128 Titas officials, employees to hand over ill-gotten property to govt worth million 5.7$
One hundred and twenty-eight officials and employees of the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited have reportedly agreed to hand over to the government their property worth about Tk 400 crore earned through corruption.
The assurance was given in writing to the special task force the national coordination committee on serious crimes and corruption assigned to look after the activities of the company.
The task force opened its office on the first floor of the company’s headquarters at Kawran Bazar on October 25, 2007.
The task force chief, Lieutenant Colonel ATM Hasan Ahmed, said they were interviewing 15 officials and employees of the company on an average a day.
Sources in the task force said they had so far interviewed 209 employees and 79 officials. One hundred and eighteen employees submitted their wealth statements of which 10 were sent to the Anti-Corruption Commission. The statements of 10 officials were also sent to the commission, the sources said.
The list included the names of four former managing directors and two deputy managing directors, the sources said.
The task force has so far listed about 1,000 officials and employees for their alleged involvement in corruption and 175 of them have already been transferred out of Dhaka.
The transferred employees included CBA leaders AKM Fazlul Haque, Shahanoor Hossain, Bachchu Sheikh, Gafur Patwary, Shah Alam, Zulfiquar Matin, Abe Kawsar, Tofail Ahmed Chowdhury, Rustom Ali, Mohammad Ali and Motaleb Howlader.
Source: Newage
New invest $1.395m in KEPZ
A Bangladeshi company, ZANT Accessories Limited will, set up a garments accessories industry in the Karnaphuli Export Procession Zone with an involvement of $1.395 million. This local company will produce accessories for shoes, caps, bags and garments items. The enterprises will create employment opportunity for 73 Bangladeshi nationals. An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and the ZANT Accessories Ltd in BEPZA Complex in the Dhaka city on Monday.
Source: Newage
The Power Development Board on Monday signed a contract with a foreign company, for setting up a 40 MW diesel-based rental power plant at Khulna.
The Power Development Board on Monday signed a contract with a foreign company, for setting up a 40 MW diesel-based rental power plant at Khulna.
The representatives of PDB and Agreeko International Projects of Singapore signed the costly rental power agreement at the DESA Bhaban .
Agreeko was selected for setting up a 20 MW power plant at Bheramara. Around 240 MW of electricity is likely to be added to the national grid by mid-May with the signing of agreements for the Khulna power plant and five others.
Source: NewAge
Dhaka international plastic fair begins in city
The 5th Dhaka international plastic, packaging and printing industrial fair kicked off at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre in the Dhaka city on Monday.
The fair aims at boosting the local as well as international market of plastic products, raw materials and machineries.
Inaugurating the fair, the education and commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, said diversified and quality products are needed to capture the international as well as local market of plastic and packaging industry.
The Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the Es Event Management of Malaysia and the Yorkers Trade and Marketing Service Company of Hong Kong are jointly organising the four-day fair.
He said plastic industry had some problem in issues of banking, finance and environmental releasing certificate and the government was working to resolve them.
The BPGMEA president, Jasim Uddin, said local plastic products was now facing competition with the foreign products in the international market and producing quality products to win over the challenges.
More than 300 exhibitors of different countries, including Austria, China, Greece, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the UAE, the USA and Taiwan, are participating along with about 40 local companies.
The fair will remain open from 12:00 noon to 8:00pm till January 31 to all with Tk 20 entry fee.
Source: Newage
Frosty Forest – Rema Kalinga, Episode -2
Now we could hear birds waking up, breaking the muted silence — voices we could barely recognize. Then we heard the red jungle fowls crowing. Yesterday evening we also heard their voices, we were again hearing them today. A fowl was cooing somewhere very near. We left the trail and softly stepped into the forest. It was easy to walk without making a noise because the fallen leaves were now dew-sodden. Visibility was low because of the dense undergrowth. The fowl was now very near. We squinted our eyes and slowed down. Then we saw it — a bright blob of red, golden and deep green. The bird saw us at the same instant and flapped its wings like pistons. It took it a few seconds to rise above the bush and vanish away.We pushed deeper into the forest and meandered round the thick bushes. Wood-spiders had woven huge early morning cobwebs. The big spiders were sprawled in the middle and several times we got entangled in the webs.
More Read: http://thedailystar.net/holiday/2008/01/02/holiday.htm
USA-China Industry to invest $2.5m in CEPZ
World Ye Dress Pants Limited, a US-Chinese company in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone, is to expand its garments accessories unit with more investment and creation of new jobs for the Bangladeshis. The hundred per cent foreign-owned company will enhance their production capacity with additional investment of $2.5 million, totalling the amount to $5 million, a press release of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority said in Dhaka on Sunday. At present, 998 Bangladeshis are working in this factory and the job opportunities for an additional 500 are expected to be created after implementation of the expansion programme, the press release said. A lease agreement to this effect was signed between the BEPZA and the company recently. BEPZA executive chairman Brigadier General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf, among others, was present on the occasion.
