The New Nation - Internet Edition

ASA disburses Tk 3.5b loans in Tangail

Our Correspondent

TANGAIL, Aug 23: ASA disbursed Tk 3.5 billion loans among the poor people through its 67 branches in 12 upazilas of the district during the last fiscal, official sources said.

The loan was disbursed for business, poultry, dairy and agriculture.

Biman faces difficulties to charter new aircraft: Nat'l flag carrier also faces problem in finding out CEO

SYED ZAHIRUL ABEDIN

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has been facing great difficulties to charter flights from international aviation sources. Though the Biman authorities have invited international tenders repeatedly, no airlines or aircraft businessmen responded to the Biman's tenders. Such a situation has occurred due to bad reputation of Biman in business dealings with different international airlines in the aviation sector. Failing to charter aircraft from international aviation sources, Biman is now facing great troubles in maintaining its schedules.

Biman signed an agreement with US aircraft manufacturer Boeing for procurement of 10 new generation aircraft along with option/purchase right for another 10.

But, according to the agreement signed with Boeing, Biman will not receive any aircraft before 2013. So, Biman will have to rely on chartered aircraft till that time to maintain its schedules. But, the crisis has aggravated further after Biman has failed to procure any aircraft from international sources.

On the other hand, Biman did not receive adequate responses to its advertisement for appointing the chief executive officer (CEO).

In order to charter two Boeing-737s, Biman has recently floated two international tenders. But only one company submitted bid each time. Now the Biman authorities are thinking an alternative.

Earlier, Biman also did not receive expected responses floating international tenders to charter aircraft. Inviting tenders for several times, Biman finally succeeded to charter two Boeing 747s.

Sources at the Biman told The New Nation that Biman authorities were thinking alternative in the context of lack of interest shown by different aviation companies. They have taken an initiative to charter aircraft directly from Boeing floating an international tender.

An official of Biman said the process of chartering aircraft is very complex and lengthy. It usually takes long time. It is necessary to make the process easier.

Meanwhile, only two foreign nationals applied for the post of CEO of Biman. However, none from any international airlines or any aviation expert applied for the post.

Those who applied for the post of CEO among local nationals include Biman's former managing director Col (Retd) Mahmudur Rahman, deputy managing director Lt Col (Retd) Zainul Abedin, and Islamil Chowdhury Jafran, who once served as Biman's country manager in Kuwait and Oman.

Besides, Biman's former DGM Nazmun Nahar Robin applied for the post. Robin served as Biman's country manager in New York.

It is learnt that the selected applicants will be called in for interview within this month after scrutinizing their applications and CVs. Members of the Biman's management will take the interviews.

Some 2,000 officials and employees of Biman were retrenched through voluntary retirement service after Biman was transformed into a public limited company in July 2007.

After the retrenchment of so many officials and employees, Biman was supposed to be run by the persons who have vast experiences in aviation business. During the retrenchment, Biman's former staff were told that the retrenchment was done to modernizing the fleet. But the Biman's modernization still remains a far cry. In order to free the Biman from bureaucrat-dependent administration, these experts were supposed to be appointed by the government. However, no progress has been achieved in this regard at all. Bureaucrats still control all the affairs of Biman. The post of CEO of Biman is still being held by the government's joint secretary Dr MA Momen.

Biman has Air Service Agreements with 42 countries, but maintains flights to only 18 at present.

Food prices increased by 45pc last year: CAB

BUSINESS REPORT

Prices of rice, lentil, atta, flour, edible oils and milk products increased by almost 45.45 per cent during the last fiscal year oof 2007-08, according to the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB).

Speakers at a discussion on "Price hike of essentials and What we need to do," organised by the CAB said traders have been raising the prices of essentials ahead of the month of Ramadan, but the government initiatives to curb the price hike are not yielding any result. Living standard of the common people is gradually going down due the government's failures in curtailing the price hike of essentials. Calorie intake of the people is also declining fast.

Organised at the CAB conference room in the city, the speakers said prices of rice increased by 59.92 per cent, atta 52.62 percent, lentil 33.03 percent, edible oils 32.33 percent, egg 32.33 percent, soap 25.66 percent and milk products 30.34 percent during the last fiscal year.

During the last July, essential prices increased by 5.41 percent. Rice prices increased by 8.86 percent, lentil 4.23 percent, vegetables 36.96 percent and egg 12.57 percent.

On the other hand, prices of essentials increased by 3.09 during the last one week.

With CAB president Borhan Ahmed, the discussion was participated by Fazlul Huq, Emdad Hossain and Zahidur Rahman.

Krishi Bank holds Alokito Boktritamala

Bangladesh Krishi Bank organized a series-lecture program titled 'Alokito Boktritamala'. Dr ATM Shamsul Huda, Chief Election Commissioner, delivering his lecture as the chief guest at the third phase of the lecture-programme held at BKB Training Institute Auditorium, Mirpur, Dhaka on August 21 last. Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bangladesh Krishi Bank chaired the programme, while Md. Mukter Hussain, Managing Director of the bank was special guest. General Managers, concerned Deputy General Managers and other concerned executives were also present on the occasion.

