The excavation of second tube of the 3.315-km Karnaphuli tunnel will be completed on Friday, said Harunur Rashid Chowdhury, project director of Multilane Road Tunnel under River Karnaphuli Project.
"We are done with 73% construction work of the tunnel," he told The Business Standard on Tuesday.
After a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) earlier in the day, Planning Minister Abdul Mannan said the tunnel will be named as "Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel".
The tunnel, being constructed at a depth of 18 to 43 metres below the water, will connect Chattogram city with the other side of the Karnaphuli River.
The project was planned to develop the city of Chattogram in the "One City Two Towns" model like the city of Shanghai, China.
Approved in 2015 involving an estimated cost of Tk8,447 crore, the project was supposed to be completed by 2020. However in 2018, the duration of the project was extended till December 2022 as the work was not speeded up due to various complications.
The total cost of the project in the revised project has been estimated at Tk10,374 crore. The Exim Bank of China is giving a hard loan of Tk5,913 crore. China Communication Construction Company Ltd is working as the contractor for the project.
The tunnel will reduce the distance from Chattogram to Cox's Bazar by 40-km. Vehicles in this tunnel will run at a speed of 80-km per hour.
The excavation of second tube of the 3.315-km Karnaphuli tunnel will be completed on Friday, said Harunur Rashid Chowdhury, project director of Multilane Road Tunnel under River Karnaphuli Project. "We are done with 73% construction work of the tunnel," he told The Business Standard on Tuesday...
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Operation of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel under the Karnaphuli river in Chattogram will start much before the scheduled date.
Planning Minister MA Mannan today said this during a meeting of Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).
"One end of the tunnel has already been opened, the other end will be opened this Friday," the minister said.
"Afterwards, with a little work, it will be opened for operation much before the deadline," he added.
The exact date of the opening will be announced by the concerned ministry, the minister also said.
According to schedule, the tunnel was supposed to open in December 2022.
"Usually, projects' time and cost rise, but neither happened in this case," the planning minister also said.
Operation of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel under the Karnaphuli river in Chattogram will start much before the scheduled date.
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Eight more compartments and four engines of Dhaka Metro Rail project have reached Mongla port today from Japan's Kobe.
The Thai ship, MV SPM Bangkok, arrived at Mongla port around 11am today. It is now anchored at Jetty No. 9 of the port, said sources of the port authorities.
In addition to the compartments and engines, the ship, left Japan's Kobe port on September 14 for Mongla, has 32 more packages.
"Unloading of the compartments and engines from the ship is expected to be completed soon," said Mongla Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Musa.
In May, six coaches of metro train reached Mongla port from Japan. On March 31, the first set of metro train with six coaches reached Mongla port.
According to Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Company Limited said a 24 passenger train coaches will be imported under Metro train's Line-6 Contract Package-08. Kawasaki-Mitsubishi in Japan is building 24 sets of trains for this project. The trains will have DC 1500-volt power supply.
Stainless steel body trains will have vertical seats. Each air-conditioned coach will have four doors on each side.
MONGLA, Oct 2, 2021 (BSS) - Eight more compartments and four engines of Dhaka Metro Rail project have reached
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The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) today approved a Taka 1,435.89 crore project to upgrade the Tangail-Delduar-Louhati-Saturia-Kawalipara-Kalampur bus stand road regional highway to due standard and width to ensure safe and uninterrupted road communication system.
The approval came in the 5th ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal year (FY22) with ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The Premier joined the meeting virtually from her official Ganabhaban residence while Ministers, State Ministers, Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned attended it from the NEC Conference Room in city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said a total of nine projects were approved today involving an overall estimated
cost of Taka 6,551.27 crore.
"Of the total project cost, Taka 3,742.29 crore will come from the government of Bangladesh portion, Taka 26.22 crore from the concerned organization's own fund while the rest of Taka 2,782.76 crore as project assistance," he said.
Among the approved nine projects, four are new while five others are revised ones.
