The New Nation - Internet Edition

Gen Moeen says: Bangladesh can be middle-income country by 2020

Army chief General Moeen U Ahmed releasing fish
fries at Hajipur Union Parishad pond in Chandpur district
after distributing National ID cards at Faridganj upazila
yesterday. Banglar Chokh

BSS, Noakhali

Chief of Army Staff General Moeen U Ahmed on Thursday said Bangladesh could be a middle-income country by 2020, provided people from all strata of society work collectively.

"Collective efforts of the countrymen can act as the key for country's development," he said while addressing a meeting at Hajipur village under Begumganj upazila in the district.

He said if the local rich could create employment for youths in their respective areas through building cooperatives, unemployment would not exist any more across the country.

Among others, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Comilla Major Gen Anwar Hossen, District Deputy Commissioner Abdul Huq, chief of district army unit Colonel Ezaz Hakim Afridi were present on the occasion.

Earlier, Gen. Moeen inaugurated integrated milk farm, biogas plant, mushroom cultivation and duck rearing projects of Ahmed Multipurpose Cooperative Society. He also released fish fry at Hajipur Union Parisad pond.

Moeen donated Taka 15 lakh, earned as royalty from one of his published books to the cooperative for running the projects. The Ahmed Cooperative is also supported by a local NGO Dip Unnayan Sangstha.

A total of 120 families would get electricity from the biogas plant. Organic fertiliser, producing from the plant, would help the local farmers to increase their crop production.

General Moeen is now on a two-day visit in the area.

Jamuna rises up danger level

A vast area of greater Faridpur region was inundated
by flood as the river Padma crossed the danger mark. The
Munshidangee area of Faridpur Sadar Upazila yesterday
FocusBangla

BSS, Dhaka

A rising Jamuna shot up its danger level (DL) at Aricha at 6 AM on Thursday and was poised to cross DL at Sirajganj by next 12 hours, Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said.

But Jamuna's rate of rise will start slowing for the next 2-3 days, FFWC said on Thursday in its river position summary.

Another mighty river, the Ganges-Padma, maintained its rise but at a slower pace, flowing above its DL at Pankha, where it enters Bangladesh.

The river will maintain its rising trend for the next 2-3 days, inundating more low areas in the districts of Munshiganj, Manikganj, Faridpur, Shariatpur and Dhaka's Dohar and Nawabganj upazilas and Chapainawabganj's Shibganj and Sadar upazilas during the next 2-3 days, FFWC said.

Reports from India said the Ganges has remained steady at Farakka point, upstream of Pankha, a FFWC source told BSS.

Besides the majors, the minor rivers like Surma at Kanaighat and Sunamganj, the Kushiyara at Amalshid and Sheola and the Kangsha at Jariajanjail, Netrakona were all flowing above their DL.

The latest to add to the list of rivers flowing above their DL was the Shitalakkhya, joining the ranks today, but flowing only five cm above the red mark, FFWC said.

Missions instructed to help migrant workers: Iftekhar

A group of Bangladeshi workers who were deported
from Kuwait recently staged a demonstration in front of the
National Board of Revenue in the city yesterday demanding
the compensation. Banglar Chokh

BSS, Dhaka

Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury on Thursday said the ministry has instructed all missions abroad to work closely with the government to help migrant workers, particularly trafficking victims.

"I have instructed all our missions to protect and promote the interests of our migrant workers and to work closely with the host governments to help trafficking victims, in the event they are detained or await deportation" he said as the chief guest at a discussion.

Foreign Service Academy (FSA) and International Organization For Migration (IOM) jointly organized the discussion on 'Migration and Human Trafficking' at a city hotel here. Principal of the FSA Ambassador Shahed Akhtar was present as special guest while IOM regional representative, Dhaka, Rabab Fatima gave the welcome speech.

The foreign Adviser said the government has given top priority to human trafficking and migration issues while the Ministries of Foreign and Home Affairs continued diligent efforts to bring the traffickers to justice.

"Our all-out concerted and coordinated efforts, I believe, will help us eradicate the menace of human trafficking and promote safe migration" he said.

The country received over eight billion US dollars as remittance from our migrant workers, Dr Iftekhar said adding that if the present trend continues, we will be able to fetch nine billion US dollars by the end of the year.

