and not multiton hunks of metal with ACs in them



That is an insult and reported as such. 

I don't have patience for idiotic posts.

You are ignored.

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## SpaceMan18

ALShill said:


> You don't know anything about urban planning anyways. Designing a city around cars is dumb and has never worked just look at the US and China to some extent. Streets should be narrow just look at cities in the Netherlands. Density is always good and a million times better than sprawl. "Smart city" is an empty buzzword that means nothing. The city is being designed around walking and not multiton hunks of metal with ACs in them



Proper cities are designed for sustainability not for walking only , Dhaka is a failure in all aspects of being a clean , well planned out and sustainable city.

As time goes on and the socio-economic situation of a city improves a lot of people end up buying vehicles , so cities have to also plan for cars.

Also narrow streets ? I mean I live in NYC and streets aren't super narrow lol , just narrow enough to park cars on the side but have room for cars to drive either ways

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## Bilal9

*BEXIMCO’s full-fledged PPE Park proudly presenting Bangladesh in global medical textile market*

Kazi Farhan Hossain Purba

Posted on April 5, 2021 5:59:34 pm Last updated at April 5, 2021 6:07:41 pm

BEXIMCO, – The Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited is a multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Dhaka – is manufacturing world-class medical products like personal protective equipment (PPE), masks and other essentials in its PPE Industrial Park.




Figure 1: BEXIMCO’s full-fledged PPE Park is manufacturing world-class medical products like PPE, masks and other essentials in its PPE Industrial Park.

Amid this global COVID-19 pandemic, the Park is serving both domestic and international markets and is aimed at increasing the diversity of the supply of PPE, ensuring that it is not dependent on any one country. It is also the first-ever full-fledged PPE Industrial Park in South Asia.

The 25-acre BEXIMCO PPE Industrial Park has a range of world-class, certified protective clothing at competitive prices. It is worth mentioning that the company has all the international and local necessary certifications complying with the US, EU and UK standards, including CE and DGDA approval to ensure world-class standard medical products. Besides, FDA certification approval is ongoing and it will soon be granted.

The advanced vertical facility is capable of converting polymer chips to melt-blown as well as laminated fabrics in different GSMs and then converting the fabric into isolation and surgical gowns disposable sterile and non-sterile, reusable isolation gowns, N95 cup type and foldable masks, surgical masks, shoe covers, head covers and reusable scrubs with water repellent treatment.

The company has agreements to supply PPE, including masks and protective gowns, to major US healthcare service providers. The PPE Park is targeting the huge US and European market along with the domestic ones to produce 500 million dollar products per year.

*BEXIMCO Health partnered with Intertek- a full-fledged one-stop solution*



Figure 2: BEXIMCO Health partnered with Intertek.

Beximco and Intertek Group – a 130-year-old leading British multinational doing assurance, inspection, product testing and certification company – developed the PPE Centre of Excellence at ‘Beximco Health’ in the PPE Industrial Park covering an area of 12,000 square feet with major sections of physical, chemical and microbiological testing. Ensuring the regulatory and quality assurance requirements of PPE manufacturers across Bangladesh to comply with the US, EU, UK and other global standards making the PPE Industrial Park a one-stop hub.

Including the Intertek lab, the PPE Park has 4 sections- garment, mask, and fabric factory.

*The product range of BEXIMCO Health*

BEXIMCO, being a quality accredited manufacturer, is doing large-scale volume production and offering their products at competitive prices. They are currently manufacturing the following products:


*Table 1: Capacity of production per month according to each product type.*

Information source: BEXIMCO*PPE type**Capacity of production per month**Gowns/coveralls*More than 3 million*N95 mask*1.5 million*N95 Cup mask*2 million*Surgical mask*3.5 million*Shoe covers*1.5 million*Headwear*3 million*Civilian mask*More than 10 million*Face shield*1.5 million

*World-class gowns
BEXIMCO Health can produce a range of 3 million gowns per month. It is a matter of pride that at the height of the first wave of the pandemic this company provided 6.5 million gowns for the USA immediately.*




Figure 3: BEXIMCO Health can produce a range of 3 million gowns per month.

In their reusable medical gowns range, they offer two products-Cotton-Poly 150 GSM AD923 and AD924. Both are suitable for general use and are produced with rugged and durable fabric. They are latex-free, soft and comfortable, water repellent and easy to clean.

In their Disposable Surgical Gowns range, they have SG3000 which is a high quality 100% Poly Tricot woven fabric standard gown with taped seams suitable for procedures with medium to high volumes of liquid.
They also offer SG200, high-quality PP and PE standard specification disposable surgical gown with taped seams with sterile and non-sterile options.

Their non-sterile gowns, NSG-8/NSG-9/NSG-9A/NSG-10, are high-quality PE coated, lightweight and used for minimal water resistance to liquid spray or general use.



Figure 4: Md. Saqib Shakoor (Middle), the Senior GM showing disposable surgical gowns range to Textile Today team.

According to Md. Saqib Shakoor, the Senior General Manager, COS to CEO of the company, makes these products in a Class 8 cleanroom which means 10,000 particles of 0.3 microns per square meter are permissible. They also use their sterilizing machine to maintain the requirements.

Their gowns conform to various international standards like AAMI PB70-Level 1/2/3/4 performance, EN 13795-1 etc.

*Coveralls to provide complete protection*

BEXIMCO’s coveralls are made from high-density, high-performance fabric. Their type 5/6 Coverall (C A-2) is made from breathable 100% PET non-woven fabric with TPU coating. Typical applications include healthcare settings, paint spraying, powder handling, maintenance, cleaning, etc. Approvals from USDA, FDA, OSHA and others are in progress.

*Reliable respirators and surgical masks*



Figure 5: BEXIMCO’s N95 Mask (BNM-1) is a foldable, disposable respirator, designed to give protection against solid and liquid aerosols that do not contain oil.

BEXIMCO’s range of face masks and respirators provides the comfort, protection and clinical support that the wearers need.

Their N95 Mask (BNM-1) is a foldable, disposable respirator, designed to give protection against solid and liquid aerosols that do not contain oil. It is designed to protect the wearer against solid particulates and liquid mists which they produce 3.5 million per month.

Latex-free 4-5 layer design, TPE straps for comfort, aluminum nose adjuster clip for easy adjustment are the key features and it meets the requirements including NIOSH 42 CFR 84 N95 for a minimum 95% filtration. They also produce N95 cup-type masks which have the same parameters.

Their Disposable Surgical Masks (SM-1) are type IIR SM-1 masks which are intended for use in infection control practices to reduce the potential exposure of the wearer to blood and body fluids. BEXIMCO can produce 3.5 million surgical masks each month.

*Disposable shoe covers*
BEXIMCO’s shoe covers are made from non-woven Polypropylene for the best comfort, grip and protection. Their DMO-1/DMO-2/DMO-3/DMO-4/DMO-5 shoe covers are suitable for use as an over-shoe in medical and leisure environments. The company can produce as many as 1.5 million shoe covers per month.

*Disposable surgical caps*
The disposable surgical caps are suitable for medical use as they are soft non-woven polypropylene fabric. They have anti-static composition and are secured in place with self-ties. BEXIMCO can produce such 3 million caps monthly.

*Reusable civilian mask *
BEXIMCO offers five different reusable 3-layer civilian face masks-MZL, BPS, SAQ, DNS and NAV, made from 100% water repellent cotton woven fabric with elastic ear loops and an adjustable nose bridge. Available in three colors and with either an anti-bacterial treated middle layer or a removable N95 HEPA filter layer.




Figure 6: BEXIMCO offers five different reusable 3-layer civilian face masks.

Since these are woven fabric-based products, the company can produce more than 10 million such masks each month.

*Face shield with ergonomic design*
BEXIMCO’s face shield provides optimum protection with comfort and greater freedom of movement because of its ergonomic design. It is chemical abrasion resistant, anti-static and the frame is dishwasher safe. It is possible to produce more than 1.5 million face shields per month by them.

*Safety goggles for frontline users*
BEXIMCO offers safety goggles made with medical-grade PVC, a high definition PC lens which has strong impact resistance doesn’t fog and has chemical and UV protection.
BEXIMCO’s prudent role at the hike of the first wave of pandemic showed their prowess and farsightedness. During the first wave of the pandemic when even the very next day seemed foggy, BEXIMCO kept all of their workers safe under their umbrella. Using their perseverance and manpower, they presented the country the very best.




Figure 8: Beximco invested $100-million for this 25-acre highly equipped industrial park.

According to the US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R. Miller in the Park’s inaugural speech, this phenomenal effort depicts “the capability of Bangladesh enterprises to move beyond ready-made garments in producing products for export and the ability of the Bangladeshi labor force to produce goods meeting the exacting standards of the healthcare industry.”

When asked which one is the big market for BEXIMCO Health, Saqib Shakoor said, “Definitely it’s America because as I told you that Cardinal has 167 billion dollar business, which indicates a huge market. So, our main target will be America and also European countries because they are more aggressive to follow the regulations.”





Figure 9: Syed Naved Husain, CEO, Beximco.

“The new facility shall help manufacturers, buyers, retailers, brands and the government with required services since all the services will be available under one roof encompassing European, American and other global regulatory standards,” said Beximco CEO Syed Naved Husain.

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## Paul2

Bilal9 said:


> eight story condo complexes on both sides of the roads will look like concrete canyons


Eight storey? That's microscopic.

BD really needs to think of saving urban land. What about 80 storey?

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## Paul2

Bilal9 said:


> At Rajuk you have unqualified gadhas with no experience and exposure *who have never known what a proper modern city should be designed like, much less a smart city*.


I heard city planning bureau in Shenzhen just booted a lot of urban planners few months ago.

Shenzhen urban planners are world renowned, and I can attest for it myself as somebody who lived in SZ for 7 years

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## F-6 enthusiast



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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


>



For those not in the know, Ito Naoki is Japanese envoy to Bangladesh. 2025 is the completion ETA for some major projects in Bangladesh, all of them infra and energy-related. These projects are mostly being conducted under Japanese loans and technical assistance.

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## Bilal9

Paul2 said:


> Eight storey? That's microscopic.
> 
> BD really needs to think of saving urban land. What about 80 storey?



Well we have structural (foundation) problems with building 80 storey structures locally, at least in Dhaka.

Base rock is very deep in Bangladesh, in some locations a couple of miles deep. Bangladesh is mostly alluvial silt plain deposited by runoff from the Himalayas and is relatively soft soil. Foundation cost is very high for tall structures.

Twenty story apartment blocks are very common. Forty story office structures (commercial property) less common.

That being said, there are smart cities being built in Dhaka which will have clusters of high rises approaching 70~100+ stories.


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## ALShill

Bilal9 said:


> That is an insult and reported as such.
> 
> I don't have patience for idiotic posts.
> 
> You are ignored.


Again the architect is designing the city around walking not cars. You are not studying urban planning or you've been infected with the American planner mentality. Anne Hidalgo is banning cars in the Paris city center, Sadiq Khan is taxing cars that drive within a certain area of London, Barcelona banned cars in certain areas. Just look at infrastructure built in Kurdish Iraq when Americans rebuilt the area. A massive multi highway that no one can use. Cars are depreciating assets that burden upper middle class people. Better they spend their money on stimulating the economy.


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## Paul2

Bilal9 said:


> Well we have structural (foundation) problems with building 80 storey structures locally, at least in Dhaka.
> 
> Base rock is very deep in Bangladesh, in some locations a couple of miles deep. Bangladesh is mostly alluvial silt plain deposited by runoff from the Himalayas and is relatively soft soil. Foundation cost is very high for tall structures.


@bluesky is this how it is? What do you think as a civil engineer?


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## ALShill

SpaceMan18 said:


> Proper cities are designed for sustainability not for walking only , Dhaka is a failure in all aspects of being a clean , well planned out and sustainable city.
> 
> As time goes on and the socio-economic situation of a city improves a lot of people end up buying vehicles , so cities have to also plan for cars.
> 
> Also narrow streets ? I mean I live in NYC and streets aren't super narrow lol , just narrow enough to park cars on the side but have room for cars to drive either ways



That's the problem compare NYC to Amsterdam. NYC can't even pick up its own trash and they just opened a small biking lane. Meanwhile Amsterdam has a massive amount of biking infastructure. The Brooklyn bridge was originally designed as a street car bridge not an area with cars.





Cars have no place in cities. The idea that when incomes increase people will want to buy cars is proven wrong by Manhattan. Manhattan is the wealthiest part of NYC and yet has the lowest car ownership rate. If you design a city around cars then people will drive. The architect designing purbachal wants to avoid that and have a city designed around walking. Not to mention Hong Kong has a very low vehicles per capita yet it is one of the wealthiest cities per person with many rich people. Designing a city around cars has never worked and never will work.


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## SpaceMan18

ALShill said:


> That's the problem compare NYC to Amsterdam. NYC can't even pick up its own trash and they just opened a small biking lane. Meanwhile Amsterdam has a massive amount of biking infastructure. The Brooklyn bridge was originally designed as a street car bridge not an area with cars.
> View attachment 766746
> 
> Cars have no place in cities. The idea that when incomes increase people will want to buy cars is proven wrong by Manhattan. Manhattan is the wealthiest part of NYC and yet has the lowest car ownership rate. If you design a city around cars then people will drive. The architect designing purbachal wants to avoid that and have a city designed around walking. Not to mention Hong Kong has a very low vehicles per capita yet it is one of the wealthiest cities per person with many rich people. Designing a city around cars has never worked and never will work.
> View attachment 766745



Too bad Bangaldeshis have high egos and will buy a car no matter what will happen , and also Purbanchal is decently planned and isn’t all of Dhaka it’s just one section of Dhaka.

Dhaka is shit no matter what BD government does , it’s beyond repair at this point.


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## Maula Jatt

ALShill said:


> That's the problem compare NYC to Amsterdam. NYC can't even pick up its own trash and they just opened a small biking lane. Meanwhile Amsterdam has a massive amount of biking infastructure. The Brooklyn bridge was originally designed as a street car bridge not an area with cars.
> View attachment 766746
> 
> Cars have no place in cities. The idea that when incomes increase people will want to buy cars is proven wrong by Manhattan. Manhattan is the wealthiest part of NYC and yet has the lowest car ownership rate. If you design a city around cars then people will drive. The architect designing purbachal wants to avoid that and have a city designed around walking. Not to mention Hong Kong has a very low vehicles per capita yet it is one of the wealthiest cities per person with many rich people. Designing a city around cars has never worked and never will work.
> View attachment 766745


Car companies baught municipalities on mass through out the country 

That's why the designs to emphasize cars

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## SpaceMan18

Sainthood 101 said:


> Car companies baught municipalities on mass through out the country
> 
> That's why the designs to emphasize cars



Less cars will just mean more traffic jams for public transportation lol


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## Maula Jatt

SpaceMan18 said:


> Too bad Bangaldeshis have high egos and will buy a car no matter what will happen , and also Purbanchal is decently planned and isn’t all of Dhaka it’s just one section of Dhaka.
> 
> Dhaka is shit no matter what BD government does , it’s beyond repair at this point.


Honestly SC should just give up, our cities are shit and it's not going to change

I see two solutions

A - develop new cities right next to old and also build new cities (In Pak there's plan to build a new city next to Lahore, also building new city like Gawadar, Islamabad was a new city with grid)

Build suburbs, basically people in suburbs wouldn't need to come into the city for anything, everything important is available in suburbs, like downtown wouldn't be as important

In Lahore infrastructure like highway, public transportation, ring road's connects the suburbs with each other and because of that most do not depend on old city for anything making travelling easy for everyone in the city

So maybe making suburbs independent, building them from scratch with a plan and than connecting them can also be another option

But fixing old cities in SC is very hard imo

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## Bilal9

Payra Suspension Bridge in Patuakhali set to open in September.

Barisal division, once a deprived district in the South of Bangladesh, has been transformed. Even without Padma Bridge connectivity, Barisal Division still boasts important infra and educational installations like Patuakhali Medical College, Barisal University, Sheikh Hasina Cantonment, Air Force Radar Station, Engineering College, Payra Thermal Power Station, Payra Port, Shaheed Abdur Rob Serniabat Bridge on Barisal-Kuakata Highway, Sheikh Jamal, Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Russell Bridges.

The Southern region is becoming more prosperous with projects like the Bekutia Bridge over the Kacha River. After the opening of this bridge, direct road connection will be established with 11 districts on the other side of Padma river. It will take only two to two and a half hours to go from Barisal to Kuakata seaside resorts. Besides, if the country's largest bridge, the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, is launched in June 2022, the entire southern region will become a busy region business activity-wise. On the one hand, trade will expand. On the other hand, there will be a huge change in the tourism industry of this region. Like Cox's Bazar, Kuakata will also become a busy tourist area.

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## Bilal9

*Industries bustle again as 90% RMG workers rejoin work*
*A seemingly never-ending tide of people is still returning to the capital from across the country*
Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS







*The workers, who risked their lives to get home during Eid holidays, pushed through immense ordeals to return to Dhaka and its surrounding areas on just a day's notice*

Industrial zones across Bangladesh – especially the readymade garment (RMG) factories – began buzzing with activities on Sunday, just a day after the government decided to reopen export-oriented industries amid the Covid-19 restrictions.

The workers, who risked their lives to get home during Eid holidays, pushed through immense ordeals to return to their workplaces in Dhaka and its surrounding areas on just a day's notice – reigniting a heated debate about the concerned parties' reported lack of coordination.

A seemingly never-ending tide of people is still returning to the capital from across the country.
Addressing the circumstances, Health Minister Zahid Maleque told the media that Covid-19 infections will rise in Bangladesh as RMG factories reopened amid the stricter lockdown measures.

Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS






"People from different parts of the country rejoined their workplaces as RMG factories reopened on Sunday. Infections will rise because hygiene rules are not being followed," he said after attending the inaugural function of First Year MBBS Class (2020-21) in Dhaka.

The majority of export-oriented factories belong to the RMG sector. Several apparel makers and workers' leaders told The Business Standard that 85%-90% workers were present at their respective workplaces on the first day of factory reopening.

On the issue, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan said, "Some factories even reported a workers' attendance of 95%. We are optimistic about restarting work in full swing if restrictions are relaxed after 5 August."

Around 90% workers rejoined their workplaces at the BMGEA's member factories in Chattogram, said the organisation's First Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam.

Around 2,000 active factories are BGMEA members, while there are 800 active members in the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).

BKMEA Vice President, and also CEO of Fatullah Apparels, Fazlee Shamim Ehsan said, "Eighty-seven percent workers rejoined my factory. Besides, 85%-90% workers rejoined their respective workplaces in BKMEA's member factories.

"We plan to go full steam ahead in the next two-three days."

Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS





However, some factories reported a workers' attendance below 80%. Rashed Mosharraf, executive director (marketing) of Zaber & Zubair Fabrics – one of the largest home textile exporters in the country, says the workers' attendance at his factory was below this mark too.

National Garments Workers and Employees Association's President Sirajul Islam Rony said, "Nearly 90% of the workers showed up at factories on Sunday. Just like before, factories are offering hand washing facilities and enforcing mask rules.

"We have not heard any complaints from the workers so far."

After the countrywide Covid-19 lockdown ended on 14 July this year, the government announced another lockdown from 23 July to 5 August. The government also decided to shut down all factories excluding those making essential goods and personal protective equipment.

The government decision – which resulted in 18-20 days of holiday – raised concerns among the export-oriented industry owners. Apparel makers then approached the government voicing worries about possible losses in exports and facing the financial burden of high air freight costs.

Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS





Following that announcement, waves of workers left their workplaces for home to celebrate Eid-al-Adha with their families. According to workers' leaders, more than 20 lakh RMG workers left Dhaka during that time.

The government on 30 July announced that the export-oriented factories will be allowed to reopen amid the stricter lockdown from 1 August. However, parties concerned offered no solutions on how these workers will return to their workplaces.

Since Saturday morning, workers of RMG and many other sectors began their long and arduous journey back to their workplaces on trucks, covered vans, auto-rickshaws and even on foot. Workers braved torrential rain and paid multiple times the usual fair to return to work.

This current chain of events has become a matter of hot debate across the country, as many empathised with the workers' ordeals.

According to data provided by the Industrial Police, 61% of the 8,226 factories in Bangladesh's six industrial zones operated on Sunday. The government is allowing only a selected group of factories to operate amid the lockdown – including the export-oriented ones.

A senior official of the Industrial Police, on condition of anonymity, told The Business Standard that the factories that are now operating have been exempted from the lockdown restrictions.

Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS





Members of the BGMEA, BKMEA, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and factories under the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority are mainly involved in exports.

Data shows that among the 3,074 factories belonging to the above mentioned categories, 2,662 or 86% operated on Sunday. Besides, from other sectors, 3,051 of the 5,152 factories ran operations yesterday.


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## Bilal9

*Noodles market growing rapidly amid urbanisation, pandemic*
*Busy work / life changes have greatly raised the market demand for noodles, prompting many local and foreign conglomerates to invest in this sector*






*The market for noodles – a very popular snack item – has expanded rapidly in Bangladesh in the last few years due to rapid growth and urbanization. Also with restaurants closed under Covid-19 restrictions, entrepreneurs both here and abroad are keen to explore the market potential for noodles.

The noodle market in Bangladesh is worth around Tk.1,000 crore*, and it has shown an annual growth rate of about 10% in the last few years. *But the growth jumped to around 16% during the pandemic with many people staying home*, for the most part, industry insiders told The Business Standard.

*Along with the growth in the local market, exports grew too – increasing 25% in FY2020-21, year-on-year.*
Urbanisation and people's work and lifestyle have brought the boom naturally to the noodles market. Seeing the steady growth in demand, a number of large conglomerates, both local and foreign, have invested in this market, say insiders.

*Aside from giants like Nestlé, Cocola, Pran-RFL, Bashundhara, Square, and Ifad, a number of smaller companies have also entered the Bangladeshi noodles market.*

On the matter, Pran-RFL's Director of Marketing, Kamruzzaman Kamal, said, "When people stay home, they tend to snack more. Noodles are a very popular snack item, and it can be prepared quickly.
"This is why the noodles market is booming at this time."

*Pran's Mr Noodles is one of the most popular noodle brands in Bangladesh.*

There are two types of noodles available in the local market – instant and stick noodles. The demand for instant noodles is higher in the country, as they can be prepared relatively quickly. *60% of all noodles sold in the market are instant noodles.*

Some brands of instant noodles come pre-packaged with vegetables, meat, spices and eggs, and people just need to add hot water and its ready to eat. Stick noodles are more cumbersome. They have to be boiled and mixed with vegetables, meat, or eggs, which also have to be cooked before serving.

Nestlé Bangladesh's Maggi is the market leader in the instant noodles category, with a 30% market share.
Nestlé Bangladesh's Corporate Affairs Director Naquib Khan says, "The instant noodle market is growing and Maggi is driving the growth. Its purpose is to be an ally of consumers in their kitchens, to help them cook tasty and healthy food they love. 

"In the last couple of years, Maggi has launched Maggi Masala Blast, Maggi Fusian Bangkok Sweet Chilli noodles. Masala Blast delivers a very exciting spicy taste to teens and youths, especially those who have grown up with Masala Maggi."

He continued, "Maggi always comes up with exciting new tastes for Bangladeshi consumers. Bangkok Sweet Chilli is a new type of noodle which is very popular in Bangkok. Maggi brought this noodle for food enthusiastic youths of Bangladesh under a new brand called Maggi Fusian."

Aside from Nestlé Bangladesh and Pran-RFL, Cocola also holds a good share of the noodle market in Bangladesh. Bashundhara Group brought their brand of noodles to market recently, and Kolson is also marketing their brand in a bid to boost their market share.

Collectively, data from noodle companies indicate they sold more than Tk1,000 crore worth of noodles in Bangladesh in 2019, say insiders.

People had to cut back on going to restaurants during the Covid-19 crisis, which in turn gave popularity to home-cooked food items that can be prepared quickly. Industry insiders say the noodles market will go up by another Tk200 crore by the end of this year.

The Chopstick brand of instant noodles – owned by Square Food & Beverage Ltd – does not have any MSG or tasting salts.

"We were anxious that schools and colleges closing in the pandemic would adversely impact the noodles market, but instead, our sales have increased," said Parvej Saiful Islam, CFO of the company.

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## Maula Jatt

Also eminent domain type of laws are needed to make changes in the city


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## Bilal9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain


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## Maula Jatt

Bilal9 said:


> The word may be 'eminent domain', brother. No offense.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain


lol my bad bro, fixed it

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## Bilal9

*350 Type Tested Panels to be Designed and Manufactured for Dhaka Metro Rail
Publish Date: *07/13/2020





Energypac Engineering to provide both medium and low voltage panels to the momentous *Dhaka Metro Rail* Project. Energypac is Bangladesh’s first licensed ABB type tested panel assembler, and the panels will be wholly designed and manufactured in house.

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## ALShill

SpaceMan18 said:


> Less cars will just mean more traffic jams for public transportation lol


One bus can carry many people compared to how much space each person would take up if they were in cars. Since when does the NYC metro jam? Its not physically possible.


Sainthood 101 said:


> Honestly SC should just give up, our cities are shit and it's not going to change
> 
> I see two solutions
> 
> A - develop new cities right next to old and also build new cities (In Pak there's plan to build a new city next to Lahore, also building new city like Gawadar, Islamabad was a new city with grid)
> 
> Build suburbs, basically people in suburbs wouldn't need to come into the city for anything, everything important is available in suburbs, like downtown wouldn't be as important
> 
> In Lahore infrastructure like highway, public transportation, ring road's connects the suburbs with each other and because of that most do not depend on old city for anything making travelling easy for everyone in the city
> 
> So maybe making suburbs independent, building them from scratch with a plan and than connecting them can also be another option
> 
> But fixing old cities in SC is very hard imo



Pakistan's urban design in some ways is really bad way too much suburbanization its just repeating the mistakes Americans made in their urban planning when it should try to learn from them. The big issue with this idea is that it would only works when implemented properly. From looking at some cities on google earth it seems like the suburbs already made and in development are low density single family homes which isn't the best. The goal should be to have high density suburbs which connect to the main city via public transport. The new city you were talking about in Lahore seems to be what I was talking about. It looks like a good idea from the renderings so far


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## Bilal9

*Envoy Textiles retains all facilities for workers in pandemic*

*Even though the company’s business fell at an alarming rate, it did not lay off any workers*





Envoy Textiles’ multipurpose training and audio visual center, which has 118 seats, also used as theatre hall. File Photo- Salauddin Ahmed Paulash/TBS

*Mymensingh's Envoy Textiles Limited is the world's first platinum LEED-certified factory. During the pandemic, the company's business decreased at an alarming rate, but it did not lay off any workers despite having a shortage of work orders.*

Instead, the company paid its workers' full salary from the stimulus package provided by the government.

While keeping the factory open in compliance with the health rules, the company has continued to provide free accommodation, subsidised lunch, and free snacks while bearing all medical expenses. The factory also has a 24-hour medical centre along with some 30 other facilities.

Regarding this, Kutubuddin Ahmed, chairman of Envoy Textile, said, "The workers and officials working at this factory are a part of my family and one cannot abandon their family in any catastrophic situation.

Instead, you need to take better care of your family during trying times. And, I did the same and the government's incentive package helped me in this regard."

"The business is going through a tough time due to the pandemic but this will not last forever. And, my workers are the driving force of my company," Ahmed added.

Talking to The Business Standard, Md Nazrul Islam who is working as an Assistant Operator at Envoy Textiles Limited said that even during the crisis brought upon by Covid-19, they were calm because they knew that the company will stand by the workers.

"During the first few months of the pandemic, 100% salary was paid on time and after the opening of the factory, other facilities were also continued in compliance with the hygiene rules," he added.

Envoy's employees are also included in the company's profit-sharing facility. 

Tushar Roy who joined the company in 2013 as a Junior Assistant as a fresher is now working as a supervisor.

"This is my first job and I want to work here for the rest of my career," Roy said.

He informed that despite the business downturn due to Covid-19, the company received a profit bonus for the last financial year.

The company, situated on a 50-acre site at Bhaluka in Mymensingh, has modern accommodation for workers. Of the company's 2650 employees, 1,200 live there rent-free.

However, the company Chairman said that no new accommodation is being arranged currently due to Covid-19.

Founded in 2005, the company is one of the most environmentally friendly denim mill companies in the world. The company started commercial production in 2008.

Envoy Group Chairman Kutubuddin Ahmed said, "We have to run our mills for survival. The monthly loss of Tk2 crore is better than facing bigger losses by rejecting any order or suspending production."

"Our monthly average export was about $9.1 million earlier, which now stands at about $6.5 million. We have to confirm orders at rates below the production cost to run our factories," he added.

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## chinasun

Bangladesh has good governance, stable government, sustained political calm, sound macroeconomic policies and correct development priorities. Let it continue to be one of the fastest growing countries in the world in the future.

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## Bilal9

Padma water treatment project which will serve the clean water needs of North Dhaka areas.

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh Mega Projects to go live in 2021

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh Homegrown Steel company Mcdonald Steel Building Products Limited (MSBPL) is executing the Roof framing and membrane cover of all stations (16 Stations) of First Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project Line-6 with the scopes of,

Design review,
Detailing,
Fabrication and
Erection
under Ital-Thai, Thailand (CP 03-04), Tekken-AML-Abenikko JV (CP 05) and Sumitomo-Ital-Thai JV (CP 06).

Although this is not their first such project, this is their first Metro Transport Station project, which is a first for the country as well. This is a great addition to their portfolio, through which they will be able to get work for similar projects at home and also overseas.

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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh Military Museum.*
Architect: Bayezid Mahbub Khandaker.
Place: Bijoy Sarani, near Old Tejgaon Airport, Dhaka

















Water Dept. (WASA) Building

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## Bilal9

*Coordinated Complex of Public Libraries and National Museum at Shahbag | DCON CUBE JV*
| Architecture | Monument | Museum | Project |
_|Total Views: 6,951|
| 7 December, 17 |_







Water court © DCON CUBE JV

The site originally has the existing museum located at the north. The structure of the museum is kept as it is; instead the functions of the central court are being relocated to enhance the quality of space. An elongated library building has been placed at the south of the site with the ventilation and perforation to achieve maximum daylights and air in order to serve the required functions. The plaza and the open space connects to the museum that floats on a water body to which the annex building is connected. The annex building is functioning as storage facility for the complex. The idea to place the annex building to the west is to cut down the maximum heat from west. Large void has been inserted in the annex building in such a manner to ensure the north south ventilation through the void. The annex and museum has been fused with large water body and amphitheatre with a auditorium beneath.
Open spaces connecting one built form to another provide more breathing spaces and visual connectivity, hence ensure better indoor-outdoor relationship. Large slope of green has been introduced with the city face to create a smooth and flowing landscape which may serve the user for relaxing and casual gathering. Thus it offers a soft and lively urban public space.


The central plaza © DCON CUBE JV

© DCON CUBE JV

Library building facing the central plaza © DCON CUBE JV

Circular court in the central plaza © DCON CUBE JV


Interior of the public library © DCON CUBE JV

© DCON CUBE JV

e-library © DCON CUBE JV
*Reincarnation of the rural lifestyle: *The circular court in the central plaza is a metaphor of rural gathering place surrounding a large banyan tree. Functionally this works as a place for public events and social gathering .
*Interpretation of the riverine territory: *The use of water in the design is to portray the riverine territory of Bangladesh which adds to the environmental value of the site. This water court serves to minimize the heat level by creating a micro-climate.
*House of multi-disciplinary events: *The outdoor spaces play a pivotal role in serving the locality and its people by hosting multi-events such as, exhibitions, mela, haat and other forms of cultural activities.
*Layering of user realm: *In the design, the ground layer is used for vehicular movement, parking and administrative offices. The pedestrian movements are in two different layers which do not allow the functions to overlap. The first floor has been dedicated to the plaza which united the built forms and transformed it into a public gathering and sharing spaces.


Museum central lobby © DCON CUBE JV

© DCON CUBE JV

Museum gallery © DCON CUBE JV

© DCON CUBE JV

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## Bilal9

*Incorporating a Lightweight Structure – Beximco Learning and Development Center*
Abesh Mehjabeen
July, 2021

The Beximco Learning and Development Center, as an extension speaks volumes through its structure and design. The learning and development center is a core part of the Beximco as a company. Hence, for a coherent and organic learning process, the structure has been designed to stimulate higher efficiency, contributing positively to mental and physical well-being; while being aesthetically pleasing to the eyes.





Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited is one of the most eminent pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. Their contribution to the pharmacy sector is immense. Being a thriving company, they have extended their expertise to build a learning and development center. The Beximco Learning and Development Center is an extension project to the existing Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited Production building. The robust yet light structured establishment was designed by Dehsar Works, by the lead architect, Rashed H. Chowdhury, and his team.

While extending the learning and development center, the design team could not obtain some information on the Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited production building. As the existing building was an old building, it was difficult to trace the structural members out and after quite a lot of studies, the design team decided to come up with a lightweight structural solution which will rest on the peripheral end of the existing building.















*Keeping the structure ultra light, as it appears after the completion of the project, has been a driving factor since the inception of the concept.*
It gives off an airy feel from the very look of it.
















The concept of the building has been very strategically executed, keeping several factors in mind. One of the primary concerns of the design team was to incorporate the idea of IEQ, as in, “Indoor Environment Quality”. 

It deals with the factors of air quality, but also access to daylight and views, pleasant acoustic conditions and occupant control along with lighting and thermal comfort. Just like keeping it light in structure was crucial, so was maintaining these aspects. A competent architectural establishment takes into account more than just the beautified outlook. How a design might affect the mind and body plays a vital role as well. 

As the site is east-west facing, the amount of heat gain after building the extension may affect the environment of the building. Therefore, in terms of Beximco Learning and Development Center, the team had put an effort to use the daylight in the most benefitting way. To ensure an ambient lighting condition, a light aperture has been incorporated in the roof structure.

The basic function of the project was accommodating the training office, lecture theater, library and archive. The interior is kept minimal to complement the airy architecture. The colour palette is kept neutral, leaning towards white, off-white, black and grey, with pop of reds here and there. The long meeting and office desks, office chairs are off-whites paired with white pendant lights. The lounge area has a combination of white sofas, and mid-century modern lounge chairs, all arranged in sections.

Furthermore, the lecture theater consists of rows of desks and chairs, where each desk is set with two chairs.
















Since we tend to spend most part of our day at our workplaces, it is very important to ensure a healthy environment.

*Ample natural lighting provision has been created to keep our body clock aligned with the environment.*

The diurnal light colour temperature also helps to improve the health condition of the occupant. Keeping all these factors in mind, the space came into being. The design elements itself helped form the visual language of the project. The structural solution is truly a part of the design expression.






Rashed Chowdhury

*Architect Profile*
Architect Rashed Chowdhury is a practicing architect and the founder of Dehsar Works (DW), a design lab that focuses on a myriad of experimental works including architecture, interior design, book design electronic design etc. They are a team of young architects, designers and thinkers operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, research, and communication design. They have earned a reputation for innovative design and climatically responsive solutions. DW has recently won the 30th JK Cement AYA (young architect award) in foreign architects award category, for their Blues Communications project.

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh' first elevated railway is now visible, linking Dhaka with the Southern districts of the country via almost completed Padma bridge. This will revolutionize Dhaka's connectivity with these areas (including Payra and Mongla ports) and while lessening ferry waits at Mawa point, will increase economic throughput i.e. GDP growth by at least a couple of percentage points per year. This connectivity is in addition to the Dhaka Mawa expressway which will connect Padma Bridge with Dhaka (2nd video).

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## Bilal9

Lebukhali Bridge in Patuakhali (near Payra Port).






Hazrat Shahjalal Airport 3rd Terminal construction progress...

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## Bilal9

Interesting video, triggered a lot of Indians I guess... BTW no comments please from Sanghis, this is not a discussion thread.

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## Wikki019

can someone tell me annual automobile sales of Bangladesh? I was checking on google but it was showing very less


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## DalalErMaNodi

Wikki019 said:


> can someone tell me annual automobile sales of Bangladesh? I was checking on google but it was showing very less



Bangladesh is a very small and densely populated country, there's already more cars than our streets can handle..

So the government makes it near impossible to get cars now unless your super rich and can afford the mindless tariffs and expenses.



Auto-Mobile sales as a spectrum to guage prosperity is an inherently broken concept,.. since small countries will never fit the bill.


Adding that last bit because I know why people ask for ridiculous and far fetched numbers such as these.

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## Wikki019

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Bangladesh is a very small and densely populated country, there's already more cars than our streets can handle..
> 
> So the government makes it near impossible to get cars now unless your super rich and can afford the mindless tariffs and expenses.
> 
> 
> 
> Auto-Mobile sales as a spectrum to guage prosperity is an inherently broken concept,.. since small countries will never fit the bill.
> 
> 
> Adding that last bit because I know why people ask for ridiculous and far fetched numbers such as these.


so it is really only 3 - 6k units per year?


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## Bilal9

Wikki019 said:


> can someone tell me annual automobile sales of Bangladesh? I was checking on google but it was showing very less



Automobile sales are minuscule in Bangladesh, owing to heavy tariffs (300-800%). In any case - this is not a relevant question in this thread. It is not a discussion thread. Kindly ask in chill thread maybe.


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## DalalErMaNodi

Wikki019 said:


> so it is really only 3 - 6k units per year?




I have no clue, actually.. if the data online is indeed correct.. 🤷


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## Bilal9

Features
July 11, 2021
*Pioneers of Porcelain*
*Marjiya Baktyer Ahmed*


Monno Ceramic was established in 1984 and at the moment, is one of the leading brands in the industry.

Monno Ceramic is one of the pioneering producers of ceramic tableware in Bangladesh. They started their journey with a vision to produce and export global standard porcelain tableware in Bangladesh. Monno’s production facility was established with German and Japanese technologies combined – at that time it was one of a kind tableware factory in the country. 

After the initial launch, Monno Ceramic slowly established itself as the leading tableware supplier to the local market and eventually established its Bone China plant to cater to the premium audience, both locally and abroad. 

After 36 years of journey, Monno Ceramic is now one of the leading household brands of our country, providing top quality ceramic tableware to almost every type of target group with its wide variety of products. 

As the first exporter of Porcelain and Bone China tableware from Bangladesh, they are proud promoters of Bangladesh as a producer of high-quality ceramic tableware.






*Ahead of the Curve*

Monno’s ceramic tableware has always been a consumer favorite. Ceramic tableware is a highly competitive industry, with constant innovation and changing customer demands, therefore every company needs to perform at its best to survive in this industry. 

The first thing that sets Monno Ceramic apart from its competitors is its quality. Produced with the latest German and Japanese technology, Monno’s Porcelain and Bone China products are one of the finest in the whole world. In this era, customers are seeking quality over quantity and Monno is trying to provide exactly that. Monno Ceramic is linked with renowned tableware designers from around the world and their outlet has many ranges developed by these world class designers.

With a host of these designers, Monno is launching new collections every season and thus staying one step ahead. Extensive marketing strategies, distribution channels and branding are other key factors in Monno’s ability to stay ahead of its competition.

*Tracking the New Trends*

With the rising affluence of consumers, there has also been an increase in demand for premium products. It is true that consumer demand has changed drastically in the past few years, mostly due to the exposure to western trends through social media. Monno is trying to stay relevant in this changing trend through extensive R&D in its designs and production process. 

Made from the highest quality of raw materials, Monno always ensures supreme quality of products. All of their products are contemporary yet timeless, each created by world class tableware designers. Through its collaboration with international designers, Monno is launching new designs every two to three months, based on seasons. 

Also, shopping experience is another key factor in catering to affluent customers, and through their flagship outlets, Monno is providing a boutique shopping experience of tableware and homeware which is a first of its kind in the country. In addition, Monno’s premium quality packaging beckons the consumer and encourages impulse buying.

*Caring for the Environment*

In a world where consumers are increasingly becoming aware of environmental issues and about the environmental impact of the goods they are buying, Monno Ceramic has been taking notes. Through its multiple quality control assurances and certifications, Monno is trying to provide the most environmentally friendly products to its consumers. Monno’s factory is situated in a beautiful landscaped area, surrounded by greenery and open spaces to promote environmental welfare for its workers and staff. 

Monno has global quality certifications from Lucideon, Intertek, Bureau Veritas, SGS etc. It is also compliant to international standards like ISO 9000:2015, SEDEX, BSCI and C-TPAT. Through its marketing activities Monno is communicating these factors to its consumers. 

Product features like amount of lead, cadmium, barium, free glazes, colors, and also testing of heavy metal releases etc. are communicated as well which assures the consumers the low impact on the environment of the goods they are purchasing. It immediately sets a positive buying experience for the more environmentally cautious customers.

*Adapting with Ease and Innovation*

Despite the ease of lockdowns, the pandemic has limited movement to a large extent. This led to a massive shift in ways brands have been dealing with sales, consumer engagement and shifting demands. Similarly, Monno Ceramic has witnessed a drastic change in consumer buying behavior during this pandemic situation and subsequently have gone through drastic changes internally to meet those demands. 

Online delivery system was set up long ago for Monno’s products but during this pandemic it was tested to its full potential. monno-shop.com – Monno’s own e-commerce platform provides an easy, hassle free ordering process to customers and door-to-door delivery service all over Bangladesh through its own delivery system which ensures safe transport of fragile goods like ceramic. 24/7 customer service is available for any query of customers. 

Social media has also been a key factor in maintaining engagement with regular customers, and Monno has dedicated a lot of resources to solidify its social media presence. Production and supply chain was hampered in the initial stages of the pandemic and later on for several lockdowns. Shortages of raw materials and reduction in workforce greatly reduced the monthly production in the factory but within August of 2020, Monno was able to adapt to the new normal and by the end of last year they were back at full capacity.

*Opening more Flagships and Going Global*

After the launch of their latest flagship outlet in the capital’s Banani, Monno realized that the demand for premium tableware and unique shopping experience is rapidly increasing in the country. In the upcoming days, they will be inaugurating several flagship outlets in the capital and major cities across the country. Also, as there is a huge demand for Monno’s products in the Bengali diasporas of U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia etc., they will soon start international shipping of their goods as well.


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## Bilal9

The role model of integrated development of Bangladesh will be a big project centered on development of Keraniganj in Dhaka district.





'Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Industrial City' is being built on 31,000 acres of land. It will be the largest special export zone in Southeast Asia. Bangladesh Govt. said the investment target for the industry is USD40 billion. The industrial city will attract the highest foreign investment so far in Bangladesh and employ 1.5 million people. 26 industrial establishments are already in the process of starting production





Railway sleepers and coaches sit ion new Padma Bridge Rail Line at the end of Mawa rail connection. The train line is planned to open over Padma Bridge in June 2022.

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## PoondolotoPandalum

Sup homies

My very first post. 

Have been following this forum for quite a while, though I'd make an account. 

From my observations (both within this sub-forum, alongside other sources), it seems Bangladesh is finally building substantial infastructure which it always wanted in the past, but could never afford. I think Bangladesh will probably still look kinda rough around the edges well into the end of the decade, but substantial changes (for the better) can be expected non-the-less. I think the focus is (or rather should be), functionality over aesthetics. 

To my knowledge, successive governments of Bangladesh have focussed more on rural development, instead of developing Dhaka or Chittagong to the fullest. Or rather, bridging the urban-to-rural divide, into the urban-to-rural continuum. I think Bangladesh has the most seamless urban-to-rural transition in South Asia. This is somewhat related to its high urban population, higher rate of urban migration, and highest rate of urbanization. I think this was a sensible move, which could be more sustainable in the future. 

Infrastructural development thus far was sufficient in moving Bangladesh from an LDC (of the late 2000s) to a lower-medium income economy (present day). But it will remain as one, without substantial upgrades to its infastructure.

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> Sup homies
> 
> My very first post.
> 
> Have been following this forum for quite a while, though I'd make an account.
> 
> From my observations (both within this sub-forum, alongside other sources), it seems Bangladesh is finally building substantial infrastructure which it always wanted in the past, but could never afford. I think Bangladesh will probably still look kinda rough around the edges well into the end of the decade, but substantial changes (for the better) can be expected non-the-less. I think the focus is (or rather should be), functionality over aesthetics.
> 
> To my knowledge, successive governments of Bangladesh have focused more on rural development, instead of developing Dhaka or Chittagong to the fullest. Or rather, bridging the urban-to-rural divide, into the urban-to-rural continuum. I think Bangladesh has the most seamless urban-to-rural transition in South Asia. This is somewhat related to its high urban population, higher rate of urban migration, and highest rate of urbanization. I think this was a sensible move, which could be more sustainable in the future.
> 
> Infrastructural development thus far was sufficient in moving Bangladesh from an LDC (of the late 2000s) to a lower-medium income economy (present day). But it will remain as one, without substantial upgrades to its infrastructure.



Although this is not a discussion thread, I appreciate your views. I agree that you are correct, however there are two dozen mega projects ongoing (mostly infra, roadwork and energy related) which are meant to move people, products and export cargo more efficiently. Me and others have highlighted these mega projects somewhat in the past few years, but most of these are supposed to move Bangladesh far beyond current levels of logistics, put this country in the labor and exports competitive spotlight and attract significant FDI, much more so than previously obtainable by 2030. Anything beyond that remains speculative.

This is a thread meant for posting videos and articles, let's open a separate thread outside this one to discuss details and specifics.


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## PoondolotoPandalum

Gotcha

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> Gotcha



Welcome to PDF by the way.

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## Bilal9

Taking a page from Southern Corridor Malaysia, smart cities also planned in Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

Future high rise & skyscraper projects in Dhaka - comprehensive and current as of 1Q2021. New ones have been floated since, not shown here.

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## ALShill

Bilal9 said:


> Interesting video, triggered a lot of Indians I guess... BTW no comments please from Sanghis, this is not a discussion thread.


You and I both know its a dumb comparison lol. There are streets in Dhaka that look like the bottom, the person making the video just didn't go down them


DalalErMaNodi said:


> Bangladesh is a very small and densely populated country, there's already more cars than our streets can handle..
> 
> So the government makes it near impossible to get cars now unless your super rich and can afford the mindless tariffs and expenses.
> 
> 
> 
> Auto-Mobile sales as a spectrum to guage prosperity is an inherently broken concept,.. since small countries will never fit the bill.
> 
> 
> Adding that last bit because I know why people ask for ridiculous and far fetched numbers such as these.


Its not mindless, posters like Bilal think designing a city around cars is a good idea. I talked about this earlier. Most western cities are banning cars on the streets in their biggest cities. Cities should be for walking not driving. We should not copy the failed suburbanization experiment in the US which has failed epically. Instead cities should be designed around bicycles and ebikes.


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## SpaceMan18

ALShill said:


> You and I both know its a dumb comparison lol. There are streets in Dhaka that look like the bottom, the person making the video just didn't go down them
> 
> Its not mindless, posters like Bilal think designing a city around cars is a good idea. I talked about this earlier. Most western cities are banning cars on the streets in their biggest cities. Cities should be for walking not driving. We should not copy the failed suburbanization experiment in the US which has failed epically. Instead cities should be designed around bicycles and ebikes.



True cities should be designed for walking , but they also should be designed for buses and trains which gets harder.

Cars will always exist buddy , that’s why cities should be designed to adapt to everything as possible.


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## ALShill

SpaceMan18 said:


> True cities should be designed for walking , but they also should be designed for buses and trains which gets harder.
> 
> Cars will always exist buddy , that’s why cities should be designed to adapt to everything as possible.



Not really look at cities that have no cars like Venice. There's no reason not to ban cars. Same with Paris the mayor is planning to eventually ban cars in the city center


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## SpaceMan18

ALShill said:


> Not really look at cities that have no cars like Venice. There's no reason not to ban cars. Same with Paris the mayor is planning to eventually ban cars in the city center



The thing is in Bangladesh where peoples egos are at 100000000 , they would want their own dam cars anywhere.

We need to fix Bangladeshis mindsets before we plan on changing any cities


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## ALShill

SpaceMan18 said:


> The thing is in Bangladesh where peoples egos are at 100000000 , they would want their own dam cars anywhere.
> 
> We need to fix Bangladeshis mindsets before we plan on changing any cities



We have already done that though. The streets in most Bangladeshi cities are so narrow they are built for walking. Compare street width in Dhaka to street width in Tokyo and its pretty similar. The vast majority of people don't own any cars so I don't get the comment about mindset. There are few parking spaces in most of Dhaka making people walk (which is a good thing of course).


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## Bilal9

SpaceMan18 said:


> The thing is in Bangladesh where peoples egos are at 100000000 , they would want their own dam cars anywhere.
> 
> We need to fix Bangladeshis mindsets before we plan on changing any cities



Cars (in limited numbers) can exist side by side with public transport.

Problem is, we so far did zero with solving the latter problem.

Even India has far better public transport infra, far better in terms of investments and scope.

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## ALShill

Bilal9 said:


> Cars (in limited numbers) can exist side by side with public transport.
> 
> Problem is, we so far did zero with solving the latter problem.
> 
> Even India has far better public transport infra, far better in terms of investments and scope.


There are barely any cars in Bangladesh what are you talking about and the public transport is being worked on there is a BRT being build and the metro line is in production. There was a plan for a light rail but that got cancelled in 2016.


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## Bilal9

Deleted, double post.


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## ALShill

Bilal9 said:


> Please don't put words in my mouth.
> 
> Don't think I gave you that permission.


I was agreeing with you chill out you're a man if your 30s why are you getting defensive?


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## Bilal9

ALShill said:


> Its not mindless, posters like Bilal think designing a city around cars is a good idea.



Please don't put words in my mouth or take my posts out of context. Don't think I gave you that permission.

If I have an opinion, I am free to express it here. And that is not what I said.

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## PoondolotoPandalum

Cars or no cars

Dhaka is one of the least walkable cities on earth. 

Footpaths are dysfunctional, other than some tiny corner of Bonani/Gulshan. 

Neither is the public transport very good. And car ownership is prohibitively expensive. Which makes life incredibly difficult for those who don't own a car, or are comfortable using our disgusting excuse of public transport.

Hopefully, the MRT can partially alleviate that. I've heard it's only 10% more expensive than a BRTC bus ticket (per km). It is intended as a transport for the massess. Rich and poor. Though it'd be interesting to see how it works out xD Nuk Ocha "hi fi" manush sitting next to those who they regard as "kamla"

Are there any other public transportation projects in the work? How about the BRTC?

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## ALShill

Bilal9 said:


> Please don't put words in my mouth or take my posts out of context. Don't think I gave you that permission.
> 
> If I have an opinion, I am free to express it here. And that is not what I said.


You were talking earlier about Purbachal not having front setbacks when very few cities have front setbacks and then got emotional when I said you were wrong and it doesn't matter. Manhattan doesn't have any front set backs. Does that make it bad?


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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> Cars or no cars
> 
> Dhaka is one of the least walkable cities on earth.
> 
> Footpaths are dysfunctional, other than some tiny corner of Bonani/Gulshan.
> 
> Neither is the public transport very good. And car ownership is prohibitively expensive. Which makes life incredibly difficult for those who don't own a car, or are comfortable using our disgusting excuse of public transport.
> 
> Hopefully, the MRT can partially alleviate that. I've heard it's only 10% more expensive than a BRTC bus ticket (per km). It is intended as a transport for the massess. Rich and poor. Though it'd be interesting to see how it works out xD Nuk Ocha "hi fi" manush sitting next to those who they regard as "kamla"
> 
> Are there any other public transportation projects in the work? How about the BRTC?



There is BRT, besides MRT, which is the 'other' public transport mega-project. Of course only MRT-6 has been implemented, there are five or six more MRT lines planned. Then there is the plan to bring all the buses under one management, which has been repeatedly stalled by Bus owners' Mafia. There are three BRT lines planned and one is 30-40% done.

Not implemented yet are ring roads around Dhaka (with Bus services) and many, many waterways which are still being cleared (illegally occupied by business owners). These waterways will have water buses too - like Hatirjheel does now.

Here's a nice PPT from UN ESCAP:



https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/16.%20Urban%20transport%20in%20Dhaka%20-%20Mr.Noor-e%20Alam.pdf

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## SpaceMan18

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> Cars or no cars
> 
> Dhaka is one of the least walkable cities on earth.
> 
> Footpaths are dysfunctional, other than some tiny corner of Bonani/Gulshan.
> 
> Neither is the public transport very good. And car ownership is prohibitively expensive. Which makes life incredibly difficult for those who don't own a car, or are comfortable using our disgusting excuse of public transport.
> 
> Hopefully, the MRT can partially alleviate that. I've heard it's only 10% more expensive than a BRTC bus ticket (per km). It is intended as a transport for the massess. Rich and poor. Though it'd be interesting to see how it works out xD Nuk Ocha "hi fi" manush sitting next to those who they regard as "kamla"
> 
> Are there any other public transportation projects in the work? How about the BRTC?



I remember going to BD and since I grew up in America for most of my life , I was like WHY TF IS THERE NO DAM FOOTPATHS lmao ? 

Like I am walking in the same area where CNGs , rickshaws and dam cows go in


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## PoondolotoPandalum

More river busses would be great. Though they need to be substantially bigger, to deal with our enormous population. Something along the line of a double-hulled catamaran design, like we have in London. Though I don't know much about Dhaka's waterways.











Perhaps some business opportunities for Bangladeshi shipyards, and all their suppliers.

I know it's pushing it, but maybe also impose a Euro-5 (at least) standard for commercial vehicles. Which means an end to all trashy trucks and busses. But this is the cost for better air quality. We got rid of two stroked autorickshaws in 2003. Time to finally take the next step.

If we had the infastructure, electric busses would help to reduce air pollution. Chinese cities have drastically reduced air pollution through a combination of electric commercial vehicles, alongside other smart policy moves.

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> More river busses would be great. Though they need to be substantially bigger, to deal with our enormous population. Something along the line of a double-hulled catamaran design, like we have in London. Though I don't know much about Dhaka's waterways.
> 
> View attachment 770801
> 
> View attachment 770802
> 
> 
> Perhaps some business opportunities for Bangladeshi shipyards, and all their suppliers.
> 
> I know it's pushing it, but maybe also impose a Euro-5 (at least) standard for commercial vehicles. Which means an end to all trashy trucks and busses. But this is the cost for better air quality. We got rid of two stroked autorickshaws in 2003. Time to finally take the next step.
> 
> If we had the infastructure, electric busses would help to reduce air pollution. Chinese cities have drastically reduced air pollution through a combination of electric commercial vehicles, alongside other smart policy moves.



UK design is fine, but Dhaka's water buses/taxis are modeled on ones in Bangkok which ply on the Chao Phraya river. Ours are however designed by a famous French Yacht designer who lives locally and are darn near unsinkable, the guy is brilliant (Yves Marre). Google him.

Here are a few types of Thai passenger boats

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## Bilal9

BTW, there are some Catamaran Ferry designs already running on Dhaka Barisal routes but these are overkill for internal Dhaka routes. They can scale these down to half the size if needed.

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## Bilal9

BRAC TOWER is a proposed 50 story Twin tower that is getting quite close to construction kickoff stage. Location is at Hatirjheel area close to Shanta Twin Towers.

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## DalalErMaNodi

Bilal9 said:


> BRAC TOWER is a proposed 50 story Twin tower that is getting quite close to construction kickoff stage. Location is at Hatirjheel area close to Shanta Twin Towers.




Where can I get more information on this project ?

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## Bilal9

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Where can I get more information on this project ?



I searched the Net and information is very scarce on that one. BRAC does not want to spill the beans for some reason. There is supposedly going to be a hotel (and office spaces) in this multi-use 50 story tower reportedly.

They are also building another campus (3 mid-rise buildings) next to their huge Aarong location which is near the Tejgaon bend that goes to Gulshan No.1 mor (Gulshan Link Road).

Heerim (the same Korean Company that isnow involved with the 96 floor Iconic tower cluster) designed this campus long ago, see render below. The iconic tower design will still change, too old fashioned I think....

The BRAC mid-rise buildings HQ render has been around for ages (I think the classiest/slick proposed building to be built in Dhaka so far - a favorite), but BRAC takes their steps after too much deliberation I think. Too many things on the plate if you ask me.

The number of 40 to 50 story towers going up in Dhaka are about a dozen by now, and three/four are confirmed under construction (piling has begun). The number of these high rises (above 40 stories will go up exponentially when Iconic tower (Purbachal CBD) cluster and Jolshiri CBD cluster are completed. See here for more (not comprehensive),






List of tallest buildings in Bangladesh - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org






-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Heerim Architects & Planners



*Location* Dhaka, Bangladesh
*GFA (m2)* _77,678_
*Floors(F/B)* _15/3_
*Design* _2012_
*Completion* _2022_
*Client* _BRAC Bank_
BRAC Bank is a social enterprise leading change in Bangladesh, and is carrying out various projects that provide new opportunities for the people of Bangladesh to have economic hope.

BRAC Bank decided to relocate its existing headquarters in the capital city of Dhaka to build two office towers, including the headquarters, and a five-star hotel.

The new site is located in the new city center, and the Gulshan LinkRd that connects the downtown area passes through the northern side of the site, and a new road extending to the front of the site is under construction.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Sher Shah Suri said:


> If only dhaka had a proper urban planning earlier, these buildings will look 10× better.



Exactly.

Rajuk (DIT) corrupt amateurs still have zero idea about city planning (or do the bidding of greedy Real Estate developers), although "New city planning" in Dhaka was started in the mid fifties (seventy years ago) and peaked during Ayub Khan's time (2nd Capital Plan, i.e. area around Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, AKA Parliament House designed by Louis Kahn and Bangladeshi planners/architects - i.e. Ar. Mazharul Islam).

Sher-e-Bangla Nagar was designed around the same time Islamabad was designed, and I'd say, still is the best looking and organized part of Dhaka. Along with Dhanmandi residential area (grid planned), and later other planned residential areas like Banani and Gulshan, that was going to be the face of 'new' Dhaka. Rajuk Itors weren't on the scene yet.

The greedy propensity to turn Dhaka into a bunch of slums and concrete jungles persisted however - led by successive corrupt mayors (until Anisul Huq arrived) and their "Itor" low-life background cohorts (having no vision), and we have what we see today. You don't build cities every month, what you put in - is there for at least a hundred years. City plans need to proceed carefully and with care. 

If all we have are unqualified pseudo-educated Itor people in Rajuk decision making positions (who are there simply to take bribes to give out permits), what results is what we have in Dhaka today. Overcrowding (per sq. mile), lack of utility services, traffic jams. I say take away permit-giving capability from these idiots and put it in the hands of the Army Corps who will do a far better job, advised by proper city planners (public-private partnership/consortium). City plans need to proceed first (and new construction be held to the plan) instead of letting concrete slums grow up like mushrooms organically.

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## Bilal9

New Metro Rail coaches arriving via Sea Freight from Kawasaki in Japan.

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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

*Second jetty opens for Matarbari power plant*

Dwaipayan Barua
Fri Jul 16, 2021 12:00

The MV Horizon-9 is seen nestled at the second jetty of the Matarbari power plant yesterday. The vessel, carrying 185 tonnes of machinery for the plant, was first to berth at the partially completed jetty.





A cargo vessel yesterday became the first to berth at the second jetty being constructed for unloading coal for the under-construction coal-based power plant at Matarbari in Moheskhali upazila of Cox's Bazar.

The Panama-flagged MV Horizon-9 sailed from Singapore with 185 tonnes of machinery for the power plant, arriving at the outer anchorage at around 1:30am before eventually being berthed at 10:30am.

So from now on, the plant's authorities will be able to allow two vessels to berth at the same time.
With this, as of yesterday a total of 18 vessels have been berthed at the two jetties in last six-and-a-half months.

Earlier on December 29 last year, a vessel named as Venus Triumph carrying construction materials became the first to berth at the first jetty. Construction of the first jetty, meant for unloading fuel, was completed last year.

Around 75 per cent of the construction work for the 300-metre long second jetty, meant for unloading coal, has already been completed, according to sources close to the project.

Abul Kalam Azad, project director (PD) of the 1200-megawatt Matarbari Coal-based Power Plant, said that since another vessel is scheduled to arrive within a couple of days, they decided to berth the small-sized MV Horizone-9 at the partially completed portion of the second jetty so that the next vessel won't need to wait for long.

Azad, also executive director of the Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL), said around 175 metres of the second jetty has already been completed.

He hopes that the jetty would be fully constructed within this year.

The state-owned CPGCBL is implementing the Tk 35,984 crore power plant project.

Azad thanked the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) for providing harbour operation services and successfully handling ships at the jetties since December last year.

CPA Captain Ataul Hakim Siddique, also harbour operation coordinator and project manager of the Matarbari Port Development Project, said berthing a vessel at the second jetty is a milestone for the construction of the future Matarbari Deep Sea Port since it would work as capacity building for the future port.

The idea of the deep sea port in matarbari was conceived after the government started a coal-based power plant project in the area as a wider channel and port were required to bring in fuel for the plant.

Initially, only the construction of a coal jetty was planned but when the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) started implementing the project, it saw the potential for a commercial port.

As part of the power plant project, an artificial channel that is 14.5 kilometres long, 250 metres wide and 18 metres deep has been constructed.

In March 2020, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the construction of a deep sea port in Matarbari involving Tk 17,777 crore.

Of the estimated cost, JICA will put in Tk 12,893 crore and the rest Tk 2,213 crore will be borne by the CPA.

The CPA on September 23 last year signed an agreement with Japanese firm Nippon Koei Joint Venture (JV) Company for engineering and consultancy services for the Matarbari Port Development Project.

*Once the deep sea port comprising a 300-metre multi-purpose terminal and 460-metre container terminal is built, it will be able to accommodate large mother vessels with a draft limit of 18 metres.*

Vessels with upto 9 metres of draft can now berth at Chattogram port.

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## Bilal9

_CHARU Ceramic Industries Limited was incorporated in March 2012. It is the first international standard Sanitary Ware manufacturing plant in Bangladesh with the assistance of the best consultants from Europe and Asia. This World class sanitary ware manufacturer is certified by ISO 9001:2015. it is a sister concern of Greatwall Ceramic Ind. PLC., which is the largest tile and ceramic/porcelainware manufacturer in Bangladesh.

The plant is equipped with the latest advanced manufacturing machinery of sanitary wares from SACMI, UNIMAK & HEXIANG with the production capacity of 1.5 million pieces per year. It is remarkable in the history of Bangladesh Sanitary Ware Industry that CHARU manufactures one of the most internationally recognized sanitary ware brand COTTO in Bangladesh with the technical collaboration of Siam Sanitary Ware Industry Co. Ltd. Thailand.

CHARU Ceramic Industries Limited has been set up initially to fulfill the domestic market demand for products in Bangladesh and also intended to export in near future._
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personal note: Charu's stuff is really high grade, probably one of the best in South Asia that I have seen - am personally a satisfied customer, no connection with the company. Their precision manufacturing process is the reason. They aren't exporting yet, however they control most of the upper end of the market in Bangladesh. From a price to features/quality viewpoint, they should have easy entry into any foreign market and can compete against most brands (Bangladesh boasts RAK ceramics plant from UAE and Charu has them beat handily on both price and quality).






Robotics spraying equipment is used for an even, uniform glaze finish.





Here is famed Porcelain kiln manufacturer SACMI's (Italy) page about Charu.
https://sacmi.com/en-us/ceramics/news/5290/Garanzia-Sacmi-Riedhammer-per-Charu-Ceramic-Bangladesh

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## Bilal9

Nirjhor R/A in Dhaka Cantonment North area

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## Bilal9

Korean Agency wins contract for maintenance and toll collection for Padma Bridge and the approach Expressway. Great decision as Korea is a development partner and they have minimum standards per how Korean Expressways are maintained (safety markings, traffic management, security etc.). Not going to go into schwanz measuring here, but other than Sri-Lanka and Pakistan, the expressway doesn't look any worse than anything in South Asia.

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## Bilal9

Here is a listing of upcoming mid-rises in Dhaka (all are 30 to 45 stories). This height is going to be the lion's share of the tall buildings in Bangladesh, half are already under construction. 

Other than the 96 story planned Iconic Tower in Purbachal CBD, there are going to be scarcely any high rises taller than 50 stories, because of prevailing soil quality and resultant elevated (no pun intended) expenses in having foundation piles driven deep enough.

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## F-6 enthusiast

Many electronic media reporting that BD negotiating or showing willingness to negotiate FTA's with various countries like Australia, KSA, Thailand and Malaysia (very early stages, unconfirmed)


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## DalalErMaNodi

F-6 enthusiast said:


> Many electronic media reporting that BD negotiating or showing willingness to negotiate FTA's with various countries like Australia, KSA, Thailand and Malaysia (very early stages, unconfirmed)




Nothing will come of it.. So much talk of trade deals and we haven't even signed a single one aside from with Bhutan 🙄.


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## F-6 enthusiast

DalalErMaNodi said:


> Nothing will come of it.. So much talk of trade deals and we haven't even signed a single one aside from with Bhutan 🙄.


i am confident some will be done soon. GoB isn't like BAF.


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## DalalErMaNodi

F-6 enthusiast said:


> i am confident some will be done soon. GoB isn't like BAF.




Our Motu korma pulao eating diplomats are on par with BAF 🤡🤣


Look at FM Momen leading from the front, his dressing sense, body language and communicative & oratory skills scream competency. 🙄



Only competent high ranking official BD foreign ministry is state minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka University Metrorail Line 6 Terminal Update





Agargaon Metrorail Line 6 Terminal Update

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## Bilal9

NH Tower by Nexteon Developments, Tejgaon C/A
25+ Story Upcoming Commercial Building Designed by DWM4
















Proposed Commercial Project in ECB Circle, Mirpur, Dhaka

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## Bilal9

Recently Maxx completed three new rail stations on the Dhaka-Chittagong Double Track Rail-line project (Akhaura–Laksam Dual Gauge Rail Line). The double tracking is now in progress and will be completed for all 300+km DAC-CTG by June 2022. The design of these stations are now standardized (identical) and best thing is, that they are handicapped (disabled/wheelchaired person) ramp equipped to assist the handicapped board trains without hassle. The train stations are all near Comilla City and are,

Lalmai Station (near Lalmai Rolling Hills area)
Mainamoti Station
Aleshwar Station

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## Bilal9

MetroRail Line 6 Coaches have been trialed on viaducts from Uttara to Mirpur and other station work progress

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

*A Haven Sewing Generations*
*Text by Ferdousi Hossain Suhi*

SHOWCASE
June, 2021
A modern house, encompassing the soul of traditional Sylheti house pattern, Kulaura House has achieved a transition between generations. Constructed in Kulaura, Moulvibazar in 2020, the 4338 sqft native abode for an immigrant family, was designed by the architecture firm Formosis under Architect Murshed Ahmed and his associates. The objective was to create a comfortable haven that not only stitches generations together with memories made but also connects them with their roots, the surrounding environment, and its people.




The six-bedroom residence with required amenities was built on a site of five adjacent plots, owned jointly by five brothers. Only one plot was allotted for the residence, with very little possibility of any other building on the rest, as the family mostly stays abroad. Upon the advice of the architect, the middle plot was chosen for the built area and the front and back yard at east and west was left for landscape and garden that would act as screening against the sun. Use of brick and cement blends with the surrounding along with the plastered portion, adding vibrancy and protection from moisture. The large glass panels close the distance between the interior spaces and outdoor greenery.














The formal entrance forms a nave between the seating and parking area while the landscape stairs lead to the casual entrance. Inspired by the common practice of vernacular houses in Sylhet, the residence is segmented into Bara/Puber ghor- the public space, Kanir Kotha- the common space, and Bhitror Kotha- the private space. The projecting L-shaped verandah, inspired by Dair, of the public space, looks towards the front yard. A semi-enclosed court acts as a buffer between the seating areas and bedrooms so that the inhabitants can interact and socialize, simultaneously maintaining adequate privacy. Similarly, another court, that visually connects the front and back yard, is attached to the dining area- the common space which brings together both the public and private zone. The double-height space attached to the bedrooms is a regular interactive living area for the family members along with the spacious roof, accessible from the first floor that accommodates the family gatherings and outdoor programs. With reference to the decorative string of village weddings, pergolas are placed overhead which gives a sense of sheltered space, with a scaled-down enclosure but with the same energy of the outdoors. Kulaura House strives to be called home by the family growing up abroad but is rooted in their homeland.


























*The architecture team designed a space that would cherish the moments spent and memories made and would welcome the family warmly each time with all proper privacy, amenities, and ambience.*

This home is the string between the future generation and their forefathers that would encourage them back to their roots.





Murshed Ahmed

*Architects profile*
Murshed Ahmed, the principal architect of the project, was a student of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology and started his architecture firm Formosis with his partners in 2015. Currently pursuing MSc in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield in the UK, the architect is a great admirer of Geoffrey Bawa, Marcio Kogan, and Emre Arolat and was inspired by the views of Architect Bashirul Haq during his Internship. The Kulaura House took its form by Murshed Ahmed and his team- Architect Khayer Ahmed, Architect Md. Istiak Tanvir and Structural Engineer: Md. Mustafizur Rahman and they succeeded in their design objective of staying rooted in the traditions of the homeland without compromising the standard of the present time and bringing generations of family together.

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## Bilal9

*A Beacon in the Skyline – Akij House*

*Akij House is situated along the busiest commercial street in Dhaka’s newly developed Tejgaon Gulshan Link Road. Located on the thriving part of the city, the design goal for the Akij House was to create an architectural piece that would reflect and articulate the owning company’s corporate vision.The aim as conceived was to create a unique architectural entity, which would allow Akij House to add a new aspect to the city skyline.*




Technically cutting-edge solution and efficient building technology further contributes to this notion. The facilities comprised of 15 levels of office floors with elaborate concierge at the ground, bank of meeting rooms and guest lounges at the first and second floors, prayer and dining hall at the sixth level seated on the three levels below grade to hold the amenities like Car parking, service lounges and the MEP installations.











A chic interior is carried throughout the corporate office for Akij Group, which boasts a soothing ambiance created using a complimenting blend of neutral materials in textures and colour. The office hosts an array of workspaces that are laid in an open plan layout, allowing spaces to intermingle with each other. East and west sides are mostly solid walls of cast in situ concrete, designed in response to the climate and to maintain privacy of the interior from the adjacent developments. Interior material finishes include mostly the products of the client’s own manufacturing units, porcelain glazed tiles of cement rendered finishes, marble at the common floor, lift lobbies in gypsum board system, and false ceiling in the workplace, public, lobby, lounge and utility areas are combined with open rendered concrete ceiling to achieve a degree of difference in height and enhanced spatial effect. Structural RCC round columns in all the domains are fully left uncovered by industrial finishing clads but cement rendered. Double height void at the entrance loft are guarded with laminated wooden spandrels and coupled with wood slats intricately creating a latticed layer to give the space a grand spatial experience. Lift lobby walls are fully clad in with beige travertine produces an archaic yet richer interiorized environment. Being located in a commercial strip of a burgeoning city zone, the building turns inward onto the entrance loft flanked by the landscaped water cascades and an indoor loft of which the reception concierge, an exhibition space featuring the history of the founder and his company, and the waiting lounge are organized and accessed.














































The environment created at the entrance of activities and ultimately acting as a connecting platform for all the layers of the office establishes the building’s ultimate vocabulary. The social spaces at the lower and upper levels of the terraces become an active social environment for the users of the building where the glass façade of pure and simple form obliquely juxtaposed with the concrete walled enclosure of the main mass stimulates the psyche of the viewers and awareness of perpetual design process at the living fabric of better Dhaka. The entrance portico as carved out from the building masses and the tilted glass box above gives an appearance of a penetrating mass continuously playing with the concrete sculptured walls. The simple glass façade at the south overlooking the Hatirjheel Lake stands like a glowing lantern or beacon within this surrounding skyline in the evening and during daylight it draws sunlight deep into the interior.



Mohammad Foyez Ullah

*Architect Profile*
Mohammad Foyez Ullah is one of the preeminent architects of Bangladesh. His academic achievements include distinctions in his Bachelor in Architecture and the “Ahsanur Rahman Gold Medal” in Masters in 1997 from BUET. Soon after graduation in 1993, he continued to be an educator and professional and motivated aspiring architects in architectural schools across the country from BRACU, NSU, CUET, AUST, MIST to UAP. 

Concurrently a successful legacy in the professional field was also initiated when he co-founded Vistaara architects in 1994. As a principal architect of Vistaara, his noteworthy contributions are GP House, Bashundhara City, UTC, The Westin, Peoples Insurance Bhaban, Shanta Western Tower and many more diverse building typologies. 

His computer models and renderings were featured in the 1999 North American publication on Digital Architecture and his projects have been nominated for ARCASIA Design Competition and published and exhibited in ARCASIA Forum 12.

Over a decade long successful partnership in Vistaara, Foyez regenerated his practice through Volumezero in 2008. Volumezero has already bagged critical awards for the interior design of its own studio and the high-profile Liberation War Museum Design competition in November 2009. He has won country’s first sustainable building design award “Holcim Green Built Award 2010” for GPHouse and highest design award “Berger Excellence in Architecture 2007” for designing Peoples Insurance Bhaban and “IAB Design Award” for designing a multi storied family housing in 1998. Foyez’s work celebrates contextualism that embodies a creative expression which visualizes interplay of forms and spaces while validating the inherent functions.

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## Bilal9

MetroRail trialing going live right now

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## Bilal9

Rundown of half a dozen Coxs Bazaar related projects

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## Bilal9

40,000 mangrove trees will be planted in Bangabandhu Industrial City

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## Bilal9

Guys - I will now highlight a video from Kolkata Newtown.

The reason I am doing this is to show how you can nicely plan and develop a town without resorting to millions of dollars in graft (like Rajuk idiots do) and still have a smart city at the end. You can Thank the former WB CM Jyoti Basu, Mamta Didi, Kolkata Municioal Corporation and most of all HIDCO, for the excellent town planning. It ain't no Islamabad, but the result is hardly bad. Kolkata used to be the filthiest tier 1 city in India, It isn't so anymore. No rickshaws, unfit buses, stores encroaching on roads and storing sand and rod under AL goonda protection. Thanks to Bus Mafia, and Hasina's cadre goondas, we have a third rate, dirty unlivable city in Dhaka. Low-life Itors dragging us all down to live like they want to live. Depressing.

Granted our buildings in Bangladesh may be a little different (some would say higher standard architecturally for material used), but Kolkata Newtown has some nice qualities such as adequate setbacks for buildings from roadside sidewalks, very large roundabouts, wide avenues (even wider than our second capital), proper arboreal planning, places for people to gather, entertain and socialize, and overall it has a very nice basis to improve on for expansion of roads, utilities, transport services and infra. Dadas may be kanjoos, but they did a great job on New Town. Gulshan may have nice glass buildings, but it cannot hold a candle to New Town when it comes to proper architectural planning. Even Purbachal roads are horrendously narrow and laughable compared to New Town. Rajuk idiots should be fired.


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## Bilal9

Bangladesh National Parliament House, Dhaka (completed 1972)

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## Bilal9

Update on Shanta Forum Twin Tower in Tejgaon next to Hatirjheel area housing mostly office spaces. Although there are towers far taller planned around this area, this one is only about 25 floors.

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## Bilal9

*S Korean firm to install automatic tolling system on Dhaka-Bhanga expressway*
BI Report || BusinessInsider
Published: 20:03, 19 August 2021 





A view of Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway. Photo: File

The government has singled out Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC), a South Korean firm, to set up and operate the electronic toll collection system for three bridges on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway.

A proposal forwarded by the Road Transportation and Highway Division to appoint the KEC for installation and operation of the GPS-based toll collection system on the expressway, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Shamsul Arefin told reporters after the meeting on Thursday.

KEC has experience in managing 4,112 km expressway and 1,332 km long bridges in South Korea. The technology they will use can also show you how many vehicles are on the road and which way to go.

The company will be appointed for five years and the contract may be extended further later.

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has been funding the project to install the automatic toll collection system on the expressway, said Arefin.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HatiQamrul in Sirajganj to get a similar cloverleaf Freeway interchange like in Bhanga (Faridpur). This type of interchange is new in Bangladesh and the one in Bhanga (Faridpur) was the first one.

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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh Railways is moving to establish rail routes from Chattogram to Rangamati's Kaptai, which will connect Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) to the country's existing rail network.*

TBS Infograph






TBS Infograph

*Bangladesh Railways is moving to establish rail routes from Chattogram to Rangamati's Kaptai, which will connect Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) to the country's existing rail network.*

The new route connecting Raozan to Kaptai via Rangunia will increase tourism to the hilly districts, draw new investment there, and eventually ramp up regional trade and businesses, say businessmen.

A preliminary project proposal recently arrived at the Planning Commission for approval in principle. In the meantime, the railway ministry has sent a letter to the Economic Relations Division (ERD), seeking sourcing of funds.

The 42 kilometres of railroad tracks will cost Tk8,926 crore as the railway has proposed the Economic Relations Division (ERD) source Tk7,141 crore in foreign aid for the project. ERD officials say they are now in talks with multiple global lenders such as the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and others.

Rail authorities say the feasibility study of the project was completed in 2019, and a plan design of the double-gauge rail tracks has also been prepared.

Mahbubul Alam, president of Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said, "Rail connectivity to the hill tracts will substantially improve tourism. Agricultural goods grown in the region will also get better market access across the country."

AM Mahbub Chowdhury, vice-president of Chattogram Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industries, added that, "Although the Chattogram Hill Tracts is well known for its forest resources, the country has not been able to tap the full potential there, thanks to poor connectivity. The rail network expansion now could be the game changer."

"The rail route will enable hill tracts farmers to send their fruits and agro items across Bangladesh, and this eventually will bring a major change to the hill district economy," Mansur Ali, director of Rangamati Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told The Business Standard.

Rail authorities noted in their preliminary project proposal that the new rail routes will ease road traffic pressure on metropolitan Chattogram as people from the upazilas will be able to commute to the city by train.

*Implementation awaits funding*

The railway master plan (2016-2045) includes establishing rail tracts to Kaptai by 2022. However, Bangladesh Railway plans to launch the project this year and to complete it within 2026. But, now it seems implementing the project may take more time as project funding is still uncertain.

Railway officials said they asked the ERD in June to source the foreign aid and the ERD is now in talks with the WB, ADB, JICA, and AIIB, to team up for the project.

In a letter to Rail Minister Nurul Islam Sujon, Indian Railway Construction Limited recently proposed ensuring the funding if it gets the work. The proposal came at a time when China has walked back from the funding of at least two railway projects.

*Railway officials say they are not interested in implementing the project with Indian credit since Indian loans have "tough terms" attached to them and have other issues in the course of implementation.*

They prefer global lenders such as WB, ADB, or AIIB, for the project.

SM Salimullah Bahar, chief planning officer of Bangladesh Railways, said, "Government funding the project entirely by itself would be challenging."

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## Bilal9

*Five power plants to be inaugurated on September 12*
Published: September 04, 2021 18:52:06 | Updated: September 05, 2021 08:49:36






Five power plants, having a total of 879 MW electricity generation capacity, will be inaugurated on September 12.

"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate these power plants through a video conference from Ganabhaban at 10:00 am on that day," Saiful Islam, a director (public relations) of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), said on Saturday.

He said the five power plants are Bibiyana-III 400 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Habiganj, Zulda, Chattogram 100 MW Power Plant Unit-2, Meghnaghat 104 MW Power Plant in Narayanganj, Modhumoti 100 MW Power Plant in Bagerhat and up-gradation of Sylhet 150 MW Power Plant to 225 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Sylhet, reports BSS.

According to the power ministry, the government has successfully constructed 119 power plants having a capacity of electricity production of 20,293 MW after assuming power in 2009.

It said the government had a target to generate 24,000 MW of electricity by 2021, but in the meantime, the target has already been exceeded.

Nasrul Hamid, the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, said the electricity generation capacity reached 25,235 MW now (including captive power) which was 4,942 MW in 2009.

"We have brought around 99.5 per cent of the population under electricity facilities due to the bold and dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina," he said.

Nasrul Hamid said the Awami League-led government has achieved tremendous successes in the power sector during its last 12 years and has given top priority to the development of the sector considering its importance in the overall enhancement of the country.

"With sincere and relentless efforts by the government, the per capita electricity generation reached to 560 kWh, which was only 220 kWh in 2009. And the system loss brought down to 8.49 per cent from 14.33 per cent," he added.

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## Bilal9

COXS BAZAAR strand development master plan conceptual video

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## F-6 enthusiast

Bd company exporting seafood to China. I've always argued that we should export fisheries, raw materials (leather) and agro stuff to PRC. @Bilal9 

Companies should follow FDA, UK/EU guidelines and should be able to increase the exports of seafood to these countires. (You'll find frozen fish from BD in many ''Cash and Carry'' stores)

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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> Bd company exporting seafood to China. I've always argued that we should export fisheries, raw materials (leather) and agro stuff to PRC. @Bilal9
> 
> Companies should follow FDA, UK/EU guidelines and should be able to increase the exports of seafood to these countires. (You'll find frozen fish from BD in many ''Cash and Carry'' stores)



I find seafood from Bangladesh in the West Coast of US. Readily, I might add, especially in Bangladeshi stores. Black Tiger Shrimp and Hilsa are common items, since those are in demand.

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## Bilal9

*RMG: Orders cross pre-pandemic level, not price though*
*Some exporters say another season may be needed for full recovery*






*A year and a half into the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh's woven apparel makers are optimistic about export recovery as they have booked work orders to almost their full capacities for the next five months.*

Some exporters said buyers were still offering prices that were 10-15% below the pre-pandemic levels although a very small number of manufacturers are getting orders at the previous rates or even higher.

They said another season might be needed for the sector's full recovery.

Wishing anonymity, some industry leaders said it was high time to negotiate with buyers for better prices.

They said manufacturers should say no to buyers if they were not willing to pay ethical prices.

Besides, they said, booking more orders than the capacity at low prices might lead to non-delivery of products.

Retail sales dropped in major apparel destinations like the US, the UK, and Germany in the past two months due to inflation and the emergence of new Covid-19 variants.

Higher prices may limit discretionary spending on items like groceries, personal care, and apparel in the coming months, the US Department of Commerce predicts.

Exporters said last year's prolonged shutdowns had caused huge damage to retail outlets in the US and Europe.

Scores of outlets were closed and many others survived through ecommerce by offering big discounts.

As retail sales started peaking from late last year, retailers tried to get back in business without raising prices.

"That is why buyers offered us pre-pandemic prices at the time. We had no choice but to accept that at the time, though our production costs went up," said Sparrow Group Managing Director Shovon Islam.

At the time, buyers' agents took advantage of the situation by increasing their commission margins as manufacturers were facing work order shortages.

A number of manufacturers ran their units at 30% of their capacities as they had no work orders. Some even had to shut down their units.

"Now we are booking orders for next summer and spring – November to March. We have already booked orders corresponding to our full capacity at about 5-10% higher prices than the pre-coronavirus period," said Shovon.

He further said a woven shirt's average price is $6-7 and that of denim pants is $7-8.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau data, apparel shipments in August recorded an 11.56% growth year-on-year, with exports reaching $2.75 billion.

Of those, woven items saw a 4.47% growth after a 17.78% fall in July year-on-year.

The decline in July was attributed to nearly two weeks of factory closure for Eid-ul-Adha and the Covid-19 lockdown.

Woven garments saw the first-ever lowest exports of $0.19 billion in April last year while the figure rose to $1.18 billion in the same month this year.

Sparrow Group exported clothes worth about $165 million last year and Shovon hoped the figure would reach $200 million by the end of this calendar year.

"We are getting lots of inquiries about work orders from our existing buyers and also some new ones. It is very difficult to say no to buyers, but we have to do that to get better prices."

He said some buyers were now offering better prices than a few months ago.

It depends on negotiations between manufacturers and buyers, he added. 

The woven garment sector has been doing better gradually but the August growth did not reflect that as some backlogs were cleared that month.
The improvement will be reflected by November, factory owners said.

Shahidullah Azim, vice-president at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the August growth was the result of shipments piled up during factory closures due to Eid-ul-Adha vacations and the lockdown in July.

He hoped woven apparel exports would be better by November as factories had received huge work orders.

Almost every factory is booked to 100% of its capacity till December and January, said Azim, also the chairman of Classic Group.

His company has booked orders till January.

He said prices were a bit lower than the pre-pandemic time but high volumes of work orders might make up for that.

Denim Expert Limited Managing Director Mostafiz Uddin said his factory was booked to full capacity, but prices were not enough to recover business. 

He said woven garment exporters needed at least another season for recovery.

Managing Director of Ananta Apparel, a high-value apparel exporter, Sharif Zahir said they had booked orders to their full production capacity till January.

He also hoped business would recover in the coming days.

Former BGMEA president and Envoy Group Chairman Kutubuddin Ahmed said factory owners were waiting for this day for a long time.

He said many manufacturers had been running their units below the breakeven costs.

The entrepreneur also hoped buyers would consider manufacturers' business situation while setting prices.

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## SMX 3.0




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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport New 3rd Terminal update





Dhaka Elevated Expressway Latest Update (click watch on Youtube)

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## Bilal9

*A Purist Architectural Approach – Simpletree Anarkali*
SHOWCASEOctober, 2020
Simpletree Anarkali designed by Volumezero Ltd is an ode to a purist architectural response to the oft-chaotic urban fabric of Dhaka. The timeless elegance of reticulate concrete accentuates the clarity of transparent glass planes that forms the exterior envelope. The poetry of horizontal and vertical lines entwine with this grammar to create an urban interest within the emerging commercial spine of Gulshan Avenue.






> The resplendent forecourt with a generous setback presents a well-curated landscape embellished with cascading waterscape and amorphous sculptures by celebrated artists.


Consistent with the purist approach the canopied drop-off within the realm becomes a preparation portal for the ensuing ambience and elegance. Each of the 1022 square-meter floor plates is a rectangular base supported by a central core and a peripheral service spine, allowing corporate addresses efficient customization within dedicated floors. Apart from being the front-runner in high strata corporate address, Simpletree Anarkali sets a benchmark through a strong sense of environmental responsibilities.

















Validation of its ability to conserve water, electricity and implementation of environment-sensitive construction methodology came through LEED Certification for shell and core by USGBC, in the gold category – The first commercial building in the country to achieve that feat. The intelligent use of double Low-E, ceramic fritted glazing panel along the west facade maintains the required SHGC (solar heat gain coefficient) value while exhibiting an urban scale artwork along the boulevard.
Additionally, an under earth enclave is designated for a cafe where general users can admire and contemplate the overall grandeur. With this journey in mind, a large-scale unique sculpture around cascading planes of water forms the centrepiece of the forecourt. Consequently, people can inculcate a sense of ownership and endearment that should in turn motivate others. It is only when a sustainable framework guides multiple initiatives that we create a conurbation which sets standards, shatters benchmarks, and truly serve the people that inhabit it.
























> “As a conscious architectural response, Simpletree Anarkali becomes an urban canvas whereupon pixilated art form reflects the evolution of Dhaka’s socio-economic values – within the chaotic randomness there lays a regulating grammar, repetition of order that breathes life into its expression”
> says Mohammad Foyez Ullah, principal architect of Volumezero Ltd.


Simpletree Anarkali chronicles the interplay between nature, culture and time, alongside the beauty that ensues through spontaneous metamorphosis into the future. The composite idea relies upon the ambivalence between ‘creativity ‘and ‘normative regulation’. While creativity drew inspiration from the purity of planes and boldness of primordial forms; normative regulation in this day and age had to be sustainable features with valid accreditations. Accreditation consequently followed in the form of LEED Gold Certification which as per USGBC is the first LEED Gold commercial building in the country. 


























The spine of a rapidly evolving urban commune-like Gulshan Avenue in many ways needed the modern centrepiece in more ways than fathomable. It needed to reflect upon the aspiration that endorses an evolving economy, impress upon the merits of sustainability and raise the bar for commercial developments in Bangladesh. 
*Architect Profile:*



Mohammad Foyez Ullah
Mohammad Foyez Ullah is one of the preeminent architects of Bangladesh. His academic achievements include distinctions in his Bachelor in Architecture and the “Ahsanur Rahman Gold Medal” in Masters in 1997 from BUET. Soon after graduation in 1993, he continued to be an educator and professional and motivated aspiring architects in architectural schools across the country. Concurrently a successful legacy in the professional field was also initiated when he co-founded Vistaara architects in 1994. As a principal architect of Vistaara, his noteworthy contributions are GP House, Bashundhara City, UTC, The Westin, Peoples Insurance Bhaban, Shanta Western Tower and many more diverse building typologies.
Over a decade long successful partnership in Vistaara, Foyez regenerated his practice through Volumezero in 2008. Volumezero has already bagged critical awards for the interior design of its own studio and the high-profile Liberation War Museum Design competition in November 2009. He has won country’s first sustainable building design award “Holcim Green Built Award 2010” for GP House and “Berger Excellence in Architecture 2007” for designing Peoples Insurance Bhaban and “IAB Design Award” for designing a multi-storied family housing in 1998.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka BRT Line 3 update. No denying that this is a clusterf*ck right now, but hopefully they can finish this by mid-2023 as planned.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Elevated Expressway update (Temporarily rickshaws have been allowed to ply in main roads for humanitarian reasons, which will soon be curbed)





Dhaka Int'l airport New 3rd terminal update

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## Bilal9

Unnamed Twin Tower, Gulshan 2 (34 FL + 5 BA)

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## Bilal9

*In pictures: Modern architecture, modern Dhaka*


























































In pictures: Modern architecture, modern Dhaka


The skyline of the capital has been witnessing a transformation in recent years with the construction of numerous high-rise buildings. Dhaka, one of the most populous cities in the world, is turning into a modern megacity with this form of contemporary architecture.Dhaka Tribune's Chief...




www.dhakatribune.com






Ramna Park, Dhaka (my, how things have changed in two decades...)

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## Bilal9

*Simpletree Thikana



































*

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## PoondolotoPandalum

Not an architecture expert, but it appears brick and concrete brutalism (though done in a much more tasteful way) are some of the characteristics of modern (post 71) Bangladeshi architecture. Perhaps influenced by Louis Khan's Sangsad Bhabun? 

They look really nice, non-generic, and somewhat unique. And blends in well with the local scenery.

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## Paul2

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> Not an architecture expert, but it appears brick and concrete brutalism (though done in a much more tasteful way) are some of the characteristics of modern (post 71) Bangladeshi architecture. Perhaps influenced by Louis Khan's Sangsad Bhabun?
> 
> They look really nice, non-generic, and somewhat unique. And blends in well with the local scenery.


From my experience in Dhaka, the unregulated sector looks, how to say, offensively concreety. Not only builders are not trying to cover it with something pretty, but almost throwing it into eyes.

In China, even sheds in villages are now covered with curtainwalls


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## PoondolotoPandalum

Paul2 said:


> From my experience in Dhaka, the unregulated sector looks, how to say, offensively concreety. Not only builders are not trying to cover it with something pretty, but almost throwing it into eyes.
> 
> In China, even sheds in villages are now covered with curtainwalls



I don't think they were designed to be good-looking, like 90% of Dhaka tbh. I bet, they were not even designed by qualified architects. 

If you observe the Dhaka skyline now, you'll see it's mostly built up. The insane density of mostly not-so-good-looking buildings on every corner of your eye. It used to be much more slum like, and built-up areas were thinner and between. Now, it's a concrete jungle. It's not very attractive city for foreigners, but as a dhaka native (born there), it still has this charm

Kinda wish I could sip tea at the rooftops, watching the gorgeous monsoon sunset over the hustle and bustle and chaos of Dhaka city right now 

When Dhaka finally becomes fully developed (leave it to "experts" to speculate when that happens, maybe when Afghanistan has a space program), you can bet there will be a bunch of old-timers who'll miss the "good old dhaka" that had much more character. A bit like oldtimer Singaporeans missing the good old Singapore.

As LKY once said to a journalist; " you criticized us for our stench and squalor, now you criticize us for being too sterile, too developed"

Kinda getting ahead of myself, but that day will probably happen xD Perhaps sooner than we think

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> Not an architecture expert, but it appears brick and concrete brutalism (though done in a much more tasteful way) are some of the characteristics of modern (post 71) Bangladeshi architecture. Perhaps influenced by Louis Khan's Sangsad Bhabun?
> 
> They look really nice, non-generic, and somewhat unique. And blends in well with the local scenery.



Yes - Face Brick (High Quality Terracotta Brick) cladding is a local staple and a specialty. You are right, most of the MP and administrative housing was built with this cladding in the 1960's, and just like the bare concrete in the Sangsad Bhaban itself, Face brick does not need re-painting of exterior every year because of the extensive rain, humidity and algae staining.

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## Bilal9

Paul2 said:


> From my experience in Dhaka, the unregulated sector looks, how to say, offensively concreety. Not only builders are not trying to cover it with something pretty, but almost throwing it into eyes.
> 
> In China, even sheds in villages are now covered with curtainwalls



The problem is two-fold, 

1. The general populace (lower middle class on down, typically), having not enough *western taste exposure*. though a large portion are working overseas in Malaysia and Dubai, and

2. Their *ability to afford high quality construction materials at reasonable prices*, like one can do in China.

Of course - if the govt. standardized minimum safety for construction (which it documents but hardly enforces), things would be different. All in good time I guess, when living standards go up. In villages fifty years ago, the poor lived in Thatch roof houses, because of poverty, but relatively cleanly. One can also grow vegetables on thatch roofs. Nowadays it is brick sidewalls and Galvanized tin roofs mostly. Having a concrete house with concrete roof that storms won't be able to blow down, is a prestigious affair for the household and family.

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## Bilal9

*Skyline-Altering Tower Under Construction in Dhaka*​
A 40-storey commercial skyscraper proposed by Shanta Holdings will redefine the skyline of the capital and largest city in Bangladesh. Pinnacle was approved for construction in September 2018 and began groundworks in November 2019, with a completion date targeted for December 2022.



Pinnacle, image via Shanta Holdings


The office skyscraper, claimed to be the first in Dhaka to undergo a wind tunnel test, boasts a design by local firm EK Architects. The exterior will be composed of an imported double-glazed unitized facade system. Seven high-speed elevators and five basement levels hosting 376 vehicles will also be integrated into the development.



Pinnacle, image via Shanta Holdings
Each floor will contain 14,500 square feet that can be segmented in separate spaces of 4,000, 5,035 and 7,250 square feet. Ceiling heights of 11.5 feet come standard here, affording extra vertical space compared to the city's typical 10-foot-high workplaces. The building will be able to accommodate at least 12,000 people.



Pinnacle, image via Shanta Holdings

A 45-foot-high atrium will greet workers upon entry into the building, which will include a fully equipped gym for employee use. Pinnacle will also incorporate a ground floor cafe and a rooftop restaurant into its internal plan.



Pinnacle, image via Shanta Holdings

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## Bilal9

@Paul2, these are new factories North of Dhaka (Gazipur area) and outside of any export zone.

Bashundhara Multi-steel project courtesy of PEB Steel Alliance (local steel bldg. fabricator) at Gazipur. Click image to enlarge.





Other factories made by PEB SAL, these are possibly Pharma plants





This is Coke's new $74 Million investment in Bhaluka, Mymensingh (North of Dhaka) see image below. Two lines will bottle PET bottles as well as aluminum cans. Bangladesh pioneered coke sold in 330 ML aluminum cans back in 1992, years ahead of larger countries in South Asia. The Bengali Coke Logo was designed in the early 1960's. https://www.canmuseum.com/Detail.aspx?CanID=10550














PEB SAL has also supplied aircraft hangers to many airports locally including the one in Dhaka.





This is a Pharma processing unit near Dhaka





Nasir Glass Industries (They process glass sheets into luminaires) in Savar, near Dhaka





Small power station in Rajshahi area

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## Bilal9

New Healthcare Pharma (HPL) plant going up in Savar...This is going to be a ten-story structure. Increasingly Bangladesh projects are starting to use steel framing rather than RCC for speed of construction benefits.

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## Bilal9

Karnaphuli Export Zone in Chittagong.





PEBSAL manufactures and installs EOT (Overhead Travelling) cranes in various ratings for factories, these double-beam ones are around 30 tons each. 









PEBSAL also specialize in custom manufacturing piling tubes as well as large diameter piping for industrial uses. Many of the local bespoke bridge piling tubes were manufactured and installed using their facility.

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## Bilal9

Fabricating a part for a Meghna Cement plant at PEBSAL

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## Bilal9

Naif Builders is a tier 1 Industrial flooring solution provider. They specialize in zero-undulation super-flat floors for textile storage (Pallet racks) and other facilities, often finished with Epoxy coating.





















Superflat floor for Pallet Racks at Ispahani Summit Terminal (JV)





Superflat floor at Pioneer Denim (Badsha Group)





Polished concrete

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## Bilal9

*Affordable house for all*
2 minutes read






Raj Hoq, CEO of Rangs Properties

Real estate business in Bangladesh is still tied up to the tier of the elites and this needs to change, says Raj Hoq, currently the CEO of Rangs Properties. Athletic in posture and a sharp-looking man, he explained his future plans for the company.

A passionate team leader, much of his talks were on how he describes success and the secrets of his leadership, him being in the pivotal position of a top company in Bangladesh. And he was fluidly giving away all that he had in the bag – and they were excellent set of recommendations too. He says if you are a good listener, committed to your work, have good communication skills, ability to understand people and compassionate with others, you will be a winner. But what really got us was as to his vision for the future – the future of the real estate business in Bangladesh he wishes to pioneer.

“The real customer segment is the middle-class, the largest segment of the population in Dhaka city,” Raj Hoq says. “Everyone nowadays, on an average, pay a rent of Tk 20,000 to 30,000 per month to the landlord. Imagine yourself paying around Tk 20,000 a month and end up owning an apartment in about 10 years! In that way you are not spending anything on rent, only paying monthly installment. And finally, you will have an apartment of your own.”

His calculations were crystal clear. In 30 years, for an average middle-class household that pays Tk 30,000 for rent per month, ends up paying about Tk 1 crore. “Does the landlord say that you can have a share of my house? No he doesn’t and he won’t ever. But, if you can pay the same amount for 30 years and become an owner of a property worth Tk 1.8 crore, isn’t that wonderful,” says visibly beaming Hoq.

But for that to happen, banks have to step in and bring down the interest rates of housing loans. It might even have to go up to the government level to set up special regulations for the real estate segment. But Raj Hoq thinks it is very much possible in the near future. He even thinks that the banks are showing some real development in this sector and such hopes are not so far-fetched. “Some latest developments are showing real promise. The interest rates in housing have come down remarkably. It is now the lowest you’ve ever seen. We can expect it will come down further in the future. If that happens, there will be some real development in the sector. And then, I believe we can offer everyone an affordable house,” Raj Hoq says.


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## DalalErMaNodi

SHANTA Forum

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## Bilal9

This is being posted to view the top Indian thinktank perspective as far as geopolitical and maritime shipping future of South Asia.

However - the proposition to promote Andaman and Nicobar as a container transshipment hub for the region is puzzling. Coasters cannot reach Andaman as they ply along the continental shelves, within 50 or so miles of coasts. If Bangladesh can host 8500 TEU Panamax class mother vessels, it not only does not need Andaman, it also obviates the necessity to make port calls at Singapore and Colombo for transshipment. Mother vessels can go from Matarbari straight to Rotterdam or NYC.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Bangladesh Boosts Bay of Bengal Blue Economy*
01 Dec, 2020 · 5744

*


Vijay Sakhuja*


_*Dr Vijay Sakhuja *recommends investing in Industry 4.0 technologies to improve efficiency and add value to the Matarbari Port Development Project and Blue Economy in the Bay of Bengal_


The stage is set for the development of the deep sea Matarbari Port Development Project (MPDP) in Bangladesh. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to provide US$ 25.4 million in financial assistance for the project and a Japanese consulting company, Nippon Koei Joint Venture, has been short listed to provide engineering-related services. The *MPDP is expected to commence commercial operations in 2026, and would be capable of receiving  8,500 TEU post-Panamax vessels*. *Plans are also underway to enhance the port’s capacity to 2.8 million TEUs annually by adding more berths in the future. *The MPDP emerges in the background of the “Big-B” concept, i.e. Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt, which was announced by Bangladesh and Japan in 2014. The port is being linked with a national highway and the MPDP includes construction of a connecting road.

There are at least *two major spinoffs* that would accrue to Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal region. *First, it will reduce Bangladesh’s “dependence on the feeder vessels to ferry export-import goods from different foreign ports.”* Nearly 90 per cent of Bangladesh’s trade is carried onboard ships that operate out of three ports—Chattogram, Mongla, and Payra. In 2017-18, Chattogram port accounted for 98.43 per cent of Bangladesh’s seaborne container trade and the balance was moved through Mongla port. *Bangladesh relies on major container transshipment ports in Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia for its international containerized trade.

Second, the MPDP potentially provides the much-needed impetus to short sea shipping in the Bay of Bengal. According to Bangladesh’s State Minister for Shipping, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, the MPDP could develop as a “regional hub of connectivity.”* Short sea shipping in the Bay of Bengal region has been high on the regional countries’ agenda and a start has already been made with the commencement of services between Port Blair in India’s Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia. Similarly, connectivity between Port Blair and Ranong (Thailand) can provide the much-needed impetus to short sea shipping in the Andaman Sea. In this context, it is useful to mention that the Indian government has announced INR 10,000 crore to build a container transshipment hub in the Nicobar Islands. It would involve “container transshipment terminal with the Free Trade Warehousing Zone in South Bay, Great Nicobar Island to provide Indian shippers an alternative to Colombo, Singapore and Port Klang (Malaysia) transshipment ports.”

While the MPDP’s contribution to the Bay of Bengal region’s Blue Economy potential is widely welcomed and acknowledged, it is also necessary to keep in mind the strategic dynamics that have been at play in the region, which remain deeply rooted in the security calculus of the regional countries. Given the dual nature of maritime infrastructure projects, these are often viewed as a security challenge, particularly when such projects involve China. A useful example is the Chinese Belt Road Initiative (BRI), under which several port development projects in the Indian Ocean have attracted strategic concerns. Doraleh (Djibouti), Gwadar (Pakistan) and Hambantota (Sri Lanka) have often been labelled as Chinese naval outposts that facilitate operations by the Chinese Navy. It is not surprising that Chinese assisted port projects in Bangladesh and Myanmar have been a matter of concern for India. Similarly, China’s Kra Canal project—which involves building a channel across south Thailand and can potentially reduce shipping distances by at least 1,000 km—has engendered security concerns in India.

While the tensions between economic opportunities and strategic concerns have been a feature of many of the Bay of Bengal maritime infrastructure plans and projects, a new opportunity has emerged for Bangladesh to lead the regional Blue Economy. The concept of Smart Ports is resonating across the maritime world and according to experts, only ‘smart ports’ will survive.

Industry 4.0 technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, big data, autonomous systems, etc are “up-scaling the efficiency of the maritime connectivity eco-system,” Among the major container ports with which Bangladesh conducts container trade, the Port of Singapore is highly digitalized, and Sri Lanka’s Port of Colombo has taken some initiatives in this direction. It will be useful to explore Industry 4.0 technologies that can be part of the MPDP operations.

In fact, these technologies have a major role to play in the development of Blue Economy and will be critical for marine spatial planning, including port development projects. Bangladesh has positioned Blue Economy as high priority and the political leadership has given it the top position among the drivers for national growth. The next step should be to invest in Industry 4.0 technologies that add to improving efficiency and bring added value to the MPDP and Blue Economy in the Bay of Bengal.


*Dr. Vijay Sakhuja *_is a former director of the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi._


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## Bilal9

Dhaka speech by Dr. Akihiko Tanaka, JICA President in 2014 inaugurating the Bangladesh-centered Big-B concept.


June 16, 2014
*Speech: BIG-B toward Growth Beyond Borders*
The University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Assalam U Alaikum, and good morning.

It is my great honor to be here at The University of Dhaka today to speak on behalf of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). As somebody who has spent most of his adult life as a university teacher, it is my great pleasure to have this opportunity to share my views with students and faculty members on the campus of this great university.

JICA began its operations in Bangladesh immediately after Japan formally recognized the newly independent nation in early 1972. In 1973, JICA started dispatching young and zealous Japanese volunteers to the country. In 1974, Japan committed its first ODA loan and established the JICA office in Dhaka. Many things, including natural disasters and political turmoil, have happened since then. But with the understanding and the support of the people of Bangladesh, we have expanded our activities dramatically. Last year, in fact, Bangladesh became the third largest partner country of Japanese official development assistance.

We at JICA are very proud of being able to work together with the people of Bangladesh in their efforts of development, which have resulted in great achievements. The percentage of the Bangladeshi people in absolute poverty decreased sharply from 59% in 1990 to 31.5% in 2010.

Average life expectancy has increased from 47 years in 1971 to 70 years today. Child mortality has declined markedly, and children's enrollment in primary school--just 50% forty years ago--is nearly universal today at 92%. Moreover, thanks to a four-fold increase in agricultural productivity, today 100% of Bangladesh's 150 million people are food secure. And now, Bangladesh appears to be entering into a new stage of development fueled by faster economic growth. To repeat, we are proud of being a partner of your great efforts.

Just yesterday, I visited Jamuna Bridge, or Bangabandhu Bridge as it's also called. And I was very much pleased that the bridges JICA financed, totaling 500, including Jamuna, have made a tremendous impact in connecting this nation divided by huge rivers. I also visited Tangail and attended a Union Development Coordination Committee as an observer. While there, I saw how the "Link Model", a system developed by JICA's technical cooperation project for Participatory Rural Development, is actually being implemented to improve accountability of government officials to the people. By encouraging people's participation in local governments, the Link Model is helping to achieve an effective and efficient use of resources. I was extremely gratified to see that this project is contributing to the improvement of governance of local communities in this country. In addition, I would like to mention the "Narsingdi Model" developed under JICA's Safe Motherhood Promotion Project. Although I did not have a chance to visit any implementation site of this project this time, this model is contributing to the improvement of maternal health by connecting local communities to governmental health services.

All in all, I am gratified that many of JICA's projects are contributing to the betterment of Bangladesh in many fields. But I believe that we need to do more together in the new stage of development in Bangladesh.

Prime Ministers Mr. Abe and Ms. Hasina acknowledged this new development landscape during their summit held in Tokyo on May 26th. They committed to further strengthening bilateral cooperation through the "Japan-Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership." Just as significantly, they proposed the "Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt" initiative (or BIG-B for short) as a means to guide partnership activities. Prime ministers Hasina and Abe are right on the target, because BIG-B, a grand design to promote industrial agglomeration along the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar belt area, has a great potential under the currently on-going tectonic changes of the global economy.

In the two years since becoming President of JICA, I have visited more than 30 countries all over the world. Through these experiences, I have observed dynamic changes in various parts of the world. And I have begun to see that these changes are part of the tectonic changes that are shifting the center of gravity of the world economy. In the last quarter of the 20th century, that center of gravity has moved from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The west coast of the United States, Japan, the Four Tigers of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, other Southeast Asian countries, and China became the major economic powers driving the global economy. But now in the first quarter of the 21st century, the world economy is shifting its center from the Pacific to a much broader area which I call the Indo-Pacific region. The Pacific continues to play an important role, but it is being connected more and more with the emerging economic powers along the Indian Ocean from Southeast Asia to South Asia, and to Africa. And, of course, the Bay of Bengal is centrally located within this tectonic change as it can function as a key junction between the two oceans.

Unfortunately, we are often bound by outdated geographic divisions. We still draw a dividing line at the Arakan Mountains to separate South Asia from Southeast Asia. I must confess that even JICA's regional divisions at headquarters are still delineated in this manner. Yet perhaps it is high time for the Bay of Bengal to be considered as a coherent strategic region within the broader framework of the Indo-Pacific. Bangladesh's renewed focus to "look east" would be timely and appropriate in this sense.

Bangladesh, in other words, is the linchpin of the Indo-Pacific region. It stands to gain a great deal from the shift in global economic dynamism toward the Indian Ocean. Indeed, the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt initiative (BIG-B) seeks to take full advantage of this trend. It foresees Bangladesh transcending its national borders to become a "node & hub" of the regional economy, so that she may reshape herself as a sparkling trading nation deeply incorporated into inter-regional and global value chain networks. This transformation is imperative if its national target of becoming a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041 is to be achieved.

*BIG-B has three main pillars.

The first pillar is industry and trade.* This pillar mainly consists of constructing a long-awaited deep sea port at the Matarbari Island. This will offer Bangladesh an important trade gateway to the rest of Asia and beyond.

*The second pillar is energy.* Matarbari Island can be developed into a massive supply base of primary energy (such as coal, LNG, and oil). The electricity produced from those sources can support a quantum leap in industry and trade, not only within the area covered by BIG-B but also all over Bangladesh. Recognizing the promise this holds, Power Division and the Bangladesh Power Development Board have already embarked on developing electricity infrastructure throughout the entire area to facilitate greater diversification of the country's energy mix.

*Transportation is the third pillar of BIG-B.* To enable greater industry, trade, and energy production, the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar transport artery needs to be strengthened and even extended to neighboring countries. More and better national highways and railways are an absolute must to accelerate the movement of goods and people that is essential for highly vibrant industrial agglomeration. We are encouraged by the fact that the Roads Division of the Ministry of Communication and the Ministry of Railways have shown a strong commitment to address this urgent need.

BIG-B is also an appropriate strategy for Bangladesh in the sense that the country is now poised to capitalize on three promising economic opportunities.

The first opportunity is the cost-competitiveness of Bangladeshi labor in the global marketplace, which is still strong. This was recently demonstrated in the RMG industry's production shift from China and Vietnam. The Rana Plaza incident was really tragic and JICA is now engaged in a technical and financial cooperation project to make the work place much safer. But even after the Rana Plaza incident in April 2013, several surveys have revealed that Bangladesh's attractiveness as a sourcing hot spot has been little changed.

The second opportunity is the current trend of regional integration. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is currently being negotiated among ten ASEAN countries, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India, is one manifestation of this trend. Bangladesh could benefit more by joining in it.

The third opportunity is provided by the strategic location of Bangladesh, a country between the Indian Ocean and the Asian continent and a country between Southeast Asia and South Asia. Bangladesh can provide the gateway to the Bay of Bengal for the South Asian hinterlands comprising Bhutan, Nepal and India's seven North-Eastern states. These land-locked places are now considered to be a huge untapped market with more than 70 million people. This means that Bangladesh can be a "hub" of the Bengal regional economy. In addition, Bangladesh is also able to play a vital role as an inter-regional node between South-East Asia and South Asia.

However, if Bangladesh is to make the most of these opportunities, it must overcome several important socio-economic challenges.

First, Bangladesh must confront an energy resource deficit. Since the late 1960's, Bangladesh has largely depended on domestic natural gas for all energy used for power generation and industrial and household purposes. However, as we all know, the country's reserves of natural gas are now rapidly depleting. This means Bangladesh will very likely suffer from a severe deficit of this primary energy resource and will inevitably start importing coal and LNG. This might trigger huge trade deficits in the coming years, which could jeopardize the country's entire macroeconomic stability.

Second, Bangladesh will confront massive demand for employment. It is said that, in net terms, approximately two million working-age adults or three million young people will tap on the door of labor market every year over the next 20 years. The key challenge for the Government is to prevent these aspiring new entrants from becoming an onus on society and to obtain the full benefit of the country's demographic bonus. This requires expanding the size of the domestic market, easing the fiscal burden of social safety nets, and improving the quality of education at all levels so as to incubate entrepreneurs, leaders and skilled labors. To make the most of people's potential contribution to the country's development, fundamental infrastructure in the areas of energy/power, transport, water supply and sanitation, and communication is a prerequisite.

Third, the importance of governance here cannot be overstated. It is still a big challenge for the Government of Bangladesh to provide sound and credible governance to its citizens and others, including international investors. It should build an enabling environment for realizing dynamic and inclusive development with consistent policy planning and execution.

Last but not least, adaptation to upcoming changes related to the international trade regime is the third major challenge with which Bangladesh will soon have to grapple. Bangladesh is expected to graduate from least developed countries status in the near future. Although this is an inevitable part of becoming a middle-income country and beyond, it will terminate a variety of preferential trade treatments which Bangladesh currently enjoys. This will expose the protected Ready Made Garment industry to severe global trade competition.

That said, I am confident Bangladesh can turn these challenges into opportunities if the Government takes serious actions, and through implementation of BIG-B.

Ladies and gentlemen, JICA is committed to bringing BIG-B to fruition. Already, the Government of Bangladesh and JICA have jointly identified the Matarbari area, an island of salt and shrimp located 60km south of Chittagong city, as the tipping point for carrying out BIG-B. This island and the surrounding area have all the potential to become completely transformed into an integrated industrial and trading hub, as well as a central energy base. That is the reason why Japan decided to extend support to a national flagship project named the "Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal-Fired Power Project." The governments of Bangladesh and Japan agreed to this Project at the highest level during Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Japan last month. And I am delighted to announce that the loan agreement for this project will be signed this very afternoon.

The Matarbari Coal-Fired Power Project has two key components, a deep sea port 18m in depth for importing coal and a coal-fired power plant with an electricity generation capacity of 1,200MW. That is equivalent to 15% of current electricity demand. The deep sea port will enable 80,000 ton class ships (panamax size) to directly enter the port for coal unloading. Its construction is expected to be completed in 2020.

The coal-fired power plant should start commercial operation in 2022, or perhaps even earlier. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art Ultra Super Critical technologies, the manufacturing and operation of which Japan leads the world. The USC technologies to be used in the Matarbari plant will ensure stellar thermal efficiency (45%) and drive down its NOx and SOx emissions to 10 times below the prevailing levels of these emissions in the USA and France, respectively.

I would like to add that the Matarbari Coal-Fired Power Project has been deliberately designed to accommodate growing electricity demand through further expansion. According to the Power System Master Plan prepared in 2010 with support from JICA, power demand in Bangladesh will surge to the level of 40,000MW in 2030. This is a four-fold increase from the current level. Thermal coal-based electricity generation is expected to satisfy 50% of this forecasted demand. A portion of the remainder will need to be met through greater amounts of LNG imports. Therefore, eventual expansion of the Matarbari plant will likely include construction of power plants adjacent to the planned units, construction of a coal center to service other coal-fired power plants, and even construction of a LNG terminal.

In addition, the Government of Bangladesh and JICA are currently undertaking discussions to conduct a comprehensive master plan of the area including Chittagong and Cox's Bazar. This will further materialize the shape of BIG-B.

Now at this juncture, in order to put the BIG-B in a developmental perspective, it seems useful to reflect on Japan's experiences. Some of you may have heard about Japan's Pacific Belt Policy, which substantially changed our country's own industrial landscape. The "Pacific Belt," extending 1200km from northern Tokyo to south-western Kyushu Island through Osaka, was identified as a core industrial area back in 1960, in an economic plan that aimed to double national income in 10 years. The Pacific Belt now boasts 10 major industrial zones and is home to more than 500,000 companies. At present, it produces 80% of Japan's national output and millions of jobs have been generated because of it. I believe the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt centered in the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar area can engender a similar impact on the Bangladeshi economy. Among the many industrial zones in Japan, the Kashima Deep Sea Port & Industrial Zone may furnish you with useful information in planning for comprehensive development of the Matarbari area. Kashima deep sea port is a 600m-wide and 19m-deep artificial dredging-type port that bears a close resemblance to Matarbari. 160 factories operate near this port in a huge 3660ha industrial zone that is home to more than 20,000 jobs and 30 billion USD in annual economic output.

I should add that another lesson you can draw from 1960's Japan is the importance of minimizing negative impacts of industrial development on the natural environment at the beginning stages, rather than having to restore nature after it has deteriorated.

JICA's Eastern Seaboard Development Program in Thailand is a model of how Japan's experience and a pro-growth development strategy can bear fruit elsewhere. From the 1980s to the early 1990s, JICA supported efforts by the Thai government to pursue industrialization through the promotion of industrial parks and networks of ports, highways and railways with ODA loans and technical cooperation. Now the country has become a big manufacturing hub in the global supply chain. For example, in the automobile sector, Thailand's auto production reached 2 million units per annum in 2012, led by a cluster of major makers with 640 parts suppliers and 1,700 auto-parts subcontractors,. The Eastern Seaboard itself has grown into a large industrial and export base with 14 industrial complexes, 1,300 factories and 360,000 workers. It is now the country's second largest economic area next to Bangkok.

However, the impressive growth of the automobile industry in Thailand was not due to enhanced infrastructure alone. Another critical piece was the gradual improvement of factor productivity --such as skilled labor and effective and efficient administrative institutions. The lesson we can draw from this is that the prospect of infrastructure development, coupled with the capacity and institutional development, attracted domestic and foreign direct investment to Thailand. That, in turn, paved a way for marvelous chain reactions of value addition to accumulate thereafter. JICA is proud to have taken part in this undertaking and working with the Thai authorities to help them realize their vision.

I foresee that, as the eastern outpost of BIG-B, Matarbari, will become a comparable engine of growth for Bangladesh in the decades to come. Japan's own experience of modernization and development, in terms of both its own history and external support, validates this view.

The Japan-Bangladesh bilateral relationship now assumes a new level of importance with the shift in global economic power from the Pacific to the Indo-Pacific region. As a result, the overarching framework of JICA's cooperation for Bangladesh needs to be transformed, too. BIG-B is the first-ever grand design of economic development that adequately addresses the ability of Bangladesh to tap into and connect global markets and value chains. This is why BIG-B will now serve as operational guidance for JICA's projects and plans to accelerate economic growth in Bangladesh.

Rabindranath Tagore said: "You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water". Indeed, implementing BIG-B will require a significant level of commitment. It will pose a series of challenges, but it also presents an unprecedented opportunity for change. Dynamic growth comes about only insofar as a real effort is made to attain it. There is much sea for Bangladesh to sail across, but JICA will be always with you. Let us set out on a new voyage for a brighter future.

Onek Dhonnobad, thank you very much.


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## Bilal9

More details about Japan's BIG-B initiative (apologies to the real BIG-B Amitabh Bacchan-Ji).

Japanese have miscalculated the interchange of Industrial growth between surrounding countries though. Matarbari IMHO will function mainly as a power generation hub and shipping hub benefitting Bangladesh only for value addition and transport. Industrial raw materials might come from Indian states surrounding Bangladesh.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*The Initiative of BIG-B (The Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt)
–Toward Growth beyond Borders–*
The year of 2014 is surely to be remembered by the people of Bangladesh and Japan as an epoch making year to step into a new dimension of the bilateral relationship with a clear vision of economic cooperation.

During their summit talk in Tokyo in May 2014, H.E. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan and H.E. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh agreed to further strengthen bilateral cooperation through the "Japan-Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership." At this occasion, Prime Minister Abe announced to provide 600 billion Yen (approximately US$6 billion), mainly in ODA loans, in 4 to 5 years.

Following the first summit, Prime Minister Abe visited Bangladesh in September 2014, and the two Prime Ministers welcomed that the two countries shared a view on the direction of economic cooperation to be pursued under the initiative of "the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt," or BIG-B.
*
What is "BIG-B"?*

Bangladesh is located with embracing the Bay of Bengal from the sea point of view, and in-between South Asia and South-East Asia from the land point. Under the current global economic power shift toward the Indo-Pacific Ocean region, this geographical advantage will provide a unique opportunity for the country to play a node and hub role in regional as well as inter-regional matters. This also suggests the Bangladesh's renewed focus on "Look East" policy to exploit the vibrant economic growth from Pacific to Indian Ocean.