Lentil, onion, ginger prices up: rice, edible oil down

BUSINESS REPORT

Prices of all varieties of lentil, onion and ginger increased while other essential commodities including rice, edible oil went down at the city's retail markets in the past one week.

Traders of the city's kitchen markets said prices of fish, eggs and broilers declined.

The price of a maund (37.3kg) of sugar was Tk 1,250 on the wholesale market on Friday; while it was Tk 1,150 a week before.

During the past one week, prices of edible oil declined by Tk 2.50 per kg to Tk 108-110 in the wholesale level.

Prices of fine and coarse varieties of rice remained unchanged from their previous rate during the past week, as the government has launched open-market sale (OMS) of rice from August 20 at Tk 28 per kg.

According to the sources imported ginger was selling at Tk 70-80 a kg against its previous price of Tk 60-70.

During the same period, prices of local onion was selling at Tk 30 -Tk 32 per kg while the prices of imported onion remained unchanged at Tk 26 per kg.

During the last one week, the price of different types of vegetable, including green chili and potato declined. The prices of Indian tomato was selling at Tk 80 per kg against its previous price of Tk 60.

Market sources said prices of salt increased by Tk 2 per kg. The confidence and ACI brands were selling Tk 17 a kg while Molla brand salt for Tk 13 a kg.

The Minicate variety of rice was selling at Tk 42-Tk 44 and Nazirshail at Tk 38-Tk 42 per kg against 44-Tk 45 per kg and Tk 42 -Tk 48 per kg respectively a week ago.

Coarse varieties of rice, especially BR-28, were selling at Tk 37-Tk 39 per kg against Tk 39-Tk 41 per kg in the previous week.

At wholesale level, the Minicate variety of rice was selling at Tk 1490-Tk 1495 per maund (37.30 kg) which was Tk 1550- Tk 1560 per maund and the Nazirshail variety of rice was selling at Tk 1550-Tk 1565 which was Tk 1580-Tk 1590 per maund last week.

Besides, BR-28 was selling at Tk 1260-Tk 1270 per maund against Tk 1350-Tk 1400 per maund at the wholesale level in the preceding week.

Besides, prices of Kheshari, a local variety of lentil, remained unchanged from their previous rate. According to the traders, Kheshari was selling at Tk 66 per kg.

Traders at the wholesale markets of Karwan Bazar and Naya Bazar said soyabean oil and super palm oil were selling at Tk 107 -Tk 108 per kg and Tk 87-Tk 88 per kg respectively during the last week.

But at the retail level prices of non-brand edible oil including soyabean oil and super palm oil were selling at Tk 115 per kg and Tk 98-Tk 100 per kg respectively.

Prices of flour remained unchanged at their previous rates of Tk 39-40 per kg in the local markets. Price of Potato was Tk 16 per kg at the city's retail level.

According to the traders of city's retail markets, prices of a number of vegetables including ladies' finger, brinjal and cowpea were Tk 28 per kg, Tk 30 per kg and Tk 28 per kg respectively.

Cucumber, green chili and green banana were selling at Tk 28 per kg, Tk 60 per kg, Tk 60 per kg and Tk 20 (four pieces) respectively.

In the city's retail markets, beef and mutton were selling at Tk 180-Tk 200 per kg and Tk 280-Tk 340 per kg respectively while prices of poultry birds remained unchanged from their previous rate of Tk 125-130 per kg during the last week.

At the retail level, a dozen eggs were selling at Tk 75 -Tk 78, which remained unchanged from previous rate.

Holcim holds excursion program for engineers

Holcim (Bangladesh) Ltd, a leading cement company of the country has recently organized a daylong excursion program for engineers at 'Fantasy Kingdom' in Dhaka.

Engineers are the key factor for construction site. 'Holcim' always foster the participatory market oriented philosophy aims to help the organization to become more participatory, such that it involves both its employees and customers actively in the process of latest development or research in the construction industry. This belief in the value of participation should steer the way investments are made in both internal and marketing activities and recognize their connectivity.

This time Engineers' Excursion program has been executed in a little bit different way. Engineers and their family stayed at Fantasy Kingdom and enjoyed lot of amusement over there. Kids had their extreme joy to get on each ride, which was totally accessible. In addition to this 'Holcim Company Overview' and 'Holcim Awaras for sustainable construction' were presented amongst the Engineers. Lot of games was played to make fun for all day long.

Jashim Uddin Khandaker, General Manager - Customer Care, Holcim (Bangladesh) Ltd said that this type of gathering helps us to share our view amongst us. We should establish a strong relationship, which would help us to build sustainable construction.