In this respect, he said, interest of the migrant workers needs to be protected and steps are underway so that their families do not pay exorbitant sums to secure an overseas employment opportunity.

"We must ensure safe and cost-effective migration for our people to reduce the risks of trafficking" the Foreign Adviser said.

Shahed Akhter laid emphasis on coordinated efforts of all government and non-government organisations to address the illegal migration and human trafficking.

Rabab Fatima said officials of the foreign missions are the guardians of the migrant workers and that is why they have a responsibility to protect their interest by dealing with the respective governments.

A total of 13 trainees and mid-level officers of the ministry of Foreign Affairs, Home and Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment took part on the occasion.

Management of medical waste underscored

BSS, Rajshahi

Speakers at a day-long workshop on Thursday underscored the need for proper and hygienic management of medical waste to free the environment from pollution.

They suggested for providing adequate training on waste management to all associated with the clinical and diagnostic activities to protect the environment from degradation.

They underscored the need for the authorities and the individuals concerned to have the awareness of the harmful impact of medical waste in the interest of maintenance of sound environment.

They said that environmental degradation, a global threat to all living beings, was affecting all, directly or indirectly.

For a healthy and sound future generation, they said, all factors that contribute to ecological degradation must be contained, they said.

About 70 government and NGO officials, representatives of the donor agencies and owners of the private sector clinic and diagnostic centres attended the workshop organised by Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) under the second phase of its 'Secondary Towns Integrated Flood Protection (STIFP) Project'.

The four-year project is being implemented at a cost of Taka 109 crore with financial support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The project seeks to promote economic growth and alleviate poverty in the metropolis by freeing it from floods and securing its environment within the framework of integrated flood protection, RCC officials said.

The Mayor-in-charge of Rajshahi, Rezaun Nabi Dudu, spoke as the chief guest at the workshop chaired by Chief Executive Officer, Korban Ali. ADB Project Implementation Officer Zaheer Uddin, Project Director Amjad Hossain and RCC Secretary Emdadul Haque and clinic owners spoke.

Speakers called for the creation and enhancement of awareness among the target groups regarding disposal of the clinical waste in a hygienic way.

The participants, they hoped, would utilise the knowledge acquired at the workshop to protect ecological balance.

Implementation of the project would contribute a lot to make the city more hygienic and habitable, officials hoped.

CA asks for steps to ease traffic jam in city

UNB, Dhaka

The caretaker government took a crash course to salvage the crumbling traffic in the capital by evicting illegal possessions on footpaths and roads, constructing safe bus-stops and introducing staggered school timing under a package of measures.

Before confronting the problem head-on, the action plans were explained at a high-level meeting on Traffic Congestion in Dhaka City and its Solution at the CA's office yesterday.

This was a follow-up meeting to the July 29 meeting on traffic jam initiated by the CA when he asked for identifying reasons, points of traffic jams and action of remedy. He expressed satisfaction over some good steps taken.

Chairing the meeting, Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed asked for preparing a plan of action with specific deadlines with specific persons with their positions and working accordingly. The progress has to be reported at the next follow-up meeting.

On construction of Busy Bay, it was informed by DTCB that five bus bays would be constructed in different areas of the city by September 30 in cooperation with Dhaka City Corporation and DMP. These bays are for bus stoppage without causing problem to normal movement of vehicles on the roads.

The meeting asked the Education Ministry to ensure staggered and flexible school timings area-wise to minimize traffic flow by September 30. "The education ministry will physically monitor the matter and make report on it," says the instruction. It was also asked for taking steps for introducing school buses by the school authorities-as schoolchildren face nagging transport problem in the overcrowded capital city.

Illegal possessions, kiosks and makeshifts on footpaths and highways of Progoti Sarani (Baridhara-Kuril area) to Saidabad via Rampura-Malibagh rail crossing would be cleared by September 30.

"Fine or penalty should be ensured if contractor concerned failed to complete construction works by the deadline. Road-repairing works should be done at nighttime instead of daytime," the meeting said in a strict order.

In its comprehensive directives meant for clearing the mess on the traffic front the government also asked the authorities concerned to make sure that inter-district buses operate from inter-district bus terminals, not from inside the city and not using the city roads.

Entrance time of trucks into the capital has been reset at 9pm from existing 8pm. Now entrance time is 9pm to 8am.

The CEO of DCC apprised that garbage containers in the city would be set in right places by September 30.