The BIG-B initiative is to accelerate industrial agglomeration along the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar belt area and beyond, encompassing developing economic infrastructure, improving investment environment and fostering connectivity. The two Prime Ministers also expected the initiative, with maximum use of Japan's advanced technologies and socioeconomic development experiences, to yield mutual benefits and prosperity to both countries.

BIG-B foresees Bangladesh transcending its national borders to become a heart of the regional economy and providing a gateway for both South Asia and South-East Asia to step into a closer inter-regional relation, so that she may reshape herself as a sparkling trading nation deeply incorporated into inter-regional and global value chains.

BIG-B is not incompatible with other existing vital frameworks for the regional cooperation. Rather, it aims to supplement and reinforce them for the maximization of the benefit for Bangladesh.







Bangladesh has remarkably achieved the average of 6% growth in the last decade amid the downturn of the global economy, and is now ready to leap onto the higher growth path to become a middle income country by 2021. At this critical juncture, upon the Government of Japan's extraordinary commitment for the bilateral relationship, JICA will keep on providing the full-fledged sincere cooperation for Bangladesh in strategic project formulation and smooth implementation to realize the BIG-B initiative for the inclusive and dynamic development of the country for＿ decades to come.

For more details on BIG-B, please have a look at the speech of Dr. Akihiko Tanaka, JICA President, titled "BIG-B toward Growth beyond Borders" at the University of Dhaka on June 16, 2014.


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## Bilal9

Mirsarai Bangabandhu Export Zone status update.

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## Bilal9

*Dhaka Airport Third Terminal Article*​


If you decorate the world of imagination like this, you have come down from any part of the country by rail to kamalapur railway station. from there, kaola via khilkhet on the subway. he will get down there and go to the third terminal of hazrat shahjalal international airport. after all the airport formalities, he boarded the plane. then to his destination. don’t fall into any traffic jams at this time. from kamalapur to the airport, you will not see the sunlight.

no, it’s not a dream, it’s going to take shape. the capital’s kaola railway station is being built only to reach the third terminal of hazrat shahjalal international airport. this is how the airport is being decorated to make it easier for those who travel abroad from home or from abroad.

you can use another route to go to the third terminal of hazrat shahjalal international airport. you can go directly to the new terminal built using a 24 km long elevated expressway from Qutubkhali to airport on Dhaka-Chittagong highway. separate arrangements are being put in place to land from the elevated expressway to the terminal in the airport area. you can also leave the airport using the same route. This is how the third terminal at shahjalal airport is being built by Rohani Baharin, an official of a singapore-based company.




Workers are working on the third terminal building of Hazrat Shahjalal international airport.

Singapore's changi airport was also designed by Rohani Baharin. it is said that the third terminal of Shahjalal airport is being constructed on the lines of Changi airport. Rohani Baharin’s design is being implemented by two japanese companies, Mitsubishi and Fujita, and Samsung construction and trading corporation of South Korea.

The country’s main airport currently has two terminals. these two terminals comprise over 100,000 square meters of space. the third terminal that is taking place is more than double the current two terminals. an area of 230,000 square meters. the construction of the third terminal is costing a little over Tk. 21,000 crore.
not only is one terminal being constructed afresh at Hazrat Shahjalal airport. there are four more works in parallel with this. two high speed taxiways are being constructed along with the terminal. the reason for the construction of these two taxiways is that due to the long time the aircraft on the runway, another aircraft cannot land from the top. in addition, two buildings are being constructed for import and export of goods. there will also be a three storey building for car parking. all in all, a huge work is going on at Hazrat Shahjalal airport.

car parking is currently a major problem at this airport. the new terminal will have 1,300 car parking facilities at a time. project officials say Hazrat Shahjalal airport now has the capacity to serve 8 million passengers annually. the third terminal will be upgraded to handle 20 million passengers once it is completed. this means an additional 12 million passengers will be covered under the new service.

officials associated with the project say Metrorail 1 is from Kamalapur to Rajarbagh-malibagh-rampura, yamuna future park, khilkhet to the airport. it’s all subway. work is now underway to construct a 200 metre tunnel from kaola station. at the same time, construction of tunnels to land from the elevated expressway to the terminal is also underway. but if the new terminal is inaugurated before the subway, passengers will come directly to the terminal.





workers working on the third terminal building of Hazrat Shahjalal international airport.

*What’s planned in the new terminal*
There would be 115 check-in counters to prevent passengers from standing in long queues as soon as they enter the terminal. Immigration only after completing the check-in phase. 12 boarding bridges are being built in the third terminal, which will be connected to the aircraft. 64 exit immigration counters are being set up. at the same time, there will be 64 immigration counters. 16 conveyor belts will be built to pull luggage or bags.

Project officials said the third terminal will have a total of 37 additional apron parking. that means 37 aircraft can be parked at a time in the new 3rd terminal. Now there are 29 apron park facilities. Hazrat Shahjalal airport now has four taxiways. two more taxiways are being added afresh. two new taxiways are being constructed to prevent aircraft from staying on the runway for long.





workers working on the third terminal building of Hazrat Shahjalal international airport.

On September 9, large activity was being carried out around the country’s main airport. the boundary wall, the guardroom are being constructed. construction of service roads is also in progress. Maksudul Islam, project director of the new terminal, said at least 5,000 people are working on the entire project. he spoke to labourer shah alam in the project area. shah alam, a resident of noakhali, joined the project three months ago. talking to several other workers, it is learnt that housing has also been provided for the workers in the project area.

The import cargo terminal is being built with an area of 27,000 square meters. piling work is over. Now the ground work is going on. Enamul Hasan, an engineer in charge of the import cargo terminal, said that 389 pillars have been installed. transportation of goods will be all in automated manner.

Project director Maksudul Islam said the third terminal is being constructed so that a passenger from abroad gets down at Hazrat Shahjalal international airport to get a good idea of Bangladesh. the terminal will have all kinds of facilities.








*Auto-Translated from Bengali.*


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## Bilal9

Hatil - furniture manufacturers and exporters

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## PoondolotoPandalum

Bilal9 said:


> Hatil - furniture manufacturers and exporters



"Kaizan principle babohar kore"

Would love to see how Kaizen is implemented in Bangladesh xD


From my experience in the UK industry, many companies claim to abide by Kaizen principles, without really knowing what it is. It's kinda sad, a common buzzword is thrown about to look competent and relevant, but rarely executed. It's all about looking for the very last scrap of detail, for perpetual improvement. The Japanese, being Japanese, is rather good at this. It's one of the reasons why Japanese automobiles are so damn reliable. 

But I'm glad these buzzwords are being used in Bangladesh, alongside "Industry 4.0", "sustainable manufacturing", "parametric design" etc. Bangladesh, being new to industrializing, can incorporate sustainability and "smart" principles from the ground up. And we see this in many newly emerging industries. It's much harder for a large and big organization to shoe-horn these principles in their current modus Operandi. 

These days, if you want to survive as a company making things, you need to do at least one thing exceptionally well. Otherwise, your future is questionable at best. We need to find our niche. Bangladesh should strive for sustainable manufacturing, minimizing energy consumption while maximizing productivity. High investment cost, but it would make Bangladesh more favorable of a place to invest than say Vietnam, as companies are trying tor reduce their carbon footprint

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> "Kaizan principle babohar kore"
> 
> Would love to see how Kaizen is implemented in Bangladesh xD
> 
> 
> From my experience in the UK industry, many companies claim to abide by Kaizen principles, without really knowing what it is. It's kinda sad, a common buzzword is thrown about to look competent and relevant, but rarely executed. It's all about looking for the very last scrap of detail, for perpetual improvement. The Japanese, being Japanese, is rather good at this. It's one of the reasons why Japanese automobiles are so damn reliable.
> 
> But I'm glad these buzzwords are being used in Bangladesh, alongside "Industry 4.0", "sustainable manufacturing", "parametric design" etc. Bangladesh, being new to industrializing, can incorporate sustainability and "smart" principles from the ground up. And we see this in many newly emerging industries. It's much harder for a large and big organization to shoe-horn these principles in their current modus Operandi.
> 
> These days, if you want to survive as a company making things, you need to do at least one thing exceptionally well. Otherwise, your future is questionable at best. We need to find our niche. Bangladesh should strive for sustainable manufacturing, minimizing energy consumption while maximizing productivity. High investment cost, but it would make Bangladesh more favorable of a place to invest than say Vietnam, as companies are trying tor reduce their carbon footprint



Well I can attest that I attended a JICA training back many years ago in Bangladesh on the fishbone diagram method of finding faults. It's also called the Ishikawa diagram. I am sure @bluesky bhai has used it in his line of work. There are at least a dozen Kanban or Kaizen trainings going on in Dhaka at any month by several training groups and companies do pay to have their employees attend these things. Maybe just theoretical now, but someday someone will take it seriously.

Bangladesh manufacturers were dragged into Sustainable manufacturing not by their own willingness but EU buyer requirements. They simply will not place orders if you cannot show some semblance of sustainable practices. However some factories (especially those built in the last five years) did build in LEED type eco-sensitive principles for the buildings. And they do recycle their water (dyeing and finishing plants) as well as clean up effluents (using ETP units) before discharging into the rivers, though some is still going on.









7 of the top 10 LEED® certified factories in Bangladesh — Accord


By Zulker Naeen Bangladesh is grossing a silent revolution by setting up continuous eco-friendly factories. About 7 #green #infrastructures for factories among highest 10 are in now Bangladesh for scoring the highest standard. And each is #garment industries. U.S. Green Bu




www.accordsourcing.co.uk

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## bluesky

Bilal9 said:


> *Well I can attest that I attended a JICA training back many years ago in Bangladesh on the fishbone diagram method of finding faults. It's also called the Ishikawa diagram. I am sure @bluesky bhai has used it in his line of work. There are at least a dozen Kanban or Kaizen trainings going on in Dhaka at any month by several training groups and companies do pay to have their employees attend these things. Maybe just theoretical now, but someday someone will take it seriously.*


I forgot if I have learned immediately after coming to Japan about this fishbone method of finding faults that I forgot, but I do remember the terms Kanban or Kaizen.

But, I went extensively through the CPD (Critical Path Method), a network diagram of work activities in design as well as construction. CPD is very important to create an efficient Construction Schedule. All work activities are independent, yet interlinked.

A simple example: To lay a pipeline underground, the activity must be preceded by

- Excavation and level checking
- Laying RC blocks or bricks. It could also be a sand layer
- Laying the pipes
- Backfilling
- compaction
- Testing and restoration when needed

Note that all activities are independent above, yet are inter-related. However, unless sequences are maintained, it will cause confusion and delay to complete the job.

It is a very low-level simple example. However, you will note that our people dig more than a km, soil with rainwater rushes in, it is pumped out, piping materials then come but not the RC blocks or bricks and so on -------------------. I watched this irregular work approach many years ago, but things have not changed.

BY CPD, the company will dig only a 50m or 100m segments, RC blocks are stocked beforehand, when a 10m segment is dug with the correct level RC blocks are placed, pipes are laid over them whenever the correct length of excavation is ready.

It means, there are separate teams who conduct their separate activities one after another logically. In the morning at 5:00 am all works are completed for that 100m segment. No traffic impediments in the morning.

It may be 10 m, 50m, or more than that, the entire construction must be completed in the early morning. It is a simple example of CPD that is not being followed in BD. Japan follows it in any type of work.

So, you can see a bridge has been completed in BD but the approach/ connecting roads at the two ends have not even started. When it will start? Maybe next year because there is no budget allocation.

Am I wrong about Golden Bangladesh? I hope @UKBengali is not unhappy with me.

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## Bilal9

bluesky said:


> I forgot if I have learned immediately after coming to Japan about this fishbone method of finding faults that I forgot, but I do remember the terms Kanban or Kaizen.
> 
> But, I went extensively through the CPD (Critical Path Method), a network diagram of work activities in design as well as construction. CPD is very important to create an efficient Construction Schedule. All work activities are independent, yet interlinked.
> 
> A simple example: To lay a pipeline underground, the activity must be preceded by
> 
> - Excavation and level checking
> - Laying RC blocks or bricks. It could also be a sand layer
> - Laying the pipes
> - Backfilling
> - compaction
> - Testing and restoration when needed
> 
> Note that all activities are independent above, yet are inter-related. However, unless sequences are maintained, it will cause confusion and delay to complete the job.
> 
> It is a very low-level simple example. However, you will note that our people dig more than a km, soil with rainwater rushes in, it is pumped out, piping materials then come but not the RC blocks or bricks and so on -------------------. I watched this irregular work approach many years ago, but things have not changed.
> 
> BY CPD the company will dig only a 50m or 100m segments, RC blocks are stocked beforehand, when a 10m segment is dug with the correct level RC blocks are placed, pipes are laid over them whenever the correct length of excavation is ready.
> 
> It means, there are separate teams who conduct their separate activities one after another logically. In the morning at 5:00 am all works are completed for that 100m segment. No traffic impediments in the morning.
> 
> It may be 10 m, 50m, or more than that, the entire construction must be completed in the early morning. It is a simple example of CPD that is not being followed in BD. Japan follows it in any type of work.
> 
> So, you can see a bridge has been completed in BD but the approach/ connecting roads at the two ends have not even started. When it will start? Maybe next year because there is no budget allocation.
> 
> Am I wrong about Golden Bangladesh? I hope @UKBengali is not unhappy with me.



Excellent example @bluesky bhai. Critical path is followed in most of the civil and mechanical construction projects in the US. In fact I studied a modicum of it during my Project Mgmt. training sometime ago. All previous work here is seen as dependencies for all consequent work. If you have Microsoft Project or other similar Project Management software - this is illustrated visibly in the diagram. In Bangladesh projects project software is used in LGED for resource constraint measurement. Some of the LGED folks I met knew their stuff, it is one of the better govt. depts. in Bangladesh.

You should study for and get the PMP certification and MS Project certification, unless you have them already. These could raise your salary a lot.

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## Bilal9

*The Crackdown on unregistered smuggled/illegal mobile handsets has begun in Bangladesh as of July 01, 2021. As expected, local mobile handset makers like Walton have taken an active lead in this effort. Here are the instructions in Bengali for those who want to import their personal devices and register them. All software needed were supplied by local vendors.*

অবৈধ ফোন ব্যবহার বন্ধ করতে পরীক্ষামূলকভাবে শুরু হয়েছে মোবাইল ফোনের বৈধতা যাচাই 'ন্যাশনাল ইকুইপমেন্ট আইডেন্টিটি রেজিস্টার' (#NEIR)-এর কার্যক্রম। তাই হ্যান্ডসেট ক্রয় করার সময় অবশ্যই ফোনের বৈধতা যাচাই করা জরুরি। অবৈধ মোবাইল ফোন না কিনে দেশের তৈরি সেরামানের বৈধ ফোন ব্যবহার করুন এবং দেশকে নিরাপদ রাখুন।


*আপনারা যারা দেশের বাহির থেকে মোবাইল আনতে আগ্রহী এবং জানতে চেয়েছেন ১ তারিখের পর কিভাবে কি করবেন তাদের জন্য এই পোস্ট।

"ন্যাশনাল ইকুইপমেন্ট আইডেন্টিটি রেজিস্টার (এনইআইআর)*

ন্যাশনাল ইকুইপমেন্ট আইডেন্টিটি রেজিস্টার (এনইআইআর) এর কার্যক্রম ০১ জুলাই ২০২১ তারিখ হতে পরীক্ষামূলকভাবে শুরু হবে। এনইআইআর এ গ্রাহকের জাতীয় পরিচিতি নম্বর ও সিম নম্বর (এমএসআইএসডিএন) এর সাথে ব্যবহৃত মোবাইল ফোনের আইএমইআই সম্পৃক্ত করে নিবন্ধন করা হবে। গ্রাহক কর্তৃক বর্তমানে মোবাইল ফোন নেটওয়ার্কে ব্যবহৃত সকল হ্যান্ডসেট ৩০ জুন ২০২১ তারিখের মধ্যে স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে নিবন্ধিত হবে। ফলে ০১ জুলাই ২০২১ তারিখ হতে সেটসমূহ বন্ধ হবে না। ০১ জুলাই ২০২১ তারিখ হতে নতুন যে সকল মোবাইল ফোন নেটওয়ার্কে সংযুক্ত হবে তা প্রাথমিকভাবে নেটওয়ার্কে সচল করে এনইআইআর এর মাধ্যমে হ্যান্ডসেটের বৈধতা যাচাই করা হবে। হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ হলে স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে এনইআইআর এ নিবন্ধিত হয়ে নেটওয়ার্কে সচল থাকবে। যে সকল হ্যান্ডসেট বৈধ হবে না সেগুলো সম্পর্কে গ্রাহককে এসএমএস এর মাধ্যমে অবহিত করে পরীক্ষাকালীন সময় তিন মাসের জন্য নেটওয়ার্কে সংযুক্ত রাখা হবে। পরীক্ষামূলক সময় অতিবাহিত হলে সরকারের সিদ্ধান্ত অনুযায়ী পরবর্তী ব্যবস্থা গ্রহণ করা হবে।

*হ্যান্ডসেট ক্রয় বা বিক্রয়ের পূর্বে করণীয়*

০১ জুলাই ২০২১ তারিখ হতে যে কোন মাধ্যম হতে (বিক্রয় কেন্দ্র, অনলাইন বিক্রয় কেন্দ্র, ই-কমার্স সাইট ইত্যাদি) মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট ক্রয়ের পূর্বে অবশ্যই হ্যান্ডসেটটির বৈধতা বর্ণিত পদ্ধতি অনুসরণ করে যাচাই করবেন এবং ক্রয়কৃত হ্যান্ডসেটের ক্রয় রশিদ সংরক্ষণ করবেন। মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ হলে তা স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে এনইআইআর সিস্টেমে নিবন্ধিত হয়ে যাবে।

ধাপ-১: মোবাইল ফোনের মেসেজ অপশনে গিয়ে KYD<space>১৫ ডিজিটের IMEI নম্বরটি লিখুন। উদাহরণ স্বরূপঃ KYD 123456789012345।
ধাপ-২: IMEI নম্বরটি লিখার পর ১৬০০২ নম্বরে প্রেরণ করুন।
ধাপ-৩: ফিরতি মেসেজ এর মাধ্যমে মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেটের বৈধতা সম্পর্কে জানতে পারবেন।

*বিদেশ থেকে ক্রয়কৃত বা উপহারপ্রাপ্ত মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট নিবন্ধন প্রক্রিয়া:*

বিদেশ থেকে ব্যক্তি পর্যায়ে বৈধভাবে ক্রয়কৃত অথবা উপহারপ্রাপ্ত হ্যান্ডসেটসহ সকল হ্যান্ডসেট স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে নেটওয়ার্কে সচল হবে। দশ দিনের মধ্যে অনলাইনে তথ্য/দলিল প্রদান করে নিবন্ধন করার জন্য এসএমএস প্রদান করা হবে। দশ দিনের মধ্যে নিবন্ধন সম্পন্ন করলে উক্ত হ্যান্ডসেট বৈধ হিসেবে বিবেচিত হবে। উক্ত সময়ের মধ্যে নিবন্ধন সম্পন্ন করা না হলে হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ হিসেবে বিবেচিত হবে না এবং সেগুলো সম্পর্কে গ্রাহককে এসএমএস এর মাধ্যমে অবহিত করে পরীক্ষাকালীন সময়ের জন্য নেটওয়ার্কে সংযুক্ত রাখা হবে। পরীক্ষামূলক সময় অতিবাহিত হলে সরকারের সিদ্ধান্ত অনুযায়ী পরবর্তী ব্যবস্থা গ্রহণ করা হবে। হ্যান্ডসেট নিবন্ধন করার পদ্ধতি নিম্নরূপঃ

ধাপ-১: neir.btrc.gov.bd লিংকে ভিজিট করে আপনার ব্যক্তিগত একাউন্ট রেজিস্টার করুন।
ধাপ-২: পোর্টালের Special Registration সেকশনে গিয়ে মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট এর IMEI নম্বরটি দিন।
ধাপ-৩: প্রয়োজনীয় ডকুমেন্ট এর ছবি/স্ক্যান কপি (যেমনঃ পাসপোর্টের ভিসা/ইমিগ্রেশন তথ্যাদি, ক্রয় রশিদ ইত্যাদি) আপলোড করুন এবং Submit বাটন-টি প্রেস করুন।
ধাপ-৪: হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ হলে স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে নিবন্ধিত হবে। হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ না হলে এসএমএস এর মাধ্যমে গ্রাহককে অবহিত করে পরীক্ষাকালীন সময়ের জন্য নেটওয়ার্কে সংযুক্ত রাখা হবে। পরীক্ষামূলক সময় অতিবাহিত হলে সরকারের সিদ্ধান্ত অনুযায়ী পরবর্তী ব্যবস্থা গ্রহণ করা হবে।

নোট: মোবাইল অপারেটরের নিকটস্থ কাস্টমার কেয়ার সেন্টারের সাহায্যেও বর্ণিত সেবা গ্রহণ করা যাবে।

বিঃদ্রঃ বিদ্যমান ব্যাগেজ রুলস অনুযায়ী একজন ব্যক্তি বিদেশ থেকে শুল্ক বিহীন সর্বোচ্চ দুইটি এবং শুল্ক প্রদান স্বাপেক্ষে আরও ছয়টি হ্যান্ডসেট সাথে আনতে পারবে।

*নিবন্ধিত মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট ডি-রেজিস্ট্রেশন করার প্রক্রিয়া*

পরীক্ষামূলক সময়কালে তিন মাস ডি-রেজিস্ট্রেশন ছাড়াই হ্যান্ডসেট হস্তান্তর করা যাবে। উল্লেখ্য যে, একজন গ্রাহক নিজ নামে রেজিস্ট্রিকৃত যে কোন সিম দিয়ে যে কোন হ্যান্ডসেট ব্যবহার করতে পারবে। পরীক্ষামূলক সময় অতিবাহিত হলে ডি-রেজিস্ট্রেশন সম্পর্কে বিস্তারিত জানানো হবে।

*ব্যবহৃত মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট এর বর্তমান অবস্থা যাচাইয়ের প্রক্রিয়া*

ব্যবহৃত মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট এর বর্তমান অবস্থা নিম্নবর্ণিত পদ্ধতি অনুসরণ করে জানা যাবে।

ধাপ-১: মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট হতে *১৬১৬১# নম্বরে ডায়াল করুন।
ধাপ-২: স্ক্রিনে প্রদর্শিত অপশন হতে Status Check অপশন সিলেক্ট করুন।
ধাপ-৩: অটোমেটিক বক্স আসলে হ্যান্ডসেট এর ১৫ ডিজিটের IMEI নম্বরটি লিখে প্রেরণ করুন।
ধাপ-৪: হ্যাঁ/না অপশন সম্বলিত একটি অটোমেটিক বক্স আসলে হ্যাঁ Select করে নিশ্চিত করুন।
ধাপ-৫: ফিরতি মেসেজ এর মাধ্যমে ব্যবহৃত মোবাইল ফোনের/হ্যান্ডসেটের হালনাগাদ অবস্থা জানানো হবে।

নোট: neir.btrc.gov.bd লিংকের মাধ্যমে বিদ্যমান সিটিজেন পোর্টাল অথবা মোবাইল অপারেটরের নিকটস্থ কাস্টমার কেয়ার সেন্টারের সাহায্যে বর্ণিত সেবা গ্রহণ করা যাবে।

*এনইআইআর সম্পর্কিত যে কোন বিষয়ে জানার ক্ষেত্রে করণীয়*

এনইআইআর সম্পর্কিত কোন বিষয়ে জানার প্রয়োজন হলে বিটিআরসি’র হেল্পডেস্ক নম্বর ১০০ অথবা মোবাইল অপারেটরগণের কাস্টমার কেয়ার নম্বর ১২১ এ ডায়াল করে এবং অপারেটরগণের কাস্টমার কেয়ার সেন্টার হতে জানা যাবে।"

-BTRC
#btrc
#neir
#smartphone
NEIR.BTRC.GOV
neir.btrc.gov





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=544074576873926

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## F-6 enthusiast

*Guterres hails Bangladesh’s development*
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . New York | Published: 14:42, Sep 24,2021 | Updated: 00:05, Sep 25,2021






UNB photo
The United Nations secretary general António Guterres has highly appreciated the development of Bangladesh under the leadership of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
He lauded the Bangladesh PM and her apt leadership to advance the country with overall development as he had bilateral talks with Sheikh Hasina at Lotte New York Palace in New York, US, on Thursday afternoon (NY time).

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen later briefed the media about the prime minister’s scheduled events on the day ahead of her UNGA address on Friday.

At the outset of the meeting with Sheikh Hasina, Guterres warmly welcomed her.
He said the United Nations gave prominence on the priorities of Bangladesh.
‘The priorities of Bangladesh are the priorities of the United Nations whether it is climate change or sustainable development goals,’ Guterres said.

During the talks, Sheikh Hasina urged the UN secretary general to engage more personnel of Bangladesh armed forces in the higher ranks of the UN peacekeeping mission.
Replying to a query about UN secretary general’s response to the PM’s call, the foreign minister said Guterres was seen positive to the call as he wanted to do more for Bangladesh.
In this context, he said the UN secretary general also mentioned that Bangladesh has earned reputation and has a success story in the UN peacekeeping mission.

Momen said, ‘The UN has acknowledged Bangladesh was a ‘role model’ as it was turning into ‘a vibrant economy’.
Guterres has also commended Bangladesh for its leadership in all UN achievements, the foreign minister said.
The prime minister also had meetings with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Vietnam President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and Maldivian president Ibrahim Mohammad Solih at the UN headquarters.
The Netherlands Queen Maxima, during a bilateral talk with Sheikh Hasina, said, ‘We are mulling over introducing insurance for checking the loss and damages caused by the natural calamities’.
Foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen, prime minister’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim and Bangladesh permanent representative to the UN Rabab Fatima were present.

Speaking about the meeting between prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Maldivian president Ibrahim Mohammad Solih, Momen said the two countries are working on commercial ship operation between Male and Chattogram.

During the meeting with Vietnam president Nguyễn Xuân Phúc , prime minister Sheikh Hasina requested him to exert pressure on the Myanmar authorities so that ‘they take back Rohingyas to their homeland’.

link: Guterres hails Bangladesh’s development (newagebd.net)

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## Bilal9

Within the next one year, Bangladesh' fuel oil import and supply system is undergoing major changes. So that thousands of crores of Takas will be saved every year. For this purpose, besides the CXB/Matarbari fuel oil unloading project, the construction of pipeline from Cox's Bazar to Dhaka by sea is also proceeding. As a result, not only is the long-standing conventional way of oil transport using pipelines is changing, but also the reality of huge reserves of fuel security is becoming apparent. 

Maheshkhali, the only hilly island in the country isolated from water, is home to the country's largest oil unloading installation of single point mooring or SPM project. The fuel oil will come from a mother vessel anchored at Single Point Mooring, 9 km south-west of the sea boundary at Matarbari.

The fuel will be received from Mother Vessel in just 48 hours which used to take 11 days to arrive by lighterage ship. The project, which is being built across 90 acres of land at a cost of about Tk. 6,500 crore, will be able to store oil stocks in the country worth about two and a half months in three large refined oil and three large crude oil tanks.

These will be pumped from the storage tanks and sent via pipeline to the Eastern Refinery in Patenga. Therefore, the work of laying a total of 193 km of pipeline including at the bottom of the sea is also nearing completion. The government has a plan to bring the benefits of of this SPM project network all the way to the capital.

If the price of fuel oil suddenly rises in the international market, this modern project with huge storage capacity will be able to absorb pricing shocks it temporarily.

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## Bilal9

Payra Lebukhali Bridge days away from inauguration by PM...

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## Bilal9

The Army has completed roughly 45 KM of their planned 81 KM "Thanchi to Likri Road" to connect the four highest foothill peaks of Bangladesh (all the way to the Myanmar border, where Likri is), this is the highest height road in Bangladesh. The peaks connected are,

Saka Haphong (AKA "Mowdok Mual") - currently tallest peak in the country at 1,064 meters (3,451 feet) 
Tazing Dong - 1056 meters (3,465 feet)
Keokra Dong - 967 meters (3172 feet), and
Deim peak
বান্দরবানের দুর্গম থানচির সুউচ্চ পাহাড়ের চূড়ার পাশাপাশি মেঘের ভেতর দিয়ে দীর্ঘ ৮১ কিলোমিটার রাস্তা তৈরি করে চমক সৃষ্টি করতে যাচ্ছে বাংলাদেশ সেনাবাহিনী। থানচি জিরো পয়েন্ট থেকে শুরু হওয়া এই সড়ক শেষ হবে মিয়ানমার সীমান্তবর্তী লিক্রিতে। ইতোমধ্যে ৪৫ কিলোমিটার সড়কের কাজ শেষ হয়েছে। আর এই সড়ক একই সুতোয় যুক্ত করতে যাচ্ছে সাকা হাফং-তাজিংডং-কেওক্রাওডং এবং ডিম পাহাড়কে। 

View at Keokradong





View at Saka Haphong





Tiny Bandarban Town - could be made into a wonderful Hill Station - like Darjeeling or Shimla but at a smaller scale.





Nilachal, Bandarban (5 KM outside Bandarban) - there is a huge scope of eco-tourism possibility here, including cable cars and zip-lining like in the Genting Highlands.

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## Bilal9

New Medical Infra in Bangladesh,

*Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing (GCCN), which is a small part of the massive "Health Complex One" under Grameen in Diabari, Uttara Third Phase, The yellow building is GCCN.














*





















*
















Multidisciplinary Super Specialized Hospital is being constructed on 3.8 acres of land in Shahbag under the supervision of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).*

Work on the project started in September 2016 with a grant of Tk 1,046 crore from the South Korean government and Tk 319 crore from the Bangladesh government. Hyundai Corporation, Korea has been involved in the construction work. Samsung, Korea is providing all kinds of parts for the project. Already 95 per cent of the exterior work of the project has been completed and 80 per cent of the interior work has been completed. After its inauguration in December this year, a South Korean company will maintain it for 2 years.

This 11-storey hospital has all kinds of medical services in the world. This hospital has everything that people used to go abroad for medical services. There are 5 specialized different centers with robotic surgery, transplant medical services, modern facilities and about 1000 beds, 100 ICU beds with 14 state-of-the-art operating theaters and emergency beds. The hospital will be able to treat 6,000 patients daily from the outpatient department.

There will be 5 different centers for emergency medical services, mother and child center, cardiovascular center, hepatobiliary and gastroenterology center and kidney disease center. Advanced surgery including various organ transplants will be completed in 14 state-of-the-art operating theaters. The hospital will also have 250 car parking facilities.

The hospital will also have 6 dedicated cabins for the treatment of VVIPs i.e. President, Prime Minister, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and other persons and where there will be separate arrangements to ensure security. There will also be 25 separate cabins for VIPs.

There will be convenience stores, banking activities, kitchens, cafeterias etc. inside the hospital to ensure all kinds of facilities under one roof. The hospital information system is based on complete information and technology. Through which various types of cutting edge information facility will be provided.

To ensure medical treatment, 60 doctors, 30 nurses, 10 medical technologists and 20 people from the administration branch will be trained directly from South Korea and about 80 Korean specialists will come to Bangladesh and train 480 more.

After the construction of this super specialized hospital, the construction of Phase-II project will start with the funding of the Korean government. For which the feasibility study of the project is underway. The project will be financed around Tk 2,500 crore. There will be other centers including Medicine, Chest Disease, Eye, Teeth, Dermatology and Sexuality, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, General Surgery.

In many modern countries of the world such as Singapore, Korea and other western world such center based modern medical services have been introduced long ago. Due to the lack of such facilities in Bangladesh, ordinary people including VVIPs travel to different countries of the world to ensure advanced treatment. This leaves millions of dollars a year for medical tourism in Bangladesh. *Surprising information is that only 5000 crore rupees goes from India to Bangladesh for medical treatment every year!*

Korea has already invested in Bangladesh's medical sector and Turkey and China are also interested in investing in this sector. In that case, it would be advisable to build new hospitals in the 100 economic zones proposed by the government. Construction of such super specialized hospitals in the north, east, west and south. At the same time improved communication system must be ensured. As a result, people will receive treatment from their respective areas without going to Dhaka.

When VVIPs will also receive treatment in all these hospitals, people will have confidence in the country's medical system. This will enable people to get better medical services at a lower cost and will reduce the tendency of people to seek medical services from abroad. Saving will happen in foreign currency.

Render





Current Status

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## Bilal9

^^ That last picture shows the area where the BSMMU Specialized Complex is being built, interesting that this whole plot of land at one time belonged to Paribagh Shah Sahib or maybe Nawab family (Hasan Askari et al who moved to Pakistan post 1971, they burnt his house down in that area). I don't know if Paribagh Shah Sahib's Home/Dargah still exists in that area. or they demolished it. Which is right next to "Priyo-Prangan" Condo Complexes.


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## F-6 enthusiast

slowly but surely

Walton starts microwave oven exports to Europe | The Daily Star
*Walton starts microwave oven exports to Europe*

Star Business Report
Wed Sep 29, 2021 08:18 AM
Walton Hi-Tech Industries’ Director Tahmina Afrose Tanna announces the inauguration of microwave oven export to Romania and Hungary at a programme held at Walton Corporate Office in Dhaka on September 27, 2021. Photo: Collected
" style="box-sizing: inherit;">
Walton Hi-Tech Industries’ Director Tahmina Afrose Tanna announces the inauguration of microwave oven export to Romania and Hungary at a programme held at Walton Corporate Office in Dhaka on September 27, 2021. Photo: Collected
*The Bangladeshi electronics company Walton has started microwave oven export to Romania and Hungary.*
Tahmina Afrose Tanna, director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited, officially inaugurated the microwave oven exports through cutting a giant cake at Walton's corporate office in Dhaka on Monday.
*

For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.*
Two renowned electronics and home appliance marketing enterprises in the two European nations will supply Walton's microwave ovens to their respective markets, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
Walton has been manufacturing products of European standards and designs, Tanna said.
Engineers of Walton Product Research and Innovation Department are working on delivering products of innovative designs and features for the national and international markets, she said.

"And thus, Walton's microwave ovens are now being exported to Romania and Hungary."

This will be a milestone in Walton's 'Vision Go Global 2030' and it has also facilitated the market expansion of Walton's microwave ovens in the central and eastern Europe, she added.
A total of 20 models of microwave ovens equipped with latest technology are being manufactured at Walton factory now, said Al Imran, chief business officer of Walton Home Appliances.

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## PoondolotoPandalum

F-6 enthusiast said:


> slowly but surely
> 
> Walton starts microwave oven exports to Europe | The Daily Star
> *Walton starts microwave oven exports to Europe*
> 
> Star Business Report
> Wed Sep 29, 2021 08:18 AM
> Walton Hi-Tech Industries’ Director Tahmina Afrose Tanna announces the inauguration of microwave oven export to Romania and Hungary at a programme held at Walton Corporate Office in Dhaka on September 27, 2021. Photo: Collected
> " style="box-sizing: inherit;">
> Walton Hi-Tech Industries’ Director Tahmina Afrose Tanna announces the inauguration of microwave oven export to Romania and Hungary at a programme held at Walton Corporate Office in Dhaka on September 27, 2021. Photo: Collected
> *The Bangladeshi electronics company Walton has started microwave oven export to Romania and Hungary.*
> Tahmina Afrose Tanna, director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited, officially inaugurated the microwave oven exports through cutting a giant cake at Walton's corporate office in Dhaka on Monday.
> *
> 
> For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.*
> Two renowned electronics and home appliance marketing enterprises in the two European nations will supply Walton's microwave ovens to their respective markets, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
> Walton has been manufacturing products of European standards and designs, Tanna said.
> Engineers of Walton Product Research and Innovation Department are working on delivering products of innovative designs and features for the national and international markets, she said.
> 
> "And thus, Walton's microwave ovens are now being exported to Romania and Hungary."
> 
> This will be a milestone in Walton's 'Vision Go Global 2030' and it has also facilitated the market expansion of Walton's microwave ovens in the central and eastern Europe, she added.
> A total of 20 models of microwave ovens equipped with latest technology are being manufactured at Walton factory now, said Al Imran, chief business officer of Walton Home Appliances.



I wish they exported washing machines, so this advert can be even more ironic

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> I wish they exported washing machines, so this advert can be even more ironic



Walton expanded their Washing Machine production capability and is already exporting to India, Yemen, Nepal and other countries. Still early days though...



*Walton launches new production line for washing machine*

Published : Wednesday, 16 June, 2021 at 12:00 AM Count : 735
_Business Correspondent_


 

 


​​

































Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited (WHIL) Director Tahmina Afrose Tanna inaugurated the new production line at Walton Hi-Tech Park in Chandra, Gazipur, on June 12 last.

Bangladesh's super brand in consumer electronics market 'Walton' has added a new state-of-the art production line to the existing one of its washing machine manufacturing factory.

The new line has been set up for manufacturing latest technologies' top loading washing machines. The new addition has increased the monthly production capacity of Walton's washing machine manufacturing factory to 50K units and also the number of workforce rose to over 1K.

Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited (WHIL) Director Tahmina Afrose Tanna inaugurated the new production line at Walton Hi-Tech Park in Chandra, Gazipur, June 12 last.

Meanwhile, the Walton Hi-Tech's director unveiled a new model (ATG80) of washing machine, featured with European standard 'Triple Star' energy rating, diamond drum, high efficient pulsate, water recovery program, IMD control panel, digital display, durable PCM cabin, 430-grade stainless steel drum, soft closing tempered glass damping door, automatic load balancing, quick wash, left time display, self-diagnostic fault finding convenient detergent Box, effective lint filter, drum clean etc. This new model will cost only Tk 1 per wash.

Among others, WHIL's Deputy Managing Director (DMD) Alamgir Alam Sarker, Executive Directors Col. (Retd.) Shahdat Alam, Yusuf Ali, Tapash Kumar Majumder, Yeasir Al Imran, Home Appliance Department's Chief Executive Director (CEO) Al-Imran, Chief Operating Officer Saiful Islam, Research and Development Division's Head Moniruzzaman Karjon and Senior Operative Director Mohsin Ali Mollah were also present.

Besides, WHIL's other DMDs Nazrul Islam Sarker, Eva Rezwana Nilu, Amdadul Haque Sarker and Humayun Kabir, Walton Plaza Trade's CEO Mohammad Rayhan, International Business Unit's President Edward Kim, Executive Directors Sirajul Islam and Shakhawat Hossen also attended the function virtually.

Addressing the function, WHIL Director Tahmina Afrose Tanna said: "Walton achieved great success in manufacturing world-class washing machine in Bangladesh. Such sophisticated products will take Bangladesh forward with the era, she noted.

Walton Home Appliances' CEO Al-Imran said: "The washing machine manufacturing facotry has been equipped with an advanced and strong RnD deivision. In Bangladesh, only Walton washing has performance testing lab, 5 star energy rating and 5 year guarantee facility.

Walton is exporting its locally finished washing machines in various countries around the world such as India, Nepal, Yemen and East Timor. This time Walton has intensified its washing machine manufacturing activities targeting the markets of the developed world including Europe.

According to the authorities, Walton is currently producing and marketing more than 29 models of semi-automatic and automatic top and front loading Walton washing machines.

These washing machines with a capacity of 6 to 15 kg cost between Tk 8,990 and Tk 59,900. Walton washing machines are extremely visually pleasing and energy efficient. It has all the latest features. Walton has 76 service centers across the country under the ISO Certified Service Management System to provide fast and best after sales service.

At present, various customers' benefits are available in Walton washing machine purchase such as ease monthly installment facility with a minimum down payment of only Tk 999, interest-free EMI facility for 12-month, 3-month replacement guarantee, up to 10 years guarantee on motor, free installation etc.

On the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, Walton's 'Mega Eid Festival' is being held across the country under 'Digital Campaign Season-11'. Under the campaign, customers can buy Walton washing machines and get cash vouchers worth lakhs of taka and guaranteed discounts.​
12 November, 2020 07:46:49 PM

*Walton starts exporting washing machine to India*
Staff Reporter, Dhaka




*Local technology conglomerate has started exporting locally made washing machines to India, creating another milestone in the country’s export sector.*

The local company is going to ship out the first consignment of washing machine to India on November 15 next.

With this, Walton has added one more item to its existing export to the neighboring county, including refrigerator, air conditioner, television and some other home appliances, according to a press release issued by the company.

Walton is supplying a giant volume of semi-automatic washing machine to a South Korean renowned brand as OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer).
The ‘Made in Bangladesh’ tagged Walton products will be sold in Indian market.

The announcement was made at an inauguration ceremony titled ‘Exporting Washing Machine to India’ held at Walton Corporate Office in the capital on Wednesday.

The function was attended by Walton’s Deputy Managing Director Nazrul Islam Sarker, Executive Directors SM Zahid Hasan and Humayun Kabir, International Business Unit (IBU) President Edward Kim and Walton Home Appliances’ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Engineer Al Imran.

Among others, Walton’s Senior Operative Directors Roqibul Islam and Engineer Syed Al Imran, Deputy Operative Director Abdur Rouf, Additional Director Augustin Sujan, Senior Operative Director Chiranjit Paul, and Deputy Director Olga Alam were present on the occasion.

Al Imran, CEO of Walton home appliances, said, Washing machine has huge demands around the globe and its annual market is around $60 billion. The annual demand of washing machine in the Indian market is around 10 million units. Thus it would be a promising market for Walton as well as Bangladesh.

“By next year, Walton planned to export at least 100k unit of washing machines to India,” he added. 

In the last five months (June to October), the sales of Walton washing machine was swelled up by about 80 per cent compared to the previous year’s corresponding period. In the same period, washing machine exports have also increased, the statement added.

Along with the Indian market, Walton is exporting washing machine to Nepal, Yemen, East Timor and some other countries.

Walton’s Washing Machine R&D (Research and Development) Head Moniruzzaman Karjon said that since 2017, they have been manufacturing international standard washing machine with advanced technologies in line with the buyers’ choice, demand, purchasing capacity as well as suitability of weather.

Walton is manufacturing and marketing 14 models of different capacities, ranging from 6 to 12.5 kg, energy efficient semi-automatic and automatic washing machines with top and front loading functions which are priced between Tk 6,900 and Tk 48,000.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka HQ of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (AKA "Pani Bhaban").

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## Bilal9

Gulshan Club New Building






Shanta Forum Twin Towers current status. Property all sold out.

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## Bilal9

*Aga Khan educational campus current status*










*Sunnydale School Permanent Campus, Bashundhara



*

*STS DPS School, Sun Valley Road, Dhaka*

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## Bilal9

There are more STS DPS schools being built across Dhaka (multiple campuses) and in other towns like Sylhet and Chittagong where well-heeled families live. However we should always ensure that none of the Indian teachers hired indoctrinate our kids in any Indian-specialized philosophies. Such indoctrination must be watched for, and checked. We have had many instances of this happen in Dhaka University in Pakistan times. Indian teachers can come teach initially - but we should also replace them with well-educated Bangladeshi teachers as soon as time and opportunity permits.

We don't want to adopt Indian culture or "aloo mutter" Indian accent, that does not help us get ahead in the global citizenship arena.

Look at this gay Indian dance choreographer at their Dhaka campus to get some idea....he will teach you how to 'float' across the room and "Sashay". RuPaul from India. I guess for girls its okay...





STS DPS Purbachal Campus (renders)

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## Bilal9

Plastic recycling in Bangladesh - mostly post-consumer PET bottles ..


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Kalna Bridge (six lanes) being built on the Modhumati river, it will reduce the distance between Dhaka and Jessore by 100 KM and improve the GDP increasing opportunities in that area.






Some renders of the Bridge design,


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## Bilal9

New Aakash Properties Commercial projects in Dhaka (14 stories now - but with permission to build up to 25 stories).






Aakash Square Tejgaon/Mahakhali





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=147309497375336









__ https://www.facebook.com/aakashdevelopments/photos/a.1755346691405404/2915962405343821










*Aakash Signature, Dhanmandi*





Shamsul Aakash Center, Shatmasjid Road, Dhanmandi





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=468691450835850




















Aakash Pragati




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=501275207944635





Concord Projects (Concord is one of the oldest and most reputable R/E developers in Bangladesh - however their designs aren't exactly cutting edge)










Concord Niharika (corner of Kamal Ataturk Road and Airport road in Banani, Dhaka) - commercial project









World Trade Center (Chittagong) by Concord









*Concord Residential apt. and luxury condo projects*

Lake City Concord










Paramount Concord 






Anamica Concord a*t Shewrapara, Dhaka*.


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## Bilal9

*AAKASH LAKE VIEW*
Exclusive Residential Luxury Condo Project at Baridhara (designed by one of the premier architectural design ateliers in Bangladesh, Volume Zero).


























Rooftop pool


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## Bilal9

Made in Bangladesh from Circuit Board/SMD/SMT level:


*Walton 55″ 4K Smart TV (WD4-MT55-VC10) 
*






*Features & Highlights*

*55″ 4K Display Resolution*
*120Hz Fluid Motion Engine*
Running On Android Nougat v7.0
*1.0 GHz Quad-Core Processor*
1.25 GB RAM & 8 GB Internal Storage
*Built-in 5th Gen WiFi*
MPEG & Noise Reduction
Stylish & Slim Design
Energy Saving Features

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## PoondolotoPandalum

Bilal9 said:


> Made in Bangladesh from Circuit Board/SMD/SMT level:
> 
> 
> *Walton 55″ 4K Smart TV (WD4-MT55-VC10) *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Features & Highlights*
> 
> *55″ 4K Display Resolution*
> *120Hz Fluid Motion Engine*
> Running On Android Nougat v7.0
> *1.0 GHz Quad-Core Processor*
> 1.25 GB RAM & 8 GB Internal Storage
> *Built-in 5th Gen WiFi*
> MPEG & Noise Reduction
> Stylish & Slim Design
> Energy Saving Features




It's really expensive @ 94,000 taka. Which puts it up against stiff competition among the very best in the business. As much as I like them, I wouldn't buy their TV for that much. Smart fridges maybe. TV, not yet.

But that's the default rrp. Walton dealers are known to slash prices off the rrp, with a lot of flash sales.

I think it might be a phantom product, to showcase what they're capable of. I don't think they plan to sell many. But it'll serve the purpose of improving the brand image. The point of phantom products is to sell the brand, rather than sell itself.

They even had plans for an 8K TV!!!! Showcased at a trade show before covid. It was in its testing phase. Probably another phantom product. But not much is known about it since the unviel. Not sure if it's completely their product either.

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> It's really expensive @ 94,000 taka. Which puts it up against stiff competition among the very best in the business. As much as I like them, I wouldn't buy their TV for that much. Smart fridges maybe. TV, not yet.
> 
> But that's the default rrp. Walton dealers are known to slash prices off the rrp, with a lot of flash sales.
> 
> I think it might be a phantom product, to showcase what they're capable of. I don't think they plan to sell many. But it'll serve the purpose of improving the brand image. The point of phantom products is to sell the brand, rather than sell itself.
> 
> They even had plans for an 8K TV!!!! Showcased at a trade show before covid. It was in its testing phase. Probably another phantom product. But not much is known about it since the unviel. Not sure if it's completely their product either.



Well even 4K content and programming is itself hard to find in the US (unless you count Netflix or Amazon Video), forget 8K content. There are a handful of 4K content (video) available on YouTube, but the Amazon Firestick had been available in 4K for a year or more, which allows 4K content and programming from various apps like Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Video etc. I am sure you can get those options in Bangladesh too. Eventually 4K content will be more numerous and available.

But if you ask me, I don't see a point to upgrade to 8K yet. 4K (and 4K upscaling of HD content) is enough bang-for-the-buck for me, having plenty of difference between HD and itself.

I have seen an 8K model at a friend's house and remain underwhelmed. Not worth the money right now to upgrade. It's like the early days of HDTV, they are asking too much. Let the early-adopters pay for the 8K products, then you and I can buy down the line, a couple of years later.

Even Samsung QLED 75 inch 8K TV's are priced around 10,00,000 Rupees in India which means Bangladesh-made Walton 8K TV will be around Tk. 9,00,000 or thereabouts. I am sure 8K TVs for now will be "By-order-basis" only for the subcontinent (or imported from overseas). The changes to the circuit board is rather minor, changes for 8K are mainly in the screen, which I am sure Walton does not make - yet.









Samsung launches The Serif, premium 8K QLED TVs in India --Check out price and availability


The Serif will come in three sizes – 43-inch, 49-inch and 55-inch - for Rs 83,900, Rs 1,16,900 and Rs 1,48,900, respectively.




zeenews.india.com


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## Bilal9

*PM to inaugurate installation work of RNPP reactor vessel tomorrow*

Sun Online Desk
9th October, 2021 09:48:56 PM
Print news






Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate virtually the reactor pressure vessel installation work in the first reactor building of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) tomorrow (Sunday).

The premier will inaugurate it through video conferencing from her official residence Ganabhaban at 10am. "With this, the country's dream to produce nuclear energy is going to be materialized," an official familiar with the process told BSS.

The main unit of the nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna will be installed in the first unit of the reactor pressure vessel or nuclear reactor.

"Rooppur NPP has accumulated the best Russian practice and dozens of years of experience and scientific thoughts. The unique combination of active and passive systems of the power units will ensure safe operation of the power plant and guarantee the planned level of electricity generation", director general of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev said.

He said, "Development of nuclear power industry will not only resolve the problem of energy supply in Bangladesh but will also contribute to the development of the region and enhance the living standards of the people."

"Cooperation between Russia and Bangladesh is of strategic character. I am confident that many other projects both in the field of power engineering and other areas are yet to be implemented by Russian and Bangladeshi specialists together", Likhachev further said.

Before installing the nuclear reactor, Science and Technology Minister Architect Yafesh Osman said it is the most important chapter in the construction of the nuclear power plant and with this the project is moving forward on time.

The nuclear power plant in Pabna that consists of two units with a capacity of 1,200MW each is the country's maiden power project of its kind, he said.

Project Director and nuclear scientist Dr Md Shaukat Akbar said that work is going on in Rooppur following strict hygiene rules in COVID-19.

He said installation of almost all types of nuclear equipment will be completed by installing reactor pressure vessels inside the physical structure of Unit-1. As a result, the work inside the reactor building of this unit will be almost completed.

The Ruppur project is being implemented by the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, which is being constructed with the technical and financial support of Russia.

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## F-6 enthusiast

Bilal9 said:


> *PM to inaugurate installation work of RNPP reactor vessel tomorrow*
> 
> Sun Online Desk
> 9th October, 2021 09:48:56 PM
> Print news
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate virtually the reactor pressure vessel installation work in the first reactor building of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) tomorrow (Sunday).
> 
> The premier will inaugurate it through video conferencing from her official residence Ganabhaban at 10am. "With this, the country's dream to produce nuclear energy is going to be materialized," an official familiar with the process told BSS.
> 
> The main unit of the nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna will be installed in the first unit of the reactor pressure vessel or nuclear reactor.
> 
> "Rooppur NPP has accumulated the best Russian practice and dozens of years of experience and scientific thoughts. The unique combination of active and passive systems of the power units will ensure safe operation of the power plant and guarantee the planned level of electricity generation", director general of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev said.
> 
> He said, "Development of nuclear power industry will not only resolve the problem of energy supply in Bangladesh but will also contribute to the development of the region and enhance the living standards of the people."
> 
> "Cooperation between Russia and Bangladesh is of strategic character. I am confident that many other projects both in the field of power engineering and other areas are yet to be implemented by Russian and Bangladeshi specialists together", Likhachev further said.
> 
> Before installing the nuclear reactor, Science and Technology Minister Architect Yafesh Osman said it is the most important chapter in the construction of the nuclear power plant and with this the project is moving forward on time.
> 
> The nuclear power plant in Pabna that consists of two units with a capacity of 1,200MW each is the country's maiden power project of its kind, he said.
> 
> Project Director and nuclear scientist Dr Md Shaukat Akbar said that work is going on in Rooppur following strict hygiene rules in COVID-19.
> 
> He said installation of almost all types of nuclear equipment will be completed by installing reactor pressure vessels inside the physical structure of Unit-1. As a result, the work inside the reactor building of this unit will be almost completed.
> 
> The Ruppur project is being implemented by the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, which is being constructed with the technical and financial support of Russia.



on topic discussion about power generation 

Time to drill some gas


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## Bilal9

*A case for green transition in our apparel sector*


Fahmida Khatun
Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:00 AM
A green RMG factory in Gazipur. File photo: Star







In today's world, business is not only about profit, employment, income, and growth. Hence, it is not only about economic sustainability—it is also about social and environmental sustainability. In the run-up to the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the green transition of all economic activities has gained more momentum. Several global leaders have reiterated their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and set ambitious targets to reach net-zero levels of emissions in an attempt to keep the global temperature rise within 1.5 degree Celsius. The private sector, including large businesses, has also made a commitment to reduce carbon emissions and set timelines to become carbon neutral.

One may refer to the findings of a McKinsey report in 2018, which indicated that the global fashion industry emitted about 2.1 billion metric tonnes of GHG—which is equivalent to about four percent of total global GHG emission. The fashion industry has to reduce its GHG emissions by 1.1 billion metric tonnes of carbon equivalent by 2030. Unfortunately, at the current trajectory of its GHG emission, the targets of 2030 will not be met.

Bangladesh is a small player in the global fashion industry. In fact, Bangladesh's national contribution to global GHG emission is 0.45 percent. However, despite its negligible GHG emission, Bangladesh has to play its part and make efforts towards the green transition of its economy, including the ready-made garment (RMG) sector. Producers, buyers and consumers worldwide are more aware of climate and environmental issues than ever before. Hence, sustainability has become a core agenda among brands. Many high-end brands have also started using recycled fabrics. Over 40 brands have committed to cut their GHG emission by 30 percent within 2030.

The RMG sector is not only human resource-intensive, but also natural resource-intensive, at every stage of the life cycle. The sector generates large amounts of waste—it requires volumes of clean freshwater for washing, dyeing, and finishing (WDF) of textiles. The textile sector is also energy-intensive. For WDF-related activities, hot water and steam have to be generated, which contributes to GHG emission. Besides, a number of harmful chemicals—including nitrous oxides, sulphur dioxides, carbon monoxide, and chlorine dioxide—are also released from factories through various activities. Therefore, the environmentally sustainable production process in the RMG sector involves waste management, water conservation, and energy efficiency.

The government of Bangladesh is committed to achieving higher economic growth in an environment-friendly manner, and will work to reduce the impacts of climate change. Its medium- and long-term plans, such as the eighth five-year plan and the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, have spelt out strategies and action plans in that direction. Among others, monitoring and controlling pollution, higher investment in industrial effluent treatment plants, and the adoption of cleaner technologies for economic activities are among the few important promises of the government.

In the recent past, Bangladesh's RMG sector took a number of initiatives towards a green and sustainable industry. The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) signed the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action in 2019 with the UNFCCC for reducing GHG emissions by 30 percent by 2030. It also entered into partnership with a number of international organisations to promote environmental sustainability. One of its pledges to be a part of the "Green Button Initiative" of the government of Germany is a state-owned seal on environmental sustainability.

Bangladesh has 148 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green garment factories, certified by the US Green Building Council. Nine out of the world's top 10 green RMG factories are located in Bangladesh. Also, 40 out of the top 100 green industrial projects in the world are situated in Bangladesh. More than 500 factories are in the pipeline to achieve the green factory status. It must be noted that in a highly cost-competitive environment, it is a challenge to be LEED-certified companies that are designed and built in a way to use less energy and water, have good indoor air quality, and improve the quality of life. These standards are much above the national requirements and are also expensive. Also, RMG factories have entered the Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT) programme of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which aims to lower environmental impact and resource consumption in the sector. Factories under PaCT have adopted cleaner production practices, which have helped reduce their GHG emissions.

The RMG sector is one of the major driving forces of the Bangladesh economy. It is the source of employment and income for about four million workers, the majority of whom are women. It is a key source of foreign exchange income. Currently, about 81 percent of export income comes from this sector. Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of apparels in the world, following China. During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the sector faced challenges in terms of reduced exports due to the nationwide lockdown in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus, and also cancellation and postponement of orders by a number of international buyers. However, as soon as the global markets started to open up, RMG exports started to pick up too. In recent months, the growth of RMG exports has been significant. In September 2021, RMG exports grew by 41.7 percent compared to the previous month.

During the last decade or so, the sector has worked towards improving various compliances in partnership with brands. As the country is going to graduate from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status by 2026, the compliance requirements on Bangladeshi exports will become more stringent. With higher commitments of governments and private sectors and higher awareness of consumers around the world, social and environmental issues are taking the centre stage of production and consumption.

However, green economic transition also involves costs. To remain competitive in the global market, productivity enhancement and cost minimisation are needed. Some of the LEED factory owners are not happy, since they have not seen returns on their green investments in terms of higher revenues. There is a demand on buyers for higher prices of apparels for the supply chains to be climate neutral. Also, it will be difficult for many factories to be climate-positive through energy-efficient technologies because of the additional costs involved.

Therefore, technology transfer and finance are two major requirements for the green transition of the RMG sector in Bangladesh. Higher productivity and lesser wastage of resources through better technology can reduce cost. However, technological upgradation has to be associated with capacity development of workers as it may lead to displacement of unskilled workers—particularly female workers. Indeed, environmental compliance has to be coupled with social compliance. It has to ensure a decent living for its workers.

Catalysing green finance is crucial for green transformation of the RMG industry through environment-friendly technologies. Global sources such as the Green Climate Fund have been less effective as the disbursement process is slow. However, given the scale of requirements for a green path, green financing will have to be mobilised from multiple sources. Public resources can never fulfil the demand; private investment is more crucial. A blended finance package comprising grants, green loan guarantees, subsidised loans, and also support from buyers can de-risk environmental investment and catalyse private funds. Higher green investment in the RMG sector will not only make the RMG sector sustainable, but will also help achieve Bangladesh's commitments towards implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including two important SDGs: SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production, and SDG 13 on climate action. Hence, commitments for a green RMG sector are also commitments for intergenerational equity.

*Dr Fahmida Khatun is executive director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*


*Longer TRIPS transition period for LDCs overlooks post-graduation challenges*


Fahmida Khatun
Sun Jul 4, 2021 10:58 PM







*On June 29, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) extended the deadline for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to protect intellectual property under the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) until July 1, 2034.* 

Members agreed to extend the present transition period, which was scheduled to end on July 1, by 13 years. The TRIPS Agreement that facilitates trade in knowledge and creativity, covers areas such as copyright, trademark, geographical indicators, industrial design, patents, layout designs of integrated circuits and undisclosed information.* It may also be mentioned that the transition period for pharmaceutical products was earlier extended by the Council for TRIPS until the end of 2032.*

On behalf of the LDC Group in the WTO, Chad requested the extension on October 1, 2020. The LDC Group requested an extension of the transition period so that LDCs are exempted from applying TRIPS provisions till an LDC graduates instead of a fixed period which is applicable to all LDCs. Article 66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement provides flexibility to LDCs. These countries have been exempted from applying the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement twice since 2005—the first time from 2005 to 2013 and then from 2013 to 2021. While granting such exemptions, the special requirements of LDCs were taken into consideration. Their economic, financial and administrative constraints and the need to create a technological base have been mentioned by the WTO for such exemptions.

The other request from the LDC Group was exemption of an additional 12-year period after an LDC graduates so that the country can graduate in a smooth manner by overcoming shocks during the new circumstances. However, WTO members did not agree to the LDC request for continuation of the transition period after a country graduates from LDC status to the developing country category.

This is unfortunate since during the initial period after graduation, LDCs face challenges in terms of the loss of several international support measures. These include loss of preferential market access for LDC products in several developed and developing countries, access to concessional finance, TRIPS waiver, LDC-specific funds and technology transfer, among others.

It is widely discussed that though the pandemic has affected all economies, LDCs are more vulnerable to the crisis. These countries are facing health and economic shocks which are reflected through low economic activities, loss of employment and income of people, financial stress, fiscal deficit, and increased poverty. Social challenges such as poor healthcare, learning loss of students, violence against women, burden of unpaid care work, increased child marriage, and greater inequality have also become prominent in these countries during the pandemic. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2020), the pandemic could create an additional 32 million extreme poor by 2020 in 47 LDCs. This will increase the number of extreme poor to 377 million people, more than half of the number of poor worldwide. The pandemic is feared to take away some of the achievements in case of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Under such circumstances, LDCs require even more flexibility than before. A shorter transition period as provided to graduating LDCs in the past is not enough.

LDCs have become more vulnerable in view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Several studies have apprehended that achievements made by LDCs so far could be reversed due to the impact of the pandemic. This may not be reflected in the average statistical numbers but the inherent strength of their economies will be weaker. Hence, newly graduated LDCs will require a longer time to graduate in a sustainable manner. In such circumstances, LDC-specific support measures need to be continued for a longer period. One of these measures is the continuation of the TRIPS transition period during post-LDC graduation.

Advanced countries are working towards building their economies in a better way than the pre-pandemic period. Not only do they have access to enough vaccines to fight the pandemic, they are also investing heavily in human capital and green technology. LDCs do not have access to affordable knowledge products, healthcare facilities, and green technology. Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement refers to technology transfer to LDCs by developed countries so that a sound and viable technological base is created in LDCs. This is yet to be observed in a significant way. There has been a general lack of interest on the part of the developed countries in transferring technology. Rather, redundant and obsolete technologies are often dumped onto LDCs.

As the advanced countries aspire to "build back better" as part of their recovery plan and remain committed to global goals such as the SDGs, their commitment towards enhanced support to LDCs will be crucial. LDCs are facing uncertainty in getting vaccines while several developed countries have purchased more than their requirements. Therefore, the post-pandemic period will not only exacerbate inequality within countries but also between the rich and poor countries in the world. This requires conscious efforts of the global community.

*Bangladesh played an important role in driving the extension of the exemption period for LDCs to implement the obligations of the TRIPS Agreement. Though Bangladesh has fulfilled LDC graduation criteria during the triennial reviews of the United Nations in 2018 and 2021, and is expected to graduate in 2026—it will need the LDC-specific flexibilities for a few years during its post-graduation period. This will help the country to prepare for absorbing the shocks to be felt due to the sudden withdrawal of various international support measures.

At the national level, Bangladesh will have to work towards preparing itself to overcome the challenges following graduation. These include a host of issues, such as diversification of its exports and markets, higher resource mobilisation and its efficient utilisation, increased capacity and productivity, technological adoption, and stronger institutions. As far as TRIPS is concerned, Bangladesh should also develop and strengthen its IP regime with support from the WTO and also by engaging national experts.* At the global level, Bangladesh will have to continue its engagement along with the LDC Group for the extension of TRIPS flexibilities both for current and graduating LDCs.

*Dr Fahmida Khatun is the Executive Director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue.*

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## Bilal9

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=552862866092795


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## Bilal9

*Concord MB Tower, Rd 11, Banani (14 FL + 2 BA)*

https://res.cloudinary.com/concordr...duct/mb-tower/1920x900/1624874176D7zhm_l.webp


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## Bilal9

*$1b green, smart township under Army supervision*

Singapore’s Raffles Infrastructure Holdings will build the township in the Baunia neighbourhood






Singapore's Raffles Infrastructure Holdings Limited has entered a joint venture in Bangladesh as part of a major real estate deal to build a $1 billion township, one of the largest housing projects in Dhaka.

The Army Welfare Trust owns the 51.93-acre project land in Baunia designated for the development of an integrated residential town, "Trust Green City", adjacent to Mirpur DOHS and Uttara. More than 5,000 apartments will be built there, each covering 600-4,000 square feet area.

"It will be a clean and smart city, just like what you see in Hong Kong and Singapore," said Brig Gen Mahmood Hasan who looks after the planning, development, and construction of the project.

The foundation stone will be laid on 30 December. After that, It will take six months to one year to mobilise resources, and another five years to start the handover of the apartments built in zones 2,3 and 4 of Baunia, he added.

About 400 bighas of land in Baunia will be divided into five sectors and zones 1 and 5 will be developed for commercial and rehabilitation purposes.





Courtesy: Trust Green City

Raffles Infrastructure will be responsible for designing, financing, construction, marketing, and maintenance of the Trust Green City, while Cupertino Power Ltd, the Bangladeshi party in the venture, will take care of the business and day-to-day operations.

The joint venture will be known as Raffles Infrastructure Development Bangladesh Ltd, with Raffles holding 85% of the company and Cupertino 15%, Raffles said in a filing to the Singapore stock exchange on Tuesday. An agreement on the collaboration was signed on 30 November last. The project value is estimated at about $1 billion (around Tk8,437 crore), according to Raffles Infrastructure.


> Upon completion of this maiden project in Bangladesh, we aim to establish a stronger presence in the region where we are actively exploring more business opportunities
> - Eric Choo


Trust Green City is a state-of-the-art dream project of the Bangladesh Army, "with the noble purpose of creating socio-economic opportunities, as well as building a smart and environmentally-friendly small township conducive to healthy living," the Army Welfare Trust said while signing the deal with Raffles Infrastructure.

The local company will help to process applications for various licenses and permits "from the relevant authorities in Bangladesh".

Cupertino Power Ltd has expertise in project planning, feasibility studies and setting up "Operations for investors and entrepreneurs from the USA, Singapore and Japan", Raffles said in the stock exchange filing. Eric Choo, chief executive of Raffles Infrastructure, told Singapore-based The Business Times, "Upon completion of this maiden project in Bangladesh, we aim to establish a stronger presence in the region where we are actively exploring more business opportunities."





Courtesy: Trust Green City

*Other projects under Welfare Trust in Baunia*

The Army Welfare Trust will also develop zone 1 as a commercial area on 145 bighas of land.

The commercial zone will have a central business district, an amusement park, a hospital, a hotel and two schools. There will also be condominiums catering to the housing demand of people working within the area.

Zone 5, with an area of 100 bighas, will be developed for housing specifically for those who have exchanged land with the Welfare Trust for land development, said Brig Gen Hasan.


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## PoondolotoPandalum

Bilal9 said:


> *$1b green, smart township under Army supervision*
> 
> Singapore’s Raffles Infrastructure Holdings will build the township in the Baunia neighbourhood
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Singapore's Raffles Infrastructure Holdings Limited has entered a joint venture in Bangladesh as part of a major real estate deal to build a $1 billion township, one of the largest housing projects in Dhaka.
> 
> The Army Welfare Trust owns the 51.93-acre project land in Baunia designated for the development of an integrated residential town, "Trust Green City", adjacent to Mirpur DOHS and Uttara. More than 5,000 apartments will be built there, each covering 600-4,000 square feet area.
> 
> "It will be a clean and smart city, just like what you see in Hong Kong and Singapore," said Brig Gen Mahmood Hasan who looks after the planning, development, and construction of the project.
> 
> The foundation stone will be laid on 30 December. After that, It will take six months to one year to mobilise resources, and another five years to start the handover of the apartments built in zones 2,3 and 4 of Baunia, he added.
> 
> About 400 bighas of land in Baunia will be divided into five sectors and zones 1 and 5 will be developed for commercial and rehabilitation purposes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Courtesy: Trust Green City
> 
> Raffles Infrastructure will be responsible for designing, financing, construction, marketing, and maintenance of the Trust Green City, while Cupertino Power Ltd, the Bangladeshi party in the venture, will take care of the business and day-to-day operations.
> 
> The joint venture will be known as Raffles Infrastructure Development Bangladesh Ltd, with Raffles holding 85% of the company and Cupertino 15%, Raffles said in a filing to the Singapore stock exchange on Tuesday. An agreement on the collaboration was signed on 30 November last. The project value is estimated at about $1 billion (around Tk8,437 crore), according to Raffles Infrastructure.
> 
> Trust Green City is a state-of-the-art dream project of the Bangladesh Army, "with the noble purpose of creating socio-economic opportunities, as well as building a smart and environmentally-friendly small township conducive to healthy living," the Army Welfare Trust said while signing the deal with Raffles Infrastructure.
> 
> The local company will help to process applications for various licenses and permits "from the relevant authorities in Bangladesh".
> 
> Cupertino Power Ltd has expertise in project planning, feasibility studies and setting up "Operations for investors and entrepreneurs from the USA, Singapore and Japan", Raffles said in the stock exchange filing. Eric Choo, chief executive of Raffles Infrastructure, told Singapore-based The Business Times, "Upon completion of this maiden project in Bangladesh, we aim to establish a stronger presence in the region where we are actively exploring more business opportunities."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Courtesy: Trust Green City
> 
> *Other projects under Welfare Trust in Baunia*
> 
> The Army Welfare Trust will also develop zone 1 as a commercial area on 145 bighas of land.
> 
> The commercial zone will have a central business district, an amusement park, a hospital, a hotel and two schools. There will also be condominiums catering to the housing demand of people working within the area.
> 
> Zone 5, with an area of 100 bighas, will be developed for housing specifically for those who have exchanged land with the Welfare Trust for land development, said Brig Gen Hasan.



Is the project only supervised by the army, or are they building an entire town exclusively for the upper echelons of the army? 

If it's later, then it's Bangladesh's version of the sort of elitist artificial bubbles you have in Pakistan, with their defense sectors and red zones & all that. Artificial zones are completely cut off from reality with the rest of the country. A breeding ground for the next generation of ultra entitled heroin snorting degenerates that'll end up ruling the country. Like the parents before them. 

I really hope it's not the case. But then again, Bangladesh isn't that much more "unique" and different than all the other highly dysfunctional South Asian states, as much as we like to pretend otherwise

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> Is the project only supervised by the army, or are they building an entire town exclusively for the upper echelons of the army?
> 
> If it's later, then it's Bangladesh's version of the sort of elitist artificial bubbles you have in Pakistan, with their defense sectors and red zones & all that. Artificial zones are completely cut off from reality with the rest of the country. A breeding ground for the next generation of ultra entitled heroin snorting degenerates that'll end up ruling the country. Like the parents before them.
> 
> I really hope it's not the case. But then again, Bangladesh isn't that much more "unique" and different than all the other highly dysfunctional South Asian states, as much as we like to pretend otherwise



I agree with all your points. Army Welfare Trust (AWT) is developing the land, there is not much publicly available information other than some shady Dhaka outfit called Cupertino Power Ltd. (which is probably owned by some retired Army bigwig) which is collaborating with AWT and Raffles Singapore. It's a tripartite JV.



https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/RI_Announcment_JV.ashx?App=Announcement&FileID=641155











Bangladesh’s government lavishes money on the army | News






ucpnz.co.nz





Societal egalitarianism is unfortunately not common in Bangladesh, Army folks do not see an ethics conflict with them being in the Army and making money off of the population of Bangladesh.

Army has the guns, they wield considerable clout in govt. and with the PM. Public rights situation in Bangladesh is far from advanced or even 2nd world countries. No environmental group or public interest group can speak against this development, even if it is harmful environmentally to the water eco-system in Dhaka.

Bangladesh situation (DOHS and Cantonment land takeovers) seem to be like Pakistan's Defence Housing situation, but I am not familiar with Pakistan situation closely - so I will refrain from commenting on Pakistan, maybe one of the Pakistani bhais can comment.

The positive side is that in a chaotic lawless country like Bangladesh you need some semblance of discipline in sticking to urbanization standards (area offsets, zoning, building standards) and Army's 24th Engg. Brigade is good at that. They are building a lot of Padma Bridge auxiliary projects and the most recent signature projects for them are the Purbachal Expressway (11 Lanes?) and Jolshiri Abashon Smart City (without any foreign consultant or contractor involvement). The expertise gained is a good benchmark for local contractors and builders.

The Green Trust City with Raffles involvement will be an even better 'disruptive benchmark' which will take local urbanization standards even further forward. In this respect, I see some positive discipline compared to the rank amateur behavior of Rajuk officials, who totally effed up Purbachal as a city.

You would not believe how bad the design of roads in that area are, streets are barely twenty feet wide, with eight story apartment housing standing immediately next to the streets. I would gladly put out of his misery, the Rajuk Ba$tard that okayed these designs, they ruined a perfectly good urbanization plan and made it look like Shajahanpur and Tikatuli (ghetto slums) forever. Hong Kong dense slum areas look considerably better.

My only gripe with AWT, is that local civilians should be allowed to buy limited number (a portion) of the housings in these AWT developed DOHS areas, which will make these more profitable and viable.

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## Bilal9

*Another super **specialized** hospital in Dhaka by 2026 on cards

The two super **specialized** medical facilities along with BSMMU and BIRDEM will turn Shahbagh into a hospital hub*





*The government has planned to build another super specialized hospital – just across the first one – at Shahbagh in the capital.*
With the construction of the first super specialized hospital under the auspices of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University almost to an end, the proposed 750-bed second medical facility along with the BSMMU and *BIRDEM *General Hospital will turn Shahbagh into a "hospital hub" in the next five years, say officials at the Economic Relations Division.

Funded by South Korea, the $200 million project will facilitate general surgery, gynecology, surgical oncology, and ENT and eye treatment. The hospital will also have a 50-60 bed dialysis center with 10 beds dedicated for children, said the officials.

Zulfiqur Rahman Khan, project director of the slated super specialized hospital, hopes the management of this medical facility "will rival" that of Square Hospitals or Evercare Hospital Dhaka [previously Apollo Hospitals] – two expensive private medical facilities in Bangladesh.

"Patients go abroad mostly for the hospital environment and medical services there. But we too have specialized doctors and are able to provide patients with better healthcare. If the medical skills and management could be put together in a hospital at home, the tendency of going abroad for treatment would certainly go down," he told The Business Standard.

Annually, about three lakh Bangladeshis go abroad for medical treatment. India tops the list of medical tourism destinations followed by other countries like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Dubai. With the Covid driven international flight suspensions in 2020 and 2021, the flow of outbound medical money saw an unprecedented drop.

Currently, Bangladesh does not have any such "super specialized" hospital. The BSMMU – a tertiary level medical facility – is considered to be the apex treatment facility.

The BSMMU Super Specialized Hospital One, a $122.25 million medical infrastructure also funded by South Korea, is slated for launching in February 2022; the construction of the 11-storey second hospital on three acres of land on the former Betar Bhaban premises will begin in 2023 and is expected to complete in three years.

Preferring not to be named, officials at the Economic Relations Division said South Korea showed interest in funding a second medical infrastructure as the first one's progress has been "admirable". South Korea will finance the entire spending for the second hospital while Bangladesh will only pay the customs duties on the foreign funding.

With more than 4,000 beds comprising the BSMMU, super specialized hospitals one and two, and the *BIRDEM* General Hospital, Shahbagh will turn into a "hospital hub" in the next five years, according to the officials.

*All applied departments*
The 11-storey hospital, the second super specialized hospital, will have five or six core departments and sub-departments. There will also be research centers, skill labs, lecture theatres, libraries, and a Bangabandhu museum.

Zulfiqur Rahman Khan said the second hospital will mainly have the applied departments not available at the first one.

BSMMU Super Specialized Hospital One will have a 100-bed accident emergency facility, a liver, gallbladder and pancreas center, organ transplant center, cancer center, maternal and child health care center, dental center, cardiovascular center, geriatric center, spinal cord center, burn injury center, a health screening center and an emergency medical center.

At the second super specialized hospital, Zulfiqur Rahman Khan said, there will be various departments and sub-departments of general surgery, gynecology, surgical oncology, and ENT and an eye department. The hospital will also have a 50-60 bed dialysis center with 10 beds dedicated for children.

Officials say the second hospital was initially planned to be a 20-storey building. However, since high-rise buildings near the old airport in Tejgaon are prohibited, the number of floors was later brought down to 11 – reducing the hospital patient beds to 750 from previously planned 1,000.

The hospital will have a 400-car parking facility on four basement levels. The first super specialized hospital will have a parking capacity of 250 vehicles on two basement levels.

There will be overhead or underground connecting corridors between the two hospitals for ease of patient access. The administration of each hospital will be different though they will be under the BSMMU umbrella.

*Funding and construction phases*
According to BSMMU sources, the Korean government's one-year feasibility study for construction of the hospital is in the final stages.

Subsequently, the construction budget will be drafted and there will be a loan agreement between Dhaka and Seoul. After formulation of the development project proposal (DPP), the project will go for approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).

After the ECNEC go-ahead, a Korean contractor will be hired through a tender bid and construction will begin.

Zulfiqur Rahman Khan said it will take the whole of 2022 to complete all the initial processes and construction will likely begin in 2023 with a three-year deadline.

He said no existing medical facility in Bangladesh matches the standards of these two super specialized hospitals. However, Zulfiqur Rahman Khan did comment that maintaining standards would be challenging.


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## Bilal9

deleted


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## F-6 enthusiast

Interesting Title
What do you think @Bilal9 @PoondolotoPandalum

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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> Interesting Title
> What do you think @Bilal9 @PoondolotoPandalum



Before Bangladesh gets to be China (not of today, but that of twenty years ago), Bangladesh needs to

1. Have capable merit-based leadership, not these uneducated sycophant AL goons Hasina has in her cabinet
2. Get rid of ugly rickshaws, ramshackle buses from the streets and step up vehicle fitness regimes (also tackle the bus mafia)
3. Hide the ugly overhead cables for TV, telephone and lighting from the streets in every city
4. Enforce rule of law including traffic laws, make it super hard to get a driving license (including for buses), jail people (including police) for taking bribes
5. Enforce public whipping for people riding trains on their roofs, for ticketless travel in Metros, and for ba$tards sticking posters on columns (fine those being advertised, including politicians),
6. Stop people (or heavily fine them) for going overseas for medical care.

AL propaganda (some sponsored) is getting to be too much nowadays.

I almost fell of my chair laughing today, looking at one AL propaganda video with the heading,

"Storm of investment blowing in from Japan!!" (Japan thekey biniyoger jhor ashcchey!)

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## PoondolotoPandalum

Completely agree with everything on the above ^^^

When my dad visited China in 2005 and 2006, her per capita income (both nominal and PPP) was similar to that of what Bangladesh is right now (around $2200 usd). But China had a 95% literacy rate, much better state schools, and had things like SMIC, Huawei, AVIC etc (IE, fully industrialized). 

Couple that with possibly the most meritocratic and technocratic (Chinese politbureau are mostly composed of STEM grads, the people you want to be in charge of industrial policies), you're set up for sustained high rates of growth over the decades. It's slowing down now, but even 5-6% growth of an almost $16 dollar economy is no joke. 

Bangladesh's "golden" period of growth was the 2010s. She achieved 7%+ growth rates only in 2016, 2017, 2017, and 2019. She did okay in 2020 during the pandemic. 2021 could've been far worse too. But she doesn't have the mechanism of a consistent 8%+ growth rate for decades like China did. Even if we did, as Bilal bhai once said, we don't deserve it, because we're not that civilized. 

BTW I also think China has a very high probability of breaking the middle-income trap. Even the IMF project a per capita income of $17,000 by 2026, which puts them firmly into the higher income catagory. And that's based on 5% growth rates. They're likely to grow even faster. Especially when I'm there, working in their special economic zones haha (though for an anglo American company)

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> Completely agree with everything on the above ^^^
> 
> When my dad visited China in 2005 and 2006, her per capita income (both nominal and PPP) was similar to that of what Bangladesh is right now (around $2200 usd). But China had a 95% literacy rate, much better state schools, and had things like SMIC, Huawei, AVIC etc (IE, fully industrialized).
> 
> Couple that with possibly the most meritocratic and technocratic (Chinese politbureau are mostly composed of STEM grads, the people you want to be in charge of industrial policies), you're set up for sustained high rates of growth over the decades. It's slowing down now, but even 5-6% growth of an almost $16 dollar economy is no joke.
> 
> Bangladesh's "golden" period of growth was the 2010s. She achieved 7%+ growth rates only in 2016, 2017, 2017, and 2019. She did okay in 2020 during the pandemic. 2021 could've been far worse too. But she doesn't have the mechanism of a consistent 8%+ growth rate for decades like China did. Even if we did, as Bilal bhai once said, we don't deserve it, because we're not that civilized.
> 
> BTW I also think China has a very high probability of breaking the middle-income trap. Even the IMF project a per capita income of $17,000 by 2026, which puts them firmly into the higher income category. And that's based on 5% growth rates. They're likely to grow even faster. Especially when I'm there, working in their special economic zones haha (though for an Anglo American company)



The thing that propelled China upward is discipline, discipline and discipline. One more time - discipline. I've been to China and to Bangladesh and India. Those are stark reminders when I'm back home. India is better than Bangladesh in this regard, maybe because of marginally better educated middle and lower middle class.

If we can't educate our people, then in the short term some Military danda is inevitable. Case in point, Dhaka Mayor Atiqul Huq could not get industrialists to de-encroach on all the canals in Dhaka, so he enlisted help from the Army. A sad state of affairs and a narrative that spells out such poor state of our governance...same like BIWTA trying to re-claim all the river embankments from illegal encroachers, mostly govt. bigwigs and MP's. These are supposedly the highest civil servants and administrators in our governance structure. This is what happens when you elect uneducated people to run the country. Not talking about the Mannans and Nasrul Hamids in the cabinet, talking about uneducated people like Obaidul Quader et al.











We sorely lack discipline in the subcontinent, because of an uneducated electorate and an uneducated leadership based on thuggery and rule of gun as opposed to rule of law - especially in Bangladesh, But India is close on our heels now and will exceed us soon, with their uneducated PM and goons in their cabinet. Feudalism and Chori-Seenajory principle all around. Bangladesh is the worst.

High GDP and income level will not sustain Bangladesh, even if achieved (hope riding on the wings of a prayer). We need a skilled, law-abiding and educated populace.

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## applesauce

Bilal9 said:


> 6. Stop people (or heavily fine them) for going overseas for medical care.



why this? if people are paying with their own money?


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## Bilal9

applesauce said:


> why this? if people are paying with their own money?



It is a drain on the exchequer and foreign currency reserves, the numbers are huge. Close to $10 Billion yearly just for Medical tourism alone, not counting retail shopping etc. The medical services are availed from mostly in India.

Our govt. cannot let this go on indefinitely, it has been continuing for at least twenty years. We have to support our own businesses and raise our own medical standards and medical sector. It can be a money earner sector for us too someday, just like in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore etc.

We spend almost $60 Billion supporting Indian economy annually - against $1 Billion or so of Bangladesh exports. Their govt. blocks our exports for trifling reasons. Sometimes they say we are exporting Chinese goods to India slapping "Made in Bangladesh" on it.


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## PoondolotoPandalum

A friend who collects die cast cars sent me this












I thought it was probably packaged in BD, but then found this...









Crafting car models in Bangladesh


Sonic produces a million die-cast scale models per month – including of the winning cars of international rallies




www.tbsnews.net





Apparently, a lot of Chinese model manufacturers are outsourcing to Bangladesh. 


I've been told the quality is rather excellent, particularly for the price. Initially, they outsourced budget ranged products to Bangladesh and kept the really high end stuff (museum quality, very high-profit margins) in China. But they're going up in value. A lot of high end (not top end) die-cast models are made in BD now, selling for fairly high prices.

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> A friend who collects die cast cars sent me this
> 
> View attachment 784996
> 
> 
> View attachment 784997
> 
> 
> I thought it was probably packaged in BD, but then found this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crafting car models in Bangladesh
> 
> 
> Sonic produces a million die-cast scale models per month – including of the winning cars of international rallies
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.tbsnews.net
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently, a lot of Chinese model manufacturers are outsourcing to Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> I've been told the quality is rather excellent, particularly for the price. Initially, they outsourced budget ranged products to Bangladesh and kept the really high end stuff (museum quality, very high-profit margins) in China. But they're going up in value. A lot of high end (not top end) die-cast models are made in BD now, selling for fairly high prices.



Yes - diecast toy factories are increasing in number, the amount of labor needed to finish these are high, just like in apparel. Mostly these factories are in Joydevpur and Bhaluka areas. Though some are in North Bangladesh like you highlighted.

Lot of steps. First, a metal called Zamac is used in a spin-casting machine to produce metal parts, painted using powder coat (or airbrush) and then plastic parts are put in and the whole top and bottom part are assembled, needs a lot of eye and hand coordination to watch for defects. As you can see, there is some pad printing involved as well. Very intricate work in all of them, especially the military stuff.


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## Bilal9

Some nice spotting of local Airline Traffic in Chittagong Int'l, with BAF Trainer activity thrown in. Tower folks need to polish their English.

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## Bilal9

Spotting at Dhaka, also with ATC chatter and BAF activity.

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## Bilal9




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## F-6 enthusiast

looks like cox's bazar is getting some attention @Bilal9
*বদলে যাচ্ছে কক্সবাজার? | Cox's Bazar is changing । Eagle Eyes*






btw when is the deep sea port going to be functional ?

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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> looks like cox's bazar is getting some attention @Bilal9
> *বদলে যাচ্ছে কক্সবাজার? | Cox's Bazar is changing । Eagle Eyes*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> btw when is the deep sea port going to be functional ?



Yes Bhai, lot's of things going on in and near CXB for sure. It is going to be a power generation hub and transportation hub in addition to being a tourist hub.

Deep sea port is planned to start operations sometime around 2024.

I hope they keep CXB clean and green through all this. Maybe too much of a hope, but an ardent one nonetheless...Love the place.

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## Bilal9

Since we are discussing the subject, Here is the render for the CXB Iconic Railway Terminal.






I must give props to the designer, very pleasing in an aesthetic manner. But we all know you built these things once every 100 years. This is not far from the Airport Terminal, which is also being expanded.

Construction of the Railway terminal is 50% complete. The 120 KM rail line from CTG to CXB is also 50% done (1st phase with single dual-gauge track). Some footage here.

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## Bilal9

Auto Rice Mills are gaining in popularity in Bangladesh. Some are highly automated.


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## Bilal9

Well I hope Bangladeshi trains will appear somewhat clean from now on...






Bangladesh Railway 3015 class Hyundai Rotem MG diesel-electric locomotive pulling Mahanagar Provati train out of Dhaka Central Terminus. Slowly improving cleanliness and timing.






Interior of First class PT Inka made coaches (KishoreGanj express), the herky-jerky move is because of track maintenance issue.

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## Bilal9

TOWER ONE BY SANMAR
CDA Avenue, Chattogram






Tower Two BY SANMAR near Gulshan-2, Dhaka


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## Bilal9

Sanmar 18 story residential Condominium project in Chittagong, "Ocho Hermanas" ("eight friends" in Spanish).


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## Bilal9

Another 30 storied tower next to the Bangladesh Bank complex in Motijheel.

“DR Tower Extension” Project is planned to be a LEED Certified twin building project constructed on a 1.7 acres area of land.

This commercial edifice will be located within the area of Purana Paltan surrounded by Bangladesh Bank Headquarter, Metro Rail Station (ongoing), Bangabandhu National Stadium, Stock Exchange, Bangladesh Government Secretariat Office within 200 meters of radius.

Project Specification:
• 16 storied 5-star hotel, measuring about 191,000 sft.
• 30 storied state of the art ultra-modern commercial building, measuring about 650,000 sft
• Land Orientation: North Facing
• Number of Basements: 03





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1443218802699316


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## Bilal9

Jalalabad House is a typical luxury condominium development in Gulshan, Dhaka, developed from former single family alocated plots. The condos are typically 4000 to 5000 square feet in area. Architectural and interior design was by the locally renowned Vitti (Vitti Sthopoti Brindo).


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## F-6 enthusiast

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1452596532692209667

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1452596534990704641

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## Bilal9

*New private Inland Container Depot approved to enhance Chittagong Port capacity*
DAULAT AKHTER MALA | Published: October 26, 2021 08:25:41 | Updated: October 26, 2021 11:16:21



File photo used only for representation


The National Board of Revenue (NBR) approved a new private inland container depot (ICD) in a bid to enhance container-handling capacity in the Chattogram Port.

The ICD would be set up at an estimated cost of Tk 3.0 billion. It is 41 km away from the zero point of the port.

The NBR's Customs Wing approved Baylink Containers Limited's bid on Sunday to establish the off-doc, tagging some conditions to meet compliances.

It declared proposed area of the ICD as customs bonded area following applications of the company, no objection certificates of the Ministry of Shipping and the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), and recommendations from the Chittagong Customs House.

According to the NBR's conditions, the proposed off-doc has to be established on 15 acres of land. It has to be constructed at least 20 kilometres away from the port area.

The proposed ICD must have capacity to handle at least 4,500 TEUs of containers. There must be sufficient and proper shades, yards and examination shades to handle and store import-export and empty containers separately.

The ICD must have auction yard, bank and infrastructure facilities as well as connectivity with Asycuda World of customs. At the beginning, the ICD will be allowed to handle empty and export goods-loaded containers.

A senior customs official said they approved the new ICD, considering necessity of more off-docs to handle export-import goods.

The new off-doc would help to enhance capacity of container handling in the port and ease congestion, he added.

Currently, there are some 19 ICDs in the Chattogram Port, handling all export goods and 38 import goods.

The CPA, on several occasions, recommended the NBR to allow the ICDs to handle all types of goods in line with the international best practice.

Earlier, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) alleged higher cost and time to get imported products released from the ICDs, compared to that of the port charges, when the NBR allowed those to handle all imported products during the pandemic-induced lockdown.

Talking to the FE, Nurul Qayyum Khan, president of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA), said more ICDs are needed to handle goods.

"The private off-docs are allowed to handle only a few non-RMG import products. So, the (BGMEA's) allegations on higher cost and time are not valid in this case."

He also said each of the ICDs needs huge investment, and naturally their cost might be higher than that of the government entities.
"We have extended all-out support during the lockdown to keep supply chain uninterrupted," he added.

Mohammad Omar Faruk, the CPA secretary, said there might be transition from the ports to the ICDs for taking delivery of imported products.
The private ICDs have to create similar facilitates like the ports to encourage private sector to use those.

A source, involved with construction of the new ICD, said construction of the off-doc was delayed due to (delay in getting) the NBR's approval.
High-ups of the new ICD met the Chittagong customs commissioner on Monday to proceed further, he added.


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## Bilal9

Fair Group (Hyundai and Samsung partner in Bangladesh opened a 3S center of excellence in Savar. They also plan to establish a low-volume assembly facility nearby for various Hyundai passenger vehicles in Bangladesh (5000 units per year initially). The price for an imported 2021 Hyundai Elantra in Bangladesh is currently Taka 37,00,000/- with VAT applied. After local assembly is activated, the price could come down substantially with reductions in Tariff.


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## Bilal9

This is from Longjian Bridge Company site (except the photos which could not be linked). Also pardon the translation.

The Payra LebuKhali Bridge was built in Patuakhali which connects Dhaka with Payra Port, the third ocean port (so far) in Bangladesh. The bridge is 200 KM away from Dhaka in the South of the country. The Bridge is a suspension bridge and just for reference, is slightly double the length of the Vidyasagar bridge in Kolkata which is also a cable-stayed suspension bridge. The complex seen on the left is a Bangladesh Defence Training installation.



http://longjianlq.com/index.php?m=home&c=View&a=index&aid=409








--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Bengal Payra Bridge (LebuKhali Bridge) was completed and opened to traffic.

On October 24, 2021 local time, the Bengal Payra Bridge (LebuKhali Bridge) was completed and opened to traffic, and the desire of the people on both sides of the strait to cross the river for many years has finally come true.

On the same day, the opening ceremony was grandly held at the construction site on the LebuKhali side of Pella Bridge. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended the ceremony virtually and delivered a speech via video.

Officials from the central and local governments of Bangladesh, the owners, the supervision team, all the builders of Longjian shares and people from all walks of life in China and Bangladesh participated in the ceremony.






The Bengal Payra Bridge (LebuKhali Bridge) has a total length of 1,470 meters and a main span of 200 meters. The bored piles of the main bridge are 130 meters long, which is equivalent to a 43-storey building. The project uses 166,000 tons of steel bars as a whole, which is equivalent to the use of steel bars for 4 bird’s nests; the concrete consumption is 249,600 cubic meters, which is equivalent to the construction of a National Grand Theater.

It has set a number of records in Bangladesh, including the largest bored pile diameter, the longest pile length, the largest cap volume, the largest main bridge span, the highest concrete strength, and the shortest cast-in-place box girder construction period.

Behind this series of "Bangladesh's best" is the wisdom and sweat of the builders of Longjian.

In April 2016, Longjian signed a bridge construction contract with the Ministry of Transport of Bangladesh;
In July 2016, the bridge officially started construction;
In February 2017, the first test pile was poured;
In October 2019, the first underwater pier of the main bridge was erected from the ground;
In March 2020, the first main tower of the main bridge was successfully topped;
In March 2021, the high-precision closure of the main bridge;
In October 2021, the bridge will be fully completed and opened to traffic.

In the past five years, the builders of Longjian Group have worked together to overcome one problem after another, which effectively guaranteed the on-schedule opening of the Payra Bridge (Lebukhali Bridge).

The builders of Longjian shares spent more than 1,500 days and nights fighting, using this ingenious bridge to hand over a full score to the people of Bangladesh, and prove to the world the strength and responsibility of Longjian shares. .

Bangladesh is located in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal. It is known as the "land of waters" and "the country of lotus ponds". It is one of the countries with the densest rivers in the world.

According to Hou Zhaotao, the project manager responsible for the construction of the Payra Bridge (LebuKhali Bridge) in Bangladesh, the project is large in size, heavy in tasks, and difficult.

A series of technical problems such as double-layer steel cage installation, pile bottom grouting, pile circumference grouting, etc., adopted the O-Cell pile foundation bearing capacity test recognized by international organizations to ensure the quality of the bridge pile foundation.

"Having the opportunity to participate in such a project is the most unforgettable memory in life", the builders of the Bengal Payra Bridge (LebuKhali Bridge) said emotionally. The international epidemic situation is severe, and the builders of Longjian shares have steadily promoted the remaining construction tasks to effectively ensure the quality and progress of the project, which has been widely praised by all sectors of society.

Obaidur Kader, Minister of Transport of Bangladesh, gave a high degree of recognition to the construction of the project when inspecting the project. Zhang Zuo, Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, fully affirmed Long Jian's spirit of overcoming difficulties during the project inspection and guidance. Liu Zhenhua, Counselor of the Economic Counselling Office of the China Embassy in Bangladesh, said during the project research and guidance that Longjian is an excellent international enterprise and hopes to complete the bridge construction task as soon as possible to build a bridge of friendship between China and Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Payra Bridge (LebuKhali Bridge) was completed and opened to traffic, which greatly improved the traffic conditions in southwestern Bangladesh and shortened the straight-line distance from the capital to the tourist city of Kuakata in the south. It plays an important role in strengthening the economic ties between North and South, improving the efficiency of seaborne trade and transportation at Payra Port, and promoting the regional economic construction of southwestern Bangladesh and the international development of Bangladesh. The passage of the bridge has allowed countless Bangladeshi people to leap forward from dreams to reality for cross-strait interoperability.

Thirty years ago, the Buriganga China-Bangladesh Friendship Highway Bridge built by Longjian shares connected the hearts of the Chinese and Bangladeshi people.

Today, thirty years later, the Payra Bridge (LebuKhali Bridge) connected by the builders of Longjian shares witnesses the bright future of the two countries together with the people of Bangladesh. The Payra Bridge (LebuKhali Bridge) in Bangladesh polishes Longjian’s overseas business card.

In the future, Longjian is confident to participate in more overseas projects, walk hand in hand with the world, and make great strides in the grand journey of realizing dreams.

Source of information: Sun Long , Parallel Bridge Project Department, Long Jianyi Company

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## Bilal9

*A legacy of Bangladeshi architecture on show at the Dhaka Art Summit*




_’Architecture in Bangladesh’, part of the second edition of the Dhaka Art Summit, looks at the legacy of modernist architects Muzharul Islam and Louis Kahn, alongside the role of architecture in building national identity. Pictured: SA Residence in Dhaka, 2010, designed by Shatotto. _

In the wake of partition, the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru enlisted Le Corbusier to build a new Punjab capital. The result, of course, was Chandigarh. A decade or so later, the Pakistani government led by Ayub Khan invited their own super-star architect (Muzharul Islam) to built a new National Assembly for East Pakistan in Dhaka. Louis Kahn got the gig, though Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto were apparently also considered.

Work started on Kahn’s complex in 1964 but it would take two decades to complete, by which time East Pakistan was Bangladesh and Kahn was eight-years dead. It is, though, his finest building; massive and seemingly out of the past and out of the future all at once.

From a western standpoint, it is easy to imagine that Kahn’s modernism was a complete novelty in the country. But ’Architecture in Bangladesh’ – part of the third edition of the Dhaka Art Summit and curated by the Pompidou’s Aurélien Lemonier – makes clear that the country had already developed a domestic ‘humanist modernity’, particularly in the work of Muzharul Islam.

Islam had already designed a number of public buildings before the call went out to Khan. Indeed, it was Islam who had initially been tasked with the designing the National Assembly building and it was his idea to enlist Kahn, who had taught him at Yale (he would also bring Richard Neutra, Stanley Tigerman, Paul Rudolph, Robert Boughey and Constantinos Doxiadis to Bangladesh).

Lemonier’s exhibition looks at the legacy of Islam and Kahn, the role of architecture in building national identity and the later attempt to integrate culture, history and archeology to year-zero modernism. Crucially for Lemonier though, the exhibition is more than anything a showcase for a new generation of Bangladeshi architects whose concern is less the ‘horizontal axis of history’, as he puts it, than the ‘vertical axis of geography’. And Lemonier insists that architects in Europe and the US have a lot to learn from their response to the geography, in terms of sustainability, water management, and urban development.





Completed in 2010, the SA Residence is a modernist private home. _Photography: Daniele Domenicani _






The exhibition, which is curated by the Pompidou’s Aurélien Lemonie, also takes a closer look at Louis Kahn’s landmark National Assembly for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in Dhaka. 






Pictured: National Assembly Building of Bangladesh, 1961–1982, by Louis Kahn Architects







Baitur Rauf Jame Mosque, completed 2010, by Marina Tabassum Architects





Baitur Rauf Jame Mosque, completed 2010, by Marina Tabassum Architects





Column of water, Museum of Independence, Dhaka, by URBANA (Kashef Chowdhury and Marina Tabassum). _Photography: Kashef Chowdhury_





Roofscape of the Friendship Centre, 2011, by Kashef Chowdhury. _Photography: Helene Binet_





Pavilions and pools within the Friendship Centre, 2011, by Kashef Chowdhury. _Photography: Helene Binet_





Mosque within Chittagong University, by URBANA


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## F-6 enthusiast

some well deserved criticism 

*Analysis: Why Bangladesh needs affordable housing*
Alfonso Garcia Mora, Hector Gomez Ang

Published at 05:34 pm October 23rd, 2021





*Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune*



Bangladesh is struggling to provide adequate housing at a pace that matches its rapid urban growth
Bangladesh has been a development success story. 
A remarkable export-oriented expansion of the garments sector and robust inflows of remittances propelled strong economic growth and rapid poverty reduction. 
Now, as the country celebrates 50 years of independence, it seeks to become an upper-middle-income economy in the next decade.
This will require maintaining strong rates of economic growth amidst the existential threat from climate change. 
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world. 
With rising threats of climate change in coastal areas and limited income opportunities in rural areas, around 20 million people are expected to migrate, many of them to cities. 
Such massive rural-urban migration will put huge pressure on already stretched urban infrastructure with congested roads, inadequate sanitation and acute housing deficits in urban areas.
*The housing gap*
Bangladesh is struggling to provide adequate housing at a pace that matches its rapid urban growth.
Approximately 12 million urban households (69% of Bangladesh’s urban population) still reside in informal houses. 
Meanwhile, the cost of apartments in major cities has skyrocketed because of land prices and rising cost of construction materials. 
According to an assessment by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the demand for urban affordable housing is estimated to increase from 6 to 10.5 million units by 2030. 
In contrast, only 17,000 units were available on the market in 2019.
Based on this study, there is a need to upgrade or build 3.5 million affordable housing units in the immediate term (and additional units in the longer term to meet demands), which could require around $59 billion of new investments. 
This would generate important positive externalities in industries such as construction materials, house maintenance and housing finance, while increasing utility revenues for the government and creating new jobs at a large scale. 
While housing can make a significant contribution to creating jobs, several challenges constrain the sector’s growth despite strong interest by developers and financial institutions in building affordable and green housing. 
Both the public and private sectors need to work together to find solutions. 
There is also a need for reforms supported by a clear national vision and roadmap. 
IFC has considerable expertise in this area with an aggregated exposure of $2.2 billion over 60 committed projects in the housing sector worldwide as of 2020; and $737 million committed in 21 projects in South Asia alone.
*Areas for reforms*
For many in Bangladesh, obtaining financing for affordable housing remains a challenge. 
Most individuals do not have adequate savings for a down payment and lack documentary proof of income due to the informal nature of jobs.



Mortgage finance penetration in Bangladesh’s housing market is low at 3% of gross domestic product (compared with 10% in India and 50-70% in developed countries) and mostly concentrated in the upper-income segment. 
Strong financial institutions as well as conducive and prudent banking and housing sector regulations are needed. 
In addition, given the long maturity of these assets and the banks’ reliance on short-term funding sources, it is critical to introduce adequate instruments that would allow financial institutions to be more active in the housing market without increasing the risks of the system. 
Developing the bond market and allowing non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) to borrow foreign capital will encourage financiers to invest in long-term assets. 
Longer-term funding from both local and foreign sources will also improve extension of housing finance.
Regulatory reforms to boost the supply of housing—housing planning, digitization of land records, and simplification of land registration processes—can also help lead to increased mortgage penetration in the country. 
A lack of affordable land in densely populated urban centers deters private sector developers from building affordable housing units within city boundaries. 
Developing affordable housing plans around industrial zones and in peripheral areas of the cities could be a solution if coupled with improved transport connectivity for easier commutes, as has been done in many countries globally.
Successful models of affordable housing through public-private partnerships are prevalent in other emerging economies in the region and have supported economic recovery. 
Bangladesh also could explore this approach, which can help strengthen the country’s affordable housing sector.
*Post-Covid resilient recovery
*
Bangladesh has weathered the Covid-19 crisis better than other countries in Asia, maintaining positive rates of economic growth in the past two years.
Still, the pandemic generated major economic disruptions and amplified some of the structural weaknesses related to economic diversification and the financial sector. 
Now, as the country emerges from the pandemic, the housing sector could become an important engine of growth. 
The development of the affordable housing sector is already included in Bangladesh’s 8th Five-Year plan.
Incentivizing uptake of green technologies in the affordable housing sector can also support the government’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) economy-wide target of achieving 15% relative greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction compared to business-as-usual by 2030. 
Builders and financiers can take advantage of IFC’s landmark certification initiative, Edge (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies), which provides a standardized green performance certification system as well as access to MAGC (Market Accelerator for Green Construction), and a pool of blended finance and technical assistance funds to incentivize green construction. 
Most importantly, a safe place to stay is our fundamental right. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 is about making “cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.”
Investments in the affordable housing sector can also help achieve co-related and positive outcomes in health and education, while ensuring green, inclusive and sustainable growth.
IFC is ready to be part of this exciting journey and partner with public and private stakeholders to ensure everyone in Bangladesh has a place called home. 
_ 
*Alfonso Garcia Mora is regional vice president for Asia and Pacific, and Hector Gomez Ang is regional director for South Asia at the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets.*_

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## Bilal9

Upper Middle class housing in Dhanmandi, Dhaka - Rangs Ulania.





Luxury Housing in Gulshan, Dhaka - Bay's Westlake


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## Bilal9

Karwan bazaar area Metro 6 line viaduct section assembly. Viaducts are really tall in this area, to accommodate multiple planned crosswalks and a Metro station near the corner where Beximco offices, Titas Gas HQ and Bashundhara City are located.

As usual, incessant honking (in 50 years they could not ban it!) and drivers and pedestrians both disobeying traffic rules with abandon. Rickshaws and mangled unfit buses still plying the roads, slowing traffic down. Largest intersection in the city, no traffic lights. 

One big Cluster of a situation.

Re: the viaduct section assembly, maybe @bluesky bhai could tell us how they go together. (Post tension?)


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Rainy Day air spotting at CGP/VGEG Chittagong, courtesy of Shadman Al-Samee.






















































'

A rare Piaggio Avanti based in Dhaka, not very many in the subcontinent I bet...


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## Bilal9

*Dhaka Elevated Expressway Update*






*Dhaka Airport 3rd Terminal Update*


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## Bilal9

*Payra Lebukhali Bridge Update after recent opening*


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## Bilal9

Oh the day we said final good bye to the beloved Biman DC-10-30. In Birmingham. Still fondly remembered....she served us well....


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## Bilal9

Purbachal Expressway update on asphalt carpeting


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## Bilal9

A ride around in dense Gulshan and Banani CBD areas (in 4K)


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## Bilal9

This is by far the most detailed and accurate description I have seen about Dhaka Metro routes and connection details.


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## Bilal9

*Home appliance makers in Bangladesh may get 10-year tax holiday*

The government may offer tax holiday facility to home appliance makers for 10 years in the national budget for the forthcoming fiscal year 2021-2022 to attract investments and facilitate import-substitute local industry in the country.

It may also withdraw advance tax on import of a number of products, including mobile telephone set, computer parts, MS products, scrap and ship scrap, to facilitate the sectors in maintaining cash flow of working capital as well as remove complexities related to refund.

The condition of having no legal dispute with the National Board of Revenue for claiming VAT refund may also be withdrawn in the budget, finance ministry officials said.

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal announced the changes in the income tax and VAT laws in his budget proposals placed before parliament.

According to the officials, industrial undertakings to manufacture a number of home appliances, including blender, rice cooker, microwave oven, electric oven, washing machine, induction cooker, electric sewing machine and other kitchen appliances, will enjoy tax exemption under the scheme.

Currently, home appliance producing industries set up between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2024 are eligible to enjoy income tax exemption at gradually reduced rates up to 90 per cent for 10 years depending on the location of the factories.

Under the new scheme, manufacturers who will begin production from July 1, 2021 and ensure value addition between 20 per cent and 40 per cent depending on types of products will avail complete tax exemption for 10 years.

The benefit will remain applicable until June 30, 2030.

Regarding withdrawal of AT on import mobile sets, computer parts, MS products, scrap and ship scrap, officials said that currently AT is applicable at two different rates — 5 per cent and 4 per cent — to import of the products based on the nature of the importers.

A huge amount of refund is created due to imposition of AT on import of mobile phones and computer parts as there is no VAT on the products at the trading stage, they said.

On the other hand, there is specific VAT ranging from Tk 1,000 to Tk 2,000 applicable to manufacturers on MS products, scrap and ship scrap.

The government does not get any VAT through monthly VAT returns due to the imposition of 4 per cent advance tax at the import stage, rather it creates refund for the sectors.

The government may also reduce the AT on import of raw materials for the manufacturing units to 3 per cent from current 4 per cent to help the businesses sustain amid the Covid outbreak.

It may also reduce the rate of monthly interest on delayed payments of value-added tax to 1 per cent from existing 2 per cent in the budget.


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## Bilal9

*Export hits $4.73b mark in October*

The country’s export has fetched $4.73 billion in the month of October as single-month highest which is 60.37% higher than last year.

The 60.37% year-on-year rise beat the $3.46 billion target set for the month, said a report released by Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, exports increased by 22.6% to $15.75 billion in the July-October period surpassing the $13.89 billion target.

RMG exports hiked by 20.8% to $12.62 billion in the July-October period, compared to the $11.23 billion targets for the period.


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## Bilal9

*Asian Paints first to open factory at Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar*
Inauguration this month


Jagaran Chakma

Thu Nov 4, 2021 12:00 AM Last update on: Thu Nov 4, 2021 12:49 AM


Bangladesh's largest industrial enclave, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) in Mirsarai, Chattogram, is finally going to witness the commissioning of its maiden factory this month.

Asian Paints Bangladesh is all set to begin commercial operation of its second manufacturing plant in Bangladesh at the BSMSN, officials said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to inaugurate the facility.

"Another 13 industrial units including, SQ Electric and Bangladesh Auto Industries, are about to complete setups for commercial operation," Shaikh Yusuf Harun, executive chairman of Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza), told The Daily Star.

"Those will be inaugurated by next June," he said.

Earlier, Zhuzhou Jinyuan Chemical Company's factory was scheduled to be the first to be inaugurated in March 2020 but it faced a setback due to the Covid-19 fallout.

Besides, Nippon-McDonald, a joint venture of Japan's Nippon Steel and Bangladesh's McDonald Steel Building Products, wanted to go into operation but failed as foreign experts could not come on time.

Harun believes that within next year the under-implementation industrial units would be commissioned as they do not want to waste time.

He also believes that the commissioning of the first industrial units would encourage the other investors to invest in economic zones.

According to BEZA, the BSMSN drew investment proposals amounting to $20.13 billion till date -- $19.85 billion from locals and $1.28 billion from abroad as foreign direct investment.

Vagiskuma Vijayshankar Pandey, project head of Asian Paints Bangladesh, said they are ready to open the factory this month.

Considering the growing demand for paint products, Asian Paints established its second plant on over 20 acres of land at the BSMSN, he said.

The company already invested around Tk. 180 crore to establish the manufacturing plant to meet demands of a growing market for paint. Already the new plant directly created employment for around 2,000 people, the official said.

Initially, the company had proposed to invest $26 million or Tk 2.23 crore and create employment for 350 people.

Pandey said they have taken a majority of the support from banks to implement the project with a very small percentage of equity.

The size of Bangladesh's decorative paint market currently stands at around Tk 4,000 crore whereas in 2017 it was around Tk 3,500 crore, according to industry insiders and Bangladesh Paint Manufacturer's Association (BPMA).

Around 40 local and multinational companies are now in operation in the market, which has been witnessing an average growth of around 8 to 10 per cent since 2010.

At present, the annual demand for paint stands at nearly 200,000 tonnes.

Asian Paints Bangladesh started its journey in 2002 as a joint venture with Confidence Cement to produce international standard paints for the discerning consumers of Bangladesh. It owns the brand Berger Robbialac and offers home paints such as water-based distempers and solvent-based exterior enamels.

Now the company is manufacturing and distributing a wide range of high-performing decorative, marine and industrial paint products with its expertise and innovative technology to provide all the painting needs of consumers in Bangladesh.

Asian Paints Bangladesh, the second largest paint company in Bangladesh, aims to increase its market share by providing quick supplies to the south east part of the country, Pandey said.

He believes that their market share would increase after commissioning of the new manufacturing plant.

*Pandey also said the one in Bangladesh was the largest manufacturing plant among those in 18 countries where the company was operational.*

According to him, Asian Paints has an efficient research and development team as well as good marketing channels which helps them grow in the market of Bangladesh.

Now, Asian Paint's has a market share in Bangladesh of around 40 per cent.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro Line 6 station design. First video shows a "Normal" station and the second video shows an "Iconic" Station. The designs are roughly similar to that of current Bangkok and KL Metro lines, especially the latter.

The first video is of the Uttara South Station. Uttara has two other stations North of this one, Uttara Center and Uttara North. The total length of line 6 is 22KM to Motijheel from Uttara. Dhaka University Students and Motijheel workers will be able to commute using this line directly from Uttara and Line 6 is being completed first for most bang for the buck. It's impact will be substantial for reducing passenger-trip-miles and drastically reducing pollution.


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## Bilal9

Sun sets on another day's of work at the Dhaka HSIA Airport Terminal 3 site.




Concrete work ongoing at 3rd Terminal




Conceptual render of Interior





Matarbari port near CXB starting to take shape slowly. Land-reclamation Earthfill by sea-dredging ongoing. A bit small in my opinion. But we can re-start the nearby Sonadia port project when time comes. Maheshkhali is planned to be preserved as a mountainous wildlife preserved so that is off limits.




On the Jetty at Matarbari




Future plan





These are the 10 sets of Japanese design 10 meter-class rescue boats now arriving at stations of Bangladesh Coast Guards (BCG). These boats will be officially handed over to BCG soon. The Government of Japan and JICA are implementing a program providing the boats that will be utilized not only during disaster period but also in promoting safety of important ports areas such as Chattogram and Matarbari.





Meghnaghat Industrial area - 1st Meghna Bridge





2nd Meghna Bridge. Main contractor were Obayashi, Shimizu, JFE Engineering and IHI Infrastructure Systems and completed on schedule.








Opening Day





Kalna Arch Bridge design, the bridge is on the way from the Padma Bridge area to Khulna City and Mongla Port, Bangladesh




Status of Kalna Bridge in March of this year









Arch section being readied...





New Railway Bridge design next to Jamuna Bridge, work and piling have started a few months ago





Recent Japanese Language Course Alumni


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## Bilal9

Haor Flood and Cyclone shelter/secondary school in Netrokona


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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> "Kaizan principle babohar kore"
> 
> Would love to see how Kaizen is implemented in Bangladesh xD
> 
> 
> From my experience in the UK industry, many companies claim to abide by Kaizen principles, without really knowing what it is. It's kinda sad, a common buzzword is thrown about to look competent and relevant, but rarely executed. It's all about looking for the very last scrap of detail, for perpetual improvement. The Japanese, being Japanese, is rather good at this. It's one of the reasons why Japanese automobiles are so damn reliable.
> 
> But I'm glad these buzzwords are being used in Bangladesh, alongside "Industry 4.0", "sustainable manufacturing", "parametric design" etc. Bangladesh, being new to industrializing, can incorporate sustainability and "smart" principles from the ground up. And we see this in many newly emerging industries. It's much harder for a large and big organization to shoe-horn these principles in their current modus Operandi.
> 
> These days, if you want to survive as a company making things, you need to do at least one thing exceptionally well. Otherwise, your future is questionable at best. We need to find our niche. Bangladesh should strive for sustainable manufacturing, minimizing energy consumption while maximizing productivity. High investment cost, but it would make Bangladesh more favorable of a place to invest than say Vietnam, as companies are trying tor reduce their carbon footprint



I found out that there is a National Kaizen convention organized every year in Bangladesh and JICA is one of the sponsors.

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## Bilal9

Here is the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway expansion near Sirajganj...




Rajshahi University Campus


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## Bilal9

Interior and exterior of ""Project Hilsa" Fish restaurant at Padma Bridge area. The building is shaped like the fish. Hilsa is the national fish and eating Hilsa Fry is also a popular pastime.




















Dhaka Elevated Expressway (North to South), there are plans in the offing for an East-West one and a circular expressway as well as Commuter Rail.

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## Bilal9

Two new airlines are due to spread their wings soon in our skies as air-travel ramps up, Fly-Dhaka and Air Astra will both be operating in domestic routes for a year until they are allowed to expand to overseas routes. Air Astra is better funded and has more mature mgmt. it seems. Details soon.

Hopefully the addition of new air carriers will lower fares and bring in additional tourism and business air-travelers into the fold compared to other domestic travel methods (Rail, Bus and Launch/Ferry). 












*Air Astra to spread wings in January 2022*

The new private air operator Air Astra is going to fly in Bangladesh skies from January next year. It will be the third private airline in Bangladesh.

Apart from Biman Bangladesh Airlines, two private airlines are currently operating flights - US-Bangla and NovoAir .

"Hopefully, our flights to domestic destinations will start from January," Air Astra CEO Imran Asif told The Daily Star.

“We are planning to operate flights on seven domestic routes,” he added. If we can procure at least four aircraft by January, we will be able to operate flights to all domestic destinations. '

As a rule, airlines are allowed to operate flights on international routes after operating flights on domestic routes for at least one year.

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## Bilal9

Assorted views of Bangladesh urban areas and countryside

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## Bilal9

Very small/meagre start, but govt. has initiated a Hydrogen Energy Implementation initiative to popularize Hydrogen based fuel cell vehicles. Whether anything positive develops is anyone's guess. @jamahir bhai this may be up your alley...

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## jamahir

Bilal9 said:


>



That is a nice scene.



Bilal9 said:


> Very small/meagre start, but govt. has initiated a Hydrogen Energy Implementation initiative to popularize Hydrogen based fuel cell vehicles. Whether anything positive develops is anyone's guess. @jamahir bhai this may be up your alley...



It is positive news indeed. Hydrogen fuel cells can also be used in the under-development cyclorotor aircraft I posted in the other thread. The cyclorotors use electric motors to turn the blades and hydrogen fuel cells, such as in this Toyota car, with the generated electricity stored in zinc-ion batteries can be wonderfully used in the cyclorotors.

I hope Toyota has taken care of the safety issue. There is this comment on the page :


> *Shafiul azam Sayem *4 days ago
> 
> Some of hydrogen's properties require additional engineering controls to enable its safe use. Specifically, hydrogen has a wide range of flammable concentrations in air and lower ignition energy than gasoline or natural gas, which means it can ignite more easily. Consequently, adequate ventilation and leak detection are important elements in the design of safe hydrogen systems. Because hydrogen burns with a nearly invisible flame, special flame detectors are required. In addition, some metals can become brittle when exposed to hydrogen, so selecting appropriate materials is important to the design of safe hydrogen systems. In addition to designing safety features into hydrogen systems, training in safe hydrogen handling practices is a key element for ensuring the safe use of hydrogen.


But if unsafe lithium-ion batteries can be used for vehicles I don't see why can-be-made-safe hydrogen fuel cells can't be. 

Bangladesh should get Toyota to mass produce buses and taxis with this type of fuel system.


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## Bilal9

jamahir said:


> That is a nice scene.



Thanks Brother - that is one of the many small residential neighborhoods built recently in the North part of Dhaka, within the last decade. Other than this upper middle class neighborhood, Dhaka also now boasts many large high rise neighborhoods built by the govt. for lower middle income folks.











jamahir said:


> Bangladesh should get Toyota to mass produce buses and taxis with this type of fuel system.



I believe that is the plan. Govt. is looking at a pilot project to introduce Hydrogen Fuel infra in association with the Japanese Govt. which will mainly be used by public transport.


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## Bilal9

*Transfer of two pilot vessels constructed for Payra Port at Khulna Shipyard*
*Nasim ul Alam *





Two pilot vessels built at Khulna Shipyard have recently been handed over to protect the overall maritime communication including the preservation and development of Payra Port and adjacent waterways.

State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, as the chief guest, formally received the newly constructed vessels from the shipyard at a function organized on the occasion. Chairman Payra Port Authority Commodore M Jahangir Alam-BN and Khulna Shipyard MD Captain M Sajedul Karim-BN along with senior military and civilian officials were present on the occasion.

The draft of these pilot vessels is 6 feet, and the length and width overall are 120 feet and 25 feet respectively, These were built at a cost of about Tk. 52 crore. Equipped with two Mitsubishi 1,750 horsepower engines, these pilot vessels are capable of navigating about 1,200 kilometers of marine territory at a speed of about 30 knots. These are also equipped with two NPS diesel 105 kW generators and have a variety of survey equipment including sophisticated echo-sounders, radar and speed logs. The ships will have a manpower of 14 including 2 pilots.

Peerless Ventures Ltd. in Bangladesh provided all the auxiliary and sensor equipment of the two pilot vessels built to a Bureau Veritas compliant design. State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmood lauded the Khulna Shipyard for delivering the two vessels on time and recalled the company's contribution to the development of the country in the shipbuilding sector.

It may be mentioned that Khulna Shipyard has built medium to large warships as well as submarine tugs for Bangladesh Navy including \various types of utility and patrol boats/ships for Bangladesh Army and Coast Guard. The organization has also completed container ships, oil tankers, passenger ships, tourist boats, fire fighting boats and ferries at the civilian level.

The company was able to achieve a net profit of Tk. 61 crore with a pre-tax profit of around Tk. 138 crore in the last financial year.

