The New Nation - Internet Edition

Environment-friendly washing processes in RMG sector stressed

UNB, Dhaka

Speakers at a function here yesterday stressed the need for applying technical expertise on washing and finishing processes in the readymade garment (RMG) sector for protecting the country's environment.

They were speaking at a certificate distribution ceremony at the Jatiya Press Club.

IFC-SEDF organised the two-week training programme titled 'Training of Trainers' (TOT) on Garment Washing and Finishing', said an IFC-SEDF press release.

Deputy coordinator of IFC-SEDF (Sector Programme) Zakiuz Zaman and president of Bangladesh Export Oriented Garments Washing Industries Association (BEOGWIA) Engineer Shafiqur Rahman distributed certificates among 20 participants of the training course.

They said garment processing (washing-dying-finishing) services are key components of the garment supply chain in Bangladesh.

At present, they said, 95 per cent of the total woven garment exports require some sort of wet processing.

There are more than 1,700 export-oriented small and medium enterprises with washing and dyeing operations within the sector. But the environment faces threat for lack of technical expertise and awareness about the best techniques for wet and dry garment processing, they told the function.

They said this often leads to wastage in operational activity, higher cost of production, and in many cases the effluents are discharged into the environment, causing long-term environmental damage, particularly to low-lying arable lands and fisheries.

This affects millions of people, reduce agricultural output, fish production, and increase gastrointestinal and skin diseases, they added.

President of BEOGWIA Engineer Shafiqur Rahman, managing director of SF Washing Limited Fuad Abdullah, CEO of Japan's Sangyo Namba Company Limited Hiroharu Namba and Zaki Uz Zaman of IFC-SEDF, among others, spoke at the function.

Forgery in plant capacity Westmont refutes allegations

UNB, Dhaka

Westmont Power (Bangla-desh) Ltd, accused of forgery in its power plant capacity and money laundering, has offered a third-party independent test to determine its plant capacity. There is an allegation that the Malaysian-based company has fraudulently inflated its capacity to 90 MW from its actual capacity of 60 MW.

A Joint Forces team, led by Army, reportedly identified the forgery in a recent capacity test in Westmont's Baghabari Biyoyer Alo plant. The team also found that the Westmont in connivance with a group of unscrupulous officials of the Power Development Board (PDB) prepared bills on the basis of the inflated generation capacity and received Tk 324 crore from the government in excess electricity bills. A number of national dailies have already run stories on the allegations against the Westmont Power.

Refuting the allegations, Westmont issued a statement urging the authorities to form an independent expert team to launch an investigation into the reported allegations.

The statement, signed by its lawyer Barrister Abdullah Al-Mamun, said Westmont is now injecting more than 85 MW of power to the national grid.

"The allegation brought against the plant that it is generating only 60.7 MW of power is absurd and cannot be relied upon and we're open for any form of enquiry and verification of the present generation of capacity of the power plant," the statement said. It said the yearly capacity test of the machine is conducted as per terms of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) within one month of major overhaul of the machines as per the operating procedures set out by the equipment manufacturer.

"It's impossible for any form of irregularity during the capacity test as all the readings are recorded by the machine," it added.

Fire burns 25 shops in Shariatpur

UNB, Shariatpur

Some 25 shops were gutted in a fire at Kazirhat port bazar in Jazira upazila yesterday.

Local sources said the fire originated from a cotton shop at about 10am and soon engulfed other shops in the bazar.

On information, fire fighters from Sadar upazila rushed in and doused the flame with the help of local people after two hours of hectic efforts.

The affected shop owners claimed that valuables worth Tk 50 lakh were damaged in the fire.

Embattled UNDP boss defends himself

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

UNDP Country Director Manoj Basnyat, embattled by a falling approval rating among colleagues, yesterday alleged that some staffers had 'wrongly' blamed him for irregularities and retrenchment of officials.

Responding to a media report, Basnyat also said that some government officials levelled charges of irregularities against him as he had not continued "unnecessary" projects.

"As many as 28 out of 55 UNDP staff members could not pass a competency test carried by the local UNDP office as per the instruction of the UNDP Headquarters and the UN resident coordinator," Basnyat told bdnews24.com by phone from Katmandu.

Of the 28 staffers, some were transferred from the main office in Dhaka to some projects and some were not "fit" for work at all and were retrenched, he said.

"The retrenched staff members and their relatives in government service have made charges of irregularities against me," the UNDP boss said.

Basnyat's comment came after the publication of a report in The Daily Star Friday that 86 percent of the international and 62 percent of the local staff members had "no confidence" in him as country director. The report was based on UNDP's Global Staff Survey 2007.

The survey also said that 71 percent of the international and 52 percent of the local UNDP staff members felt that the country director had not followed the UNDP rules of procurement.

Besides, a section of government officials complained of "interference in government policy" against Basnyat.

"Some government officials wanted extension of some projects which were totally a waste of resources. The projects expired in course of time," said Basnyat.

"As I was the spokesperson and at the forefront, they are putting the blame on me. The allegations are not true," he said.

He said the UNDP had delivered funds worth $20 million to $25 million a year during its 30 years of operation in Bangladesh.

"I delivered over $57 million last year, a record," he said.

The UNDP staffers were angry with Basnyat, a citizen of Nepal, over his decision to reassess the competence of all UNDP staff in July last year, officials said.

All the permanent staff took an exam to prove their competence again. Those who failed to prove "competence" had to leave the UNDP.

Basnyat joined UNDP's Bangladesh office as country director in December