The planning minister said that the Roads and Highways Department under the Road Transport and Highways Division will implement the road upgradation project in Tangail by December, 2023.
Once the project is completed, safe and uninterrupted road communication will be established in Tangail, Delduar, Nagarpur, Dhamrai and Saturia
upazilas with Manikganj and Dhaka in much lesser time.
The main project operations include 73.44 hectares of land acquisition, construction of five PC girder bridges, widening and strengthening of pavements, construction of one grade separated intersection and one U-loop or underpass, construction of 31 RCC box culverts, 13.26 lakh cubic meter road embankment widening, and construction of drains.
The Planning Minister said the ECNEC meeting was informed that the work of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman tunnel under River Karnaphuli is likely to be completed much before the stipulated timeframe of December 2022.
He said that out of the two channels of the tunnel, the work of one has already been completed while the other one is likely to be accomplished soon, most likely on Friday.
"Hopefully, the work of the tunnel will be completed much before December 2022. It's a matter of great happiness for the government. The main
physical work of the tunnel is nearing completion while the project didn't witness any revision, rather there will be save of some public funds," he
added.
Revealing some directives from the Prime Minister, Mannan said that the Premier once again stressed the need for ensuring Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) and Central Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) in the mills and factories to avert pouring of industrial wastes in rivers.
About the scope for taking more loans from foreign currency reserves for unleashing development works, the Prime Minister noted that if foreign
funding is not available against development projects, then the government could go for using its sound foreign currency reserves.
The Planning Minister said the Prime Minister in the meeting noted that the government should be fair to every area of the country so that there is no injustice to any area considering development works. "We're also very much aware of the matter," Mannan added.
The Premier stressed again for dredging rivers and canals to maintain navigability of those.
Referring to the approval of much talked about 2nd revision of Kushtia Medical College and Hospital with an additional cost of Taka 71.38 crore, Mannan said following allegations of alleged irregularities into the work of the Medical College, IMED launched an investigation and finally submitted its report.
Based on the findings of the report, Mannan said the Prime Minister asked the authorities concerned to punish those who are responsible for the alleged irregularities and deviations from the rules and regulations.
Planning Commission member Nasima Begum said that the Prime Minister also directed the authorities concerned to take action against those who are involved in the irregularities as per the investigation report.
The Premier noted that although some of the accused officials involved in the irregularities have already gone into retirement, but those officials would not be spared and thus would be brought to book under the Public Demands Recovery (PDR) Act.
She also asked the concerned executing agencies to finish the work as per the new timeframe.
Besides, Mannan said the ECNEC extended congratulations to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her recent 75th birthday and also for gaining SDG progress award given by the UN-sponsored Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
The other projects approved in the meeting are Sayedabad water supply project, phase-3, 1st revised with an additional cost of Taka 2,920.66 crore, Agriculture weather information system development, 1st revised with an additional cost of Taka 93.18 crore, Establishment of two agricultural training institutes at Jagannathpur and Mohonganj upazilas with Taka 356.08 crore, River bank protection, re-excavation of small rivers, canals, beels, addressing water logging at Pirganj upazila in Rangpur with Taka 165.59 crore, River bank protection on the both sides of Kirtinasha River at Shariutpur with Taka 319.33 crore, Boropukuria-Bogura-Kaliakoir 400kv line, 1st revised with an additional cost of Taka 729.89 crore and Erection of railway track from Khulna to Mongla Port, 2nd revised with an additional cost of Taka 459.27 crore.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) today approved a Taka 1,435.89 crore project to upgrade the Tangail-Delduar-Louhati-Saturia-Kawalipara-Kalampur bus stand road regional highway to due standard and width to ensure safe and uninterrupted road communication system...
www.theindependentbd.com
Riding on the largest shipments made of apparel goods, Bangladesh recorded its highest ever single-month export earnings of $4.16 billion in September.
The earnings were 37.99% higher than the $3.01 billion registered in September of last year, according to provisional data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) released yesterday.