In the last two decades, Khulna Shipyard has been able to earn a net profit of around Tk. 700 crore, thanks to the tireless work of the workers and management here,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Khulna Shipyard **commenced** builds of 3 diving boats for the Navy*


Khulna Shipyard is building three diving boats for the Bangladesh Navy. Rear Admiral Ashraful Haque Chowdhury, Commander of Khulna Naval Area, inaugurated the construction work on Thursday.

In addition to assisting Navy divers in their operations and training, the three ships will be assisted in the overall operational work of the Navy, including various activities such as diving treatment. The three ships are 37 meters long, 90 meters wide and 2.2 meters deep. Maximum speed is 15 knots. Construction is scheduled to be completed within the next two years.

Commodore Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, Commander Flotilla West and Commodore M Zakirul Islam, Managing Director Khulna Shipyard were present on the occasion.

It was informed at the ceremony that Khulna Shipyard Limited started its journey about 72 years ago. On 3 October 1999, the shipyard was handed over to the Bangladesh Navy as a non-profit organization. At present Khulna Shipyard is a for-profit company owned by the Navy. In the last five years, the yard has built ten small warships (350 ton Padma class IPV) and two large warships (large patrol craft LPC 700 ton class) and handed them over to the navy. Besides, altogether 630 ships were built and 2,363 ships were repaired in the yard over its lifetime. Construction of five more small patrol craft (Padma class IPV) for the Navy is underway at Khulna Shipyard.


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## Bilal9

*18 Meter Fire-Floats for Bangladesh*




Photo: Robert Allan Ltd.

*Robert Allan Ltd. has delivered a design of two unique fire-floats to Khulna Shipyard Ltd in Bangladesh. *

The boats will measure 18.9 m x 5.3 m with a special hard chine semi-displacement hull designed for river service and fitted with twin open style skegs for debris protection. The all aluminum hulls will be powered by two 560 kW 6135SFM85 John Deere main engines for a speed of 20 knots. 

Reduction gears will be Reintjes WAF 244 with 2.5:1 reduction ratio driving stainless steel shafts and bronze propellers. Engines are easily removed from vessel via matching hatches in main deck and overhead in-house top. Self-propelled CFD simulations run by Robert Allan Ltd. confirm the design speed of 20 knots is achievable. A single Westerbeke 23.0 EGED generator provides electrical power.

Two 2,000 liter/minute fire pumps will be fitted, each driven by a 55 kW IVECO diesel engine. The pumps are located low in the boat so priming systems are not required. Two 2,000 liter/minute fire monitors are located on the house top within view of the operators in the pilothouse. Foam concentrate capacity is 500 liters and six hydrants are located fore and aft on the main deck.

Most of the accommodation is on main deck level including an officer’s cabin with attached WC, galley, mess, and seating for 12 fire fighters in an air-conditioned deckhouse. Overnight berths for six persons are located in the foc’sle. The joiner work utilizes aluminum honeycomb paneling to reduce weight.

Two boats are currently under construction at Khulna Shipyard Ltd for the Bangladesh Navy.


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## Bilal9

Under construction Kalna Bridge on the way from Mawa to Khulna







Automated Car Parking at Dhaka Police Ramna officers quarters. This is akin to how Chinese, Japanese and Korean inner cities store cars in a small space.

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## Bilal9

Automated Rail Coach scrubber machines installed at Dhaka Main Railway Terminus. Will save tons of water.





Piling work ongoing at Jamuna Rail bridge (parallel to the old one)









Rooppur Nuclear Power Station critical milestone

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro Rail Line 6 fares

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## Bilal9

Captain Nowshad of Biman passed away in a heart attack but he made an emergency landing in India and saved the lives of all passengers in the Biman 738 first. His colleagues pay respects to him after the Janaza at the airport.








Biman pilot Captain Nawshad passes away


He suffered a heart attack mid-flight on Friday




www.dhakatribune.com















Payra Power station in test power transmission stage





Model Mosque example at Savar near Dhaka. A total of 560 model mosques and Islamic centres like these are to be built across the country. 








Bangladesh's new model mosques to disseminate Islamic knowledge, culture


The model mosques being built by the government across the country will not only serve as sites for prayer, but also centres for disseminating research, culture and knowledge of Islam. A total of 560 model mosques and Islamic centres are to be built across the country.



bdnews24.com









@bluesky bhai, this one may be of interest to you.পদ্মা সেতু্র পিলার বেশ কয়েকবার ফেরীর ধাক্কা লেগেছে।

এই সেতু ডিজাইনে ব্যবহৃত হয়েছে ব্রিটিশ স্ট্যান্ডার্ডস (BS Code), ইন্ডিয়ান রেলওয়ে কোড (IRC), অ্যামেরিকান অ্যাসোসিয়েশন অফ স্টেট হাইওয়ে এন্ড ট্রান্সপোর্টেশন অফিসিয়ালস (AASHTO LRFD Code), বিএনবিসি (BNBC) ও আরো কিছু স্ট্যান্ডার্ড।

AASHTO কোডে ব্রীজের পিয়ারের সাথে কোন জাহাজ বা ফেরীর ধাক্কাকে ভেসেল কলিশন লোড বলা হয় (Extreme Events II). এটা একটা এক্সট্রিম ইভেন্ট লোড। মানে এটা ফ্রিকুয়েন্ট হবেনা। হঠাৎ করে হতে পারে এধরনের একটা লোড। ব্রিটিশ কোডেও ভেসেল কলিশন লোডের জন্য নির্দেশনা আছে।

পদ্মা ব্রীজের ডিজাইনে ভেসেল কলিশন লোড হরাইজন্টাল ডিরেকশনে ১০ টন, ট্রান্সভার্স ডিরেকশনে ৫০ টন ও ভার্টিকাল ডিরেকশনে ১৭.৫ টন ধরা হয়েছে।

কিন্তু আমাদের পদ্মা ব্রীজের ক্ষেত্রে কয়েকদিন পরপর একই ঘটনা ঘটছে। এতে ব্রীজের লংটার্ম পারফর্মেন্স কমে যেতে পারে। তাছাড়া লোকালাইজড কোন ড্যামেজ হয়েছে কিনা সেটা ইনভেস্টিগেশন করতে হবে।

১৯৬০ থেকে ২০০২ সাল পর্যন্ত পৃথিবীতে ৩১ টা মেজর ব্রীজ কলাপ্স করে ভেসেল কলিশনের কারনে।

আজ থেকে প্রায় ৪১ বছর আগে ১৯৮০ সালে এইধরনের ভেসেল কলিশনের কারনে আমেরিকার ফ্লোরিডার সানসাইন স্কাইওয়ে ব্রীজ নামক একটা ক্যাবল স্টেইড ব্রীজ কলাপ্স করেছিল। যাতে মারা গেছে ৩৫ জন মানুষ। এই ব্রীজের কলাস্প মেকানিজম নিচের চিত্রে সংযুক্ত করা হল। এই কলাপ্সের পর ১৯৮৮ সালে আমেরিকা বিশাল রিসার্চ প্রজেক্ট লঞ্চ করে ভেসেল কলিশন লোড ক্যালকুলেশনের জন। ১৯৯১ সালে AASHTO কোডে ভেসেল কলিশন লোড আডপ্ট করা হয়।

পদ্মা ব্রীজ আমাদের স্বপ্নের ব্রীজ। এটা আমাদের ইকোনমি , দেশের মানুষের জীবনযাপন ও যোগাযাগে বিশাল ভূমিকা রাখবে। এটাকে রক্ষা করার জন্য আমাদেরকে কার্যকরী পদক্ষেপ নিতে হবে।

Photo Courtesy: Florida DOT
তথ্যসূত্রঃ FEMA, FHWA, FLORIDA DOT, BB

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## Bilal9

Railway locomotive simulators installed in Dhaka for trainmaster training.


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Chittagong to Hatiya Island scheduled Ferry service (locally fabricated by Three Angle Marine -an example of "Good enough for govt. work")





They are probably not the best fabricator in Bangladesh but at least welders can do some work and can keep their heads above water

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## Bilal9

Barisal Marine Academy'

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## Bilal9

Crane-elevated dining has come to Cox's Bazaar. Don't go if you have vertigo!

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## Bilal9

@bluesky bhai, here are some Padma Bridge Piling related images for you.

View inside each pile, there are five to seven of these going down deep for every bridge footing. All piles were filled with solid concrete





Look at the footing and the size of the men





This is the Menck piling hammer, supposedly the world's largest





Crane suspending piling hammer above piles





Re-bar formwork for pile caps





Pile arrangement shown - see how the pilings splay outward like tripod legs

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## Bilal9

Low income housing provided to displaced populace from Padma bridge area. Many villages were built.





Vista point lookout at Sajek Valley, Rangamati




Mirpur Cricket stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh




Rohingya Camp, Bhashan Char, Bangladesh

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## jamahir

Bilal9 said:


> Thanks Brother - that is one of the many small residential neighborhoods built recently in the North part of Dhaka, within the last decade. Other than this upper middle class neighborhood, Dhaka also now boasts many large high rise neighborhoods built by the govt. for lower middle income folks.



Well, that canal-side type construction and its associated non-chaotic construction for the higher income group should have been replicated for the lower income group. You may have seen my objections to high rises and skyscrapers.  You live in USA and you will have seen the niceness of the suburbs-type housing layout. Do you not wish for such areas to be in Bangladesh for all income groups ? 



Bilal9 said:


> I believe that is the plan. Govt. is looking at a pilot project to introduce Hydrogen Fuel infra in association with the Japanese Govt. which will mainly be used by public transport.



Nice !


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## Bilal9

jamahir said:


> Well, that canal-side type construction and its associated non-chaotic construction for the higher income group should have been replicated for the lower income group. You may have seen my objections to high rises and skyscrapers.  You live in USA and you will have seen the niceness of the suburbs-type housing layout. Do you not wish for such areas to be in Bangladesh for all income groups ?



Lower income groups will unfortunately not get the same suburbs-type housing layout in Bangladesh, land prices are too high in Dhaka at least, even higher than most places in the US, demand is super high.

What housing the lower income people will get is hopefully clean, organized, free of trash, noise and filth, with clean water and reliable utilities (and with some privacy hopefully). Kind of like what exists in Singapore as lower income HDB flats, because land use density in Bangladesh is more than Singapore for sure. That is a nice goal for now. In fact some Bangladesh high rise housing was designed partially by taking HDB flats as inspiration. Won't meet with your approval unfortunately but in Bangladesh it is what it is.

If you visit the Bangladesh infra thread (sticky section) then you will see I post some pictures for village low income housing as well (especially for displaced people). Those are tin-roofed and brick-walled housing very common in Bangladesh and all across India/Pakistan too (minus the tin roof).

Singapore low income HDB flats.





Some of the better HDB flats sell for a million Sing dollars each - land/space is at a premium in both S'pore and Bangladesh, so this is reality.

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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh to build 1800 KM of new rights-of-way and trackage*



* By *Anwar Hossain


As part of the government’s long-term plan to expand the railway network throughout the country, 1800 kilometres of new rail lines will be built by 2045.

All single rail tracks will be upgraded to double line and meter gauge rail lines will be transformed into dual gauge. The master plan will be implemented in six steps over a period of 30 years (2016-2045). Most of the development work of the railway master plan will be completed in the first five steps, according to the railways master plan.

As per the master plan, it is learnt that in the first phase, 438.52 kilometers of railway tracks will be laid. In this phase there is construction of 213 kilometers (km) of Bhanga-Barishal-Payra rail line, 10.01 km rail line of Akhaura-Agartola, 86.51 km Bogura-Jamtoil, Chilahati-Chilahati Border 7 km, Jalanihat-CUET-Kaptai 42 km, Chattogram Bay terminal connecting rail line 16 km, Darshana- Meherpur-Mujibnagar 26 km, Feni-Mirsarai Economic Zone 30 km, and Jamalpur Economic Zone 8 km.

In the second phase (2021-2025), 526 km rail tracks will be laid, of which, 230 km high speed railway between Dhaka-Chattogram, 100 km circular railway track around the capital city, 10 km Kushtia bypass rail line, six km Ishwardi-EPZ rail line, 18 km connecting rail line between Moheshkhali and Matarbari, 85 km Navaran-Satkhira rail line, 30 km Chhatakbazar- Sunamganj rail line, 15 km Satkhira-Munshiganj rail line and 32 km Jamalpur-Sherpur rail line.

The third phase (2026-2030) will be of 165 km, of which 25 km for Payra-Kuakata, 20 km bypass Bhairab-Abdulpur-Jamtoil-Kaonia rail line, 70 km Tungipara-Mongla-Fakirhat and 70 km Panchagarh-Banglabandha rail tracks will be laid. In the fourth phase (2031-2035) a total of 485 km rail lines will be laid, of which there will be 40 km underground subway between Narayanganj and Tongi, 100 kilometer circular railway around port city Chattogram, 60 km Nazirhat-Khagrachhari, 40 km Hathazari-Rangamati, 25 km Dohazari-Bandarban, 60 km Panchagarh-Chilahati-Hatiabandha, 80 km Rohanpur-Joypurhat and 80 km Jessore-Magura-Langalbandha-Pangsha.

In the fifth phase (2036-2040), a total of 115 km new rail lines will be laid to connect Joydevpur to Paturia via Dhamrai and Manikganj with 90 km rail line, Madhukhali and Jessore via Magura with 65 km rail line. Besides, in phase five, 1638.41 km rail line will be upgraded to dual gauge. In first phase, 177 km of Akhaura-Sylhet, 55.22 km Parbatipur-Kaonia and 33.31 km of Sylhet-Chhatak rail line will be upgraded.

In the second phase, 128 km Tongi-Bhairab Bazar, Bhairab to Akhaura 66 km, 159.2 km double rail line from Laksham to Chattogram will upgraded to dual gauge. Besides, 39.93 km Santahar-Bogura, 147 km Joydevpur to Jamalpur, 16.1 km Dhaka-Narayanganj, 40.60 Sholosahar to Dohazari single rail line will be upgraded to dual gauge.

In the third phase, a total of 364.2 km, in the fourth phase 214.64 km, and in the fifth phase, 84.33 km rail lines will upgraded to dual gauge in different routes across the country. The master plan added 946 km rail line in three phases. Inter Container depot at Dhirasram, Uttara EPZ, Mongla and Ishwardi, Darshana and Shahbazpur will be constructed.

Apart from these, six new workshops and six new railway bridges will also be constructed under the master plan. These workshops are- Narayanganj locomotive workshop, Narayanganj demo workshop, Saidpur new unit, Chattogram locomotive workshop, Rajbari locomotive workshop, Mymensingh carriage and wagon workshop.

Among the new railway bridges, the master plan includes bridge construction at Jamuna rail bridge, Karnaphuli rail bridge, Teesta rail bridge, Hardinge rail bridge, Padma rail bridge at Moukuri- Dhalarchar point, and Fulchhari-Bahadurbadghat rail bridge. Railways secretary, Md Moffazol Hossain, told Bangladesh Post, it is a long-term plan, but once it is implemented in totality, it will change the transportation scenario of the country. According to railway reports, more than 32 percent area of the country is in the railway network. The state-owned organization provides both passenger and cargo services through 502 stations.


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## Bilal9

MV Bay One Cruise vessel is currently operating on a cruise service from Cox's Bazar to St. Martin's Island off the shore of Southern Bangladesh.





Railways has decided to import tourist coaches as part of a special initiative to transport passengers to the tourist city of Cox's Bazar after completion of construction of Dohazari-Cox's Bazar railway. Luxury coaches will be procured under the project 'Procurement of 54 Broad Gauge Passenger Carriage for Operating Tourist Train for Tourist of Cox's Bazar'. The total cost of the project has been estimated at Tk 441.51 crore.

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## Bilal9

Featured Interviews, Interviews
September 17, 2021
*Cement Manufacturing : Bangladesh Striving for Global standard*
*Marjiya Baktyer Ahmed*

*A new resurgent Bangladesh aspires to emerge as an infrastructural icon in the realm of development. Shah Cement, the market leader in the cement industry is leading the way in this initiative. The company has already invested in World’s Largest Vertical Roller Mill Technology recognized by Guinness World Records. In an exclusive interview with ICE Business Times, Hafiz Sikander, Director Operations of Shah Cement illuminates us on the company’s pursuit for technological excellence and its dream for building a prosperous Bangladesh.*

*You’ve served Shah Cement for more than 15 years. Can you tell us about the operations you oversee and are in charge of?*
I look after the total manufacturing operation, starting from implementing and improvising the vision of the company by strengthening the leadership; to improve the quality of living across Bangladesh. Shah Cement has always led the way in new innovations. The newest addition to its efforts is the World’s Largest Vertical Roller Mill (VRM).

In the last 18 years we evolved from a basic Ball Mill to the present having state of art AI enabled World’s Largest VRM & Horizontal Roller Press. Shah Cement Industries Ltd. is the largest cement producing plant in Bangladesh, now with a capacity of 10 million metric tons per annum.
At Shah Cement, safety and quality gets the highest priority. I am directly involved in the selection and sourcing of raw materials that stand up to the quality we aspire towards. Through strict monitoring and control of product quality in all the stages, we ensure that quality is never compromised, and with the implementation of Level-3 automation, we have the capacity to monitor and control operations remotely.

Shah Cement has achieved an un-beaten track record of continuous product conformance to quality standard in all testing labs for the last 18 years. We have successfully established a culture of continuous development in all operation parameters. These parameters can be fine-tuned to meet specific customer requirements and minimize lead time between product ordering to customers receiving them.






*How have you shaped the company’s Quality Management Policy for Shah Cement to become an industry leader?*
We believe that we provide a construction solution to the customers and treat quality as “a pursuit of excellence”. Our employees are dedicated to quality training in order to ensure our reputation for outstanding quality can permeate throughout the country. Being a market leader for more than a decade at a stretch means, we needed to work in a way that the customers trust the quality of Shah Cement and we have managed to do that successfully so far.

As a manufacturing industry, sustaining quality is a major concern in the cement sector. We have heavily invested on international standards for quality equipment as well as in-house test facilities to protect the brand value of Shah Cement. Since the beginning we have adopted the latest technology in our production and quality control system. Added care along with the technology lead to the discovery and correction of “bugs” in the production system. Investing in training means investing in quality. Whenever we invest in training, our employees work more knowledgeably and efficiently since they understand their job and can find ways to improve. Having said that, we always considered that training begins with people in leadership positions.

*Tell us about the World’s Largest VRM technology and what makes it revolutionary?*
The futuristic cement plants will be digital-heavy to ensure sustainability and to achieve competitive advantages over other market players. Embracing digitalization and innovation is and will be the key driving factor of the 21st century. Globally leading cement producers have already embarked on the path to digitalization and are thriving.

Worlds’ biggest building materials companies deployed a digital solution to derive decisions from big data in their facilities spanning worldwide. This digitized solution deployment was not only about the production system, but also covered day-to-day operations like finances as well. This kind of data-driven decision making definitely benefits the rock-solid base for automation and optimizes the production potential. It also massively helps the manufacturers to reduce waste in terms of money and manpower, which makes them more sustainable and eco-friendly.

Shah Cement is the leading cement brand of Bangladesh and we are bringing breakthrough technology in our cement production operations through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Vertical Roller Mill (VRM.). Shah Cement has set the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest vertical roller cement mill in 2019. The OK81-6™ vertical mill, set up in Shah Cement plant, was manufactured by FLSmidth of Denmark.






The World’s Largest VRM has incorporated the latest advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Intelligent Monitoring Control System evaluates every stage of the production process from a central computer panel. If any operation on the machine encounters a problem, the Artificial Intelligence will be able to identify the problem and solve it with its built-in tools. This superior technology largely eliminates the chance of a human error. This groundbreaking technology ensures consistent and uninterrupted production of high-quality cement and that makes VRM a revolutionary machine.

*The Guinness World Record holding VRM machine has certainly upped the stakes in the industry – before we discuss the technology further, can you talk about Shah Cement’s technology partner FLSmidth?*
For over three decades vertical roller mill technology has been recognized across the world for the production of superior quality cement and for its efficient energy management. FLSmidth of Denmark is one of the leading technology providers for Cement Vertical Roller Mill with a long and proven track record. FLSmidth designed a new cement vertical roller mill capable of large-scale cement production with a state-of-the-art quality management system. They incorporated the most advanced AI and digital technology in their design and were looking for a suitable partner to implement the design. Shah Cement decided to partner with FLSmidth to commission the world’s most advanced and the largest vertical mill in cement manufacturing.

*The VRM machine can produce many varieties of cement at once. Can you talk us through the options and what makes Shah Cement’s cement the sustainable choice?*
The industry is currently facing increasing demands for diverse compositions of high-quality cement to cater to different mega projects. Another important aspect of the new Shah Cement facility is the addition of a multi-compartment silo. This will give us the flexibility to ensure steady supply of customized cement formulations to the exact requirement of mega projects without disrupting normal production. The newly introduced ‘multi-compartment silo’, together with the largest VRM in the world, will be able to produce cement of different compositions according to the different requirements in a much more efficient way. We are proud to introduce the world’s most advanced cement technology to the Bangladesh cement market.

The record-winning VRM at Shah Cement is equipped with state-of-the-art AI-systems that are guided by data-driven algorithms. With the integrated Intelligence Monitoring System and Intelligent Knowledge Solution, the cement production at Shah Cement is not only automated, but also has reduced waste, increased production and improved product quality.

*Tell us about the function of the AI system that is guided by data-driven algorithms. AI is essentially supposed to improve operations – are we potentially glimpsing a future of the cement industry where the entire process can be machine driven and not require human intervention?*
These new AI technologies are based on machine and deep-learning algorithms that create their own understanding of a process by finding patterns in the raw process data. They then use this understanding to solve problems that help improve performance and sustainability
As one practical example of AI at work, the facility’s predictive modeling process data signals that are either unreliable or unavailable – such as real-time clinker quality measurements, these are then used to create a more accurate model and controller of the actual process conditions.
The benefits of AI controlled operations is an improved ability to maintain optimal set points and faster response to conditions that may result in undesirable situations. AI is opening the door to create new solutions that efficiently offer more value, to further improve the intelligence of our process control solutions, which is a big part of our commitment to make Shah Cement plant smarter, more productive and increasingly sustainable.

*How do Intelligence Monitoring System and Intelligent Knowledge Solution help to reduce waste?*
The world’s largest Vertical Roller miller is also equipped with a built-in knowledge solution system. Built-in tools in the Intelligent Knowledge Solution keep the VRM updated with the latest best available data through the FLSmidth cloud networks and resource system. It’s guided digitally, by a system coupled with analytics-driven maintenance and process-knowledge experts to follow the best course of operation and troubleshooting. Any problems faced by the machine can be resolved with no manual intervention which ensures a high run factor.

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## Bilal9

*Japan's Softbank is buying a 20% stake in bKash*
Tribune desk

Published 12:52 pm November 11, 2021







*The Board of Directors of BRAC Bank Limited has given this information*
Softbank, a Japanese multinational company, is going to buy 20% stake in Bikash, Bangladesh's leading mobile financial services provider (MFS). Recently, an agreement has been signed between the two parties in this regard.

This was stated by the Board of Directors of BRAC Bank Limited after the approval of the share purchase and subscription agreement.

Softbank will acquire its stake (on a fully mixed basis) under SVF-2 (Softbank Vision Fund-2) Beam (DE) LLC, according to price-sensitive data released by BRAC Bank on Wednesday (November 11). The acquisition of Softbank will not change the shareholding of BRAC Bank in the development. In other words, even after the end of the transaction, the majority of voting for BRAC Bank Development will remain as a shareholder.

The statement further said that the agreement was signed subject to the relevant regulatory formalities.

According to equity research analysts, the additional investment and expertise that the new partnership will bring will help the organization develop its products and industry.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More on bKash as a company, which can be called Bangladesh version of Paypal + Western Union (in a way).









bKash - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org

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## Bilal9

*Floating farms, salt-resistant rice: Bangladeshis adapt to survive*

Now here are people who - instead of talking about climate change in 3 course dinners at 5 star hotels, decided to do something about it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...rice-bangladeshis-adapt-to-survive/ar-AAQ2atW


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## bluesky

Above is a piling picture in the Padma Bridge construction provided by @Bilal9. The pile diameter is 3.0 meter.

He has stated in another post that the Chinese company has used many international codes in the structural design analysis. I am happy that our idiot BD authorities have not interfered in that by saying, "This is the country of Bangabondhu and only BD codes should be used, Joy Bangla".

I belive instead of introducing some Peasant Codes, all important structure designs must follow interanationally accepted American or British codes and standards.

- This is the first time I have encountered such a large dia pile. In Japan I have seen a maximum of 1.3/ 1.5 meter dia piles under the buildings. Bridges here must have 3m large dia piles, no doubt.

A few tidbits about the Padma pilings:

1) The minimum C to C distance between any two piles has to be equal to or more than 1.5 times x pile dia. In the case of Padma, the minimum becomes 4.5m, which I can see has been followed.
2) A large dia pile requires double or multiple vertical rods. Padma has two bars bundled together, dia perhaps 40 mm, not sure.
3) Spacing of horizontal tie bars is perfect somewhere within 10cm. Perfect. The dia being 20mm. Strength of tie bars is very important to resist a structral failure. When a heavy load tries to bend the vertical main bars diagonally, the tie bars resist it. This is how the main bars and the concrete do not yield to external loadings. 






The thickness of the pile cap is decided by the force of the Punching Shear it is subjected to during heavy wind or earthquake. These loads are in addition to the Dead Loads.

I think hit strength from moving water vehicles is not that much. It certainly cannot tilt the pier even by a fraction of a cm.

However, the piers must be protected by hammering additional H-piles around the piers.

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh ICT Minister Palak describing "tauwering acheeew-men of e-gobar-nansh in last tuuwel yearsh" in Bangladesh ...

Thankfully its a short enough video. Ignore the sycophantic comments directed to his boss and also her son/dad.


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## Bilal9

This vision for the future Health Complex One and the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing represents a contemporary paradigm shift in healthcare master planning. Careful consideration of integrated infrastructure planning, optimized 3D multi-use stratification and providing a site wide community park will make Health Complex One an innovative healthcare model creating a modern healthcare campus which takes advantage of local climate and context to create a unique, Hospital in a park and a park in a Hospital. This Health complex is based in the North Dhaka suburb of Uttara and is part of a much larger complex of super specialized hospitals and healthcare triage facilities.


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## ALShill

jamahir said:


> Well, that canal-side type construction and its associated non-chaotic construction for the higher income group should have been replicated for the lower income group. You may have seen my objections to high rises and skyscrapers.  You live in USA and you will have seen the niceness of the suburbs-type housing layout. Do you not wish for such areas to be in Bangladesh for all income groups ?
> 
> 
> 
> Nice !


Bangladesh has the highest population density on earth its not physically possible to do build american style suburbs the market doesn't support it.


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## Bilal9

Commercial development in Gulshan...


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## Bilal9

*Growing during Pandemic*
5 minutes read


*The food delivery service Foodpanda witnessed phenomenal growth during the COVID-19 pandemic while keeping restaurants running by providing them with the needed delivery service and the foodies serving delights from their favourite food joint. foodpanda Bangladesh Co-founder and Managing Director Ambareen Reza speak to Colors Arka Dev Biswas on how the business has remained afloat when all businesses have been struggling.*



_For Ambareen, society comes first_
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck last year no one had any idea on what to do or how long this would last. More than one and a half years into the epidemic everyone is learning to live with it: Companies are going back to their drawing board to revisit and recalibrate business plans. Despite the COVID-induced new normal situation and even in lockdowns, Foodpanda has been able to retain its growth and witnessed its service demands kept on growing. 

Lockdowns have forced people to move to digital space for banking to all other essential services. Pandemic has created the situation for App-based marketing solutions to leapfrog to newer heights.

So how did Foodpanda manage to operate and grow its business during the pandemic? Foodpanda Bangladesh Co-founder and Managing Director Ambareen Reza said, ‘Since the beginning of the pandemic, all of us at foodpanda have learnt to be more agile’. Despite the uncertainties around, they prepared to adjust to the new normal. Talking about the positive mindset at the helm of affairs, she said, ‘Our primary goal has been to support our community of customers, riders, and restaurant partners. We have taken several initiatives to extend our support to our network during these trying times. Additionally, we chose to focus on expansion in an effort to make our services accessible to both customers and entrepreneurs across the country, while giving riders a platform to work’.

In 2013, she started Foodpanda Bangladesh with a handful of team members and has been working to create an ecosystem that mutually benefits their customers, riders, and vendor partners. Reflecting on the ecosystem, she said that they had onboarded thousands of home chefs, most of whom were women, and given them a platform through which they can sell their home-cooked meals, snacks, and treats. They have helped around 20,000 restaurant partners to establish a digital presence. This network support allowed them to generate revenue from the digital channels despite a global pandemic.

Having a strong digital presence has helped restaurants and shops to engage and communicate with their consumer base better. Along with expanding, they have introduced new verticals and services such as pandamart shops, pick-up, and home chef program, foodpanda for business, and pandago which is a new logistics-as-a-service solution. All of these have created opportunities for small businesses across the country to build their digital presence and have enabled these businesses to tap into the digital ecosystem.

With travel restrictions in place, the question becomes as to how a business survives which depended on travelling between points to ensure they can cater their services. Responding to this she said, “We have worked closely with the government to ensure that food and grocery delivery services are considered as emergency services – in line with the norm like in other countries. As a result of our coordinated efforts, food and grocery delivery have been exempted from the purview of the recent lockdown and restrictions. 

We have stood beside our restaurant partners to ensure that they can keep their kitchens open for delivery and takeaway, while also making sure that our riders can keep working and earning”. That certain essential services are imperative to keep people, economy, and businesses afloat is what kept Foodpanda thriving.

With their countrywide network, they are making it possible for people to stay home while remaining on the frontline, delivering essentials to their doorsteps. They are also diligently working to ensure that their riders, pandamart staff, and restaurant partners abide by health safety precautions to keep the community at large as safe as possible.



_Members of Foodpanda are a family to Ambareen Reza_

A risk-free workplace is a must-have for every company and in this time of the pandemic, it becomes pivotal to maintain safety before anything else. Foodpanda takes every necessary precaution to protect its employees and customers. 

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, ‘Over the last few months, we have taken several initiatives to keep our riders safe. Some of these initiatives include ensuring insurance for them, providing on the job riders with care packages, and equipping our frontline forces with masks, sanitiser, and other supplies. We have ensured that the staff in our pandamart dark stores practice proper hygiene and ensure sourcing and handling of products is done with safety and hygiene in mind. We have ensured temperature checks of all staff and riders when they begin their shift, and we have worked to make contactless delivery and digital payment a reality.’ 

As they move ahead, their main concern became that they would have to keep continuing to expand and help entrepreneurs digitally transform their businesses. She explained that along with helping entrepreneurs to digitally transform their businesses they need to keep focusing on operational excellence so that the customers and partners always enjoy superior service and quick help from the platform.

Foodpanda’s latest development has seen them venture into the world of quick commerce through the introduction of Foodpanda shops and their pandamart dark stores. These stores are offering delivery of groceries and other essentials within 30 minutes. In less than a year, they have been able to expand their pandamart dark stores in 25 locations across the capital and other major cities. They have also introduced 24/7 grocery delivery services through pandamart which is a first in the country.

They have launched Foodpanda for business recently aiming to cater to the meal demand of corporations. This is a one-click solution with a transparent and streamlined billing process.

They have also launched a pick-up service within the Foodpanda app and website with the aim to add greater convenience for their customers and restaurant partners alike. They have also introduced pandago recently, which is a logistics-as-a-service solution. Essentially, pandago provides businesses, merchants, and vendors with quick and reliable package delivery services.

When asked about her plan for the future of Foodpanda she said, ‘As we grow and expand to new areas, we continue to prioritize community empowerment. We will continue to expand to new areas to serve even more customers and to give smaller merchants a platform via which they can go digital and increase their revenue and presence. We will also continue to support riders by giving them a platform to generate income through flexible working practices. 

We plan to create more job opportunities in the technology sector. As we grow, we envision expanding the reach of our pandamart dark stores and strengthening our e-commerce operation so that everyone can experience and begin to expect speedy and convenient delivery.’

Talking about empowerment she proudly said, ‘We have recently trained and onboarded riders from the transgender community. Moving forward, we hope to welcome even more transgender individuals to the Foodpanda family.’

Ambareen Reza expressed her commitment and concluded the interview by saying, ‘Foodpanda we will continue to contribute to the community and economy in a positive way.’


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## Bilal9

*Leading From the Front*
6 minutes read


*Syed Almas Kabir, President of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), shared his views with COLORS Business’ Asad Uz Zaman and Lamyaa Yushra on the challenges of Digital transformation in Bangladesh.*


_Syed Almas Kabir, President of_ _BASIS_ _on the cover of COLORS Business’ October 2021 issue. Photographer: Kazi Mukul._

As the country went into lockdown in March last year and working from home became the new normal, one sector saw opportunities. Bangladesh’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has found and utilized the pandemic as a blessing in disguise. The government of Bangladesh has declared it as a thrust sector as it represents potential for successful reforms, job creation, industry growth, and high spill-over effects to other sectors as well as for improving governance and facilitating inclusion.

Syed Almas Kabir, BASIS President and Director of Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), is an entrepreneur, ICT industry evangelist, policy advocate, and an angel investor. He went to study Electrical Engineering at Jadavpur University, India, in 1985 and afterward obtained his Master’s degree from New York University, USA. Almas came to Dhaka and started his career as a programmer in 1989 and also became a systems analyst for one and a half years before pursuing his Master’s degree. He worked for a very renowned computer company, Tandy-Radio Shack.

“I chose IT because when I passed my HSC back in 1984, I started learning computer programming. It took my interest, especially in the logic and the algorithms which are required in programming and I was very good at it,” he said. “So, I loved it and I think that encouraged me to choose electrical engineering and then later computers.”

Returning to Bangladesh, Syed Almas Kabir joined Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) as a senior lecturer where he became the Associate Professor as well as the Registrar and was involved with various administrative roles and worked there for 13 years. “In 2006 I left academia, and I eventually came to the industry.”

He did not come from a family of business background as both his parents were jobholders, and he thinks it helped him to gain an academic perspective considering his mother was a teacher whereas his father worked for a British tea company.

Almas Kabir is a shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of MetroNet Bangladesh Limited, the largest nationwide data-communication company in the country offering Cloud Computing, FinTech, Cyber Security, Intranet, Internet, IP Telephony, software & system integration, and other IT Enabled Services.

Being a first-hand witness to the rapid growth of this sector, he observed: “When this government first came to power in 1996, they made the computers and accessories duty-free which helped a tremendous growth and popularity of computerization everywhere. So, that was the start. Later, on December 12, 2008, the Awami League declared their election manifesto with the theme and vision of ‘Digital Bangladesh’. That gave this industry a very big push. It is definitely a gamechanger and if you notice, in the last 12 years, I’d say there has been a paradigm shift.”

The concept of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ has more to it than its literal meaning. “We sometimes do not understand what ‘Digital Bangladesh’ really means. What it really is: it will be a country where the citizens will enjoy the services very easily and transparently and more importantly a citizen does not have to go to the government for services, but the government will bring the services to the citizen’s hand wherever that citizen is. Wherever I am, I need not have to go to the government office in the district headquarters. 

Even if I am in the suburbs, I can access that service and get that service through my computer or through my mobile phone. So, this is what I understand as the main idea about ‘Digital Bangladesh’. The spirit of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ is to ensure democratic rights of a citizen, ensuring transparency, of course, making everything more efficient and less time-consuming.”



_For Syed Almas Kabir, the passion for IT came at an early age_

He added, “We have come a long way and the government has identified about more than 2500 citizen services which will be eventually transformed into online services. Some 400-500 services have already been made available online, but then there are some more that have to be online. The work is going on and we are on the right path.”

With the current situation, implementation of newer methods is in full swing with the government planning to increase export of local products aiming to turn Bangladesh into a manufacturing hub. But challenges lie ahead. Syed Almas Kabir cautioned that the young demography will not be so young by the time Bangladesh attains the status of a developed country by 2041 and how it is crucial for Bangladesh to properly utilize this window of time.

“The average age of our population is below 28. But the problem is this advantage will not be there after, say 20 years. By 2041 when we dream of becoming a developed nation and a knowledge-based society, by that time this average age of the population will be over 40. So, we can only draw the demographic dividend in the next 20 years or so.”

He pointed out that there is the problem of an unskilled workforce which creates a gap in the industry. “There is a difference between knowledge and skill and it is very important to merge these two; this is what I have been advocating for a long time. I understand the problems of academia and I understand the requirements of the industry. A gap is still there and we really need to minimize that. Collaboration between academia and the industry is very much necessary,” he detailed.

He proposed incorporating hands-on training into the four-year syllabus, so when the students graduate, they will have both knowledge and skills. “We have been talking to the University Grants Commission (UGC) and different universities. Some of the private universities have listened to us. They have included industry representatives in their academic advisory boards. But the public universities are difficult because they have to go through many bureaucratic channels and I think UGC has to step up and has to look into this matter.”

However, he observed, during the ongoing pandemic, digital commerce has taken a leap of five years with people becoming more familiar with buying online. “Digital commerce has become very popular in the last one year or so; what we would have achieved in the next five years has been achieved within a year. Now, we really need to keep this momentum going and if we take some correct steps, I think the digital commerce industry will grow even more.”

So, what are the things that need to be done now keeping the challenges in mind?

Syed Almas Kabir mentioned that the government is working on taking broadband internet to rural areas. “We have mobile internet connectivity everywhere in Bangladesh but that cannot contribute to the economy unless it is broadband. So, broadband internet has to be taken to the rural areas, to the end-users and we must ensure the speed, availability, and quality of the internet. If that happens, the people in the rural areas can start their own enterprises and join the economy by doing freelancing works, outsourcing, digital commerce, and so on. And they can start contributing to the economy and citizens can take advantage of the digital services. 

Also, skill development is very important for our workforce. It doesn’t necessarily have to be ICT skills. I would say: Do not be a Jack of all trade; you have to be a master of one particular trade. When we are entering into the fourth industrial revolution these skills are even more required. Many people will lose jobs and new jobs will be introduced. Those who will lose their jobs would need to be skilled or reskilled in different areas. Therefore, skill development should be the top priority in Bangladesh.”

The world has realized the importance of the ICT sector when the most basics of all things were done digitally, like banking, meetings, classes, business, and even judiciary. More solutions and tools will be needed and that will open up big opportunities for the ICT sector. “There will be new technologies that will be used to make businesses more productive. I think in Bangladesh, we really need to be very cautious and vigilant and grab this opportunity at once. Thus, we can not only serve the people of our country but also offer our services internationally.”


----------



## Bilal9

Brothers @Dungeness and @Shotgunner51 maybe you will find this of some interest if you like hard economic data,

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link:








Bangladesh: A New Frontier of Investment - Colors Magazine


Considered as the next Asian Tiger, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The growth rate of the economy averaging above 6.5% over a decade has transformed the country into a destination of investment opportunities. To showcase the true potential of Bangladesh as an...




www.colorsmagazine.net





*Bangladesh: A New Frontier of Investment*
16 minutes read
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*Considered as the next Asian Tiger, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The growth rate of the economy averaging above 6.5% over a decade has transformed the country into a destination of investment opportunities. To showcase the true potential of Bangladesh as an attractive place for foreign investment roadshow “The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potential of Trade and Investment in Bangladesh” was organized by the Bangladesh Security Exchange Commission (BSEC) between July 26 and August 2 this year. The Contributing Editor of COLORS Business Magazine Rehnuma Karim Ph.D. reports from New York. *



_The delegate representing Bangladesh at the Roadshow took a group photograph_

The invited keynote speaker at the recently held BSEC Road Show in New York, Lawrence H. Summers, the 71st Secretary of Treasury for President Clinton and the Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama appropriately, pointed out that the potential of Bangladesh as a place for growing investment is still undermined and untapped in the USA. The data on the state of the US and Bangladesh trade indicated that US Trade volume in 2019 with Bangladesh was only $9 billion while for Vietnam it was 81.3 billion, India $146.1 Billion, Malaysia $59.2 billion, and Singapore $91.6 billion. And this is why events such as the Road Show titled: “Rise of the Bengal Tiger-Potential for Trade and Investment” definitely can address the misconception and gaps letting the world have a glimpse of what Bangladesh has to offer as the new frontier of investment.

The first roadshow was held successfully in Dubai, UAE from February 9 to 12, 2021 creating overwhelming responses both from the NRBs and foreign institutional and individual investors. The second series of events followed and also was organized by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission that took place in 4 major cities of the USA, starting from New York City followed by Washington D.C, Los Angeles, and concluded in Silicon Valley, Santa Clara.  Two different sessions were arranged for NRBs and Foreign Investors in New York City. In New York, both Investors and business leaders of both nonresident Bangladeshi and foreign institutional and individual investors participated.

A senior and high-powered team of BSEC led by its Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam and representatives from the concerned ministries and regulatory authorities, dignitaries including the Private Industry and Investment Adviser to Prime Minister Salman F Rahman; Senior Secretary of Finance Division participated at the different sessions of the Roadshow across the USA. Abdur Rouf Talukder; Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce; Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Secretary of Economic; Resources Division-Ms. Fatima Yasmin; Executive Chairman of BIDA, Md. Sirazul Islam and Executive Chairman of BEPZA Major General Md. Nazrul Islam are also among the core group of speakers. The events were also attended by many private sector leaders, NRBs, foreign Investors, and Media.

The first of its kind Roadshow focused on Investment and Trade with two major sessions directed to the NRBs and the Foreign Investors took place at the Intercontinental New York Barclay hotel in Manhattan, New York on July 26, 2021.




_NRB Q&A sessions_

*Attracting FDI *
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays a significant role in contributing to the economic growth of a country like Bangladesh, giving the needed push to the next stage of development. Bangladesh has set its goal to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030. But to achieve this status, it has to keep the continued momentum to build the desired conducive investment conditions to attract foreign investors and NRBs who can stimulate the national economy. According to the Global Investment Competitiveness report, 12 pillars including institution, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, product market, labor market, financial system, market size, dynamism in business, and innovation capability are needed to create an attractive investment environment. According to the World Economic Forum, Bangladesh scored 52.12 points out of 100 on the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report and has room for growth to climb up the ranking.







In the fiscal year 2018-2019, despite the not-so-high ranking; Bangladesh’s GDP grew by 8.2%, which was ranked among the highest in the Asia Pacific region. Confidence of investors is also growing mainly because of the proven policies, regulatory reform, infrastructural and ICT development, and for the decade of stable political conditions. FDIs have been flowing mostly into RMG sectors, food processing, and Banking, but more sectors can be explored such as health and tourism.

The following chart shows the forecasted economic indicators for Bangladesh, which surely is a positive sign for growth. Foreign investors are attracted to invest in a host country when the country’s general state shows the following indicators with a promising outlook. The indicators are; legal, economic, and political stability; increased employment and economic growth, development of backward areas; increase in exports; exchange rate stability; growth in the energy/power sectors; stimulation of economic development; development of human capital; improved responsiveness to the needs of investors and improved capital flow. The roadshow aimed to convey the updated information on some of these major indicators and undertook a coordinated effort between the government and the private sectors not only to promote Bangladesh but also to identify investors’ priorities for investing in Bangladesh.




_The above Economic Indicators for Bangladesh include actual values, historical data charts, an economic calendar, time-series statistics, business news, long-term forecasts, and short-term predictions for the Bangladesh economy. Source World Economic Forum 2019_

MNCs bringing Foreign Direct Investment are more interested to invest in developing countries when they fully understand their opportunities and risks. The real images of Bangladesh’s success stories showing prospects for more and new types of investments have to be told to grab the attention of the right investors who are ready to explore and grow with the country. With a 6% and above annual growth in the GDP and per capita national income reaching US$ 2,227, the country is primed towards achieving the middle-income country status by 2024 and aiming to become a developed country by 2041. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the country showed resilience even during the pandemic that placed Bangladesh among the 23rd IMF member countries that were forecasted to have positive growth despite COVID-19. To promote promising opportunities for investors around the world as an emerging key hub for trade and investment, BSEC partnering with BIDA took this initiative to put the spotlight on what Bangladesh has to offer.

*Bangladesh as an enticing destination for FDI *
The World Bank conducted an investor survey on 750 Multinational companies to understand the factors that attract them towards investing in a developing country. The following illustration showed that political stability and security along with a stable legal and regulatory environment are the leading characteristics considered by executives of MNCs to invest and these far outweighed issues such as low tax and labor cost.
Eminent Economist Lawrence H. Summers, Professor of Charles W. Eliot University and former Chief Economist of the World Bank in his keynote speech appreciated the current transparent framework of the Bangladesh financial market and encouraged investors to explore the possibilities of investing in Bangladesh.






During the last 12 years since 2009-Bangladesh continued to show a stable political environment. Salman F Rahman mentioned how the term *“Hartal”* is not known to the new generation of foreign investors nowadays which surely is a positive sign. The government is also taking conscious approaches and making plans to address a transparent and stable legal and regulatory environment for an investment-friendly environment. Digitization of many such services therefore no doubt has been a key contributing factor of growth. With the accelerated effort of digitalization in Bangladesh and infrastructure development, remarkable progress has been made in the ICT sector that increased confidence to invest in Bangladesh by foreign investors and venture capitalists. Leading Financial Institutions of the world also said the following, observing Bangladesh’s remarkable growth.

_“_Fastest growing economy in South Asia” The World Bank 
“One of the top four fastest-growing digital economies of the world”. Global Connectivity Index 
“The 23rd largest economy of the world” PriceWaterhouseCoopers

In the path towards becoming a developed country by 2041, Bangladesh despite the pandemic performed as one of the best markets in the world in 2020. $40 billion has been invested in infrastructure to support growth. One of the strengths Bangladesh has to offer is the demographic dividend of 55 million youth population and 70 million workforces. At the inauguration event in New York, the prominent speakers from the core delegation delivered their pitch presenting Bangladesh’s strength and also addressed the misconceptions.

*The takeaways*
Each speaker represented their respective organizations at the BSEC roadshow and elaborately showcased the reasons for Bangladesh being in the trajectory to achieve a high growth rate and emphasized the investment potential and opportunities, available facilities, products, and services for both NRBs and foreign investors. They made the case on why FDIs jointly or 100% fully foreign-owned can enjoy global standards benefits through their investments in Bangladesh. The following section captures some of the major key takeaways. 








_The High-level Delegates Answering Questions at the Panel Discussion_

_Salman F. Rahman addressing the audience at the US Roadshow in New York_


*Investment Opportunities in the Capital Market*
Professor Rubaiyat-Ul-Islam, Chairman of BSEC, eloquently placed the facts and figures on why Bangladesh has become a fertile ground for trade and investment. He mentioned the benefits investors can enjoy having no tax on profit till 2021 and 20% to 100% tax reduction for 10 years of operation in High tech parks. Also, there is an 80% VAT exemption on utility investing in High tech parks. No foreign equity limitation on share-holding and 50% discount on foreign employees for 3 years. The investors can also enjoy 100% repatriation facilities for profit and capital, 10% cashback on export-oriented revenue, and duty-free import provision of fixed capital and assets. Bonded warehouse facilities are also provided in a few sectors.

He also said that Bangladesh has a robust capital market that guarantees a high return on capital.

DSE showed double-digit growth of 24.4 % amidst the pandemic, growth in remittance flow and a surplus current account that indicates the sign of resiliency. In Santa Clara, Professor Rubaiyat-Ul-Islam talked about the vibrant growing Startup ecosystem that is supported by Bangladesh Government and the private sector. The accelerated digitization in Bangladesh allowed the ICT sector to grow manifold which is also an excellent indicator of growth. ICT export has crossed the billion dollars. The median age of youth in Bangladesh is 27 who have increased digital awareness and tech adaptability. Every 3 out of 5 people have an MFS account. The number of mobile subscribers in 2021 is at 170 million and internet users at 112 million, which has become a potential market with a growing appetite for consumer spending. Global standard policies have been activated to promote the ICT sector and the startups’ industry. Customized training on frontier technology has become mandatory from primary education which will build a highly-skilled workforce. There is also a 100% tax discount for 10 years for investors who want to invest in high-tech parks in Bangladesh.





Another significant indicator to attract foreign investors is the consistent GDP growth that has surpassed the GDP growth of Bangladesh’s neighboring countries. He also informed the NRBs on the NITA (Non-Resident Investors Taka Account) which is a facility that is provided to non-resident individuals/institutions including non-resident Bangladeshi nationals who are interested in trading Bangladeshi securities against foreign exchange remitted from abroad. The Chairman of BSEC concluded his talk quoting Rabindranath Tagore, “Everything comes to us and belongs to us if we create that capacity to receive it.” He invited potential investors to the untapped opportunities that Bangladesh has to offer to build a strong partnership. At the Stakeholders meeting in Washington D.C, he pointed out the importance of networking that can build bridges and added that “Bangladesh is no longer looking for aid but looking for partners. We have planned infrastructure development, successful educated business people who can be excellent business partners for you. And the population of Bangladesh is a blessing as it has created a large market size near France, Italy, and England. With the growing purchasing power of our people, Bangladesh is launching into a big market which presents attractive characteristics for investors to come in.”






_Representatives from Private Businesses in New York_

_BSEC Chairman making his introductory Remark_

*Steps to attract FDI*
The Executive Chairman of BEPZA, Major General Md. Nazrul Islam, SPP appreciated the long-term trade and investment partnership between Bangladesh and the USA. His speech was aimed to build awareness of the reformation that has been going on to accommodate the investors from abroad. BEPZA, the government body empowered and responsible for the creation, development, operation, and management of industrial zones like Export Processing Zones as well as promoting investment in Bangladesh has been playing an integral part in the economic growth of the country. He encouraged the investors by mentioning the establishment of the One-Stop Service (OSS) in 2018. The One-Stop Service (OSS) Center tag line is “With you all through the way” and was created to facilitate existing companies and prospective investors of EPZs to receive services, incentives, permission, NOCs, & Certificates from BEPZA or other service-providing organizations within the stipulated time from a single window. He added how EPZ contributed 1/5 of the total export and encouraged product diversity and a move from the single-sector dependence that was focused on RMG. At present EPZs have expanded production into 22 products under export categories. Reduce single sector dependence.

*Stable Investment Climate*
To advocate his case on bringing in sizable Foreign Direct Investment, Bangladesh Commerce Secretary, Tapan Kanti Ghosh described the role of export and import in Bangladesh’s growth journey. He was optimistic about Bangladesh climbing the ladders of development with rapid progress and stability in different sectors, maintaining a steady inflation rate of 5%. Ghosh did realistically acknowledge a few drawbacks such as Bangladesh scoring 52 out of 100 in the 2019 Global Competitiveness Index. He also said that due to the pandemic, negative growth did happen in trade but also showed improvement as it is slowly taking off from the beginning of this year. One of the challenges mentioned by him in the talk was about transforming many industries into export-oriented industries. On the US-Bangladesh trade issue, Bangladesh is not yet activating to its potential as it was reflected in the data he showed under the State of US trade in which US trade volume with Bangladesh was only $9 billion. This is where he sees room for improvement and injecting foreign investment could expedite and facilitate the sector. He suggested that Free Trade Agreements and preferential market agreements can ensure the rise of exports from Bangladesh to the USA. Gosh also spoke about how automation of company registration under the commerce ministry is making things easier for foreign investors to take the first step on entering Bangladesh. He concluded his speech mentioning the Commerce ministry taking action to prepare a high-powered committee that is already planning on the reforms that will be paving the way to the long-term vision of Bangladesh becoming the 23rd largest economy by 2050.



_Arif Khan highlighted major strides in socio-economic indicators during his presentation_




_Former Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers addressing the US Roadshow audience_

*Winds of Change*
Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman, Commissioner for BSEC, addressed some misconceptions about investing in Bangladesh and emphasized how Bangladesh is becoming the fastest growing economy in the world that can accommodate a dynamic environment for investment. According to him, the accelerated GDP growth, low Debt servicing ratio, political stability, and protection of long-term interest of investors are attractive attributes reflecting Bangladesh’s potential as a host nation for foreign investment. He also highlighted the importance of a well-functioning derivatives market that is essential for the growth of our capital market to attract foreign investors to the Bangladesh Stock market. He also mentioned that Bangladesh is taking steps to reduce the existing high transaction costs to protect the interest of the investors.

*Attracting NRB investments *
Md. Sirazul Islam Executive Chairman for Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), invited the NRBs to can take advantage of what transformative Bangladesh has to offer. He praised the NRBs as Bangladesh’s irreplaceable assets and requested NRBs to take part in the process to accelerate Bangladesh’s growth. He assured the investors and the NRBs of how different Bangladesh is now as BIDA is playing an important role in providing investors without hassles through a one-stop service (OSS) via online platforms. He presented an actual story of NRB investors registering his company from New York using BIDA’s One-Stop Service. Investors interested in High Tech Park also have their own OSS. BIDA has been leading the effort of different services through the portal. Private sectors are also integrating their services into the BIDA portal due to the ease of doing business. The Executive Chairman was disappointed to see that many transformative aspects of Bangladesh that are helping the country to do better than the competitions are unfortunately not included in the world bank indicators. He also referred to the tremendous improvement and development that has been happening in infrastructure, building deep seaports, airports, bridges, 100 special economic zones, 39 high tech parks, and special eco-tourism parks under the Bangladesh Export processing zone authority. He added how BIDA is playing an important role as a consultant to businesses. He also welcomed investors to bring in investment for the untapped market that has a growing demand for medical devices and health products.



_Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam handing over gifts to Lawrence Summers_



_Shyamal Dutta, the _editor of Bhorer Kagoj, asked_ questions to the panel_

*Sound Policies for better stability*
Senior Secretary for the Ministry of Finance in Bangladesh, Abdur Rouf Talukder highlighted the last 12 years in which one of the most important achievements happened in Bangladesh, maintaining macroeconomic stability, which is conducive for investment and economic growth. He pointed out how the stability resulted in the downward trend of inflation, interest rate, and exchange rate and the banks offering 7% for term loans. This according to him is taking Bangladesh to reach the state of fiscal sustainability with low debt to GDP ratio which was around 35% and much lower than the neighboring countries. This is no doubt evidence of sound fiscal policies being implemented.
The budget deficit was also managed. He also stated that Bangladesh is also in a position in which the country can afford to give loans to Sri Lanka, Namibia, and Sudan. In 40 years, he was proud to say that from 2009 to 2021 our per capita income has increased on an average at $128, and during the pandemic—Bangladesh Government has been providing low-cost credit lines and cash incentives to both domestic and foreign investors to support their businesses.

*Economic Resilience *
Salman F Rahman, the Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister energized the attendees saying, “Real change is taking place in Bangladesh”. He initiated his speech giving a positive outlook of the country confirming that the criticism of a trickle-down economic effect not happening is not an accurate statement and invited everyone to see the flavors of a new Bangladesh. He explained how he saw the changes happening at the union level with rural people actually participating in the economic activities such as starting a beauty parlor, opening Chinese restaurants and Gymnasiums, and even having pet shops. All these he identified are the result of high purchasing power among the general population who are demanding a better life.

During the pandemic, the government also provided direct monetary support to those who needed help. He was excited to share that the country is moving forward in a planned manner, setting priorities and goals. He also emphasized the need for foreign direct investment in the areas of medical services and products and the tourism industry. One of the key achievements of this government according to Rahman was achieving political stability which is a crucial precursor of economic growth and attracting Foreign Investors. The second big success pointed out by him was providing uninterrupted power, which was not the case a decade ago. Now Bangladesh enjoys surplus energy and 99% of the households in Bangladesh are connected to electricity.









_NRBs and Private Foreign Investors at the Road Show_

One of the biggest challenges after power source and political stability was Bangladesh being the 8th largest populated country in the world and the most densely populated country in the world. That is why industries across Bangladesh grew in an unplanned manner based on access to roads and highways. But he found the Industry owners complaining about inadequate resources and facilities that hampered their growth, which mainly happened as the industries were placed before proper infrastructures were placed. Therefore, the EPZs were created to serve the investors, giving them access to all resources and benefits. 

He addressed another criticism regarding corruption and threw an open challenge that corruption does not exist at the highest level as things are happening at a transparent level but did not deny the presence of corruption at the lower and middle levels. He stated positively that these too can be curbed through the transformational digital services of all government services that will minimize people-to-people interaction. He said that the accessibility to 4G technology and building of the fiber optic backbone is empowering every corner of Bangladesh whereas a person living in the rural part of Bangladesh is earning through international contracts. He offered foreign Investors and NRBs to take advantage of this new horizon of Investment in Bangladesh where they all could play their part to speed up the growth process to achieve the vision of becoming a developed nation by 2041. It concluded with the assurance to help the investors resolve their concerns and problems through BIDA, BSEC, and BEPZA’s open-door policy where representatives are eager to provide any support.

*Return on Investments *
Arif Khan, Vice Chairman for Shanta Asset Management took the floor and gave an overall picture of how the existing MNCs and Foreign investors are portraying Bangladesh as an Investment destination. From his previous experiences and communication with the investors, he found that all major investors reported that Bangladesh has the highest Return on Investment and lowest distribution cost in the world. As Bangladesh now has a new mindset with master plans of development, projects that are almost nearing completion such as the Matarbari Power Plant, Dhaka Metro Rail, Padma Multipurpose Bridge, and Karnaphuli Underwater Tunnel will create new opportunities for economic growth across the nation. He proudly announced that Bangladesh never failed to pay any debt on time. He also added how accelerated digitization has created a shift in the lives of 80% of the population and now with access to internet services all across the country, Bangladesh is positioned 8th in freelancing.


_Shibli Rubayat gave his presentation on the potentials of trade and investment in Bangladesh_


*Embracing the Future*
The members of the high-powered delegation team members were available to answer all the questions from the attendees at the events who were Foreign Investors, NRBs, business leaders, and media. The panel was very helpful for both the panelists and the participants as many concerning issues were openly discussed and solutions to problems were generated as well. . Many aspects were clarified such as clarification on non-resident Investors Taka Account (NITA) accounts to reduce hassles for NRBs, the opening of digital booths for brokerage houses in different countries, creation of digital outlets with advisory facilities, and starting new products for NRBs.
Bangladesh undoubtedly has come a long way since the country’s independence and has prepared the stage to take off being a nation that has much to offer to the world with determination, proper planning, and setting the right visions at the right time. If the continuum and the spirit to excel prevail, the frontier for future investment and growth will have no limit as Bangladesh opens her doors to a new height of amazing possibilities.

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## Bilal9

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1875195562655308


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## Dungeness

Bilal9 said:


> Brothers @Dungeness and @Shotgunner51 maybe you will find this of some interest if you like hard economic data,
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Link:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bangladesh: A New Frontier of Investment - Colors Magazine
> 
> 
> Considered as the next Asian Tiger, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The growth rate of the economy averaging above 6.5% over a decade has transformed the country into a destination of investment opportunities. To showcase the true potential of Bangladesh as an...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.colorsmagazine.net
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Bangladesh: A New Frontier of Investment*
> 16 minutes read
> Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Tumblr Pinterest Messenger Share via Email
> 
> *Considered as the next Asian Tiger, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The growth rate of the economy averaging above 6.5% over a decade has transformed the country into a destination of investment opportunities. To showcase the true potential of Bangladesh as an attractive place for foreign investment roadshow “The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potential of Trade and Investment in Bangladesh” was organized by the Bangladesh Security Exchange Commission (BSEC) between July 26 and August 2 this year. The Contributing Editor of COLORS Business Magazine Rehnuma Karim Ph.D. reports from New York. *
> 
> 
> 
> _The delegate representing Bangladesh at the Roadshow took a group photograph_
> 
> The invited keynote speaker at the recently held BSEC Road Show in New York, Lawrence H. Summers, the 71st Secretary of Treasury for President Clinton and the Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama appropriately, pointed out that the potential of Bangladesh as a place for growing investment is still undermined and untapped in the USA. The data on the state of the US and Bangladesh trade indicated that US Trade volume in 2019 with Bangladesh was only $9 billion while for Vietnam it was 81.3 billion, India $146.1 Billion, Malaysia $59.2 billion, and Singapore $91.6 billion. And this is why events such as the Road Show titled: “Rise of the Bengal Tiger-Potential for Trade and Investment” definitely can address the misconception and gaps letting the world have a glimpse of what Bangladesh has to offer as the new frontier of investment.
> 
> The first roadshow was held successfully in Dubai, UAE from February 9 to 12, 2021 creating overwhelming responses both from the NRBs and foreign institutional and individual investors. The second series of events followed and also was organized by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission that took place in 4 major cities of the USA, starting from New York City followed by Washington D.C, Los Angeles, and concluded in Silicon Valley, Santa Clara. Two different sessions were arranged for NRBs and Foreign Investors in New York City. In New York, both Investors and business leaders of both nonresident Bangladeshi and foreign institutional and individual investors participated.
> 
> A senior and high-powered team of BSEC led by its Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam and representatives from the concerned ministries and regulatory authorities, dignitaries including the Private Industry and Investment Adviser to Prime Minister Salman F Rahman; Senior Secretary of Finance Division participated at the different sessions of the Roadshow across the USA. Abdur Rouf Talukder; Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce; Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Secretary of Economic; Resources Division-Ms. Fatima Yasmin; Executive Chairman of BIDA, Md. Sirazul Islam and Executive Chairman of BEPZA Major General Md. Nazrul Islam are also among the core group of speakers. The events were also attended by many private sector leaders, NRBs, foreign Investors, and Media.
> 
> The first of its kind Roadshow focused on Investment and Trade with two major sessions directed to the NRBs and the Foreign Investors took place at the Intercontinental New York Barclay hotel in Manhattan, New York on July 26, 2021.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _NRB Q&A sessions_
> 
> *Attracting FDI *
> Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays a significant role in contributing to the economic growth of a country like Bangladesh, giving the needed push to the next stage of development. Bangladesh has set its goal to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030. But to achieve this status, it has to keep the continued momentum to build the desired conducive investment conditions to attract foreign investors and NRBs who can stimulate the national economy. According to the Global Investment Competitiveness report, 12 pillars including institution, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, product market, labor market, financial system, market size, dynamism in business, and innovation capability are needed to create an attractive investment environment. According to the World Economic Forum, Bangladesh scored 52.12 points out of 100 on the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report and has room for growth to climb up the ranking.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In the fiscal year 2018-2019, despite the not-so-high ranking; Bangladesh’s GDP grew by 8.2%, which was ranked among the highest in the Asia Pacific region. Confidence of investors is also growing mainly because of the proven policies, regulatory reform, infrastructural and ICT development, and for the decade of stable political conditions. FDIs have been flowing mostly into RMG sectors, food processing, and Banking, but more sectors can be explored such as health and tourism.
> 
> The following chart shows the forecasted economic indicators for Bangladesh, which surely is a positive sign for growth. Foreign investors are attracted to invest in a host country when the country’s general state shows the following indicators with a promising outlook. The indicators are; legal, economic, and political stability; increased employment and economic growth, development of backward areas; increase in exports; exchange rate stability; growth in the energy/power sectors; stimulation of economic development; development of human capital; improved responsiveness to the needs of investors and improved capital flow. The roadshow aimed to convey the updated information on some of these major indicators and undertook a coordinated effort between the government and the private sectors not only to promote Bangladesh but also to identify investors’ priorities for investing in Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _The above Economic Indicators for Bangladesh include actual values, historical data charts, an economic calendar, time-series statistics, business news, long-term forecasts, and short-term predictions for the Bangladesh economy. Source World Economic Forum 2019_
> 
> MNCs bringing Foreign Direct Investment are more interested to invest in developing countries when they fully understand their opportunities and risks. The real images of Bangladesh’s success stories showing prospects for more and new types of investments have to be told to grab the attention of the right investors who are ready to explore and grow with the country. With a 6% and above annual growth in the GDP and per capita national income reaching US$ 2,227, the country is primed towards achieving the middle-income country status by 2024 and aiming to become a developed country by 2041. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the country showed resilience even during the pandemic that placed Bangladesh among the 23rd IMF member countries that were forecasted to have positive growth despite COVID-19. To promote promising opportunities for investors around the world as an emerging key hub for trade and investment, BSEC partnering with BIDA took this initiative to put the spotlight on what Bangladesh has to offer.
> 
> *Bangladesh as an enticing destination for FDI *
> The World Bank conducted an investor survey on 750 Multinational companies to understand the factors that attract them towards investing in a developing country. The following illustration showed that political stability and security along with a stable legal and regulatory environment are the leading characteristics considered by executives of MNCs to invest and these far outweighed issues such as low tax and labor cost.
> Eminent Economist Lawrence H. Summers, Professor of Charles W. Eliot University and former Chief Economist of the World Bank in his keynote speech appreciated the current transparent framework of the Bangladesh financial market and encouraged investors to explore the possibilities of investing in Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> During the last 12 years since 2009-Bangladesh continued to show a stable political environment. Salman F Rahman mentioned how the term *“Hartal”* is not known to the new generation of foreign investors nowadays which surely is a positive sign. The government is also taking conscious approaches and making plans to address a transparent and stable legal and regulatory environment for an investment-friendly environment. Digitization of many such services therefore no doubt has been a key contributing factor of growth. With the accelerated effort of digitalization in Bangladesh and infrastructure development, remarkable progress has been made in the ICT sector that increased confidence to invest in Bangladesh by foreign investors and venture capitalists. Leading Financial Institutions of the world also said the following, observing Bangladesh’s remarkable growth.
> 
> _“_Fastest growing economy in South Asia” The World Bank
> “One of the top four fastest-growing digital economies of the world”. Global Connectivity Index
> “The 23rd largest economy of the world” PriceWaterhouseCoopers
> 
> In the path towards becoming a developed country by 2041, Bangladesh despite the pandemic performed as one of the best markets in the world in 2020. $40 billion has been invested in infrastructure to support growth. One of the strengths Bangladesh has to offer is the demographic dividend of 55 million youth population and 70 million workforces. At the inauguration event in New York, the prominent speakers from the core delegation delivered their pitch presenting Bangladesh’s strength and also addressed the misconceptions.
> 
> *The takeaways*
> Each speaker represented their respective organizations at the BSEC roadshow and elaborately showcased the reasons for Bangladesh being in the trajectory to achieve a high growth rate and emphasized the investment potential and opportunities, available facilities, products, and services for both NRBs and foreign investors. They made the case on why FDIs jointly or 100% fully foreign-owned can enjoy global standards benefits through their investments in Bangladesh. The following section captures some of the major key takeaways.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _The High-level Delegates Answering Questions at the Panel Discussion_
> 
> _Salman F. Rahman addressing the audience at the US Roadshow in New York_
> 
> 
> *Investment Opportunities in the Capital Market*
> Professor Rubaiyat-Ul-Islam, Chairman of BSEC, eloquently placed the facts and figures on why Bangladesh has become a fertile ground for trade and investment. He mentioned the benefits investors can enjoy having no tax on profit till 2021 and 20% to 100% tax reduction for 10 years of operation in High tech parks. Also, there is an 80% VAT exemption on utility investing in High tech parks. No foreign equity limitation on share-holding and 50% discount on foreign employees for 3 years. The investors can also enjoy 100% repatriation facilities for profit and capital, 10% cashback on export-oriented revenue, and duty-free import provision of fixed capital and assets. Bonded warehouse facilities are also provided in a few sectors.
> 
> He also said that Bangladesh has a robust capital market that guarantees a high return on capital.
> 
> DSE showed double-digit growth of 24.4 % amidst the pandemic, growth in remittance flow and a surplus current account that indicates the sign of resiliency. In Santa Clara, Professor Rubaiyat-Ul-Islam talked about the vibrant growing Startup ecosystem that is supported by Bangladesh Government and the private sector. The accelerated digitization in Bangladesh allowed the ICT sector to grow manifold which is also an excellent indicator of growth. ICT export has crossed the billion dollars. The median age of youth in Bangladesh is 27 who have increased digital awareness and tech adaptability. Every 3 out of 5 people have an MFS account. The number of mobile subscribers in 2021 is at 170 million and internet users at 112 million, which has become a potential market with a growing appetite for consumer spending. Global standard policies have been activated to promote the ICT sector and the startups’ industry. Customized training on frontier technology has become mandatory from primary education which will build a highly-skilled workforce. There is also a 100% tax discount for 10 years for investors who want to invest in high-tech parks in Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another significant indicator to attract foreign investors is the consistent GDP growth that has surpassed the GDP growth of Bangladesh’s neighboring countries. He also informed the NRBs on the NITA (Non-Resident Investors Taka Account) which is a facility that is provided to non-resident individuals/institutions including non-resident Bangladeshi nationals who are interested in trading Bangladeshi securities against foreign exchange remitted from abroad. The Chairman of BSEC concluded his talk quoting Rabindranath Tagore, “Everything comes to us and belongs to us if we create that capacity to receive it.” He invited potential investors to the untapped opportunities that Bangladesh has to offer to build a strong partnership. At the Stakeholders meeting in Washington D.C, he pointed out the importance of networking that can build bridges and added that “Bangladesh is no longer looking for aid but looking for partners. We have planned infrastructure development, successful educated business people who can be excellent business partners for you. And the population of Bangladesh is a blessing as it has created a large market size near France, Italy, and England. With the growing purchasing power of our people, Bangladesh is launching into a big market which presents attractive characteristics for investors to come in.”
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Representatives from Private Businesses in New York_
> 
> _BSEC Chairman making his introductory Remark_
> 
> *Steps to attract FDI*
> The Executive Chairman of BEPZA, Major General Md. Nazrul Islam, SPP appreciated the long-term trade and investment partnership between Bangladesh and the USA. His speech was aimed to build awareness of the reformation that has been going on to accommodate the investors from abroad. BEPZA, the government body empowered and responsible for the creation, development, operation, and management of industrial zones like Export Processing Zones as well as promoting investment in Bangladesh has been playing an integral part in the economic growth of the country. He encouraged the investors by mentioning the establishment of the One-Stop Service (OSS) in 2018. The One-Stop Service (OSS) Center tag line is “With you all through the way” and was created to facilitate existing companies and prospective investors of EPZs to receive services, incentives, permission, NOCs, & Certificates from BEPZA or other service-providing organizations within the stipulated time from a single window. He added how EPZ contributed 1/5 of the total export and encouraged product diversity and a move from the single-sector dependence that was focused on RMG. At present EPZs have expanded production into 22 products under export categories. Reduce single sector dependence.
> 
> *Stable Investment Climate*
> To advocate his case on bringing in sizable Foreign Direct Investment, Bangladesh Commerce Secretary, Tapan Kanti Ghosh described the role of export and import in Bangladesh’s growth journey. He was optimistic about Bangladesh climbing the ladders of development with rapid progress and stability in different sectors, maintaining a steady inflation rate of 5%. Ghosh did realistically acknowledge a few drawbacks such as Bangladesh scoring 52 out of 100 in the 2019 Global Competitiveness Index. He also said that due to the pandemic, negative growth did happen in trade but also showed improvement as it is slowly taking off from the beginning of this year. One of the challenges mentioned by him in the talk was about transforming many industries into export-oriented industries. On the US-Bangladesh trade issue, Bangladesh is not yet activating to its potential as it was reflected in the data he showed under the State of US trade in which US trade volume with Bangladesh was only $9 billion. This is where he sees room for improvement and injecting foreign investment could expedite and facilitate the sector. He suggested that Free Trade Agreements and preferential market agreements can ensure the rise of exports from Bangladesh to the USA. Gosh also spoke about how automation of company registration under the commerce ministry is making things easier for foreign investors to take the first step on entering Bangladesh. He concluded his speech mentioning the Commerce ministry taking action to prepare a high-powered committee that is already planning on the reforms that will be paving the way to the long-term vision of Bangladesh becoming the 23rd largest economy by 2050.
> 
> 
> 
> _Arif Khan highlighted major strides in socio-economic indicators during his presentation_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Former Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers addressing the US Roadshow audience_
> 
> *Winds of Change*
> Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman, Commissioner for BSEC, addressed some misconceptions about investing in Bangladesh and emphasized how Bangladesh is becoming the fastest growing economy in the world that can accommodate a dynamic environment for investment. According to him, the accelerated GDP growth, low Debt servicing ratio, political stability, and protection of long-term interest of investors are attractive attributes reflecting Bangladesh’s potential as a host nation for foreign investment. He also highlighted the importance of a well-functioning derivatives market that is essential for the growth of our capital market to attract foreign investors to the Bangladesh Stock market. He also mentioned that Bangladesh is taking steps to reduce the existing high transaction costs to protect the interest of the investors.
> 
> *Attracting NRB investments *
> Md. Sirazul Islam Executive Chairman for Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), invited the NRBs to can take advantage of what transformative Bangladesh has to offer. He praised the NRBs as Bangladesh’s irreplaceable assets and requested NRBs to take part in the process to accelerate Bangladesh’s growth. He assured the investors and the NRBs of how different Bangladesh is now as BIDA is playing an important role in providing investors without hassles through a one-stop service (OSS) via online platforms. He presented an actual story of NRB investors registering his company from New York using BIDA’s One-Stop Service. Investors interested in High Tech Park also have their own OSS. BIDA has been leading the effort of different services through the portal. Private sectors are also integrating their services into the BIDA portal due to the ease of doing business. The Executive Chairman was disappointed to see that many transformative aspects of Bangladesh that are helping the country to do better than the competitions are unfortunately not included in the world bank indicators. He also referred to the tremendous improvement and development that has been happening in infrastructure, building deep seaports, airports, bridges, 100 special economic zones, 39 high tech parks, and special eco-tourism parks under the Bangladesh Export processing zone authority. He added how BIDA is playing an important role as a consultant to businesses. He also welcomed investors to bring in investment for the untapped market that has a growing demand for medical devices and health products.
> 
> 
> 
> _Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam handing over gifts to Lawrence Summers_
> 
> 
> 
> _Shyamal Dutta, the _editor of Bhorer Kagoj, asked_ questions to the panel_
> 
> *Sound Policies for better stability*
> Senior Secretary for the Ministry of Finance in Bangladesh, Abdur Rouf Talukder highlighted the last 12 years in which one of the most important achievements happened in Bangladesh, maintaining macroeconomic stability, which is conducive for investment and economic growth. He pointed out how the stability resulted in the downward trend of inflation, interest rate, and exchange rate and the banks offering 7% for term loans. This according to him is taking Bangladesh to reach the state of fiscal sustainability with low debt to GDP ratio which was around 35% and much lower than the neighboring countries. This is no doubt evidence of sound fiscal policies being implemented.
> The budget deficit was also managed. He also stated that Bangladesh is also in a position in which the country can afford to give loans to Sri Lanka, Namibia, and Sudan. In 40 years, he was proud to say that from 2009 to 2021 our per capita income has increased on an average at $128, and during the pandemic—Bangladesh Government has been providing low-cost credit lines and cash incentives to both domestic and foreign investors to support their businesses.
> 
> *Economic Resilience *
> Salman F Rahman, the Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister energized the attendees saying, “Real change is taking place in Bangladesh”. He initiated his speech giving a positive outlook of the country confirming that the criticism of a trickle-down economic effect not happening is not an accurate statement and invited everyone to see the flavors of a new Bangladesh. He explained how he saw the changes happening at the union level with rural people actually participating in the economic activities such as starting a beauty parlor, opening Chinese restaurants and Gymnasiums, and even having pet shops. All these he identified are the result of high purchasing power among the general population who are demanding a better life.
> 
> During the pandemic, the government also provided direct monetary support to those who needed help. He was excited to share that the country is moving forward in a planned manner, setting priorities and goals. He also emphasized the need for foreign direct investment in the areas of medical services and products and the tourism industry. One of the key achievements of this government according to Rahman was achieving political stability which is a crucial precursor of economic growth and attracting Foreign Investors. The second big success pointed out by him was providing uninterrupted power, which was not the case a decade ago. Now Bangladesh enjoys surplus energy and 99% of the households in Bangladesh are connected to electricity.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _NRBs and Private Foreign Investors at the Road Show_
> 
> One of the biggest challenges after power source and political stability was Bangladesh being the 8th largest populated country in the world and the most densely populated country in the world. That is why industries across Bangladesh grew in an unplanned manner based on access to roads and highways. But he found the Industry owners complaining about inadequate resources and facilities that hampered their growth, which mainly happened as the industries were placed before proper infrastructures were placed. Therefore, the EPZs were created to serve the investors, giving them access to all resources and benefits.
> 
> He addressed another criticism regarding corruption and threw an open challenge that corruption does not exist at the highest level as things are happening at a transparent level but did not deny the presence of corruption at the lower and middle levels. He stated positively that these too can be curbed through the transformational digital services of all government services that will minimize people-to-people interaction. He said that the accessibility to 4G technology and building of the fiber optic backbone is empowering every corner of Bangladesh whereas a person living in the rural part of Bangladesh is earning through international contracts. He offered foreign Investors and NRBs to take advantage of this new horizon of Investment in Bangladesh where they all could play their part to speed up the growth process to achieve the vision of becoming a developed nation by 2041. It concluded with the assurance to help the investors resolve their concerns and problems through BIDA, BSEC, and BEPZA’s open-door policy where representatives are eager to provide any support.
> 
> *Return on Investments *
> Arif Khan, Vice Chairman for Shanta Asset Management took the floor and gave an overall picture of how the existing MNCs and Foreign investors are portraying Bangladesh as an Investment destination. From his previous experiences and communication with the investors, he found that all major investors reported that Bangladesh has the highest Return on Investment and lowest distribution cost in the world. As Bangladesh now has a new mindset with master plans of development, projects that are almost nearing completion such as the Matarbari Power Plant, Dhaka Metro Rail, Padma Multipurpose Bridge, and Karnaphuli Underwater Tunnel will create new opportunities for economic growth across the nation. He proudly announced that Bangladesh never failed to pay any debt on time. He also added how accelerated digitization has created a shift in the lives of 80% of the population and now with access to internet services all across the country, Bangladesh is positioned 8th in freelancing.
> 
> 
> _Shibli Rubayat gave his presentation on the potentials of trade and investment in Bangladesh_
> 
> 
> *Embracing the Future*
> The members of the high-powered delegation team members were available to answer all the questions from the attendees at the events who were Foreign Investors, NRBs, business leaders, and media. The panel was very helpful for both the panelists and the participants as many concerning issues were openly discussed and solutions to problems were generated as well. . Many aspects were clarified such as clarification on non-resident Investors Taka Account (NITA) accounts to reduce hassles for NRBs, the opening of digital booths for brokerage houses in different countries, creation of digital outlets with advisory facilities, and starting new products for NRBs.
> Bangladesh undoubtedly has come a long way since the country’s independence and has prepared the stage to take off being a nation that has much to offer to the world with determination, proper planning, and setting the right visions at the right time. If the continuum and the spirit to excel prevail, the frontier for future investment and growth will have no limit as Bangladesh opens her doors to a new height of amazing possibilities.



Bangladesh is more progreesive society in general, which doesn't have the caste based social struture that profoundly hinders India's development. Bangladesh has better gender equality，which shows in its higher women labor participation. Bangladesh people are more open-minded so any necessary social changes will take place much easier. Also Bangladesh people seem to be more pragmatic and willing to follow the successful development path of other Asian countries. 

I believe Bangladesh will develop faster than India.

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## Bilal9

Dungeness said:


> Bangladesh is more progreesive society in general, which doesn't have the caste based social struture that profoundly hinders India's development. Bangladesh has better gender equality，which shows in its higher women labor participation. Bangladesh people are more open-minded so any necessary social changes will take place much easier. Also Bangladesh people seem to be more pragmatic and willing to follow the successful development path of other Asian countries.
> 
> I believe Bangladesh will develop faster than India.



Many Thanks for your kind words brother.

Our goal in Bangladesh has always been to provide a reasonable livelihood to our people, especially the less well to do. Export-based value addition and development is the focus.

With other Asian country's help (especially Chinese leadership) we will keep working hard toward a better future.

We in Bangladesh truly appreciate contribution and technical assistance of Chinese (PRC) citizens in various infra works and manufacturing projects.


----------



## Bilal9

Evercare Hospital In Chittagong has started operations





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=196901135691768


----------



## Shotgunner51

Bilal9 said:


> Brothers @Dungeness and @Shotgunner51 maybe you will find this of some interest if you like hard economic data,
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Link:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bangladesh: A New Frontier of Investment - Colors Magazine
> 
> 
> Considered as the next Asian Tiger, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The growth rate of the economy averaging above 6.5% over a decade has transformed the country into a destination of investment opportunities. To showcase the true potential of Bangladesh as an...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.colorsmagazine.net
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Bangladesh: A New Frontier of Investment*
> 16 minutes read
> Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Tumblr Pinterest Messenger Share via Email
> 
> *Considered as the next Asian Tiger, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The growth rate of the economy averaging above 6.5% over a decade has transformed the country into a destination of investment opportunities. To showcase the true potential of Bangladesh as an attractive place for foreign investment roadshow “The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potential of Trade and Investment in Bangladesh” was organized by the Bangladesh Security Exchange Commission (BSEC) between July 26 and August 2 this year. The Contributing Editor of COLORS Business Magazine Rehnuma Karim Ph.D. reports from New York. *
> 
> 
> 
> _The delegate representing Bangladesh at the Roadshow took a group photograph_
> 
> The invited keynote speaker at the recently held BSEC Road Show in New York, Lawrence H. Summers, the 71st Secretary of Treasury for President Clinton and the Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama appropriately, pointed out that the potential of Bangladesh as a place for growing investment is still undermined and untapped in the USA. The data on the state of the US and Bangladesh trade indicated that US Trade volume in 2019 with Bangladesh was only $9 billion while for Vietnam it was 81.3 billion, India $146.1 Billion, Malaysia $59.2 billion, and Singapore $91.6 billion. And this is why events such as the Road Show titled: “Rise of the Bengal Tiger-Potential for Trade and Investment” definitely can address the misconception and gaps letting the world have a glimpse of what Bangladesh has to offer as the new frontier of investment.
> 
> The first roadshow was held successfully in Dubai, UAE from February 9 to 12, 2021 creating overwhelming responses both from the NRBs and foreign institutional and individual investors. The second series of events followed and also was organized by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission that took place in 4 major cities of the USA, starting from New York City followed by Washington D.C, Los Angeles, and concluded in Silicon Valley, Santa Clara. Two different sessions were arranged for NRBs and Foreign Investors in New York City. In New York, both Investors and business leaders of both nonresident Bangladeshi and foreign institutional and individual investors participated.
> 
> A senior and high-powered team of BSEC led by its Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam and representatives from the concerned ministries and regulatory authorities, dignitaries including the Private Industry and Investment Adviser to Prime Minister Salman F Rahman; Senior Secretary of Finance Division participated at the different sessions of the Roadshow across the USA. Abdur Rouf Talukder; Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce; Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Secretary of Economic; Resources Division-Ms. Fatima Yasmin; Executive Chairman of BIDA, Md. Sirazul Islam and Executive Chairman of BEPZA Major General Md. Nazrul Islam are also among the core group of speakers. The events were also attended by many private sector leaders, NRBs, foreign Investors, and Media.
> 
> The first of its kind Roadshow focused on Investment and Trade with two major sessions directed to the NRBs and the Foreign Investors took place at the Intercontinental New York Barclay hotel in Manhattan, New York on July 26, 2021.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _NRB Q&A sessions_
> 
> *Attracting FDI *
> Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays a significant role in contributing to the economic growth of a country like Bangladesh, giving the needed push to the next stage of development. Bangladesh has set its goal to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030. But to achieve this status, it has to keep the continued momentum to build the desired conducive investment conditions to attract foreign investors and NRBs who can stimulate the national economy. According to the Global Investment Competitiveness report, 12 pillars including institution, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, product market, labor market, financial system, market size, dynamism in business, and innovation capability are needed to create an attractive investment environment. According to the World Economic Forum, Bangladesh scored 52.12 points out of 100 on the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report and has room for growth to climb up the ranking.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In the fiscal year 2018-2019, despite the not-so-high ranking; Bangladesh’s GDP grew by 8.2%, which was ranked among the highest in the Asia Pacific region. Confidence of investors is also growing mainly because of the proven policies, regulatory reform, infrastructural and ICT development, and for the decade of stable political conditions. FDIs have been flowing mostly into RMG sectors, food processing, and Banking, but more sectors can be explored such as health and tourism.
> 
> The following chart shows the forecasted economic indicators for Bangladesh, which surely is a positive sign for growth. Foreign investors are attracted to invest in a host country when the country’s general state shows the following indicators with a promising outlook. The indicators are; legal, economic, and political stability; increased employment and economic growth, development of backward areas; increase in exports; exchange rate stability; growth in the energy/power sectors; stimulation of economic development; development of human capital; improved responsiveness to the needs of investors and improved capital flow. The roadshow aimed to convey the updated information on some of these major indicators and undertook a coordinated effort between the government and the private sectors not only to promote Bangladesh but also to identify investors’ priorities for investing in Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _The above Economic Indicators for Bangladesh include actual values, historical data charts, an economic calendar, time-series statistics, business news, long-term forecasts, and short-term predictions for the Bangladesh economy. Source World Economic Forum 2019_
> 
> MNCs bringing Foreign Direct Investment are more interested to invest in developing countries when they fully understand their opportunities and risks. The real images of Bangladesh’s success stories showing prospects for more and new types of investments have to be told to grab the attention of the right investors who are ready to explore and grow with the country. With a 6% and above annual growth in the GDP and per capita national income reaching US$ 2,227, the country is primed towards achieving the middle-income country status by 2024 and aiming to become a developed country by 2041. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the country showed resilience even during the pandemic that placed Bangladesh among the 23rd IMF member countries that were forecasted to have positive growth despite COVID-19. To promote promising opportunities for investors around the world as an emerging key hub for trade and investment, BSEC partnering with BIDA took this initiative to put the spotlight on what Bangladesh has to offer.
> 
> *Bangladesh as an enticing destination for FDI *
> The World Bank conducted an investor survey on 750 Multinational companies to understand the factors that attract them towards investing in a developing country. The following illustration showed that political stability and security along with a stable legal and regulatory environment are the leading characteristics considered by executives of MNCs to invest and these far outweighed issues such as low tax and labor cost.
> Eminent Economist Lawrence H. Summers, Professor of Charles W. Eliot University and former Chief Economist of the World Bank in his keynote speech appreciated the current transparent framework of the Bangladesh financial market and encouraged investors to explore the possibilities of investing in Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> During the last 12 years since 2009-Bangladesh continued to show a stable political environment. Salman F Rahman mentioned how the term *“Hartal”* is not known to the new generation of foreign investors nowadays which surely is a positive sign. The government is also taking conscious approaches and making plans to address a transparent and stable legal and regulatory environment for an investment-friendly environment. Digitization of many such services therefore no doubt has been a key contributing factor of growth. With the accelerated effort of digitalization in Bangladesh and infrastructure development, remarkable progress has been made in the ICT sector that increased confidence to invest in Bangladesh by foreign investors and venture capitalists. Leading Financial Institutions of the world also said the following, observing Bangladesh’s remarkable growth.
> 
> _“_Fastest growing economy in South Asia” The World Bank
> “One of the top four fastest-growing digital economies of the world”. Global Connectivity Index
> “The 23rd largest economy of the world” PriceWaterhouseCoopers
> 
> In the path towards becoming a developed country by 2041, Bangladesh despite the pandemic performed as one of the best markets in the world in 2020. $40 billion has been invested in infrastructure to support growth. One of the strengths Bangladesh has to offer is the demographic dividend of 55 million youth population and 70 million workforces. At the inauguration event in New York, the prominent speakers from the core delegation delivered their pitch presenting Bangladesh’s strength and also addressed the misconceptions.
> 
> *The takeaways*
> Each speaker represented their respective organizations at the BSEC roadshow and elaborately showcased the reasons for Bangladesh being in the trajectory to achieve a high growth rate and emphasized the investment potential and opportunities, available facilities, products, and services for both NRBs and foreign investors. They made the case on why FDIs jointly or 100% fully foreign-owned can enjoy global standards benefits through their investments in Bangladesh. The following section captures some of the major key takeaways.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _The High-level Delegates Answering Questions at the Panel Discussion_
> 
> _Salman F. Rahman addressing the audience at the US Roadshow in New York_
> 
> 
> *Investment Opportunities in the Capital Market*
> Professor Rubaiyat-Ul-Islam, Chairman of BSEC, eloquently placed the facts and figures on why Bangladesh has become a fertile ground for trade and investment. He mentioned the benefits investors can enjoy having no tax on profit till 2021 and 20% to 100% tax reduction for 10 years of operation in High tech parks. Also, there is an 80% VAT exemption on utility investing in High tech parks. No foreign equity limitation on share-holding and 50% discount on foreign employees for 3 years. The investors can also enjoy 100% repatriation facilities for profit and capital, 10% cashback on export-oriented revenue, and duty-free import provision of fixed capital and assets. Bonded warehouse facilities are also provided in a few sectors.
> 
> He also said that Bangladesh has a robust capital market that guarantees a high return on capital.
> 
> DSE showed double-digit growth of 24.4 % amidst the pandemic, growth in remittance flow and a surplus current account that indicates the sign of resiliency. In Santa Clara, Professor Rubaiyat-Ul-Islam talked about the vibrant growing Startup ecosystem that is supported by Bangladesh Government and the private sector. The accelerated digitization in Bangladesh allowed the ICT sector to grow manifold which is also an excellent indicator of growth. ICT export has crossed the billion dollars. The median age of youth in Bangladesh is 27 who have increased digital awareness and tech adaptability. Every 3 out of 5 people have an MFS account. The number of mobile subscribers in 2021 is at 170 million and internet users at 112 million, which has become a potential market with a growing appetite for consumer spending. Global standard policies have been activated to promote the ICT sector and the startups’ industry. Customized training on frontier technology has become mandatory from primary education which will build a highly-skilled workforce. There is also a 100% tax discount for 10 years for investors who want to invest in high-tech parks in Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another significant indicator to attract foreign investors is the consistent GDP growth that has surpassed the GDP growth of Bangladesh’s neighboring countries. He also informed the NRBs on the NITA (Non-Resident Investors Taka Account) which is a facility that is provided to non-resident individuals/institutions including non-resident Bangladeshi nationals who are interested in trading Bangladeshi securities against foreign exchange remitted from abroad. The Chairman of BSEC concluded his talk quoting Rabindranath Tagore, “Everything comes to us and belongs to us if we create that capacity to receive it.” He invited potential investors to the untapped opportunities that Bangladesh has to offer to build a strong partnership. At the Stakeholders meeting in Washington D.C, he pointed out the importance of networking that can build bridges and added that “Bangladesh is no longer looking for aid but looking for partners. We have planned infrastructure development, successful educated business people who can be excellent business partners for you. And the population of Bangladesh is a blessing as it has created a large market size near France, Italy, and England. With the growing purchasing power of our people, Bangladesh is launching into a big market which presents attractive characteristics for investors to come in.”
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Representatives from Private Businesses in New York_
> 
> _BSEC Chairman making his introductory Remark_
> 
> *Steps to attract FDI*
> The Executive Chairman of BEPZA, Major General Md. Nazrul Islam, SPP appreciated the long-term trade and investment partnership between Bangladesh and the USA. His speech was aimed to build awareness of the reformation that has been going on to accommodate the investors from abroad. BEPZA, the government body empowered and responsible for the creation, development, operation, and management of industrial zones like Export Processing Zones as well as promoting investment in Bangladesh has been playing an integral part in the economic growth of the country. He encouraged the investors by mentioning the establishment of the One-Stop Service (OSS) in 2018. The One-Stop Service (OSS) Center tag line is “With you all through the way” and was created to facilitate existing companies and prospective investors of EPZs to receive services, incentives, permission, NOCs, & Certificates from BEPZA or other service-providing organizations within the stipulated time from a single window. He added how EPZ contributed 1/5 of the total export and encouraged product diversity and a move from the single-sector dependence that was focused on RMG. At present EPZs have expanded production into 22 products under export categories. Reduce single sector dependence.
> 
> *Stable Investment Climate*
> To advocate his case on bringing in sizable Foreign Direct Investment, Bangladesh Commerce Secretary, Tapan Kanti Ghosh described the role of export and import in Bangladesh’s growth journey. He was optimistic about Bangladesh climbing the ladders of development with rapid progress and stability in different sectors, maintaining a steady inflation rate of 5%. Ghosh did realistically acknowledge a few drawbacks such as Bangladesh scoring 52 out of 100 in the 2019 Global Competitiveness Index. He also said that due to the pandemic, negative growth did happen in trade but also showed improvement as it is slowly taking off from the beginning of this year. One of the challenges mentioned by him in the talk was about transforming many industries into export-oriented industries. On the US-Bangladesh trade issue, Bangladesh is not yet activating to its potential as it was reflected in the data he showed under the State of US trade in which US trade volume with Bangladesh was only $9 billion. This is where he sees room for improvement and injecting foreign investment could expedite and facilitate the sector. He suggested that Free Trade Agreements and preferential market agreements can ensure the rise of exports from Bangladesh to the USA. Gosh also spoke about how automation of company registration under the commerce ministry is making things easier for foreign investors to take the first step on entering Bangladesh. He concluded his speech mentioning the Commerce ministry taking action to prepare a high-powered committee that is already planning on the reforms that will be paving the way to the long-term vision of Bangladesh becoming the 23rd largest economy by 2050.
> 
> 
> 
> _Arif Khan highlighted major strides in socio-economic indicators during his presentation_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Former Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers addressing the US Roadshow audience_
> 
> *Winds of Change*
> Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman, Commissioner for BSEC, addressed some misconceptions about investing in Bangladesh and emphasized how Bangladesh is becoming the fastest growing economy in the world that can accommodate a dynamic environment for investment. According to him, the accelerated GDP growth, low Debt servicing ratio, political stability, and protection of long-term interest of investors are attractive attributes reflecting Bangladesh’s potential as a host nation for foreign investment. He also highlighted the importance of a well-functioning derivatives market that is essential for the growth of our capital market to attract foreign investors to the Bangladesh Stock market. He also mentioned that Bangladesh is taking steps to reduce the existing high transaction costs to protect the interest of the investors.
> 
> *Attracting NRB investments *
> Md. Sirazul Islam Executive Chairman for Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), invited the NRBs to can take advantage of what transformative Bangladesh has to offer. He praised the NRBs as Bangladesh’s irreplaceable assets and requested NRBs to take part in the process to accelerate Bangladesh’s growth. He assured the investors and the NRBs of how different Bangladesh is now as BIDA is playing an important role in providing investors without hassles through a one-stop service (OSS) via online platforms. He presented an actual story of NRB investors registering his company from New York using BIDA’s One-Stop Service. Investors interested in High Tech Park also have their own OSS. BIDA has been leading the effort of different services through the portal. Private sectors are also integrating their services into the BIDA portal due to the ease of doing business. The Executive Chairman was disappointed to see that many transformative aspects of Bangladesh that are helping the country to do better than the competitions are unfortunately not included in the world bank indicators. He also referred to the tremendous improvement and development that has been happening in infrastructure, building deep seaports, airports, bridges, 100 special economic zones, 39 high tech parks, and special eco-tourism parks under the Bangladesh Export processing zone authority. He added how BIDA is playing an important role as a consultant to businesses. He also welcomed investors to bring in investment for the untapped market that has a growing demand for medical devices and health products.
> 
> 
> 
> _Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam handing over gifts to Lawrence Summers_
> 
> 
> 
> _Shyamal Dutta, the _editor of Bhorer Kagoj, asked_ questions to the panel_
> 
> *Sound Policies for better stability*
> Senior Secretary for the Ministry of Finance in Bangladesh, Abdur Rouf Talukder highlighted the last 12 years in which one of the most important achievements happened in Bangladesh, maintaining macroeconomic stability, which is conducive for investment and economic growth. He pointed out how the stability resulted in the downward trend of inflation, interest rate, and exchange rate and the banks offering 7% for term loans. This according to him is taking Bangladesh to reach the state of fiscal sustainability with low debt to GDP ratio which was around 35% and much lower than the neighboring countries. This is no doubt evidence of sound fiscal policies being implemented.
> The budget deficit was also managed. He also stated that Bangladesh is also in a position in which the country can afford to give loans to Sri Lanka, Namibia, and Sudan. In 40 years, he was proud to say that from 2009 to 2021 our per capita income has increased on an average at $128, and during the pandemic—Bangladesh Government has been providing low-cost credit lines and cash incentives to both domestic and foreign investors to support their businesses.
> 
> *Economic Resilience *
> Salman F Rahman, the Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister energized the attendees saying, “Real change is taking place in Bangladesh”. He initiated his speech giving a positive outlook of the country confirming that the criticism of a trickle-down economic effect not happening is not an accurate statement and invited everyone to see the flavors of a new Bangladesh. He explained how he saw the changes happening at the union level with rural people actually participating in the economic activities such as starting a beauty parlor, opening Chinese restaurants and Gymnasiums, and even having pet shops. All these he identified are the result of high purchasing power among the general population who are demanding a better life.
> 
> During the pandemic, the government also provided direct monetary support to those who needed help. He was excited to share that the country is moving forward in a planned manner, setting priorities and goals. He also emphasized the need for foreign direct investment in the areas of medical services and products and the tourism industry. One of the key achievements of this government according to Rahman was achieving political stability which is a crucial precursor of economic growth and attracting Foreign Investors. The second big success pointed out by him was providing uninterrupted power, which was not the case a decade ago. Now Bangladesh enjoys surplus energy and 99% of the households in Bangladesh are connected to electricity.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _NRBs and Private Foreign Investors at the Road Show_
> 
> One of the biggest challenges after power source and political stability was Bangladesh being the 8th largest populated country in the world and the most densely populated country in the world. That is why industries across Bangladesh grew in an unplanned manner based on access to roads and highways. But he found the Industry owners complaining about inadequate resources and facilities that hampered their growth, which mainly happened as the industries were placed before proper infrastructures were placed. Therefore, the EPZs were created to serve the investors, giving them access to all resources and benefits.
> 
> He addressed another criticism regarding corruption and threw an open challenge that corruption does not exist at the highest level as things are happening at a transparent level but did not deny the presence of corruption at the lower and middle levels. He stated positively that these too can be curbed through the transformational digital services of all government services that will minimize people-to-people interaction. He said that the accessibility to 4G technology and building of the fiber optic backbone is empowering every corner of Bangladesh whereas a person living in the rural part of Bangladesh is earning through international contracts. He offered foreign Investors and NRBs to take advantage of this new horizon of Investment in Bangladesh where they all could play their part to speed up the growth process to achieve the vision of becoming a developed nation by 2041. It concluded with the assurance to help the investors resolve their concerns and problems through BIDA, BSEC, and BEPZA’s open-door policy where representatives are eager to provide any support.
> 
> *Return on Investments *
> Arif Khan, Vice Chairman for Shanta Asset Management took the floor and gave an overall picture of how the existing MNCs and Foreign investors are portraying Bangladesh as an Investment destination. From his previous experiences and communication with the investors, he found that all major investors reported that Bangladesh has the highest Return on Investment and lowest distribution cost in the world. As Bangladesh now has a new mindset with master plans of development, projects that are almost nearing completion such as the Matarbari Power Plant, Dhaka Metro Rail, Padma Multipurpose Bridge, and Karnaphuli Underwater Tunnel will create new opportunities for economic growth across the nation. He proudly announced that Bangladesh never failed to pay any debt on time. He also added how accelerated digitization has created a shift in the lives of 80% of the population and now with access to internet services all across the country, Bangladesh is positioned 8th in freelancing.
> 
> 
> _Shibli Rubayat gave his presentation on the potentials of trade and investment in Bangladesh_
> 
> 
> *Embracing the Future*
> The members of the high-powered delegation team members were available to answer all the questions from the attendees at the events who were Foreign Investors, NRBs, business leaders, and media. The panel was very helpful for both the panelists and the participants as many concerning issues were openly discussed and solutions to problems were generated as well. . Many aspects were clarified such as clarification on non-resident Investors Taka Account (NITA) accounts to reduce hassles for NRBs, the opening of digital booths for brokerage houses in different countries, creation of digital outlets with advisory facilities, and starting new products for NRBs.
> Bangladesh undoubtedly has come a long way since the country’s independence and has prepared the stage to take off being a nation that has much to offer to the world with determination, proper planning, and setting the right visions at the right time. If the continuum and the spirit to excel prevail, the frontier for future investment and growth will have no limit as Bangladesh opens her doors to a new height of amazing possibilities.


Very informative post! I've marked it down for further reading, thanks for sharing bro, a lot of business opportunities indeed.

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## Bilal9

Shotgunner51 said:


> Very informative post! I've marked it down for further reading, thanks for sharing bro, a lot of business opportunities indeed.



Yes please reach out to me if you have questions about business policy, infra details and any other questions. Glad to oblige.

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## Bilal9

Austal Australia has established a Vietnamese shipbuilding yard, after their yard in the Philippines.

Hopefully Bangladesh is next. Or we could buy these designs from Damen/Austal/Incat and build some aluminum catamaran ferries ourselves. Allah knows we have the market, whether in our huge populous river routes or to offshore Islands for tourist service. Waterjet equipped catamarans have excellent speed (50+ knots), seakeeping and stability in rough seas - especially with modern yaw stabilizers. They also have almost zero wake issue in populous river routes if used with wave-piercer bow designs, wake issues by speedier craft have seen launch speeds restricted in our routes of late.






Austal corporate profile, they make some of the most advanced craft for the US Navy and Coast Guard fleets.


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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh-China Iron and Steel International Capacity Cooperation Demonstrative Zone*

A MoU has been signed on 29th November, 2017 between Yunnan Yongle Overseas Investment Co. Ltd. (subsidiary of Kunming Iron & Steel Holding Company Ltd./KISC) and Star Infrastructure Development Consortium Limited, Bangladesh for setting up an Integrated Steel Plant in Bangladesh. The Primary objective of the JV Company will be to invest and establish the “Demonstrative Zone” and to set up, own & operate jointly the Steel & Iron Production Plants, Captive Power Plant, and logistics including the deep-sea transfer platform, seaport and jetty through mutual cooperation between the parties in order, among others, to promote international capacity cooperation, explore and realize the development goal, create job opportunities, decrease import of steel in Bangladesh; and improve production technologies by investing the largest FDI about USD 2.3 billion in Bangladesh by Kunming Iron and Steel Holding Company. Yongle intends to invest and establish a Bangladesh-China Iron and Steel International Capacity Cooperation Demonstrative Zone Project in Bangladesh and a 2-million-ton per year integrated iron and steel production. Star Consortium, Bangladesh (combination of leading 17 largest business group of Bangladesh), will work as local partner of KISC. The Project is the Industrial Demonstrative Zone will include but not limited to the following:





*Industrial Demonstrative Zone :*


2-million-ton per year integrated iron and steel plant, including the material yard, sintering plant, blast furnace, steel converter, continuous casting for slabs and billets, hot-rolled coil production line, long products production line, coking plant and public utilities;
Coal-fired Power Plant;
Transfer Platform in deep sea and Private Jetty;
Device and Machine Manufacture;
Logistics and Distributions;
Cement and Building Materials;
Steel Structure Fabrication.


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## Bilal9

*DBL Pharmaceuticals Limited starts journey*

DBL Group has started its journey in the pharmaceutical industry. The BDT 700-crore (or US$ 82 Million) factory located at Kashimpur, Gazipur following the guidelines of US FDA, WHO, GMP was inaugurated on 7 November 2021 by the Honorable Minister, Zahid Maleque MP, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

Maj. Gen. Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Director General, DGDA; Dr. Habib-E-Millat MP; Prof. Dr. S. M. Abdur Rahman, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka were present in this auspicious occasion as special guests.

From DBL Group- Abdul Wahed, Chairman; M. A. Jabbar, Managing Director; M. A. Rahim, Vice Chairman; M. A. Quader, Deputy Managing Director & Group CEO were present among other high officials.

Honorable Health Minister in the Chief Guest’s speech mentioned about the success of govt. in fighting COVID-19 through successful vaccination programs.

He also emphasized, “the number of affected cases considering Bangladesh population is low if we compare with many other countries specially our neighboring country India. Definitely it is a sign of improvement of our health sector.” 

Along with that he expressed his expectations of seeing high quality products from DBL Pharmaceuticals Limited as DBL has already set its standard in a high position at all their previous factories, investments, and projects.

Before the Chief Guest’s Speech, Managing Director of DBL, M. A. Jabbar noted in his Welcome Speech that, “Sustainable Development and Sound Technology are in the keynotes of DBL Group. The Pharma factory of DBL will have the same reflection. We have already stepped in the Unites States of America through contract manufacturing by one of our sister concerns DBL Pharmaceuticals Inc. They are marketing 2 generic medicines in USA with success. In the near future, we have plans and are hopeful that we will directly export products manufactured in this plant (Gazipur, Kashimpur) to USA along with other developed countries.”

























It may be noted here that DBL Group is quite a large, if not the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh, having their start in the thriving textile sector.


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## Bilal9

Good read-up piece on Bangladesh online and PC games industry.









BANGLADESH GAMING DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY: AN UNTAPPED RESERVOIR STILL IN SHADOWS - BBF Digital


Bangladesh Gaming Industry is the third-largest video game market in South Asia. With the rise of so many talented and passionate game designers and artists, and resourceful and apt home originated studios to support them- if we can truly support this industry as a part of Digital Bangladesh-...




bbf.digital


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## Bilal9

*Pharmaceuticals Industry of Bangladesh*

The *pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh* is one of the most developed technology sectors within the country. Manufacturers produce insulin, hormones, and cancer drugs. This sector provides 97% of the total medicinal requirement of the local market. The local market size of pharma is expected to surpass US$ billion by 2025. The industry also exports medicines to global markets, including Europe. Pharmaceutical companies are expanding their business with the aim to expand the export market.

There are 5 types of medicine manufacturing companies in Bangladesh.

Allopathic Drug Manufacturers
Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers
Unani Drug Manufacturers
Herbal Drug Manufacturers
Homoeopathic & Biochemic Drug Manufacturers
*Bangladesh Pharma has high capability in specialized pharmaceuticals:*

The industry continues its strong research orientation in generic formulation development and has already proven its skills with successful development of specialized, high-tech formulations which are very difficult to imitate. Leading companies have focused on specialized dosage delivery systems to create strong differentiation and successfully developed metered dose inhaler (MDI), dry powder inhaler (DPI), lyophilized injectables, sterile ophthalmic, prefilled syringes, oral thin films, multi-layer tablets, biological products, including insulin, vaccines etc.

*Opportunities in Global Generic Drugs & Bangladesh is an emerging generic hub in Asia:*

Global generics market is valued at around US $1.06 trillion and is projected to grow $1.25 trillion by 2021
Generic drugs will continue to grow maintaining healthy rate
Drugs worth more than $150b coming off patent by 2021
Rising healthcare cost, particularly cost of medicine has become a global concern
Developed countries are increasingly promoting use of generic drugs
MNCs are increasingly outsourcing their production for cost containment
Bangladesh offers tremendous manufacturing cost advantages
Major generic hubs India and China are losing cost advantages
Medicine price in Bangladesh is currently among the lowest in the world
Extended patent waiver from TRIPS
*Statistics:*

*Export Performance of Pharmaceuticals for last five: Value in USD Million


FY YearExport Performance2016-1788.742017-18103.452018-19129.94.22019-20135.782020-21169.02

Main Export Market: Top 10 Pharmaceuticals Exporting Destination in FY2020-2021 - Value in million (USD)


RankRaName of the Export DestinationnkFY 2020-211MM: Myanmar22.24 M2LK: Sri Lanka20.56 M3US: United States14.98 M4PH: Philippines13.76 M5KE: Kenya9.39 M6AF: Afghanistan7.63 M7CO: Cambodia6.90 M8NP: Nepal5.51 M9VE: Venezuela5.49 M10VN: Vietnam5.05 M





*

*Global Footprint*

Export is growing fast; the current export earning is $169.02
Bangladesh Government has declared Pharmaceuticals as the “Thrust Sector”
Approximately 1200 pharmaceutical products received registration for export over the last two years and are being exported to more than 100 countries including USA, UK, Australia and Africa
Leading companies have increasing focus on regulated markets, including USA and Europe
Sector has attracted huge attention from clients abroad


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## Bilal9

Sourcing-Bangladesh 2021 campaign videos.











*Showcased Export Products & Services in
Sourcing Bangladesh 2021 Virtual Edition*

Readymade Garments (RMG) - All Woven & Knit Apparel/ Clothing | Men’s wear | Women’s wear | Denim Wear | Kid's wear | Hi- Fashion Designer labels

Leather and Leather Products - Leather Footwear | Leather Belt | Leather Bags | Leathing Clothing | Leather Accessories | Genuine Leather Products | Small Leather Goods | Espadrilles | Furniture Leather | Sofa Leather | Machinery & Equipment | Footwear Machinery | Equipment

Jute & Jute products - Hessian Cloth | Sacking Cloth | Jute Yarn and Twines Canvas | Bags | Hydrocarbon Free Jute Cloth | Jute and Jute products | Serim Cloth | Hessian tapes and Gaps | D. W. Tarpaulin | Geotextiles

Agro and Agro-processed Products - Processed Food | Frozen Food | Frozen Seafood | Manufacturers and Distributors of Farm Machinery | Agricultural Sector | Agricultural Products Manufacturers

Hometextile and Home Décor - Bedsheets | Pillow Covers | Couch Covers | Cotton | Table Napkins | Furnishing Fabrics | Cushions | Cushion Covers | Carpets | Mattress Covers | Bath Linen | Home Textile Agencies

Pharmaceuticals - HFA | Inhalers | Suppositories | Hormones | Steroids | Oncology | Sprays | Immunosuppressant products | Injectable and IV infusions | Drug Intermediates

Ceramics - Dining Ceramics | Ceramic Tiles | Sanitary Ware | All Ceramic products | Raw Materials | Ceramic Color | Draperies | Curtains Excipients | Additives | Consultants | Workshop Tools & Equipment | Blow Molding Machines

IT & ICT - Custom Software Developers | Software Development Outsourcing | Web & Application Development | Software & Technology Consulting | Wholesale of computers | Computer peripheral equipment and software | Wholesale of electronic and telecommunications parts and equipment | Telecommunications

Plastics - All Plastic products | Plastic Furniture | Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE) | High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) | Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) | Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) | Polypropylene (PP) | Polystyrene (PS)

Electric & Electronic Products - Insulated wire and cable | Electronic valves and tubes and other electronic components | Instruments and appliances for measuring

Light Engineering Products – Bicycle and Bicycle parts | Gas Cylinder | Iron Steel | Electric Products | Engineering Equipment | Copper Wire | Stainless Steel ware | Electronic Devices | Air conditioner | Banknote counter | Coffee maker | Computer | Digital camera | Electric guitar | External hard drive | Fish tank | iPod | Laser printer | Lift | Microphone | Piano | Projector | Refrigerator | Remote control | Robotic vacuum cleaner | Smart television | Washing machine | Wi-Fi modem

Furniture and Furniture styles - Home Furniture | Office Furniture | Beds | Cabinets | Chairs and seating | Chests | Clocks | Desks | Tables

Handicrafts - All Handicrafts | Pashmina Shawls | Woodwork | Pottery | Shell | Brass Handicrafts | Bamboo Handicrafts


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## Bilal9

Interactive technology being worked on in Bangladesh.









Ice9 Interactive – Taking You on an Interactive Journey!


Instead of waiting for the technology to arrive in Bangladesh eventually, Ice9 Interactive had actively sought to bring it here earlier through rapid research and development.




bbf.digital


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Nokia handsets being made in Bangladesh now. Exports are planned in short order. Total investment is Tk. 344 crore.

This makes the number of "Made-in-Bangladesh" cellphone companies to about a dozen now.


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## Bilal9

Highway in Patuakhali on the road to Payra Port.


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## Bilal9

Tier-4 Datacenter inaugurated at Gazipur High Tech city (world's 7th largest and one of the largest in SE Asia). Current capacity 22 Petabytes but will be upgraded to 200 petabytes soon. Thanks to His Excellency Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China & General Secretary of the CCP, as well as Bangladesh Govt. for this achievement. Ultimately this will house a copy of the Bangladesh Govt. cloud, facilitating e-Governance.


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## Bilal9

Exposé on the 100 Special Econimic Export Zones in Bangladesh (28 have been activated and are in various stages of export production already).


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## Bilal9

*Beximco Health signs agreement with Japan's K2 Logistics*
Tribune Desk

Published at 09:09 pm November 25th, 2021






_Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Naoki Ito along with other delegations pose for a photo following a visit on Wednesday_

The two organizations signed a production and quality consultation agreement.

Beximco Health and K2 Logistics Bangladesh Limited, a Japan based quality inspection company, has signed a production and quality consultation agreement. 

Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Naoki Ito attended the signing ceremony in-person while Salman F Rahman, private industry and investment adviser to the prime minister, virtually attended the event on Wednesday, said a media statement.

Beximco Group Chairman ASF Rahman, Beximco Group Director and CEO Syed Naved Husain, and Beximco PPE Ltd Executive Director Dr Mohidus Samad Khan attended the event as well.

During their speeches Syed Naved Husain, Naoki Ito, ASF Rahman and other distinguished guests highlighted the importance of Japanese expertise in professional-level inspection and quality control techniques which are of extreme importance in PPE and medical supply chains.

The Japanese ambassador was highly impressed after visiting the Beximco Health PPE Industrial Park where the company is producing all types of PPE fabrics including melt-blown, laminations, isolation and surgical gowns, surgical masks, N95 Cup type and foldable type masks, KN95, FFP1, FFP2 masks, shoe covers, head covers and ETO sterilization facilities. The sewing facilities for the gowns and coveralls are in a fully pharmaceutical “clean-room” environment.

After the signing ceremony at the Beximco PPE Park, the ambassador visited Beximco Industrial Park nearby.

At the Beximco Industrial Park, the ambassador also inaugurated the start-up and launch of the World Class State-of-the-Art Tsudakoma Looms, Sizing Machine and Warping Machine which Beximco sourced from Japan, financed by JICA.

Tetsuro Kano, general manager of Itochu Dhaka Office and president of Japanese Association; Hikaru Kawai, general manager of Marubeni Dhaka Office and president of Japanese Commerce and Industry Association of Dhaka; Yuho Hayakawa, chief representative of JICA Bangladesh Office; Yuji Ando, chief representative of JETRO Dhaka Office; Dr Moazzem Hussain, advisor of K2 Logistics Bangladesh Limited; Ryoma Mitani, executive director of K2 Japan, Toshihide Yuda, COO of K2 Logistics Bangladesh Ltd also attended the program.


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## Bilal9

Story on Bangladesh cement sector






Story on Araihazar Japanese Export Zone


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## Bilal9

Hilton Gulshan has topped out at 37 floors.






Render for Hilton Gulshan





Westin 2 being built to the right of former Westin as well.


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## Bilal9

A few new upcoming high rises in *Dhaka*...(4 out of 40 known, above 20 storeys).

Sikder Center





Renaissance Hotel





FOUR POINTS BY SHERATON






Novotel Dhaka, Midrise 4 Star Hotel, 16 storeys

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## Bilal9

Rail sleeper factory established with China CRRC cooperation.







*Istition Convention Hall, Feni*






*All public offices at the same place will ease pressure on Chattogram and offer all public services at the same place*

The public administration ministry has taken an initiative to build an integrated public office complex in port city Chattogram on a 110-acre char, which is equivalent to around 83 football fields, by the river Karnaphuli.
The complex, to be designed similar to Malaysia's administrative capital Putrajaya, is being called "Mini Secretariat for Chattogram" and will have as many as 44 government establishments such as offices of the divisional commissioner, deputy commissioner and rest house.






The authorities say the complex will be constructed within the next three to four years at Bandar mouza in Chattogram's Chandgaon ward.

Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Mominur Rahman said a top-level government meeting at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in the last week of November agreed to study the project design and finalise it.






*The shift will help save "Parir Pahar"*
The deputy commissioner said shifting public offices to the new complex from their current location at "Parir Pahar" – which literally means "Fair Hills" and the heart of Chattogram's administrative and judicial activities built by the British rulers – will help save the age-old hills and ease the daily pressure on the surrounding areas.
"Dotted with too many offices, Parir Pahar has become risky. It is now bearing establishments four times more than the tolerable limit," Mominur Rahman told The Business Standard.






The prime minister has already approved shifting the risky and old offices from the hills and asked that no new ones be built. Subsequently, the public administration ministry started shifting the public establishments, including the offices of the divisional commissioner and deputy commissioner, from the hills.
Around two months ago, Chattogram district administration and Chattogram lawyers engaged in a face-off over the constructions of two establishments at Parir Pahar. Amid the stalemate, the district administration proposed announcing the 130-year-old court building as a heritage site.

The cultural affairs ministry also said it is considering announcing the site as an archaeological site.
*All public services at the same place*
The mini-secretariat is only seven kilometres away from Chattogram city zero point. Apart from the 44 offices, it will have a hospital for government staff, circuit house, training centre, convention centre, shopping mall, multi-storey car parking, school and college, nursing institute, transport pool, petrol pump, memorial, novo theatre and mosque.
"People will get all public services at the same place," Mamnoon Ahmed Anik, assistant commissioner (AC Land, Chandgaon Circle), told TBS.
"Land acquisition appears as a major challenge for government projects. But this project does not have that issue since khas land is already ready out there," Anik added.






He said a development project proposal is currently being formulated for the integrated office complex.
Visiting the project site last Wednesday, this correspondent noted that the district administration has already identified 73 acres of land at the strip on the Karnaphuli foreshore. The site has the river flowing on one side while the Marine Drive has been taking shape through a flurry of construction activities on the other side.

The project site is blessed with scenic natural beauty.
Locals call the swathe "Char Hamid", which emerged from the river around 100 years ago. There had been paddy and vegetable cultivation on the land even five years ago.
The district administration now has 73 acres of land under its ownership and hopes ownership issues over the remaining land will be resolved soon.

*Focus also on future*
Md Towhidul Islam, senior assistant commissioner and executive magistrate of Chattogram district, said the project design has room for more than 44 government establishments so that new offices, if required, could be built there in the next 40 years.
"The number of new public departments is constantly increasing. The biggest advantage of this project is that the newly formed departments will not have to spend additionally on office construction," AC Land Anik told TBS.
Deputy Commissioner Mominur Rahman said the project site currently has two roads. But considering the future, five types of alternative communication systems, including a Marine Drive and a Link Road, will be constructed in order to be connected to the integrated office complex.






*Disaster prevention measures*
A number of geological surveys of the char have been completed. The surveys suggest that the stretch of land is stable. However, the construction process will take up added measures to shield the complex from natural calamities, such as rising sea levels, cyclones and flooding.
At the same time, the natural environment will be kept intact, said Deputy Commissioner Mominur.
He said, "As the project area is on the river bank, there will be embankments so that the land can withstand natural disasters. There will be a planned drainage network to channel out rainwater."

*Experts still sceptical*
Urban engineer Subhash Chandra Barua expressed concern over the measures. He said, "Chattogram is a coastal area prone to natural disasters every year. The sea level is rising gradually. Against this backdrop, I do not think the government should implement such an important project on the river bank."






Civil engineering expert Delwar Hossain Majumder said shifting public offices from Chattogram city certainly will ease the pressure on traffic. He described the initiative as promising.
"But if all the government offices are moved to a single place, traffic pressure on the hub might appear as a new problem," said the engineer.
He suggested moving interrelated offices only to the new complex to have the traffic pressure spread out on the city.


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## Bilal9

*BTI Windflower, a typical luxury condo complex in Dhaka.




*


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## Bilal9

*Walton inaugurates ceramic, nonstick, HTR coating unit at factory*

Economic Reporter || risingbd.com
Published: 16:57, 22 November 2021 






Walton officials at the ceramic, nonstick and HTR coating unit unveiling ceremony.

