Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & Discussions

[Bilal9]

 

[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

 

[BDforever]

@Indos @Marine Rouge translation plz

 

[Nike]

@Indos @Marine Rouge translation plz

Export luxury bus from CV laksana, followed by double decker bus

 

[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.
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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.

 

[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.

 

[Bilal9]

@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.

 

[Bengal71]

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.

 

[Bilal9]

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.

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[UKBengali]

Good luck to these entrepreneurs.

 

[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.

 

[Nilgiri]

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!