"As economies began to open up, retailers needed goods in bulk to meet consumer demand. As people could not leave their homes for around two years, once the restrictions were lifted, they began to buy more," said Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
"Due to the sudden spike in demand, many suppliers had to charter flights to transport goods. This is reflected in Bangladesh's single month highest in terms of exports.
"But the increased demand also affected raw material suppliers, disrupting supply chains and increasing freight crises.
He added that where on average Bangladesh would export $3billion, the number now stood at $4billion, but cautioned that the rate of increase in costs of raw materials was not matched by the value gained by manufacturers.
He urged manufacturers to focus on diversification and not to accept orders at low prices.
Meanwhile, last month's earnings were also 39.17% more than the monthly target of $2.99 billion.
Bangladesh earned $11.02 billion from exports in the first quarter of this fiscal year, which is 11.37% higher than the same period last fiscal year when it earned $9.89 billion.
The quarterly earnings were also 5.65% higher than the target of $10.43 billion, according to the EPB.
Apparel shipment grew by 41.66% in September this year compared to the same month last year as per the data published by EPB.
The highest earnings, $1.90 billion, came from knitwear shipment, while woven items fetched $1.51 billion, both posting over 41% growth from a year-ago period.
Leather, agriculture, fish, pharmaceuticals and plastic products also posted impressive growth year-on-year.
Jute and jute goods, however, lost out, posting over 24% negative growth in September.
"The apparel earnings reflected the much needed recovery in exports as well as increased demand for clothing worldwide as the Covid-19 situation is improving. However, the increased freight cost and yarn price has also inflated export earnings to a certain extent," said Mohiuddin Rubel, a director of BGMEA.
Team Group Managing Director Abdullah Hil Rakib said some buyers were offering lower prices despite the increased costs.
"As an association, we are requesting manufacturers to negotiate for ethical prices," said Rakib, also a director of BGMEA.
"Retail outlets have reopened and online stores are also enjoying good business, which is why our buyers are asking us for quick shipments to respond to consumer behaviour. They are also purchasing extra products as their inventory was very low from last year…," he added.
Echoing Rakib, Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh President Md Saiful Islam said due to the pandemic, retail price of leather products had dropped almost 60%, but now it had increased by 20-25% compared to earlier.
He said across the globe, raw material prices and freight costs were increasing, but maintaining previous prices due to previously purchased stock of raw materials had made Bangladesh's export market more competitive.
RMG exports fetched $8126.38 million – a figure 11.48% higher than last year
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The pharmaceutical industry in the country is well-poised for a significant takeoff to grow threefold to an annual size of Tk1 trillion (1 lakh crore) in a decade, industry experts and analysts estimate.
A supportive policy adopted four decades ago together with the aspiration and talents of local entrepreneurs has created an over Tk27,000 crore pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh, which is meeting almost the entire domestic demand alongside exporting to over 100 countries.
In its research report entitled "UCB Asset Pharma Outlook in The Fresh Decade", UCB Asset Management recently said the industry would reach the Tk1 lakh crore milestone mainly riding on the growing local market demand.
Alongside a local market boom, the country's pharmaceutical sector is expected to rake in over $1.5 billion or around Tk13,000 crore in export earnings per year by 2030 – almost nine times higher than $169 million earned in FY21.
The projected annual exports will leave room for the local market to contribute to around 87% annual revenue of the industry in 2030.
The annual growth rate of the industry may go as high as 15-16% this decade, which has been 12.1% over the last five years.
The pandemic helped the industry achieve a staggering 18.56% growth in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
Dr Firoj Ahmed, professor and chairman of the Department of Pharmacy at Dhaka University, said due to urbanisation and pollution, people are increasingly facing various health problems alongside a rise in income. As a result, the per-capita expenditure in the health sector is also on the rise.
"Demographic factors and increased capacity to spend boost sales of any product. Our pharmaceutical industry is also in line and the growth potential of the sector is huge," he said.