Bangladeshi electronics giant Walton has added a new state-of-the art ceramic, nonstick and HTR coating unit to its kitchen appliance production line.

Walton's kitchen appliance products will be more attractive and durable with the new coating system which is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The coating of various home appliance can be done in the factory equipped with European standard advanced machineries. The unit has 24 lakh production capacity annually.

On Sunday (November 21, 2021) ceramic, nonstick and HTR coating unit was inaugurated at Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited (WHIL) in Gazipur.
WHIL's Director Nishat Tasnim Shuchi, who is now staying at the USA, sent a message wishing new unit's overall success.

WHIL’s Deputy Managing Director Alamgir Alam Sarkar, Senior Executive Directors Yusuf Ali, Tapash Kumer Mojumder and Nizam Uddin Mazumder, Walton Kitchen Appliance's Chief Business Officer (CBO) Mahfuzur Rahman, Head of Sales (Home Appliance Distributor Network) Kamal Hossain, Deputy CBO Hasibul Islam, Senior Additional Director Abdullah Al Asif, Kitchen Appliance's Head of Research and Innovation (R&I) Yusuf Iqbal, Deputy Head of R&I Mustainur Rahman, Head of Production Shahriar Kabir and Brand Manager Fazle Rabbi Khadem were present, among others, on the occasion.

Walton Kitchen Appliance's CBO Mahfuzur Rahman said that Walton has created history as it has added this coating unit of advanced technology for the first time in Bangladesh. It makes us proud. Coating system will ensure 100% quality in the product manufacturing process. The products will be exported after meeting the local demand.

Mustainur Rahman said that the coating is actually a type of liquid polymer applied mechanically to an object or business products making the materials more attractive, non-sticky and sustainable.

He said that Rice Cooker Inner Pot, Cookware (Frypan, Casserole, Oakpan, Milk pan, Pizza pan, Ruti Tawa), Electric Iron Soleplate, Multi Cooker, Cracker, Pressure Cooker, Toaster, Sandwich Maker, Oven Bakeware, Washing Machine, Electric Ranges, Water Heating Elements, Barbeque Grills, Air Fryer and various parts of electrical and home appliances can be coated with this unit. Walton's coating unit is completely hygienic and environmentally-friendly as it is free of Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), toxic lead and cadmium.


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## Bilal9

*BANGLADESH MODERNISES ITS NATIONWIDE AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT INFRASTRUCTURE WITH THALES*
28 OCT 2021
AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT ATM

• Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) renews their trust in Thales with a turnkey modernisation of their nationwide Air Traffic Management (ATM) system.
• The new ATM system will improve capacity and safety thanks to a complete nationwide surveillance coverage using the latest ATC and air surveillance technologies compliant with ICAO standards.
• An iconic new Air Traffic Management Centre and Control Tower as well as new radar building will be constructed at the Hazrat Shajalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka.

*In 2019, Asia-Pacific was the largest market for passenger travel to Bangladesh, followed closely by the Middle East and Europe. Over the past year, the number of passengers on domestic routes in Bangladesh recovered to pre-pandemic levels. As the aviation sector gradually embarks on recovery, the CAAB is affirming its commitment to increase safety and security of its airspace with the signing of a contract with Thales for a full turnkey modernisation of the country’s Air Traffic Management system.*

La CAAB et Thales ont signé ce contrat le 21 octobre 2021 à Dacca, capitale du Bangladesh, en présence de M. Md Mahbub Ali, ministre bangladais de l’Aviation civile et du Tourisme, et de son Excellence M. Jean-Marin SCHUH, ambassadeur de France au Bangladesh. 

The contract was signed between CAAB and Thales on 21st October 2021 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, graced by State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md. Mahbub Ali and his Excellency Mr. Jean-Marin SCHUH, Ambassador of France to Bangladesh. 

The project will involve the modernisation of the en-route, approach and tower system at Dhaka’s HSIA airport, with equipment to be installed also at other regional airports throughout Bangladesh. Thales will provide complete new automated systems including ATC automation, primary and secondary radars (STAR NG and RSM), ADS-B, Wide Aera Multilateration, Airport Multilateration, Datalink and countrywide VSAT communications and terrestrial network as backup to VSAT. This project will provide Bangladesh with the most modern nationwide air surveillance. 

An iconic 45 metre high Control Tower and Air Traffic Management Centre will be built at HSIA, equipped with a state-of-the-art security system providing CCTV coverage and access control on an integrated platform. The CAAB’s controllers will work with the latest automation technologies to support the future growth of air traffic in the country. The project is expected to be completed by 2024.

“Thales is pleased to be a trusted partner, playing a key role in establishing a safe and reliable turnkey air traffic solution, leveraging on decades of experience to support CAAB in the design, implementation and operation of the most suitable turnkey ATM solution.” *Christian Rivierre, Vice-President Airspace Mobility Solutions, Thales*

“Capitalizing on more than 900 ATC radars installed around the world, Thales is proud to support CAAB in its modernization offering the best in air surveillance”. *Marie Gayrel, Director of civil radars, Thales*

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport 3rd Terminal render images

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## Bilal9

Saudi, US, Chinese investment proposals worth $2.7 Billion received at BIDA summit. "Unexpected - but I'm happy" says Darbesh ( درویش‎, _Darvīsh_ ).


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## Bilal9

International Investment Summit 2021 to showcase Bangladesh. This year "Blue Economy" is the focus.

BIDA Chairman says foreigners know little about investment climate in Bangladesh, which needs to be remedied.

So far investments in our $400 Billion economy has mainly been local.


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## Bilal9

1.5 Billion in Power Generation investment proposal from Saudi Company (450 MW project) - let's see what happens.


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## Bilal9

*Bus route rationalisation: Pilot run to begin 26 December*
*Both city corporations plan to bring Dhaka buses under a single company *






*The initiative to bring Dhaka city buses under a single company called "Dhaka Nagar Paribahan" (Dhaka City Transport) has been deferred.*

Piloting of the bus franchise system – with total 120 buses on the Ghatarchar-Kanchpur route – will start from 26 December instead of the previously announced date of 1 December.

The 21km-route will cover areas including Bosila, Mohammadpur, Elephant Road, Shahbagh, Paltan and Motijheel.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh made the announcement during a press briefing at the DSCC Nagar Bhaban following the 19th meeting of the Bus Route Rationalisation Committee on Sunday.

Taposh had earlier said only the buses manufactured after 1 January, 2019 can operate under the new company. 

The Bus Route Rationalisation Committee has selected 12-acre land in Ghatarchar for constructing a bus terminal. The work to build a depot will start shortly, said a DSCC official.

Besides, work is underway for setting up four inter-district bus terminals in Hemayetpur, Keraniganj, Ghatail, and Bhagai.

Former Dhaka north mayor Annisul Huq first took the initiative regarding bus route rationalisation or operation of bus services under a single company in 2016. The initiative lost momentum after his death in 2017.

Then, the issue resurfaced following the road safety movement waged by the students in 2018. 

That year, a 10-member committee was formed with representatives of government bodies, police, transport owners, workers and experts. 

The then Dhaka south mayor Sayeed Khokon was the convener of the committee. It failed to make any progress either. 

Finally, current Dhaka south Mayor Taposh joined the 12th meeting of the Bus Route Rationalisation Committee on 6 October, 2020. Then, he along with the others started over the process.


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## Bilal9

*Xiaomi phones now made in Bangladesh*
Zeeshan Bin Liaquat




*Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune*

'We believe this partnership will provide new opportunities to youth of the country and develop an electronics-manufacturing ecosystem of global standards'.

To strengthen the government's vision of a Digital Bangladesh, Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi will now manufacture its devices locally at its factory in Gazipur.

Not only will this enable more foreign direct investment (FDI) into Bangladesh, but the smartphone maker's local factory will also offer smartphones at a more competitive price, as well as offer knowledge transfer, job creation and increased smartphone production capacity.

Xiaomi revealed its "Made in Bangladesh" plan at a special event on Thursday in the capital, where Salman F Rahman, adviser to the prime minister on private industry and investment, and Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT Division, were present.

ICT Division State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak said that due to Xiaomi's new factory in Gazipur, Bangladeshis will get world-class devices from the brand at a lower price, as they will be manufactured locally.

*Also Read - Xiaomi set to launch factory in Bangladesh*

Xiaomi previously had to pay international taxes, which they don’t have to pay anymore, Xiaomi sources confirmed to Dhaka Tribune.

“Manufacturing smartphones locally is a significant step towards incorporating Xiaomi into the fabric of Bangladesh in the years to come. We will be able to contribute to generating more jobs in Bangladesh and play a role in enhancing the quality of life of the people of Bangladesh through competitive pricing,” Ziauddin Chowdhury, country manager, Xiaomi Bangladesh told Dhaka Tribune.

According to Xiaomi, the plant will be producing approximately 3 million smartphones per year through approximately 1,000 workers, who will be employed in the plant in the initial phase as well as knowledge transfer to develop local skilled workers.

“These new generation companies and entrepreneurs will be key to the success of Bangladesh. We have great faith in young leaders and young companies like Xiaomi. We are happy to partner with Xiaomi as they set up their first manufacturing unit in Bangladesh, as part of the Digital Bangladesh initiative. 

We believe this partnership will provide new opportunities to youth of the country and develop an electronics-manufacturing ecosystem of global standards. We welcome Xiaomi to sunrise Bangladesh,” according to Salman Fazlur Rahman, adviser to the prime minister on private industry and investment.






Salman F Rahman addresses an event to launch Xiaomi's new factory in Bangladesh on Thursday, October 21, 2021 *Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune* Speaking to DT, Ashfaq Zaman, a MI fan and Xiaomi smartphone user, said that it was great news.

"Soon, we can all expect to have our favorite Xiaomi handsets at a cheaper cost with the same quality. Most importantly it will be branded as 'Made in Bangladesh,'" he added.

*The plant is located in Gazipur District, near the Bypass Road, Vogra. The factory is situated in a standalone 4-storied building with a total area of around 55,000 sqft.*

Mobile handset manufacturing began in Bangladesh in 2017 when Walton started producing electronic products locally, with global giants Samsung, Symphony, Tecno, and other brands such as Infinix, iTel later joining in.

For example, Tecno through Transsion Bangladesh Limited produces 800,000 units for three different brands with 1,000+ workers.

*Post and Telecommunications Minister Mostafa Jabbar recently said that nearly 82% of the smartphones in demand are manufactured in the country.*

The aforementioned brands account for 55% of the smartphone and feature phone demand in the country. The government has so far issued licenses to 13 companies to start production in the country while Nokia is also ready to set up factories in Bangladesh.

*In 2020, nearly 32 million units were sold in the country among which nine million were smartphones.*

According to Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association (BMPI) Joint Secretary Mohammad Mesbah Uddin, *during the first half of 2021, some 7.5 million cell phones were sold among which two million were smartphones.

Experts predict 32 million units to be sold this year with a target of selling 12 million units of smartphones.*

Xiaomi has collaborated with DBG technology BD Ltd to manufacture its smartphones in Bangladesh. DBG is a global EMS company, who has been operating manufacturing business around the world (China, Vietnam, India etc.) for several renowned brands of consumer electronics. They are publicly listed companies on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

*The first phone of the company to be assembled in Bangladesh belongs to Redmi sub-brand, which is expected to be available in the market from 1st week of November 2021. Subsequently POCO and Xiaomi series will be made in the country.*

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## Bilal9

Eternal Ceramics is a relatvely new name in Bangladesh' ceramic and porcelainware scene - however they are already making a mark in innovating their product-line and export market, pioneering Avant Garde designs and moving the technical excellence quite a few notches forward. Both formal and casual everyday ceramicware are shown. They are an obvious hit in the local market.

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## Bilal9

Matador is one of the largest Disposable ball-pen and gel-pen maker in Asia and one of the largest "Superbrands" and stationery items exporters in Bangladesh. *They have capacity of making 1.6 million Disposable pens per day. *Apart from disposable pens, they make refillable ball pen and gel pen with various ball diameters and ink colors to meet customers' requirements. Apart from disposable pens, they're also involved in producing toothbrush/dental hygiene products, Shaving products and various other types of Polymer-based Products.


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## Bilal9

*A beacon of hope in cotton production*
Tribune Editorial

Published at 12:39 am December 6th, 2021





DHAKA TRIBUNE

The authorities should provide all the necessary policy support to back the goal of increasing cotton production.

It is immensely hopeful and inspiring that Bangladesh has just developed a new cotton variety that has the potential to cut import dependency and increase domestic production, as the new variant is high-yield, drought-tolerant, and disease-resistant. It also has shorter maturity, adding to its commercial utility.

The development of the new cotton -- named CDB Tula 1 -- comes at a crucial time for Bangladesh. Currently, the country produces a small fragment -- a mere 3-4% -- of its yearly demand, making Bangladesh the world’s top importer of cotton. 

That is extremely significant, and it goes without saying that any amount of easing on the current burden will have a tremendous positive impact on the country’s agriculture and economy.

This also shows the importance of new innovation by state-owned agricultural agencies and collaboration with international partners, as the new variety was developed through a collaboration between the Cotton Development Board (CDB) under the Agriculture Ministry, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

CDB now aims to meet at least 10-15% of the country’s cotton fiber needs from growing high yielding cotton varieties, which includes the recently developed CDB Tula 1.

The importance of cotton is multi-faceted and not least because the country’s largest export, ready-made garments products, are so reliant on cotton. According to an April 2021 report by the United States Department of Agriculture, Bangladesh has 433 spinning mills, 796 textile weaving mills, 246 dyeing and finishing mills, and about 6,502 registered and 527 un-registered garment and textile factories, all of which will benefit from an increase in cotton production.

The authorities should provide all the necessary policy support to back the CDB’s goal of increasing cotton production, which will eventually help Bangladesh move one step ahead toward becoming a developed economy.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport 3rd Terminal Expansion project visualizations...major upgrades will be in a modern robotics enabled import and export warehouse as well as improved passenger handling exceeding three times the current volume.


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## PoondolotoPandalum

That porcelain looks pretty nice.

I've heard ceramics is a potential emerging exports industry of Bangladesh. What's the profit margin like in that industry? Is it a labor-intensive industry?


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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> That porcelain looks pretty nice.
> 
> I've heard ceramics is a potential emerging exports industry of Bangladesh. What's the profit margin like in that industry? Is it a labor-intensive industry?



Very labor intensive. There is almost no mechanization in the crockeries industry other than maybe spraying glaze after firing with robotic sprayers. Which is used by some factories in Bangladesh for sanitary ware. Sanitary ware factories use more mechanization and automation.

Bangladesh history of ceramics crockeries and sanitary ware production goes back to the 1950's when Pakistan Ceramic industries were established outside of Dhaka. After 1971 it was renamed People's Ceramic Industries and still exists, but produces goods of export standard in small quantities.

The later additions in this sector in the last two decades are highly mechanized factories especially in the sanitary ware sector. I have seen footage of them using automated robots for logistics and moving semi-finished goods in different points in the factory.

I will compile a list of posts I've made in the past few years on this. Ceramics and Porcelain is a huge export sector locally. It counts some very big names in global brands as OEM customers (MIKASA, ONEIDA, PFALTZGRAFF, Crate and Barrel, Noritake among some others). Many local crockeries makers are also marketing in foreign markets under their own names too. I have gotten Monno's Bone China stuff from their showroom in Gulshan as a favor for relatives and it looks as good as the expensive stuff from Villeroy and Boch in Germany. See below. What self-respecting woman would not like to serve guests with products of this quality?











You can search the posts using Porcelain or ceramic as keywords. Here are a few posts I made,






Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & Discussions


More river busses would be great. Though they need to be substantially bigger, to deal with our enormous population. Something along the line of a double-hulled catamaran design, like we have in London. Though I don't know much about Dhaka's waterways. Perhaps some business opportunities for...



defence.pk










Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & Discussions


Bangladesh' first elevated railway is now visible, linking Dhaka with the Southern districts of the country via almost completed Padma bridge. This will revolutionize Dhaka's connectivity with these areas (including Payra and Mongla ports) and while lessening ferry waits at Mawa point, will...



defence.pk













Record export of ceramics


Record export of ceramics Global demand grows for quality ware Yasir Wardad | Published: September 18, 2018 00:16:39 The country's ceramic ware exports set a new record in fiscal year (FY) 2017-18, thanks to the growing global demand for local products. Sector insiders said domestic...



defence.pk





Here is a video for Star Ceramics, a recent entrant producing high quality catering industry ceramic crockeries items.

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## Bilal9

Monno is one of the pioneers of the Bangladesh crockeries industry and they collaborate with the highest end names of the ceramic and tableware designers globally.

Recently their bone china Cupola tableware was featured in the John Lewis & Partners Home magazine. Designed by Queensberry Hunt, the collection was an instant hit when first released and steadily went on to become a JLP classic.


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## Bilal9

*GIZ delegation meets BGMEA president*
Photo: Courtesy




Photo: Courtesy

*A delegation of German development cooperation agency GIZ led by its country director for Bangladesh Dr Angelika Fleddermann met with BGMEA President Faruque Hassan.*

They held a meeting at BGMEA PR office in Gulshan on 8 December, said a press release.

They discussed on the ongoing and future avenues of collaboration between BGMEA and GIZ to facilitate further development of Bangladesh apparel industry, especially in the areas of environmental sustainability, social standard, productivity, capacity building.

BGMEA Vice President Miran Ali, GIZ Project Manager (Programme for Sustainability in the Textile and Leather Sector -STILE) Dr Michael Kolde, Senior Advisor Sarwat Ahmad and Senior Advisor Md Manjur Morshed were also present at the meeting.


*HSBC structures Bangladesh's first gender equality loan*

BSS
8th December, 2021 06:40:53 PM
Print news
[IMG alt="HSBC structures Bangladesh's first gender equality loan
"]https://www.daily-sun.com/assets/news_images/2021/12/08/HSBC.jpg[/IMG]

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) in Bangladesh has structured the country's first ever sustainability linked loan targeting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality, for DBL Group, one of the largest knit garment manufacturers and exporters of Bangladesh.

*Sustainability linked loans aim to improve the borrower's sustainability profile by aligning loan terms to the borrower's performance against pre-determined Sustainability Performance Target (SPT) benchmarks*, said a press release.

Under this unique incentivized sustainable loan agreement, *interest rates are tied to two areas of performance - the increased percentage of female supervisors employed and greenhouse gas emissions reductions.*

Commenting on the landmark signing, M A Jabbar, Managing Director, DBL Group said, "Encouraging female leadership is not only the right thing to do but also has a clear business case. We have observed marked improvement of quality control with female supervisors and now are encouraged to see global financial institutions like HSBC offering economic incentives to do more. We look forward to partner with HSBC in building an equal and sustainable future."

Commenting on this, Md. Mahbub ur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Bangladesh said, "We are focused on helping our clients achieve their sustainability goals; be they environmental, social or governance-related. As our customers transition into the new sustainable economy, we stand firm beside them with best practices from around the world and global expertise. We thank DBL Group for being pioneers in two important areas - promoting workplace gender equality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Kevin Green, Head of Wholesale Banking, HSBC Bangladesh said, "We understand the critical role financial institutions can play in driving forward sustainable business models. And we are glad to have clients like DBL who are pioneers in this space in Bangladesh. I must extend my thanks to the DBL sustainability team who have worked tirelessly with us in structuring this transaction."

HSBC has set out its 'plan for the planet' to support customers to transition to a low carbon future and more sustainable ways of doing business. The bank has an ambition to provide between USD750 billion and USD1 trillion of sustainable finance and investments by 2030 to help them achieve this, to accelerate new climate solutions and inspire our customer to invest to support positive change.


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## Bilal9

*Proposals for 5 power plants, Railway coaches and Computers okayed*

Staff Correspondent
9 December, 2021 12:00 AM
*The government approved procurement proposals to set up five new power plants aimed at generating around 224MW electricity mainly from solar energy and waste recycling.*

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) approved the plants at a meeting with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair on Wednesday.

*CCGP also approved the proposals of procuring 90,000 metric tonnes of urea fertilizer, 90,000 tonnes of MOP fertilizer, 580 metre gauge rail coaches from China and 420 broad gauge rail coaches from India. *

The meeting approved a total of 16 procurement proposals involving Tk 220 billion. However, it sent back a proposal of the ICT Division, said the finance minister at a virtual press briefing.

According to a proposal, *Canves Environmental Investment Company Ltd, China was awarded the work of installing a waste-based 42.5MW power plant.*

The plant will be implemented by the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) at Kaultia, Gazipur at a cost of Tk 144.08 billion.

*Bangladesh-China Renewable Energy Company pvt Ltd bagged the work of setting up a 60MW solar park in Sujanagar, Pabna at a cost of Tk 16.49 billion.

Cyclect Energy Pte. Ltd, Singapore won the Tk 13.22 billion work of a 50MW solar power plant in Jabannagar, Chuadanga.*

CCGP approved a *20-year deal with Bangladesh-China Renewable Energy Company pvt Ltd to set up a 68MW solar park in Sirajganj* at Tk 17.98 billion.

Besides, *Western Renewable Energy Pvt Ltd got the work of 3MW solar-battery-diesel hybrid power plant worth Tk 459 billion in Monpura, Bhola.* 

*CRRC Shandong Co. Ltd. China was picked up for supplying 580 meter-gauge rail coaches for Bangladesh Railway* at a cost of Tk 3.98 billion.

*Hindusthan Engineering & Industries Ltd, India was selected for supplying 420 broad gauge coaches at a cost of Tk 2.89 billion.*

Under the three approved proposals of agriculture ministry, Canadian Commercial Corporation will supply 60,000 tonnes of MOP fertilizer in two lots.

JSC Foreign Economic Association “Prodintorg,” Russia will supply the remaining 30,000 tonnes.

*The cabinet committee also approved a proposal of primary and mass education ministry to select Walton Digi-Tech Industries to supply 41,000 laptops and the same number of speakers under PEDP-4 scheme.*

Under a proposal of the industries ministry, three local firms will supply a total of 50,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid at a cost of Tk 2.15 billion.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_IMHO, these railway coaches should have been made locally with ToT. That way - we could have employed local employees and improved the technology base. As usual - Railway Haramkhor ba$tards and Mr. Shujan doing his thing. Low-life itars._


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## Bilal9

MOBILE PHONE FACTORY TOUR IN BANGLADESH (The guy needs to speak proper Bangla, but he did compile footage of all the primary cellphone makers and assemblers in one video).


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## Bilal9

People did not see the criticality of this Bangladesh decision, it joined RCEP. IMHO this is the most important Bangladeshi decision since it spawned SAARC (by General Zia) which could not be successful because of Indian Govt. intransigence.


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## Bilal9

Large Tractor Engine power tiller developed in Bangladesh, the inventor calls it "XL Power Tiller".


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## Bilal9

Latest residential design updates in Dhaka


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Coastal Cyclone shelter in Kuakata, Bangladesh designed by the celebrated Bangladeshi architect Kashef Mahbub Chowdhury, this is used as a primary/elementary school for village children in the vicinity during non-inclement weather.

















The prototype was displayed in an atelier exhibition in Berlin in maquette form for architects


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## Bilal9

*Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority* is the main government agency responsible for public transport in Dhaka. Their new HQ Building.










*New Building at Foreign Ministry




*


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## Bilal9

* Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Mirpur Training Center




*


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## Bilal9

In the category of "New Building which actually looks old". Sarkari Maal Darya mei dhaal...great concept but piss poor execution...Roads and Highways Dept. New HQ.

This is what happens when you award contracts to the lowest bidder. Can't even do the paved areas properly. Disgusting.

If this is the venue of their graft generation, the least they could do is build it nicely. Sotolog Itar Idiots.

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## PoondolotoPandalum

Bilal9 said:


> People did not see the criticality of this Bangladesh decision, it joined RCEP. IMHO this is the most important Bangladeshi decision since it spawned SAARC (by General Zia) which could not be successful because of Indian Govt. intransigence.



has it actually joined, or various thinktanks, goverment ministers thinking of joining it?

I wish they do. we need to get out of this mindset of always plucking the lowest hanging fruit (LDC status concessions, rmg, low labor cost etc), and try out some economic creative destruction for a change. Force companies to innovate and be competitive in a global market.

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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> has it actually joined, or various thinktanks, goverment ministers thinking of joining it?
> 
> I wish they do. we need to get out of this mindset of always plucking the lowest hanging fruit (LDC status concessions, rmg, low labor cost etc), and try out some economic creative destruction for a change. Force companies to innovate and be competitive in a global market.



Bangladesh has not formally joined AFAIK, but yes, there is significant debate for and against joining it. We will cover it in depth, going forward.


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## Bilal9

Local EV manufacturer, it's not impressive but it is accessible to local poor people at least which they can use to start their transport business.


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## Bilal9

New Military Installation at Khilkhet in Dhaka (Administrative and Residential), details will be shared as we know them...

The project site is an area of 16.6 hectares, with 555 meters in length and 350 meters in width. A few military office buildings, school and a lake currently exist in the project site.

The planning structure of this project is “One Axis, Two Cores, Three Corridors and Four Areas”. One Axis: Central Ecological Landscape Axis. Two Cores: Integrated service core and Landmark landscape core. Three Corridors: Three east-west ecological landscape corridors. Four Areas: Residential area, Logistic area, Reception area of hotels and integrated management area.

The planning site can be divided into four subareas in accordance with the functions and current land-use situation; integrated admin area, logistics service area, residential area and hotel area.

Green landscape core inside the project site has been fully utilized for the design, the architectural boundary is well-arranged through building height controlling, to clearance the clearance of sight. A picturesque disorder height boundary is formed by controlling the three height belts, thus giving a good visual perception.

Project Facts
Project: Khilkhet
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Floor Space: 127,000㎡


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## Bilal9

Another Military Complex, this time in ShahinBagh,

The project site is an area of 8.36 hectares, of about 454.27 meters by 346.95meters in width. It has complete infrastructures, with schools, residential housing, markets, military offices around.

The planning site can be divided into three theme areas according to different function needs, i.e. service function outward, internal function clustering and shareable open green land; the space of each subarea are relative independent and the functional form is relatively shareable.

The planning has fully integrated the surrounding architectural environment and the internal space layout, the comfortable and orderly business interface in the north part and the large green-land garden in the center part are well arranged in height with the high-rise residential cluster in the south part, together with the surrounding commercial office, a distinctive horizon contour line is formed.

Project Facts
Project: Shahinbagh
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Floor Space: 80,000㎡

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## Bilal9

And Now, for the Coup-de-grâce today in this section - I present Jolshiri Abashon (Water Ripples Housing), the latest Defence Officers' Housing Society sponsored CBD and Residential areas. This looks even more impressive than Purbachal Legacy Tower complex which is barely a few miles from here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_Tower_(Purbachal,_Dhaka).

Almost looks like Wakanda. 




































In order to improve the standard of living in the city of Dhaka, the government of Bangladesh conceived for the city of Jolshiri to have a CBD, which comprises of commercial facilities, modern residential buildings, educational and medical facilities covering about 500,000㎡ in area. The design uses a modern approach to solve the issues relating to ecology and energy-saving.

The design concept “Water Ripples/Stairs” is influenced by the waterbody directly on the site. The Blue Ripple: symbolizes the national charm of Bangladesh, which implies the bright future and infinite vitality for the nation. The 3 rings created by the water ripple will be allocated for public space (urban culture), commercial buildings (international business platform), and residential functions respectively. In between these function will hold an urban green for recreational and leisure purposes.

Project Facts
Project: CBD of Jolshiri Abashon
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Floor Space: 1,500,000㎡

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport 3rd Terminal Update as of 12/21





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Bangladesh' "Sisimpur" - a take on "Sesame Street", the famous and popular US children's program, has earned international acclaim and accolades. 

*Sisimpur of Bangladesh nominated in Kidscreen Awards*
Tribune desk

Published: 05:44 PM, December 21, 2021





Sisimpur *Collection of* Bangladesh was nominated for Kidscreen Awards

*The award is based primarily on various events in various categories, including the best series for children and families around the world, animated films, and live action programs.*

The country's popular children's show "Sisimpur" has been nominated for the internationally acclaimed "Kidscreen Awards". "Sisimpur" has been nominated in the "Best Mixed Media Series" category along with two other children's series.

The 13th season episode of Sisimpur focuses on children's learning through play, collaborating with others and the joy that comes from collaborating. Which is essential for the development of the baby. In addition to the game, cooperation, sympathy, science, nature, language, mathematics, etc. have prevailed in each episode of the season.

Incidentally, in a survey conducted by BBC World Service Trust in 2010, Sisimpur was selected as the best and overall third most popular program as a children's program. A long-term study by ACPR conducted in 2006 found that children who regularly attended the Sisimpur program were one year older than those who did not visit Sisimpur, who were more proficient in language and caste, mathematics and socio-cultural subjects.

The Kidscreen Awards are primarily awards for various programs in various categories, including the best series for children and families around the world, animated films, and live action programs.

Mohammad Shah Alam, Executive Director, Sisimpur, said: Our Sisimpur has got a place in the top three by competing with the best children's program in the world. ”

It is learned that the names of the winners of 2022 will be announced through a glittering ceremony in February.


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## PoondolotoPandalum

I ho


Bilal9 said:


> And Now, for the Coup-de-grâce today in this section - I present Jolshiri Abashon (Water Ripples Housing), the latest Defence Officers' Housing Society sponsored CBD and Residential areas. This looks even more impressive than Purbachal Legacy Tower complex which is barely a few miles from here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_Tower_(Purbachal,_Dhaka).
> 
> Almost looks like Wakanda.
> 
> View attachment 802570
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> 
> View attachment 802571
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> View attachment 802572
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> 
> View attachment 802573
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> View attachment 802574
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> View attachment 802575
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> 
> In order to improve the standard of living in the city of Dhaka, the government of Bangladesh conceived for the city of Jolshiri to have a CBD, which comprises of commercial facilities, modern residential buildings, educational and medical facilities covering about 500,000㎡ in area. The design uses a modern approach to solve the issues relating to ecology and energy-saving.
> 
> The design concept “Water Ripples/Stairs” is influenced by the waterbody directly on the site. The Blue Ripple: symbolizes the national charm of Bangladesh, which implies the bright future and infinite vitality for the nation. The 3 rings created by the water ripple will be allocated for public space (urban culture), commercial buildings (international business platform), and residential functions respectively. In between these function will hold an urban green for recreational and leisure purposes.
> 
> Project Facts
> Project: CBD of Jolshiri Abashon
> Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
> Floor Space: 1,500,000㎡





Bilal9 said:


> And Now, for the Coup-de-grâce today in this section - I present Jolshiri Abashon (Water Ripples Housing), the latest Defence Officers' Housing Society sponsored CBD and Residential areas. This looks even more impressive than Purbachal Legacy Tower complex which is barely a few miles from here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_Tower_(Purbachal,_Dhaka).
> 
> Almost looks like Wakanda.
> 
> View attachment 802570
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> 
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> View attachment 802575
> 
> 
> View attachment 802576
> 
> 
> In order to improve the standard of living in the city of Dhaka, the government of Bangladesh conceived for the city of Jolshiri to have a CBD, which comprises of commercial facilities, modern residential buildings, educational and medical facilities covering about 500,000㎡ in area. The design uses a modern approach to solve the issues relating to ecology and energy-saving.
> 
> The design concept “Water Ripples/Stairs” is influenced by the waterbody directly on the site. The Blue Ripple: symbolizes the national charm of Bangladesh, which implies the bright future and infinite vitality for the nation. The 3 rings created by the water ripple will be allocated for public space (urban culture), commercial buildings (international business platform), and residential functions respectively. In between these function will hold an urban green for recreational and leisure purposes.
> 
> Project Facts
> Project: CBD of Jolshiri Abashon
> Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
> Floor Space: 1,500,000㎡




This looks rather good

Is it being constructed as of yet?


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## Bilal9

PoondolotoPandalum said:


> I ho
> 
> 
> This looks rather good
> 
> Is it being constructed as of yet?



They have built a community house, the central mosque and adjoining Park situation. There are multiple walkways/trailways/jogging-trails which line the edges of numerous waterways in the area and they are finishing those too along with Landscaping plan. Huge project - will take a while to finish. CBD work has not started yet, we will see the piling work for that soon hopefully.


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## Bilal9

Recent pictures,

*Gulshan/Banani













































































Uttara




































Tejgaon I/A




*

"Bhumi Bhaban" is located in Dhaka's Tejgaon area as "one-stop-service" hub for land-related services. All offices related to land now will be accommodated under the same roof here to facilitate a hassle-free service to the people.









PM opens Bhumi Bhaban in Dhaka's Tejgaon area


Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday inaugurated




republic-daily.com


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## Bilal9

Story about Furniture export sector which promises to be second biggest income earner after apparel.

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## Bilal9

One of the noteworthy centers of wood processing CNC machinery locally is Wood Tech Solutions in KeraniGanj. They have a ToT arrangement with Italian manufacturers and assemble and offer many automated CNC Woodworking machinery. They also offer branded foreign machinery and also offer training in operating these to the burgeoning sector of local furniture exporters.

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## Bilal9




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## F-6 enthusiast

Its happening 

Govt undertakes Teesta development project worth Tk85b: Commerce minister (tbsnews.net) 

85B BDT ~ 1B USD

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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> Its happening
> 
> Govt undertakes Teesta development project worth Tk85b: Commerce minister (tbsnews.net)
> 
> 85B BDT ~ 1B USD



OK good that they started it, however the benefit of this one Billion dollar project is still not clear to me.

@bluesky bhai and I discussed it in great detail some weeks ago. Don't know if you had a look at that thread.

@bluesky bhai says it is a "beautification project" and I have to agree from what I have seen.

If Indians shut down Teesta water at the border upstream, we are net/net loser anyways, regardless of our barrage downstream.

These ba$tards don't give us advance notice of shutoffs anyhow...

The barrage is where the Teesta meets the Brahmaputra I think. 

This is Indian narrative..

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------






Summary:

*India and Bangladesh share 54 common streams* with the Teesta being a major one and the water sharing dispute between the two neighbours is not something new. However, sharing the waters of the Teesta river, which originates in the Himalayas and flows through Sikkim and West Bengal to merge with the Brahmaputra in Assam and (Jamuna in Bangladesh), is perhaps the most contentious issue between two friendly neighbours, India and Bangladesh.

Key facts:

*Teesta is the fourth largest transboundary river* shared between India and Bangladesh, after the Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Meghna (GBM) river system.
The total catchment area of the GBM is about 1.75 million square km.
The *Teesta originates in the Indian state of Sikkim* and its total length is 414 km, out of which 151 km lie in Sikkim, 142 kms flow along the Sikkim-West Bengal boundary and through West Bengal, and 121 km run in Bangladesh.
 
What’s the issue?

It all began when West Bengal started constructing a barrage across the Teesta River. Bangladesh opposed the construction as few regions in the country were dependent only Teesta River water for agriculture.


However, after negotiation, an ad-hoc agreement was reached. As per the agreement, 36% of water of the Teesta flows was allocated to Bangladesh, 39% to India and a further 25 % remained unallocated.
But even this deal has remained pending for more than 2 decades. After many unsuccessful attempts to reach a consensus on the issue, a new bilateral interim deal was to be signed in 2011 to reach an equitable sharing of the water. But it was once again put on hold as the chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee opposed the deal.
Later, in 2013, an agreement was drafted which allowed for the 50:50 allocation of teesta waters between the countries during the lean season, when the real problems of allocation crop up. However, that was not acceptable.
The flow of the river is crucial for Bangladesh from December to March for that they require 50% of the river’s water supply. While India claims a share of 55%.
 
Efforts to solve the issue:

A Joint River Commission was setup to resolve all outstanding water sharing disputes between the two countries. However, no pragmatic and long-term solution could come out and Teesta remained a problematic issue.


India has been examining many parameters for arriving at a workable solution. A possible option considered was that — *since the regeneration of flow in the river channel between the Gajoldoba and Dalia barrages is about 25%, which would be available at the downstream barrage — the additional 25% demanded by Bangladesh could be released by West Bengal from the upstream barrage*.
But the state had its own compulsions for meeting irrigation needs as the summer flows are generally erratic. Hence, West Bengal did not want to commit to releasing water from the upstream barrage, at the cost of its major project envisaging the irrigation of 9.22 lakh hectares in the ultimate stage.
Thus, the water-sharing arrangement got embroiled in domestic hydro-politics, stalling further action to find an acceptable solution to the dispute.
 
Importance of Teesta for Bangladesh:

The river is Bangladesh’s *fourth largest transboundary river for irrigation and fishing*. The Teesta’s floodplain covers 2,750sq km in Bangladesh. Of the river’s catchment – an area of land where water collects – 83 percent is in India and 17 percent is in Bangladesh.


That means more than one lakh hectares of land across five districts in Bangladesh are severely affected by withdrawals of the Teesta’s waters in India. These five Bangladesh districts then face acute shortages during the dry season.
Bangladesh wants 50% of the Teesta’s waters between December and May every year, because that’s when the water flow to the country drops drastically.
 
West Bengal’s opposition:

West Bengal has been opposing the treaty fearing that the loss of higher volume of water to the lower riparian would cause problems in the northern region of state, especially during drier months. It is estimated that the Teesta River has a mean annual flow of 60 billion cubic metres but a significant amount of this water flows only during wet season i.e. between June and September, leaving scant flow during the dry season i.e. October to April/May wherein the average flow gets reduced to about 500 million cubic metres (MCM) per month. This creates issues of equitable sharing during lean season.


Why this deal matters for both India and Bangladesh?

India witnessed a surge in insurgency in the northeast during the rule of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) from 2001 to 2005. A new policy to befriend the BNP backfired. Bangladesh allegedly sheltered insurgents engaged in anti-India activities, and nearly all the Home Ministry-level talks ended without agreement, and India had to increase the security budget for the northeast.


In a couple of years of assuming office in 2008, the Awami League targeted insurgent camps and handed over the rebels to India. As India’s security establishment heaved a sigh of relief, the relationship improved on multiple fronts.
But in 2017, the Awami League is on a sticky wicket. It will be facing one of its toughest elections in two years and water-sharing will be one of the key issues. If this deal is not sealed, it will hurt both India and Bangladesh.
 
What can be done?

It is apparent that to make Teesta water-sharing a reality, there is a need to *augment the river flows during the non-monsoon months*, without which West Bengal would not allow further discussion on the subject. The deficit in flows can be met by the transfer of water from other water-endowed basins. In this connection, the proposals made in the Indian River Linking (IRL) project could be considered.


The *Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga (MSTG) link canal* is one of the links proposed under the Himalayan component of the IRL. It envisages diversion of the surplus waters of the Manas and Sankosh rivers to the Teesta, Ganga and beyond, to meet the requirements of water-deficit areas. By making suitable provisions in the link canal, it should be possible to release the required water into the Teesta during the summer to augment river flows, thus meeting the requirements being proposed for water-sharing with Bangladesh.
Also, another suggestion is the *construction of giant artificial reservoirs*, where the monsoon water can be stored for the lean season. The reservoirs need to be built in India as the country has some mountain-induced sites favourable to hosting dams with reservoirs, unlike Bangladesh.
 
Conclusion:

The success of the deal on the Teesta is considered to be a political necessity for both governments. The deal, as anticipated, will help New Delhi get more political leverage, which, it thinks, is necessary to check the rising influence of an extra regional power – China – in the Bay of Bengal region. For Hasina, the deal will support her chances to retain political power in the 2018 general elections in Bangladesh by projecting her as a leader who can secure her country’s interests and not a ‘pawn’ in the hands of India, as she is being often called by opposition groups.

Bangladesh has been one of India’s strongest allies in South Asia. And if New Delhi wants it to remain so, it has to move fast on signing an agreement on sharing the waters of the Teesta river.


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## F-6 enthusiast

Bilal9 said:


> OK good that they started it, however the benefit of this one Billion dollar project is still not clear to me.


its very important , lot more than just a dam, many industrial projects and factories to be set up. Money to be saved.




Shut down and divert the water where during the monsoon ?

Plus the added benefit of sending the jeets in dehli blood pressure to the moon

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## bluesky

Bilal9 said:


> OK good that they started it, however the benefit of this one Billion dollar project is still not clear to me.
> 
> @bluesky bhai and I discussed it in great detail some weeks ago. Don't know if you had a look at that thread.
> 
> @bluesky bhai says it is a "beautification project" and I have to agree from what I have seen.
> 
> If Indians shut down Teesta water at the border upstream, we are net/net loser anyways, regardless of our barrage downstream.
> 
> These ba$tards don't give us advance notice of shutoffs anyhow...
> 
> *The barrage is where the Teesta meets the Brahmaputra I think.*
> 
> This is Indian narrative..


Bold part: No, the present barrage is about 80 km north of Brahmaputra Junction. This was a wrong location. But, why? It is because this barrage can only contain water in its north which is roughly 13 km in length.

And I have not read news that says another Barrage is to be built at its mouth before falling into the Brahmaputra. So, you may ask what the govt planning. I always say that it is a beautification project and not an IRRIGATION project.

A Barrage must be built at the Teesta mouth that will contain water in a length of about 80 km. But the govt has no such plan and I can see there is none because only $1 billion is certainly not sufficient to build such a gigantic barrage.

The Chinese govt knows this new project will be another good-for-nothing project. However, it is not the duty of the Chinese govt to decide the matter on behalf of the GoB. So, it will send its construction companies and beautify the Teesta as per GoB planning.

Chinese companies will come, construct the project, and take back much of the money to their homeland. China usually does not interfere with the concept prepared by another country.

It was the same with an SL port. Chinese knew this port would be a losing project. Nevertheless, it extended money to SL and SL cannot pay back the money now.

BD will get a project done that will have two distinctly opposite effects:

1) The project, if done properly with the provisions of sluice gates and high dikes along the two banks, will *remove many causes of the yearly floods*
2) However, it *cannot retain much water for use during the winter droughts*. Why? It is because since there is no barrage at the mouth, therefore, during and after a rainy season most of the water will fall into the Brahmaputra/ Jamuna river and to the BoB.

This project will be another waste of money the same as the current barrage. Please guys, do not ridicule me for talking my mind. I request all to come up with proper logic and reasoning. Tell me where I am wrong?

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## Bilal9

bluesky said:


> Bold part: No, the present barrage is about 80 km north of Brahmaputra Junction. This was a wrong location. But, why? It is because this barrage can only contain water in its north which is roughly 13 km in length.
> 
> And I have not read a news that say another Barrage to be built at its mouth before falling into the Brahmaputra. So, you may ask what the givt is planning. I always say, it is a beautification project and not an IRRIGATION project.
> 
> A Barrage must be built at the Teesta mouth that will contain water in a length of about 80 km. But the govt has no such plan and I can see there is none because only $1 billion is certainly not sufficient to build such a gigantic barrage.
> 
> The Chinese govt knows this new project will be another good-for-nothing project. However, it is not the duty of the Chinese govt to decide the targets. So, it will send its construction companies and beautify the Teesta as per the planning of the GoB.
> 
> Chinese companies will come, construct the project, and take back much of the money to their homeland. China usually does not interfere with the concept prepared by another country.
> 
> It was the same with an SL port. Chinese knew this port would be a losing project. Nevertheless, it extended money to SL and SL cannot pay back the money.
> 
> BD will get a project done that will have two distinctly opposite effects:
> 
> 1) The project, if done properly with the provisions of sluice gates and high dikes along the two banks, will *remove many causes of the yearly floods*
> 2) However, it *cannot retain much water for use during the winter droughts*. Why? It is because since there is no barrage at the mouth, therefore, after a rainy season most of the water will fall into the Brahmaputra/ Jamuna river and to the BoB.
> 
> This project will be another waste of money the same as the current barrage. Please guys, do not ridicule me for talking my mind. I request all to come up with proper logic and reasoning. Tell me where I am wrong?



Thanks for clarifying @bluesky Bhai. Happy New year by the way. Will analyze after the festivities.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro Rail current progress...


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## Bilal9

Not really keen on travelling by bus, but luxury bus sector has seen a few changes locally with very luxurious triple axle double decker sleeper coaches introduced on longer length trips. Some of these (double axle sleeper coaches) are also made locally in most cases.


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## Bilal9

Purbachal American City progress update


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## Bilal9

Sylhet Hi-Tech Park Current Status Report

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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> Sylhet Hi-Tech Park Current Status Report




What sort of industries will it have? Unfortunately my shundo basha is not the best.


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## Bilal9

Tom-tom said:


> What sort of industries will it have? Unfortunately my shundo basha is not the best.



This is a place for export-oriented Software Development, Back Office and Electronics manufacturing companies. Probably more of the first two (software) rather than hardware.


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## Bilal9

Discussion on Pran products and markets for those products overseas






4.9 Billion Dollars worth of exports from Bangladesh in December 2021 alone


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## Bilal9

Partex Group 





United Group


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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> This is a place for export-oriented Software Development, Back Office and Electronics manufacturing companies. Probably more of the first two (software) rather than hardware.



Home grown companies or international companies?


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## Bilal9

Tom-tom said:


> Home grown companies or international companies?



Well mainly homegrown now, but there are other Hi-tech Parks (Kaliakoir near Dhaka) which do have foreign investments. Still early days as Sylhet Hi-tech Park is not finished yet.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PHP Group is an older conglomerate which has intensive backward-integrated production processes in steel, glass and ship-recycling sectors. The ship recycling feeds the local steel production sector (re-bars, angle iron and cold-rolled zinc-coated steel sheet for roofing use).

Their facilities in the ship-recycling sector have adopted "green eco-conscious processes" as per the UN " Hong Kong Convention on ship breaking" which addresses labor safety and environmental protections and they have also received the "Maritime Award" for ecological Ship recycling. Workers (for a change from usual practice in the subcontinent) follow US OSHA-type safety regimes (boots, helmets, eye/ear/breathing protection apparatus) and use mechanized cranes, material handling device/processes for handling heavy engineering items and large ship-plates, stressing worker safety. Some footage also shown for downstream industries like passenger vehicle assembly (where their cold-rolled steel sheets are used for stamped auto body components), glass processing etc.

News Report says the patriarch (Sufi Mizanur Rahman) started with the equivalent of Taka 1483 (about $16.47) and now they have a combined group turnover close to about $5 Billion yearly.

Sorry News Report in Bengali (Bangla, local language) only


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## Bilal9

Leonardo is expanding its share of the growing Bangladeshi helicopter market with the announcement, during Singapore Air Show, of the upcoming delivery of five helicopters to Bashundhara Airways, comprising three AW109 Trekkers and two AW119Kx. The helicopters will be used for EMS, utility, law-enforcement, surveillance, VIP, corporate & passenger transport applications and will bring Leonardo’s market share to exceed 30%. 

Furthermore, Bashundhara Airways has been appointed exclusive distributor of Leonardo civil helicopters in Bangladesh and has established a Service Centre for the Country. The appointment marks another step in Leonardo’s ongoing expansion of its customer support network around the world, establishing centers close to customers to provide quicker and better services.

Leonardo already has an established presence in Bangladesh with government customers operating helicopters – including twin-engine AW139s with the Bangladesh Air Force and AW109Ms with the Navy – and other defence and security systems.

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## sallador saan

*Top Bangladeshi private power company Summit has acquired around one fourth of a power project of an Indian power company in Tripura, marking the first footprint of any Bangladeshi company on investing in a foreign power venture.*

Summit bagged 23.5% of the ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) in July last year committing to invest about US$50 million in its 750mw gas fired power plant in Tripura. Summit is now awaiting approval of the central government.

"I think this would be the first purchase by any Bangladeshi-owned company investing in a power plant abroad," said Chairman of Summit Group Muhammed Aziz Khan, adding that he expected the shares would be transferred to his company Summit India (Tripura) in a month or two.

This is the very power plant that Bangladesh had helped OTPC build a decade back by allowing transshipment of its heavy equipment through Bangladesh. Now this company is set to build another 350-megawatt power plant from gas, transmission assets and renewable potentials.


Summit is also in talks with another company over a deal to invest, purchase and import renewable energy to Bangladesh from India at a competitive rate. These cross border renewable deals are backed by The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and are part of policies of the two governments.

The company that now has a huge stake in Bangladesh's energy industry is also trying to secure a Liquefied Natural gas (LNG) deal with an American company on a long-term basis at a reasonably low cost.


Aziz Khan, in conversation with The Business Standard, also reflected on how his home-grown infrastructure company of the nineties was becoming a multinational entity.

The company moved its headquarters to Singapore six-seven years back with a view to expand its activities beyond Bangladesh, which still remains its business hotspot and where Summit plans to invest another $3 billion by 2025. Moving to Singapore has made it easier for Summit to get finances, he said.

In 2017, Summit won a bid in India to develop a port in Kolkata. It bagged another deal recently to run another port in Patna -- which is now under construction.

"For the last four years, we have been operating the Kolkata port that we implemented under the build-own-operate-transfer model by winning a tender from the Inland Waterways Authorities of India,'' said the Summit Group chairman.

"I think that nobody [in Bangladesh] has invested in ports or infrastructure abroad before," said Khan.

Summit has 20 power plants in Bangladesh with a capacity to generate 1,942MW electricity—representing around 8% of the country's total power generation capacity -- and another 600 mw under construction.

The infrastructure conglomerate also has a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for supplying 500mmcf LNG per day.

*Summit shifts to Singapore to broaden the horizon*

"We have shifted our head office to Singapore to broaden the horizon from containment to go to India and other sub continental countries," Aziz Khan said.

Khan said that implementing a power plant in Bangladesh is a very difficult task because of the high interest of capital and lack of funding.

He said that the Summit Group has so far invested $2.5billion in Bangladesh.

"For implementing a project, you need to have 30% capital and 70% debt. But I did not have that money. So, I had to take a loan," he said. 

"From that calculation, I had to manage around $900million. But you didn't hear that I defrauded any banks or people. So, I had to get this capital. Then, I had to manage a $2.1 billion loan, and there is no allegation that I'm not repaying the loan either," Khan added.

"It was possible due to the low cost of capital. We took a $350 million loan from Standard Chartered Bank at 3.5% fixed interest against the Switzerland state bank's guarantee.

"But implementation of large projects would not be possible by paying 10-12% interest rate to the local financiers. The private sector does not get the opportunity to obtain loans at an interest rate of 1% like the government," he said.

"Being a private sector company, we get a loan at 3.5% and our average interest rate is 4.5% against the current $800million loan. And 80% of this loan book is from foreign companies or lenders," he said.

Khan said others are not getting the commercial loan because of their own company's governance and the credit rating of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's credit rating is also a reason behind the shift of the head office to Singapore, said the Summit Group chairman. "Cost of the fund depends on the credit rating. If you want big spending, you need to go to a big market and Singapore is a big market," he said.

Bangladesh's credit rating is still BB minus (BB-), while Singapore is a triple-A or double-A rating country.

"So, we get double-A if we do the credit rating in Singapore, but if we do it here in Bangladesh, we won't be able to get it above BB minus," he said. 

Another reason for the shift to Singapore was to hire skilled manpower for large projects, said Aziz Khan. 

"Getting management is very tough here in Bangladesh because nobody has done big business. You cannot find someone who has done a 580MW power plant implementation, but that is available all over the world," he added.

*Summit invests with American company for long term LNG solution *

Summit Group, the trailblazer in the power and energy sector in Bangladesh, is now eying a long term LNG solution.

Talking about the new horizon of the business, Aziz Khan, said, "We are now discussing investment in LNG liquefaction and transportation processes with American companies. If we are successful, we will be able to supply LNG at a lower price." 

"Recently, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Commonwealth LNG to collaborate in the supply of LNG to Asia, including Bangladesh," he said.

The scope of the MoU includes contracting for 1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG offtake, for a term of up to 20 years, from Commonwealth's 8.4 MTPA facility currently under development in Cameron, Louisiana.

*Building the third FSRU of the country*

Summit Group is also looking to establish its second and the country's third FSRU at Moheshkhali coast to regasify another 500 MMCF LNG.

In this regard, Aziz Khan said, "We have applied for the second FSRU and we have heard that it has been positively taken by the government.

"Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), the state-run company responsible for LNG operation, is going to call us for negotiation," he added. 

The Summit Group chairman also said that this was not by their persuasion, but the country needed it and Petrobangla understood that. 

Petrobangla wanted to build an on-shore terminal but they could not acquire the land for it yet, he said. 

"Even if they get the land, it will take time to develop the land and they have to dig at an 18-metre depth for storage, but the country does not have that time," Khan further added.

The capacity of the new FSRU will be 170,000 cubic metres, which would be 30% higher than the existing one. 

*Will LNG remain affordable?*

Currently, the country has a demand for around 3500mmcf to 4000mmcf of gas per day, whereas it gets only 2500mmcf from local gas fields, so a gap remains there.

The margin of the demand gap will be bigger once the 100 economic zones, undertaken by the government, come into operation. 

"And as the reserve of natural gas deflates gradually, the demand-supply gap of gas has to be fulfilled by LNG," said Khan. 

The next infrastructure necessary for Bangladesh is how to bring LNG and how to continue to supply the most needed energy for the continuous and sustainable development of Bangladesh, he added.

But in the last one year LNG price was wildly volatile and went up to $36 per MMBtu. 

Talking about affordability, Khan said, "To get the lower price, we have to go to a long term contract, instead of spot purchase." 

Khan also said that his new FSRU would be able to provide LNG at cheaper rates than the existing ones. And it is possible if one invests in liquefaction and transportation of LNG, he said.









How Summit takes new step abroad in Indian power plant


Top Bangladeshi private power company Summit has acquired around one fourth of a power project of an Indian power company in Tripura, marking the first footprint of any Bangladeshi company on investing in a foreign power venture. Summit bagged 23.5% of the ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) in...




www.tbsnews.net

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## Bilal9

There are now many Home textile factories in Bangladesh as well. Here is one that seems quite large in scale of operations and their description,

" ACS Textiles, a name emblematic of trust and superior quality in Home Textiles, is a 100% British investment.

As a state-of-the-art, composite manufacturing facility, with weaving, dyeing, printing, finishing, and packaging services, all offered under a single expansive roof, ACS stands as one of the largest of its kind in the industry.

ACS Textiles is a quality conscious company, reliant on ethically sound, internationally recognized policies. We produce top quality bedding and linen sheets ranging from 200-400 thread count percale sheets. Featuring also, high quality satin and duvets with Egyptian and organic cotton. ACS Textiles is a trailblazer in the textile industry, whether it be seer sucker fabrics, jacquard or intricate embroidery, our facilities are equipped to produce the most innovative textiles of our times.

Staying true to our name in quality and innovation, we offer a wide-range of towel products. ACS Textiles BD Ltd. has come a long way since its establishment in 2004, and over the years has built a global reputation for excellence, if matched by others, then only by a few in the global textile network.

The manufacturing facility employs over 6000 people, and averages at about 30,000 pieces of superior quality textile products per day.

Our products have found their market in European countries, such as Italy, France, and the UK. Our influence reaches the markets of Scandinavian Europe with our design studio in Sweden.

2008 saw ACS expanding its export clientele to include Australia and North America.

Our excellence is recognized not only by our customers, but by official international authorities for quality standards – "OEKO-Tex Standard 100" certification further endorses our unswerving commitment to quality. "


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## Bilal9

DBL Group is a family owned business which started in 1991. 

The first company was named as Dulal Brothers Limited. Over the years, the organization evolved into a diversified conglomerate in Bangladesh. The businesses include Apparels, Textiles, Textile Printing, Washing, Garments Accessories, Packaging, Ceramic Tiles, Pharmaceuticals, Dredging, Semiconductor Design (VLSI), ICT, and Telecommunications. 

With a dedicated workforce of 38,000 employees, the annual turnover for the year 2018-19 was USD 600 Million. The organization has financial investments from IFC of the World Bank, DEG-KfW (Germany), and Swedfund (Sweden). 

DBL engaged in its first offshore business in Ethiopia for Apparels and Textiles, creating employment opportunities for 4,500 people. 

DBL is well reputed locally and globally for its diverse set of sustainability activities, working with international development organizations such as CARE, DEG, IFC, GIZ, ILO, and UNICEF. DBL’s activities are in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and have been recognized internationally by the UN Global Compact and the Business Call to Action (BCtA) of the UN Development Program (UNDP). 

DBL is a signatory to the Global Compact and has been publishing its sustainability reports since 2014 following the GRI guidelines. DBL is Trustee Board member of CSR Center, founding member of Global Compact Network Bangladesh, member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)- Bangladesh, Premier Corporate Member of Textile Institute, Manchester and member of World Economic Forum.


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## Bilal9

Envoy Textile Limited is the fastest growing textile group in Bangladesh.

Envoy is the world’s very first LEED Certified Platinum Denim Manufacturing Facility.

A 100% export oriented manufacturing company started commercial operation in 2008 and became a Public Limited company in 2012.
The first Denim Facility in Bangladesh to use Rope Dyed Technology,
Envoy has a production capacity of 4.5 million yards each month.
Being a backward integrated facility Envoy has its own spinning facility capable to produce 62 tonnes of yarn per day.
Envoy Textiles operates on sustainable production process, such as Fibers from sustainable sourcing such as Organic, PCW, BCI, etc.,
Ozone finishing process which reduces environmental impact,
Aero Finish to enhance fabric stretching with durability,
state of the art Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) saving 100 million liters of natural water every year,
E-Lab which equipped with environment friendly Laser and Ozone Wash machines, and many more.
Envoy Textiles, also focused on employee welfare and CSR activities.
Envoy Textiles has setup a “Pediatric Intensive Care Unit” for burn patients at the Dhaka Medical Hospital owned by Bangladesh Government. Not only It is one of kind but also the only such facility in the country.

Bangladesh Government has recognized and honored Envoy Textiles on many occasions, such as 6 times winner of National Export Trophy, President’s Award for Industrial Development in Bangladesh, Highest Tax Payer Award, etc.






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bengal Group has production and export units in many diverse sectors...


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## Bilal9

I find it curious that whenever Indians praise Bangladesh, they have this perverse slant of drawing in Pakistan to cherry pick and show Pakistan's performance which is supposedly worse than India, in any sphere. Anyway - just ignore those comments.

*See Sonar Bangla shine and leave behind India, Pakistan on economic & social indices*

ECONOMY at 50, PART 4: With a per capita income at a whopping $2554, poverty is down; exports are up and GDP is fueled by both agriculture and manufacturing; but the downside is a growing nexus between politics and business








Poverty is not created by poor people. It is the system that produces poverty, says Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, at the heart of the economic miracle that started in the ’70s.

United Nations Foundation

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Published 13.01.22, 03:13 PM

There is justifiable pride all around at Bangladesh’s remarkable performance in both the economic and social development dimensions. “Pakistan and India don’t matter. We have done better than both!” The figures speak for themselves.

The renowned Bangladesh economist, Rehman Sobhan, Amartya Sen’s great friend since their undergraduate days together at Cambridge, hands to me a lecture he has delivered at the Centre for Policy Dialogue on 6 December 2021 titled

“Promises Kept and Promises to Keep”.

It dramatically summarizes where East Pakistan stood vis-à-vis the West wing on the eve of Liberation and how Bangladesh @ 50 compares to Pakistan today. Its per capita income has zoomed from around $90 at Liberation to $2554 now. Thus, where per capita income in nominal US dollars then lagged 61 per cent behind Pakistan, it is now 64 per cent higher! Today, its savings ratio is nearly three times that of Pakistan and its investment ratio double. This is reflected in the “more robust rate of expansion of infrastructure”, well-illustrated by power capacity and electricity generation, which were behind West Pakistan at Liberation, being “around 40 per cent higher than Pakistan” half a century on. Bangladesh has, I am told, the highest concentration of rural roads in the world. The average annual growth rate of GDP, I am informed by the Foreign Minister, has steadily risen from a low of 3.2% in the period of military dictatorship from 1975 to 1990 to 4% in the following period of elected coalition governments, 1990-2008, to a crackling 6.6% in Sheikh Hasina’s premiership since 2009.





Exports have risen from around 8 billion US dollars at Liberation to a whopping 411 billion dollars now. Foreign exchange reserves have shot up from $15 (that’s right, fifteen dollars only as Pakistan sequestered the rest) to around $45 billion now. Driving this export boom are principally Readymade Garments (RMG) which account for around 80% of the country’s export earnings. This is ironic because in the ‘50s and ‘60s, as rising costs resulted in Western and Japanese RMG pricing themselves out of the global RMG market, it was India and Brazil who most fought for the transition from GATT’s highly restrictive Long-Term Arrangement in Cotton Textiles to the far more liberal Multi-Fibre Agreement (an exercise in which I was involved as a junior diplomat), but it was eventually not the relatively developed ‘developing’ countries but ‘Least Developed Countries’ (LDC) like Bangladesh who cornered the vacated market.

The story begins with the South Koreans taking 134 Bangladeshis for training in supervision and management of RMG units. (All 134 trainees went on to become highly successful entrepreneurs in their own right). This was followed by South Korean investment and technology, genius in design and product development, initiating the Bangladesh RMG industry to take advantage of tariff benefits that were denied to relatively more developed countries like South Korea. (This also explains the somewhat startling proliferation of Korean restaurants in Dhaka).





Rising levels of literacy and education among Bangladeshi women, and liberation from conservative mindsets brought on by the Liberation of the country, provided a readily available labor force, of whom 47 million were women, that extended from cottage industry in rural Bangladesh to shiny new modern factories in urban areas.


There was much carping criticism in the western world about safety standards, wages and social security conditions for Bangladeshi RMG workers, but these issues have been stilled by appropriate action. Government policy also greatly helped. Bonded warehouses, where intermediate goods could be held for up to six months, and back-to-back Master Letters of Credit, greatly lowered the need for working capital. Cash incentives, that have risen from 25% to 30%, did the rest.



This inducted into RMG an army of youthful businessmen, who had earlier looked to Government and then to NGOs for sustenance, to discover the joy of unleashing their “animal spirits” in start-up enterprises. It also led to some industrial diversification into household consumption items like soap and toiletries as also into heavy industry like steel where output has risen in five decades from 100,000 tonnes to an impressive 8 million tonnes.

The construction boom has also encouraged cement production. And rising incomes have spurred a growing demand for factory-refined sugar. There is indeed even an export-oriented ship-building industry. In consequence, the GDP profile has changed significantly from being agri-dominated to “Manufacturing, including Construction” contributing a full one-third of GDP. The “middle class” has filled out to an estimated 20 million, old Dhaka residential areas like Dhanmondi virtually erased by high rise offices and upscale apartments and the roads unbelievably jammed with fancy SUVs competing for space with cyclists and rickshaws – and hapless pedestrians.

All this new development is backed by strong agricultural performance. The output of rice, the staple food, has soared by four times to 40 million tonne, feeding the growth in population over the last fifty years from around 75 million to 170 million. Cropping intensity has doubled and then risen to three times the pre-Liberation levels. Fish output has more than matched agriculture, with Bangladesh emerging as the fourth largest fish exporter in the world. Fruit and vegetables are plentiful. Sanitation is much better. Tap water is within easy reach of most. Electricity has reached every village. “There is no rural-urban divide”, all sectors of the economy are growing.

One unanticipated fall-out of this is that where at Liberation the Bangladesh economy was principally accented on jute, now jute is hardly mentioned. An attempt to resuscitate and expand the earlier small jute industry that attempted to compete against the far larger and more efficiently run jute mills of Barrackpore is now being revived by the public sector Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, in the expectation that the new global emphasis on “green” goods will restore jute as the preferred packing material and product development could lead to an exponential rise in global demand for consumer items like shoulder bags and even designer dresses made of jute.





Remittances by Bangladeshi laborers – “partners in development” is the favored phrase – are another major contributor to Bangladesh’s prosperity. The inflow hit a record high of $24.77 billion in fiscal 2020-21. The Bangladeshi is clearly up and ready to go anywhere and undertake any employment to improve living conditions and prospects for his family back home. So much so, that on a visit to Venice some years ago I found I could not get an Italian pizza as all the restaurant cooks are Bangladeshi!
"Poverty is down from 70% to under 25%. “Everyone in villages is sitting in a chair. No one is half-naked”, proudly says the Foreign Minister. Birth rates have been slashed from 2.98 to 1.3 by, among other measures, co-opting the village mullah into the endeavor.

The miracle started in the mid-70s with Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank. As he explains his philosophy, epigrams and aphorisms drop like gems and diamonds from his lips: “Poverty is not created by poor people. It is the system that produces poverty”. How?

“The banking system gives money to those who have lots of money. The rich come to them. We went to the poor. They went to men. We went to women. They went to urban areas. We set up 3000 branches in rural areas. They insisted on collateral and are now drowning in unpaid loans. We trusted the poor and have got back 97% of our loans.” Because the banks would not come to the aid of the poor, the poor became the victim of “loan sharks”.

“We looked back,” he says, “and understood that humankind started as hunters and gatherers fending for themselves. Why not then revive that spirit? All the poor need to get started as entrepreneurs is small loans of $5 and $10. Even $20 is, for them, a huge sum. We saw that the key is finance, small amounts of ready money that galvanize creativity and ideas for micro-businesses.

Charity doesn’t ask back for what it gives. On the other hand, ‘social business’ recycles loans because it gets repaid.” Yunus’ _betes noire_ are ‘conventional economists’ who think ‘jobs’ and ‘employment’ are the road out of poverty when, in fact, “it is micro-entrepreneurship that truly liberates the poor from poverty.”

So, as “finance is the oxygen of entrepreneurship,” Grameen Bank made that, and not the maximizing of profits, its goal. Also, “mobilization of the people” is no part of the agenda of banks and “traditional economists” but is central to the concept of “social business” pioneered by Grameen Bank. And that is how 80,000 business ventures have been initiated. Grameen Bank today lends over $3 billion a year with a 98 per cent recovery rate to over 9 million borrowers, 97 per cent of whom are women, living in every single village of Bangladesh.

Yunus has also set up a Grameen Venture Capital Fund where equity and training are made available to foster job-creators not job seekers. “Power is people. People is women!” is his slogan. Someone else tells me that women are required to salute Yunus when they walk into his presence. When asked why he insists on this, Yunus disarmingly explains that saluting forces women to look up; otherwise, they spend their lives looking down, feeling ashamed of their womanhood, humiliated, and lacking in self-confidence.

Yunus concludes: “The Liberation War opened all the doors. It was the big push. Nothing remained untouchable anymore. It unleashed young people’s energies.”
In terms of human development, Bangladesh at 0.32 on the Human Development Index is markedly ahead of Pakistan struggling at 0.563. Indeed, Bangladesh is so far ahead of both Pakistan and India in progress on the Human Development Index (that includes health, fertility rates, maternal and child mortality, nutrition, education, women’s liberation, etc.) as to now be included among the 10th fastest growing performers in the world.

On the Gender Development Index, Bangladesh at 0.904 is way ahead of Pakistan’s score of 0.745 and (shame on us!) well above the Indian score of 0.820. In consequence of such sustained economic and social development, the UNDP’s multidimensional poverty index shows Pakistan’s poverty rate at 38.3 per cent; India’s at 27.9 per cent; and Bangladesh at 24.6 percent (in 2018 – the inter-country disparities are probably greater after the Covid pandemic, handled marvellously well by Bangladesh despite our not providing the vaccines we had promised and for which they had paid). “Our people are not only better off than they were; they are much better off,” says a professor at Dhaka University. “Every successive generation has had higher living standard than those of the previous generation”. The glow of satisfaction is not to be missed.

There is, however, a downside to this economic and social miracle: the growing and apparently irreversible nexus between politics and business. A freedom fighter remarks that this has brought about a “sea-change” in the character of the Awami League, “it is now a business-oriented party”. He goes on, “Crony capitalism of a fairly extreme form has resulted in a bank default crisis that is driving out the good guys who are losing out”.

He rues that “the system is going to perpetuate itself as there is an absence of competition. Low tax rates, and implicit and explicit government transfers to the higher echelons, far exceed subsidies for the poor. Every regulator,” he says in dismay, “is now a rent-seeker. Entrepreneurship has entered government service! If cronyism has not been encouraged, capitalism would have been much more successful”.

While, as one Group CEO remarked, “we simply incorporate the bribes we have to pay into our costs of production and marketing,” Rehman Sobhan is concerned in his 6 December lecture (referred to in a previous Part of this series) that such blatant, pervasive corruption has meant that “Bangladesh’s intake of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) remains well below South East Asia levels and poor even by South Asian standards”.

There is also concern over growing inequalities. “In the 1970s,” remarks one economist, “everyone was equitably poor”. Now the Gini coefficient that measures inequality has zoomed from 0.30 then to around 0.45 now. So much so that Bangladesh appears to be a “test case” for Branko Marcovic’s proposition that:

_In every political system, even a democracy, the rich tend to hold more political power. The danger is that this political power will be used to promote policies that further cement the economic power of the rich. The higher the inequality, the more likely we are to move away from democracy to plutocracy._

(_The Guardian_, London, 2 May 2017. Marcovic is a leading world authority on inequality and, at the time of writing, was the visiting presidential professor at the City University of New York)

The apprehension is that Bangladesh is already trending away from democracy in the direction of becoming a plutocracy. (Just as in India, alas).

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## Bilal9

The story of BSRM Group in Chittagong, one of Bangladesh' largest steel producers. 1.6 Million tons of Re-bar and 1.8 Million tons of billets produced every year.

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## Bilal9

Story of Meghna Group - promoter started life at Tk. 175 salary per month. Today his yearly turnover is Tk. 30,000 crore (Tk. 300 Billion)


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## Bilal9

Story of Partex Group spinoff Star Condensed Milk and Powder Milk. Partex Group was formed by one of East Pakistan's legacy Bengali Industrialists Mr. M. A. Hashem in the 1960's and he spun off the company into five divisions (Particle board, textiles, tissue and paper goods, condensed milk etc.) owned by his five sons. Just the yearly turnover of the Star Brand condensed and powder Milk division (including textile business) is Tk. 200 Billion (about $2.2 Billion) yearly.


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## Bilal9

Local Brands bringing in a spate of IoT (app) enabled smart appliances to The locally hosted International Trade Fair in Purbachal this year which includes smart TV's, Aircons and smart refrigerators among other appliances - everything pretty much app and IoT-enabled. Among local brands Walton, Minister and Vision have large and varied selection of appliances.


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## Bilal9

*Development of oncology drugs in Bangladesh: A success story*

Just 12 years ago, Bangladesh was a 100 percent importer of oncology drugs. Today, it is an exporter that also meets local needs. This was possible due to the efforts of local pharmaceutical companies, their far-sighted vision and the trust patients have in local products.

In the past 10 years, pharmaceutical companies such as Beacon, Eskayef, Renata, Incepta, Healthcare, and Techno Pharma have come to manufacture more than 110 types of oncological drugs. Just six to seven years ago, around 50 percent of the lifesaving medications had to be imported, posing risks of unavailability, high costs and price fluctuations. Now local pharmaceuticals not only meet 80 percent of the country's demand but also export to at least 140 countries, beginning their journey with limited scale shipments in 2015. Local companies manufacture 99 percent of the oncology drugs but some patients still use imported drugs or unofficially import them.

"People laughed at me in 2002 when I had taken an initiative to manufacture oncology products. Finally, my plans came to fruition in 2009. Now the patients can get drugs at a reasonable price," said Md. Ebadul Karim, managing director of Beacon Pharmaceuticals Limited. In the past, only financially solvent patients were able to get treatment due to the high cost of drugs and low-income patients would have to wait till the last moment, he said. According to Karim, Beacon not only manufactures oncology drugs but it also provides support of BDT three crore per annum to the poor patients and provides diagnostic support. He further said neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka have a government financial support system for cancer patients. The Bangladesh government can provide similar facilities for cancer patients, he said. Beacon is planning to establish a palliative care centre so that the patients do not have to suffer so much.

"We help the patients lead a quality life after taking treatment," he noted. With a mission to deliver world class anti-cancer products at an affordable price, Eskayef Oncology started its journey in 2018 with many pioneering technologies. Recently, Eskayef Oncology touched another milestone as it has become one of the few Asian companies to get the approval from the prestigious global regulatory body European Union Good Manufacturing Practice (EU GMP) for manufacturing anti-cancer medicines. Eskayef's Oncology Manufacturing Facility is the country's first entity that has secured approval from the EU GMP, which is recognised by 27 nations of the EU and considered a passport for entry into the global market. 

Eskayef is currently producing both oral and injectable anti-cancer medicines maintaining the standards of the EU regulator. "This recognition will help our drugs enter the EU market and other countries," Dr. Mohammad Mujahidul Islam, Executive Director, Marketing & Sales of Eskayef, said. He also added, "Eskayef is currently exporting its high-quality medicines to 54 countries. With all the latest technologies, facilities and our earnest commitment, Eskayef Oncology is determined to serve the people of Bangladesh and the world with its affordable and global-standard anti-cancer products." Now, the export of oncology drugs is bigger than domestic market demand. To put things into perspective, Bangladesh exported cancer drugs worth over Tk 500 crore in 2019, and the export of these products in 2020 was almost the same although they are yet to receive the full export details, industry insiders said. 

Meanwhile local cancer drug sales amounted to about Tk 500 crore. Demand is growing by 15 percent on average every year, according to the manufacturers. Along with conventional chemotherapy drugs, local pharmaceutical companies manufacture the latest oncology products such as oral therapy, immunotherapy, monoclonal antibodies, oral targeted therapies, and liposomal technology products, said the director for global business development of Beacon, Monjurul Alam. He informed that Bangladesh's export of cancer drugs was increasing by around 30 to 35 percent year-on-year. Oncology products were beyond the purchasing power of patients in the past but prices went down by 40 percent when Beacon started production through compliance with high standards, he said. 

Patients in Bangladesh now spend around Tk 500 crore per year for cancer treatment while it would cost at least Tk 2,000 crore if oncology drugs were imported, according to Alam. Bangladesh's drugs are winning the global market for their quality and low prices; the medicines are cheaper than those provided by the developed world, he added. Beacon now manufactures 110 different drugs for all kinds of cancer and exports them to 134 countries. Alam said there is no difference between the generic and original oncology drugs as the local pharmaceutical companies have built world-class manufacturing plants with sophisticated European equipment. 

Locally produced cancer drugs are of international standards and cheaper than imported ones, which is helping cancer treatment in Bangladesh, Md Azizul Islam, consultant physician general and specialist of medicine and oncology at Bangladesh Armed Forces, said earlier. He believes it will not be long until local pharmaceutical companies manufacture all types of cancer drugs.

CANCER PATIENTS AND TREATMENT FACILITIES
According to Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal, with the increasing rate of people being affected by cancer in Bangladesh, the disease has become a national concern. Anti-cancer drugs play a significant and crucial role in cancer treatment regimen. Inadequate access to essential anti-cancer medicines may impose serious public health problems in Bangladesh. According to National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), there are 13 to 15 lakh cancer patients in Bangladesh, with about two lakh patients newly diagnosed with cancer each year. Lung cancer and mouth-oropharynx cancer rank as the top two prevalent cancers in males. Other types of cancer are esophagus cancer and stomach cancer. In women, cervix, uterus, and breast cancer are most prevalent.

Other cancer types, which affect women, are mouth and oropharynx cancer, lung cancer, and esophagus cancer. There are around 150 qualified clinical oncologists and 16 pediatric oncologists working in the different parts of the country. Regular cancer treatment is available in 19 hospitals and 465 hospital beds are attached as indoor or daycare facilities for chemotherapy in the oncology/radiotherapy departments. There are about 15 linear accelerators, 12 Co-60 teletherapy, and 12 brachytherapy units currently available. There are approximately 56 cancer chemotherapeutic agents in Bangladesh.
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*Posted on: 16-Jan-2022
Post Creator: Prothom Alo*

*Eskayef Oncology manufacturing facility gets EU GMP approval*
The oncology manufacturing facility of Eskayef Pharmaceuticals, one of the finest medicine manufacturing companies in Bangladesh, has obtained the approval of European Union Good Manufacturing Practice (EU GMP) for maintaining its standard in production of oncology drugs. As a result, the people of Bangladesh can now get world class medicines in the country to treatment cancer patients. Eskayef Pharmaceuticals is the first ever Bangladeshi company to get the approval of EU GMP, a highly prestigious standard that a medicines manufacturer must meet in their production processes. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) coordinates inspections to verify compliance with these standards. All the 27 member states of European Union (EU) acknowledge the EU GMP certificate. A very few Asian pharmaceutical companies could avail the approval so far.

This approval has huge global influence and is regarded as a ‘passport’ to enter the global market. Speaking to Prothom Alo, Eskayef managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Simeen Rahman said, “There’s a huge fear among people about cancer. Many people lose their will to live when they learn they are cancer patients. But detection of cancer does not mean the end of life. It has treatment. It is possible to be cured through proper treatment.”

"We are pledge-bound to supply world class cancer drugs in the country at a reasonable price. We have some highly regarded oncology and hematology experts. We’re also working to bring latest medicines to Bangladesh to treat the cancer patients", Simeen Rahman, Eskayef managing director and CEO. 

She said, “In most of the cases, cancer treatment is expensive. Family sometimes becomes destitute treating a cancer patient. That’s why we always wanted to ensure world class treatment for cancer patients in Bangladesh.” The oncology unit of Eskayef Pharmaceuticals is situated at Rupganj, Narayanganj. Both the injection and oral medicines of SKF have the EU GMP approval. This suggests Eskayef could maintain the European standard in commercial production and standard maintenance of oncology medicines.

The company hopes this approval will help it export Eskayef oncology medicines to other countries around the globe. Simeen Rahman said, “Eskayef Oncology has always been working to manufacture cancer medicine. We believe cancer can be prevented if it is treated with world class medicines at the right time. We are pledge-bound to supply world class cancer medicines in the country at a reasonable price. We have some highly regarded oncology and hematology experts. We’re also working to bring latest medicines to Bangladesh to treat the cancer patients.”

National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) director professor Qazi Mushtaq Hussain said it is indeed a matter of honour for Bangladesh as a local company has won this acknowledgement for manufacturing cancer drugs.

Physicians said Eskayef Pharmaceutical’s approval from EU GMP is a matter of prestige for Bangladesh. Speaking to Prothom Alo, National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) director professor Qazi Mushtaq Hussain said it is indeed a matter of honour for Bangladesh as a local company has won this acknowledgement for manufacturing cancer drugs. This will dispel all the doubts, if there is any, about our quality of medicines and treatment. This is comforting for the people and medical treatment.” The state-of-the-art oncology manufacturing facility of Eskayef Pharmaceuticals was opened in 2018 with the technical help of Europe-based Telstar Life Science Solutions, t. Head of radiotherapy and oncology department at Dhaka Medical College Hospital professor Swapan Bandopadhyay told Prothom Alo, “This is wonderful news for the people of Bangladesh and oncology physicians. People get the best results from this kind of success.” He further said they (SKF) won the approval because of maintaining their standard. This is a huge achievement. 

This EU GMP approval will create confidence of the physicians and the people. Head of oncology department at Delta Medical College in the capital professor Kazi Manzur Kader said this is huge advancement for the country’s medicine manufacturing industry. He said, “We import most of the cancer medicines. This is wonderful news for the patients that quality cancer medicines are now being manufactured at home.” Eskayef authorities said Eskayef Oncology is the first in Bangladesh to use isolator technology to ensure safety of the medicine at its every step of production. The company imports quality raw materials from the European countries. Eskayef Oncology has 31 help centres across the country from where the patients and their relatives can get any information on medicines and of other importance. Eskayef Oncology is currently manufacturing medicines of various types of cancer including breast cancer, blood cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, renal cancer, hepatocellular cancer and head-neck cancer.

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## Bilal9

*Posted on: 16-Jan-2022
Post Creator: Prothom Alo*

*Novo Nordisk signs MoU with Eskayef for advanced insulin manufacturing*

In a moment of historical significance, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Eskayef Pharmaceuticals Ltd of Bangladesh for state-of-the-art technology transfer for advanced insulin manufacturing. “This is a defining moment for Novo Nordisk in Bangladesh,” said Sebnem Avsar Tuna, corporate vice president of the company’s Oceania and South East Asia regions, at a ceremony held to mark the signing of the MoU at a local hotel in Dhaka.

*Under this agreement, for the first time ever Danish advanced technology for manufacturing state-of-the-art insulin devices of Novo Nordisk will be undertaken outside of Denmark. 

“This is a great moment for Eskayef,” said Latifur Rahman, chairman of Transcom Ltd and Eskayef Pharmaceuticals. “But more importantly, it is a proud moment for Bangladesh. Novo Nordisk is the world leader in insulin. *

Although Eskayef has been manufacturing vials, the Penfill insulin injector has been produced exclusively in Denmark. Now, for the first time, Novo Nordisk has decided to partner with Eskayef to manufacture Penfill injector in Bangladesh.” Latifur Rahman said that this achievement marked the level of advancement in Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry, with 95 per cent of the country’s requirements being met locally. He expressed confidence that Bangladesh would be a major player in the global export market for pharmaceuticals within the next few years.

State minister for health Zahid Malik MP said while contagious diseases like polio and cholera had been eliminated from the country, people’s financial solvency had given rise to non-communicable diseases such as obesity and diabetes. “Officially seven million people are affected with diabetes in the country, but the number is probably much higher,” he said. He lauded the joint venture between Novo Nordisk and Eskayef for the manufacture of advanced insulin devices, recommending that this should be affordable for the diabetic patients in the country. Danish ambassador in Bangladesh Mikael Hemniti Winther hailed the signing of the MoU as an example of strengthening of cooperation and friendship between Bangladesh and Denmark. “This is the beginning of something new and we hope there is even more coming up ahead,” he said.

The MoU was signed by Anand Shetty, Novo Nordisk managing director, and Simeen Hossain, managing director and CEO of the Eskayef Pharmaceuticals Limited, on behalf of their respective sides. Also present on the occasion were Lars Bo Smidt, corporate vice president of Novo Nordisk, Dr AK Azad Khan, president of the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh (DAB), DG Drug Administration major general Mustafizur Rahman and others.








Modern insulin to be made locally


Novo Nordisk, the world's biggest insulin maker, has teamed up with local Eskayef Pharmaceuticals to set up a state-




www.thedailystar.net

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## Chakar The Great

Some excellent work being done in Bangladesh, well done guys.

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## Bilal9

PREPAID GAS METERS
*Perks aplenty but installation slow*


Asifur Rahman, Mahmudul Hasan
Mon Jan 17, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Mon Jan 17, 2022 01:21 AM


The installation of prepaid gas meters is going on at a snail's pace even though the system comes with many perks, including cuts in customers' cost and a reduction in gas wastage.

For instance, Tuhin Rahman, a resident of the capital, used to pay Tk 975 each month for gas but her expenses fell drastically since October, when a gas distribution company installed a meter in her apartment.

"My monthly expense for cooking gas got cut by over 50 per cent as a result," Rahman told The Daily Star.

About half a dozen people said their gas bills were cut by 30 to 40 per cent ever since the distribution company replaced its traditional billing system with prepaid meters.

Not only from the customers' end, it will reduce gas usage amid dwindling reserves, which is leading to costly imports in order to keep wheels turning and burners running.
For example, a customer without a prepaid meter uses 70 cubic meters of gas per month while customers with a meter use 30 cubic meters of gas.

But despite all these perks and the instruction of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, installation of prepaid meters has been running at a snail's pace.

The installation of prepaid meters began a decade ago but only about four lakh meters have been installed so far, keeping over 90 per cent of the roughly 43 lakh residential customers away from the benefit.

Wishing to remain unnamed, a joint secretary level officer of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division told The Daily Star that they usually prepare bills equal to 87 cubic meters while prepaid meter users use less than 50 cubic meters in a month.

"I recharge only Tk 500 in prepaid meters for a two-burner stove and can use it for one-and-a-half months," said Azimur Rahman Gani, a resident of Mirpur.

A pipeline gas user had to pay a bill of Tk 975 each month for a two-burner stove and Tk 925 for a single burner.

Initiated through a pilot project in 2011, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company has so far installed 3.33 lakh prepaid meters. It has over 28 lakh customers.

The project was funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and meters were acquired on a turnkey-basis deal with contractors who import them.
It also signed an agreement with United Commercial Bank to facilitate prepaid card recharge for customers.

However, customers are annoyed with the system as it requires them to visit an agent to recharge their cards while recharging an electricity card can be done through mobile financial service providers' apps.

According to an official of Titas, a Japanese company supplied the meters, which cost Tk 14,000 a piece and last for about 20 years.
And customers now have to pay Tk 60 as rent per month for the meter.

"We have plans to increase it to Tk 100 so that the price of the meter can be collected within 13 years," he said.
Titas has also undertaken two more projects to set up over 12 lakh meters as a part of the government's plan to bring all residential customers under the prepaid system by 2024.

However, both projects are currently with the planning ministry for review.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) provided instructions on many occasions to install prepaid meters.

"In a notice in 2019, there was a guideline to introduce pre-paid meters," said Md Abdul Jalil, chairman of BERC.
"It will inspire customers not to waste gas and their monthly gas expense will reduce," he added.

About the delays in implementation, a top official of the company said people were reluctant to install meters at the beginning.
"Now they are prepared and eager to get meters. It wouldn't take much time to install meters now," he added.

Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited, which supplies gas in Chattogram, has already installed 60,000 meters so far. It has about 5.5 lakh customers.
It initiated another project to provide a further one lakh meters. The installation will start from June, according to an official of the company.
Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution System Ltd (Sylhet) has also started a project to install meters.

The other three companies under the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) are Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Ltd, Pashchimanchal Gas Company Ltd and Sundarbans Gas Company Ltd.

The meter installation process should be based on preference as customers should have the option to buy and install it if willing, according to Prof M Shamsul Alam, energy adviser to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh.

So if customers could install it on their own accord, everyone would purchase it, he said.

The BERC in its tariff rules in 2015 instructed the companies to introduce the gas meter system but they are not abiding by it, which is punishable.

"These companies are violating this rule and they should face punishment such as fines or imprisonment or both but the BERC is not taking any step," said Alam.
"These companies are creating unnecessary complexities for the customers so they can rip them off," he added.


Chakar The Great said:


> Some excellent work being done in Bangladesh, well done guys.



Thanks brother - your good wishes much appreciated.


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## Bilal9

*Posted on: 16-Jan-2022
Post Creator: The Daily Star*
*Novo Nordisk, Eskayef launch locally made insulins*

Novo Nordisk, the world's biggest insulin maker, yesterday launched three locally manufactured insulin products in Bangladesh. The three products -- Mixtard 30, Insulatard and Actrapid -- all manufactured by the Danish company's local partner Eskayef Bangladesh Ltd, were unveiled at a ceremony at the Westin Hotel in the city. With the launch, Novo Nordisk, which controls 75 percent of the local insulin market, and Eskayef, Bangladesh's one of the fastest growing medicine makers, will be able to take the insulin products to the patients at affordable prices. 

This is the first time the Danish company is producing insulin locally. Before the launch, the company used to import the products. The current diabetic population of 8.4 million in Bangladesh is projected to double by 2030. To meet the growing demand for insulin in Bangladesh, Novo Nordisk has partnered with Eskayef and established a high-tech facility, exclusively for insulins. 

Almost 6 to 7 out of 10 patients taking insulin in Bangladesh use Novo Nordisk's insulins, according to company officials. The insulins have been manufactured from bulk drug (insulin crystals) and other raw materials supplied by Novo Nordisk, Denmark. The domestic formulation complies with the stringent quality norms as practised across the world by Novo Nordisk. 

Maziar Mike Doustdar, vice president for international operations at Novo Nordisk, said Bangladesh is the eighth largest country in the world when it comes to the number of diabetic patients. So, Bangladesh needs support in producing the insulins, he said. He said the company is now helping 1,500 children with diabetes to obtain free treatment and insulins, who otherwise would have not been able to afford treatment. Their number would go up in the coming days, he said. 

Prof Gowher Rizvi, international affairs adviser to the prime minister, said the launch of the locally produced high quality and world-class insulin is a milestone for Bangladesh. Mozibur Rahman Fakir, state minister for health and family welfare, said diabetes is one of the most challenging diseases for the world. It is also true for Bangladesh. He thanked Novo Nordisk for setting up a sophisticated manufacturing plant in Bangladesh in association with Eskayef to produce high quality products. Pia Olsen Dyhr, the Danish minister for trade and investment, said there is a serious lack of access to proper treatment among Bangladeshi diabetic people. "The partnership between Novo Nordisk and Eskayef will make a significant difference in taking affordable products to the people of the country,"she said. She said the partnership will not only promote world-class insulin products but also help transfer technology and innovation. "The local venture will create jobs for the people of Bangladesh," said the Danish minister. Svend Olling, Danish ambassador to Bangladesh, thanked Novo Nordisk for investing in Bangladesh, as the people would be able to buy world-class products at affordable prices. 

Latifur Rahman, chairman of Eskayef Bangladesh, said the country's pharmaceutical industry has grown tremendously in the past 40 years. Now local companies meet 97 percent of the domestic demand with high quality products. He said the country is also capable of exporting products, meeting all the requirements of the importing countries. He said the alliance has been further strengthened and has facilitated new investments, which would create jobs and provide international quality insulins at affordable prices. Rahman, also the chairman and chief executive officer of Transcom Group, which owns Eskayef, said Novo Nordisk has a total of eight manufacturing facilities across the world, with one in Bangladesh. "It is a proud moment for the pharmaceutical sector in Bangladesh that Novo Nordisk has chosen to tie up with Eskayef to produce such a high-tech product as insulin" he said. 

Kim Steffensen, director (contract and local manufacturing) of Novo Nordisk, said: "We never compromise on quality and business ethics." 
"The products that Eskayef will produce will have the same quality and standards as Novo Nordisk ensures around the world," he said. 

Prof AK Azad Khan, president of Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, said the growing number of people with diabetes in Bangladesh is in constant need of proper care and timely treatment including the need for sustained insulin supply. 

Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with 89 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. The company also has leading positions in haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. It employs around 32,700 people in 75 countries and markets its products in 190 countries. 

Simeen Hossain, chief executive officer of Eskayef Bangladesh, and A Rajan Kumar, managing director of Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd, were also present.


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## Bilal9

*35,000 Acre (Asia's largest) Mirsarai Export Zone update*








----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*‘We hope to see a couple of Unicorns in Bangladesh in the next few years’*
*Tina Jabeen, the former CEO of Startup Bangladesh Limited, joined The Business Standard to share her thoughts on Bangladesh’s startup ecosystem and discuss how we can draw more foreign and local investment*
Tina Jabeen. Sketch: TBS




Tina Jabeen. Sketch: TBS

*TBS: According to Lightcastle Partners, Bangladeshi startups received around $165 million in funding in 2021. This was the highest funding in a year that Bangladeshi startups received. How do you evaluate Bangladeshi startups' progress so far? Is there scope to do better?

Tina Jabeen: *An investment of around $165 million is extremely encouraging for the ecosystem. Startup Bangladesh Ltd. – the first and only government backed VC fund in Bangladesh, also invested in seven startups last year. This sends a strong positive message to the startup ecosystem and to the local and international investors, even though the amount invested is not large.

There are only a handful of government-owned VC funds in the world. Startup Bangladesh Ltd. invested within the first eight months of its emergence. So, the government's stance to support funding the startups strengthened the emerging startup ecosystem of Bangladesh. In the future, we aspire to see more investments coming in – locally and globally.

Our startup ecosystem is considered an "emerging ecosystem" – as such there are tremendous opportunities to grow and scale-up. I see 2022 as a defining year from an investment perspective = globally and in emerging economies such as Bangladesh. A lot of the investors are looking into Bangladesh as a place for impact investments – in areas such as gender lens investment, SME and climate change.

The tech and climate sectors are going to be very big from this decade onward as companies – local or global – need to be more environmentally and socially responsible to sustain growth. By 2050, one in every seven people in Bangladesh will be displaced by climate change. Almost 18 million people may have to move because of the rising sea level. Investments need to be made to mitigate these risks and startups can provide tech-based solutions that can be scalable and sustainable.

*TBS: Of the $165 million invested last year, more than 98% was foreign investment. Is there a scope to increase local investment? If so, how?

Tina Jabeen: *First, you need some big exits. The recycling of money, where startups invest in new startups, is happening in Bangladesh but on a smaller scale. This is happening in Silicon Valley on a larger scale because of thousands of exits.

So, once an angel investor becomes very successful, they create another startup and invest in others. For example, Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, is now a partner at Greylock Partners! And he is investing in game-changing startups such as Facebook and Workday.

Bangladesh's ecosystem is less than a decade old and compared to neighbouring ecosystems it is still quite small. India alone had 85+ unicorns in 2021. When a startup's founders make large exits, as was the case in LinkedIn, they recycle the money in more startups and that is how the ecosystem grows from a series of successful exits.

Take a look at the investors in Silicon Valley. It is the institutional investors! If you look at the investor base of successful VC funds such as Kleiner Perkins, there are endowment funds from Harvard, MIT, UC Berkeley, pension funds and family offices etc. Collectively trillions of dollars have been invested and churned over decades and as a result, we see the Silicon Valley we see today.

Now let's look at India. India is a comparatively mature ecosystem in South Asia. 25+ years ago, successful technopreneurs from Silicon Valley invested in India in its most promising technology companies. The founder of Infosys – Narayan Murthy launched a VC fund to incubate and fund startups in India. So you can see that private stakeholders play a key role in building the ecosystem, whereas the government plays the role of an enabler.

We need patient capital and a strong private-public partnership to continue to build a robust and strong startup ecosystem in Bangladesh. And eventually, we hope to see a number of unicorns and possible exits in the next few years. It takes time but it will happen.

Illustration: TBS




Illustration: TBS

*TBS: Generally, if we consider sector-wise investment, Fintech covers almost 50% of the total investment. What about health, education or agro? How can we increase investment in necessary sectors like these?

Tina Jabeen: *Agriculture is a huge area in Bangladesh. We don't have enough agri-tech startups. We don't have enough startups in health-tech and education either. Some edutech startups, however, are doing a little better thanks to the education ministry engaging with some of the startups.

Since it is an emerging ecosystem, the government should plug them wherever they fit in. How the ministry of education, ICT and a2i approach the relevant startups for the tasks in their niches could be an example. I think health is an untapped ministry where health-tech startups can play a very big role.

In general, there need to be policies, tax policies for example, or policies in the private companies, that will engage the startups. For example, you need to develop an ERP system, why don't you approach a startup that specialises in ERP?

We should also prioritise the woman founders. Maybe a woman-led startup is not that advanced in her particular area. But if we evaluate them with others in the same metrics, it won't work. We need to prioritise them because they are already fighting various biases in getting here.

Most importantly, for both startups and SMEs, we should set up a one-stop service, like the one BIDA set up for foreign investors in general. The one-step service that I am talking about should be where a startup can get their trade license, template for incorporation, where they will get instructions on how to make financials etc.

*TBS: Is the idea of a startup really clear among our founders? Sometimes it feels like the difference between an SME and startup is not clear. It seems some startups function more like SMEs than focusing on innovation and creating value. Do you feel our start-ups come up with solutions that are innovative enough or are they prone to copying international models that have worked elsewhere?

Tina Jabeen: *We have an emerging startup ecosystem. A startup is about bringing in an innovative solution that is scalable, commercially sustainable while also being a gamechanger.

Uber, for example, or Airbnb, is an innovation. But Pathao piggybacked on Uber model with the innovation of introducing the "bike model". Innovation does not have to be from the scratch. If you can introduce an existing solution customized for the target market in an innovative manner, why not?

*TBS: The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission has initiated a move to allow the listing of loss-making startups having high growth potentials on the stock market. How do you evaluate this move?

Tina Jabeen: *This is actually a good move. There are many examples of startups going IPO but still in the red. Investors are looking at the long-term potential and market disruption. We need to educate the public market investors on investing in startup IPOs so that they can make informed investment decisions. 

*TBS: Are our local regulations foreign investment-friendly? What should be done to attract more foreign investment in startups? What else can the government do to improve the local startup ecosystem?

Tina Jabeen:*

You have to give incentives to the investors, both local and foreign, to make it easy for them to bring in the money. Important key government agencies/ministries such as Finance, Commerce, NBR, ICT Ministry etc need to fine-tune the existing policies so they become more startup friendly.

The vat, tax and other service duties should be relaxed. However, the government is an enabler. We have billion-dollar private companies, they can also contribute by engaging the startups in their business processes, such as in procurement, etc.

Also, we have hundreds of thousands of expats all over the world, especially those who work in technology. They can be engaged by contributing knowledge, money and network – there are many ways to give back to the country. This investment may come in two ways- they can be real investors with money, or they can do in-kind investment, which is technology transfer.

In Silicon Valley, there is a large expat tech diaspora. We have informally launched Bangladesh - Adviser in Residence (BD AIR), which would be working with startups in Bangladesh as mentors and investors.

In BD AiR, we have already enlisted expats who are engaged in global technology firms such as Google, Facebook, ThermoFisher etc. in various capacities. These mentors are passionate to be engaged with the startup ecosystem and be a part of the New Bangladesh – The Royal Bengal Tiger.


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## Bilal9

*Walton setting up lab at Buet*


Star Business Desk
Fri Jan 21, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Fri Jan 21, 2022 02:25 AM


Walton has announced signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) to set up a laboratory at the latter for research and development of its electronics and technology products.

Prof Satya Prasad Majumder, vice-chancellor of Buet, and SM Rezaul Alam, chairman of Walton Digi-Tech Industries, signed the agreement at Buet Council Building on Tuesday, according to a Buet statement.

Under the agreement, Walton will provide everything required for the laboratory while wherein Buet teachers and students will conduct the research and develop Walton products. The company believes it would bring about a revolutionary change in the economic development and technological advancement of the country.

Walton also handed over a cheque worth Tk 10 lakh to the Buet vice-chancellor to enable three fellowships for master's degrees.

Prof Muhammad Anisuzzaman Talukder, director of research and innovation centre for science and engineering (RISE) of Buet, and Golam Murshed, managing director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries, were present.

Reactions: Like Like:
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## Tom-tom

Bilal9 said:


> *Walton setting up lab at Buet*
> 
> 
> Star Business Desk
> Fri Jan 21, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Fri Jan 21, 2022 02:25 AM
> 
> 
> Walton has announced signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) to set up a laboratory at the latter for research and development of its electronics and technology products.
> 
> Prof Satya Prasad Majumder, vice-chancellor of Buet, and SM Rezaul Alam, chairman of Walton Digi-Tech Industries, signed the agreement at Buet Council Building on Tuesday, according to a Buet statement.
> 
> Under the agreement, Walton will provide everything required for the laboratory while wherein Buet teachers and students will conduct the research and develop Walton products. The company believes it would bring about a revolutionary change in the economic development and technological advancement of the country.
> 
> Walton also handed over a cheque worth Tk 10 lakh to the Buet vice-chancellor to enable three fellowships for master's degrees.
> 
> Prof Muhammad Anisuzzaman Talukder, director of research and innovation centre for science and engineering (RISE) of Buet, and Golam Murshed, managing director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries, were present.


This is fantastic news


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## Bilal9

Tom-tom said:


> This is fantastic news



Yes it is. They started small and I hope the program will grow further into a much larger venture. Other than in-house R&D which is meant to drive production efficiencies, they need to do fundamental research connected to commercial applied electronics applications such Optronics, Nano-technology, AI, process mining, robotic process automation (RPA) and other technologies.

Some of the local shipbuilding companies funded the floating research tank facilities at BUET's Naval Engg. dept. and ditto with local construction companies who funded earthquake research in the civil engg. dept. there (housing full size shake simulators etc.).

I have written about and highlighted all this stuff before as you may have seen.


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## Bilal9




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## X-ray Papa

Bilal9 said:


>


I would say Football and sports in general have the worst infrastructure in Bangladesh. Hope this could change soon.


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## Bilal9

X-ray Papa said:


> I would say Football and sports in general have the worst infrastructure in Bangladesh. Hope this could change soon.



They are also revamping Bangabandhu National Stadium (football) near Bait-ul-Mukarram Mosque. New galleries, seating and pandals.






HSIA terminal 3 updates, as structure completes, new equipment is going in. Description below.






A sad day - because I suspect Schindler will be installing made in India lifts and escalators in this terminal. Giving lowest bidder Indians the contract when We had far better companies making lifts and escalators in this country (Walton, RFL both have superb reputations locally). This is what happens when you place India-shill Ba$tards in decision making positions.

Our first priority in sourcing equipment on projects should be to source locally and help local industry. Just like they do in India.


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## Bilal9

Great Wall Ceramics is the largest Tile exporter from Bangladesh.


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## sallador saan

Biggest FDI for state-of-the-art shipyard in Patuakhali proposed​Gentium-Damen to invest Tk14,000cr to build ships for global market​Photo Collected 




Photo Collected

*With a finance proposal of Tk14,000 crore in foreign direct investment, the biggest of its kind, the government is one step closer to realising its plan to build a state-of-the-art shipyard near the Payra seaport in Patuakhali. *
Representatives from Singapore and Australia-based Gentium Solutions and Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group have presented the project proposal at a meeting with Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun at his office on Monday.
The Gentium-Damen delegation also handed over a feasibility study report – Developing a World Class Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Facility (WCSBF) in the Patuakhali District, conducted by EY India – to the industries minister, said sources at the ministry.


The report says Gentium-Damen will support the government's project by building high quality vessels in the country for the export market. Transfer of technology for specific areas of the shipbuilding process will be incorporated in dedicated and allocated shipbuilding projects at the facility.
As the shipbuilding industry is labour intensive, the WCSBF is expected to generate regional and macro employment opportunities. Thanks to the entry of industry experts like Gentium, Damen and their training programmes, the workforce in Bangladesh will have enhanced skills.
The project will contribute to developing a reliable and competitive supply chain which will produce top-notch vessels to compete in the global market, says a press release of the ministry.
"Damen is the leading ship building company in the world with 35 shipyards under their name around the world. The shipyard planned in Patuakhali will be their 36th," Gentium Solutions Advisor Md Kaikobad Hossain told The Business Standard last night.
"We presented our proposal to the government today [Monday] and are expecting the deal to be finalised within the next three-four months," he said.
"We had inked the agreement with the government on 14 January 2020. Then we hired EY India to conduct the feasibility study. The study took two years to finish," Kaikobad said.
He added that following the final nod, the Gentium-Damen consortium will move towards land development, which will roughly take up to three years.
"During land development, shipbuilding works will also go on through renting shipyards at Khuna and Chattogram," he added.
Damen plans to generate $2 billion of the global shipbuilding market of $200 billion from the Patuakhali shipyard and export vessels to 17 countries – which will play a vital role in the economy of Bangladesh.
"Damen, which has 90 years' experience in shipbuilding and 6,000 ships under its belt, has picked Bangladesh because of the availability of cheap labour," said Kaikobad.
"Once the proposed project is finalised, the Ministry of Industries or the Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation will procure land in the area adjacent to the Payra Port," Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said.
He added that the government will extend all cooperation in setting up a world-class shipbuilding factory.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during a visit to Patuakhali in 2014, announced the construction of a shipbuilding facility in the southern district.
In January 2020, an agreement was inked between the Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation and the Gentium-Damen Consortium Group after the latter proposed funding the project.
On Monday, the consortium made the official proposal for a Tk14,000 crore investment in the project.
The government has already allocated some 101-acre land close to the Payra port for the project.

Reactions: Like Like:
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2


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## Bilal9

sallador saan said:


> Biggest FDI for state-of-the-art shipyard in Patuakhali proposed​Gentium-Damen to invest Tk14,000cr to build ships for global market​Photo Collected
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Photo Collected
> 
> *With a finance proposal of Tk14,000 crore in foreign direct investment, the biggest of its kind, the government is one step closer to realising its plan to build a state-of-the-art shipyard near the Payra seaport in Patuakhali. *
> Representatives from Singapore and Australia-based Gentium Solutions and Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group have presented the project proposal at a meeting with Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun at his office on Monday.
> The Gentium-Damen delegation also handed over a feasibility study report – Developing a World Class Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Facility (WCSBF) in the Patuakhali District, conducted by EY India – to the industries minister, said sources at the ministry.
> 
> 
> The report says Gentium-Damen will support the government's project by building high quality vessels in the country for the export market. Transfer of technology for specific areas of the shipbuilding process will be incorporated in dedicated and allocated shipbuilding projects at the facility.
> As the shipbuilding industry is labour intensive, the WCSBF is expected to generate regional and macro employment opportunities. Thanks to the entry of industry experts like Gentium, Damen and their training programmes, the workforce in Bangladesh will have enhanced skills.
> The project will contribute to developing a reliable and competitive supply chain which will produce top-notch vessels to compete in the global market, says a press release of the ministry.
> "Damen is the leading ship building company in the world with 35 shipyards under their name around the world. The shipyard planned in Patuakhali will be their 36th," Gentium Solutions Advisor Md Kaikobad Hossain told The Business Standard last night.
> "We presented our proposal to the government today [Monday] and are expecting the deal to be finalised within the next three-four months," he said.
> "We had inked the agreement with the government on 14 January 2020. Then we hired EY India to conduct the feasibility study. The study took two years to finish," Kaikobad said.
> He added that following the final nod, the Gentium-Damen consortium will move towards land development, which will roughly take up to three years.
> "During land development, shipbuilding works will also go on through renting shipyards at Khuna and Chattogram," he added.
> Damen plans to generate $2 billion of the global shipbuilding market of $200 billion from the Patuakhali shipyard and export vessels to 17 countries – which will play a vital role in the economy of Bangladesh.
> "Damen, which has 90 years' experience in shipbuilding and 6,000 ships under its belt, has picked Bangladesh because of the availability of cheap labour," said Kaikobad.
> "Once the proposed project is finalised, the Ministry of Industries or the Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation will procure land in the area adjacent to the Payra Port," Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said.
> He added that the government will extend all cooperation in setting up a world-class shipbuilding factory.
> Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during a visit to Patuakhali in 2014, announced the construction of a shipbuilding facility in the southern district.
> In January 2020, an agreement was inked between the Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation and the Gentium-Damen Consortium Group after the latter proposed funding the project.
> On Monday, the consortium made the official proposal for a Tk14,000 crore investment in the project.
> The government has already allocated some 101-acre land close to the Payra port for the project.



This is the best investment news for Bangladesh I've heard since Covid started and it is a wonderful catalyst for the shipbuilding sector - that sector really needed this massive kick-in-the-pants to get the balls rolling.

Shipbuilding is an industry notorious for seasonal dearth of orders and ups/downs of ship-builder fortunes. Although Bangladesh has built ships since time immemorial as one of its local labor specializations (in addition to our renowned textile industry), and is reputed to have built large ships for Mughal and British Navies, the commercial revival of steel shipbuilding only started in the 1960's (with establishment of modern yards in Chittagong and Khulna). Large 5000 DWT coasters are built on fallow coastal and seasonal riverbed islands with no infra support other than a few small cranes and welding guns/torches.

This investment will help greatly, as there are almost two dozen very large yards and over a hundred smaller ones of international repute following DNV, RINA, Bureau Veritas, Lloyds, NK and other classifications in shipbuilding. There are indications Australian shipbuilders of repute are also to follow Damen's lead - but too early at this point to tell.

Gentium-Damen made a very wise decision considering shipbuilding and qualified welder labor in Bangladesh is probably the lowest in all of Asia, being half that of even India. I have no doubt that shipbuilding volume will even exceed $2 Billion in short order, there is absolutely no reason it won't - given that orders come in, which I see Damen having no problems with generating.

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## Bilal9

This is from Damen's MOU signing in 2020.









Damen signs MoU for development of Bangladesh shipbuilding initiative


Gentium and Damen Shipyards Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Industry of Bangladesh in Dhaka.




archive.damen.com





Bangladesh’s shipbuilding industry: How breakers turned into builders​Shariful Islam , Rafikul Islam

Published at 10:50 pm May 23rd, 2018
Last updated at 10:50 pm May 23rd, 2018





Bangladeshi shipbuilders are now building a number of diversified types of vessels such as multipurpose vessel, fast patrol boat, container vessel, cargo vessel, tanker, dredging barge, etc *Syed Zakir Hossain*

This is the final part of a two-part series exploring the potential and challenges of the shipbuilding industry in Bangladesh.

With an increasing number of orders from both local and global buyers, the shipbuilding industry of Bangladesh is flourishing rapidly, contributing to diversification of the country’s export basket and generating employment opportunities.

Since 2009, Bangladeshi shipbuilders have earned $170 million by exporting small- and medium-sized ships to 14 countries, Western Marine Shipyard Managing Director Engr Md Sakhawat Hossain said while speaking to the Dhaka Tribune.

He said: “All types of inland and coastal vessels are being built in Bangladeshi shipyards. Currently, shipbuilders in the country have 30 orders from local buyers and eight from foreigners.”

Local shipbuilders are expecting more and more work orders, as global shipbuilding industries are overbooked with orders from numerous buyers from all over the world.

Ananda Shipyard Chairman Abdullahel Bari said: “If the government provides long-term facilities to this sector, including block allocations, we will certainly be able to grab an even bigger share of the global market within a few years.” 

Currently, some 30,000 people have been employed in the shipbuilding sector, he added. 

Western Marine Shipyard Chairman Md Saiful Islam said there would be job opportunities for 20,000 more people in the industry within the next five years and for 100,000 within 15 years.





*From breakers to makers*

The shipbuilding industry has emerged as an important sector in Bangladesh economy, and the country does have a rich history in the shipbuilding industry with accounts found in writings of many travellers who visited Bengal more than 200 years ago.

The British navy used ships built in Bengal in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when Lord Nelson defeated Napoleon’s fleet.

However, the Chittagong-based industry started waning in the latter part of the 19th century due to the use of steam engines and the discriminatory policy of British colonial rulers who were determined to protect their shipbuilding industry in the United Kingdom, despite claims that ships made in Bengal were cheaper and more durable, according to Banglapedia.

During the first three decades following World War II, ships were usually built in Europe and Japan. Over the last two decades of the 20th century, shipbuilding work started to move away from Europe towards low-cost countries in Asia, notably Korea, with China also entering the market in the last decade.

India, Indonesia, and Vietnam also entered the industry during the last decade. Later, the industry started its journey in Bangladesh, as the country has immense potential and several advantages over its rivals, including cheap labour. 

However, following the 1971 Liberation War, businesses that were earlier involved in ship disposal started focusing on building ships, and Bangladesh got its first exposure to the international shipbuilding market in 1979.

Currently, there are 69 yards at various across the country that are building and repairing almost all kinds of inland and coastal vessels.

Of the shipyards, nearly 70% are located in and around Dhaka and Narayanganj along the riverbank of Buriganga, Shitalakya, and Meghna, 20% along the Karnapuli river in Chittagong, and 6% along the Poshur river in Khulna, and the remaining 4% in Barisal division.

Bangladeshi shipbuilders are now building a number of diversified types of vessels such as multipurpose vessel, fast patrol boat, container vessel, cargo vessel, tanker, dredging barge, ferry, passenger vessel, landing craft, tourist ship, tugboat, supply barge, deck loading barge, pleasure craft, crane boat, speed boat, deep-sea trawler, self-propelled barge, inspection vessel, cargo coaster, troops carrying vessel, double-decker passenger vessel, hydro-graphic survey boat, pilot boat, hospital ship, and water taxi.

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## Bilal9

Govt eyes $4bn export earning from shipbuilding : Draft policy offers various incentives including bank loan at 4 %​
With a $4bn annual export earnings target in five years, the government has drafted a policy for the shipbuilding industry to provide a range of facilities for entrepreneurs, including bank loans at a 4% interest rate. 

The loan, which has to be repaid in 20 years, comes with a five-year moratorium. 

At present, bank loans for the industry come with a two-digit interest rate but the Ministry of Industries feels it needs to come down to 4%.







The government in the past took various initiatives to lower the interest rate to single digit, but those did not succeed. Banks had earlier pledged to bring it down to 9% but have not implemented that as yet.

The draft policy said Bangladesh has exported 40 ships to different countries in Europe, Africa and Asia in the recent years, and local shipbuilders have earned $180 million from exports. 

It emphasised sustainable development of the shipbuilding industry, employment generation, achieving efficiency and raising standards to the international level. 
If this flourishing sector receives support, it will create one lakh jobs in the next five years, the draft said. 

The draft was sent to different government and non-government organisations last week seeking their opinion. 

The formation of a Tk5,000 crore special fund for the shipbuilding industry was also proposed in the draft of the Shipbuilding Industry Development Policy 2019. 

Sohail Hasan, managing director of Western Marine Shipyard Ltd, said Bangladesh is building many high-tech ships at present, and achieving the $4bn export target is not a distant dream. 

"It is not impossible if the shipbuilding companies can build the capacity to make LSD (also known as dock landing ship) ships, LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) carriers and chemical tankers," he told The Business Standard. 

"The countries achieving success in shipbuilding received - and are still receiving - a range of facilities from their governments. If the industry in Bangladesh gets government support, it can grow into to something big.

"The export incentive now stands at 10%, which should be increased. Tax holiday should be introduced again. If the proposal to form the Tk5,000 crore fund materialises, entrepreneurs will get loans easily. This will help the industry grow to a great extent," explained Sohail. 






*Improving standard, providing incentives 
*
Among other facilities, a proposal was made to set customs duty at a maximum 2% to allow easy import of raw materials for the development of the industry.

In the draft, the industries ministry opined in favour of increasing government cash incentives for exporting ships and other materials. At present, ship exports enjoy a 10% cash incentive.

Recommendations were also made to provide cash incentives for local shipyards which participate in international tenders for building dredgers, fishing trawlers, tugboats, ferries and ships that sail in oceans.

The industries ministry is in favour of giving tax holiday facilities to shipyards for the next 10 years. Entrepreneurs said they had earlier enjoyed tax holiday, but that does not exist now.

Shipbuilding is a labour-intensive industry. It requires heavy investment and cutting-edge technology. Entrepreneurs have to wait a long time to get returns on their investment.

The existing investment structure in Bangladesh and other facilities are not at par with competitors such as China, South Korea, Japan and India. 

The draft policy recommended taking programmes to also develop the ship repair industry. The industries ministry wants to build a special economic zone for building and repairing ships. 






It said steps will be taken to encourage the export of container ships, bulkers, offshore dredger patrol vessels, survey vessels, passenger ferries and landing craft tanks.
Also, local shipbuilding material will be prioritised so that the vessels can be built at low cost. 

Bangladesh has a rich history in building ships since ancient times. It was in the limelight for building ocean-sailing ships from the fifteenth to seventeenth century. In the first half of the 19th century, Bangladesh was building ships with a capacity of 1,000 metric tonnes.

At present, some 7,000 big and small naval vessels have been transporting goods and passengers in the waterways. There are 20 international standard and 100 local standard shipyards for building river vessels in the country. 

The international standard shipyards are capable of building 100 ships annually, on average. At present, 100 tonne deadweight tonnage (deadweight tonnage is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry) ships are being built in the country. 

The draft policy said the country's shipbuilding industry has to be elevated to international standards by linking it with domestic, regional and international water transport, as it has demand both at home and abroad.

The industries ministry said the main aim of the policy is to improve the efficiency of the country's shipbuilding industry and to upgrade it to international standard.

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## F-6 enthusiast

sallador saan said:


> Biggest FDI for state-of-the-art shipyard in Patuakhali proposed​Gentium-Damen to invest Tk14,000cr to build ships for global market​Photo Collected
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Photo Collected
> 
> *With a finance proposal of Tk14,000 crore in foreign direct investment, the biggest of its kind, the government is one step closer to realising its plan to build a state-of-the-art shipyard near the Payra seaport in Patuakhali. *
> Representatives from Singapore and Australia-based Gentium Solutions and Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group have presented the project proposal at a meeting with Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun at his office on Monday.
> The Gentium-Damen delegation also handed over a feasibility study report – Developing a World Class Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Facility (WCSBF) in the Patuakhali District, conducted by EY India – to the industries minister, said sources at the ministry.
> 
> 
> The report says Gentium-Damen will support the government's project by building high quality vessels in the country for the export market. Transfer of technology for specific areas of the shipbuilding process will be incorporated in dedicated and allocated shipbuilding projects at the facility.
> As the shipbuilding industry is labour intensive, the WCSBF is expected to generate regional and macro employment opportunities. Thanks to the entry of industry experts like Gentium, Damen and their training programmes, the workforce in Bangladesh will have enhanced skills.
> The project will contribute to developing a reliable and competitive supply chain which will produce top-notch vessels to compete in the global market, says a press release of the ministry.
> "Damen is the leading ship building company in the world with 35 shipyards under their name around the world. The shipyard planned in Patuakhali will be their 36th," Gentium Solutions Advisor Md Kaikobad Hossain told The Business Standard last night.
> "We presented our proposal to the government today [Monday] and are expecting the deal to be finalised within the next three-four months," he said.
> "We had inked the agreement with the government on 14 January 2020. Then we hired EY India to conduct the feasibility study. The study took two years to finish," Kaikobad said.
> He added that following the final nod, the Gentium-Damen consortium will move towards land development, which will roughly take up to three years.
> "During land development, shipbuilding works will also go on through renting shipyards at Khuna and Chattogram," he added.
> Damen plans to generate $2 billion of the global shipbuilding market of $200 billion from the Patuakhali shipyard and export vessels to 17 countries – which will play a vital role in the economy of Bangladesh.
> "Damen, which has 90 years' experience in shipbuilding and 6,000 ships under its belt, has picked Bangladesh because of the availability of cheap labour," said Kaikobad.
> "Once the proposed project is finalised, the Ministry of Industries or the Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation will procure land in the area adjacent to the Payra Port," Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said.
> He added that the government will extend all cooperation in setting up a world-class shipbuilding factory.
> Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during a visit to Patuakhali in 2014, announced the construction of a shipbuilding facility in the southern district.
> In January 2020, an agreement was inked between the Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation and the Gentium-Damen Consortium Group after the latter proposed funding the project.
> On Monday, the consortium made the official proposal for a Tk14,000 crore investment in the project.
> The government has already allocated some 101-acre land close to the Payra port for the project.









@Bilal9 maybe the dutch won the frigate deal ? anyway, good news boost to the industry

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## Avicenna

F-6 enthusiast said:


> View attachment 811079
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> 
> 
> @Bilal9 maybe the dutch won the frigate deal ? anyway, good news boost to the industry



Forget the ships!

Those sweets look amazing!

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## Bilal9

F-6 enthusiast said:


> View attachment 811079
> 
> 
> 
> @Bilal9 maybe the dutch won the frigate deal ? anyway, good news boost to the industry



Well Thanks very much for the sweets but frigate deal is still up in the air I think.

Too early to tell. 

This news only firms up the commitment for the yard Damen committed to build in an allotted piece of land in/around Payra Port. 

Which may or may not be the place to build the frigates.

However - there are BN plans to develop part of the port as a major naval base for Navy as well as Coast Guard.

So 50/50 chance...we shall see.


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

This guy is 70, retired and is a smashing commercial success in his Tk. Ten Million Honey Jujube (boroi) plantation. Lots of Jujube to make pickle.


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## Bilal9

There can be five Unilevers in Bangladesh: Zaved Akhtar​Zaved Akhtar, CEO and MD of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.




Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS

*The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market in Bangladesh has now surpassed Tk.30,000 crore. The annual growth is about seven to eight percent.*

With rapid urbanization and increasing income, there is a lot of potential for this market in Bangladesh. Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. tops the largest segments like beauty and personal care, home care and foods and refreshments, with an aggregate share of around 60 percent.

_*Zaved Akhtar,* the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of *Unilever Bangladesh Ltd,* sat down with *The Business Standard* and spoke about the country's rapidly expanding FMCG market and Unilever's contribution and potential in the market._

*The Business Standard: First, we want to know about the FMCG market of Bangladesh. What possibilities do you see?