Zillur leaves for Turkey : Move to expand market of Bangladeshi goods

Staff Reporter

Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman left Dhaka for Turkey yesterday to attend the 77th Ijmir International Trade Fair to be held between August 23 and August 31.

The Adviser is leading a four-member delegation to the fair on an invitation from the Industry and Commerce Minister of Turkey Zafar Caglayan.

The other members of the delegation are: Vice Chairman of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Sahab Ullah, Joint Secretary (Export) of the Ministry of Commerce Mostafa Mohiuddin and Assistant Personal Secretary of the Adviser Hasan Khaled Foysal.

During the visit the delegation members will observe the fair, hold meetings with different government officials, important chambers and businessmen of turkey. They will discuss increased export of Bangladeshi goods to Turkey, more investment of Turkey in Bangladesh and other bilateral issues.

Turkey is being considered as linkage for market expansion to European Union (EU) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries due to its geographical location. Turkey has already extended Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facilities to Bangladesh and it has huge demand of jute, jute goods, leather, shoes, readymade garments and chemical goods.

Nearly US$167.52 million worth goods were exported to Turkey during the 2006-07 fiscal year against US$77.33 million import.

Finance Adviser in dark about stock slump

UNB, Dhaka

Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday said he was still in the dark about the recent stock market slump.

"Nobody could tell me about any specific reason. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) also could not say anything," he told reporters at the Finance Ministry conference room.

The Finance Adviser said he has asked the SEC to hold talks with the merchant banks and the leading brokers to identify the reasons.

The main index in the Dhaka Stock Exchange, country's prime bourse, shed 637 points or 20 percent since June 1 this year.

The Finance Adviser said the issue of Titas that took away a lot of money could have been a reason, but the market has by now overcome the liquidity pressure.

He, however, pointed his finger to the merchant banks and institutional investors, who have an important role in developing the capital market.

"It's okay, they execute clients' order. Yet they have important role to play," he said, adding: "They didn't play their own strong role that we expected from them."

Dr Aziz expressed satisfaction over the development in last two days and said the SEC efforts have been effective.

The DSE General Index recovered by 134 points in last two days (Wednesday and Thursday) as the regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), began a series of meetings with institutional investors and leading brokers to identify the reasons behind the slump.

Yet, the small investors roaming around the market Thursday were exchanging views among themselves that the two-day upward trend was nothing but a quick response to SEC's effort in building confidence among the investors.

"Surprisingly, the market reacts sharply to any news that the SEC was holding meeting - be it on policy decisions or not," said a broker, requesting anonymity.

"You think whether the merchant banks will come up with additional fund without any reason, if they had withdrawn from some reason or other," he told UNB.

Talking to the reporters, former senior vice president of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) Ahmed Rashid Lali termed the market trend as a post-dividend phenomenon.

He expects that the market would again take upturn with the central bank decision to increase their capital base. "There is no reason to be panicked," Lali said.

SEC executive director Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan told UNB that they had three separate meetings with Union Capital, Standard Bank and Shahjalal Bank on Thursday. He would not disclose what reasons the merchant bankers assigned behind the market slump, but said they would let it know after completion of their meetings.

He only apprised that the recent IPOs and Titas shares took away around Tk 1,500 crore from the market while some banks invested in the call money market on high return.

Meanwhile, the DSE benchmark index recovered 85 points or more than 3 percent to close at 2,706 points on Thursday. Prices of shares gained across the board with 188 gainers out of 227 issues traded while 27 were losers and 12 remained unchanged.

The turnover also increased to Tk 260 crore on Thursday, climbing from as low as Tk 181 crore on August 14.

The market suffered a technical setback in trading for an hour from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm today, but the DSE authority extended the trading hour by one hour to 3 pm to cover the trading loss.

WB launches study on sector-wise coop

UNB, Dhaka

The World Bank has launched a study on how cooperation in the South Asian region, particularly in trade, energy and food security, can be bolstered in a win-win situation.

The Bank will first conduct a technical study to assess the potentials of cooperation as well as the benefits and distribution of the benefits a country could derive out of the sector-wise cooperation.

Visiting World Bank senior manager for South Asia region Sadiq Khan apprised Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam of their fresh move consistent with the spirit of the Colombo SAARC Summit at a meeting at the Finance Ministry yesterday.