The local market boom
"We are eying a significant demographic shift that will push up drug sales. For the first 40 years of your life, the food industry is trying to make you fat. In the next 40 years, the pharmaceutical industry is treating you for everything," said Md Risalat Huda, a co-author of the report.
Increasing healthcare expenditure, a demographic shift, and also the changing perception of modern medicine together will drive the local market growth, his report pointed out.
"Medicine heals doubts as well as diseases," Huda said while speaking on the changing perception of people regarding modern medicines as more people prefer modern drugs now.
According to the World Bank, among the regional peers, Bangladeshi people spend the least portion of their income on healthcare – only 2.4% to lag behind Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and, of course, Vietnam where the ratio is highest in the region, 6.4%.
By 2030, people aged over 50 old will account for 22.4% of the local population, which is around 17% now, analysts pointed out, adding due to lifestyle, food habits, adulteration, and pollution, health issues such as gastric, heart diseases, respiratory problems, neurological issues, and cancer are on the rise here.
As the population group depends more on drugs and people here are more positive about modern medicines, analysts expect Bangladesh to follow Vietnam's track of increasing healthcare spending.
Alimentary tract and metabolism, cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, oncological medicines are seeing increasing sales and are set to contribute to the upcoming market boom most.
Exports growing strong
"Bangladesh's pharmaceuticals exports grew three times to $169 million in the last one decade. But the real growth story is yet to be written," said Masum Alvi Chowdhury, another co-author of the UCB Asset report.
"We expect the annual exports will grow to $1.5 billion by 2030, securing a 24% compound annual average growth," he said.
Drugs manufactured by Bangladeshi companies have already entered all developed markets, including the USA, UK, Europe, and Australia, which have stringent regulations and the companies are busy with registering more drugs to export there.
Some top-tier pharmaceutical companies of the country, such as Square, Beximco and Renata, have well made their ways to the developed markets.
New export players, including DBL Pharma and ACI, too are investing for high revenues from the developed markets.
Currently, numerous policies, intermediaries, and existing generic drugs from competing countries are trimming the profit margin for Bangladeshi pharmaceutical exporters.
As Bangladeshi companies are more focused on the moderately regulated and unregulated markets, Southeast Asia and Africa are their biggest markets right now. But the good thing is they are gaining consumers' trust in the developed markets.
Companies are establishing supply chain networks abroad.
Masum Alvi said, "The developed markets are the next logical stop for our pharma growth train. Pharmaceutical products have a long way ahead to become a major export player."
Renata, the descendant of Pfizer Bangladesh, opened a subsidiary company in Ireland after Brexit.
ACI opened a US subsidiary to facilitate their export and Beximco's stock listing in London's over the counter market made it the only Bangladeshi share to be traded abroad.
Square Pharmaceuticals, the market leader, has built a factory in Kenya to compete in the $300 billion East African market. The foreign plant will also help Square mitigate any patent-related issue after the current waivers end by 2032.
Vaccine facility of Incepta, the second largest pharmaceutical player of the country, has been well praised by experts while Orion and some others are also investing for such facilities nowadays targeting Covid-19 vaccine production locally.
Beacon Pharmaceuticals has built its image as a major oncological drug maker in the country.
Four companies, including Square Pharmaceuticals, have registered their drug molecules both in the North American and UK jurisdictions.
For a higher profit margin against higher investments to comply with the stringent regulations like the ones by the US FDA, UK MHRA, the companies are focusing more on prescription drugs than over the counter drugs.
Middle-Eastern markets are also growing attractive and Beximco has entered the gulf market with several products launched in Kuwait.
M Shafiuzzaman, secretary to the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceuticals Industries, said local companies are exporting their products to 151 countries of the world, which may be a benchmark for many others.
"A few companies have already left giant footprints in US and UK markets and are expanding their reach every day while around 1,000 products are going to be registered in the international market for subsequent export, which will unlock huge potential."