Zaved Akhtar: *Unilever made a humble start in the market with just soap in 1964. From there, we have seen our market grow exponentially.

Higher disposable income, accelerated digitisation, media proliferation, the growing workforce and urbanisation are the critical drivers behind this growth.

Despite the relatively large size, there is significant headroom for the growth of FMCG in Bangladesh. For instance, in the categories where Unilever operates in Bangladesh, the per capita consumption is $23. In India, it is about $40. In the Philippines, it is more than $100.

So you can imagine the opportunity we have in the market here. In fact, we could create four or five more Unilevers in Bangladesh, but that will still be the tip of the FMCG iceberg if you know what I mean.

In our business, we look at a de-averaged Bangladesh and divide the country into two deltas, i.e., East of Padma and Brahmaputra and West of Padma and Brahmaputra.

If we look over the last few decades, most of the FMCG growth has come from the East. As many of our megaprojects came to fruition and we connected the West with the rest of the country we will see a huge change in disposable income and this will lead to a consumption increase. So in short the opportunities for growing FMCG in Bangladesh is boundless.

Zaved Akhtar, CEO and MD of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS







*TBS: Tell us about your products and position in the FMCG market in the country.

ZA:* We are present in ten categories and are market leaders in nine of those. We have 28 purpose-led brands under those categories and have more than 335 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units). About 95 percent of our portfolio is manufactured in Bangladesh and we have a total of eight manufacturing hubs.

From the imported portfolio we source Dove soap the most from Germany. Similarly, many of the premium shampoos are sourced from India, the Middle East and Thailand. Besides, there are also some variants of Ponds, liquid detergents and toilet cleaners that are imported.

If we think about households, then we can say around nine out of ten households have our products. Directly we reach around 55 lakh retail stores and ensure that our products are available at every corner in Bangladesh.

The mantra behind growing our brands is through mental and physical reach. Through mental reach, we create consistent positioning and awareness of our brands and through physical reach, we ensure the availability of our brands.

To ensure that we cater to the demands of consumers, we consider the socio-economic pyramid so that we have something to offer to all consumer segments. For example, for basic and accessible cleaning we have 'Wheel' which is at the bottom of the brand pyramid. While for the growing middle-income households of Bangladesh we have 'Rin' and 'Surf Excel'.

*TBS: The products you produce are used on the human body, are there health risks involved with the consumption of the products? There are many inferior and imitator products proliferated in the market. How do you see this in that context?

ZA:* Unilever globally spends more than a billion dollars on R&D. This investment is made to ensure that we are designing and developing products that cater to the consumer needs and are adapted for the local consumers and market.

For example, a skin cream is developed taking into consideration the local skin type and the climatic condition. Moreover, shampoos are designed considering different hair types and the problems that consumers have. These products not only adhere to international standards but also with local regulators, like the BSTI (Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute) and the BFSA (Bangladesh Food Safety Authority).

The challenge in the market is with the spurious products that do not take consumer health and safety into consideration. These products are made out of hazardous chemicals that can have a long-term detrimental effect on our health.

For instance, there is widespread availability of mercury or hydroquinone based creams in the market. While these provide immediate results they have a long-term impact on health as they are all carcinogenic.

We have been working closely with the law enforcement agencies of the country to thwart all these knockoff brands and ensure consumer protection. Many of our brands carry consumer awareness campaigns to raise awareness as it is critical to stop the spread of such harmful products.

Zaved Akhtar, CEO and MD of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS





*TBS: Is the decision to call a shampoo halal or hijab-centred necessary to cater to religious consumers or is there another explanation?






ZA: *If you look at Unilever's products, you will see that those are conceptualised to solve human problems. This is the same argument for the 'Hijab Refresh' shampoo.

Our heads are constantly accumulating sweat. When someone is wearing a hijab, then the sweat gets trapped inside and does not evaporate and creates musty hair. Our hijab-focused shampoo is designed to solve the aforementioned problem. Our philosophy has always been to understand a consumer's problem and then look for ways to solve it.

*TBS: How did Covid-19 affect your business? How did you face it?

ZA:* The pandemic had taken agility to a whole new level. So when it broke out, we had to quickly adapt and pivot to a new one based on five pillars.

The first of those was around people. We gave utmost importance to this so that our inner and outer core team stayed protected against the pandemic.

Secondly, we saw how demand patterns had changed. So we shifted focus to products for which demand had increased and contained those that had seen a decrease in consumption. People were keener on hygiene and nutrition solutions and investing less in discretionary categories like beauty.

The fourth is about cash. During any crisis, we must conserve cash. As a business, we looked at all opportunities to cut down discretionary spending, delay some capital expenditure and ensure that we can direct investment and expenses for the most relevant tasks.

Fifth was that we worked with the community. We took initiatives to raise health awareness at a community level, supplied critical health-related materials like testing kits, BiPAP machines to ICDDRB and Sajida Foundation and oxygen concentrators to the civil surgeons' offices across all 64 districts in the country.

We partnered with 36 small and big partners like Niketon, BRAC, UNWOMEN, UNICEF, the Army Welfare Trust and many more. During the coronavirus period, Unilever Bangladesh spent Tk100 crore for the community.

*TBS: Now that Omicron is sweeping through the world. How do you assess the new threat in the way of economic recovery?

ZA: *We are likely to be moving from pandemic to endemic and we now have to learn to survive with these. No one knows when the pandemic will end.

Maybe something new will come after Omicron. We cannot afford to continue to be completely insular and stay at home. We must find ways of adapting preventive behaviour and become more hygiene conscious so that we can continue our lives and livelihood.

*TBS: How do you view your business after acquiring GSK?*

*ZA: It was an investment of Tk2,200 crore which we made amidst the Covid-19. We have been able to successfully integrate the business and leverage the scale and expertise of the business to make it grow exponentially.*

*Just for perspective, the market capitalization post-acquisition has grown by 57 percent. **Horlicks** is a fantastic product and it is committed to fighting all sorts of malnutrition in this country. We are very optimistic about the portfolio.*

*TBS: Unilever is listed in almost all countries of the world. Why is it not the same case for Bangladesh?

ZA: *Unilever Consumer Care Limited, the erstwhile GSK Bangladesh Limited is a listed company in Bangladesh. On the other hand, Unilever Bangladesh is a private limited company with 39.25 percent ownership by the Government of Bangladesh while the rest is held by Unilever Global. Typically listing is done to raise capital for expansion.

Unilever Bangladesh has so far been fortunate enough to expand its footprint using its own fund and hence the need did not arise to list. Should there be a need at an opportune moment in the future I am sure the Unilever Bangladesh board will evaluate.

*TBS: What is the investment climate in the country and what are your plans?*

Zaved Akhtar, CEO and MD of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS






*ZA:* We started in 1964 with only one soap line, and today we have got eight manufacturing hubs across the country.

The potential and opportunities of Bangladesh are immense, and we are at a fantastic point where the demographic dividend itself will give us phenomenal returns. On top of it, the cost of entry is phenomenally low with a high return.

So, I believe Bangladesh is the next destination for any investor to really come in and enter now. Because if you do not enter, you will be too late, as simple as that.

I am a born optimist and I believe there is an opportunity within imperfection, and the reality is that today's world is filled with all the uncertainties. And Bangladesh is very similar and not different from operating anywhere else.

As an investor, I must be mentally prepared and not expect everything to be served on a platter. We are a growing economy, and there will be challenges and difficulties. But throughout all those things, we are able to grow a great business.

As mentioned earlier we bought GSK for Tk2,200 crore, making it the largest transaction in the history of a listed company. We believe that we will continue to invest in Bangladesh given the economic potential in the country and the growth headroom it possesses.

*TBS: Unilever has launched 'Ushop' to bring vendors to the digital platform. How can a Bangladeshi retailer without technical knowledge take advantage of this platform?

ZA:* 'Ushop' follows a B2C model, where a consumer orders products online and we directly fulfil them. We have a separate eRTM solution that enables the retailer to be connected and order at his own will. Today we have 160 thousand retailers wired up to this network. We believe over the next few years we can build a human-centred interface to leverage technology and ensure superior customer service.

*TBS: Environmentalists are concerned with the impact of the proliferation of single and mini plastic packs on the environment. Many of your products are sold using the aforementioned packaging. What do you have to say in this regard?

ZA: *Plastic waste is a huge collective challenge and one that needs cross-sector collaboration. We are working on the matter internally and externally.

We now have 50 percent of the packaging circulating a recyclable system, and by the end of 2022, it will become 80 percent. This issue is very close to my heart and I review our plastic commitment progress every month.

Building a circular economy is critical to managing plastic waste and we are working with the government, development partners and other companies to build a circular economy for Bangladesh. Bottles or rigid plastics are already being recycled through various means.

The problem is the small or flexible plastics. In that regard, we are already working with the UNDP and the Narayanganj City Corporation to build a sustainable solution to collect the packages. We are committed to building strong plastic management for our country and bringing innovative solutions. I, as an individual, am committed to my children to help build a better world they can inherit.


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## Bilal9

Bangladesh-Europe direct container ship movement opens new horizon: CPA Chairman​All the officials and employees of Chattogram port kept their activities 100% operational during the pandemic risking lives​




Rear Admiral M Shahjahan. Sketch: TBS

*Direct container ship movement from Bangladesh to Europe through Chattogram port has opened a new horizon in the export-import trade of the country, said Rear Admiral M Shahjahan, chairman of Chattogram Port Authority (CPA).*

In an interview with The Business Standard, he said that recently a container ship has arrived at Chattogram port from the Port of Civitavecchia, Italy which has opened the door for direct container shipping from Bangladesh to Europe.

He talked about the record success of the port in achieving positive growth in container handling, cargo handling and ship handling in 2021 despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the port was fully operational without any disruption and container and shipping congestion during the pandemic while many ports around the world struggled.

M Shahjahan thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her instruction to run the port keeping focus on both life and livelihood during the pandemic.

He also talked about the progress, challenges and plans of Chattogram port for the future. The interview was taken by Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury.

*TBS: *Chattogram port achieved positive growth even in the difficult time of Covid-19 exceeding all the previous records. How did that happen?

*Rear Admiral M Shahjahan:* The Prime Minister had instructed to operate the port focusing on both life and livelihood. We tried to implement those guidelines. That is why the Chattogram port has achieved record success in all areas including container handling, cargo handling, ship arrivals and turnaround time in 2021.

The operational activities of the port were in full swing during this time due to the concentration, planning and hard work of the port officials in coordination with the stakeholders. We kept the whole port operational with minimal manpower though the operations in different ports in different countries were stopped.

*Who do you think played the key roles in these achievements?*

All the officials and employees of the port kept their activities here 100% operational during the pandemic risking lives. We kept the situation normal with the help of all the stakeholders related to the port. However, we have lost 53 employees while trying to keep the port operational. Numerous officers and employees have also been infected by the virus.

Besides the port officials and employees, all types of port workers, shipping agents, C&F agents, freight forwarders, terminal operators, berth and ship handling operators also had a role to play. All the organisations concerned including the Navy and Coast Guard, District Administration, Highway Police, Customs, BGMEA, Chattogram Chamber, FBCCI had overall cooperation to keep the port activities running.

As a result of uninterrupted ship berthing at the port, turnaround time and waiting time have been reduced. The fixed operating costs, charter hire charges and insurance premiums for ocean-going ships have also come down. Different ports in the world imposed container surcharges due to congestion but Chattogram port did not have to do that as there was no clutter of ships or containers here. This has saved a lot of foreign currency.

According to a report by Singapore-based international piracy watchdog ReCAAP, there were no incidents of robbery in 2021 in the outer anchorage of Chattogram port. The credit goes to our Navy Coast Guard and Port Security for this.

*Are there any initiatives to increase the connectivity of the Chattogram port with the developed world in container transport?*

A ship has recently arrived at Chattogram port from the Port of Civitavecchia, Italy with containers. This has started direct container shipping from Bangladesh to Europe.

It has opened a new horizon for trading. In addition, an MoU has recently been signed between Ranong Port of Thailand and Chattogram Port. This will further enhance the economic relations between Bangladesh and Thailand. Coastal shipping activities between Bangladesh and Thailand will be started in near future under this MoU.

*Container handling is increasing every year. What are the plans to increase container space and capacity in the yard?*

Container handling at the port is on the rise. It is important to build a container yard at Chattogram port to keep pace with the growth of the country's imports and exports. With that in mind, the New Mooring Overflow Container Yard has been built. Besides, container yards have also been set up in the unused lands of the port.

Overflow Container Yard, which was inaugurated on 2 January this year, has a capacity of 4,000 TEUS. Through this, the capacity to hold containers in the port has been increased from 49,018 TEUS to 53,018 TEUS. Besides, a service jetty has been constructed for berthing of the fleet owned by Chattogram port, especially tugboats, speed boats, barges, dredgers, pilot boats etc.

*At present, the port is in the 67th position in Lloyd's List. What could be the position of the port in 2021?*

I hope the port's position will be 50th in 2021 as it has set a record in container handling.

*What kind of incentives were given to the officers and employees to continue the activities of the port during the pandemic?*

A proposal has been sent by the port for financial incentives which is awaiting approval from the ministry. The ministry has not yet said how much money will be paid.

*Please, tell us about the progress of the Patenga Container Terminal project?*

To increase the capacity of the port, the Patenga Container Terminal with a 600-meter-long jetty has been set up on 27.5 acres of land. Around 4,500 containers can be kept together in the 89,000 square meters inner yard. We have set a target of lifting 4.45 lakh containers annually. The activities of the terminal will start in mid-2022.

*What is the progress of the Bay Terminal project?*

The construction of the Bay Terminal, which is about four times bigger than the Chattogram port, is undergoing. Several foreign companies are interested in investing in this project. The ministry is studying their proposals. Besides, a feasibility study has already been completed for the construction of the terminal funded by Chattogram port.

The process of hiring a consulting firm for detailed drawing and design has been finalised. I hope this project will be operational in 2024. The future green port Bay Terminal is 6 km away from the Chattogram port. At the terminal, ships with a depth of 12 meters, a capacity of 6,000 containers and a length of more than 280 meters will be able to berth effortlessly.

This will save time and money. The turnaround time of the ships will also be reduced. If the terminal is built, 24 hours navigation would be possible.

*How far has the Matarbari Deep Sea Port project progressed?*

The official activities of the Matarbari Deep Sea Port Development Project started on 16 November 2020. The construction work is supposed to be completed in the middle of 2025. After that ships with a depth of 18 meters will be able to dock at the terminal of Matarbari port. This port can accommodate ships with 8,000 to 10,000 containers capacity. Initially, it is being designed to handle eight lakh containers.

Once the port is operational, large ships from any country will be able to come here directly and we would not need to rely on transit ports of other countries. It will also be able to facilitate transit and transhipment of goods to neighbouring countries which will play a significant role in the overall economic development of Bangladesh.

*What are the social work that Chattogram port is doing for the betterment of people?*

Chattogram port has been running different social and cultural institutions including five primary schools, two high schools, two colleges, one madrassa, and 11 maktabs for the people living in the surrounding areas. It has also built mosques, temples and pagodas. The port is going to open a school for children with special needs in a few days. The port also operates hospitals for port officials, employees and their family members.

The port also has a contribution to sports. Its cricket team won the title of Chattogram District Champion in 2019. Shahriar Alam, a student of Chattogram Port Sports Complex, has joined the under-19 national cricket team. The port authority has constructed an international standard eight-lane swimming pool.

The port authority has also provided various assistance to the people of the port area during the Covid-19 period.


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## Bilal9

Ctg Port moves up to 58th position​
CHATTOGRAM: Chattogram Port has secured 58th position moving six steps up on the list of the world’s 100 leading busiest container ports

The list has been prepared by Lloyd’s, one of the world’s oldest shipping journal. 

The ranking titled ‘One Hundred Ports–2020' was published on its website recently.

As per the List, Chattogram Port was at the 64th position last year.

With this, the country’s premier seaport moved 30 steps up within a span of one decade.

According to the information on the website, Chattogram Port handled 3088,187 twenty equivalent unit (TEU) containers in 2019 against the 2903,996 TEUs of 2018 and 2667,223 TEUs of 2017.

The port achieved a growth of 6.3 per cent in the container handling.

Shanghai Port of China kept its first position unchanged through handling 43303,000 TEU containers last year against 42010,200 TEUs of the previous year.

Singapore Port of Singapore also stood second while Taipei of Taiwan secured the 100th position like before, read the list.

Chattogram Port's flourishing export trade of ready-made garments continues to drive throughput numbers, said the journal.

When contacted, Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) Chairman Rear Admiral SM Abul Kalam Azad told the Daily Sun that government policy, relentless efforts by the concerned ministry and positive roles of the port stakeholders worked behind the achievement.

*The under-construction Patenga Container Terminal will start operation next year, said the chairman.* 

*Besides, work of the Bay Terminal and Matarbari Deep Seaport are going on to cope with the future challenges of the country’s economy, he observed.*

It may be mentioned that Lloyd’s List started journey as a weekly journal containing shipping and port related news back in 1734. It was being published as a daily later. Since 2013, Lloyd’s List is being published in online version.

Lloyd’s List prepares list of top 100 container ports through conducting survey on the basis of container handling every year.


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## Bilal9

Patenga Container Terminal starts operation in May​Ctg port to get new terminal after 14 years​
Nur Uddin Alamgir
24th January, 2022 10:19:27 PM
Print news





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CHATTOGRAM: With completion of 84 percent work, the much-awaited Patenga Container Terminal (PCT) is going to start operation from May this year.

With this, the country’s premier seaport will get a new terminal after 14 years.

*Having an annual capacity of handling 4.5 lakh Twenty Equivalent Unit (TEU) containers, the terminal would help facilitate the $80 Billion export target set by the government, according to the people concerned. *

The work for completion of the project is now progressing fast on the bank of the river Karnaphuli.

*The work for construction of flyover, new road, land development, box culvert over canals, shore protection and retaining walls, CFS shed and relocation of structures has already been completed.

Of the rest, work of construction of container jetties witnessed 85 percent progress while dolphin jetty 83 percent, workshop 95 percent and office building 92 percent till December last year, said the sources concerned.*

Bangladesh Army 34 Engineer Construction Brigade is implementing the project.

The government approved the project on June 13 in 2017. The deadline for implementation of the project at a cost of Tk. 1,868 crore from the port’s own fund was set for December in 2019.

But, a revised DPP was approved on October 5 last year. According to the revised DPP, the project cost was reduced to Tk. 1,229 crore after dropping some components, including procurement of equipment for the terminal.

The deadline was extended till June this year in the revised DPP, said the sources.

A memorandum of understanding for implementation of the project was signed with the Bangladesh Army on November 23 in 2017 and the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) handed over the project to Army in January 2018.

The Army started the work of the project from February of that year. But, the work also slowed down during the corona pandemic.

Besides, the government gave approval in principle for the project “Equip, Operate and Maintenance of PCT on PPP Model” to operate the terminal in March last year.

Following the initiative, the port authority will not have to buy equipment separately. It helped reduce the project cost to a great extent.

The international firms, including Red Sea-Gateway Terminal (RSGT) of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Dubai Port World (DP World) of the UAE, Adani Port and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) of India, PSA of Singapore and APM of Denmark, expressed their interests in operating and investing in the terminal, said sources in the CPA.

*The terminal is being developed on a 26-acre of land near the Chattogram Dry-Dock and Boat Club in Patenga area.*

The terminal will create scope for handling three container vessels at a time while there will also have facilities for offloading liquid cargo at a separate dolphin jetty.

*It will allow vessels of 9.5-metre draft and 190-metre length to dock.*

Contacted, Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) Chairman Rear Admiral M Shahjahan told the Daily Sun that work of the project is progressing fast.

“We expect to get the work completed by April and allow vessels at the terminal jetties in May this year,” hoped the chairman.

*An additional quantity of 4.5 lakh TEU containers can be handled at the terminal every year, he said.*

“Although, we have taken lots of measures, including setting up of lighterage jetty and port yards, and procured equipment to facilitate the port activities, the new terminal will also help cope with the economic growth of the country,” said the chairman.

“*The PCT is also part of the all development plans including the Vision-2041 of the Prime Minister to upgrade the country to developed one,” Shahjahan said.*

The chairman also said that the operational activities will be carried out with the existing equipment of the port until PPP-authority finalises operator for the new terminal.

*Mentionable, there are three terminals – General Cargo Berth, Chattogram Container Terminal (CCC) and New-mooring Container Terminal (NCT) at the port.*

Besides, there are four dolphin jetties for offloading liquid cargoes.

The country’s premier seaport Chattogram also set record in container, cargo and ship handling last year overcoming the setback witnessed by the maritime ports across the globe following the spread of the corona pandemic.

*The port achieved 13 percent growth through handling over 3201,548 TEUs container, 116619,158 tonnes of cargo and 4,209 vessels in the year.*


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## Bilal9

Garments exports to non-traditional markets have increased by 24%​By
CPA News Desk
January 24, 2022

https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://cpanewsbd.com/2022/01/24/garments-exports-to-non-traditional-markets-have-increased-by-24/




Garments are the largest source of export earnings in the country. Exports of ready-made garments to new markets outside the traditional markets have increased. In the first six months of the current fiscal year 2021-22 (July-December), the export of garments in the non-traditional markets has increased by 24.26%.

During this period, the export of garments in the non-traditional market was worth about USD 306 crores (Tk 26,300 crore), compared to USD 246 crores and 19 lac (Tk 21,100 crore) in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

This information has come up in the updated statistics of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). Those concerned said that the CPVOD-19 situation improved in 2021. As economic activity increased, so did market demand. As a result, it has had a positive impact on garments exports in Bangladesh.

Besides, cash incentives and duty-free market facilities have played a role in increasing exports. According to the EPB, in July-December of the current fiscal year, garments worth 52 crores and 94 lac dollars were exported to the Japanese market alone, compared to 44 crores and 51 lac dollars in the same period last year.

In other words, exports to Japan increased by 18.93% compared to the same period last year.

During this time, Russia imported garments worth 34 crores and 12 lac dollars from Bangladesh, which is 38.10% more than the previous year.

Similarly, in the last six months, Bangladesh’s garments exports to the South American country of Chile have reached 8 crores and 17 lac dollars. Growth almost doubled.

During this period, garments exports to the Indian market amounted to 36 crores and 59 lac dollars. At the same time last year, garments export revenue from India was 23 crores and 15 lac dollars.

In the span of a year, garments export earnings in India have increased by 58.07%.

During this time, garments exports to Australia amounted to 39 crores and 88 lac dollars. During the same period of the last fiscal year, the amount was 36 crores and 45 lac dollars.

As a result, garments exports in this non-traditional market have increased by 9.42% in one year.

Garments exports to Mexico reached 12 crores and 30 lac dollars during the period under review. At the same time last year, the export income was 7 crores and 10 lac dollars. Over the year, the country’s export earnings increased by 68.38%.

According to the EPB, in the first six months of the current 2021-22 fiscal year, Bangladesh’s overall garments exports have increased by over 28%. During this period, garments worth 1 thousand 990 crore dollars were exported.

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PRAN Dairy, Arla Foods to collaborate for sustainable dairy production​​




* By *Business Desk
*Published* : 25 Jan 2022 09:43 PM




PRAN Dairy Limited and Arla Foods Bangladesh Limited has initiated a collaboration with an objective to showcase a market driven and sustainable dairy production to increase milk productivity and quality, alongside economic output of the local dairy value chain in Bangladesh in line with governmental ambitions for the development of the domestic dairy sector.

Chairman and CEO of PRAN-RFL Group Ahsan Khan Chowdhury and Managing Director of Arla Foods Bangladesh Limited Peter Hallberg signed a Letter of Intent recently at the Arla Foods Bangladesh HQ to mark the commencement of the collaboration.

Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman and CEO PRAN-RFL Group said, “We have a huge opportunity doing well in the dairy sector of Bangladesh. PRAN Dairy is working closely with the contractual dairy farmers at remote places and giving various support and training for their skill development. But we need to give more emphasis on sustainable dairy production to increase milk productivity and quality, alongside economic output of the local dairy value chain in Bangladesh. I hope the initiative will bring good contribution at our dairy sector.”

Stressing on the importance of the project, Peter Hallberg, Managing Director of Arla Foods Bangladesh stated, “In any country we operate in the world, we act responsible towards its societies. We feel that we can contribute significantly to the overall development of the dairy sector, supporting the goals of the country. We look forward to collaborating with our partners on this venture and to adding a valuable contribution with our extensive knowledge and experience of sustainable dairy farming, food safety and technology.”

The event was also attended by Eleash Mridha Managing Director of PRAN Group, Md Muniruzzaman, Executive Director of PRAN Dairy and Galib Bin Mohammad, Head of Marketing; Sumaita Khan, Manager, CSR & Alternative Channel Management and Toni Lehtonen, Commercial Project Manager of Arla Foods.
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Bilal's note: *Arla Foods amba is a Danish multinational cooperative based in Viby, Denmark, and the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia. It owns the iconic powder milk brands DANO and Anchor and also Lurpak Butter as sold in Bangladesh for almost sixty years.* Of course there are two dozen other global dairy product brands that Arla owns. With Arla's help, PRAN is hoping to shore up wholesale dairy operations in Bangladesh. My understanding and inside scoop is that they will eventually go into a co-branding/licensing agreement, expanding production of spray powder milk, condensed milk, butter etc. sold under Arla's brand names locally while tapping on Arla's technology to expand the range of their own niche global dairy brands exported overseas. They already sell basic UHT treated dairy milk in brickpacks and plastic flexi-packs, ghee, cheese, powdermilk, flavored and value added milk from their own dairy division for the last couple of decades. Every other conceivable dairy product except condensed milk is also sold.


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## F-6 enthusiast

BRAC Number 1 NGO 
*



*
Playing a significant part in BD's (and in some other countries) socio-economic development

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## Bilal9

@bluesky bhai this one is for you - though from mid year 2021. I already posted about Patenga Container Terminal expansion (see post above) for CTG port coming online in June of this year, and Bay Container Terminal in Chittagong is also proceeding well and is due for completion around 2024 as detailed below.​-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------​Bay Terminal project to gather pace​Operation to start by 2024, says state minister for shipping

Dwaipayan Barua
Fri Aug 20, 2021 12:00 AM Last update on: Fri Aug 20, 2021 09:01 PM

Construction work for Bay Terminal, a long-awaited mega expansion project of the Chattogram port, has gained momentum as the government has set 2024 to start operation of the terminal. The photos were taken yesterday. Photo: RAJIB RAIHAN





Construction work for Bay Terminal, a long-awaited mega expansion project of the Chattogram port, has gained momentum as the government has set 2024 to start operation of the terminal. The photos were taken yesterday. Photo: RAJIB RAIHAN

The construction of the Bay Terminal, a long-awaited project of the Chittagong port, is gaining momentum after slowing down due to the coronavirus pandemic as the government looks to complete it by 2024.

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, state minister for shipping, said the government had set the time frame to start the operation of the terminal.

He was speaking to reporters after visiting the project site on the Halishahar coast in the port city yesterday. Senior officials of the ministry and the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Authority accompanied him.

The terminal is being constructed on around 2,500 acres of land. It will have a length of 6.15 kilometres, stretching from the backside of the Chattogram Export Processing Zone to Rasmonighat at the Halishahar coast of the Bay of Bengal.





The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) came up with the plan a decade ago.

Talks on the Bay Terminal began in 2011 as the prospect of building a mega container terminal emerged after an 11km natural island surfaced from the seabed near the Halishahar coast, creating a natural channel for vessel movement.

In August 2016, the CPA appointed a joint venture comprised of two German firms -- Sellhorn Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH and HPC Hamburg Port Consulting GmbH -- and a Bangladeshi firm KS Consultants Limited to conduct the feasibility study.

The JV submitted the report and a master plan in 2017, describing the project economically and technically viable. Though the business community has long been demanding for the beginning of the project as part of the much-needed expansion of the country's premier seaport, it got delayed.

Chowdhury said it was initially decided that one single firm would build the whole terminal under the PPP model.





To speed up the implementation, the project has now been divided into three parts. The CPA will build one part on its own.

The CPA will construct a multi-purpose terminal, while two container terminals will be set up under the PPP model.

Five international port giants, including PSA Singapore, China Merchants Sports Holding Company Ltd, DP World of the UAE, and International Port Development Co-operation of Korea, have expressed interest in funding and constructing the mega project.

Some changes have to be brought to the original plan after the latest decision that the CPA would implement a part of the project, the state minister said.

After completing the official procedures, the CPA would commence the construction work, he said.

The acquisition of 68 acres of privately-owned land has been completed. In addition, the shipping ministry has approved the acquisition of 804 acres of government land.
"Land development activities on the acquired area are going on," Chowdhury said.

He said the project saw slower than expected progress due to a lack of experience in the construction of projects under the PPP model and also for the pandemic.

Many foreign investors earlier visited the project site and expressed interest to set up the terminal. With the resumption of global connectivity, the government has started communicating with the investors again.

"Discussion with the foreign investors is going on," said Sultana Afroz, chief executive officer of the PPP Authority.

CPA Chairman M Shahjahan said it had appointed a consultant to carry out the detailed design of the terminal it would build.

The firm will also update the 2017 feasibility study report and the master plan. After getting the report, the CPA will formulate the development project proposal and start construction accordingly. 

*CPA Chief Hydrographer M Arifur Rahman said vessel movement to and fro the Chittagong port through the Karnaphuli channel depended on high tides. **"But vessel operation at the proposed Bay Terminal will be possible round the clock."

According to the feasibility study, **vessels with a draft up to 12 metres can be berthed**. The port now allows vessels with as high as 9.5 metres of the draft to moor. **"The new island will ensure safe vessel movement in the channel," said Rahman.*

Location of Bay Terminal Project.









 Bay Terminal · 8QG8+W98, Chattogram, Bangladesh


★★★★★ · Container terminal




www.google.com


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## Bilal9

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@bluesky bhai this is news of another private jetty built by Karnaphuli Ship Builders Ltd. in Chattogram near Chattogram Port. This brings to a total - three container terminals in Chattogram Port, one public and two private jetties.


Another privately built jetty comes to Ctg port’s aid​Dwaipayan Barua
Wed Aug 4, 2021 12:00 AM Last update on: Wed Aug 4, 2021 02:32 AM

Another privately built jetty has come to the aid of the Chattogram port as it allowed the country's largest seaport to use the facility to berth bulk vessels carrying heavy items.

Karnaphuli Ship Builders Ltd completed the construction of the jetty for the ship repairing works of its sister concern, Karnaphuli Dry Dock, in Anwara upazila last month.

A bulk vessel, Giulia-1, carrying 23,000 tonnes of scrap, imported by steel manufacturer BSRM Group, berthed at the jetty on July 28 and started unloading goods.

*This was the second jetty of the private dry dock after it built the first one in March this year. The CPA has been using it since March 30.*

CPA Chairman M Shahjahan said it gave the permission to Karnaphuli Dry Dock to build the jetties on condition that the port would use them when they were vacant.
"We are now using both jetties. As a result, we have been able to accommodate two additional vessels."

Ships, particularly bulk vessels arriving with scraps for steel industries, have to wait for days at the outer anchorage due to a lack of jetties.

In most cases, ships laden with scraps have to unload all of their cargoes at the outer anchorage with the help of lighter vessels. As a result, importers have to bear additional costs to hire the smaller vessels. The unloading also takes time.

"The two jetties have come as a relief since they are helping us accommodate two bulk vessels with scraps simultaneously," said CPA Director (Traffic) Enamul Karim.

Currently, the CPA can allocate a maximum of seven jetties of its general cargo berths (GCBs) to accommodate six bulk vessels. The rest 12 jetties are dedicated to handling container vessels.

The CPA is even unwilling to allow the bulk vessels transporting heavy items to use the GCB jetties as they have become old. It has not allowed scrap-carrying ships to berth at the port since July 1.

So far, eight vessels have berthed at the first jetty of Karnaphuli Dry Dock since March 30. Around 1.50 lakh tonnes of scraps have so far been unloaded.

Both jetties can accommodate two ships with a length of up to 180 metres each, said M Abdur Rashid, managing director of Karnaphuli Ship Builders.

"The port can now reduce vessels' waiting time and generate revenues using our jetties," he said.

He said the link road from the jetties to Chaturi, Anwara via Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Ltd needed to be widened and renovated to allow trucks to ply while carrying imported goods.

Giulia-1, with 33,000 tonnes of scrap, arrived at the outer anchorage in the middle of July. After unloading around 10,000 tonnes of goods to smaller lighter vessels there, it got berthed at the second jetty of Karnaphuli Dry Dock.

The unloading from the vessel would be complete by August 8, said Asif Iftekhar Hossain, director of Everett Bangladesh (Pvt) Ltd, the local agent of the ship.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro Rail Project update - mainly station infra and finishing work ongoing while rolling stock testing also proceeds apace.


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## Bilal9

EnergyPac is the number one Heavy electrical manufacturer/exporter in Bangladesh of conventional high voltage and advanced fireproof resin-encased transformers. switchgear, busbar trunking and other heavy electrical items. Scenes from their assembly process.
















Energypac Engineering has been awarded 8 substations by *Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.* for their new expanded production facilities. The 4MVA 11/0.415kV substations include amongst other equipment Energypac's fireproof, self/extinguishing *cast resin transformers*.






Plant design, supply and installation of 132/33 kV Matarbari Substation on turnkey basis





Energypac secured a 13.75 Million USD deal for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant from AtomStroy Export JSC (Russia) as subcontract for construction and erection of transformers and auxiliary structures.





In addition to all above, Energypac recently started constructing 300 MVA power transformers for supply to some of its customers. They also completed acquisition of production facilities in Brescia Italy (Energypac Europe Srl) for supplying some products to the EU markets.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka to Mawa Elevated Ballastless Rail line being installed (trackage).





Dhaka Mega Projects roundup (which will go live in 2022).





Purbachal 300 feet wide expressway update

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport 3rd terminal project update

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## Bilal9

Although Bangladesh trails the developed world in many areas, constructing LEED certified eco-conscious production facilities is not one of them. In this sector Bangladesh is a world leader. Here is a LEED certified green factory campus where garments will be produced for a leading international fashion brand.

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## Bilal9

Progress images from the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project:

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## Bilal9

Aga Khan Academy,​Dhaka,Bangladesh​
Overview


This 1200-student residential school under construction is located on a 20-acre site near the centre of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The school is part of a network of state of the art K12 schools, being established by His Highness the Aga Khan.

Through the Aga Khan Academies there are currently18 Academies planned in locations across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia and Europe.

The Aga Khan Academies aim to support long-term national and regional development by providing an international standard of education and strong leadership experience to talented students. The students are selected based on merit, regardless of socioeconomic background, and will become future home-grown leaders. The Academies also strengthen national education systems by providing professional development and modelling best practices as centres of excellence.

The Academy is arranged around a central ‘Maidan’ community gathering space and sports field, linked by a continuous colonnade, and interspersed by landscape courtyards of varying character. The classical Masterplan layout is derived from our studies of the original Buddhist universities of the region.

The result is an architectural language which showcases intricate brickwork techniques set against ‘jali’ screen detailing as a contemporary interpretation of an important local tradition. The project incorporates the overarching Aga Khan Academies brief whilst integrating historic Bangladeshi customs in spatial arrangements.

This project is a collaboration between FCBStudios UK and Rafiq Azam and his atelier, "Shatotto" in Dhaka.































Current construction stage:

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## Bilal9

The tale of metro rail: A challenging project to transform Dhaka into a modern city​Picture: TBS/SAP




Picture: TBS/SAP

*Dhaka is an old city that has been built without any plan. No one had the opportunity to develop the city in a planned manner. That is why construction of metro rail lines in Dhaka is very challenging. Many people have expressed their doubt about the success of metro rail in the city because of this challenge.*

We took the courageous decision to implement the metro rail project as per the directive from the prime minister.

As soon as we started working, we faced many new challenges along with the old ones. We did not have the capacity to overcome all the challenges at once. We, therefore, decided to take these challenges as per their importance and address them in phases.

For example, if you look at the current alignment of the metro rail line, you would find that it has been built in the same way as a snake moves. In the beginning, the alignment of this metro rail was not like that. The biggest challenge at first was to finalise it.

While constructing the metro rail line next to the parliament building, we first came across the question as to whether the area is included in the parliament complex or not. After discussions with various government departments, we learned that the area is outside the parliament complex.

The metro rail was initially supposed to go to Farmgate through Bijoy Smaroni, but we had to change it in the face of objections from the Army Aviation and the Air Force.

The initial decision was to execute the metro rail project in two phases so as not to aggravate the suffering of the city dwellers. The first phase of the work was supposed to be up to Farmgate. But later we found that there was no place to build four lines for a train turnback there. As a result, we decided to complete the Uttara-Agargaon portion of the line in the first phase.

Photo: Mumit M/TBS





Photo: Mumit M/TBS

Apart from Bijoy Sarani, Sangsad Bhaban and Farmgate areas, there were problems with alignment in Dhaka University, Curzon Hall, Secretariat, Baitul Mukarram areas too. We made sound barriers during the construction works due to the objections from the authorities from these areas to reduce noise.

The biggest challenge was finalising the route alignment. After overcoming this challenge, we found that the width of the roads varies in different parts of the city. Somewhere the roads are narrow, somewhere it is very wide. It became difficult to manage the construction work by keeping the vehicles moving.

A separate traffic management plan has to be made to reduce the suffering of the people. We worked on the construction of metro rail stations at night as it is more difficult during the daytime.

There have been no accidents during the construction work on the metro rail project as we have taken safety first policy. It was a big and difficult challenge in a crowded place like Dhaka.

We have had to face a lot of criticism for removing a lot of beautifying plants while constructing metro rail in the middle of the road.

However, we have rebuilt the road medians after completion of construction work in certain areas and planted several times more trees than before. If you go to Pallabi and northern areas from there, you will see it.

The construction of the metro rail faced a major challenge when foreign consultants and skilled workers returned to their home countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During that period, we prioritized the tasks that can be carried forward from home or in the factory.

The construction work did not stop during the two years Covid-induced lockdowns and other restrictions. We generated various innovative ideas to keep the construction works going.

We have set up isolation centers and quarantine centers at the field level to keep the work running in full swing. We have also set up two field hospitals and signed Covid-19 treatment-related agreements with government hospitals and private hospitals. All these measures have been taken to restore the confidence of the foreigners who were brought back to Dhaka on special flights.

It is very difficult to find land for the implementation of any project in Dhaka metropolis. Even when the land was found, we had to face many challenges to acquire it. We had to acquire a lot of land in Uttara for construction of a metro rail depot. The area was once known as a low-lying, dumping area. It will be an example of how we can improve our lands using advanced technology.

We had to build several construction yards in Farmgate, Uttara, and Gabtoli to build so many viaducts. The eviction of illegal occupants from these yards also was a major challenge.

Photo: Mumit M/TBS




Photo: Mumit M/TBS

There were other challenges too. Several Japanese consultants were killed in a terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery during the design stage of the construction work. Bringing in new consultants was a big challenge.

While building the rolling stock of the metro rail, we saw that very high-quality plastics are used in the construction of world-class metro rail. But, we decided that plastic-made metro rails would not be sustainable for us here. That is why we used stainless steel to meet the challenges of the future. We have used strong window glasses so that it is not damaged easily.

We had no previous experience in metro rails. Therefore, we had to face different difficulties at different stages. The construction of the first MRT line (MRT Line-6) was completed on a trial and error basis. Nevertheless, we have gathered a lot of experience in the first project.

Some of our people went abroad for training to increase their skills. The number of our people with practical experience has also increased. I believe our experienced and skilled manpower will help us move forward with the next projects.

As the first project (line-6) has reached the final stage, some of the people involved here will be able to take charge of the next projects.

It was said at the beginning that we did not have the financial and technical capacity to implement a metro rail project in Bangladesh. But, we are working to overcome our limitations.

In the beginning, 75% of the project's manpower was foreigners. But, now 80% of the manpower is from Bangladesh.

The big challenge in the future of metro rail will be the maintenance, and operational costs. No country in the world can bear the cost of a metro rail with fares alone. For this, some non-fare revenue has to be collected.

As part of this, we have decided to build several station plazas and several Transit Oriented Development (TOD) hubs. Some commercial spaces are also being created in the stations and some LED screens are being installed.

We are trying to ensure some revenue besides the fares from the first day of the operation of metro rail.

We have taken all these decisions in the light of our experience during the implementation of the MRT Line-6 project. All these ideas can be easily applied in later projects.

Our idea is that once the MRT line is completed, the GDP of the country will increase by about one percent. At the same time, a huge amount of people will be employed. The metro rail will reduce traffic congestion as well as environmental damage in Dhaka.

The line-6 alone will be able to carry 60,000 passengers per hour and about five lakh people will use this line daily. If the 2030 plan is implemented, around 50 lakh people will use it every day.

Now there is no certainty as to when one will reach Motijheel from Uttara. It can take up to three hours. But once the metro rail is completed, the journey will be possible in just 38 minutes. Metro trains will run every three and a half minutes during peak hours.

Photo: Mumit M/TBS




Photo: Mumit M/TBS

Metro rails will save a huge amount of time for people and they will be able to give more time to their family members, or do other work.

There are both financial and economic values of time. A large portion of GDP is lost due to traffic congestion. Metro rail will reduce this loss.

When the metro rail is fully operational, small vehicles will be stopped. This will reduce traffic congestion as well as save fuel.

The main goal of the plan under which the DMTCL is working is to reduce the traffic congestion in Dhaka metropolis by 2030.

Later, in the second and third phase, different areas of Gazipur, Narayanganj, Manikganj, Munshiganj and Narsingdi among the districts around Dhaka will be brought under the metro rail network. This will reduce the pressure of the people on Dhaka city.

Different facilities are now attracting people from different areas towards Dhaka city. Metro rails in all these areas will act as a push factor. Then people will be able to set up offices in Dhaka from their homes in the surrounding districts.

Finally, I would say that the key to building MRT in Bangladesh is a political commitment. In other words, we had a political vision, where the Prime Minister was the main driving force.

Whenever we stumble, whenever we see that there is a challenge we cannot face, we go to the prime minister. She listens to all our problems. She is giving us all kinds of help to reduce traffic congestion or improve the environment. Her assistance has increased the pace of our work.

M.A.N. Siddique. Sketch: TBS




M.A.N. Siddique. Sketch: TBS

*The author is Managing Director* of *Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited* (DMTCL)

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## Bilal9

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Central Bank Reserves in Bangladesh growing on the backs of remittances and exports.

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## Bilal9

Golam Murshed: The architect of a billion-dollar company​Photo: Golam Murshed




Photo: Golam Murshed

*Golam Murshed, an entrepreneurial and visionary young business leader, is the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited. *

He has been serving Walton in various important positions for over a decade. 

Murshed is most admired for the modernization of production and aggressive marketing strategy. 

He is the president of Bangladesh Electrical, Electronics, and Home Appliances Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BEEMEA). 

Ascending to the top position of an electronic giant within 10 years and leading it from the forefront is not an easy task. 

It seems that Golam Murshed was born to be a star in the fields of corporate and business. Let us see how the youngest corporate personalities of a billion-dollar company achieved the feat and his visions for the county and the people.

*Career*

Golam Murshed, joined Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited on 20 December, 2010 as an assistant engineer in the Research and Development (R&D) of the air conditioner (AC). 

Soon after he started screening his charismatic leadership with the production unit as its in-charge. That was the foundation for Murshed to be the leader of the electronic giant of Bangladesh. The Walton authorities found the quality of leading the production team in Murshed. The very first piece of product of Walton AC came through his hand.

After working in AC production for over two years, he went into refrigerator production with the approval of the authorities, because the fridge production procedures seemed dynamic to him then. 

He was not shillyshally to take the charge of the most important and complex line of fridge production, because it seemed to him that there were more challenges. 
The challenges, however, were immense but Murshed, with his charismatic leadership, overcame and the production was almost doubled in a year after he took charge of that production line in the refrigerator manufacturing plant.

While working with the fridge production line, the then managing director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited gave Murshed the responsibility of business operations. 
Another revolutionary decision was made three years later; when he was appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the refrigerator department of Walton. 

Golam Murshed, who always dreams to transform Bangladesh technologically and empower the people with cutting-edge technology, was appointed as the MD and CEO of the leading electronics products manufacturer on 8 October, 2020. 

Before this appointment, he had also been promoted as the company's additional managing director (AMD).

*Notable Achievements*

Achievements of Walton and that of Golam Murshed are inextricably linked to one another, as he has been contributing to this company nearly from the very beginning of the operations. 

In the early days of his career, under his leadership, the refrigerator production volume doubled without investing in any new types of machinery, just through process improvement. 

He led the acquisition of several refrigerators and AC manufacturing plants from Vietnam, Taiwan, and China. 

The company attained the highest refrigerator sales during his tenure as CEO of Walton refrigerator. 

He initiated Walton ventilator, PPE, disinfectant chamber, medi-cart robot project in quick response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Murshed led the whole initial public offering (IPO) process of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited and took the company for a public listing to the stock exchange. 
Within a few months it became second-largest market capitalised company in Bangladesh. 

He introduced "Go Global" project to become one of the top global brands within 2030 and Walton attained the highest export volume and value in FY2020-21 as well as the highest ever sales and net earnings in 2020-21.

*Vision and Mission*

As the MD and CEO of Walton Hi-Tech, the vision and mission of Golam Murshed centres around the company and brand. 

He has taken the mission of "Vision Go Global-2030." 

This means now his main concern is to make Walton one of the top global brands within 2030. 

The contentious growth and success of the company, amid the coronavirus pandemic, indicate that fulfillment of the mission is certain and under his leadership, the dreams will come true.

Along with that, Murshed has taken various steps to make Bangladesh the hub of the electronics and technology industry emphasising research and innovation.

Golam Murshed always tries to do something for the country. For which he preferred to join Walton and not to go abroad for a better living after completing his graduation. Now his sole concern is for Walton and Bangladesh as well. 

He has already taken many steps to develop the country's electronics, technology, research, and innovation sectors and create opportunities for young generations. 
He always thinks out of the box. 

According to him fascination with work than an academic degree, perseverance in decision making, and the determination of must do it – these three have brought him to the position which millions dream of Initiative for Green Bangladesh.

To ensure a greener and cleaner Bangladesh for future generations, Golam Murshed has taken an initiative called "Better Bangladesh Tomorrow'."

Aiming to decrease the overall carbon footprint, Walton has already started incorporating 51.16 tonnes of waste produced each day in Bangladesh in its products and manufacturing process using the 3R system (reuse, reduce and recycle). 

Sustainability awareness and training programs under the initiative will help inspire youth to take active participation in building a sustainable future for themselves and the generations to follow. 

Starting from sourcing to designing products, to the post-purchase services, the objective of such initiative is to create harmony between the human race and mother nature by balancing the natural and industrial ecology.

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## Bilal9

SMCC completed some of the foundation work at the 3rd terminal which is a huge project with almost two dozen contractors participating.

*Airport 3rd Terminal (HSIA Expansion Project HSIA-T3) - Pile Cap Work*










*Airport 3rd Terminal (Project HSIA-T3)- Airside Washing Bay Work*





This is as of March 2021 showing progress on the sheer scale of the Airport 3rd Terminal (*Project HSIA-T3*) undertaking which is one of the five/six megaprojects just in Dhaka itself, I've posted about two dozen videos in this thread since then about this. Take a look please.





The plan for *Project HSIA-T3 *calls for building many extra taxiways, huge apron and an extra high speed exit taxiway to the right of the existing one in the middle. The existing fuel depots and the hangars on the bottom right will all be demolished and re-located.





The huge apron for *Project HSIA-T3* is going to stretch from where the 787's are parked below to all the way past the last exit taxiway on the left. It will triple the number of bridges, the passengers the current airport handles.

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## Bilal9

@bluesky bhai you'll be happy to know that civil works for the new terminal was completed mostly by local companies, in this case below Associated Builders did some of the building construction work for part of the huge terminal.









Concrete pump and boom crane for concrete pours at quite large scale...

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## Bilal9

Construction of super flat Factory floors for precision machinery installs and for pallet-stacker operation in warehouses is critical. That is why advanced super flat screed leveling of floors is essential. @bluesky bhai you must be familiar with this equipment. Recently Laser Screed Concrete Leveling equipment imported by SINAMM was used at their CKL SPINNING MILL project for floor construction work. SINAMM specializes in factory floor and power station civil works, however they also participated in a portion of the HSIA-terminal 3 expansion project (see pictures above).





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=428406614715346


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## bluesky

Bilal9 said:


> @bluesky bhai you'll be happy to know that *civil works for the new terminal was completed mostly by local companies,* in this case below Associated Builders did some of the building construction work for part of the huge terminal.


The construction by local companies itself is important. But how about the works related to surveying, conducting Standard Penetration Tests (SPTs) for the soil, preparing the layout plan of different facilities and structures, and design analysis for the foundations (footing, raft/ spread, and the piled ones), above-ground tall structures, etc.

- If the design-related works have been done by the local companies, I would say personally, I am fully satisfied.

- If a foreign design consultant office did these design works, but a local design consultant company was authorized to receive these documents/ drawings instead of our layman govt engg. department, I would say, personally, I am still half satisfied. 

- However, I will be completely dissatisfied if all the design-related works were conducted by the foreign companies without participation by the local ones.

It is because such a local private company will learn from the design analysis/ documents and drawings that it can use in any next design works. 

The design works are essentially more important than the construction work itself. A design engineer may be able to do the construction management, but a construction engineer will not be able to do the design works. 

A design engineer does many mathematical calculations (structural analysis) by following the related codes and standards, based on which drawings are prepared. A construction company follows the writing and instructions given in those drawings.


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## Bilal9

bluesky said:


> The construction by local companies itself is important. But how about the works related to surveying, conducting Standard Penetration Tests (SPTs) for the soil, preparing the layout plan of different facilities and structures, and design analysis for the foundations (footing, raft/ spread, and the piled ones), above-ground tall structures, etc.
> 
> - If the design-related works have been done by the local companies, I would say personally, I am fully satisfied.
> 
> - If a foreign design consultant office did these design works, but a local design consultant company was authorized to receive these documents/ drawings instead of our layman govt engg. department, I would say, personally, I am still half satisfied.
> 
> - However, I will be completely dissatisfied if all the design-related works were conducted by the foreign companies without participation by the local ones.
> 
> It is because such a local private company will learn from the design analysis/ documents and drawings that it can use in any next design works.
> 
> The design works are essentially more important than the construction work itself. A design engineer may be able to do the construction management, but a construction engineer will not be able to do the design works.
> 
> A design engineer does many mathematical calculations (structural analysis) by following the related codes and standards, based on which drawings are prepared. A construction company follows the writing and instructions given in those drawings.



@bluesky bhai - আপনি বোধহয় দেশে অনেকদিন যাবৎ আসেন না। কনস্ট্রাকশন সিচুয়েশন এর দেশে আমূল পরিবর্তন ঘটে গেছে।

In most cases for local large power stations, bridges up to a certain size (unless foreign loans involved), hospitals, universities, factories, warehouses, multistory urban commercial towers and housing (condos), civil engg. and architectural design is done 99% locally.

In rare cases (where we are venturing into hitherto unexplored large scale complicated project territory like) river tunnels, 7 KM long bridges over very deep rivers, metro projects or large airport terminals where logistics and design need to be optimally configured using current industry best practices - are foreign design expertise sought and used.

Even in countries wealthier than ours (say, Malaysia) foreign consultants work with local contractors to complete projects.

I don't believe this is a question of pride, patriotism or emotional expression.

It is where the project will benefit qualitatively from improved practices and/or savings in construction costs using more advanced technology.

Take for example HSIA Air Terminal 3, which was designed by a Singapore Civil consulting firm headed in part by Rouhani Baharin. She also designed Islamabad new Airport, New Terminal at Ahmedabad Int'l and of course the latest addition at Changi Terminal in Singapore, We could not do a better job at this because we have no experience so far at it.

Civil Aeronautics boards and holding companies wanting a successful project always opt for the best designs (whether architectural or civil)- and sometimes those advanced designs may not be available from local consultants because of lack of experience and project exposure.

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## Chakar The Great

Bilal9 said:


> Aga Khan Academy,​Dhaka,Bangladesh​
> Overview
> 
> 
> This 1200-student residential school under construction is located on a 20-acre site near the centre of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The school is part of a network of state of the art K12 schools, being established by His Highness the Aga Khan.
> 
> Through the Aga Khan Academies there are currently18 Academies planned in locations across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia and Europe.
> 
> The Aga Khan Academies aim to support long-term national and regional development by providing an international standard of education and strong leadership experience to talented students. The students are selected based on merit, regardless of socioeconomic background, and will become future home-grown leaders. The Academies also strengthen national education systems by providing professional development and modelling best practices as centres of excellence.
> 
> The Academy is arranged around a central ‘Maidan’ community gathering space and sports field, linked by a continuous colonnade, and interspersed by landscape courtyards of varying character. The classical Masterplan layout is derived from our studies of the original Buddhist universities of the region.
> 
> The result is an architectural language which showcases intricate brickwork techniques set against ‘jali’ screen detailing as a contemporary interpretation of an important local tradition. The project incorporates the overarching Aga Khan Academies brief whilst integrating historic Bangladeshi customs in spatial arrangements.
> 
> This project is a collaboration between FCBStudios UK and Rafiq Azam and his atelier, "Shatotto" in Dhaka.
> 
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> Current construction stage:



Structure very similar to Agha Khan university Karachi Pakistan.

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## Bilal9

Local company has come out with time attendance solution for companies - "Tipsoi" is the name which means "fingerprint-signature".

As imagined - the device uses a fingerprint reader to record clock-in's and clock-out's for employees. It is fully compatible and enabled with latest WiFi and Bluetooth protocols to enable connection with an app in the cloud for accounting purposes and boasts various types of configurable filtered reports to record and report efficiency and productivity data,

Tipsoi TF-80 Fingerprint Time Attendance Solution​

*Price*0 ৳*Product Code*PR01017*Brand*Tipsoi*Model*TF-80

*Features*​
Fingerprint capacity: 3000
RFID capacity: 20,000
Log capacity: 500,000
4 hours battery backup
Wireless GPRS connectivity






টিপসই TF-80 Datasheet
টিপসই TF-80​
ফিঙ্গার প্রিন্ট ক্যাপাসিটি : ৩০০০
RFID ক্যাপাসিটি : ২০,০০০
লগ ক্যাপাসিটি : ৫০০,০০০
FAR: ০.০০১%, FRR: ০.০১%
কর্মক্ষম তাপমাত্রা : -20C to 55C
৪ ঘন্টা ব্যাটারী ব্যাকআপ
ওয়ারলেস GPRS কানেক্টিভিটি
সহজ API/SDK ইন্ট্রিগেশন
সাপোর্ট ম্যাগনেটিক ডোর লক
এন্ড to এন্ড ডাটা এনক্রিপশন

There is also a face-recognition device (instead of fingerprint recognition). This is more secure in terms of non-repudiation.





টিপসই ফেইস-D920 Datasheet
টিপসই ফেইস-D920​
ফেইস স্টোরেজ ক্যাপাসিটিঃ ৫০,০০০
লগ ক্যাপাসিটিঃ ১০,০০,০০০
রেজোলিউশনঃ ১৯২০ x ১০৮০
৮” LED ডিসপ্লে
কমিউনিকেশনঃ LAN
WiFi কানেক্টিভিটি
ভয়েস ব্রডকাস্ট
নো-মাস্ক ডিটেকশন
সহজ এনরোলমেন্টে
ওয়েব এবং মোবাইল অ্যাপ



Chakar The Great said:


> Structure very similar to Agha Khan university Karachi Pakistan.



The campus seems larger than the one in Dhaka (but Dhaka land prices are probably a bit higher than in Karachi in any case). The one in Dhaka is an academy however, not a Hospital/Medical College/University. I think mainly K-12 grade students.

Thanks for the video.


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## Bilal9

টিপসই এর অনন্যতা​বর্তমান দেশীয় বাজারে প্রচলিত অন্যান্য বায়োমেট্রিক ডিভাইস থেকে টিপসইকে অনন্য করে
টিপসই TF-80​





QR কোড দিয়ে খুব সহজে এক্টিভেশন​




নির্ভরযোগ্য ওয়েব সার্ভার​




আলাদাভাবে কোন কম্পিউটার লাগে না​




ব্যাটারি ব্যাকআপ সংযুক্ত​




আলাদাভাবে ইন্টারনেট সংযোগ লাগে না​




তারবিহীন GPRS চালিত​




ক্লাউড কানেক্টেড​




ওয়েব এবং মোবাইল অ্যাপস (Android & iOS)​টিপসই ফেইস D-920​




QR কোড দিয়ে খুব সহজে এক্টিভেশন​




নির্ভরযোগ্য ওয়েব সার্ভার​




৫০,০০০ ফেইস স্টোরেজ ক্যাপাসিটি​




আলাদাভাবে কোন কম্পিউটার লাগে না​




দ্রুততম ম্যাচিং স্পিড​




ভয়েস ব্রডকাস্ট​




ক্লাউড কানেক্টেড​




ওয়েব এবং মোবাইল অ্যাপস (Android & iOS)​

টিপসই​ডিজিটাল হাজিরার দেশীয় সমাধান


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## Bilal9

Latest on the HSIA Airport 3rd terminal, from 2 weeks ago.





And these two videos show an architectural stylistic replica of the terminal with details...


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Tangail (Elenga) Highway Update

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## Bilal9

Digital repository to understand our workers better​




Faruque Hassan

Wed Feb 2, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Wed Feb 2, 2022 03:17 AM


Being a densely populated country, one of the major sources of Bangladesh's competitiveness is the young and vibrant workforce. We have around six million economically active population, and various estimates suggest that around two million people are joining our labour force every year.

In fact, workers are the lifeline of Bangladesh's readymade garment industry. There are around four million workers employed in this sector directly, of whom 60 per cent are female.

While the economic prosperity of our nation greatly depends on the optimum use of our human resources by making them skilled and competent enough, it is equally important to ensure better social protection and well-being of the people to create an enabling environment to raise productivity.

The apparel industry is a time-tested industry, which has made commendable progress in the area of sustainability, especially workers well-being and industrial relations. Starting from the elimination of child labour in the mid-nineties, and the emerging compliance issues, including timely payment of wages, ensuring the minimum wage, overtime, hygiene at the workplace, and so on, the industry has responded well on all the issues of compliance and workers' rights.


A paradigm shift has taken place in the area of structural, fire and electrical safety at the workplace which was supported by international brands and donors like the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in addition to the lead role played by our government. As a result of all these committed and continued efforts, Bangladesh is now one of the safest apparel manufacturing countries in the world and offers the best sustainable solution to our valued clients.

In order to ensure workers well-being and safety at the workplace, the Labour Act was amended twice since 2013, and the Labour Rules was promulgated in 2015. The formation of a safety committee in every factory has been made mandatory. Workers participation committee has also been made mandatory through elections.

A central fund has been created under the supervision of the government where garment factories are contributing 0.03 per cent of their export earnings for the workers' welfare purposes. Undoubtedly, these are all positive moves by the industry to ensure the well-being of its workers, yet much more needs to be done to ensure their healthy upkeep.

While we prepare ourselves to transit to a developing country and envision becoming a developed economy by 2041, an inclusive approach is required to ensure the well-being of our people. In fact, we need to understand the dynamics of the livelihood difficulties of the marginal income groups, so that befitting policies and interventions can be planned and designed for them.

For instance, Covid-19 has exposed the inherent weakness of the health and hygiene issue of our workers. The public health reality of the workers and their vulnerability to viral contamination and the lack of logistics and infrastructure to protect them in a contagious environment is a big threat to our economic stability and sustainability.

Undoubtedly, the RMG industry has proved its resilience in preventing infections within the industry through a wholehearted response by the entrepreneurs, workers and employees by strictly following the health protocol. But the question remains around the hygiene of the places where they reside, the sanitation facilities and the transportation.

Similarly, we need to know the status of their other fundamental necessities, including nutrition and education. All these require having a data repository of the workers so that it can be used to formulate policies and plan development activities better. While pursuing the vision of Digital Bangladesh, having a demographic/socioeconomic/livelihood-based profiling of the workers digitally bears significant strategic importance.

With that view, the BGMEA has taken an initiative in collaboration with the Brac University to develop a digital repository of the workforce of the RMG industry. This includes the number of workers and their personal profile, including age, sex, marital status, information on infant and child, origin, residence, education, financial and digital literacy; professional profile, including skill competency and experience; health profile, including blood group, BMI (body mass index), health and nutrition-related aspects; and financial inclusion.

Thus, a digital repository or census for the RMG workforce is very important to ensure that the industry has an accurate and up-to-date scenario of its workers. This will help minimise the misinformation about the sector.

It is important to have such a database using appropriate technologies like the Geographic Information System (GIS) so that new categories of data can be collated in additional layers, and those are comparable and can be updated at fixed intervals.

The repository will be a useful tool to analyse the pattern of workers health and nutrition-related issues such as non-communicable and contagious diseases and maternity-related complications, hygiene-related issues at the workplace and at residence, food habits, access to healthcare facilities and expenses. It can also help assess the scope of re-skilling and up-skilling of the workers and employees.

Workers' geographic locations, mobility, commuting pattern, mode of transportation, distance from home to factories, and the time needed to travel to factories, etc. can be assessed by accompanying data. Along with the workers' current residence, their home districts, where their family is living, and from where the workers have migrated to their current residing place should be recorded for necessary and future interventions. Moreover, such a repository will help dispel many misconceptions about the industry with empirical evidence.

Developing such a repository will be a huge task and will require collaboration from stakeholders and development partners. In this phase of our economic transition, workers are our major strength and it would continue to remain so in the next few decades. Therefore, investing in them can't be low profile and this can't be done uninformed.

Under the visionary leadership of Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's economy has made remarkable progress over the past 13 years, and consequently our per capita income and standard of living have gone higher. To keep the momentum of the positive transformation in our economy and cope with the changes, strategic engagement and deployment of resources will be critical, and information will be vital for this.

The author is the president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association


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## Bilal9

Bangladeshi factories move up to supply upmarket OEM clients.


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## Bilal9

Breeding Aquarium fish and Koi Carp is big business in Bangladesh now.


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## Bilal9

Adnan Fibre to produce PSF from scrap plastic bottles at IEPZ​*TBP Desk*
06 Feb 2022 19:38:39 | Update: 06 Feb 2022 20:12:07





— Reuters Photo

*Bangladeshi company Adnan Fibre Limited is all set to establish a backward linkage industry in recycling locally collected waste plastic bottles into polyester staple fibre (PSF) at Ishwardi Export Processing Zone (IEPZ).*

Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) and Adnan Fibre Limited on Sunday signed an agreement to this effect at BEPZA Complex in Dhaka, BSS reported citing a press release.

The company will invest $20.66 million to produce 25,000 tonnes of PSF per annum.

BEPZA Member (Investment Promotion) Ali Reza Mazid and of Adnan Fibre Managing Director KH Adnan Mehmood signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations. BEPZA Executive Chairman Major General Abul Kalam Mohammad Ziaur Rahman witnessed the signing ceremony.

PSF, which is manufactured from pre and post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle scrap, is used in the manufacture of textiles (T-shirts, body warmers), functional textiles (non-woven air filter fabric, geo textiles, carpets, car upholstery) and fillings (for pillows, duvets, toys).

The company will produce PSF from the PET Flex (PET Bottle) which will be collected locally. This will ultimately help to prevent environmental pollution.

It is the first such type of factory in IEPZ and will be the second in EPZs under BEPZA. A total of 514 Bangladeshi nationals will get employment opportunities in this factory, the press release added.

Among others, Member (Engineering) Mohammad Faruque Alam, Member (Finance) Nafisa Banu, Executive Director (Administration) Md Zakir Hossain Chowdhury, Executive Director (Public Relations) Nazma Binte Alamgir and Executive Director (Enterprise Services) Md Khorshid Alam and Executive Director (Security) Lt Col ASM Quamruzzaman, and PBGM of BEPZA were present during the signing.

Patenga Container Terminal set to open in June​*UNB . Chattogram*
06 Feb 2022 19:31:17 | Update: 06 Feb 2022 20:14:10





— Courtesy/UNB

*The newly built Patenga Container Terminal in Chattogram is set to start its operation in June, said Chittagong Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral M Shahjahan*

“After the opening of the terminal, it’ll be possible to handle 145 million TEUS containers in a year,” he said.

Shahjahan revealed the information while talking at a views-exchange meeting with Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley, Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Enrico Nunziata and a BGMEA delegation at the port building on Sunday.

“At present, Chattogram port has the capacity to contain 50,000 TEUs containers. Now there are 39,000 TEUS containers at the port. Once the Bay terminal and Patenga terminal are opened, it’ll help enhance the capacity of the port,” he said.

Italian Ambassador Enrico Nunziata said, “Bangladeshi products are popular in Italy and a ship was launched on the Italy-Bangladesh route which creates huge opportunities to enhance trade between the two countries. Hope, the trade relations between the two countries will be strengthened further.”

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said BGMEA has been working relentlessly for the development of the garment sector as Bangladesh’s apparel has a demand in different countries due its design and quality.

“We hope the sector will grow further with our united efforts.”


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## Bilal9

Air Astra to start domestic flights in March​*Hasan Al Javed*
18 Jan 2022 00:00:00 | Update: 18 Jan 2022 00:05:30





*Air Astra, a new private airline company in the country, is set to start operations on domestic routes in March*

It has already signed a deal with Dubai Aerospace Enterprise to lease three ATR 72-600 (Dash) aircraft, the most fuel-efficient regional airplane.

“Dubai Aerospace Enterprise will send the three aircraft to France next month for a maintenance check. If the planes get clearance, the company will deliver those to us,” Imran Asif, chief executive officer of Air Astra, told The Business Post.

“We will need two separate no-objection certificates – from the commerce ministry and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) – to bring the three aircraft here,” he said.

He further said his company was ready to provide comfortable and passenger-friendly services. 

“After receiving the planes, we may need two to three weeks to start flights. The timeframe will depend on an inspection by CAAB,” the Air Astra chief executive added.

Two of the three aircraft the company will receive are now operated by Myanmar Airways International Company. The other is operated by Saudi Arabia’s Nesma Airlines on the country’s domestic routes.

Imran hopes they will lease four more aircraft from the same company if it provides good service. 

Before joining Air Astra, he served as the chief executive officer of Regent Airways and US-Bangla Airlines.

Air Astra has already recruited manpower in various departments, including ground operations, cabin service, aviation security and safety, and flight operations.

It is using the Regent Airways office in the capital’s Uttara as its head office as the latter is not in operation at present.

Regent Airways suspended flight operations in March 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak and has not resumed that yet.

*The civil aviation authority said another private airline company, Fly Dhaka, was also planning to start commercial flights on domestic routes this year.*

Apart from national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines, two private companies – US-Bangla and NovoAir – currently operate domestic flights.


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## Bilal9

Frame Body, Fuel Tank and Mud guards being press blanked and welded at Runner Motorbike factory.
Runner is one of the larger brands making a majority of all parts in Bangladesh from scratch. They also supply OEM spec parts for local assembly factories of global brands like Honda and Suzuki.


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## Bilal9

------------------------------------------------------------

Meghna Group Video Brochure





------------------------------------------------------------

Duranta Cycle Factory Manufacturing, A concern of RFL


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro MRT-6 Line station construction updates


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## Bilal9

Sunset Bay to invest in Teknaf’s Sabrang Tourism Park​The company will build five-star hotels, swimming pools and restaurants.​View of Sabrang Tourism Park at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar.





*Highlights:*

*Sunset Bay Limited will invest $19.2 million in Sabrang Tourism Park.*
*BEZA will provide 1 acre of land to Sunset Bay Limited for the park.*
*The company will build five-star hotels, swimming pools and restaurants.*
*It will create employment for around 350 people.*
Sunset Bay Limited will invest $19.2 million for the development of Sabrang Tourism Park in Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar.
The company's plans for the park include building five-star hotels, swimming pools and restaurants, said sources.

An agreement was signed to this effect between the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) and Sunset Bay Limited on Wednesday. BEZA Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury presided over the meeting.

Under this agreement, BEZA will provide 1 acre of land to Sunset Bay Limited for the construction of multiple structures in the Sabrang Tourism Park. The company expects to create employment for around 350 people.

According to BEZA sources, the Sabrang Tourism Park will take up 1047 acres. There are plans to set up a food corner, an open stage for cultural events on the beach, a reserve forest to maintain environmental balance, a recreation center, stalls selling local products, a children's park, an underwater world, and a botanical garden in the area to attract domestic and foreign tourists.

If the master plan for the development of the park is executed, around 39,000 tourists will be able to visit it every day, creating direct employment for about 6,000 people.

Several activities, including construction of administrative buildings, defense dams, bridges, culverts, and land development are currently underway in the Sabrang Tourism Park.

Plans for the development of the park were unveiled in February last year.

Paban Chowdhury said, "BEZA is working on the development of three tourism parks with the aim of developing the country's tourism industry. Various local and foreign companies are already showing interest in investing in these parks."

Ishtiaq Ahmed Patwari, chairman of Sunset Bay Limited, said they would start work as soon as the land was ready.

Sabrang Tourism Park is located in Sabrang union of Teknaf upazila in Cox's Bazar. It is located about 450km away from Dhaka and about 82km from Cox's Bazar city. The site is ideal for the development of the tourism industry by virtue of its blue waters and the fact that it is away from the hustle and bustle of Cox's Bazar busy sea beach.

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## Bilal9

Bike manufacturing from Bangladesh is a burgeoning export sector - it is now the third largest manufacturer and exporter.


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## Bilal9

We recently lost one of the pioneers of the RMG revolution in Bangladesh - Nasir Uddin of Pacific Jeans Group. Although he has passed, he leaves a shining legacy of the entrepreneurial "can-do" spirit in the Bangladesh RMG sector. Inam Ahmed recounts his personal friendship with this RMG legend who did more than his fair bit in moving the wheel of development forward in Bangladesh.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goodbye Nasir bhai, you never got to tell me about the Japanese market​Industrialist Nasir Uddin breathed his last on Monday in Thailand. The Business Standard’s Editor Inam Ahmed reminisces about a dearly departed friend​Nasir Uddin. Sketch: TBS




Nasir Uddin. Sketch: TBS

*Nasir bhai and I were dining at the Peninsula Hotel in Chittagong. It was 2011, if I am right. He was a person of fine choice and his orders were grand too. Outsized lobsters, so humongous which I had never seen before.*

In the din of the restaurant, his voice sounded soft, as always. His trademark smile on his face. Sparkling, kind eyes. That is the image of Nasir bhai I will always cherish in my heart every time I feel the pang of loss.

Loss of a true friend, a man with immense zest for life and vision. A man who knew how to make a wish and then work to make that come true.

"How did you make your jeans miracle?" I put my question to Nasir bhai that night.

"It all happened in Colombo 27 years ago," he said. "You know Inam bhai, I was born into a business family. My father and grandfather were Khatunganj traders. So business runs in my blood."

So on that summer night, he was on a business trip to Colombo, mainly for ship-breaking affairs and dining at a swanky restaurant with his local business partner. The Sri Lankan man then introduced him to a business magnate who was into readymade garments.

"Do you know, Bangladesh might be a good place to start readymade garment industries. Low labour cost is the main catch," the apparel entrepreneur said.

Nasir bhai's business instincts rang loud inside his head. He started probing the apparel factory owner about how the garment business takes place, who are the buyers and who the suppliers are.

That night back in the hotel, he immediately rang up his business link in Japan and asked him to prepare a feasibility report on the RMG industry in Bangladesh.

"A month later, the report came and the Colombo man was right. Bangladesh has all the right reasons to be a garment hub," Nasir Bhai rasped. "I immediately started planning where to set up my factory. I flew to Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, then both garment hubs, in search of the right people.

I roped in two factory managers, ordered machinery from Japan and recruited 600 workers. They knew nothing about sewing machines. So they were given training."

Finally, in 1984, his factory was ready to produce. He also got a buyer from Minnesota who ordered 24,000 pieces of basic shirts.

"We all were so excited. We worked day and night. Order price was quite good and so we booked air cargo and sent 15,000 pieces of the order," Nasir Bhai stopped.

"Wow, that was a great beginning. Such a cakewalk," I remember telling him.

"You think so Inam bhai. It was not. That order almost broke me. That order put me in so much distress and despair."

As it happened, the order was successfully carried out but the payment never came. After writing dozens of mails and making frantic phone calls, it transpired that the US company had gone bust. So the total shipment was a lost case.

"My apparel dream became a nightmare," Nasir Bhai recalled. "It was a tough struggle for us as we had to pay salaries to 600 workers every month. The first year was fruitless. I was not to give up."

His mentor in Colombo and Japanese advisers told him to go around global trade fairs and look for good buyers.

Nasir bhai spent the next three years visiting the major apparel fairs - from Cologne's Interjeans Fair to Las Vegas' Magic Show.

But that bore little fruit too because Bangladesh was not known as an apparel source. In garments, timely and quality shipment is all that matters.

But luck finally shined on him and he got an order from Jordache, a now-defunct brand but then a big name.

From then on Nasir bhai had no turn-back. His factory rolled again and workers got busy.

"But I was mainly doing low-end orders," said Nasir bhai. "But I had high ambition. It was a time when the apparel business was shifting from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore.

So there were a lot of foreigners looking for jobs. I started expanding, recruiting people and shifted my factory to the Chittagong EPZ. That was 1994."

*Six years down the line Nasir bhai was strolling down Fifth Avenue in New York with his son Tanvir.

"I stopped in front of a GAP store and went inside and looked up the trousers on the front rack - all marked made in the US and Mexico. I told my son: One day soon, my products will be on these racks. I tell you."

It took him only one and a half years to make the wish happen.*

"Now you will find my products on the front racks in New York Gap stores," he said.

A few years after that first meeting with Nasir bhai, I again sat with him at a banker's drawing-room in Gulshan.

"Nasir bhai, what are you up to?"

"Inam bhai, I am working on the Japan market. It is a tough place where you have to maintain extremely high quality. They want perfection. Just a little odd cut, which you would not even notice, and your whole order is cancelled."

"If it is that hard, why waste your time there?" I asked.

Nasir Bhai's eyes sparkled. "That is my challenge. I tell you, I will make it happen."

After that I often called him, asking him about his Japan venture, especially whenever I wanted to write about the Japanese market.

It would often happen that he would pick the call sitting in a Japanese hotel. But he would not give much detail about the market.

One day he said: "Let me come back this time and I will have a long session with you on the Japan market. I can't make you understand it just by talking over the phone."

Then he called me one day. "Where are you?"

Incidentally, I was in Chittagong going to Thanchi.

"I am in your town but I have to leave for Thanchi, Nasir bhai," I said.

"How are you going?"

"Probably by bus. Not sure."

"Where are you now?"

"At the bus terminal."

"Wait. Don't go. I am sending you a car."

In half an hour, a microbus came and off I went. When I returned, Nasir bhai was off on a foreign tour. So we did not meet.

After that, we had not met again. And last night, to my disbelief I saw news of his death flashing on my mobile screen. I was dumbfounded.

I never got to know the secret of the Japanese market, Nasir bhai. I will hear it someday.

Inam Ahmed. Illustration: TBS




Inam Ahmed. Illustration: TBS


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## Bilal9

Brand BGMEA69,776 followers1w • 1 week ago

𝐁𝐆𝐌𝐄𝐀 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐌𝐆 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲

BGMEA Vice President Miran Ali (米然·阿里）attended a meeting with Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) and the representatives of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark in Copenhagen on February 18.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the next stage of Circular Fashion Partnership (CFP), a project collaborated by BGMEA under the vision of President Faruque Hassan to promote circularity in the RMG industry of Bangladesh.

The initiative "Circular Fashion Partnership" aims to achieve a long-term, scalable transition to a circular fashion system.

The partnership facilitates circular commercial collaborations between major fashion brands, textile and garment manufacturers, and recyclers to develop and implement new systems to capture and direct post-production fashion waste back into the production of new fashion products.

BGMEA Vice President Miran Ali apprised the meeting of all the good works of Bangladesh’s apparel sector on sustainability and highlighted green revolutions and commitments.

He asserted commitment of BGMEA to continue its efforts to promote circularity in the RMG sector by scaling the recycling capacity in Bangladesh and generating more value from these waste streams.


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## Bilal9

People First, Planet Second, Profit Third: Naved Husain Syed​Naved Husain Syed asks, “What is fashion?” and then booms with laughter. “Well, fashion is a conspiracy! It’s a conspiracy to make you think your wardrobe is obsolete.” *It might seem funny to hear a man who supplies everyone in the rag trade from Dior to Michael Kors, Calvin Klein and Zara to espouse such contrarian views.*







But then, as Group Director and CEO of the wildly profitable textiles and apparel division of Bangladesh Export Import Company – the multinational conglomerate more commonly known as Beximco – Naved can pretty much say or think whatever he pleases. Besides, anyone who knows him well also knows his sense of humour is surpassed only by his business wiles.

Beximco dominates the Bangladeshi pharmaceutical, ceramics, textiles and technology industries, and Naved has been there right from the start. He went to school with the Group’s billionaire Founders, Sohail and Salman Rahman. After hobnobbing around Silicon Valley and Stanford University, he made the move back to Dhaka in 1994 to help the Rahman brothers build their textiles arm. “I don’t think any of us were driven by money,” he reflects.

“More by big ideas.” Naved immediately recognised an opportunity, coining the concept of ‘verticalisation’ years before it became a manufacturing buzzword. “It became clear to me the future of fashion was speed to market,” he says.

“The problem with fashion is it’s so fickle – if the weather changes, if tastes change, if some celebrity wears red, then blue stops selling, and products are marked down. Profit is lost. My take was we had to think vertically, understand the consumer, know what they want and offer clients a one-stop shop. Start with cotton, make the yarn, make the fabric and make the garment – all in one location.”

Nearly three decades on, Naved is still thinking vertically and acting disruptively. “Beximco is a trendsetter. We do things differently,” he explains. “Our mindset is that our people should come from a technical background. It’s why the people in research and development have PhDs. We see ourselves as a technology company, rather than just a fashion company.

*“By December this year we will have a smart lab, sampling unit and denims school in New York. This will be connected directly to our washing plant in Dhaka. US designers will be able to go to our smart lab in New York and develop their collections, and millions of pieces of bulk will be produced and shipped from Dhaka in a very short time.”*

Recent advances in sustainable technologies are what excite Naved the most. “Sustainability is one area where we’ve applied our verticalisation model, and we have a big focus on water. Namely, how do we use less of it? We can now make knits, denims, non-denims, all at scale, and using 10 times less water than before,” he explains.

“And by investing in building the world’s most advanced washing plant under one roof, we can now wash denim jeans without using any water. We’ve also built the world’s most advanced effluent treatment plant, and now we’re working on rainwater harvesting.” Naved believes Beximco’s success comes with certain collective responsibilities.






“In this company, it’s people first, planet second, profit third,” he insists. “So my most important stakeholders are our 70,000 employees – how can we make things better for them? And my next most important are the 170 million or so people of Bangladesh – what can we do for them?”

That question became less rhetorical when COVID-19 struck. Bangladesh employs around four million garment workers, and Naved estimated that with a 50 per cent drop in garment sales in 2020, it potentially translated into more than two million people being laid off. “We were thinking, ‘We cannot do that,’” he recalls.

“Looking at history, I thought about how some of the greatest companies in the world were created during recessions. We couldn’t just pack up and surrender. I believe where there’s a problem, there will always be an opportunity.” And that opportunity was found in personal protective equipment.

“When PPE shot up, we were already in pharmaceuticals, producing 10–12 million garments a day, with 40,000 workers in Bangladesh. PPE comes in two types. There are the disposables – masks, gowns and coveralls – and there are washables, re-usables. Not only that, we invested a few hundred million dollars and 25 acres [10 hectares] of land and, in under six months, we had built South Asia’s most advanced world-class PPE plant.”

When asked for the secret behind Beximco’s success, Naved doesn’t hesitate. “Thinking big, then taking a big knife and driving it straight through the heart of bureaucracy. We hire the best, then empower them, let them loose and get out of their way. Once we establish the vision, we execute that vision faster than any company I’ve seen in the world.”

*By way of example, Naved points to the company’s stunningly beautiful base of operations, Beximco Industrial Park. “When we first envisaged it, consultants told us it would take five years. So we tore up their proposal and built it in 18 months,” he laughs. “Execution has always been our strength. We talk less, we do more.”*

Naved grins again. “What we’re doing puts Beximco in a whole new ball game,” he says. He pauses, correcting himself with a chuckle. ‘Actually, that’s a baseball analogy. This is Bangladesh, we love cricket here. Beximco even has its own cricket team – they’re called the Dhaka Dynamites.” Well, of course they are.


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## Bilal9

Walton to launch printers​
Staff Correspondent
24 February, 2022 12:00 AM
Print news






Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited is going to release printers in the market soon.

Walton will initially roll out two models of printers with 'Printon' packaging name. *The printers will be launched with a variety of features, including fastest wireless printing*, said a press release.

The Printon PMF22 model Walton printer, priced at Tk 16,750, has multi-tasking facilities for which users can print, scan and photocopy with the device. Printon PS22 model printer, priced at Tk 11,750, is for printing purpose only.

*The main features of the Walton printer are 22 (A4) to 23 (letter) ppm print speed, 1200X1200 Dpi resolution, 600 MHZ processor and 128 megabytes of memory with USB cable connection and wireless printing facilities.*

The multi-function printer has network printing option which will ease extra hassles in official usages.

Walton Printer's Project Manager Md Shahdiuzzaman said that Walton printers has one-step installation feature for which it can easily be installed with just one click and general users will get more entertainment in printer usages.

Walton has also released toners for both printers. The TNR16 model toner is priced at BDT 1,985 only. Customers can also get toner refill kit weighing 65g at Tk 650.

*The toner and refill kit are available at every Walton showrooms. Customers will get warranty facility for up to 1 year on these two printers.*


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## Indos

This is why I oppose BD to build nuclear plant, it becomes a target. Small research nuclear plant can still be built if BD wants









Fire breaks out at Ukraine nuclear plant amid Russia attack: minister


"If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chornobyl!" the minister said, referring to one of the world's worst nuclear disasters that occurred in 1986 at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.




www.thejakartapost.com

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## AmiEktaKharapChele

Indos said:


> This is why I oppose BD to build nuclear plant, it becomes a target. Small research nuclear plant can still be built if BD wants
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fire breaks out at Ukraine nuclear plant amid Russia attack: minister
> 
> 
> "If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chornobyl!" the minister said, referring to one of the world's worst nuclear disasters that occurred in 1986 at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.thejakartapost.com



We've had a research TRIGA 3 reactor since the 80s

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## Indos

Kharap Foa said:


> We've had a research TRIGA 3 reactor since the 80s



Yup, BD can make more modern one, while I think second nuclear plant for power plant should be scrapped, even if possible the first nuclear plant should be scrapped as well. I think it is too danger if war break out, the plant can be one of the site that the opponent will threaten to attack.


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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> Yup, BD can make more modern one, while I think second nuclear plant for power plant should be scrapped, even if possible the first nuclear plant should be scrapped as well. I think it is too danger if war break out, the plant can be one of the site that the opponent will threaten to attack.



Well first nuclear plant is too late to be scrapped. Construction is almost 100% complete and equipment install/setup is also close to 75% done...

Hasina already talking about the second one, budget has been approved.

So - Indonesia does not have Nuclear Power Plants?


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## Bilal9

Direct shipping to EU is in full swing, multiple berthings occuring every month to carry containers direct to EU ports.


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## AmiEktaKharapChele

Bilal9 said:


> So - Indonesia does not have Nuclear Power Plants?




They do not. They do operate multiple research reactors however...


Also, might have a NPP planned but @Indos would know better.


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## Bilal9

Kharap Foa said:


> They do not. They do operate multiple research reactors however...
> 
> 
> Also, might have a NPP planned but @Indos s would know better.



Now that I think about it, maybe there are reasons why. Earthquakes and Tsunamis to start with probably....

@Indos I hope you'd correct me if I'm wrong....

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## AmiEktaKharapChele

Bilal9 said:


> Now that I think about it, maybe there are reasons why. Earthquakes and Tsunamis to start with probably....
> 
> @Indos I hope you'd correct me if I'm wrong....




That's the same reasoning I came up with lol 😂


Maybe it's true


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## Indos

Bilal9 said:


> Now that I think about it, maybe there are reasons why. Earthquakes and Tsunamis to start with probably....
> 
> @Indos I hope you'd correct me if I'm wrong....



We have several nuclear reactors only for research and Soekarno has plan to make a nuclear bomb in 1960's but after Soeharto take the lead our nuclear program is only for research and produce nuclear material for commercial needs. 

Nuclear Power in Indonesia​_(Updated December 2021)_


*Indonesia has a greater depth of experience and infrastructure in nuclear technology than any other country in southeast Asia.*





__





Nuclear Power in Indonesia - World Nuclear Association


Indonesia, Indonesian nuclear power policy, Indonesian nuclear energy, Electricity use in Indonesia, BATAN nuclear power plant, Jakarta's energy policy, Proposed nuclear sites at Muria, Banten, Bangka Island




world-nuclear.org

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## Indos

Island like Kalimantan dont have mountain and dont have earth quick. We have plenty of region that is save to build a nuclear plant.

We have research reactor near Jakarta actually and the plan is to make another one which is more modern in the same complex in Serpong. There is research going on to build Thorium nuclear plant and our SOE like PT Rekayasa Engineering have made the design of the nuclear reactor while for PT PAL the government has asked them to build thorium nuclear reactor with cooperation with US company

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## Bilal9

Indos said:


> We have several nuclear reactors only for research and Soekarno has plan to make a nuclear bomb in 1960's but after Soeharto take the lead our nuclear program is only for research and produce nuclear material for commercial needs.
> 
> Nuclear Power in Indonesia​_(Updated December 2021)_
> 
> 
> *Indonesia has a greater depth of experience and infrastructure in nuclear technology than any other country in southeast Asia.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nuclear Power in Indonesia - World Nuclear Association
> 
> 
> Indonesia, Indonesian nuclear power policy, Indonesian nuclear energy, Electricity use in Indonesia, BATAN nuclear power plant, Jakarta's energy policy, Proposed nuclear sites at Muria, Banten, Bangka Island
> 
> 
> 
> 
> world-nuclear.org



Yeah I was always convinced that technologically having nuclear power plants was never a challenge for Indonesia, it is why they never went that route was the question...


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## Bilal9

“The bigger the crisis, the bigger the opportunity”: Mahtab Uddin Ahmed​Transformation is nothing new to the telco industry; in fact, it’s a huge focus. The industry’s top players have been continuously reshaping themselves to stay viable and thrive in an ever-changing landscape where technology is king.






And the ones that have been most successful are those with strong, future-forward leaders who’ve had the imagination to envision how things can be different and the courage to make that vision a reality, all while inspiring their teams to join the journey. Robi Axiata CEO and Managing Director Mahtab Uddin Ahmed is one such leader.

He joined the company in 2010 as the CFO and continued climbing the corporate ladder, securing the COO position in 2014 followed by the CEO and Managing Director position in 2016. In his relatively short time with Robi, Mahtab has witnessed significant transformation; and he’s played an integral role in much of it.

“When I first joined, the company was on losing ground,” he recalls. “Robi had always been the number two player in the marketplace but, at that time, it fell back to number three. It was going through a transition and wasn’t in very good shape as a result. So when I joined, I knew that I had a massive transformation journey ahead of me.”

The company started in 1997 as Telekom Malaysia International (Bangladesh) with the brand name Aktel. That transition Mahtab speaks of is when the company rebranded itself i, changing its name to Robi Axiata. He had reached his pinnacle at Unilever and was craving a challenge. This was the perfect opportunity for him to shake things up and make his mark on a struggling telco.

“To me, the bigger the crisis, the bigger the opportunity,” Mahtab says. “I came in at a time when the company was very traditional; not much innovation was there. And since then, we’ve seen Robi grow very, very fast. We started investing in the marketplace, and those investments started yielding benefits. We were able to take over the number two position again.”

Little did he know at that time that this wouldn’t be the last transformation, crisis or opportunity he would lead the company through. The next few years with mergers, COVID-19, an unfavourable regulatory regime and more would certainly satisfy Mahtab’s craving for a challenge.
Digital transformation​A subsidiary company of Asian telecom giant Axiata Group, Robi is the second-largest mobile network operator in Bangladesh. By the end of June 2021, the company had close to 52 million subscribers; a number that continues to grow.






However, it’s likely that Robi wouldn’t have been in this position today if it weren’t for the keen foresight it had back in 2016 to merge with Airtel Bangladesh – the largest merger for the country and the first ever merger in Bangladesh’s mobile telecom sector. “The merger was a ‘make or break’ kind of situation. If we couldn’t make that merger successful, Robi would have been in a very difficult position,” Mahtab admits.

“That was the lowest I’ve seen Robi go in my entire career with the company, and it’s also when I became CEO. My first task was to make the merger with Airtel successful. And it was. The merger was hugely successful.” It was so successful, in fact, that Robi gained subscribers, a very uncommon phenomenon in the telecom industry during a merger.

“It was a very complex merger. But because of the team that I had at that point in time, we successfully managed to do that. And we also gained market share that year of the merger, despite a lot of challenges. It was another great turnaround story for us.”
The merger with Airtel gave Robi two important things: it made the telco number one in terms of pricing perceptions and it made it number one in terms of being a youthcentric brand. However, in true Robi fashion, the company didn’t follow the crowd – it did the merger on its terms.

“Research shows that when a merger happens between two telcos, a dual brand is not a very successful proposition globally,” Mahtab explains. “So I took a different stand. My philosophy was not to kill the brand, but rather use it to benefit our overall portfolio. And today, we’ve been able to maintain this dual brand quite successfully.”



> My first task was to make the merger with airtel successful. And it was. The merger was hugely successful.



Following the successful merger, Mahtab focused his attention on turning Robi into a digital company. “We have to be digital. Otherwise, we cannot create a unique proposition,” he says.

“One thing I learned from 3G and my past experience, in terms of technology, is that if you’re not ahead of the competition, then you’ll always be behind and you won’t be considered an innovative brand.

“So, based on this, we made something big happen in 2018 – we took the bold step of undertaking the massive rollout of 4G technology in our network from the very beginning when our competitors adopted a gradual approach. And within a day of its launch, we made it available in all 64 of Bangladesh’s districts.”

The risk paid off – Robi gained the leadership position. By the end of June 2021, it created the 4G network with more than 13,000 sites, ensuring the largest population coverage (98%) in the industry. Continuing to ride the wave, the company also went on to successfully conduct a trial run of 5G.

And later, it became the first operator in the country to launch Voice over LTE technology “Now, anything new that comes, Robi continues to stay number one,” Mahtab confirms. “We’ve transformed in a big way over the past five years. And our performance has been quite good by all means, both competitively and internally. Our people have become digitally minded. And I’m happy to say that this team who thinks digitally has brought us to where we are today.”

Being number one​Having been with Robi since 2010, Mahtab was in a unique position to see what was working and what wasn’t. “I’ve been with the organisation for many years, and the mistakes that we were making became quite obvious to me,” he says.






“Robi was not number one in anything. We were number two in nearly everything. But the past has taught me that it’s very important to be number one in something. You don’t have to be number one in everything, but it’s imperative to have at least one thing at the number one position to be successful.”

Mahtab remembers back to when Robi was more of a regional player. It had a strong position in the eastern market and part of central, but its presence in the north and south was practically nil.

“I could see the opportunity in investing in the entire country,” he reflects. When he became CEO, Mahtab started to make it happen, focusing on what he refers to as north and south of Bangladesh and, so far, Robi has received a “tremendously positive” result.

“As a country, we have a massive opportunity because of the low penetration level. True penetration here is around 55%, and the opportunity in the north and south is even more,” he says. “In addition, the economy is growing, which is great news because it will make our services more affordable for the people of our country.”

As Mahtab looks to the next few years, his focus remains starkly on digital. “We believe the future is digital,” he predicts. “That’s why we created a subsidiary to create digital products. As you continue to grow, your challenges become tougher, and you need to keep on changing your goalpost. This is just another way we’re doing that.”

Robi doesn’t do something just for the sake of doing it. No, the company with Mahtab’s visionary leadership is highly strategic with each and every move, contributing to the bigger picture. Like in 2020, Robi changed its slogan when ‘Ignite the power within’ no longer fit.

“It was a very powerful and famous slogan, but we changed it to match the new look and feel of Robi. We wanted a more modern, digital look to further our digital aspirations,” he says. Robi’s new tagline ‘Life-e notun experience’, which uses both Bangla and English, denotes the changing landscape of a society that is becoming increasingly comfortable using both languages.

It comes as part of the company’s long-term commitment to transforming itself into a full-fledged digital company, working towards enabling a better future for all through digital innovation. “In English, it means that we’re giving a new experience to your digital lifestyle,” Mahtab explains.

“With it, we’re making promises to our customers that if they stay with us, then they’ll get new digital lifestyle products. We make the promise, and we stand by that promise. So we will have a factory that will continue to introduce new products to meet people’s expectations.”

In addition to the digital aspect, Robi is also placing bets on the enterprise business, heavily investing in this area throughout Bangladesh. “No-one has really stepped into this opportunity yet. We’ve been on this journey since 2014 and are getting stronger by the day,” Mahtab says. “And we’ve already managed to secure the number one position in SMEs.”

Tech-savvy telco​To meet the needs of its business-to-business customers and stay ahead of the competition, Robi continually invests in the latest technological advancements. As such, it has a powerful data centre, replete with security measures, and instead of keeping it all to itself, the company is extending the data centre facilities to its B2B customers.






“It can bring a lot of synergy with little incremental cost, allowing us to serve a bigger customer base,” Mahtab points out. “We have created so many products to meet the requirements of our B2B customers’ end-to-end requirements, starting from data storage in the cloud to selling different software such as Microsoft. And we have industry-specific solutions and an IoT platform, fintech platform and entertainment platform.

We’re just going for a complete range of products in addition to connectivity, and even all of this is only the tip of the iceberg.” It really sets the company apart from its competitors. “Since I’ve taken over as CEO, Robi has taken leadership in technology,” Mahtab says.

“Robi is playing for future play. We don’t focus much on voice because, to us, it’s not the future of telco. The future is data.” Since Robi began its digitalisation journey in 2016, the company has navigated the pandemic with relative ease. “COVID-19 has been tremendously difficult for our country,” he concedes.

“Yet, even with this crisis, we have not suffered. Robi has proven, over the past five years, that whenever it goes into a crisis, it comes out stronger than ever before. “We did not suffer as much as our competition did because we started digitalising early on. So, even with lockdown, our revenue grew steadily because we had all of the enablers already in place. And on top of that, we also managed our profitability quite well.”

Mahtab admits that none of this success would’ve been possible without his team. That’s why Robi invests so heavily in its people. They’re the foundation of its current and future success. “At the end of the day, whatever success we get is driven by our people. If your people aren’t digitally minded, then your organisation won’t be digitally minded,” he warns.



> Telco in Bangladesh is a very difficult business proposition, primarily because it’s very highly taxed, unlike many other countries.



“So we have a certification course for AAA that’s all about AI, agility and analytics. As of today, more than 75% of our resources are AAA certified. Even I have 144 advanced-level, course-completed resources in the areas of blockchain, AI, robotics, cybersecurity and more. We’re striving to create a good pool of tech-savvy talent.”

Even more, Mahtab explains that as a growing country, Bangladesh has a lot of young talent. And Robi strives to bring the very best on board by offering plenty of opportunity for the aspiring professionals.

“We have the Robi 10 Minute School, which is the biggest online school today. It’s unparalleled,” he smiles. “We also have bdapps, and five years back when we started this journey, everyone was laughing at us. Then, people didn’t really believe in what we were doing.

“Today, however, Robi is the only one who has it, and it’s successful. More than 34,000 apps are on this platform now and, I’d say, more than 17,000 app developers are contributing to it and making huge money out of it.” The company does 50–50 revenue sharing with the app developers, which is paving the way for young talent to develop apps and sell them on its platform.

“With digital entrepreneurship development platform R-Ventures, we are supporting young talents to convert their brilliant ideas into reality with financial and mentorship support,” Mahtab says.

Revolutionary relationships​In Bangladesh, being a telco comes with plenty of challenge, and government over-regulation and regulatory unpredictability is something even Robi can’t innovate out of. However, the company does get by more easily with the help of some friends and, in this case, those friends are its strategic business partnerships.






“Telco in Bangladesh is a very difficult business proposition, primarily because it’s very highly taxed, unlike many other countries,” Mahtab says. “It’s one of the worst in terms of taxation. So it puts us under quite a lot of pressure even though we have been around for so long. A lot of our future growth depends on the government’s policies.

“Therefore, any telco success largely depends on stakeholders. In our case, we currently depend on two big vendors – Huawei and Ericsson. Both of them have played a significant role in our entire journey.”

Mahtab credits Huawei for increasing its 4G network in the north and south, and being proactive, allowing Robi to give customers a better overall experience. And Ericsson, he reveals, did a lot of innovation work with the company in terms of dynamic spectrum sharing. “It was revolutionary,” he asserts.

“These partnerships go beyond the buying and selling of products. We work jointly to create new products, and that’s exactly the kind of relationship you want to have with your partners.” He admits, though, that he doesn’t believe in being too dependent on any one vendor or stakeholder.



> A lot of my success with robi today is due to being put outside my comfort zone.



“While you need to have an excellent relationship with them and have them as a learning partner, it’s not a good idea to become overdependent on them to a point where you become vulnerable,” he says. “So I’m a firm believer in developing alternate vendors. It’s also just a matter of responsibility of corporate houses to create opportunity for newcomers.”

A guided aspiration​From “CEO sprinters” (those who reach the CEO role faster than average) to taking the slow-and-steady approach, there’s no single path to becoming CEO of a company. However, research shows that the average CEO tends to put in roughly 24 years before securing this highly esteemed position in a company.






For Mahtab, his journey to the top took a couple of intentional decades. “I always wanted to be a businessman,” he shares – and he put in the work to get there. “I worked 17 years at Unilever and then another six or seven years at Robi before getting to where I am today. It’s been my guided aspiration to become CEO. And that’s the way I was building myself.”

At Unilever, he started off in finance as a management trainee. From there, he shot up through the ranks. “I kept growing very, very fast,” he remembers.

“I thought like an entrepreneur and always looked at the bigger picture. Plus, when you work in finance, you gain a holistic overview of operations and get into the details. So the initial stage helped tremendously in my development.”

Unilever was also a great starting point in that it familiarised Mahtab with processes, systems and governance. The company also gave him experience in different countries, which taught him how to adapt to new cultures and environments. “I received a lot of learning during that part of my career,” he reveals.

“But then I got bored at Unilever, doing the same thing for too long. So, when I joined Robi, I was looking for that big change where I could really contribute, and it gave me that platform. There was a huge transformation going on, and I was happy to be a part of it as CFO.”

Being CFO laid the foundation for Mahtab’s progression to CEO, teaching him important skills to carry in his toolkit. “When you are CFO, you can’t only look at the holistic view. You also have to fix the challenges that might come up in terms of governance, people’s motivations and that sort of thing,” he explains.

“In this role, I worked with the leadership team to change the mindset of the people, bring collaboration into the culture and create the governance in such a way that would allow these changes, that would allow trust. This formed the groundwork for my subsequent journey as COO, which provided another great learning.”

One of Mahtab’s best traits is his authenticity. He never pretends to be something he’s not. Case in point, during his reign as COO, he admits he might not have been the best person for the job.

“I think I was average in terms of performance,” he acknowledges. “It was a challenging time for me. But it did teach me a lot of things about sales and marketing, and the challenges the business faces. And I give a lot of credit to my leaders who pushed me to try my hand at this difficult job. In fact, a lot of my success with Robi today is due to being put outside my comfort zone.”

A comfort zone is comfortable, but it’s no place for growth. And Robi was grooming Mahtab to become CEO. It saw a lot of potential in him and therefore, invested heavily in his growth. “Axiata has a great people development strategy,” he says.

“Even before taking over the CEO position, they put me into the Advanced Management Program at Harvard. That was a real eye-opener that armed me with unbelievable knowledge for taking over as CEO.”

In addition, Robi also gave Mahtab six months to work from the head office, helping him improve his connections with the team members there. “I owe a lot to my group leadership team for developing me and urging me to take on these challenging positions,” he says.

“And I’m extremely lucky to have worked at Unilever and now at Robi, where they put in a lot of effort to develop me, making me who I am today.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since this story was published, Mahtab Bhai has moved on to other ventures.


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## Bilal9

Vegetable exports on rise​Bangladesh fetches $118.73m in FY21​
ANM Mohibub Uz Zaman
2nd March, 2022 09:59:47 AM
Print news




An array of vegetables has been put on display on the 2nd day of the three-day National Vegetable Fair at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh in the capital on Tuesday. — sun Photo

Vegetable exports have bounced back in the last few years due to different initiatives taken by the government to meet the phytosanitary requirements of the importing countries.

Bangladesh fetched $118.73 million from vegetable exports in FY 2020-21, $163.9 million in FY 2019-20 and $100 million in FY 2018-19, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.


The value of vegetable exports was only $46.8 million in FY 2009-10 and $104.34 million in FY 2015-2016, EPB data suggest. Vegetable exports soared by 11.60 percent to $59.57 million during the July-January period in FY 2020-21 from $53.38 million during the same period in FY 2019-20.


“The government has formulated a National Action Plan to support the production of pest-free and quality vegetables and fruits for domestic consumption and exports,” said Dr. Shamim Ahmed, additional deputy director (Tuber Crops, Vegetable and Spices) of Horticulture Wing of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).

“The action plan outlines the production and post-harvest management practices to produce high quality and safe vegetables and fruits to comply with national and international market standards, he added.

“Contract farming has been made mandatory in the action plan for the production and marketing of safe fruits and vegetables,” noted the official, adding that they have been setting up two international standard plant quarantine laboratories in the city’s Shyampur and Purbachal area.

The facility will help comply with the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS agreement) and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), he informed.

Bangladesh exports vegetables mainly to the UK, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Franc, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore and Lebanon.

The UAE, Malaysia, Qatar, UK, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are the largest importer of vegetables from Bangladesh.

The agriculture sector contributes around 13.29 per cent to the country’s GDP. Bangladesh now produces 100 species of vegetables.

*Bangladesh is now the third-largest producer of vegetables in the world. Vegetable outputs hit 1.97 crore tonnes from 9.35 lakh hectares of land in FY2020-21, according to data from the Department of Agricultural Extension.*


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## Bilal9

Bangladesh Startups are booming, especially in the Fintech sector.






This is an HSBC report from last year talking about Bangladesh moving up the value chain by exporting Electronics and Pharma.
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/06/...start-exporting-outside-the-country-hsbc.html

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## Bilal9

https://online.thedailystar.net/bytes/news/5-femtech-apps-you-should-check-out-today-2975201

These Bangladeshi apps are targeted at women.


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## Bilal9

https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-bangladesh-left-asias-growth-story


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## Bilal9

Giant pumpkins are being cultivated in *Arial Beel*. A *beel* (Bengali and Assamese: বিল) is a billabong or a lake-like wetland with static water (as opposed to moving water in rivers and canals. *Arial* *Beel* is the third largest wetland in Bangladesh. This *beel* covers an area of 136 sq. km. It is situated in Sreenagar Upazila of Munshiganj District. The Pumpkins grow underwater for some of the season (6-8 months) and and gets more nutrition underwater. No fertilizer is used. The weight of some of the pumpkins have exceeded 120 KG.

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh is one of the leading producers of various deep cycle Lead acid Batteries in the Asian/African region markets - with the exception of China.






Market Snapshot​






Study Period:2019-2027Base Year:2021CAGR:>3 %









Market Overview​The Bangladesh lead-acid battery market is expected to register a CAGR of more than 3 % during the forecast period of 2022-2027. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the Bangladesh lead-acid battery market negatively, as raw materials could not be sourced and further finished products could not be moved due to the lockdowns imposed all over the world. Furthermore, demand for automobiles which contain SLI batteries dipped due to the pandemic as people were shy to spend their money on non-essential items. In terms of growth of market, factors such as increasing sales of automobiles in the country and the low cost of lead, are likely to drive the lead-acid battery market during the forecast period. However, declining lithium-ion battery prices and increasing adoption of electric vehicles are likely to hinder the market growth during the forecast period.

SLI (Starting, Lighting, and Ignition) batteries are expected to dominate the Bangladesh lead-acid battery market during the forecast period, due to the booming automotive sector.
With the decreasing cost of solar PV equipment and supportive global initiatives to eliminate the carbon emissions and promote renewables by utilizing off-grid renewable energy projects. This is expected to create immense opportunities for the players involved in the Bangladesh lead-acid battery market soon.
The Bangladesh lead-acid battery market is likely to be driven by increasing installation of residential uninterrupted power supply system to counter the erratic power supply in the country.
Scope of the Report​The Bangladesh lead-acid battery market report includes:

TypeSLI (Starting, Lighting, and Ignition) BatteriesStationary Batteries (Telecom, UPS, Energy Storage Systems (ESS), etc.)Portable Batteries (Consumer Electronics, etc.)Others

TechnologyFloodedValve Regulated Battery
Report scope can be customized per your requirements. Click here.
Key Market Trends​SLI (Starting, Lighting, and Ignition) Batteries to Dominate the Market​
SLI batteries are designed for automobiles, and therefore, it is always installed with the vehicle's charging system, which means that there is a continuous cycle of charge and discharge in the battery whenever the vehicle is in use.
The major factors attributing to the growth of the SLI battery market in Bangladesh is the increasing demand for these batteries to start the internal combustion engines, power lights, motors, etc. Such batteries posess high performance, long life, and are cost-efficient. Besides, the market is witnessing significant growth due to an increase in the number of mobile towers.
Moreover, lead-acid battery is the technology of choice for all SLI battery applications in conventional combustion engine vehicles, such as cars and trucks worldwide. Furthermore, growth in the three-wheel vehicles in the country has contributed to the lead-acid battery market. The sales of vehicles in Bangladesh has risen continously over the past years with an exception for 2020, but, it is likely to pick up in the coming years.
Although the conventional combustion engine is expected to decline in Bangladesh over the next 30-40 years because of growth in electric vehicles, however, during the forecast period, the demand for SLI batties is likely to increase owing to increase in demand for conventional internal combustion engines vehicles in the country.
Therefore, based on the above-mentioned factors, SLI batteries are expected to dominate the lead-acid battery market in Bangladesh during the forecast period.






Increasing Number of Uninterrupted Power Supply Systems Driving the Market Demand​
The uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system uses an inverter that converts AC to DC and vice-versa to charge and discharge the battery. This system uses lead acid battery as a power source in tandem with inverter as it is cheap and poses good storage capacity of energy.
Bangladesh currently faces erratic power supply due to supply demand mismatch, transmission losses, low plant efficiency, electricity theft, and many more, leading to unreliable power supply, making UPS systems lucrative.
Between 2010-2020, Bangladesh has experienced significant economic growth. Therefore, the country's Gross National Income per capita has increased to 5,310 purchasing power parity dollars in 2020. This in turn is enabling people to afford better living standards and are accommodating UPS to tackle the erratic power supply.
Furthermore, the country has witnessed increasing number of cellular subscribers in the last decade. It has risen from 67.92 millions in 2010 to 170.14 million in 2020. This has led to capacity addition in form of telecommunication towers which require UPS systems. The number of cellular subscribers are expected to increase further during the forecast period, giving a push to UPS systems market and ultimately leading to growth of lead-acid battery market in the country.
Considering the above-mentioned points, increasing number of UPS systems in Bangladesh is expected to drive the demand for lead-acid batteries during the forecast period.





Competitive Landscape​The Bangladesh lead-acid battery market is moderately fragmented. Some of the key players in this market include Amara Raja Batteries Ltd, Panna Group, Rahimafrooz Ltd., Saif Powertec Limited, and Okaya Power Pvt. Ltd..
Major Players​
Amara Raja Batteries Ltd
Saif Powertec Limited
Panna Group.
Okaya Power Pvt. Ltd.
Rahimafrooz Ltd.





Recent Developments​
In February 2021, The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) of Bangladesh promulgated an Order (S.R.O No. 45-Act/2021) on battery recycling under the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995. The main provisions of this order includes the companies that are involved in the manufacture and recycling of *lead-acid batteries* shall appoint dealers and agents to collect used batteries. Also, companies shall obtain a Non-objection Certificate (NOC) from the DoE to obtain a license to import *lead-acid batteries*, and the importer shall sign a contract with a battery recycling company, etc.
​


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## Bilal9

Rundown of various Export zones in Bangladesh and their products


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## Chris Logan

My family is building a tech center in BD soon. We have electricity, Just waiting for the high-speed internet to arrive.

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## Bilal9

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Rundown of various Steelmakers in Bangladesh, specializing in TMT rod and Billet production.






GPH Ispat boasts ultramodern, eco-friendly 80 T Quantum EAF Furnace with a preheating system, ensuring an annual steel melting capacity of 840,000 MT/year. Along with existing melting capacity of 170,000 MT via its older Induction furnaces, the combined steelmaking capacity of GPH Ispat breaches 1 MnT per year. GPH is one of the three largest steelmakers locally. This is the first Quantum Technology furnace in the South Asia region and one of the first globally.

Bangladesh Steel Melting Capacity is slated to exceed 11 MnT by 2025.









GPH Ispat Commissions Operation at its Quantum EAF Furnace - SteelMint Events


GPH Ispat, one of the major steelmakers based in Chittagong, Bangladesh was long waiting the operationalizing of their Quantum Electric Arc Furnace, the




www.steelmintevents.com










*Bangladesh Steel Making Capacity*





*Bangladesh Scrap Import*





*Bangladesh Ship Dismantled*





*% Share of Bangladesh Scrap Importers in 2018*


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## Bilal9

Seven new Japanese-led Mega projects in Bangladesh.





The largest Japanese project is Matarbari deep sea port





Arrival of first mother vessel at Matarbari in mid-2021


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## Bilal9

Matarbari Port Report from Somoy TV


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport 3rd Terminal Update


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metrorail Line 6 update


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## Bilal9

The five lakes of Dhaka City

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## Bilal9

Ramna Lake improvements during Covid closure.

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## Bilal9

BGMEA has signed an MOU with Panda Biotech in Texas to commercialize the use of hemp and jute type fibers as suitable for clothing usage. It may be mentioned here that Jute production is native to Bangladesh and the fiber yield is higher though not as high quality and appropriate for apparel use as cotton is.









Panda Biotech Plans the Largest Industrial Hemp Processing Facility for Fiber and Cellulose in the United States


Panda Biotech Plans the Largest Industrial Hemp Processing Facility for Fiber and Cellulose in the United States



www.businesswire.com








Brand BGMEA70,310 followers4d • Edited • 4 days ago

𝐁𝐆𝐌𝐄𝐀 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐡

Bangladesh’s garment industry is committed to continue its pursuance of excellence in the area of environmental sustainability in a bid to manufacture garments in a way that is good for people and the planet.

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan made the remark during a meeting with Mark D’Sa, Business Development, Panda Biotech, an emerging leader in the industrial hemp fiber industry, in Washington D. C. on March 9.

BGMEA Vice President Miran Ali (米然·阿里）, Directors Abdullah Hil Rakib and Barrister Vidiya Amrit Khan, Chairman of BGMEA Standing Committee on Foreign Mission Cell Shams Mahmud were present at the meeting.

Commercial Counsellor at Bangladesh Embassy in Washington Md Salim Reza, Commercial Counsellor at Bangladesh’s Consulate General in Los Angeles S. M. Khurshid-Ul-Alam and Director of Mahmud Group Gazi Mahbubul Aalm were also present on the occasion.

They had a discussion over possible scope of partnership and engagement with Panda Biotech to facilitate the Bangladesh RMG industry’s use of environmentally friendly hemp to craft high-quality, eco-conscious apparel.

Faruque Hassan said Bangladesh's garment industry has made tremendous strides over the past years in integrating sustainability into the core of its operations.

The industry is looking into every possible avenue to integrate sustainability into apparel manufacturing to provide consumers with eco-friendly apparel.

To drive environmental sustainability more forward, Bangladesh’s RMG industry is shifting from cotton to non-cotton products, he said adding that hemp can create a perfect complement fiber to cotton.

Industrial hemp is a regenerative crop due to its ability to grow with little water, minimal-to-no pesticides and herbicides, production of a high per acre fiber yield, and absorption of more carbon dioxide per acre than any forest or commercial crop.


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## Bilal9

Purbachal Expressway update






Padma Bridge Rail Link Project | Mawa Railway Station​

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## PoondolotoPandalum

Sadly, I haven't been back in over 13 years! 

But from my unscientific visual analysis, Dhaka looks a lot more built-up than when I last saw it. The density of buildings has increased to a tremendous amount. Back when I was landing in Dhaka in 2008, the lack of building density was noticeable (vs most other cities you land on). But now, it's absolutely insane. 

It's not pretty or that functional, but at least there are more buildings than shanty towns! A decade ago it was the other way around. It appears slums have more or less have been eliminated, at least from a macro-level. A decade ago, slums were apparent from 5000ft! 

The biggest remaining problem lies at street level, which doesn't appear to have changed much. Disgusting roads, dysfunctional footpaths (least walkable city on earth), filth, constant traffic bottlenecks, etc etc. 

I think Bangladesh will look better from a birds/drone eye perspective, but the street level will take far longer to improve. 

Still, the city has a lot of bustles! It is one of the most densely packed cities for local businesses and enterprises, as much is it is for people!

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## Bilal9

Bangladeshis have 100% coverage of electricity in all areas, first in South Asia.

Bangladesh touched this milestone of electrification success with the inauguration of the country's largest 1,320 MW Pigeon Power Plant at Patuakhali. From now on, 100% of the people of the country are under electricity.

Sorry videos are in Bengali only.












The 100% electrification story in English.

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## Bilal9

College teacher quits job and starts profitable coffee plantation. His area is in Madhupur, which is a hilly area with clay soil in Tangail, North of Dhaka.

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## Bilal9

Top 7 Ongoing Mega Projects of Bangladesh​





Bangladesh has seen a massive development in the past decade. Various projects have been initiated to develop the country's economic infrastructure and make trade and communication easier. Considering the size, budget, and economic impact of these projects, a number of these projects have been termed mega-projects. The government has also identified a few of them as fast-track projects. In today's video, let's find out about the top seven ongoing mega projects. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Video Sections: 

00:00 - Intro 
01:32 - Padma Bridge Rail Link 
03:23 - Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant 
04:46 - Dhaka Elevated Expressway 
06:07- Chittagong Cox’s Bazar Rail Link 
07:12- Matarbari Coal Power Plant 
08:10- Matarbari Deep Sea Port 
09:12- Dhaka Airport Third Terminal

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## Bilal9

Padma bridge is now one of 14 global largest megaprojects. I am sure the future iconic city is Purbachal will be one of these too when it starts up in earnest...


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## Bilal9

Bangladesh Home Appliance Industry History






Bangladesh has added forty new US made EMD engines to Western Railway Zone


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## Bilal9

PHP Ship breaking industry - eco and safety compliant industry in Chittagong





PHP Glass - world class sheet glass industry in Chittagong with mirroring/silvering plant





PHP Automobile Industry - they are assembling (CKD sans chassis/engine) Proton vehicles at small-scale. Among these is the first Intelligent Car of Bangladesh - the Proton X50

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## Bilal9

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan (in Shalwar/Kameez) and Vice President Miran Ali (米然·阿里）attended an iftar party followed by dinner hosted by Ambassador of Denmark to Bangladesh Winnie Estrup Petersen at her residence in Dhaka yesterday.

Commercial Counsellor of Denmark Embassy in Dhaka Ali Mushtaq Butt also joined the event.

They had discussion on various issues including cooperation with Denmark on multiple areas and BGMEA’s participation in the Global Fashion Summit scheduled be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in June 2022.

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## Bilal9

Story about Kihak Sung's 30 plus years of investments and operations in Bangladesh.






*Kihak Sung is what he is today, an apparel Mogul in Asia because he follows his life's philosophy closely.*

For one, he believes you will reach your goal if you work, work and work hard. At the age of 75, the Korean apparel entrepreneur still wakes up at 5 in the morning and goes to sleep late at night. During these long hours, he doggedly goes around his factories, checking on every detail of the production process.

The second thing he believes is everything has to be sustainable for the Earth to survive. Go around his sprawling 25 square kilometre Korean Export Processing Zone (Kepz) in Chittagong and you get a vindication of his belief. More than half the land of the industrial zone has been preserved to grow trees and forests where 87 species of mammals and 137 species of birds thrive.






His third philosophy is when you are in trouble, you walk, walk and walk. And that is how Kihak one day chanced upon a sprawling sandy land that he worked hard on to turn into the KEPZ.










Kihak Sung

*A modest beginning*

But the man who has invested $600 million in Bangladesh through his company Youngone and KEPZ had a very modest beginning in 1972.

As is customary in South Korea, Kihak Sung had completed his 18 months of training as a soldier in the Korean army and was looking for a path in his life. He would not join his father's cold storage business. He was rather fascinated by the variety of clothes that were displayed in the high street stores.

So at the age of 25, he joined a garment company as a sales executive.

Korea was already in a transforming stage. Its journey in textiles and garments manufacturing started in the mid-sixties and by the mid-seventies, it was a big name worldwide.

"I was selling products for the textiles company," he recalls. "Salesman means to meet and communicate with the clients, receive sample products or designs, develop the sample or commercialise it, then get the approval of buyers, and also supervise the production schedule and quality. It's not just sales—it's a whole spectrum," he said.

He very quickly became a Swedish business specialist and also developed a network with US clients.

After two years of salesman experience, Kihak Sung founded the Youngone Corporation with two partners in 1974. Youngone set up its first factory in suburban Seoul city to produce and export garments.

His salesman experience not only worked for Korea based Youngone initiatives but also in Bangladesh.

Back in 1979, when the young entrepreneur Kihak Sung flew from Seoul to Chittagong to see if he could set up an apparel factory there— the place did not look so promising. Bangladesh did not allow 100% foreign investment and its infrastructure support was abysmal.

But Kihak came to Bangladesh for a reason—it had quota-free access to the European market. At that time Korea was facing quota restrictions in the developed world. Many Korean exporters were exploring Sri Lanka, India or Pakistan to see if they could set up factories there and utilise their quota-free access to remain competitive.






*Youngone starts its journey*

Kihak Sung chose Bangladesh despite its shortcomings. A few months after his visit, Kihak set up his factory with Bangladeshi partners in May 1980 under the name Youngone Bangladesh Limited.

He had with him his Swedish buyer's favourable order—a batch of simple garments. That factory had around 250 workers who received training from experienced Korean operators. By 1984, Kihak Sung recalls, his company was exporting $18 million worth of apparel.

Today, Kihak Sung's Youngone Corporation employs nearly 85,000 people around the world—of which 70,000 work in Bangladesh. Youngone, enlisted in the Seoul Stock Market, has an annual turnover of $3 billion dollars—and one-third of this revenue is from Bangladesh.

KEPZ Inauguration in 1999




KEPZ Inauguration in 1999

While his company now has factories in Vietnam, Uzbekistan, El Salvador and Ethiopia—his biggest legacy is the KEPZ in Anwara which is still flourishing with new industrial complexes every year.

