The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

The government will import 900,000 metric tonnes of refined petroleum from Malaysia through leapfrogging the lengthy process of floating tender and making government-level deals.

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will directly make the bulk import of fuel from the Malaysian state-owned Petronus Trading Corporation SDNBSD (Petco) during September 2008-June 2009 period.

The Advisors Committee on Economic Affairs, previously known as Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee, yesterday approved a proposal along with a waiver to this effect.

That means the government would not need to sign any state-to-state agreement for this direct import. Rather, the BPC will have the authority to sign deal with its counterpart (Petco) to import the petroleum fuel.

However, the BPC will have to put forward the purchase proposal to the Cabinet Purchase Committee. For the purchase, the premium cost was proposed to be $ 6.30 per barrel for gasoline while $ 6.75 for kerosene.

This is for the first time the caretaker government moved to import petroleum from Malaysia, one of the newly industrialized countries of Asia.

Bangladesh's annual petroleum demand is about 3 million metric tonnes. To meet the demand, normally, Bangladesh imports petroleum from the Middle- Eastern countries and neighbouring India.

The meeting of the Economic Affairs Committee, presided over by Finance Advisor Mirza Azizul Islam, also approved another proposal for the sellout of three state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to private entrepreneurs. The SOEs are Satrong Textile Mills in Gazipur, Karnaphuli Rayon Mills at Kaptai, and Particle Board & Veneer plant in Chittagong.

Among the mills, the purchase price for Satrong Textile was proposed to be Tk 3.41 crore along with its bank loan of Tk 5.94 crore and liabilities of Tk 7.78 crore while the price of Karnaphuli Rayon mill Tk 91.11 crore and price of the Particle Board proposed at Tk 26.53 crore.

The committee gave its conditional nod to another proposal of the Power Ministry for selling out the dry fly ash of Barapukuri power plant.

A responsive bidder has proposed to buy the fly ash at Tk 823 per metric tonne for a period of 30 years. Only after every five years, the purchase rate could be renegotiated.

But the committee tagged a condition: "there should be flexibility that the price could be renegotiated every year."

If the bidder accepts the new condition, then the state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) could sell the ash to the bidder.