TRIPS adherence may not affect the industry massively
Waiver from the World Trade Organisation's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement as a least developed country has been the most important aspect behind the Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry's growth and the facility will expire after 2032 as the country is graduating its economic status up.
Bangladeshi drug makers will be allowed to develop generic versions of the patented drugs until 2033 and even after that the TRIPS adherence is unlikely to affect the industry massively as over 85% of the generic drugs produced now by the industry are off-patent ones, which need no royalty payment to patent owner companies.
The slowed down pace in drug patent registration globally is unlikely to change the scenario drastically, especially for widely consumed medicines, the UCB Asset Management report anticipated.
"Even being TRIPS compatible after 2032, the availability and price of generic drugs might remain unaffected," it added.
The portion of drugs under patents will face a massive surge in price and under those circumstances Bangladesh can utilise some TRIPS flexibilities through incorporation of proper legislation into national laws.
Parallel importation of patented drugs which allows imports without patent owner's consent, compulsory licensing to companies by a local authority to produce patented drugs' generic version and meet local demand during certain understandable situation, and using the patented drug formula as soon as the patent expires are the flexibilities within TRIPS the industry may enjoy after 2032.
Backward linkage
The Bangladesh pharmaceuticals industry currently uses 97% of its raw material called active pharmaceutical ingredients (API).
The API Industrial Park in Munshiganj is expected to start production in the next year to reduce the import dependency to 80% by 2032.
It is not sure if the 27 companies securing plots there can deliver as per plans.
However, still, the 80% dependency on imported API will pose an external supply shock for the pharmaceutical industry.
If drug makers themselves produce APIs, they might secure a decent gross profit margin in various business contexts.
"Bangladesh is not a country that permits the pharmaceutical industry to charge exactly what the market will bear. Our drug regulators always put consumers before manufacturers," said Masum Alvi Chowdhury, stressing the need for cost control by the companies.
Alongside a local market boom, the country’s pharmaceutical sector is expected to rake in over $1.5 billion or around Tk13,000 crore in export earnings per year by 2030 – almost nine times higher than $169 million earned in FY21
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Avery Dennison has launched a manufacturing facility in Bangladesh in partnership with Youngone Corporation.
The 2,052-sqm unit, located in the Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) in Chattogram, will enable strong service quality and flexibility to local customers, the partners announced on Sunday.
Chairman and CEO of Youngone Corporation Kihak Sung said the investment in KEPZ will give a competitive edge to Avery Dennison in terms of speed and flexibility to serve its clients with reduced business cost and lead time.
"It gives me immense pleasure to welcome Avery Dennison as one of the investors in Korean EPZ (KEPZ), the leading eco-friendly EPZ in this region. Avery Dennison and Youngone will partner on backward linkage industries for apparel and textile," he said.
In today's fast-paced business world, a "do-it-alone" approach is not the best strategy for growth, Sung said.
Harnessing the strengths and abilities of others from different areas is one of the most strategic ways for businesses to promote innovation and solve complex challenges by merging talent, expertise and technology, he said.
"I'm confident that Avery Dennison, with its high-quality products and international prestige, will grow together with Youngone and other business partners. We'll extend all possible support and cooperation to Avery Dennison to move forward in achieving its business goal."
Highlighting the potential benefits of this project, Vice President and General Manager, South Asia, Avery Dennison Kenny Liu said this manufacturing unit is a remarkable step forward as they expand their capabilities to serve the local market, as well as global customers.
"We thank Youngone for their support to set up this site within the KEPZ, which enables us to better serve Youngone and our Chattogram customers and support their need for speed in today's highly dynamic market," Kenny Liu said.
The KEPZ, set up by Youngone in 1999 on the bank of Karnaphuli, hosts the largest (40Mw) rooftop solar project in Bangladesh, to power industrial activities with renewable energy, while over 2.5 million trees have been planted, covering about 400 species.