"We have invested around $600 million dollars in Bangladesh," he said while talking to The Business Standard at his KEPZ residence in late March, "it would become $1 billion dollars soon."

The KEPZ already has 40 industrial units making garments, textiles, man-made-fibres, shoes, bags and other articles and it employs 30,000 workers—mostly women from in and around the Anwara area. Youngone has factories in some other EPZs too.

Youngone's value addition to exports averages 50% to 55% while, for some items it goes up to 95%.

Youngone is still rolling out investment in man-made fibres, which are high-tech and used in costlier items. It would become the major source of MMF for other apparel industries in Bangladesh.

Spread around more than 2,500 acres of land with 38 km of road network, more than half of the KEPZ land holds forests and water bodies—it sets an example of what an industrial area should look like.

Kihak Sung's dislike of untidiness and pollution is visible all around the KEPZz factories and compound. Unlike any industrial areas, one can not find any trash on any premises or any roads. The floors of the washing and cleaning units there are amazingly dry in stark contrast to what other factories in the country.

Kihak Sung has recently pulled out from investing in China. But he is now making a new textiles investment in Telangana, India and planning to invest in Indonesia.






*Sung's journey in Bangladesh*

He recalls how Youngone Bangladesh managed the first order in May of 1980.

"The raw materials came to the port and to take delivery we deployed hand carts. These carts created a queue of one kilometres when they brought the materials to the factory," recalls the 75-year old business tycoon.

The venture clicked. With 250 workers, the factory thrived as Kihak brought with him technical support from Korea and experience. Alongside his marketing skills, Kihak brought in his culture of keeping the factory neat, clean and trouble-free.

"But back then there were often political protests outside in Agrabad. Inside the factory, there were some labour issues that I did not like and my partners did not resolve," he says.

Kihak absolutely did not like the factory to look dirty. He would take up the broom himself to clean it up while his partners would wait for the cleaner to show up.

By 1984, Kihak decided to buy the shares of his partners of Youngone Corporation back in Korea. His partners were much older than him and the business back then was not very big. But Kihak thought if he took all the decisions by himself, it would help his company grow.

He applied the same strategy with Youngone Bangladesh Ltd by parting ways with them in 1986. In the same year, he set up a factory in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone (Cepz) hoping it would have better electric supply and a trouble-free environment.

Kihak Sung




Kihak Sung

*CEPZ and a deadly cyclone*

The government in the early eighties built the Chittagong EPZ. Kihak Sung recalls, "The start was very slow when I was considering moving in there. At that time there were only two small factories. The government had built some more factories there for investors and garments makers. It picked up very slowly.

In 1986, Youngone Corporation rented a factory space marked as SS2 in CEPZ which was a properly built factory. Gradually, as the company grew bigger, it took over other buildings. "I was selling and buying. I visited for a week every six months," he said.

"I was not very satisfied with our growth here. By the time we were moving into CEPZ, we had also established a factory in Jamaica in 1986. We were reasonably successful there. Meantime we were trying in Indonesia—that's a much bigger place," he said.






"In 1988, Youngone floated an IPO in Korea. This improved our cash flow. We wanted to make more investments in the CEPZ. So we built the-then rather big factory having 1,00,000 sq ft area in 1990. We were getting a lot of orders back then.

In April 1991, a deadly super cyclone hit Chittagong. The cyclone devastated the coastal region—killing 1,38,000 people.

"The cyclone blew out our main door. Then torrential rain water got in and the factory floors were covered in mud.

I stayed in Chittagong for a long time to salvage the factory. During the recovery period, I realised that these workers here really want their jobs and they want to keep us in this country. After this rough recovery when I was leaving, they all cried.

After that, we decided to make further investments. Because we recovered from the disaster successfully and our customers saw our strength and how we protected their business. Our buyers recognised our efforts very well and they were really pouring orders to us," he said.

After that disaster, Youngone started making multi-storied buildings and putting all warehouses above the flood level. Youngone was enjoying massive growth.

"At that point, we came across a lot of problems—the EPZ was not designed to handle massive business growth. The administration was not simply able to cope with the growth. So I was thinking, maybe we should have our own EPZ."





*The long story of Kepz*

By the mid-nineties, a new chapter opened for Sung when he attended a Jica programme where the Japanese development agency shared its study on making a new furniture export processing zone in Anwara. Jica suggested that the zone may be set up under a private-public collaboration.

At the programme, Kihak Sung gave his opinion that if something should be done, it should be a private initiative. The private sector knows the pulse and it works faster.

"I was not planning any EPZ myself at that time," Sung recalls, "but after that Jica programme, I was being persuaded by the Korean ambassador in Bangladesh who believed I could develop such an EPZ."

Sung started working on developing an EPZ in 1995.

When Sung visited the place marked out by Jica, he noted how arid and barren the land in Anwara was.

"People used to collect sand for this area that was infested with smugglers, pirates and goons back then," recalls Sung, "in fact, the local people called the place Texas because of its sandy environment."

"I knew there was some water on the northern side. There was nothing. It was dry most of the time—but during the monsoon, everything would go under water. But to set up factories we will need water," he said.

The Karnaphuli river water here is saline, and there were not many water bodies in the area. The adjacent newly launched Kafco factory drew huge underground fresh water and local villagers began complaining that their tube-wells were running dry because of Kafco.





*Solving a water crisis*

Keeping the water problem in mind, Kihak Sung turned to the government for land acquisition for the Kepz. The government acquired more than 2,500 acres of land (about 1,700 acres belonging to the government) for the Kepz by 1999 and framed a new law under which the private EPZs would operate.

But then things slowed down following the change of the government. While the Youngone spent Tk 100 crore for the purchase of land and to build roads and some basic infrastructures, the government held back from issuing it the licence to operate the EPZ. Youngone finally was given a conditional licence in 2006 and then again a revised licence during the caretaker government regime in 2007. It took several more years for Youngone to get environmental clearance. The Kepz still has not received land mutation documents.

But despite the problems, Kihak Sung gradually went ahead to build an industrial complex beginning in 2008.

The Kepz launched its first factory operations in 2011.

Kihak Sung's village Home in Changnyeong-gun, South Korea




Kihak Sung's village Home in Changnyeong-gun, South Korea

"We sourced our water through medium depth tube-well. But our water consumption is much less compared to Kafco. The Kepz also recycles its water," he said.

"Then we decided to store the rainwater. We built dams and roads together—which did the magic. We are keeping all rainwater in the huge water bodies (that we have created). Before that the rainwater would drain down the river or villages".

The Kepz now stores about 500 million gallons of water a year in its water bodies. It has prevented flooding in the villages as it used to happen before while water is found here even during the dry seasons.

The power grid there was unpredictable in the early years. To run factories, the Kepz installed three diesel run 1.5 MW power plants.

Kihak Sung points out that the major breakthroughs came a couple of years ago.

"The electricity is now stable by Bangladesh standard. Our new solar panel system (Bangladesh's biggest rooftop solar plant now having 20 MW capacity while another 20 MW is being installed) is being used by our weaving unit," he said.

KEPZ - Before and After




KEPZ - Before and After

"I want to make the KEPZ one of the best areas to live and work in. KEPZ has so many hills and forests. I want to preserve this area with very productive industries with good living and nature. From the start, 50% of this area has been kept reserved for green. EPZ can not just be all concrete, sell plots and go away—I don't want to go away. I cannot go away with KEPZ. So I make it a good urban setting for healthy living and work," the veteran investor says.

With an annual turnover of $3 billion dollars, YoungOne now plans to invest in Portugal, Tunisia and Morocco in the future keeping in mind the ability to quickly supply to the buyers (in Europe or the USA)—because Bangladesh is far away by any standard. "We want to supplement our productions with quick response units around the world," he said.

Migratory Waterfowl at KEPZ area marshes





*Traveller, collector, restorer*

Kihak Sung got married in 1975 through an arranged marriage. He has three daughters. His second daughter has been named as his successor.

"When I was a kid, I came across an astrologer who read my palm and said I would travel more than a thousand times," said Kihak. It became more than true as he has been flying for half of his time in a year visiting different countries for sales or to supervise production.

Despite his business, Kihak is never away from his friends and families. In fact, his childhood friends and his brothers and sisters still get together in his Seoul home or his ancestral village home.

"My batch of friends have visited Bangladesh twice. They have a plan to visit Bangladesh this year too," he said.

"In my youth, I used to swim—long-distance swimming. But not anymore. I also won the number 1 prize for swimming," he said.

Now I collect cameras—old mechanical cameras; the small ones. Maybe I have 10,000 cameras. I also collect audio equipment. I collect them from the local shops in Seoul. In recent times he bought 10 record players from Braun's designer Dieter Rams. Five of them were okay—and he had to extensively repair the remaining five to make them work again. German designer Dieter Rams is considered a designer of the designers whose works inspired the iPhone design.

Kihak also likes to work on old structures. His Kepz residence used to be an old cement godown back from the time the land was purchased. This building was later refurbished and made into a livable building.

He and his siblings still maintain their ancestral home in the Korean countryside that his great great great grandfather had purchased back in the 1830s. The old structures of the home are still intact. "This is one of the best preserved old houses in Korea," he said.

Kihak Sung/ TBS sketch




Kihak Sung/ TBS sketch

Sharing the secret of his success, he said, "you work, work, work and don't quit easily. Sometimes we quit easily. But once you start, you want to continue and find out how you can work it out. Giving others credit for good work is also important. You should function all the time, despite difficulties.

As a patron of Bangladeshi art, Kihak Sung has accentuated the suitable KEPZ structures with many artworks over the years.

Besides, he has funded the restoration of the hundreds of years old Bara Sardar Bari in Sonargaon. he notes, "I knew the place and when I saw it I realised if I did not do something, it might collapse. It's always been my hobby and pleasure to restore something. I manage and finance such restorations, and make the quality inspections."

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## Bilal9

Over 50 Bangladeshis now lead multinationals​They are working in various sectors, such as banking, telecom, pharmaceutical, and tobacco​From the top left: Imran Khan, Rupali Chowdhury and Lumat Ahmed; From the bottom left: Dr Omar Ishrak, Ata Safdar and Abrar Anwar






*When Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali was appointed the country head of ANZ Grindlays Bank Bangladesh in 1997, he might have searched for another Bangladeshi at the helm of any global company – be it at home or abroad.*

Coveted top positions of multinational companies were in fact kept reserved for foreigners.

But now, more than 50 Bangladeshis head multinational companies in the country and abroad.

They are working in leading positions at multinational companies in various sectors, such as banking, telecom, pharmaceutical, tobacco, fast-moving consumer goods, and clothing.

Some of the most well-known names are Imran Khan, Dr Omar Ishrak, Lumat Ahmed, Abrar Anwar, Ata Safdar, and A (Rumee) Ali.

The number of Bangladeshis in leadership positions at multinationals began growing last year. That year, Dr Omar became the chairman of Intel board, Yasir Azman was appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) at Grameenphone, and Mahtab Uddin Ahmed was appointed as a board member of Ncell Axiata Limited Nepal.

"Everyone in such roles has a story to tell and the stories have something in common," said Mamun Rashid, who was the managing director of Citibank NA Bangladesh for nine and a half years since 2001.

He said multinational companies always appoint local CEOs to facilitate local operations considering several aspects, such as a better understanding of the company's goal, mission, and vision; global outlook; local culture and consumer taste; reputation and emerging risk; and relationship with regulators.

The ability to serve the company is the first quality that multinationals look for when they hire CEOs, he said. 

"In an increasingly globalised world, thinking outside the box, respecting core values of the company, upward management skills, reputation, the ability to get the best out of team members, and commitment to success are necessary to lead a multinational," he added.

In the last few years, multinational companies posted their officials abroad to help them gain overseas experience and are now offering them leadership positions in Bangladesh with a smart package, said Mamun, also a managing partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

He said more Bangladeshis would be appointed in leading positions in the coming days. 

Berger Paints Bangladesh has a long history of appointing locals in the leadership position, said Rupali Chowdhury, the company's managing director since 2008.

She said they have a number of brilliant people in the pipeline to lead the company. She joined Berger in 1990 as the planning manager and has worked in various departments, such as marketing, sales, and supply chain and systems, in different supervisory capacities.

"I have cross-departmental experience in this company," she added.

Quoting American management expert Jack Welch, she said to develop a multinational in a new country, a foreigner has to head it for up to three years and should develop a local leader during this time for better localisation of the company.

Local officials know the taste of local customers better and also have better knowledge of local culture, laws, and regulators, she added.

Expeditors Bangladesh Country Manager and Managing Director Syed Ershad Ahmed said most of the multinational firms appoint locals in top positions, except for a few, like Chevron.

"Our young professionals are brilliant. They have the capability to lead multinationals," said Ershad, also the president of American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh.

Dr Lafifa Jamal, robotics and mechatronics engineering professor at the University of Dhaka, said the alumni of the university's computer science and engineering department are working in every tech giant, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Uber, and LinkedIn.

She said IT jobs were once dominated by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) students but pupils of the University of Dhaka, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, the University of Chittagong, and other engineering universities are also doing better now.

Most of the tech companies have recruiting hubs in India, but Bangladeshi students are doing better abroad as they do not have better opportunities here, she added.

*Multinationals headed by Bangladeshis*

In April 1997, A (Rumee) Ali became the country head of ANZ Grindlays Bank Bangladesh, which merged with Standard Chartered Bangladesh in 2002. He served Standard Chartered Bangladesh as the CEO for over two years.

In 2002, Ata Safdar was appointed as the managing director of Reckitt Benckiser Bangladesh. He served in that position for five years. Currently, he is serving the company as a senior vice president in Singapore.

Golam Mainuddin has been the chairman of British American Tobacco Bangladesh since August 2008.

Kamran Bakr has been an independent director at Robi since February this year. He led Unilever Bangladesh from 2012 to 2017 as its chairman and managing director, and Unilever Nepal as its managing director from 2007 to 2011.

Shehzad Munim has been the managing director of British American Tobacco Bangladesh since October 2013.

Syed Mohammad Kamal has been the country manager of Mastercard Bangladesh since 2013. Prior to joining Mastercard, he worked at Berger Paints Bangladesh, Western Union, and SSL Wireless in leadership positions.

In 2016, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed was appointed as the first Bangladesh CEO and managing director at Robi. He joined the company in 2010.

Abrar Anwar was appointed as the managing director and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia in 2017. Prior to that, he was the CEO of the bank's Bangladesh operations for two years.

In November 2017, Naser Ezaz Bijoy was appointed as the CEO of Standard Chartered Bangladesh. Before this, he was the bank's managing director and head of corporate and institutional clients.

Unilever Bangladesh has appointed Zaved Akhtar as the CEO and managing director. His appointment will come into effect on 1 July. Zaved will also join the Unilever South Asia leadership team. He is currently serving as the vice president of digital transformation and growth, South Asia, in India.

Tahmina Ahmed has been appointed as the additional managing director of Seven Rings Cement. Prior to that, she had been on the board of directors since 2007.

Muin Uddin Mazumder has been the managing director of Sanofi Bangladesh since 2017. He joined the company in 1995.

Lumat Ahmed was appointed as the sourcing category director at French clothing brand Lacoste this year. Prior to that, he worked at a number of apparel sourcing brands in various positions at home and abroad.

Imran Khan was the chief strategy officer at the American multinational technology company Snapchat from 2015 to 2018. He became the co-founder and CEO of Verishop, a livestream shopping app, in November 2018 to bring a new way to discover products and connect with experts and brands on a social commerce platform.

*Bangladeshi-born businessman Dr Omar Ishrak became the chairman of Intel's board of directors in May 2020. He will serve the board for seven years.

Bangladeshis in apparel leadership*

In July 2019, Ziaur Rahman was appointed as the first regional country manager for Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Ethiopia at H&M. Before that, he had 20 years of experience in the apparel industry.

He started his career as a merchandiser at Allana Group in June 1996.

Shwapna Bhowmick is the country manager for Bangladesh and Myanmar at Marks and Spencer. Prior to that, she worked for global brands like Next and Walmart before joining Marks and Spencer in 2006 as a merchandiser.

Shafiur Rahman has been the country manager for G-Star Raw since July 2013. He started his career as a product developer at Youngone Corporation in March 2003.

Arif Razzaque has been the regional merchandising director at Kiabi International Supply Services Bangladesh since November 2017. Earlier, he served as the country manager at Sears Holdings Global Sourcing and the sourcing hub manager at Carrefour Global Sourcing Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

MAX Leaf Spring Manufacturing (Robotics assisted)





Leaf Springs presented at Auto Mechanika Dubai exposition





MAX A1 Stainless Steel Crockeries, cutlery items for local consumption





MAX INOX export oriented high value addition stainless steel cooking implements

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## Bilal9

Padma riverbed dredging was undertaken in Dohar area in 2016 to prevent riverbank erosion. Darbesh (Salman Rahman) and COAS visited the project together recently and inspected the dredging and left bank conservation project of Majhirchar-Narishbazar-Moksedpur Padma river in Dohar near Dhaka. Work on the project, which started in 2016, is almost 50 percent complete. The Army had undertaken the contract, which so far has seen satisfactory progress. It may be mentioned here that Dohar Thana area is Salman's ancestral area. Would love to see him in Santa outfit someday.


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## F-6 enthusiast

looks like someone pirated the episode

National Geographic: Walton megafactories

press watch on Youtube

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## leonblack08

F-6 enthusiast said:


> looks like someone pirated the episode
> 
> National Geographic: Walton megafactories
> 
> press watch on Youtube



Nice find. I didn't know Nat Geo covered Walton

Too bad we still can't produce "swing needles" 😂

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## Bilal9

leonblack08 said:


> Nice find. I didn't know Nat Geo covered Walton
> 
> Too bad we still can't produce "swing needles" 😂



It was NAT GEO India. Great documentary by the way - some Indians will still call these products names but they will buy it in secret. 



F-6 enthusiast said:


> looks like someone pirated the episode
> 
> National Geographic: Walton megafactories
> 
> press watch on Youtube



Thanks for the find. Very detailed - hitherto unknown information.


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## Bilal9

𝐁𝐆𝐌𝐄𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐀𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐞

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan met with Ambassador of Greece to India Dionyssios Kyvetos at the embassy in New Delhi on April 16.

They had discussions on different issues of mutual interests, including potential areas and ways of promoting bilateral trade and investment between Bangladesh and Greece.

They also exchanged views on how Bangladesh can enhance its exports of products including ready-made garments, frozen food, chemical products, ceramic, jute, leather products to Greece.

*The BGMEA President said Greece is an attractive tourist destination for global tourists including Bangladeshis.*

He called upon the Ambassador for making visas and other travel related procedures more simplified for Bangladeshi tourists who want to visit Greece.

*Faruque Hassan, who is also Honorary Consul General of Greece to Bangladesh, requested the envoy to promote Bangladesh, particularly its RMG industry in Greece.

Greece is one of the major export markets of Bangladeshi garments.*






Bangladesh most profitable unit of Marico’s int’l business​Says Marico Bangladesh MD


Jagaran Chakma
Sun Apr 3, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Sun Apr 3, 2022 05:54 PM








> As far as Marico is concerned, Bangladesh is the crowning jewel in Marico's business portfolio. Marico first entered international territories through Bangladesh in 1999



Bangladesh has been Indian multinational consumer goods company Marico's first international venture. The business is today is so successful that one out of two Bangladeshis uses its products every day. Ashish Goupal, who took over as managing director of Marico Bangladesh Ltd, in July 2018 speaks about his company's success and future plans in an interview with The Daily Star.

*DS: What is the present status of Marico's factory in the Mirsarai economic zone?*

Ashish Goupal: Marico Bangladesh is a proud ambassador of "Made in Bangladesh" and we are exporting personal care products, including hair oils and shampoos as well as coconut oils to Nepal, Vietnam and the Middle East.

Our factory in the Mirsarai Special Economic Zone will be our third in Bangladesh to support our growth aspirations and serve the consumers of Bangladesh as well as export markets.

The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority has already handed over the land to us, and currently, we are in the construction phase of the factory. As this is part of our manufacturing capacity expansion, we plan to accelerate the pace of development and hope to go into commercial operations by 2023.

*DS: Marico is running business in many countries. Where does the Bangladesh market stand among the countries in terms of profitability?*

Ashish Goupal: Marico Bangladesh (Marico) started its journey in Bangladesh 20 years ago with its flagship brand Parachute coconut oil. Currently, Marico has 37 brands across 10 categories under our Parachute Advansed, Saffola, Nihar, Parachute Just For Baby, Parachute Skinpure, Parachute Naturale, Hair Code, Livon and Studio X franchises.

As far as Marico is concerned, Bangladesh is the crowning jewel in Marico's business portfolio. Marico first entered international territories through Bangladesh in 1999 and ever since, Bangladesh has been the best performing international business of Marico group.

Currently, Marico operates in 26 countries across the emerging markets of Asia and Africa, and Bangladesh still reigns supreme in terms of growth and profitability.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, we saw positive business performance and good consumer response in the last financial year that ended in March 2021. The revenue of the company grew by 15.4 per cent while profitability grew by 17.5 per cent, year-on-year. This growth was driven by our core portfolio of coconut oil and strongly supplemented by the value-added hair oils category.

In addition, the newer dedicated portfolios like Parachute Just For Baby range of baby care products and Parachute SkinPure range of skincare products have also seen growth. Marico also expanded its Studio X international male grooming range with the launch of skin cream and pocket perfumes. Currently, Bangladesh is the most profitable unit of Marico's international business.

With the economy showing resilience amidst the second and third waves of the covid-19 pandemic and the government's prudent measures in the form of movement restrictions and vaccination efforts, the company is hopeful about delivering profit growth for its shareholders in the upcoming financial year of 2021-22.

*DS: What are the potential and challenges of the fast-moving consumer goods market in Bangladesh*?

Ashish Goupal: Our experience in Bangladesh has been a positive one and we are proud advocates of Bangladesh as an investment destination. We believe in Bangladesh's potential and are hence investing a further Tk 227 crore in the Mirsarai SEZ.

Bangladesh has business-friendly policies which is reflected in the growth of the economy. The government has also strongly driven efforts of digitalisation and technology, which will go a long way in enhancing the Ease of Doing Business. If the government's vision of creating an economy backed by digital governance can be executed fast, it will give the country a cutting-edge advantage.

Digitalisation simplifies several procedural hurdles and eases backlogs, such as obtaining various approvals or business licences, brings transparency to revenue collection and allows for resources to be deployed in a more constructive manner. Bangladesh is already competing with other Asian and African countries, not only in terms of attracting investment but also competing in terms of capability, technology and intellectual capital, and digitalisation is a key catalyst to the growth.

My three recommendations would be ensuring continuous open and responsive dialogue with the industry, ensuring clarity and consistency in the application of government regulations and policies, and accelerating digital economy and governance.

It is imperative that we sustain the digital transformation and access to government machinery that we have witnessed during the pandemic as the government agencies extended their whole-hearted support to ensure business continuity while maintaining safety measures.

*DS: What is your plan for protecting the environment and reducing the use of plastic or carbon emissions?*

Ashish Goupal: Marico, as a group, has always aimed to spearhead efforts to grow and foster sustainability through its operations. As part of Marico group, Marico Bangladesh adheres to a unified strategic framework on sustainability, the key elements of which include waste management, water management, energy efficiency, product responsibility and sustainable sourcing.

Our factory operations have already initiated efforts to implement 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) in the production process, introducing mechanisms for reusing plastic and solid waste. Our Shirirchala operations are currently zero discharge operations, and we aim to make it a completely sustainable factory by 2023 by recycling and reusing our own by-products and waste in our production. Moreover, our SEZ operations will be completely sustainable as well.

We hope that going forward, we will be able to collaborate with the government and industry on a sustainable and shared manner of ensuring extended producer responsibility and innovating to reduce virgin plastic waste generation and reduce our carbon footprint as a company.

*DS: What is your plan for product diversification?*

Ashish Goupal: Marico Bangladesh has expanded and diversified its product range significantly over the past few years. Even during the pandemic, we launched our Mediker SafeLife+ international hygiene range. We introduced Saffola Honey into our food range. We have expanded our core business in hair oils and have also forayed further into hair care and skincare with our Parachute Naturale range of shampoos and Parachute SkinPure range of skincare products.

We have also seen a gap in safe baby care products and responded by launching our Parachute Just For Baby range comprising lotion, oils, soap, shampoo, wash, face cream, rash cream and baby toothpaste. Since Parachute Just For Baby is certified Made Safe (by Safe Cosmetics Australia) and has 100 per cent safe ingredients like neem, olive, and almond, this range has built prompt equity among consumers.

We have also introduced our international styling brand Studio X into the market, which has a complete range of international quality grooming and styling products specifically catered to men. It includes shampoo, face wash, hair gel and deos.

We are focused on growing our core business as well as strengthening our foothold in the newer categories we have entered. We are committed to delivering growth that will benefit all stakeholders in our ecosystem.


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## Bilal9

Undersea cable III
Double bandwidth at 25pc higher investment​
Star Business Report
Tue Apr 19, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Tue Apr 19, 2022 12:53 AM



> Demand for bandwidth in the country now stands at 3,400 Gbps


​Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company will increase its planned investment to connect to a third submarine cable by 25 per cent to avail double the bandwidth.

With Tk 870 crore, the company will now get 13,200 Gbps from the South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 6 (SEA-ME-WE 6) consortium.

Currently the state-run venture avails 2600 Gbps from SEA-ME-WE 4 and SEA-ME-WE 5. Another 1,000 Gbps or so of the bandwidth comes from India through six international terrestrial cable service providers based in Bangladesh.

Demand for bandwidth in the country now stands at 3,400 Gbps.

The third cable's addition will take the company's capacity to 15,800 Gbps.

"This is big news for Bangladesh and it will meet our bandwidth demand until 2030," Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar told The Daily Star.

"As thousands of schools will be connected to the internet, this low-cost but huge addition will help us cater to them," he added.
"Bangladesh will get the bandwidth from January 2025," said Md Abdus Salam Khan, company secretary to Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company.

"We are planning to increase the bandwidth capacity keeping the future demand in our mind as the internet use is increasing rapidly," he said.

Last year, Bangladesh signed an agreement with the SEA-ME-WE 6 consortium for the construction and maintenance of a connection to the third submarine cable.

At the end of 2020, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved this Tk. 693-crore project.

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## Bilal9

'Mother' in green on a bed of rice - on occasion of "Ma Dibash" (Mother's Day 2022)​
Tuesday, April 26, 2022 11:46 PM
গ্রামের এনামুল হক তার ফসলি জমিতে ধানের চারা দিয়ে মা’কে ভালবাসার প্রতিচ্ছবি ফুটিয়ে তুলেছেন। ছবি: আবু বকর সিদ্দিক আকন্দ/স্টার




Enamul Haque of the village has reflected his mother's love by planting rice seedlings in his crop land. Photo: Abu Bakar Siddique Akand / Star

*A short word 'ma'. Hidden in this little word are all the emotions and love of the world. Enamul Haque, a farmer from Sreepur in Gazipur, has expressed that passion and love in a different way.*

Enamul Haque of Bekasahra village in Telihati union of Sreepur has reflected his mother's love by planting rice seedlings in his crop land.

Enamul has beautifully planted 'Ma' on the green paddy plants of purple and black rice varieties along the Burmi-Satkhamair-Mauna road in Bekasahra village. As if it will beat the artist's brush. And hundreds of people are gathering there every day to see the paintings of that rice plant.

ফসলি জমিতে ধানের চারা দিয়ে মা’কে ভালবাসার প্রতিচ্ছবি ফুটিয়ে তুলেছেন এনামুল। ছবি: আবু বকর সিদ্দিক আকন্দ/স্টার




Enamul has painted a picture of love for his mother with rice seedlings in the crop land. Photo: Abu Bakar Siddique Akand / Star

Enamul Haque told The Daily Star: Later the mother made the writing structure by pulling the yarn with the seedlings from the seedbed. He then planted green rice of Black Rice variety. He planted purple rice seedlings around him. Over time, the rice seedlings have grown and the 'mother' has clearly emerged.

He further said, “Sarwar Hossain, Deputy Assistant Agriculture Officer of the Department of Local Agricultural Extension, has given me direct advice and guidance. I have done this by renting about 50 percent of the land for one crop. '

Expressing his love for his mother, he said, 'My father died more than half a century ago. Then my mother is still alive. I have loved my mother since childhood. In fact, if you love your mother, no child can be disobedient, go bad, take drugs. Listening to my mother has been good for my life. '

*Enamul's mother Johra Begum (65) said, "I came to know when people started coming to see the writing 'Mother' on the land with rice seedlings. I didn't know anything about it before. '

"I can't move at this age," he said. The boy cooperates in everything I do. Let all the children of the world love their mother. Then the world will be more beautiful. '*

Notre Dame College student Imtiaz Ahmed and his two friends Enamul Haque came from Masterbari in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh district to see the pattern of the rice paddy groves. He said, 'Nothing is suppressed now because of social media. So this word has spread all over the country. We also came to see after knowing about it. '

Sarwar Hossain, deputy assistant agriculture officer of the local agricultural extension department, said, “Enamul, a farmer, was the mastermind behind the graphic. He just took our cooperation for implementation. He has shown the reflection of an impossible creation. He also expressed his desire to do more in the future.


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## Bilal9

Iranian Govt. asking Bangladesh to build six RO-RO ferries for them. I don't think these will be subject to any sanctions.

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## Bilal9

12-13 Mobile Mfr. and assembly plants in Bangladesh now. Sorry both videos are in Bangla...





Xiaomi Bangladesh plant. Annual output will be 30 lakh units per year.


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## Bilal9

Bangladeshi Electronics Brands Going Global​

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## Bilal9

Bicycle exports from Bangladesh, venturing into selling bikes under Bangladeshi brands


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## Bilal9

How to refurbish a formerly ho-hum HINO bus to a luxurious sleeper coach in Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

First Arrival of mother vessel at Matarbari deep sea port





His Excellency US Ambassador to Bangladesh Mr. Haas paying a visit to the Main Rail Terminus in Dhaka (Kamalapur) checking out 30 units of US-supplied 3300 HP EMD Locomotives being put into commercial use.


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## Bilal9

Bangladeshi apparel winning over Gulf Middle class consumers

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## Bilal9

The *Japan External Trade Organization, Dhaka* country representative Yuji Ando on April 26 remarked that *Bangladesh had the most competitive wage and potential domestic market among the Asia and Oceania zones.*

The JETRO Dhaka chief noted this while handing over a certificate to Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Customs House Salahuddin Rizvi Mohammad at Chittagong Customs House in front of Chittagong Customs Commissioner M Fakhrul Alam for successful completion of a four-month training programme for FY’22, said a press release.

*According to the 2021 JETRO Survey on Business Condition of Japanese companies running in Asia and Oceania, 65 percent of Japanese companies running in Bangladesh think they would be profitable in 2022 as the economy came back to normalcy after covid-shock.*


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## Bilal9

Karnafuli Tunnel - should be inaugurated soon






Cox's Bazaar Runway expansion to accommodate medium range airliners

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## Bilal9

Energypac inaugurates generator testing lab​Staff Reporter, Dhaka




_Power engineering company Energypac Power Generation Ltd (EPGL) on Saturday inaugurated the first and only generator testing lab in Bangladesh after the name of “Eng. Khaleda Shahriar Kabir Testing Lab” says a press release._

Architect Yeafesh Osman, minister for Science and Technology, graced the event as the chief guest. He said, The present government is working towards fulfilling the dream of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu and building a digital Bangladesh under the direction of honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Energypac is playing a leading role in this, so I sincerely thank them and wish their greater success in near future. The government emphasizing more on research and innovation to accelerate sustainable development, he added.

Engineer Nurul Huda, president, The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB); Shikha Rahman, professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, California Polytechnic State University USA; Humayun Rashid, managing director & CEO, Energypac Power Generation Ltd.; and others were present during the event. Shikha Rahman is the daughter of engineer Khaleda Shahriar Kabir.

The state-of-the-art testing lab has two standard load banks, which are used to create artificial loads and check its performance with generator load capacity.

Here, Energypac can validate the correct load capacity, correct sound level requirements, the correct level of vibration and determine the pressure or flow of the exhaust from the silencer and the temperature of the generator.

The lab has been named “Eng: Khaleda Shahriar Kabir Testing Lab” to honour the first and one of the most renowned female engineers in Bangladesh. The idea behind the lab and its naming were clarified further by Humayun Rashid, the Managing Director & CEO of Energypac – “With our newly established testing lab, we now have the exclusive advantage in Bangladesh to manufacture and distribute generators that qualify on a next-level standard.

This shall surely give our customers and stakeholders better reassurance. At the same time, our motto was to spread the amazing story of engineer Khaleda Shahriar Kabir, who was a pioneer among the females studying engineering in Bangladesh.
She overcame many adversities to stand out as an example, and hence Energypac opted to pay tribute to her name and legacy of women empowerment by naming the benchmark lab after her,” he said.


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## Bilal9

Various types of shoe exports increased 31% year-to-year, going to ninety plus overseas countries.





New investments increased in miniature toys export sector





Local prosthetic and robotic hands and other limbs developed and being marketed locally at low cost.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka elevated expressway progress update.

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## F-6 enthusiast

Pilot to equip Bangladesh RMG workers with digital literacy skills
 

A new pilot will help 135,000 RMG workers in Bangladesh, including at least 60% women, build their financial and digital literacy skills.




www.just-style.com

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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge update, nearing inauguration for the road transport part...Thanks to China and CCP.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport 3rd Terminal update (est completion ETA late 2025, to early 2026).

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## Bilal9

*95pc of feasibility study done
Quader on subway*








*The 4 subway routes of first phase of underground subway Metro Lines in Dhaka*

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday told parliament that a feasibility study is underway to build a subway to ease traffic congestion in Dhaka.

"Ninety-five percent of the work has been completed as of February. Once this is completed, work on the subway construction project will begin, subject to confirmation of the funding," the minister said in reply to a query from ruling Awami League MP Didarul Alam.

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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Bangladesh ceramic and porcelainware sector has always been strong in exports and their export growth has been equally as strong as other sectors such as leatherware, if not more. Lately many companies have made a mark in casual porcelain tableware although demand persists globally for fine bonechina. Porcelaina is one of these exporters. It is a local brand name of Gramsico Ceramics.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Bangladesh has become the center of production for various high feature diecast metal, PVC, poly-resin and other types of static painted toys in the following categories.

Action Figures popular in all markets
Girl Figure Statues popular in ASEAN and other markets
Soft-vinyl Figures (scale) popular in ASEAN and other markets
Die-cast Collectibles
Mini-Figures for gaming and scale combat
Miscellaneous Toys such as for keychains and for meal give-aways
As China and HK labor gets more expensive, these factories are shifting to Bangladesh in a very large way.

Mainly centered around various Dhaka EPZ areas but some in various CTG EPZ areas too. Some selection of items produced.


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## Bilal9

`Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert` in association with Walton held in NY: Featuring German Heavy/Glam Metal Band SCORPION​Desk Report || risingbd.com
Published: 02:47, 8 May 2022 Update: 02:50, 8 May 2022





A moment of ‘Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert’ held at the Madison Square Garden in New York, USA.

The ‘Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert’ was held at the Madison Square Garden in New York, USA.

The Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority under the ICT division has organized the concert in association with the electronics and tech giant Walton.

The concert was held to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence and the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with pay tribute to the Concert for Bangladesh, which was organised by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar at Madison Square Garden on August 1, 1971.

World renowned German band Scorpions and Bangladesh’s noted band Chirkutt performed in the event with the theme ‘Let The Music Speak’ which was held on Friday evening (May 6, 2022) local time (May 7, Saturday morning according to Bangladesh time).

The money earned from this concert will be spent in support of cyber security for children of low and middle-income countries.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, National Parliament Members Shamim Osman, Nurul Islam, Nahid Khan and Aparajita Haque, veteran singer Kaderi Kibria, Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority managing director Bikarna Kumar Ghosh and Walton’s Senior Executive Director Anisur Rahman Mollick were among others present at the concert.

Thousands of audience were impressed by the magical melodies of the Scorpions and Chirkutt bands. The 14,000-seat auditorium was full and their Joy Bangla slogan once again recalled the memory of 71’s historic Concert for Bangladesh.

Important places including Times Square of NY were decorated with attractive billboards, banners and festoons with the logos of Walton and other sponsoring organizations marking the event while the concert was attended by people from different countries including Bangladeshi expats living in the USA.





_A giant billboard is seen at Times Square of NY with the logos of Walton and other sponsoring organizations of the ‘Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert’._

The historic Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden on August 1, 1971 supporting Bangladesh’s then liberation war was featured George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and Badfinger.

Thanking the ICT division for organizing the concert on the golden jubilee of independence, Anisur Rahman Mollick in this connection said: The Concert for Bangladesh at the Madison Square Garden is one of the important segments of the history of our liberation war and Walton is proud to be associated with such event.

This concert presented the development and strength of Bangladesh before the world. Walton authorities are delighted to be here to showcase the unprecedented progress of Bangladesh in the electronics and technology manufacturing industry.
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Chirkutt opened for the Scorpions - I mean did they even imagine in their wildest dreams!!

I cut out the Chirkutt Garbage....


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## Bilal9

Walton releases CPU liquid coolers​*News Desk*
14 May 2022 00:00:00 | Update: 14 May 2022 00:56:25





*Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited has released two models of CPU liquid coolers in the market. Made on copper based plastic body, the liquid coolers have aluminium radiators with multiple fans that ensure perfect cooling performance.*

Walton computer division sources said that the coolers modelled as WLC120B and WLC240B are released on the market under the 'arc' packaging name. Priced at Tk 5,850 and Tk 8,550 respectively, customers can purchase the products from any Walton Plaza, distributor showroom, IT and Computer showrooms, or E-plaza across the country, Walton said in a statement.

Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited Deputy Managing Director Liakat Ali said that Walton is successfully producing and supplying state-of-the-art world standard products according to the demands of customers. Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the main part of a computer. 

Commonly used air coolers cannot provide perfect cooling for which Walton has released the liquid coolers considering the needs of customers. Users will get perfect cooling experience with the Walton liquid coolers. These accessories will ensure best performance of desktop computers.

Walton Computer Products Chief Business Officer Touhidur Rahman Rad said that the liquid cooling system is used as radiator for processor. This system absorbs heat from the processor and cool down the processor making the computer more effective.

He said that Walton liquid coolers are specially designed to ensure best possible performance with digital lighting series radiator and cooling fans. Fans produced with precise Aero-Dynamic ensure less noise level while the 100 per cent sealed liquid coolers can easily be installed.

Customers are getting two years of service warranty on Walton’s arc liquid coolers, the statement added.


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## Bilal9

*Sustainable Apparel Forum** (𝐒𝐀𝐅) 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝*

Policy makers, industry leaders, brands’ representatives and fashion campaigners from home and abroad have gathered in Dhaka yesterday to accelerate momentum of sustainability in Bangladesh apparel industry.

More than 50 speakers as well as 20 green growth exhibitors from over 20 countries have participated in the 3rd edition of Sustainable Apparel Forum (SAF) organized by Bangladesh Apparel Exchange Ltd. (BAE) partnering with Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Current important apparel sustainability issues such as climate action, environmental social & governance (ESG) and green finance, purchasing practices, due diligence and legislation, and circular economy were discussed at the five plenary sessions along with opening and closing plenaries of the SAF.

In the opening plenary, Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation Md. Atiqul Islam said: “The RMG industry of Bangladesh has been vigilant in ensuring the safety regulations, especially after the disastrous event of Rana Plaza.”

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said: “Today the clothing factories of Bangladesh are not only safer, but also have become more dynamic, modern, energy-efficient and environment-friendly. *Bangladesh has the highest number of green garment factories in the world.* We believe that sustainability is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. We are committed to maintaining the excellence in social and environmental areas which we already achieved, also we focus on up-scaling our business capabilities.

Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) Mostafiz Uddin said: “At this year’s SAF we have brought all the fashion stakeholders under one roof to accelerate the momentum of sustainability in Bangladesh apparel industry, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic which has had immense impact on global apparel supply chain. This is high-level networking where it has been discussed how we can turn the needle so that the lofty sustainability goals our industry so often talks about are translated into meaningful, practical actions?”

Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bangladesh H.E. Anne Van Leeuwen said: “There has been significant improvements in the apparel industry of Bangladesh as per as safety and sustainability is concerned. However, there is still work to be done to promote sustainability in the sector for which stakeholders’ engagement and collaboration is the key.”

Mohiuddin Rubel, director of BGMEA and managing director, Bangladesh Apparel Exchange, said: “The global business landscape has been transformed to a new realism in the recent years and sustainability has become the core area of concern. The Sustainable Apparel Forum (SAF) envisages becoming a global forum on sustainability established in Bangladesh to promote the sustainability agenda within the textile and apparel supply chain.”









LinkedIn Login, Sign in | LinkedIn


Login to LinkedIn to keep in touch with people you know, share ideas, and build your career.




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Sustainable Apparel Forum on LinkedIn: #sustainableapparelforum #sustainableapparel #bangladesh


Sustainable Apparel Forum offers a perfect knowledge gateway and networking platform, specifically for the apparel & textile manufacturers. Here is a ...




www.linkedin.com


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## Bilal9

Walton launches its second motherboard plant​The plant will use German technology to produce circuit board assembly






State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid and ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak recently inaugurated the second unit of motherboard plant at the Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited headquarters in Gazipur recently *Courtesy*

Tribune Report
April 10, 2022 7:05 AM

Bangladeshi electronics giant Walton has established its second motherboard plant at Kaliakair in Gazipur, which has the capacity of installing 72,000 components per hour.

This has doubled the motherboard production capacity of the local tech giant, which will also enable it to cut down in costs and dependence on importing such electronic parts.

The plant will use German technology to produce circuit board assembly (PCBA).

A PCB is a crucial electronic component used to mechanically support and electrically connect components inside an electrical device, while a PCBA is a complete package fitted with necessary components ready for deployment for its desired purpose.

PCB and PCBA motherboards are being used in all types of electrical devices including computers, televisions, remote controls, LED lights, mobile phone chargers, UPS, fans and switch sockets etc. that Walton manufactures.

In 2020, Walton first announced its commercial production of single-layered, double-layered and multi-layered PCBs, the first of its kind in Bangladesh.

Since then, the demand and sales of the electrical appliances made by Walton have witnessed huge growth and the company is heading to be top in this segment, recording sales worth Tk127 crore of electrical appliances in March this year under its three brands- Walton, Marcel and Safe.

Walton claimed this was the highest ever sales of electrical appliances in a month.

Moreover, the brand has registered 52% sales growth on electrical appliances in fiscal year 2020-21.

According to Walton PCBA’s chief business officer Md Touhidur Rahman Rad, the brand is producing and marketing PCB and PCBA commercially after meeting their own demand.

Matador Group currently takes PCBA support for its fan regulators while many other companies have also shown interest for PCB and PCBA support from Walton, according to the company.

Walton's motherboards have been used in 6.17 million digital devices since January 2021.

The motherboards are also used in the products it exports to the markets such as the EU and the US.

The company now aims to establish its footprint globally through 100% local value addition by making all the parts locally that are usually imported, and hence, investing heavily in its research and innovation section where more than 1,000 engineers work.

So, the second unit of the motherboard plant has been set up to meet the growing demand.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid and ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak recently inaugurated the second unit of motherboard plant at the Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited headquarters in Gazipur.

Walton Hi-Tech Industries PLC Managing Director and CEO Golam Murshed was present as special guest.

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## Bilal9

Panthapath Dhaka City Drone View


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## Bilal9

Keraniganj flyover


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## Bilal9

𝟑𝟕𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐀𝐅 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐨𝐯 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐

The 37th IAF World Fashion Convention will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in November 2022.

The International Apparel Federation (IAF) will host the Convention in collaboration with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) while Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) will be supprting the event.

The “Made in Bangladesh Week” will be held concurrently in Dhaka on 12-18 November.

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan and Secretary General of IAF Matthijs Crietee made the announcement at a press conference in Dhaka on May 14.

BKMEA Vice President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan was also present at the press conference.

They also unveiled the logo of the 37th IAF World Fashion Convention.

The IAF convention will be a 3-daylong event where in the first day, a board meeting of all the IAF Board of Directors will be held. A daylong conference, to be participated by local and international speakers, will also be a part of this convention.

The speakers including brands, retailers, suppliers, industry leaders, and academic will shed lights on the current and future business trends, challenges, possible solutions, with an aim to make industry-wide efforts to create a better fashion industry for all.

The annual World Fashion Convention will bring together the IAF membership, including apparel industry associations representing 40 countries, leading brands and other stakeholders.

The convention will provide an opportunity for delegates and participants to network, to learn and to gain insights into the future direction of the industry.
















BGMEA First Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam, Vice President Shahidullah Azim, Vice President (Finance) Khandoker Rafiqul Islam, Vice President Md. Nasir Uddin, Vice President Miran Ali (米然·阿里）, Vice President Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, Directors Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee, Asif Ashraf, Md. Khosru Chowdhury, Inamul Haq Khan (Bablu), Barrister Vidiya Amrit Khan, Md. Imranur Rahman, and Neela Hosna Ara, BKMEA Vice President Md. Akhter Hossain Apurbo and Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Apparel Exchange Mostafiz Uddin were present at the press conference which was moderated by BGMEA Director Mohiuddin Rubel.


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

আমরা কারা​আরএমজি সাস্টেইনেবিলিটি কাউন্সিল (আরএসসি) হল বাংলাদেশে নিরাপদ কর্মক্ষেত্র তৈরিতে যে উল্ল্যেখযোগ্য সাফল্য অর্জিত হয়েছে তা এগিয়ে নিতে বেসরকারীভাবে ত্রিপক্ষীয় প্রতিনিধিত্বে গঠিত একটি অভূতপূর্ব জাতীয় উদ্যোগ। শিল্প সংগঠন (গার্মেন্টস নির্মাতা), আন্তর্জাতিক ফ্যাশন ব্র্যান্ড, এবং আন্তর্জাতিক ও স্থানীয় ট্রেড ইউনিয়ন- এই তিনটি অংশের প্রতিনিধিত্বকারী সদস্যবৃন্দের সমন্বয়ে আরএসসি প্রতিষ্ঠিত হয়।
আরএসসি কাঠামোগত, বৈদ্যুতিক, অগ্নি ও জীবনের নিরাপত্তা এবং বয়লার নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক পরিদর্শন পরিচালনা, সংস্কার কাজে সহায়তা এবং সেগুলো পর্যবেক্ষণ, নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক প্রশিক্ষণ পরিচালনা এবং আওতাভুক্ত তৈরি পোশাক কারখানাসমূহের শ্রমিকদের জন্য ব্যবহার উপযোগী একটি স্বাধীন পেশাগত নিরাপত্তা ও স্বাস্থ্য বিষয়ক অভিযোগ প্রক্রিয়া পরিচালনা করে থাকে।
কোম্পানিটির লক্ষ্য হচ্ছে কর্মক্ষেত্রে বিশ্বমানের টেকসই নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক কার্যক্রমসমূহ প্রদান করা এবং তৈরি পোশাক শিল্পকে আরো নিরাপদ ও উত্তম কর্মক্ষেত্র হিসেবে গড়ে তোলা।














কোভিড-১৯ সংশ্লিষ্ট বিষয়ে আরএসসি’র প্রতিক্রিয়া​কোভিড-১৯ মহামারী সমগ্র বিশ্বে এবং দেশের অভ্যন্তরেও তৈরি পোশাক (আরএমজি) খাতে নজিরহীন প্রভাব ফেলেছে। ডব্লিউএইচও নির্দেশিকার সাথে সামঞ্জস্য রেখে একটি কোভিড-১৯ চেকলিস্ট প্রস্তুত করা হয়েছে এবং আরএসসি’র আওতাভুক্ত কারখানাসমূহে তা সরবরাহ করা হয়েছে।
আওতাভুক্ত সকল কারখানাসমূহে কোভিড-১৯ চেকলিস্ট অনুযায়ী নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক ব্যবস্থাসমূহ বজায় রাখা প্রয়োজন । কোভিড-১৯ মহামারীর মাঝেই, ৬ সেপ্টেম্বর ২০২০ থেকে আরএসসি এর আওতাভুক্ত কারখানাসমূহে কাঠামোগত, বৈদ্যুতিক এবং অগ্নি নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক পরিদর্শন পুনরায় শুরু করেছে। কারখানা পরিদর্শনকালে আরএসসি’র সকল ইঞ্জিনিয়ার / কর্মীদের সুরক্ষা এবং সুস্বাস্থ্য নিশ্চিত করতে তাদেরকে কোভিড-১৯ সংশ্লিষ্ট স্বাস্থ্য ও সুরক্ষা নির্দেশিকা এবং পিপিই (ব্যক্তিগত সুরক্ষা সরঞ্জাম) সরবরাহ করা হয়েছে। [সম্পূর্ণ আর্টিকেলটি পড়ুন]




আমরা কী করি​আরএসসি কাঠামোগত, বৈদ্যুতিক, অগ্নি এবং বয়লার নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক পরিদর্শন, সংস্কার কাজে প্রয়োজনীয় সহায়তা এবং এর তত্ত্বাবধান, নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক প্রশিক্ষণ কার্যক্রম এবং বাংলাদেশের তৈরি পোশাক (আরএমজি) কারখানার শ্রমিকদের জন্য একটি স্বাধীন নিরাপত্তা ও স্বাস্থ্য বিষয়ক অভিযোগ প্রক্রিয়া পরিচালনা করে থাকে।




কারখানা পরিদর্শন​স্বাক্ষরকারী কোম্পানিসমূহের জন্য উৎপাদন করে এমন সকল কারখানায় স্বাধীনভাবে নিয়মিত কাঠামোগত, বৈদ্যুতিক, অগ্নি এবং বয়লার নিরাপত্তার বিষয়গুলো পরিদর্শন করা হয়। আরএসসি কোভিড -১৯ মহামারীর মাঝেই এর কাঠামোগত, বৈদ্যুতিক এবং অগ্নি নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক পরিদর্শন শুরু করেছে।
৩৯০৩২
পরিদর্শন
পরিদর্শনের মানদণ্ড




সংস্কার কাজ তত্ত্বাবধান​আরএসসি সংস্কার কাজের অগ্রগতি তদারকি এবং সংস্কার কাজে ব্র্যান্ডের সহায়তা নিশ্চিত করে থাকে। আপডেট করা সংশোধনমূলক কর্ম পরিকল্পনার (ক্যাপসমূহ) সাম্প্রতিক তথ্যাবলী অনলাইনে প্রকাশ ।


৪৪৩ টি কারখানার সংস্কার সম্পন্ন
সংস্কার কাজ বিষয়ক কার্যক্রম




নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক প্রশিক্ষণ​অল এমপ্লয়ি মিটিং (এইএম)-এর মাধ্যমে শ্রমিক-মালিক যৌথ সেইফটি কমিটিসমূহকে প্রশিক্ষণ দেয়া হয় এবং সকল কারখানার শ্রমিকদেরকে কর্মক্ষেত্রে নিরাপত্তা সম্পর্কিত অত্যাবশ্যক বিষয়গুলোর ব্যাপারে অবহিত করা হয়।
১৩৫৭ টি সেইফটি কমিটি
প্রশিক্ষণ
কার্যক্রম




নিরাপত্তা বিষয়ক অভিযোগসমূহ নিষ্পত্তি​শ্রমিক এবং তাদের প্রতিনিধিদের অনিরাপদজনক কাজ প্রত্যাখ্যান করার অধিকার রয়েছে এবং তারা আরএসসি’র নিরাপত্তা ও স্বাস্থ্য বিষয়ক অভিযোগ প্রক্রিয়ার মাধ্যমে অভিযোগ উত্থাপন করতে পারেন।
৬৯৩ টি অভিযোগের নিষ্পত্তি
অভিযোগ প্রক্রিয়া

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## Bilal9

𝐇𝐮𝐚𝐰𝐞𝐢 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐑𝐌𝐆 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies is willing to provide technical solutions and support to the RMG industry of Bangladesh in increasing capacity of renewable energy generation in the sector.

A delegation of Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Ltd expressed the interest when they paid a call on BGMEA President Faruque Hassan at BGMEA’s PR office in Gulshan, Dhaka on May 11.

The Huawei delegation included Li Zongsheng (Jason), Board Member; Liang Weixing, Managing Director for Digital Power Business Group; Najia Samantha Islam, Manager, Public Affairs and Communications; and Md Nur Alam, Account Manager, Bangladesh Digital Power Business.

BGMEA Vice President Miran Ali (米然·阿里）was also present at the meeting.

They had discussions on possible scope of increasing renewable energy usage by using solar plants in the garment industry and how Huawei can provide its technical solutions to achieve the objective.

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan mentioned the impressive progress of Bangladesh’s RMG industry in terms of sustainability and continuous strides in pursuing excellence in the area.

He said Bangladesh is proud to have the highest number of green garment factories in the world with more factories are in the process of becoming green.

“However, instead of becoming complacent, we have continued our efforts in making our RMG industry green more and more with adaptation of environment-friendly and energy and resource efficient technologies,” he said.

A green factory helps to reduce the energy usage by 40 percent and water consumption by more than 30 percent while it also emits less carbon, thus ensuring environmental safety.

The BGMEA President requested Huawei Technologies to bring innovative and cost-effective solar plants to garment factories at affordable prices.






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Note: Bangladesh being 2nd largest RMG exporter can generate 12000 MW roof top Solar under net metering per SREDA, This collaboration will provide a huge boost to achieving that target. Already Youngone Group (large Apparel exporter) is Net Zero by installing roof top Solar Power generation on top of their factories.


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## Bilal9

Chittagong port to conduct dredging to accommodate deeper draft ships





Patenga, the new terminal of Chittagong port to be launched July next​April 25, 2022 at 1:24 PM

Chittagong port





The Patenga Container Terminal under construction at Chittagong Port will be opened next July. 90 percent of the work of the terminal has been completed. At this terminal, containers can be loaded and unloaded from three container vessels simultaneously. In addition, goods can be unloaded from oil tankers at Dolphin Jetty.

This was stated by Rear Admiral M Shahjahan, Chairman, Chittagong Port at a press conference organized on the occasion of 135th founding anniversary of Chittagong Port. Martyr on Sunday. The press conference was held at Fazlur Rahman Munshi Auditorium.

Although the history of Chittagong port is very ancient, the official journey of Chittagong port started on 25th April, in the 1800s. As such, the port authorities have been celebrating the founding anniversary of the port on April 25 every year.

*With the opening of Patenga terminal, the number of container loading and unloading jetties at the port will increase to 16. These 16 jetties will be able to accommodate 14 to 15 ships at a time. *The port will incur Tk 1,229 crore for the construction of Patenga terminal.

Port Board Member (Harbor and Marine) Commodore Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman, Member (Finance) at the press conference. Kamrul Amin, Member (Engineering) Capt. Mahbubur Rahman and others were present.

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Bilal's note:

It may be mentioned here that another container terminal outside the outer bars in Chittagong Port, "Bay terminal" is currently under construction and will go into operations in 2025. That terminal will also boast another half a dozen jetties, effectively raising container handling at Chittagong port by 35% at that time.

In addition Matarbari deep sea port is being built about a hundred KM south of Chittagong Port in Matarbari which will host Super Panamax size mother vessels, three times the size of normal container carriers that now call at Chittagong port. This is slated to speed up container handling further.


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## Bilal9

*Bangladesh begins building international standard cruise vessels*
Ali Asif Shawon







Picture shows a model for the cruise ships currently being built by Karnafuly Ship Builders Ltd *Courtesy*

The shipping ministry hopes to launch the ships by 2023

The government has taken initiatives to build international standard cruise ships -- with the aim to launch them within two years.
Construction works of three cruise ships have begun recently at a dry dock of Karnafuly Ship Builders Ltd, on the bank of Karnaphuli River, in Chittagong.

Each of these vessels will be worth at least Tk77 crore, taking the project cost to a total of Tk231 crore for now, according to officials.
State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told Dhaka Tribune that they expect to launch these vessels by 2023. “It will not only expand the country's tourism industry but also will play a special role in the economy.”

“Each of these vessels will have all modern entertainment facilities so that a tourist can spend up to 15 days on a cruise comfortably. Moreover, such cruises exist only in Europe, not even in India. These ships will be able to travel to India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.” he added.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation Chairman Syed Tajul Islam told Dhaka Tribune that according to the contract signed with Karnafuly Ship Builders Ltd, the vessels will be delivered by June 2023.

"Then the International Association of Classification Societies will verify the vessels’ classification before we launch them," he added.

Explaining how they would like to sign contracts with large corporations to provide top-notch services, Islam said: “We are thinking of signing contracts with major private companies such as Sheraton, Pan Pacific Sonargaon, and InterContinental in order to offer world-class cruises to tourists."

*On board facilities*

According to officials, each cruise ship will have 150 cabins for the passengers and 50 cabins for the crew. Every cabin will have an attached bathroom.

In addition, there will be 20 presidential suits for the passengers.

Each vessel will have all the modern facilities including a 3D cinema hall, two swimming pools, laundry, bar, café, helipad, open space, poolside café, parlor, kids corner, and food court.

The helipad will allow on board authorities to airlift any passenger to nearby hospitals if they get sick during a cruise.

The movie theatres will accommodate 60 people. They can also be used as conference rooms or for family get-togethers by passengers.

Bangladesh’s first-ever luxury cruise ship 'MV Bay One,' which operates on the Cox's Bazar-Saint Martin route, was launched in December last year.

Karnafuly Ship Builders Ltd had imported the ship built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, from Japan in September 2020.


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## rainbowrascal



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## Bilal9

Bangladesh bicycle industry exports





Bangladesh local brand strengths 





Sheltech 600 crore investment in ceramic tiles unit in Bhola










Nasir glass beverage and food container offerings


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## Bilal9




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## kazaki

BDforever said:


> *Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology on Thursday disclosed that the works for establishing an electronic city at Companyganj upazila in Sylhet are underway and the works of Taka seven crore has already been completed, reports BSS. The ICT Division has taken the project to establish the electronic city in 162 acres of land at Companyganj upazila, this was revealed at a meeting of the committee at the Sangsad Bhaban. Presided over by Committee Chairman Imran Ahmed, the meeting was attended by State Minister for Post and Telecommunication Tarana Halim, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Moyazzam Hossain Ratan, Shawkat Hasanur Rahman (Rimon), Sharid Ahmed, Kazi Feroz Rashid and Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia. The project sources said an electronic city will be set up with three types of facilities -- training centre, ICT parks and electronic project. At the meeting, the committee made a recommendation to the ministry to take necessary measures for ensuring proper monitoring over the development project under ICT division.*
> source: Govt to establish electronic city in Sylhet


Very nice hasina wajed PM of bangla desh .


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## Bilal9

Kadamtali Bus Terminal Sylhet, Bangladesh


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## F-6 enthusiast

Factories in rural areas strategy you talked about @Destranator 
_
''Akij Ceramics Limited set up a factory at Mokshapur union of Trishal several years ago. It produces tiles, sanitary products, particle boards, and BOPP for food packaging.''
''Md Tanzil Hasan, associate professor of economics at Jatiya Kobi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, and executive director of the Economic Development Research Organisation (EDRO), said, "Industrilisation has become a major force in eradicating poverty and unemployment in Trishal. As people's income increases, it propels the wheel of the economy. Increasing money transactions have improved the standard of living in the rural areas."_

The trend of migrating to the capital in search of jobs is also on the decline as people now prefer staying in the area having employment opportunities, he added.









Industrialisation transforming rural economy in Trishal


Five-six big factories have already been set up in Trishal, and work is underway on several more




www.tbsnews.net

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## bluesky

Bilal9 said:


> Although the history of Chittagong port is very ancient, the official journey of Chittagong port started on 25th April, in the 1800s. As such, the port authorities have been celebrating the founding anniversary of the port on April 25 every year.


I have read the travelogue of Ibn Batuta. He wrote of disembarking in the Chittagong Port and went by foot and boat to Sylhet sometime in the early 14th century to meet Hazrat Shahjalal.

How come our half-educated bureaucrats claim it was founded only 135 years ago??


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## Wergeland

F-6 enthusiast said:


> trend of migrating to the capital in search of jobs is also on the decline as people now prefer staying in the area having employment opportunities, he added.



Fantastic news. Hopefully this trends continues.

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## UKBengali

Wergeland said:


> Fantastic news. Hopefully this trends continues.





Improved infrastructure and development of regional SEZs are all going to slow down and potentially reverse the migration from the capital Dhaka.

Advent of remote working will also play it's part with workers able to work either completely remotely or hybrid model with companies that have their office in Dhaka.

Padma bridge has a dedicated cable to provide fast internet connectivity with the rest of the country for SW BD.

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## Destranator

bluesky said:


> I have read the travelogue of Ibn Batuta. He wrote of disembarking in the Chittagong Port and went by foot and boat to Sylhet sometime in the early 14th century to meet Hazrat Shahjalal.
> 
> How come our half-educated bureaucrats claim it was founded only 135 years ago??


Chittagong Port has been in service for thousands of years. The "modern" Chittagong Port, as set up by the British, started operation in 1887 which is what is officially recognised. This is an ex-British colony after all.



F-6 enthusiast said:


> Factories in rural areas strategy you talked about @Destranator
> 
> _''Akij Ceramics Limited set up a factory at Mokshapur union of Trishal several years ago. It produces tiles, sanitary products, particle boards, and BOPP for food packaging.''
> ''Md Tanzil Hasan, associate professor of economics at Jatiya Kobi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, and executive director of the Economic Development Research Organisation (EDRO), said, "Industrilisation has become a major force in eradicating poverty and unemployment in Trishal. As people's income increases, it propels the wheel of the economy. Increasing money transactions have improved the standard of living in the rural areas."_
> 
> The trend of migrating to the capital in search of jobs is also on the decline as people now prefer staying in the area having employment opportunities, he added.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Industrialisation transforming rural economy in Trishal
> 
> 
> Five-six big factories have already been set up in Trishal, and work is underway on several more
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.tbsnews.net


Good start. However, industrialisation in regions should happen in an organised manner to minimise environmental impacts and congestions - we do not need another mess like Dhaka.

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## Bilal9

Destranator said:


> Chittagong Port has been in service for thousands of years. The "modern" Chittagong Port, as set up by the British, started operation in 1887 which is what is officially recognised. This is an ex-British colony after all.
> 
> 
> Good start. However, industrialisation in regions should happen in an organised manner to minimise environmental impacts and congestions - we do not need another mess like Dhaka.



The culprits are the RAJUK engineer and inspector ba$tards who provided the factory setup permissions within the city limits.

Entrepreneurs cannot set these factories up within the city without RAJUK permission, which never should have happened.

Factories belong to dedicated industrial zones outside the city.

RAJUK and their people are the culprits. That whole office needs to be revamped and the Mayors are powerless to do so - RAJUK employees now have so much money they control that whole operation.

Maybe DUDOK (ACC) can.

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## Bilal9

bluesky said:


> I have read the travelogue of Ibn Batuta. He wrote of disembarking in the Chittagong Port and went by foot and boat to Sylhet sometime in the early 14th century to meet Hazrat Shahjalal.
> 
> How come our half-educated bureaucrats claim it was founded only 135 years ago??



Like @Destranator bhai explained - the British Raj officially established Chittagong Port Trust in late 1800's.

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## Destranator

Bilal9 said:


> The culprits are the RAJUK engineer and inspector ba$tards who provided the factory setup permissions within the city limits.
> 
> Entrepreneurs cannot set these factories up within the city without RAJUK permission, which never should have happened.
> 
> Factories belong to dedicated industrial zones outside the city.
> 
> RAJUK and their people are the culprits. That whole office needs to be revamped and the Mayors are powerless to do so - RAJUK employees now have so much money they control that whole operation.
> 
> Maybe DUDOK (ACC) can.


Exactly, Dhaka's urban planners deserve to get shot.
On the subject of dedicated industrial zones, we can set up whole urban/suburban self-sufficient ecosystems around them including multistoried apartment complexes for workers, shuttle services, govt services, etc. This way, people would be able to find work in their nearest industrial zone and never have to travel to other parts of the country to avail any essential needs.
Here are some thoughts from the past:


Destranator said:


> Yes, that is why I call it "lazy" approach.
> 
> Dhaka simply needs partial abandonment by decentralisation. All government headquarters should move to another district and declare it capital territory.
> 
> Businesses and workers should be given incentives for relocating to the poorest districts.
> The government should build high rises of small apartments, like the singapore government has, around the economic zones for workers to live in. All economic zones should be connected by bus networks for convenient transportation of workers.
> 
> Lastly, taxation on cars should be restructured. Instead of applying heavy duties and AIT, the tax burden should be transferred over to registration fees in major cities and tolls for entering and plying in them.
> This way the automobile market and industry can flourish in other parts of the country.





Destranator said:


> That could be a start but we need at least one self sufficient industrial zone (spread out over districts) in each division - people should not have to leave their division to obtain any essential services. We also need at least one internationally certified trade/vocational + English Language training institute in each upazilla.
> 
> Bangladesh is primed for heavy industrialisation - we just need to unleash the potential by fixing shitty road infrastructure, governance, urban planning and skills shortage.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka-Ashulia 24 KM ExpressWay will cost 731 crores per KM


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## rainbowrascal



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## Homo Sapiens

Agargaon is changing for good.

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## Bilal9

Brand BGMEA

As the fashion industry is growing and becoming complex, management of supply chain logistics is more important than ever, especially in this era of fast fashion.

Recently BGMEA President Faruque Hassan visited the headquarters of Inditex in Spain and toured its logistics department, warehouse and retail store of Zara to experience and have a better understanding of how the world’s largest fashion group optimize its supply chain management to ensure products reach stores timely and satisfy customers.

BGMEA Directors Tanvir Ahmed and Abdullah Hil Rakib along with Giant Group Director Sharmeen Hassan Tithi accompanied the President during the trip.

They also met with Abel Lopez Cernadas of the Logistics Department at Inditex who gave an overview of how Inditex manages its logistics in order to keep up with changing trends and consumer demands.

















Recently a delegation of BGMEA led by President Faruque Hassan visited the headquarters of the world’s largest fashion group, Inditex in Spain where they were greeted by CEO of Inditex Óscar García Maceiras.

Chief Operation Officer Carlos Crespo along with Chief Communication Officer Raúl Estradera also welcomed the delegation which included BGMEA Directors Tanvir Ahmed and Abdullah Hil Rakib along with Director of Giant Group Sharmeen Hassan Tithi.

The meeting was lively and enlightening where the BGMEA delegation was given an overview of the business operations of Inditex, its business model, supply chain management, future plans while the BGMEA President shared the current and future priorities of Bangladesh’s RMG industry, especially increasingly attention to shifting to high-end non-cotton products.

He also pointed out the industry’s emphasis on product diversification, innovation and technological upgradation.

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan urged Inditex to strengthen its partnership with their Bangladeshi suppliers in enhancing capabilities in manufacturing valued-added garments.

The BGMEA delegation expressed thanks to Inditex for the warm hospitality shown during their visit.













𝐑𝐌𝐆 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐋𝐎 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐚

A delegation comprising leaders of apparel industry associations in Bangladesh held a meeting with André Picard, Chief Technical Adviser and Head, Actuarial Services Unit, and Anne-Marie La Rosa of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland on May 31.

The delegation included President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Faruque Hassan, President of Employers Federation of Bangladesh (BEF) Ardashir Kabir, Executive President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Mohammad Hatem, BGMEA Vice President Miran Ali (米然·阿里）, BGMEA Standing Committee Chair on ILO issue A N M Saifuddin and Secretary-General fo BEF Farooq Ahmed.

They had discussions about various issues pertaining to the apparel industry of Bangladesh particularly the progress made by the industry in compliance with ILO conventions ratified by the country.

They also discussed employment injury insurance scheme for the RMG sector in Bangladesh.

The delegation apprised the ILO of about the industry’s ongoing initiatives and programs including ILO’s Better Work Program in the RMG sector to promote descent working conditions in the garment factories.

They asserted the firm commitment of the industry to carrying forward the achievements made so far in ensuring safe and decent workplace for workers and their rights and well-being.


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## Bilal9

BGMEA latest edition Newsletter Apparel Story availble in PDF format here.

Some interesting articles on the goings-on at BGMEA.

https://www.bgmea.com.bd/uploads/newsletters/apparel-story-march-april-2022.pdf


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## Bilal9

𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧






The apparel industry of Bangladesh is firmly committed to carrying forward its achievements that has earned it global accolades as a safe and sustainable industry in the world, said Faruque Hassan, President of BGMEA.

“While our achievements make us immensely proud, they also inspire us to dream bigger and strengthen our tenacity to continue pursuance of excellence in order to retain the fame of Bangladesh as a safe and sustainable apparel sourcing destination in the world,” he said.

Faruque Hassan made the remarks while speaking at a textile round table on the road to sustainability and transparent supply chain, organized by OAV – German Asia-Pacific Business Association, the German importers and the Embassy of Bangladesh in Berlin and hosted by Wünsche Group on June 3.

Md. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, ndc, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Germany; Miran Ali (米然·阿里), Vice President, BGMEA; Christian Moritz, Managing Director of Fashion, Wunsche Gruppe; Almut Roessner, Executive Board Member, OAV; Dr. Michael Arretz, CEO, VFI; Christian Ewert, Global Director, TEDD - Trusted Experts on Due Diligence, and Md. Saiful Islam, Commercial Counselor, Embassy of Bangladesh in Berlin, also spoke at the round table.

BGMEA Directors Barrister Vidiya Amrit Khan, Md. Imranur Rahman, Neela Hosna Ara and Chair of BGMEA Standing Committee on Foreign Mission Cell Shams Mahmud were also present at the round table.

*In his address BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said Bangladesh has the highest number of LEED certified Green factories in the world, with 161 green factories certified by the USGBC, of which 48 are platinum rated and 99 are Gold rated, and these green factories are equipped with all the eco-friendly features and emit 40% less carbon than a conventional factory.*

BGMEA has joined the German Green Button initiative which identifies socially and ecologically sustainable textiles that are placed on the market by responsible companies.

Besides, BGMEA has pledged to the UN Fashion industry charter for Climate Action with a commitment to facilitate reduction of 30% GHG emission reduction in the industry further, he added.

“Our commitment is to take the RMG industry to the next level of sustainability and continue the momentum, the BGMEA President said.

He further said, “If we talk about the transparency in the supply chain of the industry, we have seen some significant transformation here. Currently, all factory inspections reports are disclosed at public domain online which has set a unique example in the world on the issue of work place safety.”


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Mawa Expressway + Padma Bridge Completion Update






New BangaBandhu Rail Bridge (next to Jamuna Bridge) update - piling work halfway done


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

US-Bangla Airlines to add A330s in late 2Q22​

© Tis Meyer (PlanePics.org)

US-Bangla Airlines (BS, Dhaka) is planning to induct at least one A330 in the middle of next year to launch Saudi Arabian operations.
In a statement marking the delivery of its latest pair of B737-800s - msn 39428 and 39430 - the Bangladeshi carrier said only that jet, now confirmed to be an A330-300, would arrive in June next year and would be used to connect Dhaka with Jeddah, Riyadh, and Madinah.

It did not disclose the aircraft's origins, nor did it respond to a request for comment. 

They will, however, be its first widebody jet(s).

Earlier this month, US-Bangla also signalled plans to start flights to Europe and to add six A321-200NX(LR)s to its fleet by 2023.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows US-Bangla Airlines currently operates seven ATR72-600s, four B737-800s, and three DHC-8-Q400s (to be retired and sold) on scheduled flights throughout Bangladesh as well as to India, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, Singapore, and soon - Thailand.


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## Bilal9

News​Bangladesh's Air Astra outlines fleet growth, cargo plans






https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/...s-air-astra-outlines-fleet-growth-cargo-plans
Air Astra ATR72-600 Rendering© Air Astra
Dhaka, Bangladesh gridlock delays Air Astra, Fly Dhaka debut​11.03.2022 - 00:41 UTC

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) aims to delay the certification of startups Air Astra (Dhaka) and Fly Dhaka to avoid further congestion at Dhaka, says Chairman Mafidur Rahman.

He told The Daily Star that airlines have been facing a space shortage airside and in the existing terminals as the airport’s only runway has been closed from 0000L (1800Z) to 0800L (0200Z) daily since December 10, 2021, in preparation for the construction of taxiways for a third terminal.

He said the eight-hour flight ban was disrupting flight schedules and passenger handling at the airport. About 110 to 115 flights of 28 airlines were currently operating to/from Dhaka Airport, carrying up to 21,000 passengers within the reduced travel period.

Airline officials had reported chaotic operating conditions and blamed airport authorities for failing to provide emergency facilities.

Amid the present congestion, CAAB was discouraging the entry of more operators from the airport, Rahman said. "Once the situation becomes normal after the completion of the construction and expansion of the taxiways, we will step in with the right arrangements."

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*About Fly Dhaka*​*Fly Dhaka is a new proposed airline in Bangladesh looking to launch its services by early 2022, similar to Air Astra who is another Bangladeshi airline start-up looking to do the same. The airline is planning to fly to 7 domestic destinations using a fleet of ATR 72-600 aircraft.*

Fly Dhaka will operate domestic routes in its first year of service due to the local regulatory restrictions. Therefore, international services will not be available until at least early 2023.









FlyDhaka


Airlines based in Bangladesh.




flydhakaair.com





*Destinations*​Fly Dhaka hasn't currently announced the destinations they are planning to fly to. However, it's highly likely that they'll only fly domestic routes in the first year of launch due to local authority restrictions. In the second year of operations, the airline may look to operating international destinations.

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## Arthur

Very detailed report on new investment in the passenger transportation sector initiated by Padma bridge opening. It's being said at least 300 crore BDT being invested by transport companies to launch direct bus services to 21 districts.











@Bilal9 @

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## Bilal9

Notun Helen ashi gesey....

https://fb.watch/dHgJkX6swc/


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9




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## Bengal71

Bilal9 said:


> US-Bangla Airlines to add A330s in late 2Q22​
> 
> © Tis Meyer (PlanePics.org)
> 
> US-Bangla Airlines (BS, Dhaka) is planning to induct at least one A330 in the middle of next year to launch Saudi Arabian operations.
> In a statement marking the delivery of its latest pair of B737-800s - msn 39428 and 39430 - the Bangladeshi carrier said only that jet, now confirmed to be an A330-300, would arrive in June next year and would be used to connect Dhaka with Jeddah, Riyadh, and Madinah.
> 
> It did not disclose the aircraft's origins, nor did it respond to a request for comment.
> 
> They will, however, be its first widebody jet(s).
> 
> Earlier this month, US-Bangla also signalled plans to start flights to Europe and to add six A321-200NX(LR)s to its fleet by 2023.
> 
> The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows US-Bangla Airlines currently operates seven ATR72-600s, four B737-800s, and three DHC-8-Q400s (to be retired and sold) on scheduled flights throughout Bangladesh as well as to India, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, Singapore, and soon - Thailand.



I suspect these will be lease and not purchases?


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## Bilal9

Bengal71 said:


> I suspect these will be lease and not purchases?



Yes all are leases, A330s, A321LRs and ATRs. Seems US Bangla will also phase out older B738's - will have a large fleet of A321LR and A330s for int'l flights.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US-Bangla_Airlines#Fleet

With its new A321LRs, US Bangla can easily operate flights to any airport in EU and as far as London (LHR, LGW, LCY) and Eastward to any point in China as far as Tokyo. These would be long thin routes with 220 PAX.

*Air Astra* has secured 4 ATR72-600s on lease, *Fly Dhaka* is getting the same type of ATR's but don't know how many. These new airlines will have to operate locally for at least a couple of years before they are allowed to operate internationally.

See post 2239 above for Air Astra route plan.

Looks like US Bangla is also using a fleet of ATR's locally and for regional flights to KTM and CCU - so this type will be predominant in Bangladesh which is a good thing. They are used extensively in the rest of ASEAN for local flights, esp. in Thailand and Malaysia.

The only airline still flying Dash-8's are I believe Biman and US Bangla. US Bangla has two but they will be returned I think and ATR's will be their primary local types.

One side note is that no airline in Bangladesh serves regional Airports like Guwahati - GAU or Dimapur - DMU in Nagaland. These airports only have connections with Calcutta CCU while people in these locations can easily use Dhaka or even Sylhet (which are much closer regionally) for direct long range flights to the US, Canada and UK/EU using B777 and B787 fleets. B787s fly direct to London from Sylhet.

CAAB's gadhas never looked into these. All they care about is taking bribes and hand out permissions to Gulf carriers to operate from Dhaka.

There is significant regional traffic activity to these two airports from CCU - A320s are used twice a day sometimes. Agartala airport is close enough that buses can carry passengers to Dhaka from Agartala. Bangladesh govt. should look into this as we never ask anything in return from India while they are taking advantage of us 100%.

Air Services should also be opened to Sikkim's new airport at Pakyong (at 4500 ft. above MSL), which is 30 KM from Gangtok, very high potential for Bangladeshis to travel to Sikkim, just like KTM in Nepal.

Pakyong


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## Bilal9

Meghna Bicycle is a longtime exporter of various types and grades of bicycles








They supply the following types of commuter/city bike to Germany. High gas prices are seeing demand increase quite a bit...



https://ks-cycling.com//videos/700C/700CSlideShow.mp4



Their factory setup


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## Bilal9

Meghna also has moderately high grade gravel bikes (offshoot of their Road bikes for off road use) made with a 6061 Aluminum Alloy Frame. This costs the equivalent of 55,000 Takas locally in Bangladesh or about US$600.

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## Bilal9

Square pharma to manufacture drugs in Kenya this July​Square looks to get hold of the $30 million drug market in Kenya and five other East African countries — Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan — and fulfill the unmet demands of medicines in those countries






Zisan Bin Liaquat

May 29, 2022 6:51 AM

Square Pharmaceuticals has constructed a state of the art pharmaceutical plant at EPZ Athi River in Machakos County of Kenya. It is expected to be commissioned in July this year.

“Square Pharmaceuticals’ first overseas manufacturing unit in Kenya has received the good manufacturing practices (GMP) approval today (Friday). This is also the first investment of Bangladesh in the pharmaceutical sector outside the country,” General Manager at Square Pharmaceuticals Prosenjit Chakraborty wrote in a LinkedIn post on Friday.

The offshore plant is set to help the company diversify its supply chain and mitigate any impact of Bangladesh's LDC graduation a decade later.

Square looks to get hold of the $30 million drug market in Kenya and five other East African countries — Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan — and fulfill the unmet demands of medicines in those countries.

“This is a milestone for not just Square, but the country itself, as it not only diversifies the export basket but also speaks volumes about our expertise in the pharmaceutical and medicine sector and the quality product we can produce,” Jahangir Alam, the executive director of Square pharma, told Dhaka Tribune.

The company had extended its range of services towards the highway of the global market, pioneering exports of medicines from Bangladesh in 1987 and has been exporting antibiotics and other pharmaceutical products. 

It currently has an export market that covers 42 countries manifesting the credibility of Square Pharmaceuticals Limited, as per the company.

The top brass also thanked the initiative of the government that helped the local pharma giant to step foot abroad and tap into the foreign market.

The central bank earlier gave permission to four private business entities to invest $10 million in foreign countries in a major leap forward for reining in capital flight alongside easing global marketing of local products. 

As one of the permitted companies, Square Pharmaceuticals will also invest $1 million in the Philippines, opening up an opportunity for the company to gain a foothold in the import-dependent $6 billion pharmaceutical market — the third-largest in the Asean region.

Square had been waiting to begin manufacturing in its newly built Kenyan plant much earlier. However, the pandemic delayed the commencement of operation abroad, according to the official of the company.

The plant, which is the largest in East and Central Africa, is in its final stages of getting operational licenses from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, according to Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development Betty Maina.

“The plant is expected to get the licences this week to enable it to start full commercial operations for the production of malaria and diabetes drugs, and other essential medicines,” Maina told reporters on Friday. 

She said when the plant commences full operations, Kenya would benefit from additional 500 direct jobs from the plant, lower costs of essential medicine and increased foreign exchange earnings from exports of drugs.

The CS was speaking during a meeting with visiting senior officials from Bangladesh at her office at the NSSF building to discuss the commissioning of the Square Pharmaceuticals plant.

Maina, who lauded the company for investing over $75 million in the country, encouraged the firm to inform other potential investors from Bangladesh to take advantage of Kenya’s conducive business environment and set up manufacturing facilities in Kenya.

During the meeting, it was agreed that Bangladesh would share with Kenya its extensive knowledge in pharmaceutical production, as well as set the required requisite skills.

“We agreed that Bangladesh will also enter into collaboration with Kenyan Universities on the training of industrial pharmacists in addition to the clinical pharmacists that Kenya is currently training to assist in the management of modern pharmaceutical plants like the one set up by Square Pharmaceuticals in Kenya,” said the CS.

The meeting was attended by the Principal Secretary for Industrialization Amb Kirimi Kaberia, Director of Industries in charge of Private Sector Development Stephen Odua, and the visiting officials from Square Pharmaceuticals who included the Executive Director (Finance and Strategy) Muhammad Zahangir Alam, General Manager (International Marketing) Prosenjit Chakroborty and General Manager (Human Resources) Fakhrul Hasan.

Square Pharmaceuticals posted Tk1,594 crore in annual profit for the 2020-21 fiscal year, which is 19.38% higher compared to the previous year, boosting the top pharmaceutical company's earnings per share to Tk17.99 for the year, up from Tk15.07.

The profit figures include that of its subsidiary companies. But the individual companies also posted growth in profits on a standalone basis.

The pharma market of the country is growing by 15% every year, according to the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries. The market is expected to grow four times to Tk1 lakh crore by 2030.


Kenyan regulator allows Square Pharma to set up factory​Any production in Kenya is considered local manufacturing in the East African Community, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi







*Bigstock*
Tribune Desk
June 1, 2022 4:13 AM

Square Pharmaceuticals Kenya EPZ Ltd, a subsidiary of Square Pharmaceuticals, recently received an approval to produce pharmaceutical medicine and sell them in the East African Community (EAC).

Any production in Kenya is considered local manufacturing in the EAC, which includes Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.

The factory, which will be the largest in East and Central Africa, was in its final stages of getting operational licenses from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, according to Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development Betty Maina.

It is a big achievement for Bangladesh as Square Pharma is going to manufacture drugs in a foreign country, Muhammad Zahangir Alam, CFO of the company, told the media.

Thanks to the approval, there is no problem in starting commercial production now, he said.

Some time is needed to start marketing of any drug in a brand-new factory, Alam added.

Once the marketing starts in full swing, the east African region would be covered from this factory, he said.

The offshore plant is set to help the company diversify its supply chain and mitigate any impact of Bangladesh's LDC graduation a decade later.

Square looks to get hold of the $30 million drug market in Kenya and five other East African countries — Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan — and fulfill the unmet demands of medicines in those countries.

The company had extended its range of services towards the highway of the global market, pioneering exports of medicines from Bangladesh in 1987 and has been exporting antibiotics and other pharmaceutical products. 

It currently has an export market that covers 42 countries manifesting the credibility of Square Pharmaceuticals Limited, as per the company.

The Bangladesh Bank earlier gave permission to four private business entities to invest $10 million in foreign countries in a major leap forward for reining in capital flight alongside easing global marketing of local products. 

As one of the permitted companies, Square Pharmaceuticals will also invest $1 million in the Philippines, opening up an opportunity for the company to gain a foothold in the import-dependent $6 billion pharmaceutical market — the third-largest in the Asean region.

Square had been waiting to begin manufacturing in its newly built Kenyan plant much earlier.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the commencement of operation abroad, according to the official of the company.

The Kenyan project is financed by a 40:60 debt to equity ratio.

As a part of the investment, a total amount of $12 million has been remitted by Square Pharmaceuticals to Square Pharmaceuticals Kenya EPZ Ltd.

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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge to be inaugurated in a matter of hours.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

More made-up BRI FUD from Indian Media regarding Padma Bridge. Dhoti wetting syndrome.  









Padma Bridge in Bangladesh: Chinese design to influence Dhaka failed - Articles


Dhaka [Bangladesh], June 22 (ANI): Padma Bridge, the 6.15 Km long road-rail four-lane bridge over the mighty river Padma, is going to be inaugurated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on June 25, 2022.




www.zee5.com





Here is a congratulatory note from Pakistan. Refreshing that they do not go into the BRI discussion garbage like Indian media.









Padma Bridge an example in Bangladesh's development journey: Pakistan | Bangladesh Live News


Dhaka, June 24: Pakistan has congratulated Bangladesh on the occasion of inauguration of Padma Bridge. Islamabad says the inauguration of the bridge is an example of Bangladesh's development journey. On Friday (June 24), the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif sent a congratulatory message...




www.bangladeshlivenews.com

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## X-ray Papa

Bilal9 said:


> More made-up BRI FUD from Indian Media regarding Padma Bridge. Dhoti wetting syndrome.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Padma Bridge in Bangladesh: Chinese design to influence Dhaka failed - Articles
> 
> 
> Dhaka [Bangladesh], June 22 (ANI): Padma Bridge, the 6.15 Km long road-rail four-lane bridge over the mighty river Padma, is going to be inaugurated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on June 25, 2022.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.zee5.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here is a congratulatory note from Pakistan. Refreshing that they do not go into the BRI discussion garbage like Indian media.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Padma Bridge an example in Bangladesh's development journey: Pakistan | Bangladesh Live News
> 
> 
> Dhaka, June 24: Pakistan has congratulated Bangladesh on the occasion of inauguration of Padma Bridge. Islamabad says the inauguration of the bridge is an example of Bangladesh's development journey. On Friday (June 24), the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif sent a congratulatory message...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.bangladeshlivenews.com


What do you really expect from the Indians? Respect, Kindness? Those are reserved for the white people they worship.

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## Bilal9

Sheltech Ceramics (tile factory) in Bhola


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## StraightEdge

Congratulations on Padma bridge successful completion.

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## Bilal9

Click on image to enlarge...

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## ZAMURD

Bilal9 said:


> Click on image to enlarge...


Heyy man, huge congrats to you and people of southwest Bangladesh.

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## Bilal9

Official video on Padma Bridge in Bangla...


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Bangladesh AI Technology....I think they have started using it in major highway toll plaza booths in Bangladesh now....


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## Bilal9

@bluesky bhai I have a nice video for you. This is the piling detail for the footers of the new Bangabandhu Rail Bridge (adjacent to the Jamuna Bridge. This is a JV project with three Japanese Cos. (Obayashi, Toa Corp and one other one). I might like it. Although this bridge is nowhere as challenging as the Padma Bridge was, it is nonetheless a lot more challenging than any river upstream (of which most of them are in India).

I am pretty certain that some of these engineers also worked in the Padma Bridge which is now completed. Scope and size of piling is not as humongous as Padma bridge but detail of piling and RCC framing are no less complicated.

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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

This low grade reporter Komol Dey guy is literally a screamer. I don't know how he kept his job so far.

No training in proper diction or pronunciation. Tactless idiot screaming like a donkey...


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

BEZA to expedite development of planned EZs in south-western region​ SAIF UDDIN | Published: July 05, 2022 08:46:28 | Updated: July 05, 2022 12:03:24





Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) is expecting to expedite development of the planned industrial parks in the country's south-western (SW) region as investors are showing increased interest in the areas, thanks to enhanced connectivity established after opening of the Padma Bridge, officials said.

The stakeholders believe the EZs-currently at different stages of development from planning to construction - will give an impetus to the economic activities there through industrialisation and employment generation.

As per data available, 17 EZs will be established across the whole region, while implementation of Mongla EZ (MEZ) has already marked a significant progress with the construction works.

The MEZ is being developed on 205 acres of land in Bagerhat, near the Mongla port.

The BEZA completed construction of administrative building, boundary walls, link roads, 33 KVA substation, and water pipeline in the MEZ under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in association with Powerpac Economic Zone as the developer.

Three companies have already inked land lease agreements to set up their plants there.

Close to the MEZ, another EZ will be established on 105 acres of land dedicated for Indian investors on government-to-government (G2G) basis.

BEZA Executive Chairman Shaikh Yusuf Harun said the two under-construction EZs in Mongla will soon host industrial units.

"It is expected that the construction of factories in the two EZs will begin soon, creating employment opportunities for several planned EZs.

The EZs will be established in Gopalganj, Khulna, Madaripur, Satkhira and Kushtia in phases, which altogether will play a pivotal role for overall development of the region, he added.

The BEZA has also planned to establish a tourism park on 1,546 acres of land near the Sundarbans in Bagerhat.

Its governing body has approved development of two EZs in Zajira and Gosairhat upazila of Shariatpur on 525 and 686 acres of land respectively.

There is a decision in principle to establish an EZ on 1,125 acres of land in Rajoir upazila of Madaripur, while another EZ in Faridpur will be set up on an estimated 888 acres of land.

The feasibility study of a 200-acre EZ in Gopalganj's Kotalipara upazila has been accomplished while its Development Project Proposal (DPP) is being prepared.

A move is also underway to conduct a feasibility study for establishing another EZ in Khulna's Botiaghata on 208 acres of land, while the governing body has decided to establish another EZ on 509 acres in Terokhada upazila of the same district.Data available with the BEZA also said Sripur upazila of Magura and Satkhira Sadar Upazila will accommodate two EZs on 205 and 206 acres of land respectively.

A feasibility study of Barishal's Agailjhara upazila has already been completed.

Talking to the FE, president of the Barishal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Saidur Rahman Rintu said the opening of Padma Bridge has created new possibilities for industrialisation.

"Businesses in the region are now looking to establish new industries since the Padma Bridge ensures better logistics and supply chain," he added. The proposed EZ in Agailjhara will help create a ripple effect in the neighbouring areas, he said.

He, however, suggested improving other infrastructures like widening the Bhanga-Barishal-Patuakhali highway to four lanes from existing two lanes.


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Picture Map of all the startups in Bangladesh, although fundings may be small, the culture of startups is alive and well. Click twice in steps to enlarge.








Domestic startups are getting foreign investment​







The development of startup culture in Bangladesh is accelerating. At present, there are more than 1,200 active startups in the country and 200 new startups are being created every year. These startups have already created about 1.5 million jobs. Fintech, e-commerce and logistics startups outnumber domestic startups.

In the last 10 years, the best of them have been able to raise about 306 million from foreign investors. Of this, the amount of foreign investment in 2020 alone is 34 million dollars. Light Castle Partner, a local consulting firm, recently published a report titled 'Bangladesh Startup Ecosystem: The Digital Goldmine'.


The report shows that foreign investors are more interested in investing in domestic startups than domestic investors. In 2020, 92 percent of startup investments came from foreign investors.

The government has an effective role to play in creating a startup-friendly environment in the country over the decades, the report said.

These include providing grants to startups under the Idea (Idea, Entrepreneurship, Design Academy) project initiated by the Department of Information and Communication Technology, setting up a government venture company called Startup Bangladesh Limited to invest in startups; The introduction of low-cap and separate SME boards in the stock market, the formulation of venture fund management policies by Bangladesh Bank, the introduction of Bangabandhu Innovation Grant, etc. are notable. Apart from the government, various startup-supporting activities are also being carried out in the public sector. Grameenphone, a mobile phone service provider, has an accelerator and Robi Axiata has formed a startup fund.

According to the report, the proliferation of mobile phones and the expansion of the Internet across the country has helped in the development of startups. It is to be mentioned that as per the government, more than 11 crore people have come under the internet in the country at present. As a result, digital services have expanded in the country. It is hoped that the domestic e-commerce market will reach Rs 25,000 crore by 2023. At present, there are more than 2,000 e-commerce sites and more than 50,000 Facebook-based entrepreneurs in the country with around 30,000 product transactions per day. In the last one year, 18 lakh new broadband connections have been made.

The report says that the number of customers of mobile financial services has increased. According to Bangladesh Bank, one out of every two people in the country currently has an MFS account. They are completing transactions of ২৫ 250 million through 10 million transactions every day.

Although it started in 2011, it has seen good growth in startups and an attractive expansion in the eyes of global investors over the past five years. During 2017-2021, foreign employers have invested ৭ 262 million in the country's fintech, logistics and sobriety industries. At this time, an integrated network of angel investors has also developed in the country. Angel investors have already invested about 30 million.

Angel investors are one or more investors who help a new venture and innovation through business with a few thousand to one hundred thousand dollars or more. They provided one-time money and at one point moved out of the business. By 2021, Maya, Truck Lagbe, Prabha Health, Frontier Nutrition and Paperfly have received significant investments.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3600 crore investment in startups​Now is the time for Bangladesh to move forward in startups. So far, more than Tk 3,636 crore has been invested in the sector. But there are also many challenges.

Suhada Afrin

Dhaka

Published: 08 January 2022, 23:30





Infographics: Prothom Alo

The country's startups have received investments of more than Tk 3,500 crore in the last one decade. The highest investment has come this year. And on a sector basis, most of the investment has been in fintech or financial technology (financial technology).

People in the sector say that the country has now created a platform for startups to move forward. But if the government does not show business-friendly mentality and simplify the investment system and does not increase the supply of talent, it will not be possible to go far. In other words, there is a challenge against the huge potential in startups.

Research firm Lightcastle Partners released a report on the country's startups last September. The report titled 'Bangladesh Startup Ecosystem: Funding Landscape' highlights the progress and current status of the country's startup sector over the past decade.

According to Lightcastle Partners, the domestic and foreign startups have invested কোটি 423 million from 2010 to the current 2021, which is Rs 3,636 crore in local currency (Rs 8 per dollar). Of this, foreign investment is কোটি 300 million or Tk 2,600 crore.

It is known that after the increase in foreign investment from 2013 to 2015, it decreased in 2016-17. Big investment is coming again from 2016. However, Corona has also had a negative impact on the sector in 2020.

The highest investment of US ১৩ 130 million in startups in the country in the current 2021, which is about 1 thousand 116 crore in local currency. Of this, only 126 million dollars came from abroad. Domestic investment is only 4 million dollars. Invested in 48 startups.

Foreign investment has been coming to domestic startups since 2013. So far, a total of 206 startups in the country have signed agreements on foreign investment. Of these, 108 startups have received investments. In 2016, the amount of domestic and foreign investment was almost close. In that year, domestic investment was 45.6 percent as against 54.2 percent foreign investment. Foreign investment is increasing from next year.

According to Lightcastle Partners, Fintech (Financial Technology) is the largest investment in the country so far. Startups in this sector received 50.60 percent of the total investment. Besides, logistics received 20.92 per cent, e-commerce and retail sales 10.26 per cent, healthcare and healthcare 4.46 per cent, consumer services 4.22 per cent and software and technology 3.24 per cent.

As a result of the government's supportive attitude, the startup sector, including information technology, is advancing, access to the digital world is increasing, financial services and e-commerce on mobile phones are being strengthened, the report said. Various activities are being carried out in the country keeping the startup in mind. In that respect, the ecosystem is developing. The government has also set up a company called 'Startup Bangladesh Limited'.

Employment of 1.5 million people​At present, there are 1,200 active startups in the country. A total of more than 1.5 million jobs have been created in this sector. More than two hundred new startups are coming every year. However, the startups are mainly based in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet.
In the last five years, 61 startups in Bangladesh have received a total investment of ৭ 261.7 million. 92 percent of this investment is foreign and the remaining 6 percent is domestic.

Among the startups, Bikash received Rs 61 million, Pathao Rs 38 million, Shopup Rs 28 million, Sure Cash Rs 28 million, Sahaj and Chaldal Rs 19.5 million and Paperfly Rs 13 million.

Meanwhile, after the release of Lightcastle's report, it has been reported that some companies including bKash, ShopUp and Chaldal have received large new investments. As of June last year, they had received an investment of কোটি 2.5 billion, according to Sahaj authorities.
The challenge​Despite the progress in startups, Bangladesh is still lagging behind. For example, Bangladesh ranks 93rd out of 100 countries in the global startup rankings. However, this time Bangladesh is five steps ahead than last year. Besides, Bangladesh ranks 116th out of 132 countries in the Global Innovation Index.

Corona effect​In 2020, 24 percent of startups shut down due to the coronavirus. Startup revenue fell 56 percent to 50 percent. However, the demand for digital financial services, logistics and transportation, groceries and groceries, adtech and healthtech services has increased significantly.

Minhaj Anwar, chief storyteller of Better Stories Limited, a consultancy firm , told _Prothom Alo_ that startups in Bangladesh have grown at an early stage, but have not been able to reach maturity. This requires talent. But the country has less talent than needed in the technology sector. On top of this, meritorious people are leaving the best universities of the country and going abroad.

Minhaj Anwar further said that 94 to 98 percent of the investment in startups is from outside. There are still big challenges in investing in this country. So the investment process needs to be made easier.

Minhaj Anwar further said that the government has many objectives but the mentality of implementation needs to go further. Must understand startup properly. Regulatory agencies also need to be supportive.

লাইটক্যাসলের প্রতিবেদন​স্টার্টআপে ৩৬০০ কোটি টাকা বিনিয়োগ​স্টার্টআপে বাংলাদেশের এগিয়ে যাওয়ার সময় এখন। খাতটিতে এ পর্যন্ত ৩,৬৩৮ কোটি টাকার বেশি বিনিয়োগ এসেছে। তবে অনেক চ্যালেঞ্জও রয়েছে।
সুহাদা আফরিন

ঢাকা

প্রকাশ: ০৭ জানুয়ারি ২০২২, ২৩: ৩০






ইনফোগ্রাফিকস: প্রথম আলো

দেশের স্টার্টআপগুলো গত এক দশকে সাড়ে তিন হাজার কোটি টাকার বেশি বিনিয়োগ পেয়েছে। সবচেয়ে বেশি বিনিয়োগ এসেছে চলতি বছরে। আর খাত ভিত্তিতে সর্বাধিক বিনিয়োগ হয়েছে ফিনটেক তথা ফিন্যান্সিয়াল টেকনোলজিতে (আর্থিক প্রযুক্তি)।

খাতসংশ্লিষ্ট ব্যক্তিরা বলছেন, দেশে এখন স্টার্টআপের এগিয়ে যাওয়ার ক্ষেত্র তৈরি হয়েছে। কিন্তু সরকার ব্যবসা-সহায়ক মানসিকতা প্রদর্শন ও বিনিয়োগ পদ্ধতি সহজ না করলে এবং মেধার জোগান না বাড়লে বেশি দূর এগোনো যাবে না। অর্থাৎ স্টার্টআপে ব্যাপক সম্ভাবনার বিপরীতে চ্যালেঞ্জও রয়েছে।

গবেষণা সংস্থা লাইটক্যাসল পার্টনার্স দেশের স্টার্টআপ নিয়ে গত সেপ্টেম্বরে একটি প্রতিবেদন প্রকাশ করেছে। ‘বাংলাদেশ স্টার্টআপ ইকোসিস্টেম: ফান্ডিং ল্যান্ডস্কেপ’ শীর্ষক এই প্রতিবেদনে দেশের স্টার্টআপ খাতের গত এক দশকের অগ্রগতি ও বর্তমান অবস্থা তুলে ধরা হয়েছে।

লাইটক্যাসল পার্টনার্সের তথ্যানুযায়ী দেশি-বিদেশি মিলিয়ে ২০১০ থেকে চলতি ২০২১ সাল পর্যন্ত স্টার্টআপে বিনিয়োগ হয়েছে ৪২ কোটি ৩০ লাখ ডলার, যা স্থানীয় মুদ্রায় ৩ হাজার ৬৩৮ কোটি টাকা (প্রতি ডলার ৮৬ টাকা ধরে)। এর মধ্যে বিদেশি বিনিয়োগই হলো ৩০ কোটি ডলার বা ২ হাজার ৬০০ কোটি টাকা।

জানা যায়, ২০১৩ থেকে ২০১৫ সালে বিদেশি বিনিয়োগ বৃদ্ধি পাওয়ার পর ২০১৬-১৭ সালে কমে। ২০১৮ সাল থেকে আবার বড় বিনিয়োগ আসছে। অবশ্য ২০২০ সালে খাতটিতে করোনার নেতিবাচক প্রভাবও পড়েছে।

দেশে স্টার্টআপে সর্বোচ্চ ১৩ কোটি মার্কিন ডলারের বিনিয়োগ এসেছে চলতি ২০২১ সালে, যা স্থানীয় মুদ্রায় প্রায় ১ হাজার ১১৮ কোটি টাকা। এর মধ্যে ১২ কোটি ৬০ লাখ ডলারই এসেছে বিদেশ থেকে। দেশীয় বিনিয়োগ মাত্র ৪০ লাখ ডলার। বিনিয়োগ হয়েছে ৪৮টি স্টার্টআপে।

দেশীয় স্টার্টআপে ২০১৩ সাল থেকে বিদেশি বিনিয়োগ আসছে। এখন পর্যন্ত দেশের মোট ২০৬টি স্টার্টআপ বিদেশি বিনিয়োগ নেওয়ার বিষয়ে চুক্তি করেছে। এর মধ্যে ১০৬টি স্টার্টআপ বিনিয়োগ পেয়েছে। ২০১৭ সালে দেশি ও বিদেশি বিনিয়োগের পরিমাণ ছিল প্রায় কাছাকাছি। সেই বছর ৫৪ দশমিক ২ শতাংশ বিদেশি বিনিয়োগের বিপরীতে স্থানীয় বিনিয়োগ ছিল ৪৫ দশমিক ৮ শতাংশ। পরের বছর থেকে বিদেশি বিনিয়োগই বেশি হচ্ছে।

লাইটক্যাসল পার্টনার্স জানায়, দেশে এখন পর্যন্ত সবচেয়ে বেশি বিনিয়োগ এসেছে ফিনটেকে (ফিন্যান্সিয়াল টেকনোলজি তথা আর্থিক প্রযুক্তি)। এই খাতের স্টার্টআপগুলো মোট বিনিয়োগের ৫০ দশমিক ৬০ শতাংশ পেয়েছে। এ ছাড়া লজিস্টিকস ২০ দশমিক ৯২ শতাংশ, ই-কমার্স ও খুচরা বিক্রি ১০ দশমিক ২৬ শতাংশ, হেলথকেয়ার তথা স্বাস্থ্যসেবা ৪ দশমিক ৪৮ শতাংশ, কনজিউমার সার্ভিসেস ৪ দশমিক ২২ শতাংশ, সফটওয়্যার ও টেকনোলজি ৩ দশমিক ২৪ শতাংশ বিনিয়োগ পেয়েছে।

প্রতিবেদনে বলা হয়, সরকারের সহায়ক মনোভাবের ফলে তথ্যপ্রযুক্তিসহ স্টার্টআপ খাত এগোচ্ছে, ডিজিটাল জগতে প্রবেশ বাড়ছে, মোবাইল ফোনে আর্থিক সেবা ও ই-কমার্স জোরদার হচ্ছে। স্টার্টআপকে মাথায় রেখে দেশে বিভিন্ন কার্যক্রম হচ্ছে। সেই সুবাদে ইকোসিস্টেম গড়ে উঠছে। সরকার ‘স্টার্টআপ বাংলাদেশ লিমিটেড’ নামে একটি কোম্পানিও প্রতিষ্ঠা করেছে।

১৫ লাখ মানুষের কর্মসংস্থান​বর্তমানে দেশে সক্রিয় স্টার্টআপ আছে ১ হাজার ২০০টি। এই খাতে মোট ১৫ লাখের বেশি কর্মসংস্থান তৈরি হয়েছে। প্রতিবছর দুই শতাধিক নতুন স্টার্টআপ আসছে। তবে স্টার্টআপগুলো মূলত ঢাকা, চট্টগ্রাম ও সিলেট—এই তিন শহরকেন্দ্রিক হয়ে থাকে।

গত পাঁচ বছরে বাংলাদেশের ৮১টি স্টার্টআপ মোট ২৭ কোটি ১৬ লাখ ডলার বিনিয়োগ পেয়েছে। এই বিনিয়োগের ৯২ শতাংশ বিদেশি ও বাকি ৮ শতাংশ দেশীয়।

স্টার্টআপগুলোর মধ্যে বিকাশ ৮ কোটি ১০ লাখ, পাঠাও ৩ কোটি ৬০ লাখ, শপআপ ২ কোটি ৮০ লাখ, শিওর ক্যাশ ২ কোটি ৬০ লাখ, সহজ ও চালডাল ১ কোটি ৯৫ লাখ ও পেপারফ্লাই ১ কোটি ৩০ লাখ ডলারের বিদেশি বিনিয়োগ পেয়েছে।

এদিকে লাইটক্যাসলের প্রতিবেদন প্রকাশের পর বিকাশ, শপআপ, চালডালসহ বেশি কিছু প্রতিষ্ঠান বড় অঙ্কের নতুন বিনিয়োগ পেয়েছে বলে জানা গেছে। সহজ কর্তৃপক্ষ জানিয়েছে, গত বছরের জুন পর্যন্ত তারা আড়াই কোটি ডলারের বিনিয়োগ পেয়েছে।
চ্যালেঞ্জ​স্টার্টআপে অগ্রগতি হলেও বাংলাদেশ এখনো পিছিয়ে আছে। যেমন গ্লোবাল স্টার্টআপ র‍্যাঙ্কিংয়ে ১০০টি দেশের মধ্যে বাংলাদেশের অবস্থান ৯৩তম। তবে গত বছরের চেয়ে এবার পাঁচ ধাপ এগিয়েছে বাংলাদেশ। এ ছাড়া গ্লোবাল ইনোভেশন ইনডেক্স বা উদ্ভাবন সূচকে ১৩২টি দেশের মধ্যে বাংলাদেশ ১১৬তম স্থানে রয়েছে।

করোনার প্রভাব​২০২০ সালে করোনাভাইরাসের ধাক্কায় ২৪ শতাংশ স্টার্টআপ প্রতিষ্ঠানের কার্যক্রম বন্ধ হয়ে গেছে। ৫৬ শতাংশ স্টার্টআপের আয় ৫০ শতাংশ কমেছে। তবে ডিজিটাল ফিন্যান্সিয়াল সার্ভিস, লজিস্টিকস তথা পরিবহন, মুদি ও মনিহারি পণ্য, এডটেক ও হেলথটেক সেবার চাহিদা এই সময়ে অনেক বেড়েছে।

পরামর্শক প্রতিষ্ঠান বেটার স্টোরিজ লিমিটেডের চিফ স্টোরিটেলার মিনহাজ আনোয়ার _প্রথম আলো_কে বলেন, বাংলাদেশে স্টার্টআপের প্রাথমিক পর্যায়ে প্রবৃদ্ধি হয়েছে বটে, কিন্তু পরিণত পর্যায়ে যেতে পারছে না। এ জন্য মেধা প্রয়োজন। কিন্তু প্রযুক্তি খাতে প্রয়োজনের চেয়ে কম মেধা আছে দেশে। এর ওপর দেশের সেরা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়গুলো থেকে বের হয়ে মেধাবীরা বিদেশে চলে যাচ্ছে।

মিনহাজ আনোয়ার আরও বলেন, স্টার্টআপে যে বিনিয়োগ এসেছে, তার ৯৪ থেকে ৯৭ শতাংশ বাইরের। এ দেশে বিনিয়োগের ক্ষেত্রে এখনো বড় চ্যালেঞ্জ রয়েছে। তাই বিনিয়োগ পদ্ধতি আরও সহজ করতে হবে।

মিনহাজ আনোয়ার আরও বলেন, সরকারের অনেক উদ্দেশ্য আছে কিন্তু বাস্তবায়নের মানসিকতায় আরও এগোতে হবে। সঠিকভাবে স্টার্টআপ বুঝতে হবে। নিয়ন্ত্রক সংস্থাগুলোকেও সহায়ক হতে হবে।

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro Line 6 Uttara North Depot and staging/marshalling yard. Click twice to enlarge full size.

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## Bilal9

Tina Jabeen heads up "Startup Bangladesh Ltd.", a Startup sector govt. incubator.






Jati'r Nati providing some akash-kusum plans....he wants Bangladesh to be a chip-design and robotics hub, among other things. I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. I know, I expect too much, but he was educated overseas, I had some hopes.


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## Bilal9

Get a load of another brown noser video from Palak,





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=519556869860569


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## Bilal9

Bus Journey over Padma Bridge - SO MUCH excitement !!


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## Bilal9

Archroma CEO Heike van de Kerkhof sharing profound views on Bangladesh industry at BSEC Roadshow in Geneva, Switzerland





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=416474840412126


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## Bilal9

Mongla Port is much closer to Dhaka compared to Chittagong and will see a meteoric rise in container exports and vehicle imports.


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## Bilal9

Patenga Container Terminal is going online next week at a cost of Tk. 1230 crores and will add about 450000 TEU capacity to CTG port container throughput. It is the latest expansion among the two new container handling docks/yards/terminal planned. The other one (Bay Terminal) will be added in two years' time and will be significantly larger than Patenga (can handle 35 ships at one time) - video below.


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## Bilal9

Payra Port progress update (very detailed). I am glad the Navy is managing the port, as it does Mongla and Chittagong.






Bay Terminal (2nd update to CTG container port) update - 3.5 km long dock and 13 jetties with 12 meter draft.


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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge will facilitate Mongla and Payra Port activities.


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## Bilal9

Light Engineering sector in Bangladesh is a Taka 30,000 crore (USD 3.2 Billion) sector, mainly repairs and spares based.

2020 was declared the year of Light Engg. in Bangladesh.

Interesting discussion which many did not look at because we were in the thick of covid for two years since then.

The govt. though is mainly giving lip service, it followed India's dictum as usual and imposed a total of 40% VAT on capital inputs and raw materials in light engg. as mentioned in the discussion.






Also, a nice article with many interesting links.









Light Engineering Sector: Can It Be Taken Lightly?


Bangladesh, having the apparel sector as the largest source of its export earnings, is in desperate need of diversification for its export basket. One such industry, that has been recognized as the thrust sector, and currently contributing about 2.2% of the GDP, is the light engineering...




databd.co


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## Bilal9

_Former Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers addressing the US Roadshow audience_

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## Bilal9

3rd Shitalakhya Bridge done. The Shitalakhya river in the location of the bridge is a very busy industrial center.






Jessore Rail link via Padma Bridge will shorten the time to get there to/from Dhaka


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## Bilal9

Artisan Ceramics Ltd. is one of the leading Ceramics Tableware Manufacturing Companies in Bangladesh. It was established in 2005 to produce world class Porcelain Tableware. Within less than six months of its commercial production, the company had succeeded in attracting a host of renowned tableware customers including larger globally reputed retail marques. Villeroy and Boch is reportedly a customer.

From their formal collection















From their informal collection, some inspired by local Bangladeshi Jamdani motifs.


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## Bilal9

The Mini Fire Station (MFS) concept - with fire units located very close to industrial units, is a new concept to Bangladesh. MFS is adopted from EU and US best practices and use same type of rapid response fire equipment. Training used to be a huge gap, however that gap is being reduced slowly with various NGO and private sector partnerships.


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## Bilal9

MRT Dhaka Official Video discussion (Sorry Bangla only). Starting at 27:50, they start talking about Line 5, which is the next phase of six total phases.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Shahjalal airport 3rd terminal update (sorry Bangla only). The terminal was designed by Architect Rohani Baharin of CPG associates in S'pore, who also designed the new Ahmedabad and new Islamabad Airports, as well the 3rd terminal at Changi in S'pore.






Rohani BAHARIN







www.cpgcorp.com.sg


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## Bilal9

Karnaphuli river crossing tunnel story. This is one of the longest under-river road tunnels in South Asia (probably the only one) which will connect the North shore (Halishahar area) to South shore of the Karnaphuli (Anowara Area) where new terminals for Chittagong port and EPZs will be built. Korean EPZ and other installations are already there. The tunnel will also ease city-bypass connections to points further South such as Matarbari Port/Power Generation Plant and EPZs in Cox's Bazaar.


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## Bilal9

How local Bangladeshi electronics brands tackled foreign brands in their home market. (Sorry Bangla only)





Rise of Bangladeshi Consumer Electronics Manufacturer​June 23, 2022




The market size of Bangladesh’s consumer electronics sector is $2.28 billion, which is expected to reach $10 billion by 2030. This growing sector of Bangladesh has already become self-sufficient. Bangladesh’s brands are now the market leader in most of the product categories in the consumer electronics sector of Bangladesh, which was once 100 percent import-dependent. Walton, a Bangladeshi brand, leads the market in almost every category. In this context, to meet the local market’s demand and after seeing the success of the Bangladeshi brands, several international brands have also started manufacturing locally. However, the dominance of Bangladeshi brands is highest in every sector of the major product category of this sector. But, how have Bangladeshi brands brought such a change in the country’s consumer electronics sector?
Overview​Compared to the previous year, the per capita income of Bangladeshis has climbed to $2,824 at present. Also, because Bangladesh is becoming more and more urbanized, people’s buying habits and how they spend their money have changed a lot. According to a report in The Daily Star, all of Bangladesh’s people will have access to electricity in 2022, whereas only 47 percent did in 2009. Once upon a time, Bangladesh’s consumer electronics industry was nearly reliant on imports, and now it’s one of the fastest-growing industries in recent years. In the 1980s, Bangladesh started building assembly plants to make small electronics like radio, TV, audio, and video cassette players. This made the country less reliant on importing electronics. Walton’s journey in the Bangladeshi electronics market began in 1997.

Later, MyOne and a few other companies started doing business in Bangladesh. At that time, these domestic companies started putting together products in the country by importing all kinds of electronic parts and components. But as the market for electronic appliances grows, these companies slowly switch from assembling to making. They import a few technical parts, but the rest of the parts are being made locally. With the opening of Walton Hi-Tech Industries LTD in 2007, Walton started making refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners in its own factory. When Bangladeshi brands like Walton Electronics and home appliances began to be priced similarly to international brands, more people started to buy them. Because of Walton’s success, other local brands have started making more home appliances. As a result, local brands tend to have more competitive prices than foreign brands. Several international brands have started making their products in Bangladesh in partnership with Bangladeshi companies. They do this so that their prices can be more competitive with those of local brands. In 2017, the South Korean tech company Samsung set up two factories in Bangladesh with the help of Transcom Group and Fair Electronics. In 2018, another South Korean giant, LG, set up a manufacturing plant with a local partner, Butterfly. In May 2021, Singer set up its washing machine manufacturing plant.





Transcom Group and Fair Electronics helped Samsung open two factories in Bangladesh in 2017.




Similarly, Butterfly partnered with LG to set up a manufacturing plant in 2018.

How Did The Scenario Change?​One by one, brands like MyOne, Vision, and Marcel joined Walton as assemblers in the electronics market of Bangladesh. From the start, Bangladeshi brands were very aware of how much their products cost. In 2002, the per capita income of a person living in Bangladesh was only $413. Because of this, most people in the country at the time could not afford to buy major electronics like TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, or washing machines at higher prices. Because of this, local companies started to offer products at lower prices than international brands by assembling them locally. Afterward, when companies started making their products locally, it was easy for them to lower their costs even more.

However, while assembling a product, most of its parts and pieces had to be brought in from other countries, which was a very expensive process. So, even if they wanted to, brands couldn’t lower the prices of their products. When all of these brands start making all products in the country, the costs of making them will go down significantly. As a result, brands continue to sell their products at reasonable prices to local customers. Because the prices of local brands were so low, the prices of international brands that were selling their products in Bangladesh at the time had to go down as well. So, it’s a win-win situation for the country’s consumers as well.

In later years, local brands started to improve the quality of their products and make them more affordable. As a result, the domestic market for electronics has become more competitive. Customers have always liked foreign brands because of their brand value and reliable quality, but they are leaning more and more toward local brands because they offer affordable quality products. And local brands are using dealerships to grow their businesses in rural and semi-rural areas of the country to meet the growing demand for consumer electronics.

Urban customers can use credit cards to get EMI perks, but it’s nearly hard for rural customers to do the same. ‘Area-based dealers may often sell products in monthly or easy installments, which is not viable for worldwide brands because of their familiarity with the local population. For example, Walton is one of the Bangladeshi brands that has about 20,000 sales outlets all over the country. This means that people in even the most remote parts of the country can buy its products.
Walton has approximately 20,000 sales outlets all across Bangladesh.
Also, this industry’s biggest challenge is ensuring customers get good service after the sale. And this problem is more common in rural and suburban areas, as well as with international brands. Since they started making products in the country, local brands have put a lot of thought into customer service after the sale. Because of this, customers can now get service after the sale in departmental and district cities. Consequently, the propensity of customers to purchase products from domestic brands has also increased. Currently, Walton has 77 service points all over the country. It has also started storing the customer’s name, address, mobile phone number, product model, and barcode on an online server to make after-sales service easier for the customer. So, even if customers lose their warranty card, they can easily get service at the service point.

Typically, international brands build their products with global consumers’ preferences in mind. So, these products have numerous useless or unwanted features for Bangladeshi buyers. On the other hand, local brands choose and design their products’ features based on how local customers use them and what they like. Because of this, features made by local brands are more useful to customers, and customers also prefer to buy products from these local brands.
Due to this, local brands are currently leading the market in most of the major home appliances or consumer electronics as well as small electronics categories. Walton has been the best local brand in almost every category. For example, the electronics giant Walton is responsible for 75 percent of all refrigerators sold in the country. Also, Marketing Watch Bangladesh says that local manufacturers meet 52 percent of the demand for TVs in Bangladesh, with Walton at the top of the list with a market share of more than 25 percent. Besides Walton, Singer has 9 percent of the television market, Minister has 4 percent, Vision has 3 percent, and Jamuna has 2 percent. Not only that, but 65 percent of the country’s AC demand is met by local manufacturers, along with TVs and refrigerators.





Walton currently holds 75% share of the total number of refrigerators sold in Bangladesh.




52% of the television market of Bangladesh is dominated by local manufacturers and the rest is owned by global manufacturers.

Along with the market for major home appliances, the need for small home appliances in Bangladesh is enormous and expanding rapidly. Even in this category, a lot of the local demand in Bangladesh is met by local brands. From this, it’s easy to see that Bangladeshi electronics manufacturers are now able to complete a large portion of the country’s demand for consumer electronics.

At present, these local brands are exporting their products globally after meeting the local demand. For example, Walton is currently exporting its products to 40 countries worldwide and plans to export to a total of 125 countries by 2025. As a result, a total of $6.23 million worth of AC and machinery have been exported from Bangladesh in FY 2020-21. In addition, according to an EPB source, in the same financial year, the volume of refrigerator and equipment exports from Bangladesh exceeded $12 (12.283) million.

Also, popular international brands are also doing business in the Bangladeshi market by operating their own manufacturing units. Therefore, in the near future, Bangladesh has a special potential to become a manufacturing hub for global consumer electronics. If so, Bangladesh’s reputation in the global market will further increase as well as enrich the country’s economy.

Considering all factors above, it is easy to understand that the local manufacturers in Bangladesh have already changed the consumer electronics sector of the country.

Not only that, but it has made a significant contribution to turning the country into a consumer electronics market which is almost self-sufficient.


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## Bilal9

Among these projects - I believe the only project that will have doubtful implementation is the DHK-CTG Express Railway AKA "Bullet Train". No one responsible in my govt. advisor's contacts believe it is either practical, feasible or will have any profitable ROI. BG Container train infra (double stack and multi lashups) at much lower cost and shoring up bridges and trackage to enable this will provide much better return. Showcase projects are the last thing we need right now.