Engineers were very delighted to express their feelings. Engineer ganesh Chandra Shaha, associate Professor, BUET, thanked Holcim Bangladesh Ltd and said that the excursion will helps us to know better about Holcim and will make more aware about sustainable development.

Shinepukur Holdings holds 28th AGM

The 28th Annual General Meeting of Shinepukur Holdings Limited was held on August 21 at Shahbag in the city. A large number of shareholders attended the meeting.

Earlier, the shareholders and creditors of the company in a meeting unanimously approved the draft scheme of amalgamation of Shinepukur Holdings Limited (transferor company) with Bangladesh Export Import Co. Ltd. (transferee company) pursuant to Section 228 read with Section 229 of the Companies Act, 1994;

The meeting was presided over by OK Chowdhury, Managing Director and Md Asad Ullah, Company Secretary conducted the meeting.

EU asks shrimp exporters to ensure quality or face restriction

UNB, Dhaka

The European Union (EU) has warned local shrimp exporters of possible restriction on exports unless they strictly ensure quality.

The warning came following a negative report by an EC delegation that visited Bangladesh recently.

European Commission conveyed their concern of health hazard to Chief Adviser's Special Assistant for Fisheries and Livestock Manik Lal Samaddar in a letter on July 23 this year and asked for preventive measures against harmful elements in shrimp.

EC said they would launch a new system of testing shrimp to detect presence of chloramphenicol, nitro-furans, tetracycline and malachite.

They threatened to stop importing shrimp from Bangladesh if more than the permissible level of any harmful chemical and medicine was detected.

EU sent back 300 containers of shrimp in the last few months following detection of harmful antibiotics. Licenses of four shrimp processing factories have also been cancelled as a consequence.

To remedy the fault, Bangladesh officials met EU deputy assistant director MS Testori Coki in April this year to assure that Bangladesh would go through every necessary test to ensure the quality of shrimp for the EU countries.

Export of frozen food, mainly the shrimp, earned for the country US$534 million during the last fiscal year, registering a slight increase of about 4.0 per cent as compared to the previous fiscal year. But earnings fell 11 per cent short of the target for 2007-08, apparently due to shortcomings in quality, officials said.

Khulna District Fisheries Officer M Abdur Rashed was not aware of the EU warning, but told the news agency that they were monitoring the shrimp processing units round the clock to ensure their quality.

Workshop on 'Governance and Project Management' in city

Democracywatch, a human rights organization organized a 3-day long workshop at its auditorium from August 22 to 24 to build capacity of local organization that are working in the field of human rights and good governance. Shafik Rehman, a prominent journalist inaugurated the session.

In his inaugural speech, he underscored to build local organizations capacity to promote good governance and democracy in Bangladesh. He also emphasized to uphold collective effort to build a sustainable democracy for the betterment of this country.

Among others Program Manager Mostafa Sohel, Wazed Feroz, Mahumudur Rahman, Feroze Nurun Nabi Jugal, Shamim Al Mamun, Tawfik Alahi were present.

The workshop includes project management, project proposal writing, project design, advocacy, networking, human rights, good governance, organization development, finance management course etc. Some 24 local NGO's representatives attended the session.

Hitachi MD visits Unique Business Systems

Masanori Iwanaga, the Managing Director of Hitachi Home Electronics Asia (S) Pte. Ltd, Japan has recently visited Unique Business Systems, an official distributor of Hitachi Multimedia Projector in Bangladesh. Masanori Iwanaga was accompanied by Tarun Jain & Parkash Issardas. Various issues were shared and discussed on Hitachi's market in Bangladesh. Abdul Hakim, Managing Director, Habiba Nasrin Rita, Director Operation, Afzalur Rahman, General Manager, Mahatab Hossain, Manager Sales and Marketing, and Safikul Islam, System Manager were attended the meeting. Unique Business Systems is a Gold Awarded company in South East Asia Region for the outstanding Sales Performance. The delegation of Hitachi ensured their support and cooperation in expanding market for LCD Projector in Bangladesh.

Hitachi LCD Projector is very much customized and tested by time. It has unique features and easy operation systems which made it acceptable to educational and training sectors. UBS is providing dedicated after sales service and on time delivery.

The meeting was ended by thanks given to the Managing Director of Hitachi Home Electronics Asia (S) Pte. Ltd, Japan Masanori Iwanaga and Tarun Jain. Parkash Issardas.

Bank aims to bring mobile phones to rural poor in Asia

AP, New Delhi

It can scale mountains in a single bound and wend its way down the most wretched roads. It is the mighty cellphone signal, and the latest hope for bringing financial services to the world's masses who don't have access to banks. Grameen Solutions, an affiliate of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus' Grameen Bank, this month teamed with Obopay Inc., a for-profit mobile payment company based in California, to bring banking to a billion poor people using cellphones.

"Today, it's difficult to reach these people," Obopay India Executive Director Aditya Menon said at a news conference in India's financial capital, Mumbai. "If you solve that problem, you are enabling them to enter the economy."