"They're talking about project-specific cooperation that has not taken place so far," the Finance Adviser told reporters after the meeting, saying that the issues of cooperation in the region have so far remained confined in general discussion both in the state level and outside the state machinery.

"The World Bank would approach government to government for political decision following the study," he added.

Replying to a question, Dr Aziz said unlike the unfortunate fate of SAARC, other regional groupings have made significant progress through cooperation, keeping aside bilateral issues.

He said Bangladesh and India are energy-deficit countries while Nepal and Bhutan have the potential of hydropower.

Sadiq Khan told reporters that they had talks on regional cooperation covering water, energy, power, trade facilitation and transportation.

He said World Bank is also interested in supporting the regional food bank that emerged at the SAARC Summit. "We've had a very general discussion on how World Bank could help strengthen regional cooperation," he said. Replying to a question, the Finance Adviser said the World Bank would provide Bangladesh more or less US$ 130 million as budget support dedicated to food security and the assistance is at final stage. "It would be disbursed latest by October 15."

He added that Bangladesh so far received US$ 170 million from Asian Development Bank (ADB) as food support.

The Finance Adviser also informed that the World Bank executive has requested him to chair the first session of a ministerial meeting on aid effectiveness to be held in Ghana next month.

World Bank country director Xian Zhu accompanied Sadiq Khan at the meeting.

Corporatised banks fail performance targets

UNB, Dhaka

The three recently corporatised state-owned commercial banks could not achieve their targets in performance.

After a performance review meeting yesterday, Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam said in many areas, the banks failed to reach their targets.

In this regard, he particularly mentioned the recovery of default loans, net profits before and after tax, cost of income, customer service and dealing with non-performing loans.

"They (state-owned banks) have to improve more in these areas… We'll continue to monitor and review their performances on a regular basis every three months," said the finance adviser. He, however, said there were some progresses as well in the performance of the newly corporatised banks.

He noted that the Finance Ministry being the only shareholder of the banks has a responsibility to review their performance.

The caretaker government turned the state-owned Sonali, Agrani and Janata Banks into public limited companies few months back under a move of corporatisation as part of reforms in banking and financial sector.

The day's review meeting was the first to evaluate their performance by the Finance ministry.

Dr Aziz said that the three banks have separately submitted three development plans aimed at improving their performance. Agrani Bank chairman and former finance secretary Siddiqur Rahman said that his bank has taken some steps to improve particularly in three areas such as recovery of default loans, quick disposal of loans and improvement of customer services.

He informed reporters that Agrani Bank would complete computerisation of its banking system within a year.

He also said that they would take steps to hand over foreign remittance within a day.

Agrani Bank managing director and CEO Syed Abu Naser Buktear Ahmed said that his bank has introduced a special loan with minimum interest of 10 percent to support Bangladesh workers going on overseas employment.

4 more VIPs get HC bail

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

The High Court yesterday granted bail to former law minister Moudud Ahmed, former health minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain and former BNP lawmaker Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie in separate cases.

The same High Court bench, of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Md Imdadul Haque Azad, awarded bail in all four cases.

Moudud Ahmed secured bail on charges of selling foreign wine. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain was awarded bail in a case filed by the Anticorruption Commission for illegal wealth.

Former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain secured bail in a graft case, also accusing Khaleda Zia, involving contracts to Canadian gas exploration firm Niko during Khaleda's term in office. The bench also suspended the proceedings of the case against him for three months. Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie secured bail in an extortion case, being accused of bribery, and the HC bench also suspended proceedings of the case against him for four months.

Counsel in three of the cases, Barr Mahbubuddin Khokan, told bdnews24.com: "There is no legal bar to Moudud Ahmed, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie being released."

Joint forces arrested barrister Moudud, Khandaker Mosharraf and AKM Mosharraf in different cases after the promulgation of the state of emergency on Jan 11. Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie surrendered to the metropolitan special sessions judge's court on Aug 18, where the judge ordered him to Dhaka Central Jail.

Subsidy to be given to student internet users

Staff Reporter

The government plans to provide free Internet access to the people of all spheres of life, special assistant to the Chief Adviser Brig General MA Malek yesterday said while inaugurating first ever private-owned International Gateway (IGW).