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## Bilal9

Production process of Dancake Bangladesh


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Scorpio-N said:


> @UKBengali @Bilal9 @Atlas @mmr @bluesky
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> _The state minister said, "*From today, production at diesel-run power plants will be stopped. As a result, there will be 1,000MW less electricity produced. *Following this, load shedding will increase across the country periodically. Load shedding will occur for one hour throughout the country periodically."
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> "We also have a gas crisis. Due to this reason as well, electricity generation has decreased," he said.
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> "The total electricity generation will decline by 1,500-2,000MW. When the power outage will occur and in which areas, we will inform in advance," he added.
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> When asked about petrol pumps, he replied, "*A final decision on the closure of petrol pumps is yet to be taken*. We will discuss the issue. The decision will be taken with consultation of the concerned, including the fuelling station owners."_
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> Diesel-run power plants to shut down from today, load sheddings to go up
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How does this post of yours belong here??

The thread is for *"economic-infrastructure-development" and to post news on mostly new industries and infra being constructed*. SMH. Please don't post off topic posts like this here.

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RAK Ceramics to set up bathroom fittings plant​

Star Business Report
Fri Jul 22, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Fri Jul 22, 2022 09:35 AM


RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) will invest Tk 95 crore to set up a bathroom fittings plant with the capacity to produce 1,500 faucets, shower heads and all other related accessories in a bid to provide cheaper alternatives to imports, according to company officials.

The listed multinational ceramics brand yesterday informed the Dhaka Stock Exchange of its decision, which follows the company's previous plan to enter the tiles market.

Early last month, RAK Ceramics announced that it would invest Tk 902 crore in a greenfield facility to raise its tile production capacity by 15,000 square metres per day.

"As Bangladesh has huge potential in the coming days, we opted to increase production and grab a bigger share of the market," said Muhammad Shahidul Islam, company secretary of RAK Ceramics.

"Now, we are going to produce all bathroom fittings. We will soon start building the plant, which may take nearly a year to begin production," he added.

Islam went on to say that at present, most locally produced bathroom fittings are of low standard but people prefer significantly more expensive high-quality products that are imported.

RAK Ceramics aims to produce alternatives to these imports so that customers can get quality products at competitive prices.


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## Bilal9

The mouth of the river Karnafuli being dredged in Chittagong to add draft and accommodate larger ships, per container charges to decrease from $800 currently to $500 per.


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## Bilal9

One of the numerous optical lens manufacturing units in Bangladesh that has existed in Chittagong for three decades. Their supplied high precision convex/concave and aspherical lenses are supplied to almost all Japanese Digital Camera, CCTV, Scanner, photocopy and Projector brands including,

Fujifilm, Kenco, Ricoh (Pentax), Epson, Olympus, Topcon, VTS Tech etc.

To the interest of defense enthusiasts here, they also make lenses for gunsights including collimator sights, telescopic sights and also survey (theodolite) as well as medical device lenses for MRI and CATscan machines.


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## Bilal9

In Bangladesh, riverine ferries (launches) are 100% made locally and are customized (size, duration, passenger load) for certain routes. Engines however are sourced from Japanese or Chinese manufacturers. 

This typical mid-size vessel (LOA 40 ft.) shown below will serve the Dhaka-Chandpur route which is a 3 hour one-way trip. The vessel uses two 1400 HP six cylinder YANMAR diesels and is called "MV Ab-e-Jam-Jam-7". As can be seen - the fare-paying clientele decides the sophistication of these vessels and since most of them are middle class folks - this is not a luxury oriented vessel. However there are still four "presidential suite cabins" with rather luxurious accommodations on this particular vessel.

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## Bilal9

A solution to health emergency​
IDLC offers ‘boat ambulance’ service to people in remote chars




In remote river islands, locally called char, in Rangabali, Patuakhali, where it is hard to connect people to various service centers, IDLC has come up with an initiative to introduce ‘boat ambulance’ to save lives when emergency healthcare service is required.

The inhabitants of the char areas of Rangabali have to face a lot of risks that may even cost them their lives for lack of suitable transport facilities. Mostly pregnant women and some with postpartum complications are at serious risk and some patients even die when they fail to reach the hospital in time. To serve the people in remote chars, a ‘Boat Ambulance’ project has been launched at a cost of Tk 2.9 million. It is managed by Avijatrik Foundation with funding from IDLC Finance Limited. It is aimed at providing emergency transport services to around 150,000 people of Rangabali in the southern district of Patuakhali.






People of each of the chars have to go by boat to Galachipa Health Complex, 20 kilometers away, for medicare and it takes three hours or so to reach Patuakhali Sadar Hospital, which is 40 km away. However, the boat ambulance, which can carry up to 10 people, can reach patients from any of the five unions of Rangabali to the nearest hospital within 20–30 minutes. 

The boat ambulance has medical facilities such as oxygen and emergency medicines. Full-time health workers accompany the patient/s in the ambulance.

Avijatrik Foundation president Ahmed Imtiaz Jami said that they have been working in Rangabali to support the local people for three years. ‘I think the boat ambulance will help the people in the remote areas in availing emergency medical services.’






The unique initiative of boat ambulance is not only a solution to the Rangabali people but is also a model that could be replicated by other organizations to help the people in backward areas who are not getting proper healthcare services. In a sense, boat ambulance offers smoother services compared to the movement of ambulance on roads that is often affected by gridlock. 

Even in Dhaka city, ambulance cannot always reach the destination due to traffic congestion. In a country like Bangladesh which is crisscrossed by rivers and where there are huge marshy areas, water ambulance is also a viable concept to ferry patients from one place to another.

-Elora Majumder

A Visionary Leader​
*At the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Bangladesh higher education community witnessed how bold move and appropriate strategy can make a difference. Leading from the front, Professor Vincent Chang, Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University, made courageous decisions with equanimity and a smile. It was the first university to end the semester early, made sure that the academic integrity was not compromised, launched its own online learning platform enabling the students to resume classes and allow easy access from any part of the country. A visionary leader, Professor Chang, who dreams of transforming the seat of learning into a research university and putting it on the world map, shares his passion for excellence with the Advisory Editor of Colors Ziaul Karim.*






Professor Vincent Chang’s mission is to see BRAC University featured prominently on the world university rankings
Big changes require a great deal of courage, proper strategy and correct implementation of the strategy. This process was witnessed by the Bangladesh’s higher education community when the pandemic hit Bangladesh in March 2020. During that time, Professor Vincent Chang, Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University, stood tall in the face of challenges, made great and daring decisions with his bright smile still there. He believes in doing what is the right and keeping the students wellbeing in check. One of the greatest and first applications of his education philosophy became visible when the country was hit by the pandemic — BRAC University was the first university in the country to end the semester early, prior to any formal instructions from the UGC. In making this decision, Professor Chang made sure that the academic integrity was not compromised. Then, BRAC University launched its own online learning platform, which is the first of its kind in Bangladesh. This enabled the students to resume classes and allow easy access from any part of the country.

Professor Vincent Chang joined BRAC University in February 2019. He has earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University, MBA from Yale, Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard, PhD in Economics from Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) and another PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley.

“Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom” – a statement that fits rightfully for Professor Vincent Chang. His wisdom comes from not only these astounding degrees but also from his diverse knowledge in English, Chinese, Japanese, French and Arabic languages. This diversity of knowledge is well portrayed in his personality as a modern-day executive – a daring and strong person with the perfect touch of humor, who works strategically to make not only immediately visible changes but also those that will sustain in the long run. As such, Professor Chang, after joining BRAC University, has so far re-structured and created the Graduate School of Management, School of Data and Sciences, School of Engineering, School of Architecture and Design, and School of General Education. This reformation of BRAC University is a step that has not been taken by anyone so far.




Professor Chang is confident, visionary, and a go-getter

Professor Vincent Chang is an expert in strategy, implementation and communication, hence holding the fundamentals required and expected from a visionary and a leader. The bold and effective steps were not made overnight. He has an outstanding record of building a new graduate school, a new university and new businesses. 

Prior to joining BRAC University, he served as inaugural chair of institutional development at Chinese University at Hong Kong in China. He has also previously served as founding president and planning director of a new university of American model, and as the inaugural executive dean of Peking University’s HSBC Business School, which was China’s first all-English International Business School.

Professor Chang’s experience is not only limited to academia but also ranges over investment, marketing, consulting, energy and medical imaging in California’s Silicon Valley and New York’s Wall Street. He has worked in renowned institutions such as JP Morgan, McKinsey, ExxonMobil, and the US Federal Reserve. With such a rich and diverse basket of knowledge and expertise, Professor Chang now aims to take BRAC University to international heights.

As Professor Chang has shared with us, during his journey with BRAC University so far, the biggest challenge has been something that we may all agree on in the obstinate thought process of our community. Discouragement is very common amongst workplaces here, regardless of the role in the institution and even Professor Chang has had to face it. Although, some approved and supported his efforts, initially it was not the case since people were skeptical of changes and reforms. 

Yet, Professor Chang made it happen and did so with humor and grace! Taking these big steps was not easy because physical changes are easily visible to the eye but psychological changes are not. The reform that Professor Chang has brought to BRAC University involves change in people’s perception and outlook of higher education.

As Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University, he sees himself and his university as the only goose flying into the unchartered sky of Bangladesh’s higher education. As a first step to put BRAC University on the map, he had invited Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of United Nations (2007-2016) as the keynote convocation speaker in November 2019. The presence of such an important figure had surely brought BRAC University to the attention of the international higher education arena.




Professor Chang’s dream is to transform BRAC University into a research university from a teaching university

Professor Vincent Chang’s motto to achieve his goals and fulfil his vision has been ‘do what is right’ and ‘no favor, no fear.’ He considers himself a daydreamer – dreaming with his eyes open to visualize his dreams into reality. Professor Chang’s one of these dreams is that of late Sir Fazle Abed. Sir Fazle Abed dreamt of turning BRAC University into ‘the Harvard of South Asia.’ Although the university is currently far away from this goal, the senior management team put together by Professor Chang exhibits the caliber of ‘the Harvard of South Asia.’ The new senior management includes experts from across the world to manage schools and departments of BRAC University.

According to Professor Vincent Chang, in the long term, BRAC University should be able to offer the experience that students will carry 20-30 years down the line into their life from the point of graduating. Professor Chang believes that a high CGPA and employability should not be the key goal of a university. Rather the experience and knowledge that the university provides should be of utmost priority. Professor Chang is also working to turn BRAC University into a research university from a teaching university. The key ingredient for this is investment in research and building the infrastructure for research while incentivizing and accommodating the faculties. In this era of commercialization of education, maintaining quality of education is difficult but very important. Professor Chang has hence put forth the new standard that no faculty can be promoted to be an assistant professor without a PhD degree.

Professor Vincent Chang, when interviewed by Colors Magazine, shared his aspirations for BRAC University as an international university from Bangladesh by the end of this decade. The road to becoming an internationally acclaimed university is going to be long and full of obstacles, but Professor Vincent Chang is determined to transform BRAC University into an international and research university and a leader of higher education in Bangladesh. Professor Chang, with his vibrant, energetic and valiant personality, is the leader who will and has already set new standards for Bangladesh’s higher education. We hope this will encourage others to follow suit. We also hope that he and his university will have company flying together soon.


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## Bilal9

Women in Leadership​





_*Rumana Chowdhury* won the *Platinum Business Woman of the year* award and there’s no one more deserving. Her courageous endeavors, strong determination and passion are what led her to be the inspiration she is today for all entrepreneurs out there, Tunajina Islam writes._

Rumana’s passion for fashion is the principal factor to the beginning of her venture. She grew motivated to start her own Boutique business through the undying support and encouragement from her friends and family. She started off by working from home but she was determined to make an undeniable presence in the market by setting up her own store, which she finally did through the help of a small bank loan. Surprisingly, Rumana was just a fresh graduate with a toddler son when she first came about the making of Warah in 2008. 

It was no easy task balancing her work life and family life and she indeed faced countless setbacks. Tragedies struck when she was forced to relocate and even shut down following the Holey Artisan chaos. Meanwhile clients became doubtful but she took these challenges head-on and never let her customers down. “I couldn’t let my clients down. They were expecting me to deliver” she adds. Nevertheless, she bounced back each time, making sure her hard work never went unnoticed. 



> I have learned through my mistakes, I knew nothing when I started but I gradually improvised to bring Warah where it is today,



Aside from these factors, Rumana experienced much emotional turmoil as being a woman in a business industry has its cruel concerns. She states that “as a woman you naturally have an instinct to keep everyone happy.” She goes on to say that not everyone she expected to be supportive was supportive enough. It’s so important to rely on yourself and keep yourself happy first in order to achieve your dreams. She teaches us that many young girls these days do face the same problems of placing other people’s happiness ahead their own. It’s the way our society is conditioned but we strongly must rewire the youth of today to be more independent. You cannot please everyone when trying to please yourself.

Rumana talks about the huge leap of faith she took when starting Warah. “I have learnt through my mistakes, I knew nothing when I started but I gradually improvised to bring Warah where it is today,” she says. She insists that It’s okay to feel lost sometimes, especially when trying something totally new to you. But you must keep going and take each hump as a learning scope. She adds, “I actually appreciate the tough times a lot now. They made me grow as a person. They showed me that I am actually much braver than I deemed myself to be and that is a beautiful feeling.” All this helped in Rumana’s great successes, as she is now the owner of one of the most popular brands in Bangladesh and gained many other achievements since then including an award at Dhaka Fashion Week 2011. Colors’ platinum business awards is another addition to her great achievements but only a portion of the many more to come. 

Warah's latest couture collection


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## Bilal9

Dhaka to Barisal Launches no longer have so much crowd since Padma Bridge opened. I think some launches are going to focus on upscale passengers by upgrading cabins but this remains to be seen.


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## rainbowrascal

Sneak peek of metro rail station

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## Bilal9

*Agritech startup iFarmer raises $2.1 million*
Largest agritech funding in Bangladesh led by IDLC Ventures and joined by Millville Opportunities









Tribune Desk

iFarmer, a full-stack agriculture platform providing agri-based services to farmers, has recently raised $2.1 million (more than Tk18 crore) in a new financing round, maintaining its accelerated growth.

IDLC Venture Capital Fund, the VC arm of IDLC Finance, one of the largest non-banking financial institutions in Bangladesh, led the financing round, reads a press release.

Millville Opportunities, a hedge fund firm based in New York, participated in the round. Startup Bangladesh Limited, the flagship venture capital fund of the ICT Ministry under the Bangladesh Government, also participated in the financing round.

Bangladesh has about 16.5 million farmers, and almost 80% are smallholders. The biggest challenges for farmers in Bangladesh are securing finance and good quality agricultural inputs such as seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, etc, and then finding buyers to sell their produce.

iFarmer, which started its operations in 2019, is the largest agri-tech company in the country, offering solutions to these problems at scale. iFarmer facilitates retail and institutional funders to finance the farmers and enables access to high-quality agri-inputs through a partnership with companies and retailers.

This, in turn, creates better market access for the farmers by aggregating products from the farmers and selling those to institutional buyers, retailers and the wholesale markets.

"We are currently operating in 19 districts in Bangladesh - serving close to 63,000+ farmers, up from about 6,000 farmers in 2020", says Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of iFarmer Fahad Ifaz.

iFarmer works with nearly 2,900 agri-input retailers to supply agriculture inputs, enabling the farmers to buy quality agro-inputs at an affordable price from nearby retailers. iFarmer currently supplies 8000+ tons of agri produce directly procured from the farmers and then sells to institutional buyers, wholesale markets, and retailers.

iFarmer has grown on every front, including the revenue, which increased by 7.7 times in 2022. The revenue is driven by the supply of agri produce to the market, sales of agri-inputs to the retailers, and commission from financing.

"When we started supplying farm produce in June 2020, our monthly volume was around 50+ tons. Now it's almost 8000+ tons. Every day, we aggregate produce from farmers and supply it to the market," said Co-Founder and COO of iFarmer Jamil M Akbar.

CEO of iFarmer Fahad Ifaz has worked for almost 10 years for agricultural and rural development across South Asia with organizations like the World Bank, CARE, and Swisscontact. Meanwhile, Jamil Akbar has a background in technology and project management for large scale IT companies serving global clients. With a team of 120 members, iFarmer has more than 63,000 farmers, and more than 2,900 agricultural retailers and is operating in 19 districts.

"The IDLC Venture Capital Fund I aim to finance promising new businesses which are solving fundamental problems for Bangladesh. We are excited that iFarmer is unlocking the true potential of the agriculture sector through technology at scale. It is using innovation to enable farmers all across Bangladesh, and we believe they are solving the most crucial problems in the industry's supply chain", said Mustafizur Khan, Partner, IDLC VC 1.

Managing Partner of Millville Opportunities Alejandro Montealegre said: "iFarmer has proven that it can significantly improve the lives of farmers while bringing efficiency to the agri supply chain. We are excited to back iFarmer as they are working to transform the agriculture sector that is critical to the economy of Bangladesh."

The startup plans to deploy the fresh capital to expand to more districts in Bangladesh, expand its supply chain infrastructure to supply agri inputs, and also aggregate farm produce. iFarmer has also been conducting pilots on agriculture insurance and developing sensor and remote sensing-based advisory services such as soil analysis, fertilizer recommendation, and weather advisory.


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## Bilal9

Madani Avenue update 






Bay One cruise ship Saint Martin Island service





Bayezid Bostami Link Road (CTG) update


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro Rail Update 2022 - Roads under Uttara area viaducts being completed.


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## Bilal9

Three new railstations on DHK-CTG route (identical standard design - ADA and disabled passenger compliant)


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## Bilal9

Mawa Bhanga Expressway + Padma Bridge





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Kalna bridge plus two more bridges ready to go...


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## Arthur

Direct shipping between Mongla Port & Poland started. 560 TEU container worth RMG goods going to Poland.

Padma bridge fact!







@Bilal9 @bluesky @UKBengali @Avicenna @Destranator

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## Bilal9

Arthur said:


> Direct shipping between Mongla Port & Poland started. 560 TEU container worth RMG goods going to Poland.
> 
> Padma bridge fact!
> 
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> @Bilal9 @bluesky @UKBengali @Avicenna @Destranator



Yup. I have been predicting that Mongla will take off as soon as I heard about Padma Bridge plans.

Mongla is now closer to Dhaka than Chittagong so this is natural.

Padma bridge has reduced the distance between Dhaka and Mongla (170 kilometers) which is now shorter than the distance between Dhaka to Chattogram port (264 kilometers).

However draft is a concern at Mongla port and they should continue dredging of the shipping channel in earnest which they already started. It will be expensive, but the reward is many times more fulfilling financially.

Mongla container port has plenty of container handling capacity and equipment that goes unused and unfulfilled.

I'd argue that Mongla at some point can handle more containers that CTG originally handled (1 Million TEUs back in the day). It now can handle around 250-300,000 TEUs a year though prior to Padma Bridge it was only 100,000 TEUs plus car shipments from Japan (20,000 a year).

Today of course CTG handles 3 Million TEUs plus per year and this is higher than almost all Indian ports by far - other than JNPT Mumbai and Mundra in Gujarat (Adani) on the Indian West Coast. Kolkata Port Trust handled 500,000 TEUs in 2021-22. Chennai handled 1 Million TEUs last year. In the last three years heavy container handling equipment at Mongla were upgraded quite a bit - Ship to shore (STS) cranes, forklift stackers, Stacking Cranes and Straddle Carriers.

CTG is adding two more jetties (Patenga and New Mooring) so CTG will exceed 5 Million TEUs in two years time. Patenga is already online and functioning.

Mongla is already looking at exceeding 1 Million TEUs by adding six more jetties, two more in about a year and the rest in three more years.

With the New jetties and yards at Chittagong and Mongla, the container jams in Chittagong will ease quite a bit.









Mongla Port announces plan to construct six more jetties


Mongla, the second largest seaport of Bangladesh has announced plans to construct six more jetties. Following the construction of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, which will directly connect the port with the capital city of Dhaka, the port is focusing on ...




www.fleetmon.com

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## Arthur

Bilal9 said:


> Yup. I have been predicting that Mongla will take off as soon as I heard about Padma Bridge plans.
> 
> Mongla is now closer to Dhaka than Chittagong so this is natural.
> 
> Padma bridge has reduced the distance between Dhaka and Mongla (170 kilometers) which is now shorter than the distance between Dhaka to Chattogram port (264 kilometers).
> 
> However draft is a concern at Mongla port and they should start dredging of the shipping channel in earnest which they already have.
> 
> Mongla container port has plenty of container handling capacity and equipment that goes unused and unfulfilled.
> 
> I'd argue that Mongla at some point can handle more containers that CTG originally handled (1 Million TEUs back in the day). It now can handle around 250-300,000 TEUs a year though prior to Padma Bridge it was only 100,000 TEUs plus car shipments from Japan (20,000 a year).
> 
> Today of course CTG handles 3 Million TEUs plus per year and this is higher than almost all Indian ports by far other than JNPT Mumbai and Mundra in Gujarat (Adani) on the Indian West Coast. Kolkata Port Trust handled 500,000 TEUs in 2021-22.
> 
> CTG is adding two more jetties (Patenga and New Mooring) so CTG will exceed 5 Million TEUs in two years time. Patenga is already online and functioning.
> 
> Mongla is already looking at exceeding 1 Million TEUs by adding six more jetties, two more in short order.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mongla Port announces plan to construct six more jetties
> 
> 
> Mongla, the second largest seaport of Bangladesh has announced plans to construct six more jetties. Following the construction of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, which will directly connect the port with the capital city of Dhaka, the port is focusing on ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.fleetmon.com


Yes, Mongla Port Authority just finished capital dredging of the anchorage area. Capital dredging of the main channel & Jetty area were done very recently if I am not wrong.

I will post a video where the largest dredging machine left Mongla for China, after completion of dredging work.

It's overall a great development. Occupancy rate of CTG has reached 80 while the international standard is at 60. CTG is super congested at the moment. Not only the port, it's off- dock & ICD 's are congested too. Trucks have to wait for weeks in traffic jams outside ICD'S to load-unload containers.

Development of Mongla will take a great portion of this congestion away from CTG. A Great news for Bangladesh's economy.

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## mb444

Brilliant talk, agree to every point made.

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## Bilal9

mb444 said:


> Brilliant talk, agree to every point made.



These times are tough for every country, Bangladesh cannot be an exception....

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## Bilal9

Miyazaki purple Japanese mangoes being grown in Khagracchari, Chittagong.






"Egg of the Sun" mango which is called Miyazaki in Japan is now being cultivated in Khagrachari, and is being sold at thousands of taka per kg. The famous Miyazaki or (Surjo Deem) mango of Japan is now being planted in the hills of Khagrachari. This type of mango is quite expensive. It is being sold from the garden at one thousand taka per kg.

The agro farm is located at Dhumnighat which is almost four KM far from Mahalchhori Zero Mile which is 19 km away from Khagrachhari, west side of Mahalchhari Jalliapara road. The Egg of the Sun mango orchard has been planted at Kra A A Agro Farm on 35 acres of land. Not only sun eggs, the owner is planting there are about 60 varieties of mangoes in this farm. The owner of the mango garden is Hlashimong Chowdhury. The young man who has a master's degree in English literature from Chittagong University.






There is egg of the sun colorful mangoes hanging from 120 mango trees. 30 to 50 mangoes in each tree. On an average each mango weighs about 300 grams. It looks as if the green mango has been painted.

Hlashimang Chowdhury collected egg of the sun mango saplings from different parts of the country. For the first time this year, each tree has yielded. The egg of the sun mango price in Bangladesh is high if compared with local varieties. He is selling this variety of mango at one thousand taka per kg. But the demand in the local market is very low due to high prices. However, many people from Dhaka, Super shops are buying this mango from here. Some interested peoples are also contacting for mango seedlings.






Hlashimang Chowdhury was born in a traditional educated family of Mahalchhari upazila. He completed his master's degree in English literature from Chittagong University and took charge of Sindukchhari Bazar in Guimara upazila. In 2015 he planted about 100 mango saplings of different varieties as a hobby. After two years, he started selling extra fruit outside of their own diet. He said the idea of commercial gardening - not once came to his mind.

At present 12 local workers are working in his garden. Unuching Chowdhury, the wife of Hlashimang Chowdhury, who has a master's degree in management from Chittagong Commerce College, has been the inspiration and support for gardening from the very beginning.

The Surjo Dim / Egg of the Sun / Egg Sun / Taiyo no Tamago or Miyazaki is also known as Red Mango in the world. This mango is the most expensive in the world market. It is basically a Japanese mango variety. The mango is very tasty to eat. The soil and climate of the hilly areas are very conducive for the production of Miyazaki mango. Naturally, the mango is red and beautiful to look at.

In 2017, two mangos sold at a Japanese wholesale auction for a record-breaking $3,744. The Egg of the Sun is a variety of mango grown in the Miyazaki prefecture and sold throughout Japan. Although they don’t usually go for thousands of dollars, on any given day you would be hard-pressed to find one for less than $50. The question is: What makes these mangoes so expensive?






The hefty price tag is partially due to the care that goes into growing these fruits. Japanese farmers surround each mango with a small net, which allows sunlight to hit the skin at all angles (giving it a uniform, ruby-red color), and cushions the fruit when it falls from the tree. Allowing the mangoes to simply fall when they’re ready, as opposed to manually picking them, ensures optimal ripeness. The resulting mangoes are absolutely delicious. They have very little fibrousness, are extremely juicy, and practically melt in your mouth. The taste itself is perfectly sweet and tart, like mango candy with hints of pineapple and coconut.






In Japan, often meticulously packaged gift fruits are sold behind glass cases at luxury fruit stores, as if they were jewels. Those who receive these perishable gifts will often put them on display and, in the case of certain fruits such as the square watermelon (which is sold under-ripe), they may never be eaten. So although Miyazaki’s mango is arguably more delicious than its Floridian counterpart, the majority of its price tag comes from what it represents.

Beside egg of the sun varieties mango, in Hlashimang Chowdhury’s Kra AA agro farm there are Banana, Kiujai, Three Test, Funai, Red Funai, King of Chakpat, Black Star, Amrapali, Kacha Mitha, Rangui, Okrang, Mallika, Keshowai, Nilambori, Philippine, Black King, Mahathir, Bari-4, Bari-11, local Guti Mango, Gourmati, Brunei king, Ashwina, Subarnarekha, Gopalbhog, Okrang etc almost 60 varieties of domestic and foreign and extinct species of mango.


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## Bilal9

Two eye-opening videos on Gas exploration and current energy crisis in Bangladesh.

Both were about the settlement of maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar and India in 2012 and 2014 - which established Bangladesh's rights to all fauna and flora under the seabed up to 354 nautical miles from the Chittagong coast. 

But while India and Myanmar have made significant progress in offshore gas extraction, Bangladesh has not. But most of the oil and gas rich blocks in the Bay of Bengal are within the borders of Bangladesh. Energy expert and retired professor of Geology Department of Dhaka University Badrul Imam spoke to The Daily Star about these issues. 

Star Newsbytes Guest Speaker: Dr Badrul Imam
Mahfuz Anam from the Daily Star Team was also present











The only bright spot in the Bangladesh scenario right now is the high rate of exports as all other indicators are pointing down. So whither Bangladesh?


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## Bilal9

Some wise words from Salimullah Khan. @bluesky bhai he is echoing your opinions I believe.

According to him, the stories of "development" are mostly "mirage" as shown by the govt.


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## Bilal9

Salimullah Khan discusses the 50 years of Bangladesh' independence.


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## Bilal9

Two bridges on the Madhumati river, one is the six lane Through Arch Suspension road bridge, the other is a multi-span Baltimore type through truss railway bridge. These are all bridges connecting Dhaka with the Southern Coastal areas around Barisal via road and rail links past Padma Bridge.


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## Bilal9

Why our reserve is not $80 Billion and is now $40 Billion. Who is siphoning our money. Some usual suspects.


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## Bilal9

Picking up the Baton​
_He represents the third generation of leading family business conglomerate Elite Group (of Elite Paint fame). He has left behind the lure of North American corporate life and devoted his time and energy to his family business. He is Shayaan Seraj. 

In the span of five years, he handled multiple portfolios of the group and continuously innovated through new ventures such as NEW FACE fabric masks and Bashae K-Bab food delivery. 

Kazi Sifat speaks to Shayaan Seraj to understand the dynamics of the group and challenges and opportunities of the Bangladeshi market._



_Coming home to continue the family vision. Shayaan Seraj would leave all the comforts so that the family legacy lives on. Photographer: Kazi Mukul._

*True Pioneers of Industry in Bangladesh*
Elite Group, a multi-generation family business, has withstood the test of time. The journey of the group began with Serajuddin Ahmed establishing Elite Paint, the first local paint company of the country in 1952. As one of the region’s first industrial titans, his early days of perseverance have inspired many today. 

He travelled the country, far and wide, personally transporting paint on ‘pushcarts,’ and ‘dinghies’ to his clients wherever they were. It was this attitude that led paint dealers to become fiercely loyal to him. And many even break down in tears when speaking of their relationship.

Understanding the growth trajectory of Bangladesh, he expanded aggressively into other portfolios including banking, garments, insurance, steel, tea and more. With a clear and distilled vision, he single-handedly dominated multiple industries and turned the Elite brand into an empire of enterprises. His business acumen resulted in placement on multiple committees of the government so that he could share his opinion on behalf of the private sector for critical issues such as International Trade and Public Finance. His contribution resonates across government offices till today with access provided by simply uttering his brand’s name. 

*Three Generations of Change Makers*

Today, the second and third generations of Late Serajuddin Ahmed’s bloodline uphold some of the industries within the Group. One of the key members of the organization is Shayaan Seraj, the younger grandson of the late founder. Under the guidance of his father and uncle, Ramzul Seraj and Sajedur Seraj, he is energizing the relatively smaller but still mighty portfolios of paint and steel, Aqua Paints & Elite Steel. 

*Born from Paint—a New Brand in an Established Enterprise*

British educated chemical engineer and oldest son of Late Serajuddin Ahmed, Ramzul Seraj set up a state-of-the-art paint and chemical factory in Tongi, Gazipur in 2001. Aqua Paints was established to give the family conglomerate a foothold in the capital of the country, Dhaka. His engineering strength can be seen through its backward linkage specialty of formulating and producing high-performance binders, resins and emulsions which can constitute up to 50% of a paint product. In addition to its own Aqua brand, the factory supplies these binders to paint companies across the country. 

Asian Paints entered the market roughly twenty years ago. Akzonobel and Jotun, the global leaders in decorative and marine respectively, joined around five years ago. Nerolac recently purchased a local company’s operations. There are rumors of American based Sherwin Williams’ interest in the market too. As a reference, per capita, paint consumption in Bangladesh is 1.15kg against the Indian average of 4kg and global consumption of 15kg. This is why there is so much interest in the local paint market.

According to Shayaan, there is a need to differentiate brands. What appeals to the masses may not appeal to niche audiences. Youth today are digital natives. They are tomorrow’s consumers of paint and need to be approached differently.

The word, ‘Aqua’ comes from Latin and is intended to symbolize one of the earth’s most natural and purest resources, water.

Through its moniker and actions, the organization takes climate change seriously. It was the first paint factory in Bangladesh to install an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) to treat wastewater and reuse it in production processes. The greenery inside the factory compound was an industry first and meant to show both workers, suppliers and clients the importance of preserving the natural environment while doing business. 

Product packaging is designed featuring social messages that include, ‘Gaach Lagaan, Poribesh Bachaan’ (Plant a Tree, Save the Environment) as well as the latest prevention tips against COVID-19. It was also the first paint company to innovatively colour circles outside tea stalls, pharmacies and wet markets to demonstrate how to maintain social distance.

With deteriorating air quality and a general lack of awareness from several industries on issues such as global warming, Aqua Paints aspires to lead the next generation of leaders in joining the fight against climate change. This is exactly what Shayaan believes to be the spirit of the Aqua Paints brand.

*Struggles of joining the Family Business Conglomerate *
Elite Group is a vast empire having its roots entrenched in multiple industries. As Group Director, Shayaan Seraj is involved with influencing key decisions across the business. However, it was quite a challenge to adapt to the local climate and culture of Bangladesh.

Shayaan graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto in Canada where he specialized in Finance and Economics. While studying, he was kept on a tight budget by his father and worked multiple part-time jobs to earn money. He worked at a call centre reaching out to alumni for donations and even acted as a brand promoter for multiple brands including Coke Zero. He proudly claims that these menial jobs taught him essential skills in communication, it gave him the confidence to approach anyone and everyone. 

Upon graduation, during the recession of 2009, for a brief period, he worked as an assistant at a VOIP company and even made coffee runs for his senior colleagues. This grounded Shayaan and made him appreciate the contributions of junior colleagues. 

Understanding the growing influence of digital media, Shayaan moved to and progressed the ranks in three global communication agencies, British WPP, American Interpublic and French Publicis. While in the latter, he managed the multi-million-dollar media budget of Canada’s largest financial services company, TD Bank. 

He drove multi-channel marketing and led the bank’s efforts in using technology to retarget customers across their digital journeys. This resulted in numerous awards including the distinguished Rising Stars by New York-based Gramercy Institute and he also helped the bank in achieving YouTube’s Most Viewed for one of their videos.

In late 2015, Shayaan returned to his homeland, Bangladesh. Bright-eyed and hopeful, he wanted to implement what he learned in Toronto in the family business. This however was not going to be easy. He realized that the work culture was completely different. The people were completely different, their attitudes, their behaviours and their integrity. 

Technology was not familiar to all. Teams were afraid to use email for fear of record keeping. Many were unfamiliar with Excel or Word. There was a reluctance to adopt new technologies due to the transparency it brought.

To acclimatize, Shayaan apparently had to ‘unlearn’ everything that he knew and ‘relearn’ how to work locally. With time, the relationship with his team grew stronger. This was accelerated when the team saw Shayaan travel all over the country, far and wide, visiting clients and project sites. Whether large contractors or shop boys, chief engineers or assistants, ‘montris’ or ‘mistiris’, his grounding allowed him to mix with everyone and adapt to all environments. The hardware stores who worked with his grandfather were reminded of the times when Late Serajuddin Ahmed travelled and carried goods physically to each site. 

One difficulty that persists with Shayaan in local business is the system of ‘credit sales.’ He feels that in Bangladesh, the weak enforcement of contracts makes it very challenging. Once products are sold on credit, if the customer defaulted or fled, it becomes next to impossible to realize the funds. Many dealers simply refuse to work with security instruments such as post-dated cheques and bank guarantees. Shayaan hopes that the government increases financial oversight among retailers, grants power to legal bodies to ensure enforcement of contracts and brings a higher degree of transparency in transactions.



_Shayaan Seraj looking towards a bright future for Aqua Paints_

*Formula for Success in the Paint Industry*
Whether it be painting your bedroom, kitchen or even megaprojects such as the Padma Bridge or Metrorail, the business is influenced by painters or colloquially known as “rong mistiri.” A person rarely looks for a painter himself. He usually asks the house or building caretaker. There is a Do-It-For-Me culture here compared to Do-It-Yourself in the west. As such, painters are the gatekeepers of the industry.

Shayaan’s strategy with clients involves ‘deep linking.’ When asked, he says, “this is essentially connecting the client’s operations with mine to such an extent that both are integrated and accessible 24/7 in real-time to address each other’s needs. It brings together all functions of the business across levels, from the managing director to production and supply chain, even the delivery drivers.”

This insight was generated during Shayaan’s Canadian work experiences and his menial part-time roles while studying. Everybody can contribute if given the opportunity to. ‘Deep linking’ enables fast communication and coordination. For rong mistiri specifically, through WhatsApp voice notes alone, he can have the product delivered to the site with minimal effort.

Shayaan coined terminology for each product in their paint portfolio to align with the current generation’s philosophy. His exterior protective coating or paint is called DEFENDER, intended to echo thoughts of a football player protecting his team from getting scored against. It is meant to demonstrate a Captain Planet styled superhero protecting one’s home. While the luxury interior paint category is called Silk nationally, he developed the brand Muslin for their own. This was for users to envision Muslin as superior to silk due to its delicate and fine handwoven legacy from early Bengal. “Essentially, nobody wants to provide a below-par product, almost everybody is on par, we are all trying to differentiate through brand.” 

Shayaan is focused on youth empowerment and has allowed internships every quarter in their organization. By allowing them a high degree of access increases their ability to learn and impact the organization. This mentality likely comes from his time in junior roles in Toronto.

On another note, when asked about his views on solving business problems and advice for peers, he strongly advocated that the key to solving problems was to go to the root. According to him, Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is one of the easiest tools. What’s the problem? Why did it happen? What will be done to prevent it from happening again? And make sure to probe why continuously till you reach the root.

*Reinforcing Foundations with High-Grade Steel*
Through Elite Steel’s marketing efforts, Shayaan has been able to differentiate its Pure 60 Grade features. Although there are over 100 steel factories in Bangladesh, the market is dominated by the Big 4 of BSRM, KSRM, AKS & GPH. “With our brand, I host countless seminars and virtual dialogues to prove the due diligence we practice in our manufacturing. We are one of a handful that can claim the Pure 60 label due to the ASTM guideline chemical composition of the rods,” says Shayaan.

Due to capital limitations, he cannot become a titan in this sector but would like to play a role as a reliable partner for government infrastructure.

*Innovate, Innovate and Continuously Innovate*
While people speak of innovation as coming from startups only, Shayaan feels that it comes from manufacturing too. In July of last year, he experimented with fabric masks under the NEW FACE brand and to his surprise, there has been only praise. Along with the quality of fabric and workmanship, he wanted the masks to bring about a change in attitude. The brand, once worn, was supposed to give the person new energy, a new spirit and a new philosophy. Diplomats such as the Turkish and Dutch Ambassadors are regularly seen wearing the masks.

Understanding the growing importance of satisfying the youth while in lockdown, and to keep people home, he is experimenting along with a few partners on delivering unique cuisines such as Balinese and Uzbek Bukhara Kababs. Through Bashae Balinese and Bashae K-Babs, he hopes to soon get into peoples’ stomachs. “I think it’s important to give people tasty food while at the same time controlling the levels of sugar and salt to make it healthy,” says Shayaan.

*Breaking the Hierarchy— Connecting Teams*
“Everybody should be able to come to my room [and share ideas]”, said Shayaan in his interview with COLORS. Being the down-to-earth person that he is, Shayaan believes one should be equally comfortable going to lunch with both the president and the peon. Such humility in corporate leaders is very rare in Bangladesh. The philosophy behind this is that if the corporate leaders directly connect with the employees, it produces a truly collaborative workforce. And forces every member to communicate and be accountable. It was his initiative to develop the free-flowing organic structure of communication instead of hierarchical. 

Shayaan played a critical role in ‘deep linking’ teams in Aqua Paints and Elite Steel. He introduced WhatsApp in 2017 and made group chats for each department in the organization as well as their ecosystem of suppliers. By studying Toyota’s supply chain, one can understand the importance of free-flowing information, from the widget to the finished car. 

*Personal Life of a Young Changemaker*
Since 1952, the seeds planted by Late Serajuddin Ahmed have journeyed a long way. Elite Group along with its many business units travelled quite some distance. Now, it rests in the hands of a new generation of leaders such as Shayaan Seraj. 

Aside from work, he stays active with social work and sports. Shayaan is the on the Executive Committee of Gulshan Society and the Convener for both the Traffic Management and Civic Utilities Teams. Continuing his drive to digitize, he raised sponsorships to give each of his community police and cleaners a smartphone with data. This resulted in him coordinating his team to assist Dhaka Metropolitan Police in keeping away pedestrians from the 2019 Gulshan 1 Market Fire. He is also the Country Alumni Representative for the University of Toronto and one of the drivers of the Canada Bangladesh Alumni Association.

Shayaan is a superfan of Manchester United and happy to see his childhood idol Ole Gunnar Solskjaer manage the football club and feels it has been tough since the club’s glory days under Sir Alex Ferguson. “It takes a while to bring about stability after the departure of such an experienced manager.” He is also a runner and misses his freedom on the paths, trails and parks of Toronto. As a nature enthusiast, he misses hiking. He fondly remembers the oxygen-rich environments of the Rockies in Alberta. Banff National Park holds a special place in his heart. In addition, he plays squash and practices yoga believing it to bring calmness to the mind and soul.

Shayaan is extremely passionate about music with tetra bytes of audiophile-grade music spanning classical to jazz, rock to metal, deep house to the world. However, it is the emerging genre of Lo-Fi that has caught his attention and occupies his playlist these last few years. 

*With the Chessboard pieces in place, it is Time to Thrive*
All four sons, Ramzul Seraj, Selim Ahmed, Feroz Ahmed and Sajedur Seraj and their respective children are leading different establishments laid by the founder, Late Serajuddin Ahmed. From banking to steel, all members are working hard in their own ways. 
With such a strong guiding business principle, Shayaan is confident that the brands, Elite, Aqua as well as their recent introductions in fashion and food are here to last.

“Inshallah, through dedication and perseverance, we hope to carry forward the light set forth by our parents and grandparents!” Shayaan ends.


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## Bilal9

A Day late and a Dollar short. That's what happens when you award contracts to Indian Banya companies. 

And this is supposedly one of their best, L&T. 300% late and cost increased 500%. I have no words.

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## Wergeland

Bilal9 said:


> A Day late and a Dollar short. That's what happens when you award contracts to Indian Banya companies.
> 
> And this is supposedly one of their best, L&T. 300% late and cost increased 500%. I have no words.



Thats BAL stooges in a nutshell. 
Indian bootlickers to the core. I say send these stooges to their motherland India.

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## Bilal9

Warning: I include the article here, but the bias of the article is evident. Read with a pinch of salt.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangladesh Tightens Its Belt as Forex Crisis Looms​THE DIPLOMAT AUGUST 4, 2022

Amid declining foreign exchange reserves due to rising import bills, Bangladesh has sought a $4.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to economists, who participated in a recent discussion at the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Dhaka, Bangladesh is facing an “economic crisis,” one that will not end soon as the global economy is roiled in turmoil too.

The crisis was not unexpected, it seems. “We expected a deterioration in the current-account deficit due to lower remittances, lower demand for exports, and of course high fuel and food prices,” according to a sovereign analyst at Moody’s in Singapore.

On July 27, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina claimed that the crisis was not imminent. The country has enough foreign exchange reserves to import food for six to nine months, she said. “We have money in our hands to import food grains and others (essential items) for at least three months during any crisis.”

However, signs of an economic crisis are evident. The cost of the U.S. dollar against the Bangladeshi taka has risen sharply and the Bangladeshi currency is being devalued almost every week. A dollar, which was worth around 85-90 takas in May, is now being sold at 112 takas in the kerb market.

Bangladesh’s forex reserve fell to below $40 billion recently for the first time in two years. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, forex reserves exceeded the $48 billion mark in August 2021, the highest ever in Bangladesh’s history. It has been declining since then.

This is largely because of the trade deficit. Even though export earnings hit a record high of $52.08 billion in fiscal year 2021-2022, the trade deficit also recorded a high of $33 billion. The high trade deficit is to some extent a fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war, which has affected food and fuel supply across the world. Global inflation has been affecting Bangladesh’s reserves too.

Foreign remittances are Bangladesh’s lifeline. According to the World Bank, Bangladesh is the seventh highest remittance recipient country in the world. Its remittance inflows hit a record high of $24.77 billion in fiscal year 2020-21 but fell to $21.03 billion the following year.

Bangladesh is listed as one of the 30 leading money laundering countries in the world. Some analysts describe this problem as the cancer of its economy. According to the U.S.-based think tank, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), Bangladesh is among the countries that are worst affected by the scourge of trade-based money laundering. GFI statistics indicate that Bangladesh launders an average of $7.53 billion each year through international trade.

A recent report of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) says that “the amount of money deposited by Bangladeshis in various banks in Switzerland stood at 871.1 million Swiss francs” (around $916.92 million) at the end of 2021. The report reveals that the amount increased by $310 million in just one year.

At present, Bangladesh has over $90 billion in foreign debt. Its debt doubled over the last five years due to the implementation of mega infrastructure projects. These projects, which are part of the Awami League (AL) government’s “More Development Less Democracy” strategy, enabled the AL to manipulate and win general elections in 2014 and 2018.

These mega projects could now become a major source of concern for the government. It will have to find the foreign exchange to repay debts incurred on these projects.

According to Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow at CPD and convener of the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, “Bangladesh may face major shocks in 2024 and 2026 in regards to its foreign debt repayment of 20 major mega projects.” This amounts to around $43 billion owed mostly to Russia, Japan, and China.

With an economic crisis looming, the Bangladeshi government has begun taking measures to curb foreign exchange spending. The Bangladesh Bank has tightened its import policy for luxury and non-essential items like sports utility vehicles, washing machines, and air conditioners.

Meanwhile, the Hasina government is cutting the expenditure of its officials. Overseas trips of government officials have been canceled. They have been asked to cut their use of electricity by 20 percent and limit the number of vehicles they use.

As part of its austerity measures, Hasina has called for scheduled electricity power cuts across the country, although her government celebrated 100 percent electricity coverage for the first time in the history of Bangladesh in March. Some power stations have been shut down to cut down on fuel consumption.

In addition, the government has categorized its development projects into three groups. Nearly finished projects (A category) will be continued, while B category projects can only use up to 75 percent of their budget. Category C projects will remain suspended till the economic crisis eases.

The AL government has started taking measures in anticipation of an economic crisis. Will it prevent Bangladesh from going the Sri Lanka way?


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## Bilal9

Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) Ambassador Masud Bin Momen moderated the draft *Data Protection Act 2022* stakeholder consultation, which was held in Dhaka on July 16. The workshop was chaired by the Hon’ble State Minister for ICT Division Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP. Hon’ble Minister for the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Mr. Anisul Haque, MP attended as Chief Guest.


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## Arthur

In more port news.


Patenga containee terminal starts trial operation.






Deal for final design of Bay Terminal signed. South Korea bags the deal.

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## Bilal9

Imported DEMUs that had gone out of commission were repaired at one eighth the cost locally and successfully trialed.

Great example of BR Engineers using locally resourced batteries, power electronics and inverters to re-activate these DEMUs. Which is a great example of what is possible using local talent and technology.






EPZ factory in Chittagong producing large portion of needed electricity from solar installation on roof.

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## Bilal9

Prefabricated Steel: Local businesses largely satisfy local consumers’ demand​by Analysis Team

August 9, 2022





Due to increased capacity and experienced labor, local producers now own 90% of the formerly heavily imported prefabricated steel market, according to insiders in the sector.

According to figures from the Steel Building Manufacturers Association of Bangladesh(SBMA), the domestic prefabricated steel market is currently worth over Tk 4,000 crore, up from Tk 2,000 crore in 2010.

At the moment, Bangladesh requires at least 3 lakh tonnes of prefabricated steel annually. Around 2.7 lakh tonnes of the total demand are supplied by local industries, with the remainder being satisfied by international suppliers.

According to the president of the SBMA, more than 50 active enterprises have generated almost 2 lakh prospects for direct employment. With the exception of the pandemic years in 2020 and 2021, the sector has grown by an average of 15 to 20% annually since 2010, according to the managing director of Tiger Steel Bangladesh.









Prefabricated Steel: Local businesses largely satisfy local consumers’ demand


Due to increased capacity and experienced labor, local producers now own 90% of the formerly heavily imported prefabricated steel market,




bizdatainsights.com

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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Mixing Business with Pleasure​*To some he is a restaurateur, to others, he is the country manager at Cotton USA. A multitasker, Ali Arsalan has carved a niche for himself in both the food industry and the cotton sector. Lamyaa Yushra of Colors has had an inspiring tête-à-tête with the colourful personality over a cup of coffee.*





Ali Arsalan’s mantra is simple for everything. Enjoy what you do and work won’t be tiresome ever. Photographer: Kazi Mukul.

It is difficult not to notice him for his blithe demeanour. Ali Arsalan is one in many: a restaurateur, a country representative at Cotton USA, a disc jockey by hobby and an enthusiast of interior designs. Possibly for his cheerful indifference to life, his father introduced him to the cotton sector and familiarized him with this line of work without pushing him into this business. ‘My dad knew there were some people looking to hire someone Bangladeshi with western experience and I fitted into that criterion. It was never an obligation that I had to do or anything of the sort. It’s like he showed me a road and it was up to me whether I wanted to take it or not.’

Arsalan completed his schooling from Scholastica before being enrolled into a school in London for his A-levels and finally, he got his Construction Management degree at University College, London (UCL). Although initially, he wanted to pursue his studies in Civil Engineering but after a year he changed his major to solely focus on Construction Management. ‘I had a very utopian idea that I would come back to Bangladesh and try to fix the roads but when I came back, I realized that it’s not my cup of tea. But thankfully massive infrastructure development projects are underway and once completed Bangladesh will enter the next phase of growth trajectory,’ he added gaily.

It has been well over a year that he is working in cotton but for an organization called The Cotton Council International, a non-profit organization with an aim is to promote and facilitate the use of US cotton. ‘Usually when I go to people now, they kind of look at me a little surprised because I am not selling anything. We don’t charge for our services. We just introduce customers to high-quality US cotton and expect them to use them in their factories.’

The Cotton Council provides a range of free services including organizing conferences, sharing knowledge. They even organize virtual vendor visits for renowned brands mainly from Europe and introduce them to factories in Bangladesh through HoloLens. It’s like a virtual reality helmet with a high-resolution camera. The high-resolution camera helps one see the fabric quality and the way the material falls. As the brands are unable to travel because of COVID-19, this is a very interesting way for them to see garment products. This service is completely free. They set up meetings but do not involve themselves in business deals. 

He said, ‘whether the factories have any business or not it’s entirely up to them. We don’t take commission for anything. We are just there to facilitate, advise and help. Then we bring in experts from abroad, so if a spinning mill has a problem processing US cotton we can bring in a consultant from abroad. They can stay in their factory for 7-10 days whatever improvements that need to be made that will be made and again there’s no cost for this. So, that’s now my main work other than that of running Izumi, which I started 11 years ago.’




Ali Arsalan takes up everything in life with a big smile

A high-end restaurant specializing in Japanese cuisine Izumi was launched back in 2010 by Arsalan along with a quadruple of partners. It wasn’t conceived out of passion but rather because he wanted to do something fun and owning a restaurant at the time suited his mood. “I didn’t have any idea about the restaurant business but as we got into it, gradually by managing the business we learned everything. We are very lucky that we have a great Japanese chef and that has made our life a lot easier. One of our main partners Sadat manages the place on a day-to-day basis. I look at more of a macro kind of marketing and strategy but he’s there day in day out on the floor, sometimes even serving customers.’

In service business, he believes, ‘you can’t just expect to put up a business and throw some money at it and hope that it will do well. You either need to put in the time yourself or you need to find a partner or an employee who has vested interest in the business and has some kind of a profit-sharing for everything to really drive them and give them the motivation.’

Apart from being involved in a desktop profession, he is an occasional DJ with shows being held in Thailand and Berlin and has organized events in the city too. It’s a hobby that he pursued out of a pure passion for music.

The shows are very underground. The last one he did was in early March at the Westin rooftop and the other one was at the end of December last year at Banani on a commercial rooftop. It was only promoted through Facebook groups, through friends of friends. ‘So, it’s not promoted openly. I don’t do it for money, it’s just for the sake of having fun and being able to do that. The other thing is that I prefer daytime sunset things now because I have a son who is 8 months old and most of my friends have children also so we don’t like to stay out at night because it means the next morning is going to be very difficult. Your children don’t care where you were last night. (laughs) So yeah, it’s nice also to see things evolving and people growing up but still being able to have fun throughout the journey.’

One of the beauties of living in Bangladesh is its untapped market and the ample amount of opportunities to become whatever a person aspires to be. ‘For example, if you want to open a Japanese restaurant in Mumbai or Delhi there’s already a lot of competition, it needs hard work to get into that sector. Here, you have greenfield. Though you have to do everything by yourself, there’s the reward also of pioneering something, whether it’s being a DJ who doesn’t play chart music or whether it’s opening a new type of restaurant.’

‘I think one of the most important skills I picked up is how to sell myself. When you are giving a presentation in front of people who don’t have much time, have a very short level of patience and in that short time span convincing somebody is challenging. What is most important is to be sincere and transparent.’​
Fifteen years in an industry allows you to have your own perspective and the set of skills one might master at. Arsalan explained the most important aspect of being a country manager is to be as convincing as possible. ‘I think one of the most important skills I picked up is how to sell myself. When you are giving a presentation in front of people who don’t have much time, have a very short level of patience and in that short time span convincing somebody is challenging. What is most important is to be sincere and transparent.’

The challenges keep changing. He said, ‘What works in another market may not always work over here. So, I think it’s at times a diplomatic role where you’ve got to balance, you know, what your company’s trying to do versus the feedback that you are getting from the customers here. Being a country representative means you’re on the frontline and sometimes the people sitting abroad don’t always understand the full nature of a situation without being present in person. So, it’s a balancing act but it’s one that I enjoy.’

The pandemic may have brought about a round of changes in businesses but as slowly we adjust ourselves to this new normal some businesses did suffer in the last one year while others were hanged by a thread to survive during the pandemic. He is no exception. He shared his insights and what were the changes that followed and what is the priority to hold on among the chaos of time. “Being the owner of Izumi I see the nature of the service industry and how that’s being impacted. I think we are very lucky that we started Izumi 11 years ago, so we are in a much better position to absorb the losses of the lockdowns but newer restaurants are not so lucky. Again, we are lucky that Izumi is not a crowded restaurant or it was never a restaurant where the tables and the chairs were too close together.’

As much as he prefers to have a balanced life, he quipped, he’s always on his mobile and how technology may have hooked the generation to answer a text rather than talk to the person next to you, so juggling work life and personal life becomes somewhat difficult as he tries to do everything at once. ‘I think we need to try and bring a little bit of structure into how we use our mobile devices and that will really enable people to even take an evening off and switch off completely and that really helps.’

Besides being a charismatic entrepreneur and a country manager, he enjoys playing golf and music. But most importantly he is a dreamer, an optimist and has very good hopes for Bangladesh. He strongly believes that the country is heading in the right direction and thinks ‘more people would give the place a chance.’


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BurhiGanga 1st Railway Bridge, a part of the Dhaka to Jessore (Padma Bridge) Rail Link. This link has Bangladesh 1st elevated viaduct rail line using ballastless high speed trackage. JV between Army Engg. Battalions and China CREC.

The BurhiGanga river, that flows through Dhaka city in places, is one of the busiest marine transport arteries in Bangladesh.


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Rise of commercial helicopter services in Bangladesh


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Documentary on Shipbuilding in Bangladesh​




*ICE class ice-breaker 6100 DWT specialized cargo ship exported from Bangladesh to UK*


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Dhaka Shahjalal Airport 3rd Terminal has completed 44% progress overall, ground handling may be awarded to outside contractors like DNATA to improve level of service, stated the civil aviation minister. Currently ground handling including luggage handling is Biman's responsibility - which passengers are highly dissatisfied with.

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An A-Z guide to Dhaka's long-awaited metro rail service
Trains are set to begin operations along the metro rail line from Uttara to Agargaon in December. Here's what lies in store*







Asif Mahmud Ove
Published : 2 Sept 2022, 07:34 PM
Updated : 2 Sept 2022, 07:34 PM






Dhaka’s first metro rail line stretching from Uttara to Agargaon, officially known as MRT Line-6, is set to begin operations in December. Train services will be available every day from dawn till midnight. Construction work on nine stations across the city is nearing completion.






Passengers can either use stairs or escalators to reach the concourse on the first floor of the station in Uttara North.






The Uttara North metro rail station is equipped with elevator facilities for the elderly and travellers with special needs.






A state-of-the-art passenger management system will be in place to prevent travellers from accessing metro rail platforms without tickets.






A state-of-the-art passenger management system will be in place to prevent travellers from accessing metro rail platforms without tickets.






Passengers must scan their tickets at designated areas of the station before they can board trains operating across the metro rail system.






Passengers must scan their tickets at designated areas of the station before they can board trains operating across the metro rail system.






This is the platform area of the Uttara North Station where passengers will board and alight metro rail coaches.













Passengers will not be allowed to leave the station if they do not have tickets covering the exact distance they intend to travel. In case they plan to travel further than their ticket allows, passengers must pay an additional charge.


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One of two new domestic airlines - Air Astra, starting service this November. Whether passenger demand can support these new operators, remains to be seen. But new rivals in business is always a harbinger of better customer service and operating efficiency standards. Executive Director of Air Astra Asif Imran is a veteran of the local airline sector (and having experience managing operations in the US airline sector as well). Under his able and visionary leadership, it is expected that Air Astra will do rather well.

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Kalna 6-lane Bridge in Narail (one of the last river spanning bridges built to connect Dhaka-Jessore-Benapole route).

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Presentation for Uttara EPZ in Nilphamari - very glad to see poorer folks getting a way to make a living.

Sorry Bengali only.


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Bangladesh has been the top denim exporter to the EU since 2017 with one out of three people in the continent donning denim pants produced in the country. Bangladesh is also the top denim exporter in the US.


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Dhaka Airport 3rd terminal construction update


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Dhaka Jessore Railway infra (stations, trackage) being readied to connect via Padma Bridge.






Dhaka Mawa Bhanga Expressway + Padma Bridge


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Report on Dhaka Elevated Expressway and Chittagong Karnaphuli Tunnel


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LEED Gold certified apparel factory in Sreepur, Gazipur, Bangladesh.






*MNR DESIGN LTD
SREEPUR, GAZIPUR

Address:* Gazipur, Bangladesh
*Site area:* 7630 sqm
*Total built-up area:* 22,000 sqm
*Building type:* Factory
*Structure type:* Civil
*Building Materials:* RCC, brick, glass, paint, aluminum, tile etc.


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“Bangladesh is determined to achieve US $ 100 billion RMG export turnover” – Mohd. Kamal Uddin​Team Apparel Resources (AR) discusses with Mohammed Kamal Uddin, Chairman of BGMEA Standing Committee on Trade Fair, as to how the important pillars – the Industry, Government and the Export Houses – plan to work in cohesion to achieve Bangladesh’s target of US $ 100 billion by 2030.

by Nitish Varshney 09-August-2022 | 9 mins read

US $ 100 billion is what Bangladesh is aiming to achieve till 2030, the journey of which requires moving beyond the expansion and volume growth. Bangladesh needs to secure an average growth rate of CAGR 12.09 per cent in next 8 years, whereas the country only managed to grow by around 7 per cent in the last decade. Therefore, the roadmap to reach US $ 100 billion needs a definitive game plan. _Team Apparel Resources (AR)_ discussed the same with *Mohammed Kamal Uddin, Chairman of BGMEA Standing Committee on Trade Fair*, as to how the important pillars – the Industry, Government and the Export Houses – plan to work in cohesion to achieve the set target. Here are some excerpts.

*AR: How real is US $ 100 billion RMG export target set by Bangladesh?

Kamal Uddin: *It is achievable. Bangladesh has proved its worth during the pandemic time and it is determined to do it again. The growth of Bangladesh’s RMG industry has been phenomenal in last two decades. After a shortfall during the pandemic, the grit, determination and resilience of the Bangladesh’s factories have taken our RMG exports to US $ 35.80 billion in 2021 – the HIGHEST ever in any calendar year. In January to June 2022 (H1) period, we have achieved US $ 22.70 billion export revenue which is 43 per cent greater than the export values fetched during H1 ’21. Since most of the factories are booked for the remaining period of 2022, the predictions are that the country will conclude the calendar year with US $ 44-45 billion worth of RMG export turnover.
As exciting as it seems, Bangladesh isn’t stopping here! Vibes are positive because one can see the enhanced synergies between Bangladesh and global apparel buyers in recent times, especially when businesses are moving away from China; Ethiopia is facing sanctions from the USA; Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are facing political and economic turmoil. So, Bangladesh has become the preferred destination for the buyers and this will help us take our RMG exports to US $ 100 billion.

*AR: To reach this target, Bangladesh needs to earn US $ 8.34 billion revenues every month for 12 months. However, in the peak season like FY ’22 and in the beginning of FY ’23, the average monthly earnings have been US $ 3.50 billion! How do you think this earning can be increased in the next 8 years?

Kamal Uddin:* In last couple of months, we are consistently exporting apparels worth more than US $ 4 billion. I agree that it’s not that easy to reach the target; hence we are working on various fronts aggressively. Product diversification, fibre diversification, market diversification and sustainability are the utmost pillars for us to focus on. There is a huge demand for non-cotton apparels worldwide such as MMF-based apparels as the share of such apparels in the global trade is around 75 per cent. The potential of Bangladesh as a sourcing country for value-added sportswear, activewear, outerwear, swimwear and workwear is being recognised by global buyers now who once considered us a hub only for basic cotton garments.

This is why we are looking at Indian market a lot to collaborate with Indian vendors since we do not have expertise in developing such type of fabrics and fibres that India has. Together we can grab the larger market share in the MMF-based apparels.
Automation is another thing that we are opting for. One can see our drastically upgraded factories in last 5, 6 years on technology front as tech-integration is happening in cutting rooms, shopfloors, finishing as well as washing units. This is helping us to reduce our cost and keep productivity high. Time of operations has come down significantly; hence lead time has reduced which is helping us to increase our speed to market.

In addition to this, our Government has made around 100 economic zones and hence our capacities are increasing to accommodate more orders. BGMEA is also stepping in to showcase our products in different countries and make ‘Made in Bangladesh’ a value brand. We have recently come back from a very successful Techtextil fair in Germany where BGMEA and some owners from reputed garment export houses saw positive response for our products. We are making value-added products as much as we can to reach our target.

*AR: Skilled labour will be another issue. Bangladesh would need another 6 million skilled workforce, including the mid-management, to achieve the target from the current number of 4.5 million. What are your plans to prepare such a massive workforce in a comparatively short span of time?

Kamal Uddin: *To address the manpower issue, BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT) has been working aggressively to find talents for our RMG industry. Since the early years of its inception, the university has provided a firm foundation in apparel, textile, knitting, fashion and business education in the domains of manufacturing technology, engineering, design and management. A lot of young people are opting for different courses to get into RMG industry and this will suffice the need of mid-level skilled professionals. BGMEA has been selecting thousands of workers from different clusters who are being trained further in our university. This helps us create better middle management in our workforce. Interestingly, most of these people are the family members of the workers already working in the country’s factories so, unlike other countries, we don’t face a lack of interest of the next-gen in our garment industry rather they are opting for higher education within apparel and textile regime. When it comes to workers, each and every factory has their own training centre in which BGMEA is helping to provide fresh workers training on the much required modules.

*AR: Bangladesh’s RMG industry does have majorly home-grown entrepreneurs. Do you think inviting FDI will also be a big boost to achieve the target?

Kamal Uddin: *Bangladesh is certainly looking at an increased amount of FDI in RMG sector. As said earlier, we have skill sets in garmenting but we do not have the same expertise in textiles. We are able to fulfil just 30 per cent of raw material requirements from domestic supplies, rest 70 per cent comes from overseas markets. This gap can be filled if Chinese, Korean and Indian companies set up fabric and textile units in our country. This investment will help us to reduce our transit/lead time and this is important as, today, the buyers do not want to give 100-120 days to a factory for their order shipment. They are trying to mobilize their investment and want orders to be dispatched within 60 days. To fetch FDI, BGMEA is working upfront. Recently, our team went to Surat – a dominant hub for MMF and cotton fabrics – and we talked about investment opportunities with the fabric manufacturers there. We assured them that, in Bangladesh, over US $ 40 billion market is ready for them to capture and another US $ 50-60 billion opportunity is being created. Our PM has also announced building 100 EPZs; hence FDI is wholeheartedly welcome. I reiterate that, with India, we have no competition but rather we want to collaborate.


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35,000 acres Mirsarai Economic Zone update. This is one of the largest in Asia and certainly the largest in the subcontinent.


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Jamuna Rail Bridge current status. First span in place and second span being readied.






Motorcycle manufacturing in Bangladesh


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Cox's Bazar Railway Iconic Station current status​





*Renders and CGI's





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Purbachal Expressway construction status


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Padma Bridge Rail link status


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Dhaka Purbachal Expressway current status


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Meghna EZ drawing Swiss investment​
Star Business Report
Fri Sep 30, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Fri Sep 30, 2022 08:06 AM







*Sika Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based construction chemical manufacturer Sika Group, is investing $6 million setting up a 10,000-square metre factory in Meghna Industrial Economic Zone (MIEZ) in Sonargaon of Narayanganj.*

The factory will mainly produce ‍admixture and grout, an official told The Daily Star, adding that about Tk 1,000 crore-worth construction chemical products were annually sold in Bangladesh.

Admixture is a mix of chemicals used to aid the properties of concrete or cement. Grout is a mortar or paste for filling crevices, especially the gaps between wall or floor tiles.

Sika's specialty chemicals enable developing products and systems for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry.

"Many big development projects are going on in Bangladesh. It will happen in the coming days as well," said Sanjiban Roy Nandi, country head of Sika Bangladesh.

"As we are a construction chemical manufacturing company, our primary target is to provide supplies to the major construction projects in Bangladesh," he told a ceremony initiating excavations for the factory at MIEZ yesterday.

"The company will start production in the 3rd quarter of next year. One hundred people will be employed here…Talk are underway for availing one more plot," he said

"Based on future demand we will decide how to expand the business…Since Sika is working in 100 countries, we are moving ahead with long term planning," he added.

Nandi said there were several international and local companies manufacturing construction chemicals in Bangladesh. But still there are opportunities to invest where there is demand. That is why Sika is investing in Bangladesh, he said.

Addressing as chief guest, Shaikh Yusuf Harun, chairman of Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, said, "I also want to mention how proud we are to be a part of a venture as big as yours."

"I want to take this opportunity and assure that your venture will have our all-out support in your every step of the way," he said.
"Bangladesh is transitioning from the list of least developed countries (LDC) to developing countries," said Swiss Ambassador to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard.

"Foreign direct investment is very important for Bangladesh. We want to be a cooperative partner in the development of Bangladesh," she said.

Tahmina Mostafa, director of the Meghna Group of Industries, and Yumi Kan, area manager South Asia of Sika Asia Pacific Management Pte, were also present.

Sika has subsidiaries in 101 countries and conducts manufacturing in over 300 factories. Over 27,000 employees generated annual sales of CHF (Swiss franc) 9.3 billion in 2021.

It has been doing business in Bangladesh through a third party for almost 25 years. Sika Bangladesh officially started its journey in 2017.

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This is from 2017.


BAAR, SWITZERLAND: Sika AG has established its 100th national subsidiary in Bangladesh. Reaching a further milestone in the implementation of its growth strategy and is now represented in 100 different countries. 23 national subsidiaries have been established over the past five years alone, making it possible to tap into growth potential in new markets. Bangladesh has over 163 million inhabitants and is one of the most populous countries in the world with a flourishing construction industry.

The establishment of the 100th national subsidiary represents an important milestone in the successful implementation of Sika’s growth strategy. The new local head office in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital city, enables Sika to benefit from the potential available in the local construction market, which has a total volume equivalent to CHF 15 billion and an annual growth rate of 12 percent.

Local and foreign investments are channeled primarily into the construction of transport and energy infrastructures. The new national subsidiary allows Sika to directly market products that have already become established in the area through distribution partners, as well as to optimize cost structures and further grow market share.

The company recently opened the 99th national subsidiary in El Salvador, Central America.

“Over the past few years, our more than 17,000 employees have been able to grow our company to an impressive level and have continuously expanded our global presence. We have established 23 national subsidiaries since 2012 and now generate 36 percent of our sales in emerging markets,” said Paul Schuler, CEO, Sika.

We enter emerging economies early on and area well established in mature markets. This enables us to harness potential at all stages in the development of the local construction sectors and to sell our entire product portfolio whether the requirement is for materials needed in new build construction, products that help to meet higher building standards, or solutions for refurbishment projects,” added Schuler.


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Ceramic Industry in Bangladesh: Future Challenges and Prospects II The Business Standard(Sorry Bengali discussion only)​


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This is a small scale tile factory (Chinese-Bangladesh joint venture) in Khulna, Bangladesh (Sorry Bangla only)






​


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Apparel export increased 54% to US and 45% to EU from Jan to June compared to past year which is higher compared to China/Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia. Corona Lockdown in China and China-dependent countries like Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia is the cause.






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Mawa Rail Junction update, ignore the guy's sub-par Bengali....






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Karnaphuli Tunnel update : Completion ETA December 2022


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In Bangladesh, Sylhet's hilly wasteland around Kulaura has been turned into lush Malta gardens. Malta is a type of citrus fruit, similar to large Oranges.

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Biman ground handling idiots have upped their game because of focus on them in media. Now luggage arrives before passengers! Sorry Bengali only. Whole luggage area and handlers have come under strict CC camera monitoring and vigilance.






But this won't help anything - Biman is under severe scrutiny with ground handling operations, they are going to lose this service to DNATA for the third Dhaka terminal being built now.


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*Pizza Hut BD's first branch to be run by women only*

_A Monitor Report *Date: *16 September, 2022






Pizza Hut’s Level 5 food court at the capital’s Jamuna Future Park is the first branch in the country being run by women only. The move is aimed at ensuring further empowerment of the women’s workforce

Dhaka : Bangladesh's most popular and trusted brand Pizza Hut has announced that its Level 5 food court at Jamuna Future Park will be run by women only.

They took the initiative in Bangladesh to ensure further empowerment of the women's workforce, according to a press release issued on September 2.

At the store handover ceremony, the CEO of Transcom Foods Limited Amit Thapa said that the past two years have been very challenging for Pizza Hut due to the pandemic.

The company's 20th store opened this year in Gulshan 2, and to ensure continuity, they intend to open a number of more stores before the year is over.

"Today, I am very happy to start a new chapter in the history of Bangladesh by opening our first women-run store. In this outlet, customer service, store management and food preparation will all be handled by women," he said.

"The full credit for our achievement today goes to the customers of Pizza Hut alone. Their love and trust in Pizza Hut inspire us to do more in the future," he added.

According to the CEO of Transcom Foods Limited, Pizza Hut is constantly working to build its brand and community, and also assured that steps will be taken to add more stores managed by women shortly to maintain this continuity.

He also wished the entire team for this initiative and praised the example they are setting to inspire other women.

Transcom Foods Limited is working on women's equality and diversity to continue the global Pizza Hut initiative. Pizza Hut has the largest footprint among all pizza chains in Bangladesh with dine-in, takeaway and delivery services at 20 outlets across the country.

Pizza Hut has spread the love of pizza in Bangladesh and become more accessible to all customers with unmatched quality and continuous opening of new stores.

Pizza Hut, since its emergence in Bangladesh, has been a crowd favorite among both youngsters and families. Over the years, it has been successfully expanding with new outlets and items.

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*Eat Green: Fine dining with an exact calorie count
Eat Green offers a full-fledged salad bar, light sandwiches and grilled food items, providing a range of healthy and delicious alternatives to its customers*

The interior of Eat Green emphasizes greenery. Photos: Eat Green






*No matter how much we like to munch on junk food, at the end of the day, healthy comfort food is all we need.*

In Dhaka, we have a handful of salad bars selling nutritious items. But no such restaurant offers a complete meal with an exact calorie count for the fitness-conscious community.

Addressing the gap in the market, Sadia Mushtari, chairperson of the fitness company Alternate Fitness, decided to launch 'Eat Green Café', an eatery serving city dwellers organic and healthy food.

"A healthy diet is crucial alongside a high-intensity training program for fitness and a healthy lifestyle," said Sadia.
The café offers a full-fledged salad bar, light sandwiches and grilled food items, providing a range of healthy and delicious food choices.

Eat Green primarily sources the ingredients for its menu locally. Some items are imported through selective vendors.
"The ingredients are as fresh as they could be. There is no use of sugar, tasting salt or any other harmful ingredients," said Prince Placid Palma, the head chef of the restaurant.

The café is a passion project of Mishal Karim and Adnan Imam, who jointly own Alternate Fitness Limited that brought the F45 fitness franchise to Dhaka. Mishal Karim, who owns a few restaurants in the country, is a strong healthy eating advocate.

Eat Green Café was originally designed to complement the fitness Centre F45 catering to its members with a wide range of healthy food items. Both Eat Green Café and F45 Training are located in the same building at Banani 11 in the capital.

"The responses we are getting from our guests are overwhelming. Even though we started this café mostly to cater to the F45 members, 50% of our customers are non-members," said Sifat Ahmed, the manager of Eat Green Café.

We asked the chef how the foods tasted so good even though they were made with simple ingredients.
"It's the freshness of the ingredients that decides the tastes," the chef explained with a smile.

The café is compact and gives out a warm, cosy vibe. The place can congregate about 15 people at a time. Recently, the restaurant introduced its buffet lunch offer for corporate workers in the vicinity, which has turned out to be its key attraction.

"Our lunch hour is from 1 to 3pm, and we are always packed during that time. The majority of our guests are foreigners," said Sifat.
The buffet includes full access to the salad bar and some hot items like prawn skewers, ginger chicken, chicken strips, chicken shashlik, fried onions, tofu, etc.

Here's our review of some of the best dishes and salad items available on the restaurant's menu

*Spicy Tuna*






Fulfilling in quantity, this sandwich is sure to give eaters a sense of satisfaction even before eating. The slices of wholegrain bread were crispy and we could taste the richness of oatmeal in every bite.

The sandwich filling contains pesto, tuna mousse, tomato, tabasco, jalapeno and a perfect amount of spices.

Calorie: 315 kcal

Price: Tk490

Rating: 8/10

*Unmeat Burger*






Being an extremist non-vegetarian, I was a little skeptical about ordering this one, but since I wanted to try out all their best-selling items, team Eat Green said, "You must have it."

As the name suggests, the unmeat burger is a plant-based, vegan-friendly gourmet.

The burger is light, well balanced and served with tomato sauce. Be it breakfast, lunch or supper, you can have it anytime.

The burger patty is made with a blend of shiitake mushroom, black beans, chickpeas, oats, lentils and beetroot. The addition of lentils and oats gives the patty a chewy texture.

Calorie: 385 kcal

Price: Tk450

Rating: 8.5/10

*The Chicken Burger*






This burger comes with a grilled chicken patty with a fried egg and a generous amount of fries. The patty is topped with iceberg lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese.

Overall, the taste of the burger is good but not particularly special. The bun-to-meat ratio is, however, a little off.

The burger's patty is somewhat thin and dry, but the toppings provide an excellent balance. Avocado slices give the burger a creamy texture, while jalapeno dressing gives a tangy taste.

Calorie: 550 kcal

Price: Tk450

Rating: 7/10

*Salad Bowl*






Since we went there a little late, all the hot items were not available. However, we still got plenty of cold items. Most of the items were individually good. We loved the prawn skewers and chicken shashlik. They were full of flavors. The couscous salad felt a little bland, though. The salad bar allows you the full freedom to mix and match.

_Available Items: Garlic mushroom, Tofu with chickpeas, Sea Bass with pineapple, Thai vegetables, vegetable rice, couscous salad, chicken fajitas, Lentil salad, Caesar salad, Grilled chicken salad, sweet corn, Boiled chickpeas, Black olives, Green olives, chickpeas salad, Mushroom Rice, Tuna salad, Fruits Salad, Creamy vegetable pasta, sauteed vegetables, Hawaiian Salad, Caesar salad, kidney bean, seabass with chickpeas, Lemon butter chicken, Mexican rice, Green apple salad, Greek salad, Sweet and sour prawn, Cold chicken pasta salad, Meatball spaghetti, Boiled spicy potato, Boil beetroot(cold).

Calorie: N/A

Price: 0.95 Paisa/gm

Rating: 8/10_

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## Bilal9

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Bangladeshi architectural atelier ARCHVISTA has been at the upper level of operating architectural design outfits in Bangladesh. Their work is exceptional and inspiring. Here are a few examples.


The interior design of the office of ADA Trading Co. Ltd, the national distributor of Huawei and other Chinese technology giants in Bangladesh, had the concept of showcasing gadgets on a backdrop but with a seamless flow, especially in the case of Experience Centre which focuses on creating experiences at every step.
ADA TRADING CO. LTD​*Location :* POLICE PLAZA, 144 HATIR JHEEL LINK ROAD, DHAKA-1212
*Area : *6,000 SFT
*Project Cost : *21.5 MILLION
*Project Type : *Office
*Project Duration :* 6 Months
*Handover Year :* 2019
*Principle Architect :*MAMUN AR RASHID
*Design Team : *MEHEDI HASAN, ZAKIA SULTANA NIRA
*Electrical Eng :* JAHIR UDDIN

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## Bilal9

Now for a change of pace, a govt. office. Looking for stacks of dirty file cabinets and peons with betel juice teeth? Not really. I've worked at some very well-appointed workplaces in the US and this approaches those standards. Moreover, this is a "green workspace".

BANGLADESH INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE FUND LIMITED (BIFFL)​*Location :* LEVEL-3, BORAK, UNIQUE HEIGHTS, 117 KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM AVE, Dhaka 1217
*Area : *6,633 SFT
*Project Cost : *40.5 MILLION
*Project Type : *Office
*Project Duration :* 6 Months
*Handover Year :* 2019
*Principle Architect :*MAMUN AR RASHID
*Design Team : *SAIMA AKTAR LIZA

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## Bilal9

Kalna Bridge on Modhumati river at Narail is now open for traffic. This reduces travel time from Dhaka to Jessore by two hours. This is the first six lane bridge in Bangladesh and is of the arch suspension cantilever design.

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## Bilal9

Story on "Runner" brand Motorcycle manufacturing in Bangladesh. Discusses issues in local backward linkage etc.


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## Bilal9

With high-value products, apparel makers of *Bangladesh now aim to gain a bigger slice of the $24 billion Japanese market* taking advantage of growing exports to the potential destination.

Bangladesh's apparel shipments to Japan regained the $1 billion-mark in FY22 after two consecutive years of the pandemic-induced slowdown, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The apparel sector hopes that its exports to Japan will reach $2 billion in the current fiscal year, with sportswear, outerwear, denim and lingerie.

A good number of work orders are pouring in from big Japanese buyers. Besides, many buyers and brands are expressing interest in investing in Bangladesh's man made fibre industry, industry people say.

#MadeInBangladesh










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তিস্তা প্রকল্প সংবেদনশীল বলে চীনের কিছুটা অনীহা আছে: লি জিমিং​




স্টার অনলাইন রিপোর্ট
বৃহস্পতিবার, অক্টোবর ১৩, ২০২২ ১১:৫১ অপরাহ্ন
সিজিএস আয়োজিত সেমিনারে বক্তব্য দিচ্ছেন চীনের রাষ্ট্রদূত লি জিমিং। ছবি: সংগৃহীত




সিজিএস আয়োজিত সেমিনারে বক্তব্য দিচ্ছেন চীনের রাষ্ট্রদূত লি জিমিং। ছবি: সংগৃহীত

*বাংলাদেশে নিযুক্ত চীনের রাষ্ট্রদূত লি জিমিং বলেছেন, 'তিস্তা নদীর সমন্বিত ব্যবস্থাপনা প্রকল্প বাস্তবায়নে চীন যথেষ্ট গুরুত্ব দিচ্ছে। কিন্তু এ প্রকল্পটি সংবেদনশীল বলে কিছুটা অনীহাও কাজ করছে।'*

আজ বৃহস্পতিবার রাজধানীতে সেন্টার ফর জেনোসাইড স্টাডিজ (সিজিএস) আয়োজিত 'ন্যাশনাল ইমেজ ও চায়না ইন বাংলাদেশ' শীর্ষক এক সেমিনারে তিনি এ কথা বলেন।

চীনা রাষ্ট্রদূত বলেন, 'বাংলাদেশ আনুষ্ঠানিকভাবে প্রকল্প প্রস্তাব দেওয়ার পর চীন সেটিকে অত্যন্ত গুরুত্বপূর্ণ বলে মনে করেছে।'
'কিন্তু আমি খোলাখুলি বলতে চাই যে চীন এই প্রকল্পের ব্যাপারে কিছুটা অনীহা দেখাচ্ছে। কারণ হিসেবে আমরা বুঝেছি যে প্রকল্পটি বেশ সেন্সিটিভ,' যোগ করেন তিনি।

তিনি আরও বলেন, 'এছাড়াও, আমার হয়তো এটা বলা উচিত নয়, কিন্তু আমি ব্যক্তিগতভাবে উদ্বিগ্ন যে বাংলাদেশ সরকার পরবর্তীতে… বাইরের কোনো চাপে তার অবস্থান পরিবর্তন করবে কি না, আমি নিশ্চিত নই।'




তিস্তা খনন প্রকল্প বাস্তবায়নে চীন আন্তরিক: রাষ্ট্রদূত লি জিমিং​Read more

লি জিমিং বলেন, 'চীন যদি প্রকল্পটি এগিয়ে নেওয়ার সিদ্ধান্ত নেয় এবং পরে প্রকল্পের বিষয়ে "চীনা ঋণের ফাঁদ বা ভূ-রাজনৈতিক সংবেদনশীলতা" উল্লেখ করে কারও পরামর্শে বাংলাদেশ যদি সিদ্ধান্ত পরিবর্তন করে, তাহলে একটা বাজে পরিস্থিতি তৈরি হবে।'

২০২০ সালের জুলাইয়ে পানিসম্পদ মন্ত্রণালয় বাংলাদেশের অর্থনৈতিক সম্পর্ক বিভাগের কাছে একটি চিঠি দিয়ে প্রকল্পটি বাস্তবায়নের জন্য চীনের কাছ থেকে ৯৮৩ মিলিয়ন মার্কিন ডলার ঋণ চেয়েছিল।

বাংলাদেশ সরকার মোট প্রকল্প ব্যয়ের ১৫ শতাংশ বা প্রায় ১৩০ মিলিয়ন মার্কিন ডলার খরচ বহন করবে।

এই প্রকল্পে নাব্যতার জন্য নদী ড্রেজিং, মজবুত বেড়িবাঁধ নির্মাণ, টাউনশিপ, নদীর দুই ধারে শিল্প, জলাশয় ও সেচের ব্যবস্থার কথা বলা হয়েছে।
তিস্তা অববাহিকায় ১ লাখ ১১ হাজার হেক্টর সেচযোগ্য জমির বেশির ভাগই শুষ্ক মৌসুমে চাষের অনুপযোগী হয়ে পড়ে।




তিস্তা ব্যারেজ পরিদর্শনে চীনা রাষ্ট্রদূত​Read more

কর্মকর্তারা জানানা, ২০১৩-১৪ সালে মোট সেচযোগ্য জমির মাত্র ৩৫ শতাংশে চাষ সম্ভব হয়েছিল।

ভারতের মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা ব্যানার্জির বিরোধিতার কারণে ২০১১ সালে তিস্তার পানি বণ্টন চুক্তি সই করতে পারেনি বাংলাদেশ।

সম্প্রতি গত ৯ অক্টোবর চীনা রাষ্ট্রদূত লি জিমিং রংপুরে তিস্তা নদী পরিদর্শন করেন। স্থানীয় সরকার ও জনগণ প্রকল্পটি চায় কি না, সেটি নিশ্চিত হতে তিনি এ পরিদর্শন করেন।

তিনি বলেন, 'সৌভাগ্যবশত আমি পরিদর্শনে অত্যন্ত ইতিবাচক বার্তা পেয়েছি। জনগণ এই প্রকল্প সম্পর্কে আগ্রহী এবং এ বার্তা চীনা কর্মকর্তাদের মধ্যে আস্থা তৈরি করতে সাহায্য করবে।'




বাংলাদেশ চীনা ঋণের ফাঁদে নেই: রাষ্ট্রদূত লি জিমিং​Read more

এদিকে রোহিঙ্গা প্রত্যাবাসনের বিষয়ে চীনা রাষ্ট্রদূত বলেন, 'রোহিঙ্গা প্রত্যাবাসনে সহায়তার উপায় খুঁজতে চীন সক্রিয় আছে এবং ইতোমধ্যেই কিছুটা এগিয়েছে।'

'আমরা নীরবে কাজ করছি। আমরা কর্মপ্রবণ, বক্তা নই,' বলেন তিনি।

সম্প্রতি মিয়ানমারের আন্তর্জাতিক সীমানা লঙ্ঘনের বিষয়ে লি জিমিং বলেন, 'বাংলাদেশের অনুরোধের পর চীন মিয়ানমারের সঙ্গে এ বিষয়ে আলাপ করেছে।'

'আনুষ্ঠানিকভাবে বাংলাদেশকে এ বিষয়ে জানানো হবে,' যোগ করেন তিনি।

সেমিনারে মূল প্রবন্ধ উপস্থাপন করেন সিজিএসের পরিচালক অধ্যাপক ইমতিয়াজ আহমেদ। এতে আরও বক্তব্য দেন সাবেক রাষ্ট্রদূত নাসিম ফিরদৌস, মুন্সী ফয়েজ আহমদ, ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের অধ্যাপক এম এম আকাশ ও ড. দেলোয়ার হোসেন।


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## Bilal9

Singer Bangladesh breaks ground for their Tk. 800 crore electrical white goods (Fridge, TV, washing machine etc.) factory in Japanese EPZ/SEZ in Araihazar, Narayanganj. Overseas investors in the project are *Ko*ç Group and Arçelik Global from Turkey, who are globally renowned electrical appliance and durable goods manufacturers. The main contractor for the construction of the SEZ is Sumitomo Corporation.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport 3rd Terminal update


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Metro rail Agargaon to Motijheel section completion proceeding ahead of schedule and may get opened earlier than thought.





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## Bilal9

New Bangladeshi air carrier Air Astra's first ride S2-STB is here, will start services sometime in November...all the best to their start as a new airline under Asif Bhai's able leadership.


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

An exceptional example of a government institution is the transformer factory of Chittagong. Government factories in the country mean losses and crises. The exception is *General Electric Manufacturing Company of Chittagong (GEM Bangladesh)*. The electrical equipment manufacturing plant is making above-average well-earned profit by increasing its production almost six times in three years, which is reflected in the market demand for its products. This transformer is superior in quality not only in Bangladesh market, but also in entire South Asia. However, due to lack of skilled manpower and modern machinery (BMRE), only one third of the production capacity is being utilized since its establishment in the seventies with ToT from Russia. There is also a bright possibility of export if the product can be diversified.


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## Bilal9

Mongla Port documentary


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## Bilal9

Jamuna new Railway bridge current status (Double gauge, double line). Uses weathered steel which does not need painting and is a first in Bangladesh.


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

The Buriganga first railway bridge structure is now largely visible which is a part of the Padma Bridge Rail-link project connecting Dhaka to Jessore and then also Kolkata by way of Benapole border rail-link. The work of laying railway track on Padma Bridge and Bangladesh's first elevated railway line leading to it is almost done. There are multiple dozens of new junctions, stations, terminals, marshalling yards being built as a part of the project.


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## Bilal9

*Singer secures 35-acre plot at Araihazar (N'Ganz) for manufacturing complex*














Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of SINGER Bangladesh Limited MHM Fairoz and Bangladesh Special Economic Zone (BSEZ) Managing Director Taro Kawachi exchanging documents after signing an agreement under which SINGER Bangladesh is going to invest Tk680 crore to build its new manufacturing complex on an area of 35 acres of land at BSEZ in Narayanganj. Photo: Courtesy

*Singer Bangladesh Ltd has signed an agreement with the Bangladesh Special Economic Zone at Araihazar in Narayanganj for the lease of 35 acres of land to establish its new manufacturing complex.*

Two months ago, the multinational electronics and home appliances retail chain announced Tk680 crore of fresh investments to increase its manufacturing capacity.

Singer's investment is aiming to re-energise the century-old brand in the burgeoning local market.

The investment will be financed from internal sources and through borrowing from both foreign and local banks.

The proposed manufacturing facilities will meet the increasing local demand with a competitive price and will also contribute to the company's growth, the publicly-listed company said in its disclosure.

A high official of the company on 31 March told The Business Standard that it was planning big and going to build its third facility and the large new one might be the ultimate one for manufacturing and assembling electronics and home appliance products.

The new plant will be inspired by the technology of Singer's new holding company Istanbul-based Arçelik, one of the global leaders in white goods and cooling products.

Arçelik, which acquired 57% of Singer Bangladesh shares for $75 million in March 2019, is introducing all its global values, expertise, and advanced technologies to exploit the best out of the brand Singer, present in this land for 117 years.

Since the acquisition three years back, Singer has already made around Tk80 crore technology investments and launched new-technology refrigerators.

Can Dincer, chief commercial officer at Arçelik Global and also a director of Singer Bangladesh, told TBS in an interview earlier in March, "We are already investing in Singer and we have further investment plans in facilities, production, product range, marketing, and communication."

"You will see how we are adding value to the quality and R&D [research and development] aspects of products, very modern technology, and production process in Bangladesh. This is our promise to consumers of Bangladesh: we are ready to bring our best resources," he added.

Singer, which began with sewing machines and eventually turned into the largest household name for home appliances and televisions in the country, lost momentum in the race in the 2010s, while the great localisation wave made Walton the largest player in the refrigerator and television market.

According to a UCB Asset Management report last year, Singer is competing with Walton as the second largest brand with a 12% market share in refrigerators, and 11% in television sets, against Walton's gigantic 72% and 27% market shares in the two categories respectively.

With a 13% market share, Singer is lagging behind General and GREE only in air conditioners and with an 18% market share, it is trying to catch up with Samsung in the washing machine market.

Having secured an annualized growth of 14% over the second half of the last decade, Bangladesh's TV, refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine, and kitchen appliances market has grown to around $2.5 billion, according to the UCB AMC report.

With 100% of the population under electricity coverage, a rising per capita income and changing lifestyle helped analysts expect the market to grow at a 17% annualized rate to $10 billion by 2030.

Widely winning the local market, Walton has emerged as an exporter to dozens of countries, including the western markets, and the company is now chasing its dream to be a top global brand.

Arçelik's Can Dincer in his interview said his company was considering Bangladesh as a strategic hub in the region for exports.

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*Meghna to set up economic zone in Cumilla
Will invest Tk 1,200cr*







Star Business Report

Meghna Group of Industries (MGI) is going to set up its third economic zone in the eastern district of Cumilla at a cost of around Tk 1,200 crore in a bid to develop an industrial area that will attract both foreign and local investment.

MGI, one of the leading business houses in Bangladesh, has already spent Tk 800 crore to purchase and develop 250 acres of land for the Cumilla Economic Zone (CEZ).

The company plans to invest the rest of the amount on preparing facilities so that factories in the CEZ can start production by 2024, according to Mostafa Kamal, chairman and managing director of MGI.

"We have already developed the land and work is ongoing to build internal roads," he said after the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) handed over the required license to MGI at an event at the InterContinental Dhaka.

The CEZ is the 12th private economic zone to be permitted for construction by BEZA.

Once operational, the industrial area is expected to create employment opportunities for around 50,000 people and draw investment of $2 billion.

So far, 33 factories have been set up in the two other economic zones operated by MGI, and 12 of those companies are fully foreign owned.

"Being close to Dhaka, the CEZ will get a huge response from domestic and foreign entrepreneurs. There are plans to give at least 50 per cent of the land to foreign investors," said Shaikh Yusuf Harun, executive chairman of Beza. As such, this economic zone will become one of the centres of foreign investment, he added.

Beza has developed 15 economic zones under its own initiative through public-private partnerships and government-to-government contracts. The country's economic zones have so far received investment proposals of about $3.2 billion.

MGI earlier developed the Meghna Economic Zone and Meghna Industrial Economic Zone in Narayanganj.

The CEZ is situated in Meghna upazilla of Cumilla district, close to the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. There will be a total of 115 industrial plots in the zone that will expand to 350-acres after completion of first phase.

According to the plan, factories and administrative buildings, warehouses, logistics areas, water and waste treatment plants, roads and other necessary facilities will be constructed to make the CEZ a self-sufficient industrial hub.


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## Bilal9

Akij Group invested 250 crore in an automated bathroom/lavatory faucets, shower systems, showerheads, kitchen faucets and other plumbing fixture manufacturing production unit at Trishal, Mymensingh. Their product is no Grohe of course, but should compare nicely with mid grade int'l imports in this category, and should handily be able to substitute imports from India and China. The one handle ceramic cartridges will probably be imported.


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## Bilal9

Most Exported Products of Bangladesh​




Bangladesh is now considered to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world. And not to mention, exports and the ongoing remittance inflows, continue to be the main drivers of Bangladesh’s economic growth. Bangladesh export increased by more than 34% to $52.08 billion and according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), it’s the highest export earning for the fiscal year 2021–2022. Other than the apparel industry, there are many other sectors that are playing a significant role in the country’s export earnings. 
Bangladesh’s Top Export Partners​Bangladesh has several key export destinations. As of 2020-2021, here are 10 of the most notable ones. 

*Export Partner**Value ($ in millions)**% of the total*USA494616.5Germany424514.2United Kingdom28489.5Spain19936.6France16885.6Poland12114Italy12104India10083.4Netherland9653.2Canada8702.9
Top Exported Products of Bangladesh​Based on Bangladesh export statistics, here are the top most exported products of Bangladesh.

*Product**Total Export in %*Readymade Garments83.4Jute and Jute Manufacture3.6Fish, Shrimps, and Prawns1.4Leather and Leather Manufactures1.8Home Textile1.7Vegetable Products0.7Pharmaceutical Products0.4Plastic and Plastic Products0.3Bicycle0.3Terry Towel0.1
1. Readymade Garments​




According to Statista, the export value of RMG sector in Bangladesh reached approximately $31.46 billion. This was an increase over the previous year when Bangladesh’s RMG exports were almost $28 billion. A wide range of knitwear and woven garment goods, including shirts, pants, T-shirts, jeans, jackets, and sweaters, are included in the RMG exports of Bangladesh. In the recent fiscal year, Bangladesh’s knitwear export rose significantly. The Export Promotion Bureau’s (EPB) most recent figures show that knitwear products saw a rise of 36.88% to $23.2 billion in FY22. Moreover, the export earnings of knitwear products have surpassed woven garments. In FY22, the market for woven clothing increased by 33.82% to $19.4 billion. There’s no doubt that the apparel industry’s continued expansion has contributed to Bangladesh’s sustained economic growth. The major foreign markets for Bangladesh’s RMG exports in FY22 are the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, and Belgium.
2. Jute and Jute Manufacture​




Bangladesh’s jute industry is going through an exceptionally successful period. Jute goods exports stand second after RMG in the recent fiscal year. Every year Bangladesh produces 7.0 to 8.0 million bales of raw jute, and the nation exports 0.6 to 0.8 million bales of raw jute each year. China, India, and Pakistan are the main importers of raw jute from Bangladesh. In the fiscal year 2021-22, Bangladesh’s raw jute exports brought in BDT 6.59 billion.

3. Fish, Shrimps, and Prawns​




The aquaculture sector of Bangladesh is a major contributor to food security and foreign exchange earnings and plays a prominent role in the Bangladeshi economy. According to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), foreign exchange earnings from shrimp exports in the last six months were $268.95 million, a jump from the $194.58 million registered in the same period of FY2020-21. Besides shrimp, live fish exports have also grown by 34%, earning $4.41 million. Frozen fish exports, however, have taken a hit, falling from $66.33 million in the first six months of the FY2020-21 to $53.05 million compared to the same period this year. Bangladeshi aquaculture products are exported to more than 50 countries worldwide, with the major importers being the European Union (EU), USA, Japan, Russia, and China. Export earnings from frozen and live fish in FY22 grew by 11.64% to $532.94 million compared with that of $477.37 million in the last fiscal. Export earnings from shrimp increased by 23.84% to $407.25 million in FY22.
4. Leather and Leather Manufactures​




The Bangladeshi leather sector recorded growth across all categories in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. From July 2021 to March 2022, Bangladeshi leather exports increased by 30.95%, as compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year, generating $896.8 million. In the nine months to March 2022, leather goods exports totaled $242.0 million, increasing by 34.41% from the same period of the past fiscal year. The commerce ministry is drawing up a ten-year perspective plan, which includes a target to increase the leather sector’s export earnings from below $1 billion to $10-12 billion by 2030. Italy, Spain and Hong Kong are the major markets for Bangladesh’s leather and leather goods.

5. Home Textile​




The Home textile sector has gradually emerged as a new player in textile production and exports from Bangladesh. The home textile export basket of the country includes bed linen, bed sheet and other bedroom textiles, bath linen, carpets and rugs, blankets, kitchen linen, curtains, cushions and cushion cover, and covers for quilts. Exporters earned $1.3 billion from the sale of home textiles from July 2021 to April 2022 of the current fiscal year, a 39% increase over the same period from the previous fiscal year. The major export destinations for Bangladeshi home textiles include Europe, the US, Japan, Canada, and Australia.
6. Vegetable Products​




Bangladeshi vegetable exports look to be on the verge of taking off, and in a glorious way. A recent Financial Express report states that the country’s vegetable shipments have achieved 100% growth in the July-August period of the current FY. Bangladesh at present exports 0.07 million to 0.10 million tonnes of vegetables to 52 countries annually. Agricultural products, including vegetables, fruits, and spices, fetched $1.16 billion with a 13.04% growth in FY22. Exporters of vegetables, fruits, and other perishable agriproducts strongly believe that Bangladesh can earn much more than $1 billion from agriproduct exports.
7. Pharmaceutical Products​




The pharmaceutical sector’s export revenues have increased dramatically in recent years. This is due to the country’s increased capacity and access to new sales channels. Local pharmaceutical businesses earned $163.83 million from July to April of the current fiscal year 2021-22, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau. This is over 27% more than what they made during the same period last year. The world is now well aware of the capabilities of local pharmaceutical companies, as Bangladesh is now exporting drugs to around 160 countries after meeting almost 98% of the local demand. According to industry insiders, more than 20 Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies, including Incepta, Beacon, Square, Popular, Eskayef, Beximco, Opsonin, ACI, Renata, and Ziska, exported COVID drugs. Local pharmaceutical businesses earned $163.83 million from July to April of the current fiscal year 2021-22, according to statistics from the Export Promotion Bureau. This is over 27% more than they made in the same period last year.
8. Plastic and Plastic Products​




Export of plastic products has risen to a great extent and is poised to be the next big export earner. If the present yearly growth trend remains stable at 24%, plastic toy exports are predicted to reach an estimated $466.31 million by 2030. Toys accounted for around $37.10 million, or 29%, of the total quantity of plastic goods exported, $128.77 million during the July to April period of the current fiscal year. Bangladeshi plastic products are exported to some 23 countries, including the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Poland, Spain, and Canada, while various items like house decor items, automobiles, medical equipment, and other supportive products of export industries are being made from plastics.
9. Bicycle​




Bangladesh is now the third-largest exporter of bicycles to the European Union and the eighth-largest exporter in the world, according to data by Eurostat. The European Union (EU) countries are one of the biggest markets for bicycles, where consumers buy around 18 million units a year. Thereby Bangladeshi manufacturers are targeting the European markets for exports, especially the UK, Germany, Italy, and Netherlands. There are three major local exporters in the bicycle industry, with Meghna Group being the largest, then comes Pran-RFL, and Alita Bangladesh. Bicycle exports have brought Bangladesh $84.58 million in FY 2020–21, a 40% increase year over year.

10. Terry Towel​




The Bangladeshi terry towel business is exclusively focused on exports. It produces and exports a variety of towels and similar products. Bangladesh now exports home textiles and towels worth $1.2 billion annually. The EPB data showed that in the first ten months of FY 2021-22, Bangladesh exported $39.52 million worth of terry towels. 
Wrapping Up​Despite the fact that the textile & apparel sector still remains the predominant contributor to the country’s export earnings, other sectors such as frozen fish, pharmaceuticals, home textile, leather products, agro-products, and plastics products are emerging progressively. Overall, Bangladesh is slowly moving towards being a major exporter of these goods in South Asia, and is on the cusp of becoming a key figure in these sectors.


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## Bilal9

*Whirlpool steps foot in Bangladesh with first manufacturing plant*

A Monitor Report *Date: *01 October, 2022





Dhaka : *Whirlpool is committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company. With its constant pursuit of improving life at home, it has entered the Bangladesh market by setting up a manufacturing plant in partnership with Transcom Group,* offering a product range specifically designed keeping in mind the unique needs of consumers in Bangladesh.

*Global Appliances Limited - the Joint Venture company has set up its first plant located in the Northeastern district of Dhaka, and spread over an approximately 85,000 square feet area, adheres to Whirlpool's world-class manufacturing standards*, coupled with Transcom Group's focus on high-quality manufacturing, business excellence, and legacy.

Whirlpool group has recently set up Whirlpool Bangladesh Ltd to carry on its sales and marketing operations in Bangladesh.

Whirlpool has launched a specifically curated range of No-Frost and Direct Cool refrigerators catering to varied needs across different segments of consumers in Bangladesh. 

The products have been designed to provide long-lasting freshness powered by advanced global technologies along with modern and premium aesthetics. They are also available in the energy efficient - Inverter Technology variants.

Embracing the brand philosophy of Every Day Care, Whirlpool is committed towards providing solutions that are meaningful and advanced with Bangladeshi consumers at the heart.


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## Bilal9

The story of the Metre Gauge EMD (GMDL) B12 Canadian Locomotives in Bangladesh Railways (2000 class) that refuse to die and soldier on. Running since 1953. No longer in passenger service but in daily Container rake duty nowadays. these will complete seventy years of service in 2023. Spectacular considering the trackage conditions in Bangladesh.

It'd have been fitting to give the GMDL factory in Ontario, Canada some award from BR for the longevity of their product, but Caterpillar closed the factory in 2012.

জ্বলে পুড়ে ছারখার - তবু মাথা নোয়াবার নয়।



























These are images with Fresh factory paintjob in 1953....






Being shipped out to East Pakistan





On trial run around factory track. These locos were equipped with Three-axle C type bogies.

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## Arthur

Bilal9 said:


> The story of the Metre Gauge EMD (GMDL) B12 Canadian Locomotives in Bangladesh Railways (2000 class) that refuse to die and soldier on. Running since 1953. No longer in passenger service but in daily Container rake duty nowadays. these will complete seventy years of service in 2023. Spectacular considering the trackage conditions in Bangladesh.
> 
> It'd have been fitting to give the GMDL factory in Ontario, Canada some award from BR for the longevity of their product, but Caterpillar closed the factory in 2012.
> 
> জ্বলে পুড়ে ছারখার - তবু মাথা নোয়াবার নয়।
> 
> View attachment 888646
> 
> 
> View attachment 888664
> 
> 
> View attachment 888648
> 
> 
> View attachment 888652
> 
> 
> View attachment 888653
> 
> 
> 
> These are images with Fresh factory paintjob in 1953....
> 
> View attachment 888654
> 
> 
> Being shipped out to East Pakistan
> View attachment 888655
> 
> 
> On trial run around factory track. These locos were equipped with Three-axle C type bogies.
> View attachment 888656


Saw it running once. They are slow as hell. 

Age has some downsides. Being elderly is not fun, I must say.

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## Bilal9

Arthur said:


> Saw it running once. They are slow as hell.
> 
> Age has some downsides. Being elderly is not fun, I must say.



Tobuo to choltesey. Freight locos are rather slow everywhere in the world - pulling torque is maximized instead of top end speed. Unless you are talking about Express US container freight with double stack consists to/from Los Angeles to points East.

Where in the world do we see seventy year old locos earning their keep?

The new Hyundai ROTEM Meter Gauge GT38 locos will take over container duty from these old GMDL B12's once enough get delivered.

The new US Made Progress Rail GT42's will take over Broad Gauge container duties transferred to/from Indian rakes via Bhanga, Padma Bridge, Narail and Jessore/Benapole.

They are ordering more freight locos of course.


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## Arthur

Bilal9 said:


> Tobuo to choltesey. Freight locos are rather slow everywhere in the world. Unless you are talking about Express US container freight with double stack consists to/from Los Angeles to points East.
> 
> Where in the world do we see seventy year old locos earning their keep?
> 
> The new Hyundai ROTEM Meter Gauge GT38 locos will take over container duty from these old GMDL B12's once enough get delivered.
> 
> The new US Made Progress Rail GT42's will take over Broad Gauge container duties transferred to/from Indian rakes via Bhanga, Padma Bridge, Narail and Jessore/Benapole.
> 
> They are ordering more freight locos of course.


Also shows the capacity Railway buit up to keep these locos going. Without enough supply of perishable spares these locos would had to go.

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## Bilal9

Arthur said:


> Also shows the capacity Railway buit up to keep these locos going. Without enough supply of perishable spares these locos would had to go.



If this was the US, they would have revamped the driveline and interior engines/transmissions to new tech like Caterpillar-made generator units. And kept the suspension and wheels, maybe modernize and put them through BMRE. Save tons of money by getting an essentially new modern engine for minimal price.

Most new locos in the US nowadays are re-vamped with new Caterpillar Gensets. I'd say this ToT is easy to implement, but we're talking Bangladesh here. These Railway Idiots will never do anything like this, they are looking after importing big ticket items to pocket big bribes.

One large EMD engine is swapped with three of these generators supplying current to AC/DC motors driving the wheels. These Caterpillar Gensets are modular (fits three to a loco usually) and once speed is achieved underway, one (or even two) of the three Gensets can be turned off to conserve fuel and wear/tear. These Caterpillar Gensets are not really very different from what most Garment factories in Bangladesh use for captive power generation.

Below the engine (genset) platform, its the same suspension and frame structure from the 1950s and 60s.

These new Genset engines are way quieter, lighter and also more economical to run fuel-cost wise because of electronic fuel injection and new engine management technology. Bangladesh has such a large fleet of old locos which could be revamped this way and we could save such a load of cash this way.







Look at the three exhausts for the three gensets mounted on these new locos

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## Bilal9

Padma Bridge Rail link status (elevated rail to Padma Bridge then on to Jessore)





Dhaka Metro Rail Project Status (Stations are being spruced up)





Purbachal Expressway update


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## Bilal9

How Bangladesh handled Cyclone Sitrang​Weather forecasts and timely evacuation of people and cattle have lowered losses






*Focus Bangla*
Ali Asif Shawon

October 25, 2022 10:34 AM

More than 18 deaths have been reported from different parts of Bangladesh since Monday night as the powerful Cyclone Sitrang completed its landfall and weakened to a tropical depression over Bangladesh early Tuesday.

Officials working closely to tackle the adverse impacts of the cyclone said that having taken up all necessary preparations, like appropriate weather forecasting and timely evacuation of people and domestic animals of the coastal regions, minimized the damages. 

The Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, and other units of the government, such as the Armed Forces, Coast Guard, police, local administration, elected representatives, ruling party workers and general people worked in a coordinated manner from Monday morning to monitor and save the livelihoods from this strong cyclone.

Due to the cyclone, rain and thundershowers swept over the other parts of the country, including the capital Dhaka, causing waterlogging, traffic congestion, and falling of trees since Tuesday morning due to the effects of Cyclone Strang.
Damages and compensations​At a press conference on Tuesday, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Md Enamur Rahman said the Sitrang did not turn into a severe cyclone and crossed the coastal area very quickly.

Stating that the cyclone has swept over Bhola, Noakhali and Chittagong, the state minister said that 10,000 houses and crops of 6,000 hectares of 419 unions had been damaged. Another 1,000 fish enclosures were destroyed.




*Dhaka Tribune*

Responding to a question, he said that the government will give corrugated steel sheets to repair the damaged house, and the affected fisherman will get interest-free loans.

The state minister gave information about nine deaths based on primary information from different parts of the country.

He said that Tk25,000 would be given to the deceased families as compensation. Two families of Gopalganj have already received the assistance.
He said corrugated steel sheets and cash would be given from today for repairing the damaged houses.

Enamur added it would take 15 days to know about the actual extent of the damages.

Around 1 million people took shelter in 6,925 shelters during the cyclone. They all left the shelters after the storm passed. Due to the cyclone, flooding has occurred in some places, but now it is normal, he said.
Electricity connections will be okay​Cyclone Sitrang started crossing the coast near Bhola on Monday evening with heavy rains and tidal waves. At that time, gusts caused trees to fall and many districts in the south were left without power.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said in an emergency press conference at the Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon that around 2,000 electric poles of various distribution companies were damaged by the storm.

“We have about 4.80 crore subscribers. Now about 8 million are without power. In some areas, power poles were uprooted and fallen trees damaged the lines. Problems were witnessed in many places, so the power supply was completely shut down to avoid any unwanted situation,” he said.






*Focus Bangla*
Nasrul said that transmission and distribution lines were affected, adding: “It will be possible to provide electricity to about 70% of subscribers by Tuesday evening and 100% by tomorrow noon.”

Residents of those areas are suffering due to a long time of no electricity. Emergency services, including hospital services, are being disrupted. Mobile phone and internet communication were also cut off.

Fire Service officials said that in the 24 hours till 8am on Tuesday, they received information about 287 trees falling on different roads across the country.

Of those, 56 trees were uprooted on different roads in Dhaka division. In three cases, trees fell on houses. 
Measures taken before cyclone​Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina personally monitored developments centring Cyclone Sitrang around the clock and instructed government officials to take steps to minimize the loss of lives and properties.

Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, gave necessary instructions to the central unit leaders regarding this matter.

“Prime minister was communicating with the local leaders, including MPs and other public representatives, of her party to get the information quickly and gave necessary directives,” one of her personal aides told Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday.

A monitoring cell, PM's Disaster Management Coordination and Relief Monitoring Cell, had opened at the PMO that worked for 24 hours a day as per the instruction of the premier.




*Focus Bangla*

According to PMO data, 2,19,690 people took shelter in 7,490 cyclone shelters and 112 Mujib Killa of 60 upazilas of 19 districts.

A total of Tk95,00,000 in cash, 475 tons of rice and 19,000 dry food packets were distributed among them immediately.

In addition, 45,000 domestic cattle took shelter in the above-mentioned places amid the cyclone.

Bangladesh Inland Waterway Transport Authority suspended all passenger and cargo vessels and the ferry terminals on Monday before the cyclone, and reopened on Tuesday morning.

Three airports, including two international and one domestic, were closed due to the heavy rainfall on Monday. Flight operations resumed on Tuesday.

Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) deployed around 1,200 volunteers in the coastal areas to protect the people from the cyclone.

The Navy, and the Coast Guard have worked restlessly in the coastal areas to bring people to the nearby cyclone shelters and the Air Force helicopter on Tuesday monitored the affected areas by two helicopters.
400,000 people were safe in Ashrayan's houses​Nearly 400,000 people of 19 coastal districts did not leave their houses for the nearby cyclone centre this time, as they were protected in their own places, which they got as a gift from the Prime Minister's initiative Ashrayan-2 project.

According to the latest information from the PMO, some 219,690 people and 45,442 cattle were protected in Ashrayan's house amid the cyclone.


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## Arthur

Bilal9 said:


> If this was the US, they would have revamped the driveline and interior engines/transmissions to new tech like Caterpillar-made generator units. And kept the suspension and wheels, maybe modernize and put them through BMRE. Save tons of money by getting an essentially new modern engine for minimal price.
> 
> Most new locos in the US nowadays are re-vamped with new Caterpillar Gensets. I'd say this ToT is easy to implement, but we're talking Bangladesh here. These Railway Idiots will never do anything like this, they are looking after importing big ticket items to pocket big bribes.
> 
> One large EMD engine is swapped with three of these generators supplying current to AC/DC motors driving the wheels. These Caterpillar Gensets are modular (fits three to a loco usually) and once speed is achieved underway, one (or even two) of the three Gensets can be turned off to conserve fuel and wear/tear. These Caterpillar Gensets are not really very different from what most Garment factories in Bangladesh use for captive power generation.
> 
> Below the engine (genset) platform, its the same suspension and frame structure from the 1950s and 60s.
> 
> These new Genset engines are way quieter, lighter and also more economical to run fuel-cost wise because of electronic fuel injection and new engine management technology. Bangladesh has such a large fleet of old locos which could be revamped this way and we could save such a load of cash this way.
> 
> View attachment 889088
> 
> 
> Look at the three exhausts for the three gensets mounted on these new locos
> View attachment 889089


I think that's what they did with this seriously damaged engine. 





But this won't be a regular practice with our railway. Thanks to corrupt two pieces.10% sure has some "desired" effect.

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## Bilal9

Arthur said:


> I think that's what they did with this seriously damaged engine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But this won't be a regular practice with our railway. Thanks to corrupt two pieces.10% sure has some "desired" effect.



I know that revamping locomotives can be done locally.

But these top level Railways idiots won't do this, to supply resources and workers to Parbatipur Loco workshop. There is nothing in it for their own pockets which they can do by importing new locos. At least they can do this for propaganda which is helpful for AL. But they won't even do that....









Parbatipur locomotive workshop overhauls burnt rail engine


NILPHAMARI, Mar 16: Parbatipur locomotive workshop of Bangladesh Railway has been able to achieve a success in a major repairing and overhauling of a burnt railway engine bearing No. 2933 of meter gauge railway track. This is the first of its kind of repairing and overhauling in the workshop.The...




today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd





Passenger coaches are repaired at Saidpur which has a large carriage shop. Which is a different facility.

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## Bilal9

Internet users in Bangladesh pass 100 million​Melanie Mingas





The number of internet users in Bangladesh exceeded 100 million for the first time to reach 103.253 million users, according to newly released data from the country’s regulator, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).​
Of the 103 million people accessing services in March, 95.16 million did so via the web or mobile phone network.
In a country of 161.4 million people, the growth has been relatively sharp.

Comparing year on year figures, in March 2019, total subscribers stood at 93.102 million, split between mobile internet (87.310 million), WiMAX (0.061 million) and ISP + PTSN (5.731 million). Today, of 103.253 million subscribers, 95.168 million access services through mobile – an increase of 7.8 million users year on year – compared to WiMAX (0.2 million) and ISP + PSTN (8.084 million).

On a month to month basis, in February total subscribers in Bangladesh stood at 99.984 million, with 94.236 using mobile internet.

As of Q1, Bangladesh was trailed in user numbers by Mexico (88 million internet users and 128 million citizens), the Philippines (79 million internet users and 109 million citizens) and Thailand (57 million internet users and 69 million citizens).

BTRC chairman Chairman Jahurul Haque, attributed the milestone to higher quality services and essential nature of the internet in modern Bangladesh society.

In terms of global internet user distribution, as of Q1 this year Asia accounted for 50.3% of all internet users, followed by Europe at 15.9% and Africa at 11.5%. However, when it comes to penetration, North America leads at 94.6%, followed by Europe at 87.2%.

As of this year, the number of people around the world using the internet had grown by 7% to reach 4.54 billion compared to January 2019, after 298 million new users were registered in the last 12 months.

When it comes to global mobile phone use, 5.19 billion people now use a handset, with numbers up 2.4% over the last year.


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

Journey and Operation of ACI Motors Limited​
REPORT
September 16, 2022






ACI Limited is one of Bangladesh’s top conglomerates. It has various concerns like pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electrical, agri-business, FMCG, machinery, and retail chains under it. However, among these, ACI Motors is one of the most successful concerns of the group. ACI Motors has become a leading Agro Machinery & Motors brands in Bangladesh with an annual turnover of over BDT 2500 Crores. Operating in different sectors of the country, ACI Motors has introduced various famous machinery brands in Bangladesh.
Overview​In 1968, a British multinational Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) branch was established in the then East Pakistan. After independence, ICI Bangladesh Manufacturers Limited was established as a public limited company on 24 January 1973, Which was listed on Dhaka Stock Exchange on 28 December 1976. Later on,5 May 1992, ICI plc transferred the majority shareholding (70%) of the company to Bangladeshi shareholders, and the name of the company was changed to Advanced Chemical Industries Limited, which is now popularly known as ACI Limited. Several other concerns under the ACI Limited umbrella include Pharmaceutical, Electrical, Agri Business, Healthcare, FMCG, Motors, Biotech, Chemicals, and Retail Chains.



*ACI Motors Limited primarily operates in categories such as agricultural, automobiles, infrastructure development machinery, musical instruments, generators, and lubricants with an annual turnover of over BDT 2500 Crores.
*
Along with the economic growth of Bangladesh, the use of heavy equipment and motor vehicles in the agricultural sector is constantly increasing. Even though crop production in Bangladesh is growing continually, most farmers still work manually, from planting the seeds to harvesting and threshing the rice. Currently, the market size of agriculture machinery in Bangladesh is BDT 3000 core, but the potential market size of this market is BDT 30,000 core. By giving importance to this issue, the journey of ACI Motors started in 2007 by Subrata Ranjan Das. Subrata Ranjan Das completed his BSc in Agricultural Engineering from Bangladesh Agricultural University in 1993. At the start of his career, he worked as a Regional Sector Specialist of BRAC till 1999. That year in October, he joined ACI Limited’s Crop Care Division as a Marketing Officer. After successfully serving in various positions there for a long time, in 2007, the ACI launched its Motors Division on his initiative. Subrata Ranjan Das is currently serving as the Executive Director of ACI Motors Limited. Under his supervision, the company management team has more than 1500 employees aged from 27 to 29.
Operation​ACI Motors Limited mainly operates in different segments like Agricultural Machinery, Automobiles, Infrastructure Development Machinery, Musical Instruments, Generators, and Lubricants.
Agriculture Machinery​In 2007, ACI Motors introduced the Indian brand Sonalika Tractor in the agricultural machinery segment in Bangladesh. This tractor is quite popular in India as well as in the international market. Even now, this tractor is being exported to more than 130 countries around the world. ACI Motors imported this tractor to Bangladesh, and gradually it became quite popular in the country. And today, Sonalika occupies more than 35% of the tractor market in Bangladesh.




*Sonalika tractor was imported to Bangladesh by ACI Motors with a market share of more than 35%.
*
But, since the price of the tractor is usually between 11 to 16 lakh taka, most of the farmers in Bangladesh couldn’t buy a tractor at such a price. Keeping this in mind, the following year, in 2008, ACI Motors introduced its second product, the ACI Power Tiller. The power tiller basically offers almost the same benefits as the tractor, and since the price range is between 1.5 and 2.5 lakh taka, power tillers are affordable for many farmers. ACI Motors basically manufactured their power tillers in China and brought them to Bangladesh. Currently, 1/3rd of Bangladesh’s total cultivation is done using Sonalika tractors and ACI power tillers. Along with tractors and power tillers, in 2009, the company added diesel engines to its portfolio, which are being used in remote areas of the country for shallow machines and boat engines.

Besides these, in 2010, ACI Motors introduced the first combine harvester in the Bangladeshi market as advanced agricultural machinery. Since then, the company has started various training and awareness programs on mechanized harvesting among farmers in Bangladesh. Note that, the Ha0r area is one of the top rice producers in the northern region of the country, meeting more than 60 percent of Bangladesh’s rice demand.




*Sonalika Tractor*



*Combine Harvester*

However, during the rainy season, when the area is often flooded, it severely damages the crops. Even in the Covid epidemic period, there was a shortage of manpower. ACI Motors distributed more than 300 harvesters to farmers in the Haor region of the country to harvest crops before the full onset of the monsoon season when there was a shortage of manpower. In terms of planting seedlings, Bangladeshi farmers have been planting seedlings by hand for a long time ago. But for planting seedlings by hand, seeds are first sown in the soil, and seedlings are produced by pulling them by hand and then planting them in the field. In this process, the roots of the seedlings are damaged during manual lifting of the seedlings from the soil, which is one of the major reasons for yield reduction. Again, hand planting may damage the seedlings by sudden rains or floods without firmly establishing them in the soil. To solve this problem, in 2011, ACI Motors introduced the “Rice Transplanter” machine in the Bangladeshi market. With the help of a rice planter, seedlings can be planted in a fully automatic manner at a low cost and time. According to ACI Motors Executive Director Subrata Ranjan Das, rice transplanter reduces the cost of rice planting by up to 50 % and increases rice yield by 10 %, and helps reduce 80 percent of the farmer’s labor. In the same year, the company introduced its ACI Water Pump. In the country, several other companies have water pumps.