Avery Dennison has launched a manufacturing facility in Bangladesh in partnership with Youngone Corporation. The 2,052-sqm unit, located in the Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) in Chattogram, will enable strong service quality and flexibility to local customers, the partners announced on...
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Many mega construction projects have begun in the country over the past decade. As a result, the use of heavy machineries has increased enormously. As the market expands, many people are getting involved in the business of heavy machinery. Since such machinery has not been manufactured in the country as yet, traders import those and sell these locally.
Many companies have taken up business as distributors of various global heavy machinery manufacturers, resulting in the expansion of their market in Bangladesh.
Business persons said most of the heavy machinery being used in infrastructure construction is second-hand equipment. This machinery is imported after being used in other countries.
People concerned said there is a huge difference in prices between old and new machinery. That is why demand of old equipment is more. About 5,000 units of heavy machinery are imported every year. Import costs increased to about Tk 20 billion (2,000 crore) from less than Tk 10 billion (1,000 crore) in five years.
US firm Caterpillar controls a big portion of the construction equipment market. Bangla Trac Limited (BanglaCAT) is the sole authorized dealer of Caterpillar in Bangladesh. China’s Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG) is the third largest construction machinery company in the world and Earthmoving Solution Limited is its distributor in Bangladesh.
China’s SANY Heavy Industry ranks fourth in construction machinery in the world and Powervision Limited is its local distributor. Energypac and Runner bring the equipment of UK’s JCB and South Korea’s Hyundai respectively.
ACI Motors and Metal Motors ventured into this business several years ago. Metal Motors is the local distributors of India’s Escorts Construction Equipment.
Managing director of Metal Motors Sadid Jamil told Prothom Alo, “We have received supply orders of Tk 1 billion (100 crore) equipment so far. We have received these orders from international firms since many road construction and other projects are on. Besides, private firms are also purchasing the equipment.”
ACI brings equipment of China’s Lovol, Switzerland’s Case and Japan’s Kobelco. ACI is also the distributor of India’s Indo Power.
Managing director of ACI Motors Subrata Ranjan Das told Prothom Alo, “We are bringing machinery from abroad as per buyers’ requirements. There is an increase in clients for new equipment instead of old machinery. Currently, we sell equipment worth over Tk 1 billion (100 crore) annually and the demand is on the rise.”
Sources said there is a 1 per cent tariff on import of heavy machinery for customers and 5 per cent for companies. Big firms import the machinery with the help of these distributors and pay the latter a certain commission.
Traders said construction is underway in a number of mega projects including several special economic zones and power plants, Padma bridge, metro rail, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Karnaphufuli Tunnel, Maheshkhali deep seaport and third terminal project of Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
Besides, construction and repairing work of more roads and railways are also on to improve the communications. On top of that, local and foreign entrepreneurs are opening big factories in the private sector. Real estate companies have also increasingly been using heavy machinery in construction.
Excavators, loaders, wheel dozers, soil compactors, pipe layers and backhoe loaders are among the types of heavy machinery being used in various government and private projects.
Roads and Highways Department, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Armed Forces, local and foreign contractor firms and various government and private agencies are the main customers of these heavy machineries.
BanglaCAT is the largest seller of heavy equipment in the country. Head of Machine Sales at BanglaCAT Sakhawat Hossain told Prothom Alo, “Awareness is growing among local contractors and construction firms but customers are still more interested in old equipment due to low prices.”
People concerned from the sector said, unlike other vehicles, heavy machinery does not require a movement permit. That is why there is no loan or leasing facility to procure such equipment. The government would be able to earn revenue by registering heavy machinery. It would also be possible to take legal action if an accident occurs. Besides, if a registration process starts, loan facilities would be available to purchase the machinery. So, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) can launch registration of the equipment, they added.
Many companies have taken up business as distributors of various global heavy machinery manufacturers, resulting in the expansion of their market in Bangladesh
en.prothomalo.com
3rd terminal of Shahjalal Airport.