He said the government was keen to spread internet service to the urban as well as rural areas. "To make this attempt successful the government will give subsidy to the internet users. 100 per cent subsidy will be given to the primary school students, 75 per cent to high school students and 50 per cent to the college students", he added.

Appreciating the private-owned IGW service Malek said, "We want to develop private culture in the country as history refers to the failure of government owned organisations."

He pointed out that the BTTB would not face any problem in competing with the private sector as it already has some advantages including infrastructure and human resources.

Monjurul Alam, Chairman of BTRC, said government would be able to earn Tk 1500 annually by awarding licence to three telecom organisations- Mir Telecom, Novotel and Banglatrac communications Ltd.

To provide Bangladeshi people more swift and easy international call Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) awarded IGW license to Mir Telecom on February 19 to transit international voice calls to and from Bangladesh.

In an attempt to accomplish all the tasks within six-month time frame, Mir Telecom has been able to kick off its task three days ahead of deadline.

Mir Telecom employed cutting-edge technology, which supports Next Generation Networking capabilities. It uses Huawei's SoftX3000, UMG8900 and CBOSS's internconnect Billing solution.

It also uses equipment with a rated process capacity of two million Busy Hour Call Attempt (BHCA), which can be expanded to 16 million, with 25,000 trunks that can be expanded to 360,000 trunks. It has billing capacity of eight million Call Data Record (CDR).

Mir uses incorporating Configurable Jitter Buffer, Voice Activity Detector (VAD), Comfort Noise Generator (CNG), Echo Cancellation (EC) and other quality optimising capabilities.

Mir telecom has extensive Points-of-Presence (POPs) in Europe and Asia Pacific reaching all major carriers and all corners of the world.

Lankan vessel engineer still missing

Chittagong Correspondent

Whereabouts of Chief Engineer (CE) of the sunken Sri Lankan vessel Aung Khian was unknown even after 36 hours of the incident.

Officials suspected that the 52-year-old Khian might have been trapped in the engine room. His body may be found after recovering the wreckage.

The two-member probe body comprising - Captain Jashim Uddin and Assistant Harbour Master Rahmat Ullah - has started its work yesterday morning. They are looking for the causes of incident, secretary of the CPA Farhad Syed Uddin Ahmed said.

Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) on Thursday alerted the vessels now in the jetty and the outer anchorage to take safe sailing avoiding the point of accident and stay in touch with the radio control. Harbormasters and the captains of the vessels have been advised to follow the guide light and buoy placed around the accident spot, sources at port radio control said.

Tugboat 'Kandari' has also been deployed at the spot to watch shipping traffic in the zone as port authorities initiated salvage operations for the Badula Valley.

Preparations are on to mount search and salvation operations, comprising port agencies as well as private rescue and salvation agencies, according to port officials.

A letter would be sent to the concerned shipping agent claiming accident compensation and rescue expenses to be incurred.

Earlier, a Sri Lankan bulk vessel laden with 3609 metric tons of rice went down in the Bay after colliding head-on with an oil tanker on Wednesday afternoon.

SC upholds bail of 10 VIPs

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

The bail orders of 10 prominent figures were upheld by the Supreme Court yesterday.

A regular bench of the court's Appellate Division, comprising five judges led by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin, upheld High Court bails granted in separate cases to former BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, former minister M Shamsul Islam, former minister engineer Mosharraf Hossain, former adviser for energy Mahmudur Rahman, former lawmaker MH Selim and industrialist MA Hashem.

Also having their bail orders upheld were former APS to the prime minister during Sheikh Hasina's term Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, GATCO director Syed Galib, DCC mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka's wife Ismat Ara and Prof Rafiqul Islam's wife Nurun Nahar Lily.

The High Court previously granted them bail in separate cases on different dates.

OMS scheme begins in Ctg

Chittagong Correspondent

Open Market Sale (OMS) of rice at Taka 28 a kilogram began in the port city yesterday to curb further jumping of the rice price during the upcoming Ramzan.

Huge crowd especially women from lower and middle-income families marked the first day of the programme.

Additional Commissioner of Chittagong Division Omar Faruq inaugurated the OMS program at city's Love Lane point. Under the government-run OMS programme one person will be able to buy maximum three kilograms of rice per day at a cost of taka 28 for per kilogram.

A total of 179 appointed dealers would carry out the OMS programme through 387 outlets that have already been set up at different city areas.