However, the ACI Motors water pump is very popular among consumers because of its high quality. Currently, ACI Water Pump is used by more than 10 lakhs households in Bangladesh. In 2016, ACI Motors was able to set the benchmark of providing on-spot service within 6 hours for After Sales Service in Bangladesh’s Agriculture Machinery Industry. ACI Motors currently has an after-sales service team of more than 450 service engineers who reach the customer’s doorstep within a maximum of 6 hours to resolve all machine issues. To ensure customer satisfaction, the company constantly monitors the service engineers’ performance. Also, In 2019, the company introduced YANMAR Harvester and Transplanter in collaboration with Japanese brand YANMAR, which has already become quite popular in Bangladesh. Yanmar, one of Japan’s leading agricultural machinery, diesel engine, and heavy machinery manufacturers.




*ACI Water Pump is being used by over 10 lac families in Bangladesh.*
Infrastructure Development Machineries​In 2014, ACI Motors joined the Earth Moving Industry of Bangladesh, And the world’s leading full-line construction equipment manufacturer, “CASE Construction Equipment,” launched equipment like Backhoe Loader, Soil compactors, and Tandem rollers in the Bangladesh market. In 2017, ACI Motors also added products from the leading Chinese brand “LOVOL Construction Equipment” to its Wheel Loader and Mini Excavator segments. Also, in 2018 ACI Motors achieved a new milestone by introducing one of the world’s most popular Japanese brands, “KOBELCO,” in their High-end Excavator segment. Kobelco’s heavy construction equipment is also being used in megaprojects like Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant, Metrorail, and Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s third terminal.
Automobiles​In 2016, ACI Motors became the official and sole distributor of YAMAHA Motorcycles, one of the world’s most popular Japanese motorcycle manufacturing companies in Bangladesh. Yamaha is one of the top motorcycle manufacturers in the world. Apart from motorbikes, the company also manufactures various types of motor vehicles, including musical instruments. In 2019, ACI Motors also got the license to manufacture Yamaha motorcycles in Bangladesh as the sole worldwide distributor.





*ACI Motors also received the permission to manufacture Yamaha motorcycles in Bangladesh as the sole global distributor in 2019.
*
ACI Motors’ sales and marketing efforts have made Yamaha one of the most popular motorcycle brands among Bangladeshi youth in just a few years and are currently one of the highest-selling bike brands in the country. Yamaha R15 in the country’s sports bike category, and Yamaha FZ series bikes in the sports commuter bike category are the most popular bikes in Bangladesh. The Yamaha biker community in Bangladesh is one of the largest biker communities in the country. Currently, Yamaha has more than 100 servicing centers across the country. Following the success of Yamaha motorbikes in the country, in 2020, the Dutch government’s private sector investment institution FMO, Singapore-based SDI Pte Ltd., invested TK 126 Core with ACI-Motors in a joint venture with it. Besides, in 2018, ACI Motors started distributing Foton’s medium and heavy-duty trucks, light-duty trucks, vans, and pickup buses in Bangladesh with an agreement with Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturer Foton Motor Group. Foton, one of the world’s top-selling companies in the commercial vehicle segment, sees Bangladesh as a lucrative market and plans to set up its assembling facility in the country in the future. Foton’s light commercial vehicles have already established a strong presence in the domestic market, and this segment is constantly expanding.




*Foton ambulance delivery ceremony*.
Others​Most of the musical instruments available in Bangladesh are imported from abroad by local traders and sold in the local market. Since 2019, ACI Motors has become the Bangladeshi distributor of the world-famous brand Yamaha Music. Besides, ACI Motors is also importing Yamaha, Yorpower, and Mimoinsa brand generators. Apart from this, in 2021, ACI Motors started the distribution of Italy’s top lubricant brand ENI in Bangladesh. 

One of the reasons behind the current success of ACI Motors is the company’s young and dedicated workforce. Currently, the company has more than 1500 employees. With a valuation of around Tk 2500 core, ACI Motors has now become one of the leading machinery and motor brands in Bangladesh. In the financial year 2021-22, the total revenue of the company exceeded Tk 2300 core.




*The company’s overall revenue in the fiscal year 2021–2022 exceeded BDT 2300 core.
*
Although the potential size of Bangladesh’s agriculture machinery market is Tk 30,000 core, actually only Tk 3000 core of machinery is being used. One of the reasons for this is the increase in the price of imported machinery. Keeping this in mind, ACI Motors is currently trying to manufacture world-class Yanmar brand machinery in the country through an agreement with the Japanese brand Yanmar. 

Besides, ACI Motors has several achievements, this includes the First International Impact Investment Summit Award from Build Bangladesh in 2016, and the first prize as a supplier of all types of machinery required for agricultural mechanization at the National Agricultural Machinery Fair in 2018 and 19 consecutively. Besides, on March 26, 2018, ACI Motors Limited was able to get a name in the Guinness Book of World Records by creating the world’s most oversized motorcycle logo. In 2021, ACI-Motors won the ‘Best Customer Care’ award from Foton Motor Group. Also, in 2022, ACI-Motors won the “Foton Global Excellent Brand Communication” and “Foton Global Service System Construction Merit” award.


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## mb444

Bilal9 said:


> Journey and Operation of ACI Motors Limited​
> REPORT
> September 16, 2022
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ACI Limited is one of Bangladesh’s top conglomerates. It has various concerns like pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electrical, agri-business, FMCG, machinery, and retail chains under it. However, among these, ACI Motors is one of the most successful concerns of the group. ACI Motors has become a leading Agro Machinery & Motors brands in Bangladesh with an annual turnover of over BDT 2500 Crores. Operating in different sectors of the country, ACI Motors has introduced various famous machinery brands in Bangladesh.
> Overview​In 1968, a British multinational Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) branch was established in the then East Pakistan. After independence, ICI Bangladesh Manufacturers Limited was established as a public limited company on 24 January 1973, Which was listed on Dhaka Stock Exchange on 28 December 1976. Later on,5 May 1992, ICI plc transferred the majority shareholding (70%) of the company to Bangladeshi shareholders, and the name of the company was changed to Advanced Chemical Industries Limited, which is now popularly known as ACI Limited. Several other concerns under the ACI Limited umbrella include Pharmaceutical, Electrical, Agri Business, Healthcare, FMCG, Motors, Biotech, Chemicals, and Retail Chains.
> 
> 
> 
> *ACI Motors Limited primarily operates in categories such as agricultural, automobiles, infrastructure development machinery, musical instruments, generators, and lubricants with an annual turnover of over BDT 2500 Crores.
> *
> Along with the economic growth of Bangladesh, the use of heavy equipment and motor vehicles in the agricultural sector is constantly increasing. Even though crop production in Bangladesh is growing continually, most farmers still work manually, from planting the seeds to harvesting and threshing the rice. Currently, the market size of agriculture machinery in Bangladesh is BDT 3000 core, but the potential market size of this market is BDT 30,000 core. By giving importance to this issue, the journey of ACI Motors started in 2007 by Subrata Ranjan Das. Subrata Ranjan Das completed his BSc in Agricultural Engineering from Bangladesh Agricultural University in 1993. At the start of his career, he worked as a Regional Sector Specialist of BRAC till 1999. That year in October, he joined ACI Limited’s Crop Care Division as a Marketing Officer. After successfully serving in various positions there for a long time, in 2007, the ACI launched its Motors Division on his initiative. Subrata Ranjan Das is currently serving as the Executive Director of ACI Motors Limited. Under his supervision, the company management team has more than 1500 employees aged from 27 to 29.
> Operation​ACI Motors Limited mainly operates in different segments like Agricultural Machinery, Automobiles, Infrastructure Development Machinery, Musical Instruments, Generators, and Lubricants.
> Agriculture Machinery​In 2007, ACI Motors introduced the Indian brand Sonalika Tractor in the agricultural machinery segment in Bangladesh. This tractor is quite popular in India as well as in the international market. Even now, this tractor is being exported to more than 130 countries around the world. ACI Motors imported this tractor to Bangladesh, and gradually it became quite popular in the country. And today, Sonalika occupies more than 35% of the tractor market in Bangladesh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Sonalika tractor was imported to Bangladesh by ACI Motors with a market share of more than 35%.
> *
> But, since the price of the tractor is usually between 11 to 16 lakh taka, most of the farmers in Bangladesh couldn’t buy a tractor at such a price. Keeping this in mind, the following year, in 2008, ACI Motors introduced its second product, the ACI Power Tiller. The power tiller basically offers almost the same benefits as the tractor, and since the price range is between 1.5 and 2.5 lakh taka, power tillers are affordable for many farmers. ACI Motors basically manufactured their power tillers in China and brought them to Bangladesh. Currently, 1/3rd of Bangladesh’s total cultivation is done using Sonalika tractors and ACI power tillers. Along with tractors and power tillers, in 2009, the company added diesel engines to its portfolio, which are being used in remote areas of the country for shallow machines and boat engines.
> 
> Besides these, in 2010, ACI Motors introduced the first combine harvester in the Bangladeshi market as advanced agricultural machinery. Since then, the company has started various training and awareness programs on mechanized harvesting among farmers in Bangladesh. Note that, the Ha0r area is one of the top rice producers in the northern region of the country, meeting more than 60 percent of Bangladesh’s rice demand.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Sonalika Tractor*
> 
> 
> 
> *Combine Harvester*
> 
> However, during the rainy season, when the area is often flooded, it severely damages the crops. Even in the Covid epidemic period, there was a shortage of manpower. ACI Motors distributed more than 300 harvesters to farmers in the Haor region of the country to harvest crops before the full onset of the monsoon season when there was a shortage of manpower. In terms of planting seedlings, Bangladeshi farmers have been planting seedlings by hand for a long time ago. But for planting seedlings by hand, seeds are first sown in the soil, and seedlings are produced by pulling them by hand and then planting them in the field. In this process, the roots of the seedlings are damaged during manual lifting of the seedlings from the soil, which is one of the major reasons for yield reduction. Again, hand planting may damage the seedlings by sudden rains or floods without firmly establishing them in the soil. To solve this problem, in 2011, ACI Motors introduced the “Rice Transplanter” machine in the Bangladeshi market. With the help of a rice planter, seedlings can be planted in a fully automatic manner at a low cost and time. According to ACI Motors Executive Director Subrata Ranjan Das, rice transplanter reduces the cost of rice planting by up to 50 % and increases rice yield by 10 %, and helps reduce 80 percent of the farmer’s labor. In the same year, the company introduced its ACI Water Pump. In the country, several other companies have water pumps.
> 
> However, the ACI Motors water pump is very popular among consumers because of its high quality. Currently, ACI Water Pump is used by more than 10 lakhs households in Bangladesh. In 2016, ACI Motors was able to set the benchmark of providing on-spot service within 6 hours for After Sales Service in Bangladesh’s Agriculture Machinery Industry. ACI Motors currently has an after-sales service team of more than 450 service engineers who reach the customer’s doorstep within a maximum of 6 hours to resolve all machine issues. To ensure customer satisfaction, the company constantly monitors the service engineers’ performance. Also, In 2019, the company introduced YANMAR Harvester and Transplanter in collaboration with Japanese brand YANMAR, which has already become quite popular in Bangladesh. Yanmar, one of Japan’s leading agricultural machinery, diesel engine, and heavy machinery manufacturers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *ACI Water Pump is being used by over 10 lac families in Bangladesh.*
> Infrastructure Development Machineries​In 2014, ACI Motors joined the Earth Moving Industry of Bangladesh, And the world’s leading full-line construction equipment manufacturer, “CASE Construction Equipment,” launched equipment like Backhoe Loader, Soil compactors, and Tandem rollers in the Bangladesh market. In 2017, ACI Motors also added products from the leading Chinese brand “LOVOL Construction Equipment” to its Wheel Loader and Mini Excavator segments. Also, in 2018 ACI Motors achieved a new milestone by introducing one of the world’s most popular Japanese brands, “KOBELCO,” in their High-end Excavator segment. Kobelco’s heavy construction equipment is also being used in megaprojects like Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant, Metrorail, and Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s third terminal.
> Automobiles​In 2016, ACI Motors became the official and sole distributor of YAMAHA Motorcycles, one of the world’s most popular Japanese motorcycle manufacturing companies in Bangladesh. Yamaha is one of the top motorcycle manufacturers in the world. Apart from motorbikes, the company also manufactures various types of motor vehicles, including musical instruments. In 2019, ACI Motors also got the license to manufacture Yamaha motorcycles in Bangladesh as the sole worldwide distributor.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *ACI Motors also received the permission to manufacture Yamaha motorcycles in Bangladesh as the sole global distributor in 2019.
> *
> ACI Motors’ sales and marketing efforts have made Yamaha one of the most popular motorcycle brands among Bangladeshi youth in just a few years and are currently one of the highest-selling bike brands in the country. Yamaha R15 in the country’s sports bike category, and Yamaha FZ series bikes in the sports commuter bike category are the most popular bikes in Bangladesh. The Yamaha biker community in Bangladesh is one of the largest biker communities in the country. Currently, Yamaha has more than 100 servicing centers across the country. Following the success of Yamaha motorbikes in the country, in 2020, the Dutch government’s private sector investment institution FMO, Singapore-based SDI Pte Ltd., invested TK 126 Core with ACI-Motors in a joint venture with it. Besides, in 2018, ACI Motors started distributing Foton’s medium and heavy-duty trucks, light-duty trucks, vans, and pickup buses in Bangladesh with an agreement with Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturer Foton Motor Group. Foton, one of the world’s top-selling companies in the commercial vehicle segment, sees Bangladesh as a lucrative market and plans to set up its assembling facility in the country in the future. Foton’s light commercial vehicles have already established a strong presence in the domestic market, and this segment is constantly expanding.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Foton ambulance delivery ceremony*.
> Others​Most of the musical instruments available in Bangladesh are imported from abroad by local traders and sold in the local market. Since 2019, ACI Motors has become the Bangladeshi distributor of the world-famous brand Yamaha Music. Besides, ACI Motors is also importing Yamaha, Yorpower, and Mimoinsa brand generators. Apart from this, in 2021, ACI Motors started the distribution of Italy’s top lubricant brand ENI in Bangladesh.
> 
> One of the reasons behind the current success of ACI Motors is the company’s young and dedicated workforce. Currently, the company has more than 1500 employees. With a valuation of around Tk 2500 core, ACI Motors has now become one of the leading machinery and motor brands in Bangladesh. In the financial year 2021-22, the total revenue of the company exceeded Tk 2300 core.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *The company’s overall revenue in the fiscal year 2021–2022 exceeded BDT 2300 core.
> *
> Although the potential size of Bangladesh’s agriculture machinery market is Tk 30,000 core, actually only Tk 3000 core of machinery is being used. One of the reasons for this is the increase in the price of imported machinery. Keeping this in mind, ACI Motors is currently trying to manufacture world-class Yanmar brand machinery in the country through an agreement with the Japanese brand Yanmar.
> 
> Besides, ACI Motors has several achievements, this includes the First International Impact Investment Summit Award from Build Bangladesh in 2016, and the first prize as a supplier of all types of machinery required for agricultural mechanization at the National Agricultural Machinery Fair in 2018 and 19 consecutively. Besides, on March 26, 2018, ACI Motors Limited was able to get a name in the Guinness Book of World Records by creating the world’s most oversized motorcycle logo. In 2021, ACI-Motors won the ‘Best Customer Care’ award from Foton Motor Group. Also, in 2022, ACI-Motors won the “Foton Global Excellent Brand Communication” and “Foton Global Service System Construction Merit” award.



So they are basicly just distributor of imported goods. Not that great. I suppose they are developing some engineering capacity in their support services and only now taking some rudimentary steps in assembling.

Until they get into production value addition is minor.

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## Bilal9

mb444 said:


> So they are basicly just distributor of imported goods. Not that great. I suppose they are developing some engineering capacity in their support services and only now taking some rudimentary steps in assembling.
> 
> Until they get into production value addition is minor.



Well you got to start somewhere. Local value addition is something that grows gradually by demand. But I'd say demand has been there from the get go.

It's the Indian agents we have as ministers that are the problem.

You can thank our India friendly Hasina govt. for opening up the floodgates for Indian-made finished engg. goods so they can export to their heart's content to our market and make us their economic vassal.

If we had tariff support, we could have set up these engg. goods assembly locally. This India-friendly govt. are such Ch*t*as that they will not even assign punitive tariff to Indian motorcycle parts import - just to ease and aid local Indian motorcycle assembly in Bangladesh.

Our local motorcycle parts and assembly operations in Bangladesh can't do $hit because Indian motorcycles have economies of scale from their Indian market making their products cheaper. Our govt. will not help level the playing field for our motorcycle mfrs. (like Runner for example).

Now think - if motorcycle mfrs. aren't helped, which has almost unbelievable demand, then what will happen with tractors and agri-equipment? They will all be imported from India.

Our Ma*archo* trade. commerce and industry ministers and higher ups are all "marka-mara" Indian agents.






Tapan Kanti Ghosh - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org













Tipu Munshi - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org










Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org













Kamal Ahmed Majumder - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org





They have been put in place at Indian request so zero tariff will be put in place for finished Indian goods, which are imported and sold in our market. Not only Indian engg. goods but all sorts of useless Indian FMCG goods like food/shampoo etc.

Anytime Indians want to export something to Bangladesh, these Indian agent ministers temporarily lower tariff to zero. I have been watching this for a long, long time. Bunch of kuttas and suwars these ministers.

Try THAT approach in Indian market itself and see how far you get. They will tariff all foreign imports to the hilt and will go down in the streets to "praa-tesht" if not....

Local value addition can only grow when you have tariff support from the govt. - of which Bangladesh has zero.

This is amply shown when you see how far the local electronics and white goods sectors have grown (Walton etc.) because of tariff support (where, interestingly - Indians have almost nothing to export to Bangladesh).

We import even huge quantities of Ovaltine and Complan/Horlicks from India. We don't possess capability to make that locally??

These bunch of Indian agent ministers should be shot at sight.

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## Bilal9

The Bridge to Development​31 October 2022




Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee



Bangladesh recently evidenced the historical moment marking the inauguration of the Padma Bridge on 25th June 2022, inaugurated by the Hon'ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The bridge was a dream seen several decades back by the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the visionary leader who dreamt of Bangladesh grooming in its highest developmental state and progressing amongst the major nations in the world. Might sound like an overstatement when a whole nation is synonymously addressing the Padma Bridge with development, but it's very true indeed. The bridge is a symbol of national aspiration and must not be used as a means of transportation only but must be realized as a corridor of economic growth. It carries significance for Bangladesh on several accounts. There is a strong confidence factor here - the bridge is the ultimate testament on how a country with limited resources can achieve its goals only if there is determination and a powerful leadership, of none other than Bangladesh's Hon. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Padma Bridge shall build the strong connectivity of 21 South Western districts with the Capital, Dhaka. The internal connectivity along with regional connectivity will further strengthen. The Bridge shall write the new tale of development for that region with the aim of making quality of life standardized; employment options bloom, flourish economic development and add immense value in the 4th industrial development. New corridors for employment and income will be created. The transportation system will improve as movement of people will be enhanced. Supply chains within the country shall be connected better. People from the south-western region are further expected to have better access to education, healthcare and other services, something that which was seen to quite a doting task for the quite neglected region. This will not only allow people to move to urban areas easily, but enormous opportunities shall also come to the rural areas.

The Padma Bridge is estimated to increase the GDP of the country by appx. two percent. It will benefit about three crore people across 21 South-Western districts of Bangladesh. The Bridge shall further house a parallel railway system which is soon to be completed as well. This shall contribute another 1 per cent to the GDP of the country. The share of the agriculture sector to the GDP of the country has significantly declined with the emergence of non-farm activities in the rural areas, lately. This will be facilitated by several factors including better communication and connectivity, further strengthening the ties across the states connecting all the stakeholders in the agriculture sector. The same is happening for the fisheries sector.

The lack of proper connectivity had previously taken several lives as well. When critical patients were to be transported to the capital from the south-western districts, often some breathed their last while waiting in the queue to be loaded on the ferry. Such sad stories marked many families with endless grief throughout their lives. But the scenario is no longer the same now. Ambulance drivers were hopeful about the new ease in travelling and expressed satisfaction on not having to see their patients pass in front of their eyes, merely due to length of journey. The same shall be for people seeking legal support to and fro from the capital while heading to the highest Court in the land, The Supreme Court of Bangladesh. The Padma bridge shall create a strong internal demand for this area. There will be a need for sub- bridges, roads, express ways, and all these must be constructed on a fast track basis.

The economic growth of any economy is greatly depended on a reliable infrastructure, and they are mutually beneficial. Studies have found positive relationship between infrastructure and economic output in many countries. This happens through gross domestic capital formation, employment, trade and human capital. Good infrastructure enhances productive capacity and improves competitiveness of a country.
Since 2015, Bangladesh has been working towards fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Bangladesh has achieved the pointers for graduating from the LDC, and by 2027, the full process shall be completed. Now the nation aspires to become a developed country by 2041.

As the 4th industrial revolution is on the go, the Padma Bridge shall have an enormously positive impact on the future growth of the industries in the nation. The country's main foreign exchange earner, the readymade garment (RMG) industry of Bangladesh houses for 81 per cent of the exports of the nation and shall experience a steadfast growth with the increased connectivity with the South-Western regions now. Most of the nation's knitwear and garment facilities are located in the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chattogram. But we will be able now set up many RMG and other industries in the south and South-Western parts, with increased interest of the buyers willing to explore and set up JVs in the said area given the new opportunities entailed.

The sector is currently solely depended on the Chottagram Sea Port for exports while the South-Western Mongla Port is functioning on a limited scale due to a lack of roads. The country is also building two other seaports -- Matarbari and Payra. But with the bridge functioning, the said ports along Payra Deep Sea Port and the Benapole land port, will be plausible options to export from to their ultimate destinations, in significantly lesser time and distance, and avoiding the hassel of the container congestion in the Chattogram port.

Meanwhile, Patrapole is also under proper development work, which shall further be under use. The Payra Port, which is soon to near to its completion, will be the first deep-sea port of the nation, allowing mother vessels to berth directly, instead of the feeder vessels at the moment. This shall in turn reduce our export time, for example, the appx. 35 days of export time to China shall be much lesser, including exports to other continents. Increasing the importance of the Mongla port in the movement of commodities and improving connection between Dhaka and the south will save many working hours, accelerating the country's economic growth.

Likewise, the bridge is expected to attenuate public struggle by generating employment for 1.2 per cent of the total labor force. For example, setting up of industries in the newly connected districts will help stop migration from the rural areas to the big cities for work. Better access to finance for small and medium businesses such as agro-processing, handicrafts and food industries will also help create jobs. Besides, improvements of facilities such as uninterrupted electricity, internet, education and healthcare in the villages, will retrain people from crowding the cities. The much needed de-centralisation might just as well start realising in the most passive form, but yet shall reduce the pressure of working people moving to the capital each day for generating a livelihood.

Its important the government makes the crucial decision of which sector they wish to focus on - industry, agriculture or service? This must be made clear in the policy making of the upcoming fiscal years. There should be a mention of what incentives will be offered to the investors in the given areas for future investments, and also tax incentives that will be available for the said investors.

One cannot expect that the bridge shall automatically create different opportunities for people. This requirement to realise the allocated special economic zones in the area in a fast track priority basis is of utmost importance. In addition to that, availability of land with utility, finance, tax incentives are needed to be incorporated in the government policy. RMG Industries heavily depend on gas supply. The Gas lines have extended till Bhola. Its now a demand of time to further extend the gas lines towards the 21 South-Western districts, enhancing the opportunities for new industries to sprout. This shall play a pivotal role in the development of this sector enhancing job opportunities. These economic benefits shall depend on the government's support to the business community and investors.

Furthermore, the local products of the South-Western region will now have an increased opportunity with greater access to wider markets and improved supply chain in the capital. It will further speedup the urban-centric development process in this historically backward region. Jute, the once "golden fiber" and prime export item, which had subsided over time, after this connectivity, might as well resuscitate, and boost the country's economy a lot.

The Padma Bridge will not only boost national connectivity but will also help Bangladesh to be a significant center of regional communication, thus furthering the new hot spots of tourist attractions in the South-Western regions which remained majorly unseen - the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, Kuakata beach, Khan Jahan Ali Mazar and other likes. A link road with the double-layer steel truss bridge, including a four-lane highway on the upper level and a single-track railway on the lower level, will connect with the trans-Asian highway and railway networks. It will strategically strengthen Bangladesh in the region. This shall further develop hotels, motels and resorts in the given region, further increasing the job opportunities. Our connectivity with India, Myanmar, China, and the rest of the region will be smoothened and it will push the country's economy to a new height.

The Bridge of dreams has created a web of hope for millions across the nation. People celebrated unanimously after the Bridge was inaugurated believing how this shall change their lives for the better. Bangladesh has stepped into the era of not just a country graduating from LDC, but also classified as a role-model of development, with another dream to be realised soon, the Bangabandhu Tunnel, at Karnaphuli. From a bottomless basket, the journey till date has been the most memorable one for the nation which recently celebrated 50 years of its journey as an independent country. The most fast-growing sector of the country, the RMG, is hopeful that the new developments shall not just allow new industries to form, and create a huge opportunity in the job market, but also allow Bangladesh to flourish as a nation in the International arena as well.

(The writer is BGMEA, Director of Envoy Group and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh).​


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## Bilal9

MRT Dhaka Rail Depot


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## Bilal9

শুরু হয়ে গেছে এলেঙ্গা - বঙ্গবন্ধু সেতু ৪ লেন মহাসড়কের কাজ | Elenga - Tangail Highway Update


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## Bilal9

SSBN81 said:


> Sorry to interrupt, but how exactly is the annual demand for 400k motorcycles "unbelievable"? It's rather underwhelming.
> 
> Tractor demand is some ~8000 units per year which wouldn't even support CKD assembly.



There are countries where these numbers are good enough and moreover demand for everything in Bangladesh is increasing rapidly.

Five years ago, GDP per capita nominal of Bangladesh was half that of India, last year we exceeded India's number.

Your opinion is your opinion. 

Unless you can back up your claims with concrete proof ( and open a separate thread to discuss) let's just cease and desist. 

This is not a discussion thread.


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## Bilal9

SSBN81 said:


> I see that the title of the thread is literally "Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & *Discussions*".
> 
> I believe I am well entitled to disagree with your 'opinion'. The demand for motorcycles in Bangladesh has stagnated around ~400K, and that figure is 1/6th per capita of that country which you believe you have overtaken.
> 
> I heard that you have already lost any lead you had given your currency depreciation. Also, it seems that IMF is also asking some tough questions about your economy.
> 
> The data about motorcycles/ tractor sales is from your own media & government, which I believe is concrete enough for you.



You have good points and of course we can agree to disagree, but I will say that the motorcycle market in Bangladesh definitely isn't stagnated. Not by a long shot. 

I don't know where you got your data, but the motorcycle market grew 30% in less than two years, just because the govt. reduced parts import tariffs by 5% (lowered from 25% to 20%). If this market was 'stagnated' then Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Bajaj, TVS and Hero would not be here and they (with other local players) would not be planning new capacity expansions and investments.

Motorcycle demand is going up due to a few reasons such as

VAT exemption by the government for the local motorcycle manufacturers,
lowered supplementary duty on imported parts and components and
because of ride sharing apps, which encourages people to buy motorcycles to earn money.
Local parts suppliers also aren't very active and there is very large scope for investments and backward integration and cost reduction in that area alone with local parts substitution. Some say purchase cost differentials between Indian and Bangladeshi motorcycles are 35% or higher (roughly 50% by some estimates).

In other words, Bangladeshi local market is lucrative and has very high ongoing demand, The capacity to absorb new motorcycle investments exists because pent up demand need to be met. Especially when prices drop further and PPP GDP creeps upward, increasing local wages and buying power.

When prices drop below global or Indian standards because of backward integration with local parts suppliers, Bangladesh will take that export sector from India just like apparel was taken. Hero, Bajaj and TVS are already planning on this, they don't want to be left out. Assembly labor costs in Bangladesh is less than half that of India which makes eminent sense. Lots of room to grow and not 'stagnated'.

Here is something for you to chew on. Take a look at the referenced articles too.









Motorbike Industry in Bangladesh—The Next Big Frontier? - LightCastle Partners


In the backdrop of Dhaka city’s fabled traffic mismanagement and congestion, motorcycles offer a more affordable alternative to its counterpart–cars. The rising middle class of Bangladesh has been a significant driving force behind the motorcycle industry’s phenomenal rise as bikes are cheaper...




www.lightcastlebd.com


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## X-ray Papa

SSBN81 said:


> I see that the title of the thread is literally "Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & *Discussions*".
> 
> I believe I am well entitled to disagree with your 'opinion'. The demand for motorcycles in Bangladesh has stagnated around ~400K, and that figure is 1/6th per capita of that country which you believe you have overtaken.
> 
> I heard that you have already lost any lead you had given your currency depreciation. Also, it seems that IMF is also asking some tough questions about your economy.
> 
> The data about motorcycles/ tractor sales is from your own media & government, which I believe is concrete enough for you.


Not you again, how about you stop creating multiple accounts after getting permanently banned


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## Bilal9

X-ray Papa said:


> Not you again, how about you stop creating multiple accounts after getting permanently banned



Ei mokkel keda?


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## damiendehorn2

SSBN81 said:


> I see that the title of the thread is literally "Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & *Discussions*".
> 
> I believe I am well entitled to disagree with your 'opinion'. The demand for motorcycles in Bangladesh has stagnated around ~400K, and that figure is 1/6th per capita of that country which you believe you have overtaken.
> 
> I heard that you have already lost any lead you had given your currency depreciation. Also, it seems that IMF is also asking some tough questions about your economy.
> 
> The data about motorcycles/ tractor sales is from your own media & government, which I believe is concrete enough for you.


Thats what they said about the RMG industry too once, and now look how that grew. Instead of trying to denigrate Bangladesh, try to build your country.

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## Bilal9

Shipbuilding: a promising industry of Bangladesh​
Shipbuilding industry: domestic transportation of Bangladesh consists of roads, rails, and predominantly waterways as the country have 700 rivers and 19,467 sq km area in the Bay of Bengal. Around 22 major ports and 448 secondary waterway areas and about 0.7 million river vessels transport goods and passengers all year round.

An estimated 50 million passengers are moved through these waterways each year which encouraged local entrepreneurs to build marine vessels inside the country thus the shipbuilding industry emerged. Growing domestic demand combined with the prospect of exporting to other countries also motivated local companies to increase their capacity to produce large ocean-going vessels.






Shipbuilding is one of the growing industries which have created thousands of jobs and contributed to increasing the export earnings. Local shipbuilders are now able to build a diversified range of vessels which include multipurpose vessel, fast patrol boat, container vessel, tanker, dredging barge, ferry, passenger vessel, landing craft, tourist ship, tugboat, supply barge, deck loading barge, pleasure craft, crane boat, speed boat, deep-sea trawler, self-propelled barge, inspection vessel, cargo coaster, troops carrying vessel, double-decker passenger vessel, hydrographic survey boat, pilot boat, hospital ship, and water taxi.

Bangladesh made marine vessels are already exported to several countries in the EU, North America, Africa, Middle-east and Asia. According to industry insiders, Bangladesh has a great potential to emerge as a strong competitor in the small to medium size ocean going segment as global industry leaders China, South Korea and Japan are primarily focused on larger container ships and tankers.

Shipbuilding industry is heavily dependent – over 80% for export or ocean-bound vessels and 50-60 percent for inland waters – on imported materials and components such as generator, transformer, different parts of the engine, furniture etc. Steel pipe, plate, angle, paint, cable are usually sourced from the local market.

*Work process of local shipbuilding companies*



*Photo source: Google*
Who are the major players of the Shipbuilding industry?​According to Ship Builders Association (BSA), around 100 shipbuilding companies with 120 registered shipyards of different size are operating in Bangladesh. Despite having hundreds of shipbuilding companies, only a few have the experience to produce export quality vessels.

Among them, Western Marine Shipyard is a prominent shipbuilder which employs 3,500 skilled and semi-skilled people. The company has already built more than 150 ships – container ships, tankers, deep-see fishing trawlers, bulk carriers, port utility vessels and passenger ships – and currently building around 50 ships at its 45 acres dockyard located in Chittagong port area.

High-Speed Shipbuilding & Engineering, one of the oldest names in the industry, has so far produced several watercraft with various specifications, sizes, and types. The company can build up to 1,200 deadweight tonnage (DWT) of ships and has already exported its vessels to Japan, USA and UK.

*Major shipbuilding company of Bangladesh*

*Name of Company**Location of shipyard/ dock*Ananda Shipyards & Slipways Ltd.Meghna Ghat, NarayanganjWestern Marine Shipyard LtdKolagaon, Patiya, ChattogramKhulna Shipyard Ltd.KhulnaNarayanganj Engineering & Shipbuilding Ltd.Nabigonj, Bandar, NarayanganjKarnafuly Shipyard (PVT) Ltd.ChattogramKhan Brothers Shipbuilding Ltd.Hosendi Bazar, Gazaria, MunshiganjHigh Speed Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd.ChattogramMeghna Shipbuilders & Dockyard Ltd.Meghna Ghat, NarayanganjChittagong Dry Dock Ltd.East Patenga, ChattogramBashundhara Steel & Engineering Ltd.Katuail, Konda, KeraniganjTK Shipyard Ltd.Meghna Ghat, MunshiganjPrime Ship Building Ltd.Gazzaria, MunshiganjDockyard and Engineering Works Ltd.Kadamrasul, Narayanganj
*Source: Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA)*
Export Market​Bangladesh mainly exports small type of vessels which are below 12,000 DWT. During 2014-15, Bangladesh exported only US$ 19.89 million worth of ships, boats and floating structures. In the following year, export earnings increased by 39.48% to US$ 19.89 million however, during the 2016-2017 fiscal year, total export earnings reported being a record high in recent years.

Although a significant reduction in earnings occurred during the last financial year (ending July to June) due to inability to deliver vessels as it takes a few years to build a ship, fetching only US$ 4.73 million. The following figure shows year wise export of ships, boats and floating structures.

*Year wise export of ships, boats and floating structures (value in million USD)*



*Source: Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh*




During 2017-18 financial year, Bangladesh exported most of the ships, boats and floating structures to Kenya as 57.67% (US$ 17.32million) of the total revenue there.

India was the second largest importer responsible for one-third of the total exports. However, in the last fiscal year, Germany recorded to be the biggest destination contributing US$ 4.4 million or an impressive 93.15% of the total ship exports. Figure: 02 shows the country wise export of ships, boats and floating structures.

*Country wise export of ships, boats and floating structures*



*Source: Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh
2017-2018*

*Country**Amount (USD)**Kenya*17,326,634.47*India*11,755,987.93*United Arab Emirates*859,586.93*Poland*28,656.76*Australia*24,892.00*Liberia*17,855.20*Netherlands*17,009.44*Korea*4,978.64*Hong Kong*1,690.67*Others*8,371.49
*Source: Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh
2018-2019*

*Country**Amount (USD)**Germany*4,405,995.50*Taiwan*110,832.97*Netherlands*90,752.05*Turkey*13,273.66*Thailand*9,674.26*Franch*9,050.14*Italy*2,955.25*United States*233.72*Others*32,062.84
*Source: Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh*
Opportunity of the Industry​The global shipbuilding industry is led by China, Korea, and Japan but currently, those countries are not making smaller vessels. That allows Bangladeshi shipbuilders to take advantage of the increasing demand for smaller ships in the international market.

The market size of the small ocean-faring vessels is estimated to be around US$ 400 billion and industry experts believe that Bangladeshi shipbuilders have the capacity to capture at least 1% of the total market bringing additional US$ 4 billion remittances per year.

Labor cost in Bangladesh remains comparatively lower other competing countries. An estimated 20-30 percent low labor cost offers competitive advantages as this industry is understood to be labor-intensive.
What are the Challenges of the Industry?​High cost of capital is the major challenge for the shipbuilding companies as most of them have to pay a double-digit interest rate for getting funds from the banks. As a result, local builders struggle to raise funds to completed large orders from international clients.

If this sector does not receive financial aid from the government – in the form of access to funds with low-interest rates and long-term payment options – it will be difficult for this industry to compete in the global competitive market despite having cheap labor.

As industry insiders predict considerable growth – around 15-20% per year – for this flourishing industry, it’s the government who should step up with incentives and proper policy guidance so that this promising industry thrive in the long run.

Policymakers should also consider developing backward linkage industry which would be able to produce materials such as steel pipes, sanitary equipment, furniture, doors, windows, power generators, switchboards and transformers locally. This initiative will reduce dependence on imported materials while creating more employment opportunity.
Sector-specific Investment Incentive and Restriction​*Incentive:*


> Reduced tax rate on export income:5% for publicly-listed company and 10% for non-listed company
> (SRO-132-AIN/ 2013)
> 5% import duties on raw materials used for building ship in local market
> 10% export subsidy on export of ships (FE Circular-31, August 2017)


*Restriction:*


> No specific restriction exists upon the entry of foreign investors


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## Bilal9

Pharmaceutical industry is growing rapidly in Bangladesh​
*Pharmaceutical industry at a glance*
Pharmaceutical industry is one of the several sectors in our country for which we can be proud of. Before liberation, there was hardly any pharmaceutical manufacturer but several years after the independence things changed. The development of the pharmaceutical industry accelerated, especially with the introduction of the drug Control Ordinance-1982.

According to the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) and Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), approximately 257 licensed pharmaceutical manufacturers produce various categories of medicines. These companies are fulfilling 98% of the country’s total medicine demand while exporting their products to 121 countries across the world.

Over the years, this industry has developed rapidly and local manufacturers enhanced their capability to produce drugs such as allopathic, homoeopathic, Unani and ayurvedic or herbal. Around 80% of the drugs produced by these pharmaceutical companies are predominantly generic drugs and 20% of them are patented drugs.

Currently, pharmaceutical industry has around 3,534 generics of allopathic medicine, 2,313 registered Homeopathic drugs, 5,771 registered Unani Drugs and 3,899 registered Ayurvedic drugs.

*Registered Bangladeshi drugs*



*Source: Directorate General of Drug Administration*
Domestic demand for pharmaceuticals has increased significantly from just BDT 102 billion in 2013 to around BDT 230 in 2019. The sector has achieved a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.90% during the last five years. Demand is mostly driven by the fact that Bangladesh has a population of 160 million people.

Industry insiders expect that domestic consumption would accelerate in the coming years. With an estimated15-20% year-on-year growth, the industry could be worth around BDT 400 billion to 500 billion by 2024.

*Pharmaceutical industry size (in BDT billion) and Year on Year growth*



*Source: IQVIA & EBLSL
Major domestic players*
Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd – a flagship concern of Square Group – is the leading manufacturers. With a local market share of 17%, it has been exporting antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals to 42 countries since 1987. The company reported having a turnover of BDT 50.87 billion during the 2018-19 FY with an annual growth of 10.85%.

Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd has earned a good reputation among the medical community with its range of products. Its products include tablets, capsules, oral liquids, ampoules, dry powder vials, powder for suspension, nasal sprays, eye drops and human vaccine, just to name a few.

The company also specialized in producing value-added high technology dosage forms like sustained-release tablets, quick mouth dissolving tablets, effervescent tablets, barrier coated delayed-release tablets, Insulin and Insulin analogue and biological products. Incepta currently exports its products to 68 countries in the world.

*Major players of the pharmaceutical industry*



*Source: IQVIA & EBLSL*
This industry has achieved much since the late 1980s, as it not only met the demand of local consumers but also exported pharmaceutical products to 121 countries in the fiscal year 2018-19. During this period, our manufacturers have exported pharmaceutical products worth USD 129.95 million. An astonishing 25.60% increase than that of USD 103.46 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

*Export of Pharmaceuticals Product of Bangladesh and Y-on-Year Growth (USD Million)*



*Source: Export Promotion Bureau (EPB)*
During the 2018-2019 fiscal year, almost half (48.59%) of the US$ 129.95 million export earnings of pharmaceutical products generated from five countries – Myanmar, Sri Lanka, USA, Philippines, and Kenya. Myanmar was the biggest buyer during the same period as 16.07% of total drug exports ending there.

*Export Concentration of Pharma in 2018-19*



*Source: Export Promotion Bureau (EPB)*
The government of Bangladesh has given huge emphasis on the export of pharmaceutical products from and acknowledged that this sector has a great potential to be the second most exporting goods after ready-made garments.

*Export earnings of Major Players – in Million BDT*



*Source: Annual Report of respective companies & EBLSL report
Sources of raw materials*
Local pharmaceutical manufacturers largely depend on imported raw materials as around 90 to 95 percent of the total needs for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is met through imports.

Local companies such as Square Pharma, Beximco Pharma, ActiveFine Chemicals, ACI Limited, Globe Pharma, Gonosastha Pharma, Opsonin Pharma, Drug International and Eskayef currently produce around 40 APIs.

ActiveFine Chemicals Ltd, a public listed company specialized in manufacturing APIs, and it does not produce any finished medicine. Ganashastha Pharmaceuticals Limited produces approximately 60% of the raw materials produced locally.

There are 2,805 valid sources of raw material from where pharmaceuticals manufacturers usually procure raw materials (source: DGDA) However, a substantial portion of the raw materials are sourced from India, China, Italy, and Germany.

*Raw material Import vs Local Production (BDT mn)*



*Source: Bangladesh Statistical Yearbook 2018
What is the future of Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry?*
The pharmaceuticals industry has enormous potential to expand in the future. The value of the global generic drug market was around USD 200 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach approximately USD 380 billion by 2021.

Bangladesh could become a major supplier of this highly demanding yet competitive industry as labour cost remains relatively low. Other major generic drugs producing hubs like India and China are losing low-cost advantages as the cost of labour to these countries have increased in recent years.

Labour cost in Bangladesh is three times lower than that of China and India which gives a competitive edge to local manufacturers and the price of our medicine is understood be among one of the lowest in the world. As a result, Bangladesh has more potential in the export market than its competitors.

In 2002, an agreement concerning Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) by WTO, was signed allowing Bangladesh, among other 49 least developed countries (LDCs), to export patent-free drugs to any country from 2006 to 2016.

This privilege was later extended and Bangladesh has been exempted from the obligations to implement patents and data protection for pharmaceutical products until January 2033. On top of this, more than thousands pharmaceutical products earned necessary registration for export which means a big jump in earnings is highly likely for the foreseeable future.

To facilitate further growth of this promising industry, the government of Bangladesh has already allocated 200 acres of land to establish an API industrial park in Munshiganj, some 37 km away from the capital, where APIs would be produced. What will happen then is the cost of APIs would be reduced thus enabling local manufacturers to produce their drugs at a lower cost.

One of the major challenges for the local pharmaceutical sector to emerge as a truly global player of the 380 billion US dollars markets, is its dependency on imported raw materials. If this issue is addressed then the country can save at least 70% of the total imports of raw materials.

Additionally, Bangladesh would be able to earn more by exporting APIs to other countries as the global APIs market is estimated to be around US$ 238 billion once the proposed park is constructed. Industry insiders urge the government to speed up the construction works so that local companies can produce APIs locally which will reduce the production cost significantly making their products’ price competitive in the world market.


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## Bilal9

@waz, @WebMaster bhais, thread about Bangladesh Development being hijacked by jealous Indian trolls. Your help is needed to clean up if possible. I cleaned up some of my own replies to this troll. Have to keep the thread clean and your help is appreciated.


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## Bilal9

Black Tornado said:


> Its a discussion thread? Reply with valid facts which something you aren't used to. Your behaviour resembles more like a troll who doesn't thinks twice before taking potshots on India on Indian threads but suddenly start crying when an Indian gives solid arguments related to the thread topic.



The discussion can be about "developing industry and economy in Bangladesh", not compare it to that of countries like India which is off topic.

We are not into schwanz measuring here.

Next time - post anything remotely about India here and it will be reported and cleaned up.


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## Bilal9

Light Engineering Industry: Situation, Progress and Prospects​
*Current Situation*




According to the Bangladesh Chamber of Industry (BCI) President Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, domestic demand for Light Engineering Products (LEPs) in Bangladesh is around $8.2 billion. Which is met by both local industries (40%) and through import (60%). Md Abdur Razzaque, President of Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners Association (BEIOA) articulates that ten years ago, the local market size of the light engineering industry was only 2.4 billion dollars which is now worth around 3.12 billion dollars.

The light engineering industry currently contributing more than the foreign aid to GDP, which is around 2.2%. Among the domestic production, 7.5% (235.3 million) is substituting the imported products which are called import substitution (NVSL-calculation, 2020).

In 2020, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the LEPs as the ‘product of the year’ during the inauguration program of Dhaka Trade Fair-2020. Currently, 60,000 enterprises in Bangladesh working in this sector, employing approximately 1 million people.

*Major hubs and their concentration*
Despite starting from Dholaikhal and Jinjira area in Dhaka, the light engineering enterprises have spread in different parts of Bangladesh. After Dhaka division Chittagong, Narayangong, Bogra, Gazipur, Kishorganj area have also become as the major hub of different light engineering products. Different types of light engineering enterprises have emerged across the country.

*Major Products OF Light Engineering Industry*








Source: USAID report 2019

*Domestic Users of LEPs*










*Export and Import Of Light Engineering Products*





Yearly Export of LEP from Bangladesh (values in Million USD). Source: EPB, 2020

Sadly, Bangladesh is losing its export market share year on year. Due to several reasons, the export value of Bangladesh is facing a decreasing trend. From FY2018-19 to FY2019-20 export value decreased by 14.1% and in its previous year it decreases by 4.1%. This is a very alarming indicator of Bangladesh.

On one hand, the export earnings from LEPs are decreasing year by year and on the other hand import payment is increasing. In FY2018-19 Import payment for light engineering products has been increased by 5.15% wherein the previous fiscal year increased by 22.1%. All these figures are indicating our increasing dependency on foreign LEPs. Which is again not a favorable situation for Bangladesh.
















*Government Initiatives and Future Plan*









*Challenges and Drawbacks for the Industry*
Despite having a huge potential, this sector’s performance is not up to the mark. It has been found that the domestic industry is not capable of providing the lion share of the domestic demand, export earnings are decreasing and import payments are increasing, no large foreign investments are coming in this sector. Although the government is taking necessary steps for the industry but they are not timely and sufficient for the industry. 

According to market insiders, this industry is not getting enough attention, and it deserves more policy support. Despite having skills, in competing with low-priced Chinese products Bangladesh is far behind. With adequate support, this industry can contribute as much as the RMG industry is contributing to the economy.


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## X-ray Papa

SSBN81 said:


> Listen child, no one over here is interested in comparing with Bangladesh. Most Indians don't care if your country cease to exist tomorrow, and you are at the best a source of memes for us.
> 
> However Indians do like to give your kind a reality check when you make ridiculous claims- like when your "defense portal" claim BD can't be invaded as it has most ATGMs per sq. km. Or when you claim your automotive manufacturing to be more mature in comparison with India.


lol panjeet, you think you are a big f**k? The land of milk and honey 

Nobody here gives a shit about your shithole, now piss off.

We seen what kind of military you have in front of China panjeet. Lol giving us a reality check, check yourself first, retard

Reactions: Like Like:
2


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## X-ray Papa

SSBN81 said:


> We are the country that put you on the world map. The country where your kind works as maids & menial labourers.
> 
> So much for not giving a "shit about shithole", lol. Third rate rickshaw- pullers talking tough.


Sure keep dreaming of 1971 again lol, 

Speaking about menial labour, your pathetic kind build the whole Dubai for 1 cent a day.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Haha Haha:
1


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## Bilal9

Shipbreaking in Bangladesh: a controversial but promising industry​
The journey of controversial ship breaking activities started before our independence, however, the commercial shipbreaking was introduced by Karnafully Metal Works Ltd in 1974. Since then Bangladesh has become one of the major shipbreaking destinations of the world.

Considerably cheap labour cost in conjunction with the possibility of maximum utilization of materials – especially steel – extracted from the recycled ships and weak regulations have driven the growth of shipbuilding industry. As a result, Bangladesh now leapfrogs India, Pakistan and Turkey in terms of dismantling recyclable vessels.

As of now, 147 shipbreaking and recycling yards which are mostly located in Sitakunda, an Upazila under Chattrogram district, have been set up by the local entrepreneurs. Only 65 yards are now thought to be operational despite receiving heavy criticism from the environmental community.
Starting a ship breaking business usually does not require much capital at the beginning as only a few equipment such as a large winch, some blowtorches and a bulldozer are needed – another reason why the number of yards has grown.





*Shipbreaking yards in Sitakunda area, Chittagong*
Global ship breaking activities​During 2019, Bangladesh, India, and Turkey dismantled most of the world’s vessels that needed to be recycled. These three countries alone imported more than 80% – 543 out of 674 vessels – ships for breaking last year.

Types of ships which were recycled include general cargo ship, container ship, bulk carrier, anchor handling tug supply, container ship, chemical/products tanker, fishing vessel, cement carrier, drilling ship, LPG tanker, ore carrier, refrigerated cargo ship, vehicles carrier, passenger ship, and others.

*Top five countries according to import of vessel in 2019*



*Source: NGO Ship breaking Platform
Top five countries according to LDT in 2019*




*Source: NGO Ship breaking Platform*

Bangladesh is also a top importer of light displacement (LDT) ships as the country imported 58.08% of the total LDT worth USD 7.85 million in 2019.
Ship breaking activities in Bangladesh​During 2019, Bangladesh imported 234 vessels – an increase of 10.38% more ships than that of 2018 – for dismantling. Of the total, 22.65% or 53 were container ships followed by 36 bulk carriers and 35 tankers. The number of ships imported during the last five years has always been more than 200 with a maximum of 250 vessels recorded in 2016.The following figures show the last five years import of vessels and LDT.

*Year wise number of imported vessel*





*Source: NGO Ship breaking Platform


Year wise LDT in Bangladesh (in USD)*




*Source: Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association*





*Image: NewVision Solutions Limited*
​Major vessel importers​According to Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association, in 2018, S N Corporation imported 16 vessels of the total 212. Other major importers include SNT Ship Recycling, Crystal Shippers Ltd, Premium Trade Corporation Ltd, Asian Marine Ship Yard, S.S. Green Ship Breaking & Recycling, K R Steel, Ferdous Steel Corporation, and S L Ship Recycling Industries, according to import data of 2018. The following figures show the major vessel and LDT importers in 2018.

*Major vessel importer in 2018*




*Source: Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association*

Types of materials obtained from ship dismantling​A large amount of ship scraps, one of the key raw materials to produce steel billets, is sourced from the local shipbreaking companies. Each year around 700,000 metric tons of scrap is obtained from the shipbreaking yards which are used in the local steel re-rolling mills.

This steel scrap is re-melted in the induction or electric arc furnaces to turn into ingots or billets which are then used to produce rebars, rods and light structurals such as angel, beam and channel.

A range of other variety of recyclable materials and products are also recovered from the ships including furniture, appliances, machinery, pipes, electric motors generators, hydraulic equipment, diesel engines, and others. Besides steel mills, light engineering and shipbuilding industry also largely depend on the ship breaking industry for their raw materials.

*Major LDT importer in 2018*




*Source: Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association*
Labour engaged in the ship breaking industry​According to the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, around 32,000 to 35,000 workers are involved in ship recycling activities. Of the total employees, only 10% of them work permanently whereas the rest of them work on a temporary or part-time basis – a significant number of child labours also allegedly work in this industry.

Shipbreaking is among the most hazardous jobs in the world accounting high rate of injuries while killing 26 throughout the world last year. 

Despite being labelled as a top hazardous job and criticized for its environmental impacts, this industry has been playing an important role in the national economy. Apart from steel, heavy and light engineering industries have also been benefited by using materials from ship recycling.

To offset such environmental damage while keeping this industry, local shipbreaking companies should consider only bringing green vessels – certified to have no residue which is hazardous to health.

PHP Family, one of the largest conglomerates of Bangladesh, is the only company ever to purchase a certified green vessel called Ore Victoria from Brazil in 2018. PHP is also the only Bangladeshi company to achieve a green certificate for its yard from the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.

With this certificate, shipbreaking companies would be able to buy vessels at a discounted price essentially reducing their operational cost. Bangladeshi shipbreaking companies should follow PHP if they are to remain in the business in the long run. Otherwise, it would be difficult to continue in the coming years as there will be more pressure from the environmental activists and strict government policies which may only allow the green yards to operate.


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## Bilal9

Story of Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills (BSRM), top steel producer in Bangladesh.


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## Bilal9

Story talks about Viyellatex which is one of the major Apparel Industry players in Bangladesh.


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## Bilal9

100MW plants to be built at Chandpur and Inani in Cox’s Bazar​



Wind Power - Energy Bangla

The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) – the lone state authorised electricity purchaser – has re-invited bids to develop the country’s first ever grid-connected wind power projects at two sites.

The board intends to select sponsors to develop 50MW wind projects each in Chandpur and Cox’s Bazar cities on a build-operate-own (BOO) basis for 20 years. The deadline for submitting bids is November 3, and the pre-bid meeting will be held on October 8 this year.

These two plants are part of the government’s 150MW grid-connected wind power initiatives to be built in Mongla, Inani in Cox’s Bazar and Chandpur.

In July last year, the BPDB floated a tender inviting developers for the projects. But it found no bid for the Chandpur and Inani plants at that time.
Speaking about the plan, BPDB’s IPP Chief Engineer Md Mahbubur Rahman told that they are going to start the projects in early February 2021.

“The projects have been planned based on the results of a survey conducted by the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) in different locations throughout the country to sort out the feasibility of wind power,” he added.

The SREDA conducted a wind mapping study at nine different sites across Bangladesh to find the speed of the wind and the feasibility of producing electricity from wind. The project was completed in 2017.

The new tender read that the project developers will be selected through a competitive bidding process and they will be required to manage necessary land, financing, and key project documents.

As per the revised Power Sector Master Plan (PSMP), the government has a target to generate 15% electricity from renewable sources out of the country’s total demand of 60,000MW by 2041.

The total installed power capacity by the BPDB is about 20.8GW. Gas-based projects account for 55% of the installed capacity.

Out of 648.6MWof renewable power, the country has only 35MW grid-connected solar power and 225MW hydro power. The rest comes from Solar Home Systems (SHS).

The government is now working to increase the green energy capacity as part of its election mandate, and inviting international financers to invest in this sector.

In 2019, the World Bank approved $185 million to facilitate 310MW of renewable energy generation capacity in Bangladesh to meet the growing demand for electricity in the country.


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## Bilal9

Thanks to XCMG China brothers, take a bow!
XCMG All Terrain Crane XCA1600. First Successful Lifting in Cox's Bazar Wind Power Plant​


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## Bilal9

More XCMG equipment being used all over Bangladesh


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## Bilal9

Banshkhali Super critical coal-based powerplant in Chittagong (1320 MW) will be activated online and joined to the grid in January 2023 after trials this December. 70% owned by local investor and rest by Chinese investors. 24,000 Crore Taka project.


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## Bilal9

Ceramic and Porcelain industry in Bangladesh (all types)


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## Bilal9

Cloud Kitchens in Bangladesh: Future of Cloud Kitchen Business​









Online food ordering and delivery service is one of the most popular services in the world. The service is becoming increasingly more popular, as it allows you to enjoy the food you love right from your couch. According to a projection of global business data platform Statista, the market size of the global online food delivery industry will be more than $182 billion in 2024. Cloud Kitchen currently has the most traction in the food delivery industry among the rising trend of online food delivery. Apart from Cloud Kitchen, this model is gaining popularity day by day under the names of Ghost Kitchen, Dark Kitchen, Virtual Restaurant, Satellite Restaurant and several others. Business experts say Cloud Kitchen is the future of restaurant business. Thus new business models are emerging around this market and foreign investment is being brought into the entire food-tech ecosystem in Bangladesh. The cloud kitchen business is on its way to make a major contribution to the country’s GDP growth.
What is Cloud Kitchen?​Unlike traditional restaurants, Cloud Kitchen offers delivery-based meals without a physical storefront from which customers can dine in. Customers can place orders through mobile apps, websites or phone calls. That means Cloud Kitchen is basically a virtual kitchen.

The cloud kitchen format has the flexibility to serve several types of cuisine using the same kitchen facility. Multi-brand cloud kitchens can also operate different brands through the same kitchen facility. Cloud Kitchens can be built anywhere since they don’t require extensive space. There is a mobile app, website or phone call facility for food ordering and delivery of food to customers within the stipulated time through own or third party food delivery service providers.
History of Cloud Kitchen​Although it sounds new, the Cloud Kitchen concept is quite old. Pizza delivery restaurants have been doing business following similar models for decades. More specifically, the pizza takeout system has been around since the 1950s. The practice of the current cloud kitchen model began at the beginning of the last decade. It started in the subcontinent in India, through Rebel Foods, the country’s largest cloud kitchen chain.

The idea for Cloud Kitchen originated in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. High-end expensive restaurants could not continue their regular operation after the recession. Meanwhile space rent has increased several fold in cities like New York. On top of the space rent and the cost of managing a restaurant, owners are also required to maintain a variety of safety regulation certificates. Which can be quite expensive to maintain, resulting in an increased overhead cost for the restaurant. However, the number of customers of the high-end expensive restaurants were also decreasing with the economic turmoil. 






As a result, many restaurants were forced to suspend their operations. At that time food delivery trucks were becoming quite popular as they were quite inexpensive to set-up. It was also quite easy and economical to rent a food truck. Besides being inexpensive, these food trucks are able to serve in multiple locations. These food trucks also popularized the on-demand food delivery concept, where orders received by phone call or message were fulfilled through gig economy. Meanwhile, as the golden age of the smartphone app started in 2010, the concept of food truck was modified and gradually took the form of cloud kitchen. The restaurants rented large spaces and instead of arranging kitchens and dining-rooms, they only rented the space needed for the kitchen. Then they took orders through social media like Facebook and Twitter. In 2011, Rebel Foods launched Fassos in India, which began taking orders using Twitter through innovative marketing tactics. Then, following Rebel Foods, online or app-based cloud kitchens began to be established in many countries of the world.
How Cloud Kitchen Works​Cloud kitchens mostly take food orders online, so almost all kitchens have Cloud Kitchen POS. Orders from various food aggregators, online ordering enabled websites, or phone calls are aggregated with these POSs. Orders received through phone calls are also routed to the right brand through the call center panel.

Cloud Kitchen differs from other restaurant order processors in that the orders are often of different brands, with different flavors and packaging. In this case there is a dedicated chef and kitchen area for each brand. Some cloud kitchens also provide Kitchen Display Systems. As soon as the order is received, all the information of that order can be seen in that display system. Chefs and other staff engaged in preparing different brands of food can easily see this information. After the preparation of the food, packaging related to the relevant food brands are completed at the delivery station.

Cloud kitchen’s supplier management is not much different from commercial restaurants. Most brands have some basic ingredients in their food preparation and some of the ingredients are specified by that brand. In most cases cloud restaurants are seen to follow the multi-supplier model. In this case the basic ingredients are taken from one vendor and the rest of the ingredients are taken from different vendors according to the preference of the brands.

Although, Inventory management is a bit complicated in the case of cloud kitchens. It can be quite an issue to manage the inventory of several brands, however, tech-enabled cloud kitchen startups can benefit from tech-based inventory management.

It goes without saying that there is no cloud kitchen without a website or social media page. On their respective webpages and social media, kitchens and accompanying food aggregators announce various updates and offers on their food. 

The restaurant then takes orders from the customer and can also give feedback about these updates and offers. Also many cloud restaurants enter into strategic partnerships with restaurants that are not direct competitors making branding easier. Although SMS marketing and email marketing are quite old, these two methods are still prevalent for quick notification of any offer.





The biggest advantage of a cloud kitchen is that in most cases there is no storefront, which saves a large overhead cost. In addition, in the case of such kitchens, the menu can be changed very easily and as it is a web-based platform, there is no hassle of menu printing. In addition, having a partnership with more than one food delivery service makes it possible to receive many orders, allowing for faster business expansion. Cloud Kitchens can also be set up anywhere in the city, with no need to take up space in prime locations like reputable restaurants. 

These types of restaurants can easily serve a large customer base by placing it in any convenient and cost effective location. In addition to serving food in storefront restaurants, chefs as well as more employees are needed which is not required for cloud kitchens. This saves the cloud kitchens from the cost of employee salary. As the popularity of online food ordering services continues to grow, physical restaurants have to focus on their dine-in as well as delivery services. As a result, the dining experience of restaurants is being interrupted in many cases. But since the cloud kitchen is completely delivery based, such a kitchen does not have to worry about the dine-in experience. In addition, Cloud Kitchen is online based and can easily take feedback from customers, which is not possible for physical restaurants.

There are a number of caveats that need to be taken care of when managing a cloud kitchen. First, different brands have to be packaged separately for order delivery so that the food arrives properly. If not packaged properly, the reputation of themselves as well as partner brands is likely to be damaged. Also, in many cases you have to depend on third parties for food delivery. As a result, the reputation of the Kitchen owner may be damaged even if there is a conflict with third party providers during delivery. Being a virtual kitchen, cloud kitchens also have to be quite proactive towards online reputation.
Cloud Kitchen Models​To better understand how Cloud Kitchen works, you need to know about its models. Among the cloud kitchen companies, there are about 6 types of business models.

*Independent:* The Independent Kitchen model, known as the original model of Cloud Kitchen, basically operates a single brand in a single kitchen and has no storefront. Kitchen space is used only for Back of the House (BOH) activities, so that the kitchen size does not exceed 500-600 square feet. Since the single kitchen is operated by the single cuisine brand, such kitchens can be operated in any area, even from home. The model of Independent Cloud Kitchen has gained a lot of popularity with the increasing demand of customers towards online ordering and delivery. Such cloud kitchens have a social media-based or simple website-based online ordering system or hotline number for ordering, through which consumers can place orders. Most of the Facebook pages or group-based kitchens in Bangladesh operate mainly as Independent Cloud Kitchens.


*Multi-brand:* The multi-brand cloud kitchen operates several cuisines or brands from a single kitchen under the model. Such kitchen models do not have a storefront but have multiple outlets. According to this model, Faaso started operating their on-demand food service company under Rebel Foods in 2011.
The multi-brand kitchen model is basically data-driven where it is operated through analysis of customer demographics, area-based food supply, and demand scenario, popular cuisine, etc. As a result, such kitchen models have the potential to gain traction very quickly as well as the strategic positioning is strong.

*Hybrid:* Hybrid Cloud Kitchen operates from a single kitchen to a single cuisine brand through multiple outlets and a storefront. The kitchens of this model enjoy all the benefits of a cloud kitchen, as well as the convenience of having a storefront and visiting restaurants to takeaway. However, in this case, the size of the hybrid cloud kitchen is slightly larger than the typical cloud kitchen. India’s app-based food-tech start-up ‘FreshMenu’ follows the hybrid kitchen model.
*Shell: *The shell model of the Cloud Kitchen is basically a kitchen space made up of minimal infrastructure such as fuel line, drainage, and ventilation. Established food-brands or food-aggregators rent this type of kitchen space. India’s largest online food ordering and delivery platform ‘Swiggy’, follows this model.

*Fully Stacked:* Fully Stacked Cloud Kitchens operate in the same way as the Shell Cloud Kitchen model, but the only difference between this type of kitchen and the Shell model is that the kitchens have a storefront. Like the Shell model, there is a large kitchen with a small space for rent and a partnership with multiple brands. Indian food delivery startup Zomato follows this model.

*Fully Outsourced:* In a fully outsourced model, a third party provider handles both the cooking and delivery. In this case order management is done through a call center. Cooked food from different places is brought to the central kitchen for the final touch then delivered to the customer. The Dubai-based Kitopi follows a cloud kitchen model of this type where inventory and storage are taken care of by them; after preparing the food, it is sent to Central Kitchen. Delivery is then made from Central Kitchen to the customer.
Cloud Kitchen Business in Bangladesh​The inception of the cloud kitchen business in Bangladesh was rather interesting. Home made food producers were the early players in the industry. They were particularly interested to start off such ventures because of the growing popularity of online food review groups in social media groups.

With the help of these review groups the independent cloud kitchens got the initial traction. A number of other homemade food delivery services, including Cookups, have been launched to promote such homemade food, and several online food delivery services, including Foodpanda, have launched home-made food delivery options on their own. At one stage, besides home-made food, these kitchens also offer catering services. In fact, independent cloud kitchens are the most popular for food catering services in offices in Bangladesh.

The country’s formal app-based cloud kitchen, started in 2019 by food-tech startup Kludio. Kludio is the first Full-stacked Cloud Kitchen in the country and so far they have launched 4 different brands. The brands are – Dough on the Go, Hero Burger, Frybox, and Deshio. In addition to maintaining food quality, the startup is focusing on superior storage systems, use of artificial intelligence technology in temperature regulation, as well as faster delivery. Indian cloud kitchen company Ghost Kitchens has also entered into a joint venture partnership with Kludio to reduce various operational costs through knowledge and infrastructure sharing. According to an e27.com article, Kludio has so far raised five hundred thousand dollars from various international investors.

Kludio inspired other food providers to launch Cloud Kitchen businesses. Foodpanda launched a service a few months ago where anyone can sell their own food through registration. Live Green BD is one of the only platforms that provides cloud kitchen service. They started operations in September last year. So far they have launched five brands. Brands are TenR, SMARTMEAL, House of Shen, Lean On, and Wrapper. However, Live Green BD’s activities have not been seen since July this year.

Fresh, and safe home made food is the most popular in the Bangladeshi cloud kitchen landscape. Baking items are also very popular with consumers. Mahjabeen’s Bakery, Sweet Daisy, Swapno Ferry, Prothoma Kitchen, Joya’s bake n joy, Punniz kitchen – etc. brands are already well known.





However, in the landscape of Bangladesh, there are few doubts about the future of start-ups that follow other models except the Independent Cloud Kitchen model. Although space rent varies from region to region in Bangladesh, it has yet to become as expensive as in New York or Mumbai. On the other hand, the trend of going to restaurants is still very popular in the megacities and metropolitan areas of the country as there are no opportunities for leisure entertainment. As a result, establishing a restaurant with a storefront is still very profitable in Bangladesh. Therefore, a number of international brands are opening their franchises in the country, while local restaurant chains are also expanding their business by opening outlets in different areas. Besides, there are not many rules and regulations to establish a restaurant in Bangladesh. Although the Safe Food Authority in the country has recently introduced grading certification, there is no cost for this certification. As a result, there are very few barriers in launching storefront restaurants in Bangladesh and there is no need for such a large initial investment in setting up restaurants.

On the other hand, in Bangladesh where most of the independent cloud kitchens are being operated from home, running a business with kitchen rent will not be ideal for many. In India, Swiggy Lunchbox catches a large market by providing catering services to employees, but in the case of Bangladesh, such catering services are mainly based on Facebook-based Independent Cloud Kitchens. In order to be successful in any business landscape other than the independent model of Cloud Kitchen, you need to increase your customer base through rapid expansion. Although such start-ups receive foreign funding due to investor interest in food-tech, there is disagreement among market analysts about the long-term business growth and sustainability of these start-ups.


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## Bilal9

Purbachal expressway status update.


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## Tom-tom

SSBN81 said:


> We are the country that put you on the world map. The country where your kind works as maids & menial labourers.
> 
> So much for not giving a "shit about shithole", lol. Third rate rickshaw- pullers talking tough.



Honestly Arabis are very crude, and the least humble people in the world. South Asia, has always been richer than you in one form or another or entirely. 


When South Asians use to go on haj we use to give money to the locals. Some places were just desert back then.

Unfortunately due to the incompetence of ottomans and moors the foolishness... saw one of the greatest Islamic empire down fall lead by mut'zillas.

Allowing these wolves dressed as Christians to come to South Asia. It a down fall after that.

Now very recently in this new modern age, Arabi s have found black gold under their feet. Became millionaire/billionaires over night. 

The best pilot( accredited award by u.s.a )In the world a (bengali) served served the Jordian, Egyptian and i think another arabi country.

money comes and goes nations rise and they have low periods. 

Inshallal Bangladesh 🇧🇩 will rise again.

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## X-ray Papa

SSBN81 said:


> No need to dream, we have already achieved our goals in 71 & we'll do that again if we want to.
> 
> Your population, & not Indians make up menial labourer population in ME. Just need to compare the remittance per immigrant figures to understand this, lol.


lol, come try it again dhoti, you really think people think you are a supa powa? Your a gaint third world shithole.

lol, you know Dubai is a good place, there is no need to lie about Indian building Dubai for 1 cent a day.

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## Bilal9

X-ray Papa said:


> lol, come try it again dhoti, you really think people think you are a supa powa? Your a gaint third world shithole.
> 
> lol, you know Dubai is a good place, there is no need to lie about Indian building Dubai for 1 cent a day.



Lies and blowing smoke up our collective butts, that is all bhakts are good for.

The gulf is where their labor makes their money. And feed their families.

Remittance from the whole world is what runs their country (including us in 3rd/4th place where several lakhs work in Dhaka). Some friggin' superpower. 

Sala fourth world country, and hear these idiots talk as if they live in America !! 









4,000 Indian workers held in Dubai for violent protest over better pay - InstaBlogs - Global Community Viewpoint and Opinion


The appreciation of Indian currency, high cost of living and low payment forced more than 4000 Indian workers to start protesting against management last week in the Jebel Ali Industrial area in Dubai. The Indian workers, mainly from Rajasthan,...



instablogs.com





These Kanjoosis are so cheap, they give each other haircuts!

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## X-ray Papa

Bilal9 said:


> Lies and blowing smoke up our collective butts, that is all bhakts are good for.
> 
> The gulf is where their labor makes their money. And feed their families.
> 
> Remittance from the whole world is what runs their country (including us in 3rd/4th place where several lakhs work in Dhaka). Some friggin' superpower.
> 
> Sala fourth world country, and hear these idiots talk as if they live in America !!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 4,000 Indian workers held in Dubai for violent protest over better pay - InstaBlogs - Global Community Viewpoint and Opinion
> 
> 
> The appreciation of Indian currency, high cost of living and low payment forced more than 4000 Indian workers to start protesting against management last week in the Jebel Ali Industrial area in Dubai. The Indian workers, mainly from Rajasthan,...
> 
> 
> 
> instablogs.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> These Kanjoosis are so cheap, they give each other haircuts!
> 
> View attachment 895363


Yeah exactly, it's a poor gaint shithole can't do shit in international stage other than shitty Bollywood movies.

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## Bilal9

How Bangladesh is Beating and Growing Faster Than India - Business Inspection BD


In the fiscal year 2021-22, the per capita income of Bangladesh is $2,824, while India’s per capita income is $2,318. For the first time in 2020, India fell behind Bangladesh in per capita income. That year, India’s per capita income was $1,929 against Bangladesh’s $1,962 per capita income. In...




businessinspection.com.bd

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## Black Tornado

"In the fiscal year 2021-22, the *per capita income of Bangladesh is $2,824*, while India’s per capita income is $2,318. For the first time in 2020, India fell behind Bangladesh in per capita income. That year, India’s per capita income was $1,929 against *Bangladesh’s $1,962 per capita income*."

44% growth in GDP per capita in one year

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## X-ray Papa

SSBN81 said:


> And Bangladesh is our cesspit, where we flush our waste to. Flush too hard & you lot would end up at the bottom of Bay of Bengal.
> 
> Cope harder, Kanglu. Your country literally oves it existence to us & "our power" & we wouldn't find it too difficult to undo your nation.
> 
> As for your delusions about Indians being low paid, here is your own media stating how your expats earn only half of what's earned by Indians.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bangladesh’s per worker remittance one of the lowest
> 
> 
> A serious effort to increase the number of trained migrant workers can help sustain the remittance inflow
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.tbsnews.net
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If Indians earning twice as much as your immigrant population are menial labourers, what's exactly your population doing over there?? Same stuff they are doing in Noida apartments I suppose.
> 
> 
> 
> Says the nincompoop from a country that has invard remittances at 6-7% of GDP...
> 
> Remittances from the entire Bangladeshi diaspora (13 million) is barely a little more than the remittance from 3 million Indians in UAE alone.
> 
> Nothing surprising there, we all know your qualifications & skills. Menial labourers wherever you go.
> 
> You at 3-4th place? Lakhs working in that shithole called Dhaka?  I knew there was an opiod crisis in US but never knew Bangladeshi janitor population there was be affected.
> 
> 
> 
> I just love how they have a whole thread in this very section about how unreliable their statistical data is, almost as if to counter every claim made in this thread
> 
> It's like having poison & it's antidote together


 dhoti wearing Rendian threating us LOL




Cope harder Rendian, this is your reality*   *

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## Bilal9

Payra Port Progress and Jetty construction update


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## Bilal9

Elenga Rangpur 6 Lane Highway Update - 6 Lane conversion proceeding.


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## Bilal9

Samuda Construction manufacturing PHC piles for the first time in country​The company has invested $8.2 million in its factory located on 4-acre of land in BSMSN​





Samuda Construction Limited, a concern of TK Group, has started commercial production of Precast High-Performance Concrete (PHC) piles for the first time in the country.

As of now, this high-strength pile, largely used in the base construction of large structures, is being imported from China and Malaysia to meet the country's growing demand.

Samuda is manufacturing the piles at its factory in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) and selling the product in the domestic market.

PHC pile, a prestressed concrete tube with a circular hollow section, is used in multi-storied buildings, the construction of large bridges, the construction of jetties in deep-sea ports and river erosion prevention.

The demand for this high-performance construction pile is rising with the development of infrastructure in the country.


The company has already invested $8.2 million in its factory located on 4-acre of land in BSMSN.

Mustafizur Rahman, director of TK Group, said, "The PHC piles market has seen tremendous growth in the last few years. Around 10 million running metres of the piles are being sold per year. Our production size is 1.5 million running metres per year."

Generally, piling work is not required for the construction of two or three-storey buildings but it is necessary for constructing high-rise buildings.

Without piling or a deep foundation, the load of the structures cannot be distributed and transferred from the surface to deep down the earth and the PHC piles are used for supporting the load.

Mustafizur Rahman said reinforced iron cages were used for retaining bridges and multi-storey buildings some 10 years ago but ready-made PHC piles are available now. Its use is increasing every day because it ensures sustainable infrastructures with reduced costs and hassle."

"We make the design and manufacture it accordingly. Currently, we are producing 400 pieces of piles in different sizes [9, 10 and 12-metre] per day."

"We have sold 2,500 pieces of piles to some companies including China Road and Bridge Corporation, a global construction company which is also working on some big projects in Bangladesh. Besides, we are using our products to build our own infrastructure," the TK Group director added.

PHC piles were first invented in Japan in the 1970s as a means to provide a solid base for building structures in a rapidly growing and earthquake-prone country.

Since then, these rigid piles have been used widely in developed countries such as the USA, Germany, Italy, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It played a key role in the rapid development of China and Southeast Asia.

PHC piles are hollow, precast and prestressed concrete piles, in sizes generally ranging from 300 to 1200mm outside diameter. However, the dimension of the spun pile is generally used according to the Japan Industrial Standard (JIS).

Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) has set a target of 100 economic zones by 2030.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar, one of the largest economic zones in South Asia, is being constructed in an area of 30,000 acres of land in Mirsarai and Sitakunda upazilas of Chattogram and Sonagazi upazila of Feni.

Many large industrial groups including the TK Group established factories in this Shilpa Nagar.

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Japanese Economic Zone near Dhaka






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24 KM Ashulia Expressway construction kicked off

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## Bilal9

Apts. built for families to compensate their forcible displacement from areas used for Dhaka (North-South) Elevated Expressway


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## Bilal9

Payra Port: Tk 4,950cr dredging kicks off Thursday​
Star Business Report
Tue Oct 25, 2022 09:10 AM Last update on: Tue Oct 25, 2022 12:13 PM

The Payra Port Authority (PPA) is set to begin the much-hyped capital dredging project in Rabnabad channel at a cost of Tk 4,950 crore to facilitate entry of large ships.

To be implemented by the Belgian dredging company Jan De Nul, the PPA under the shipping ministry will build a channel 75 kilometres long, 100-125 metres wide and 10.5 metres deep between the port and the sea, said a press release from the shipping ministry.

The channel will bring a capacity to carry 40,000 tonnes of cargo or 3,000 container ships to the port, it said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will virtually inaugurate the project on Thursday from her official residence in Gono Bhaban.

At the same event, the premier will inaugurate eight ships and lay the foundation stone of a six-lane connecting road with the port, first terminal and a bridge there.

This information was announced at a preparatory meeting chaired by State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury at the conference centre of the port yesterday on the occasion of the inauguration of the development works.

The development works of the port may help it function at full capacity and enhance the country's foreign trade, the benefits of which will be enjoyed by the country for ages, the press release said.

Of the eight ships, two are pilot vessels, two are heavy duty speedboats, one is a buoy laying vessel, one is a survey boat and two are tugboats.

Through the dredging project, Payra port will be able to facilitate the arrival and exit of domestic and foreign commercial ships, and the preservation of the channel properly.

The construction of the first terminal of the port will cost Tk 4,516.75 crore. The operational work will begin after completing the construction work by December 2023. The 6.35 kilometer long six-lane connecting roads, being implemented by the Roads and Highway Division for Tk 655.5 crore, is scheduled to be complete by 2023.

A 1,180-metre-long bridge, worth Tk 740 crore will be built over the Andarmanik River to transport the Payra Port Authority's cargo.

Once the construction of the first terminal, 6-lane connecting road and bridge of Payra port is completed, three foreign containers or bulk cargo ships will be able to arrive together in the three jetties of the terminal.

A total of 236 sea-going ships have arrived at the port so far, earning the government Tk 548 crore as revenue, the press release said. "We are seeing a booming economy in the southern region around Payra port," said Mahmud.

Among others, Muhibur Rahman Muhib, member of parliament (Patuakhali-4), and Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail, chairman of the Payra Port Authority, were present at the event.

The premier inaugurated Payra port on November 19 in 2013.

Trade activities at Payra port, the country's third seaport, are increasing gradually riding on coal imports for the nearby Payra 1,320-MW Thermal Power Plant.

Coal handling by the port rose from 1.46 lakh tonnes in 2019 to 17.05 lakh tonnes in 2021, port data showed.


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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport 3rd Terminal construction update. 300 feet height 360 degree drone shots.


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## Bilal9

Dredging At Payra Port​Capital dredging and maintenance dredging will increase the navigability and merchant vessels with 10.5 meter draft will be able to dock in Payra Port on a regular basis.







State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury inaugurated the maintenance dredging project.

“Payra Port will be an assisting power for our economic growth in 2035. South’s economy will accelerate centering the Payra Port and this dredging project will contribute to that,” said the state minister.

“Capital dredging project is to start alongside the maintenance dredging one. That will increase the navigability and merchant vessels with 10.5 meter draft will be able to dock in Payra Port on a regular basis. Which will allow a large number of foreign vessels to arrive, adding a new dimension to country’s foreign trade,” added Khalid Mahmud.

Around 9.75 million cubic meter of slit will be excavated from the inner and outer channel of 75 Km long and 100-125 meter wide Rabnabad in this project. The dredging project will cost Tk 437.70 crores and to be completed within 18 months. The project will be financed from Payra Port’s own fund donated by the Chattogram Port Authority. 

The CPA is hopeful this project will ensure transit of foreign merchant vessels meanwhile creating job opportunities and increasing revenue income, ultimately accelerating economic growth.

On 17th December, 2020 a contract was signed between Payra Port authority and a Belgium-based dredging company ‘Jan de nul’ to implement the urgent maintenance project. Payra Port is one of the prioritized projects by the government of Bangladesh. Already construction of the port’s first terminal is in full-flow and establishment of the service jetty is in process. Construction work of connecting roads and a bridge over the Andharmanik River will start soon.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022 October 27 12:20
Jan De Nul starts the second phase of dredging in Payra Port​One year after the first phase of the contract execution for the capital and maintenance dredging of Payra Port started, Payra Port Authority and Jan De Nul Group officially kicked off the second phase, being the capital dredging works, in the presence of high government officials and senior representatives of Jan De Nul on 27 October 2022, according to the company's release.

The access channel will open Payra Port for large seagoing container ships and vessels, rendering the port fully accessible and operational for worldwide trade. This Government Priority project will generate numerous job opportunities for local workforce and companies, while boosting the economy beyond the regional boundaries tremendously.

The access channel dredging works have started in full force over the last weeks and are scheduled to be completed by June 2023.

Recent months, several kilometres of pipelines, pontoons, heavy machinery and support vessels were prepared, adapted and mobilized by means of large bulk carriers, calling directly to Payra Port.

Because of the extremely challenging sea conditions, customized parts needed to be fabricated and existing equipment needed to be reinforced. Jan De Nul employed its logistical hubs in Singapore, Dubai and Belgium to supply the project.

Meanwhile, at Payra Port, multiple kilometres of retaining dykes were constructed, creating the reclamation basin which will be filled with sediments dredged along the future berths and inner channel.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JAN DE NUL STEAMS AHEAD IN PAYRA PORT​





27 October 2022

One year after the first phase of the contract execution for the capital and maintenance dredging of Payra Port started, Payra Port Authority and Jan De Nul Group officially kicked off the second phase, being the capital dredging works, in the presence of high government officials and senior representatives of Jan De Nul on 27 October 2022. Jan De Nul is committed to ensure a successful and timely completion of this landmark priority project for Bangladesh.

The access channel will open Payra Port for large seagoing container ships and vessels, rendering the port fully accessible and operational for worldwide trade. This Government Priority project will generate numerous job opportunities for local workforce and companies, while boosting the economy beyond the regional boundaries tremendously.

*Jan Moens, Project Director of the Payra Port Dredging Project at Jan De Nul Group*: _“We are proud to be contributing to further strengthen the economic position of Bangladesh in the region as it was envisaged by the visionary leadership of Bangladesh.”_

The access channel dredging works have started in full force over the last weeks and are scheduled to be completed by June 2023.

Jan De Nul moved the world to supply the works in Payra Port​
Recent months, several kilometres of pipelines, pontoons, heavy machinery and support vessels were prepared, adapted and mobilized by means of large bulk carriers, calling directly to Payra Port.

Because of the extremely challenging sea conditions, customized parts needed to be fabricated and existing equipment needed to be reinforced. Jan De Nul employed its logistical hubs in Singapore, Dubai and Belgium to supply the project.

Meanwhile, at Payra Port, multiple kilometres of retaining dykes were constructed, creating the reclamation basin which will be filled with sediments dredged along the future berths and inner channel.


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## Bilal9

Somoy TV Bangladesh Upgrades to HD Production with Ikegami Cameras and Monitors​
By George Winslow
published 28 days ago
The network in Bangladesh purchased 10 Ikegami HDK-73 HD camera systems




(Image credit: Ikegami)

*DHAKA, Bangladesh*—Somoy Television, a news-based 24-hour television channel broadcasting nationwide in the Bengali language, has chosen Ikegami HD cameras and monitors for use at its studio headquarters in Dhaka as part of the network’s transition from 576i SD to 1080i HD production and transmission.

Somoy TV has operated successfully with Ikegami technology from the commencement of test transmissions ahead of its April 17th 2011 launch. 
The new purchase includes 10 Ikegami HDK-73 HD camera systems, 14 HLM1760WR HD monitors and two sets of HLM2460W HD monitors. Somoy TV's new HD facilities are scheduled to go live from Q4 2022.

Ikegami’s HDK-73 is a dockable multi-role high-definition camera designed for standard-dynamic-range and high-dynamic-range broadcast production. It is available as a complete system including CCU, connecting fiber, viewfinder and remote control. Image capture is to 2/3-inch 2.6 megapixel CMOS sensors, each capable of capturing full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution images with an extremely wide dynamic range of more than 600%, high sensitivity (F13 at 50 Hz) and high signal-to-noise ratio, Ikegami said. 

The HDK-73's sensors natively support 1080i/59.94 and 1080i/50, as well as 720p/59.94 and 720p/50 scan formats. Major features include full digital signal processing, advanced digital detail correction with independent horizontal and vertical correction of red, green and blue signals, and optional anti-moiré filtering. Hybrid log gamma processing is operator-selectable for HDR picture origination, enabling high-contrast scenes to be televised with full picture detail across the entire brightness range from highlights to shaded areas. Full digital signal handling is performed by a processor operating at up to 38 bit depth.

The HDK-73's dockable structure allows studio configuration with fiber base stations as well as self-contained operation with a camera adapter for wireless or onsite recording applications. A fiber adapter can be attached directly to the camera head without need for external cables. External devices such as wireless transmission or a solid state recorder can be attached for stand-alone operation, making the camera suitable for live sports, news gathering or field production, Ikegami reported. 

The Ikegami HLM-1760WR is a 17-inch Full-HD video monitor with very narrow front-to-back dimensions, light weight and low power consumption, Ikegami said. 

It incorporates an LED-backlit 1920 x 1080 pixel LCD 450 candela per square meter high-brightness display panel with 10 bit processing depth, 1500:1 contrast ratio, wide viewing angle, fast motion response, and high quality color reproduction. The monitor is equipped with a range of tools for use in broadcast production. Multi-format SDI, 3G-SDI, HDMI, Ethernet and VBS inputs are provided as standard.

The HLM-2460W incorporates a full 1920 x 1080 pixel high brightness and high contrast LCD panel. This has a wide viewing angle, fast motion response, and high-quality color reproduction, achieving real pixel allocation without resizing, Ikegami said.


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## X-ray Papa

SSBN81 said:


> Dhoti wearing people put Lungi-desh on the world map, lol. That's your aukaat.
> 
> Also, the name would be better suited to your women who are servicing Indian clients in brothels.


Lol only a Rendian will be proud of such things.

After all you dhotis are known as the rape capital of the world.


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## X-ray Papa

SSBN81 said:


> Yup, we are proud that we at least provide livelihood to such subhumans. Consider it our pittiance, lol.


Lol Dhoti, trying to be funny? Here let me show you what are subhumans are


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## Bilal9

Bangladesh has entered the domain of commercial glasshouse agriculture and EU compliant vegetable exports.


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## AmiEktaKharapChele

X-ray Papa said:


> Lol only a Rendian will be proud of such things.
> 
> After all you dhotis are known as the rape capital of the world.




Everyone knows Indians are only see women as objects, add to that they're almost always sex starved (just take a good look at your avg ramesh and you'll figure out why that is), add to that their misogynistic beliefs which call for burning widows, five brothers marrying one wife, rape and infanticide... sheesh, what a bunch of savages..


and now what little women worth a second look that they do have are being stolen by love jihadis aka mughal descendants, the gangus are in a fix, not manly enough to keep a woman and not manly enough to fight so they resort to releasing their frustrations online and ganging up on lone muslim men.



If you open twitter and search for certain keywords, you'll be shocked that they have a cuckolding fetish with muslim men 




So pay no fret to this little gangu, he's just here to vent his sexual frustration and inferiority when it comes to masculinity.

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## X-ray Papa

SSBN81 said:


> If you look carefully you'll find a couple of your relatives picking up the trash in that dump, lol.
> 
> That's your aukaat, lol.


Nope, that's your supa Powa Rendia. Here make sure you take a good look after drinking cow cola




But hey, you are a dhoti after all, blaming others for your problems is your thing.


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## Bilal9

Guys, let's "ignore" this troll on his profile so we don't have to respond to him.

His only MO here is to spoil this thread. Let's not respond and waste time on this guy and his useless posts of no value.

I reported him for trolling and thread hijack.

Reactions: Haha Haha:
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## Bilal9

Air Astra S2-STB and S2-STC ATR's are here. They will probably be stationed in Sylhet after service starts, because Dhaka Int'l Tarmac parking is limited while 3rd Terminal is being built.






Air Astra crew welcoming their first aircraft ATR-72-600 in Dhaka


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## Bilal9

Nice set of takeoffs from Dhaka Int'l w/live ATC.


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## Bilal9

Padma bridge rail link - stations and track-laying progress.


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## Bilal9

The beginning of a new chapter in industrialization​
Sun Nov 20, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Sun Nov 20, 2022 01:49 AM

Construction work going on at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar Photo : Naimur Rahman






As of now, development work for the establishment of 28 economic zones is underway. And four government-owned zones -- the BSMSN, Jamalpur Economic Zone, Sabrang Tourism Park, Maheshkhali Economic Zone, and Shreehatta Economic Zone -- have received $22 billion in investment proposals. 

Also, $4 billion has been invested so far in 12 private economic zones, said officials of BEZA, which has also granted permission for four economic zones under state-to-state contracts with Japan and China, two with India, and one under public-private partnership.

The economic zones are expected to be the catalyst for Bangladesh's aspirations to become an industrial and advanced economy.

The share of manufacturing as a percentage of Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) is now over one-fifth of the country's total $465 billion GDP.

At its independence in 1971, Bangladesh's economy was highly agriculture-driven. The share of manufacturing was just four per cent of the total output at the time, according to World Bank data.

Beza said the BSMSN, being developed in areas under Mirsharai, Sitakunda, and Sonagazi upazila, will attract the highest amount of investment among the economic zones.

As of now, it has received $18.5 billion in investment proposals, including $1 billion in foreign investment.

The total area of the BSMSN has already surpassed the combined 8,360 acres of industrial area developed by the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation.

As of now, nearly 10,000 acres of land have been developed at the BSMSN. Some 147 local and foreign businesses have leased 5,369 acres of land from Beza to establish factories and market products at home and abroad.

The investment by these businesses is expected to create 765,000 jobs in the BSMSN alone, BEZA said.

"The economic zones will be industrial hubs if the authority ensures all the infrastructure and other supports," said M Anis Ud Dowla, chairman of ACI Group, which operates in diversified areas from retailing, food, agribusiness and pharmaceuticals to consumer goods.

ACI has got 100 acres land on lease to set up production units at the BSMSN. Dowla said the company is participating in the zones as all the facilities required by industries will be there.

"We will be taking full advantage of that," he said. "We are hopeful that the economic zones will succeed and contribute to the economic advancement of Bangladesh."

"Besides, the outputs that will be produced in the economic zone will be helpful for export," he added.

Dowlathen said ACI will set up its plants as fast as possible.

Meanwhile PHP, a Chattogram-based business house engaged in the float glass, steel and shipbreaking industries, has got a lease of 500 acres of land in the BSMSN.

PHP plans to establish a basic steel factory at the economic zone, Sufi Mohamed Mizanur Rahman, founder chairman of PHP, told The Daily Star last month.

With an investment of $4 billion, the factory in the economic zone will have the capacity to produce 30 lakh tonnes of steel.

"We will have our jetty there to handle goods," he added.

Connected by water and road with the country's largest seaport in Chattogram, the BSMSN will produce numerous import substitutes and export-oriented products, and provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to transport raw materials and finished products by water and road.

Two concerns of TK Group, another big business house based in Chattogram, are going produce import-substitute items at the BSMSN.

Samuda Construction, a concern of TK Group, is making Precast High-Performance Concrete (PHC) pilings that are used for building and bridge construction.

At present, a good volume of PHC is imported into the country to build infrastructure, including the third terminal of the HazratShahjalal International Airport, said Md Mustafizur Rahman, a director of TK Group.

"It has use as protection for river banks and shores, and various public and industrial construction too," he said, adding that the company is using these piles in its own factories.

The PHC pilings will enable builders to reduce the time taken for manually making pilings during the construction of buildings and other infrastructure such as bridges, according to officials of Samuda.

"This is handy and does not have hassle," Rahman added.

TK Group is also establishing another factory, Modern Syntax Ltd, to make textile-grade PET chips at the BSMSN to cater to the requirement of yarn-making mills.

The factory will produce various textile-related products, such as drone textured polyester yarn, polyester staple fibre and PET chips as import-substitutes.
With an investment of $155 million, Modern Syntax wants to start commercial operation by March 2023, Rahman said.

Once it starts production, it will be able to meet 38 per cent of the annual demand for PET chips and other products.

Modern Syntax has a 460-tonne production capacity while the annual demand for such items is 12,250 tonnes, the official of TK Group said.

He urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to frame the import duty structure in a way that encourages entrepreneurs to establish import substitute industries and make locally made goods competitive with their imported counterparts.

While the BSMSN is going to see rising industrial activities, private economic zones are also advancing as the production of seven factories in the Meghna Industrial Economic Zone (MEZ), a concern of Meghna Group of Industries (MGI), is going to be inaugurated today.

This includes the biggest PVC factory, Meghna PVC Ltd,which will produce petrochemical products that Bangladesh currently depends on imports for.

The factory will manufacture Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) resin and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) resin (bottle grade) for selling among makers of wires and cables, floor paving materials, artificial leather, toys and shoemakers as well as carbonated beverage and drinking water bottlers.

"We are the first local company coming to the petrochemical industry," said MGI Chairman and Managing Director Mostafa Kamal.

He said every country in the world has economic zones and the establishment of organised industrial enclaves should have been done earlier.

"We are on right track though. Economic zones will be instrumental in accelerating investments and industrialisation. We have already got a dozen foreign investors, and they have come because we have economic zones," he added.

Kamal went on to say that 14,000-15,000 jobs have already been created by the three private economic zones being developed by MGI.

"There will be value addition because of the establishment of industries and scope for exporting goods produced in the economic zones," he said.

Shaikh Yusuf Harun, executive chairman of BEZA , said exports by factories under the export processing zones make up one-fifth of the country's total annual export earnings.

Besides, the total area of export processing zones is much lower than that of economic zones.

"So, if factories from a small area can contribute 20 per cent of the export earnings, think about the impact of the BSMSN, which alone will be 33,000 acres," he added.

In 2015, BEZA had set an ambitious target of establishing 100 economic zones.

Harun said they plan to set up the economic zones by 2041 with BEZA expecting the industrial enclaves to create jobs for one crore of people.

Of them, there will be 50 private economic zones while the rest will be government-owned under the public-private partnership arrangement and government-to-government contracts.

"Bangladesh will become a developed country if we can properly develop and run economic zones, hi-tech parks, and export processing zones," he added.


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## Bilal9

1st Buriganga Bridge (Padma Bridge to Dhaka connector)


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## Bilal9

Well we had the maiden flight yesterday from DAC-CXB using Air Astra. Best of luck to the team - they deserve it. Where else do you see the Chief Operating Officer don a reflective vest and take care of operations from the flightline. Dedication and attention to detail like this is rare in any airline.


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## Bilal9




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## Bilal9

With 110 years of global expertise, Whirlpool comes to Bangladesh​





*Whirlpool is committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company. With its constant pursuit of improving life at home, it has entered the Bangladesh market by setting up a manufacturing plant in partnership with Transcom Group, offering a product range specifically designed keeping in mind the unique needs of consumers in Bangladesh.*
Global Appliances Limited - the Joint Venture company has set up its first plant located in the Northeastern district of Dhaka, and spread over approximately 85,000 square feet area, adheres to Whirlpool's world-class manufacturing standards, coupled with Transcom Group's focus on high-quality manufacturing, business excellence and legacy.
Whirlpool group has recently set up Whirlpool Bangladesh Ltd. to carry on its sales and marketing operations in Bangladesh.

Whirlpool has launched a specifically curated range of No-Frost and Direct Cool refrigerators catering to varied needs across different segments of consumers in Bangladesh. The products have been designed to provide long-lasting freshness powered by advanced global technologies along with modern & premium aesthetics. They are also available in the energy efficient - Inverter Technology variants.




The Direct Cool Range known as "The FreshMagic Pro Series" offers a 50:50 freezer and refrigerator ratio which provides ample frozen food storage space. The range is available in capacities starting from 236L up to 278 L in premium steel and glass door finishes. The Freshmagic Pro series exclusively designed for Bangladesh promises thoughtfully designed space management, powerful cooling performance and long lasting food preservation using their vast global expertise in refrigeration.


The Intellifresh and Neo fresh series of No-Frost refrigerators deliver long lasting freshness powered by advanced global technologies like Microblock, Zeolite & Active deo. Featuring premium international aesthetics, these are available in capacities starting from 245L upto 265L in stunning steel and glass door finishes.
Embracing the brand philosophy of Every Day Care, Whirlpool is committed towards providing solutions that are meaningful and advanced with Bangladeshi consumers at the heart.

*Claims based on internal lab test reports
About Whirlpool Corporation *

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home. In an increasingly digital world, the company is driving purposeful innovation to meet the evolving needs of consumers through its iconic brand portfolio, including Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, JennAir, Indesit and Yummly. In 2021, the company reported approximately $22 billion in annual sales, 69,000 employees and 54 manufacturing and technology research centers. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com.




*About Whirlpool Bangladesh*
Whirlpool Bangladesh Ltd. is committed to being the best kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home. Additional information about the company can be found at Whirlpoolbd.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryad Yousuf becomes first Bangladeshi partner of Goldman Sachs​
Ryad Yousuf. Photo: Collected




Ryad Yousuf. Photo: Collected

*Ryad Yousuf, a Bangladesh-born banker in London, has recently become one of the partners of Goldman Sachs, the elite American multinational investment bank and financial services company. *

Goldman Sachs recently revealed its class of 2022 partners, where Ryad Yousuf was listed, reports multiple media outlets.

In 2011, Yousuf joined Goldman Sachs as a managing director from Deutsche Bank. He was the director at Deutsche Bank for seven years.

He is now serving as co-head of emerging market sales for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.


According to reports, Yousuf was born and brought up in Bangladesh and moved to the US when he was 16.

He is the first person from Bangladesh to become a partner at the bank.


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## Bilal9

New Ashuganj power plant adds 400MW to national grid​The production of the plant, however, will depend on the availability of gas​Photo: TBS




Photo: TBS

*The new plant of Ashuganj Power Station has started commercial operation, adding another 400MW of electricity to the national grid that has the capacity of generating 22,500MW per day. *

ay and will continue operation without interruption," Ashuganj Power Station Company Managing Director AMM Sajjadur Rahman told The Business Standard. 

The gas-run plant, called 420MW Combined Cycle Power Plant (East), has gone into operation at a time when the country is slowly getting rid of hour-long frequent load shedding caused by a global hike in power generating-fuel prices. 


Ashuganj Power Station started the construction of the combined cycle power plant in 2018 and had a target to complete it by 2021. However, due to various complications and the pandemic situation, the construction work was completed late at the end of September this year at the cost of $180.3 million.

Yet, the plant could not begin operation due to a lack of gas – the raw material. 

Talking to TBS, Project Director of the plant Abdul Majid said they earlier started experimental power generation on 15 November. 

"Though the power plant has the capacity to generate 400MW per day, the production will ultimately depend on gas supply [to the plant]," he added.

However, they are yet to estimate the power production cost per unit at the new plant.

Overall, Ashuganj Power Station, with its four existing plants, has been adding 1,000MW of electricity to the national grid. The Bangladesh Power Development Board owns more than 91% share of the company.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Something of joy to Indians - finally...
Rampal coal-fired power plant starts trial run again​The construction of the 1,320 MW two-unit power plant began on 24 April 2017​





*The Rampal Thermal Power Plant in Khulna began power generation again on an experimental basis on Friday, a month after the first trial production halted due to cyclone Sitrang.*

Under the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL), Unit 1 of the plant started generating power in the wee hours of Friday with permission from the National Load Despatch Centre. 

The load test of the unit will be attempted to reach 660MW in phases, BIFPCL Deputy General Manager Anwarul Azim told The Business Standard.

He said if the targeted power generation is achieved, the first unit will go into commercial production in December. The second unit is supposed to go into commercial production in June 2023.

Earlier, the experimental power generation of the first unit began on 15 August but halted on 24 October due to cyclone Sitrang. The load test of the unit reached 400MW last time.

Sources related to the project said after several stages of testing, the National Load Despatch Centre will issue the certificate of commercial power generation capacity.

The BIFPCL is expected to supply electricity to the national grid commercially in the month of December. Besides, around 80% work on the second unit has been completed.

To meet the growing electricity demand of the country, an initiative was taken to construct a coal-based Rampal Power Plant in the Sapmari-Katakhali and Kairgdashkathi areas of Rampal upazila of Bagerhat district along the Mongla-Khulna highway.

Bangladesh and India signed an agreement in this regard in January 2010. On 29 January 2012, two countries' state-owned companies Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and NTPC Limited, formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited, formed a joint venture company Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (BIFPC).

On 1 August 2013, the power plant received clearance from the Department of Environment. 

The construction process of the two-unit power plant with a production capacity of 1,320 MW started on 24 April 2017. At present, the physical progress of this project is about 90%.


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## Bilal9

PDB gets 1,400MW coal power from Dec at double the cost​
Infographic: TBS




Infographic: TBS

*After suffering from months of power cuts caused by global hike in fuel oil prices and a dollar crisis, Bangladesh is set to add more than 1,400 megawatts of coal power from December, according to the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).*

The addition to the grid will come from the newly-built Rampal 1,320 MW and Indian Adani Group's Godda 1,600MW coal power plants but both plants would supply half of their capacity in the beginning. Electricity from the Godda plant will be imported through a transboundary transmission line.

Due to the high cost of coal in the international market, the power cost from both plants will be much higher than estimated earlier.

Whereas Rampal's per kilowatt hour (or a unit) was originally estimated to be Tk7.7, it will now cost Tk14. Similarly, the Godda power will cost Tk15 per unit instead of the original estimation of Tk8.71.

Currently, furnace oil-based power costs around Tk15 per unit.

The government turned to coal-based power to increase energy security and save costs.

The new addition is equal to the peak load-shedding of last summer when the government had to shut down diesel oil-based power plants to save dollars in the wake of a steep hike in oil and liquid gas prices in the international market.

Sources said if the government refrained from taking power from the Godda power plant when it goes to full production, it would cost the state coffers Tk300 crore in monthly capacity charges.

Similarly, the capacity payment for the Rampal plant at full capacity would be Tk250 crore. 

Capacity charge is a penalty paid to the plant owner for failure to buy a certain portion of power readily available.

BPDB sources said while the Adani power supply and the Rampal plant will start operation in December, neither would be fully utilized before March when power demand – down during winter – shoots up again.

"Both the plants will supply power from next year when we will have demand due to irrigation and the summer season. Then this electricity would have a positive effect on the demand-supply management rather than any negative impact," said Mohammad Hossain, director general of the power cell of the policy formation wing of the Power Division.

Imran Karim, president of the Bangladesh Independent Power Producers Association (BIPPA), said the commissioning of large coal-based power plants would be a cost-saving option as a whole.

"If the spot LNG price remains at $30 per MMBtu [one million British thermal units], the cost of per unit electricity generation would be Tk30. Whereas the generation cost per unit of coal and furnace oil-based electricity is only Tk14kWh. Overall, the coal-based power plants are going to be a cost-saving option for the country," said Imran Karim.

The BPDB this year has been facing a lot of financial challenges amid energy price hikes, rendering it unable to clear dues to private power companies.

The BPDB owes around Tk20,000 crore to these power producers, a sum amassed over five months.

The decision to turn to two new plants has also raised the question of whether this would be a further burden to the BPDB.

SK Aktar Hossain, member (Finance) at BPDB, said the down-trending fuel price and regular subsidy disbursement from the Finance Division are helping the organisation to normalise the fund crunch.

"The recent bulk price hike is also going to be another big support for meeting the IPP [independent power producer] bill pressure even after the commissioning of the large coal-fired power plants," he said.

Coal-fired plants have become a hot button issue at a time of increased focus on the impact of climate change.

In a report in April, the Global Energy Monitor said that even after ditching coal projects of 10.4 gigawatts (GW) capacity in 2021, ongoing projects would nearly quadruple the 1.8GW coal power capacity in Bangladesh.

"In Bangladesh, a combination of high coal prices and guaranteed purchase agreement are putting consumers and the Bangladesh Power Development Board in a tough situation," Flora Champenois of Global Energy Monitor had said at the time.

"The false promise of coal being easy and cheap has turned out not to be true, and the country's dependence on coal is becoming an increasing drag on its economy."

*Adani plant's electricity cost*

Like other IPPs, the cost of power from Adani's Godda power plant is going to be determined based on the coal price in the international market. The capacity charge will remain a fixed cost.

As per the New Castle index, high-quality thermal coal with a calorific value of 6322kCal/kg now costs $350 per tonne. Using these, the fuel cost would be around Tk17-18 per unit.

But Adani Godda power plant will use a comparatively lower quality, cheaper coal at a cost of around Tk12 per unit, said sources at the BPDB.

On the other hand, Adani Godda will receive Tk3.26 as the capacity charge per unit, as per the contract.

Altogether, the overall generation cost of per unit electricity from the Adani Godda power plant will stand at over Tk15 kWh.

According to the contract inked in 2017, Adani Power was supposed to supply 1,496 MW of electricity for 25 years from December 2021.

Due to the pandemic, however, the project completion was delayed and rescheduled for December 2022.

*Rampal plant to start production on limited scale*

The much criticised Maitree Super 1320 MW Coal-fired Power Plant has started generating electricity on a test basis from its location at the edge of the World Heritage site of the Sundarban mangrove forest.

The plant is scheduled to start commercial operation in the last week of December, said officials at the BPDB.

"At present, we are getting limited amounts of electricity from the Rampal plant as part of its test run. The first unit of the plant is likely to commence commercial operation next month," said BPDB's spokesperson Shameem Hasan.

Last September, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated Unit-1 of the 1320-megawatt Maitree Super Thermal Power Project in Bagerhat's Rampal.

The plant was proposed by the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL) as a joint venture of the BPDB and Indian National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC).

The first unit of the plant was scheduled to commence power generation from February 2021 and the second unit from August 2021.

Later, the dates shifted to March 2022 (Unit-I) and July 2022 (Unit-II).

In February 2022, the dates were extended to June 2022 and November 2022.

The announcement of the plant was met with heavy protest by environmentalists, who said the plant was a threat not only to the Sundarbans but also the greater south and southwestern region.

*IPPs yet to receive June bill for producing electricity*

There are around 50 private power companies in the country today, many of which are still owed money by the BPDB.

As per the power purchase agreement with the private power producers, the BPDB is supposed to pay the bill for electricity to the producers within two months of the purchase date.

But the BPDB is failing to do so since fuel price volatility was seen in the global market after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out. The subsequent devaluation of the local currency against the dollar only served to exacerbate the situation.

Currently, the BPDB owes five months' electricity bills – around Tk20,000 crore – to the IPPs.

On the matter, Imran Karim said the arrears are neither increasing nor decreasing.

"But the government is working to solve the issue by next month," he said.


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## Homo Sapiens



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## Bilal9

Light Engg. market (Tk. 700 Billion) is in a very nascent stage in Bangladesh, but progress is still occurring from price-competitive local machinery suppliers...and this is in absence of any tariff support from AL govt. (which is intended to only support Indian machinery imports at the cost of killing local suppliers).

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## Bilal9

Japanese export zone update.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

'Made in Bangladesh' Hyundai cars to hit the roads next year​
The new Hyundai Creta 2023





The new Hyundai Creta 2023
​*Hyundai unveils the Creta 2023 SUV in Bangladesh*​Fair Technology has unveiled Hyundai's new Creta 2023 SUV in the Bangladesh market. The Creta has a 1.5-litre gasoline engine along with a radiator grill. It has also 17-inch diamond alloy rims, a panoramic sunroof, and a 10.25-inch advanced cluster.

The SUV has Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) and many other advanced technologies.

Fair Technology has recently established the Hyundai Manufacturing Plant at Bangabandhu Hi-Tech Park, Kaliakoir, Gazipur. According to Fair, 'Made in Bangladesh' Hyundai passenger vehicles will hit the road early next year.

At the unveiling ceremony of the Creta, it was announced that Fair Technology will produce Hyundai Sedans and SUVs at its Hyundai Manufacturing Plant at Kaliakoir, Gazipur. Along with these passenger vehicles, customers will get original spare parts and after-sales facilities.

*(Bilal's note: look inside the engine compartment and mfr. plate in the door to make sure FAIR motors is not importing (EX)CRETA parts from India to assemble this vehicle). Unless you like rust and premature engine failure. And personally not a fan of CVT transmission.*

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## Bilal9

Mirsarai industrial activity on the increase.....





Matarbari deep sea port/power station, CXB rail link and CXB Int'l airport status report

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## Bilal9

First Indigenous Double Decker Luxury bus manufactured locally (complete with oven, sleeper compartments, sofa, washroom and powder room). Sleeper Luxury buses have already been manufactured for at least a decade.






======================================================================

Walton launches BRTA approved electric bikes, has eyes on exports​
Sat Dec 3, 2022 06:33 PM Last update on: Sat Dec 3, 2022 06:50 PM

Called 'Takyon e-bikes', these environmentally friendly electric scooters have been approved by BRTA. Image: Walton Digi Tech website







Called 'Takyon e-bikes', these environmentally friendly electric scooters have been approved by BRTA. Image: Walton Digi Tech website

Walton has officially launched their new line of electric scooters for the Bangladeshi market. Called 'Takyon e-bikes', these environmentally friendly electric scooters have been approved by BRTA.

According to Walton Digi Tech's website, the Takyon 1.00 comes with a top speed of 50 km/h, 60-70 km of driving range and runs on a 72 V, 23 AH graphene lead acid battery. It measures a height of 1,070 mm and has a ground clearance of 130 mm. 

As for weight, the curb weight measures 76 kg and the battery weighs 40 kg. The Takyon 1.00 also supports 180 kg of maximum loading capacity. 

Regarding the motor, it's a 1.5 KW (maximum) powered DC brushless motor with 88 Nm maximum torque. The lead-acid battery takes up to 6 to 8 hours to fully charge and has a battery capacity of 1,656 WH. The bike also comes with a disk system in both the front and rear brakes. 

As per Walton's website, customers will receive up to 2 years of parts warranty upon purchase. The Takyon e-bikes are now available at Walton Plaza stores and can also be ordered online on their official website. 

Takyon 1.00 is currently priced at Tk. 1,27,750, as per the official website.

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## Bilal9

Bangladesh Economic Update 2022 | Mubassir Rahman, Senior Business Consultant | LightCastle Partners






Bangladesh set to become ninth largest consumer market by 2030​

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## Bilal9

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

‘All roads lead to Kamalapur’: how the Dhaka area is set to be transformed into a multimodal transport hub​The proposed hub will be the first in the country to bring roads and railway communications at the same vantage point around the Kamalapur station so that passengers can quickly hop off from one mode of transportation and hop on to another.​




Zafar Ahmed
Senior Correspondent bdnews24.com
Published : 29 Nov 2022, 01:53 PM
Updated : 29 Nov 2022, 01:53 PM

Kamalapur is home to the largest and busiest railway station in Bangladesh and at least 115,000 passengers use the facilities every day for travelling. Just a few paces outside of the station, one of the busiest coach terminals in Dhaka is also being used by thousands of passengers each day.

Now, as the government’s multi-billion dollar communication projects of mass rapid transit or MRT, expressway and bus rapid transit or BRT, is about to come to fruition, the already very busy area will likely become the busiest and most chaotic.

To tackle the possible chaos and massive increase of influx of passengers, the government is planning to transform Kamalapur into a 'Multi Modal Transport Hub'.

Stakeholders and communication experts believe Dhaka’s traffic system will rapidly change with the introduction of MRT, expressway, and BRT, for the better.
THE PROJECT DETAILS IN DEPTH

New buildings and a multidimensional station for the Kamalapur hub will cost $574 million.
The Airport Railway Station hub will cost $220 million.
Proposed development of the Dhaka-Chattogram rail corridor will cost $760 million.
Faujdarhat-CGPY meter gauge rail line in Chattogram will be converted to dual gauge.
A connection will be established with the Bay Terminal for Dhaka-bound cargo transportation from Chattogram seaport.
High-quality workshops will be built for trains.
At least 20 locomotives and other equipment will be purchased.






The proposed hub, sources said, will be modelled like the ones in the developed world to provide state-of-the-art passenger services.

This hub will be the first in the country to bring roads and railway communications at the same vantage point around the Kamalapur station so that passengers can quickly hop off from one mode of transportation on to another.

A similar hub is also being planned to surround the Dhaka Airport Railway Station, sources said.






Under the Kamalapur hub plan, Kamalapur Inland Container Depot or ICD will be relocated and a 60-storey multi-purpose building will be built in its place.

“A multi-storey railway station will be built in the underground of the building to serve the metro rail [MRT], subway, elevated expressway and BRT passengers,” said Project Director Al Fattah Md Masudur Rahman.

The government of Bangladesh has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan to implement the project.

Both Dhaka and Tokyo have set a deadline of 2030 to implement it under a public-private partnership or PPP.

A consortium, led by Japan’s Kajima Corporation, has been formed as well with Nippon Koei and Oriental Consultants Global, both also from the Far Eastern nation, as junior partners.

Masudur Rahman told bdnews24.com a feasibility survey has been commissioned and a proposal for financing submitted to the World Bank.






WHAT’S A MULTIMODAL TRANSPORT HUB?
A multimodal transport hub is a large area where many routes of different transportation and communication system meet. Passengers can use it to interchange their preferred mode of transportation to travel to their destinations. It saves time and increases the capacity of the transport sector.

As part of the preparations for these hubs around Kamalapur and Dhaka Airport Railway Station, projects to modernise the Dhaka-Chattogram rail transport corridor will also be undertaken, according to the PPP Authority’s website.

The website also says the existing infrastructure of Kamalapur Railway Station will also be shifted elsewhere.

The planned 60-storey building will have food and shopping marts as well as hotels for the waiting passengers.

Plans are also underway to develop multifaceted commercial areas including shopping complexes in the vast scope of this building.

The project director said separate infrastructure will be built for the subway station, MRT and elevated expressway for passenger management.







*The targets set in the preliminary proposal are:*
- Relocation of the Kamalapur ICD
- Demolition and cleaning of all the structures within the depot area.
- Construction of the 60-storey building.
- Appropriation of necessary lands for the construction of infrastructure at the Airport Railway Station.

*FINANCING*

The total cost of the project is initially estimated at Tk 170 billion. The Economic Relations Division has tapped the World Bank with a $1.09 billion, or Tk 110 billion, loan request for the planned proposal. The rest is expected to come from the state coffers.

SM Salimullah Bahar, chief planning officer of Bangladesh Railway, said officials held initial talks with the global lender over the loan and its technical representatives visited the proposed site in April and September.

A World Bank official in Dhaka said the final talks will be held following the feasibility study.

To implement the project, some structures, including the ICD, will need to be removed. The process to approve another project, expected to be financed by the Asian Development Bank, is ongoing to relocate the ICD to Gazipur.







*IMPLEMENTATION*
Besides Kajima and Bangladesh Railway, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, the Bridges Authority and Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority will work together in the project.

Director Fattah said the implementation will be done under a government-to-government financing deal with Japan.

A sub-working group led by Kajima is working on the design.

According to the PPP deal, the financier and the government will share the earnings from the project. Details about the shares are not finalized yet.

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

One can see from the scale of the operations, how large Matarbari is.

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## Bilal9

City group Bangladesh plans foodstuff and oilseed imports from Canada to process locally and feed local market, also details on their massive ultramodern processing facility. They are a major local retail FMCG suppler

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## Bilal9



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## Bilal9

Bangladesh nowadays more or less self-sufficient in producing cold-molded EVA/PVC soles of athletic shoes.

Athletic shoe production/export in Bangladesh started four decades ago and the industry is now widespread even for local consumption nowadays (with factories in remote areas like KeraniGanj), leading to extremely high demand for athletic shoe soles of all types/shapes. These soles are also used in some types of casual and dress-casual shoes with various styles of leather and non-leather uppers.

Athletic shoe production and consumption has always been prolific in Bangladesh, and high volume Taiwanese and Korean producers supplying the major brands like Adidas, Nike, Skechers, New Balance and ASICS have major operations in Bangladesh.

This sector is very different and separate from brands like APEX (and others) who supply high quality leather uppers (as well a completed leather dress footwear) to prestige dress shoe brands in Italy, Spain and the UK. I know for a fact that APEX has supplied uppers at one point or another to Ermenegildo Zegna, Ferragamo and Bruno Magli.

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## Bilal9

Close to 2 Million eggs per day are produced from Diamond Group's poultry operations in Kapasia (Gazipur) near Dhaka. The facility is self sufficient, sanitary, touchless by human hands (automated) as much as possible and has its own feed operations, as well as produces chicks and broilers besides eggs. It also produces quite a bit of chicken fertilizer and supplies the neighborhood from gas sourced from the fertilizer. They are planning to double production within the short term. Video has English subtitles.

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## Arthur

Mongla port upgrade: Tk 6,014 crore deal inked with Indian firm

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## Bilal9

Metro magic is here, now


If there was no Covid, Dhaka Metro could have been one of the fast completed metros in Asia as it was programmed to be unveiled on the Victory Day last year. Now, it is off to a glorious start today in the month of victory in our War of Liberation 51 years ago, heralding a modern transportation...




www.tbsnews.net


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## Bilal9

BGMEA organized the "Made in Bangladesh Week" to tell the world the story of glory behind brand Bangladesh, the strides of Bangladesh's RMG industry in workplace safety and sustainability, the vision to retain its fame as a world-class manufacturing hub with the latest innovations and technology. 

Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh H. E. Sheikh Hasina, MP conducted the opening ceremony of the Made in Bangladesh Week. The strengths of the industry were displayed with high-end and innovative products, a model of green factory at the carnival hall of the inaugural venue where BGMEA President Faruque Hassan briefed the Honorable Prime Minister about the industry's achievements, and future priorities.

#MadeInBangladesh #sustainability #RMG #Bangladesh #Apparel #BrandBangladesh

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## Bilal9

'Meghna Cloud': Bangladesh's first cloud data centre​ 




Photo courtesy: Internet


Bangladesh Data Center Company Limited (BDCCL) and Gennext Technology have recently signed an agreement to set up Meghna Cloud, Bangladesh's first cloud data centre.

According to a press release, this joint venture will be under the initiative 'Made in Bangladesh Cloud', which will make it possible to keep the country's data stored within the country. By not depending on foreign data storage facilities, the government can save foreign exchange in purchasing and using cloud technology from other countries. 

The new local data centre can provide services to both government and private organisations in Bangladesh. The press release also states that a brand new Research and Development (R&D) Centre will be set up for Meghna Cloud, which will include teachers and students of both government and private universities along with Bangladesh's data centre industry.

The agreement was signed between BDCCL Managing Director Abu Sayeed Chowdhury and Gennext Technology Chairman Touhidul Islam. Other representatives from both organisations were present at the signing ceremony.

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## Bilal9

Dhaka Airport 3rd terminal progress status...

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## Bilal9

^^^
Some statistics about the 3rd terminal, for how many people (20 million?) will be using all 3 terminals of the airport annually, it is quite a bit future-proofed. 

*Features of the 3rd terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport*

A three-story terminal building covering an area of 542,000 square meters is being constructed.

The building has an area of 230,000 square meters per floor, serving 12 million passengers annually.

For aircraft parking, apron parking is being constructed to accommodate 37 aircraft in an area of 230,000 square meters of this terminal.

Besides, the terminal has 115 check-in counters, 64 departure and 64 arrival immigration desks, 27 hold baggage x-ray screener machines, 11 body scanners, 25 central departure security screenings, 12 boarding bridges (24 eventually), and 16 luggage belts.

According to Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Mahbub Ali, once operational, passengers will be able to enjoy the same quality of service at this terminal as London’s Heathrow or Thailand’s airports.

Besides Aviation Dhaka Consortium (ADC), Mitsubishi Corporation, Fujita Corporation, and Samsung C & T are working on the project to build the 3rd Terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

According to CAAB information, there are currently around 4,000 workers working on the project, both domestic and foreign. So far, 34 percent of the project has been completed, and it will be opened for public use by October 2023, according to the concerned authorities.

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