Source — BSS
Pran to build first foreign plant in India
Pran, one of Bangladesh’s leading processed-food and beverage companies, is to build its first foreign factory in India, taking advantage of the country’s recent decision to lift its ban on Bangladeshi investment. The plant will be built in the north-eastern Indian state of Tripura. It will initially produce jelly and drinks and is expected to come into operation by 2009 with an annual turnover of around Tk100 crore. It will supply the markets of northeast India — Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh — known as ‘Seven Sisters’, said a senior official of Pran Exports Ltd.
The company chose Tripura due to its closeness to Bangladesh. “We will be able to transport raw materials for our products from Bangladesh to Tripura very easily due to the easy communications,” said Paramuddin. He said there is similarity in lifestyle, culture and economy between the people of Bangladesh and these areas of India, adding that this is one of the main reasons to choose Tripura.
Negotiations have been going on between the parties concerned about acquiring land for the project. India will allocate a 10-acre industrial plot for the purpose. The Indian government has also assured Pran of banking, electricity and other infrastructure facilities. Initially Pran will employ nearly 200 people, including Bangladeshi and Indian nationals. Pran exports its agro-processed foods and drinks to nearly 70 countries, including USA, UK, Sweden, Cyprus, Australia, Malaysia, Italy, Germany, South Korea, and some Middle East, East and West African countries.
Source: http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=20358
Rajpunnah fest in Bandarban tomorrow
Rajpunnah, the traditional festival of tribal Bomang community to pay annual land tax to the king, will be celebrated in Bandarban tomorrow.
The much-awaited festival, introduced in 1875, is organised mainly for land tax collection from the inhabitants after harvesting ‘jhum’ crops.
To mark the occasion, a three-day folk fair will be held. The 15th chief (Raja) of Bomang circle Aoung Sue Prue Choudhury will formally collect tax from the inhabitants in a traditional way.
The king will arrive at the Raj Durbar with the Royal guests amidst sound of bugle. His courtiers and other token soldiers, all attired in traditional dresses, will formally receive the king.
Source: Newage
Boeing renews offers to modernise Biman fleet
American aircraft maker Boeing has renewed an offer to modernise Biman’s age-old fleet by providing the ailing national carrier with eight new generation planes, a top airline official said Tuesday. The Chicago company can supply four B-777 and B-787 Dreamliner between 2013 and 2017 at a price of around $1.8 billion should Biman place the order by March 15, chief executive of the airlines, MA Momen, said. Airlines officials said Biman is ready to place the order as Boeing has said it would arrange funding from the US Exim Bank. The company would be supplying the commercial planes in two phases-the first one in 2013 and the second in 2017, they added The board of Biman had earlier agreed in principle to place the order for the planes after Boeing sent a price quotation, asking the Bangladeshi carrier to respond by January 15. Of the eight aircraft, Boeing has proposed that it would supply four aircraft by 2013 if both parties agreed on a deal. An aviation expert calculated the value of the order in the territory of US$1.8-$2.0 billion, analysing the Boeing’s catalogue prices.
At present, Biman owns three types of aircraft — four DC10-30s, four F-28s, and three A310-300s. Among them, DC10-30s are aged over 28 years. The airline authority stopped flying the F-28s after they proved to be fuel inefficient and too costly to maintain.
BASIS Softexpo to begin in Dhaka February 14
Local software companies expect the upcoming BASIS Softexpo 2008 to yield a good number of outsourcing and joint venture initiatives with the largest number of foreign companies and delegates participating in this year’s fair.
The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, the national trade body of software and ICT service companies, is going to organize the five-day event from February 14 at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre in association with international trade bodies.
Organisers said at a press conference on Tuesday that about 50 foreign companies and delegates from five countries will take part alongside the local companies at this year’s fair.
The convener of the exhibition, TIM Nurul Kabir said that they are expecting a good number of match making session with the delegates and local companies, during which local software companies will get an opportunity for outsourcing and partnership with foreign companies.
Rafiqul Islam Rowly, president of BASIS, said, ‘we have a serious image problem in the international market and our strategy is to bring the potential foreign companies to the country through this fair so that they can see for themselves the progress in our ICT sector’.
Denmark will be the theme country for this year’s event and IT Industry Association of Denmark will be the association partner of BASIS Softexpo 2008.
Danish Federation of Small and Medium Industries, Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, UK Trade and Investment, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), will all be strategic partners of the exposition.
Rafiqul Islam said, ‘Denmark is the theme country for this year because they are emerging as the engine of our joint venture and outsourcing businesses in the software industry.’
Natahalia Feinberg, chargé d’affaires of Danish Embassy in Dhaka, said around 15 Denmark-Bangladesh joint ventures had been established in the country and many Danish companies are also outsourcing software development mainly in architecture, graphic design and 3D animation to Bangladesh.
She said about 15-20 Danish firms are coming to the expo and she hoped that the number of partnerships and joint venture will increase this year.
Tomohiro Kinomoto, representative of Japan External Trade Organisation in Dhaka, said Japanese companies are looking for outsourcing partners in Bangladesh. He said a total of six Japanese companies will participate at this year’s exposition in their bid to find outsourcing partners.
Kevin Ringham of the UK Trade and Investment at the British High Commission in Dhaka said there are opportunities for UK and Bangladeshi companies to work together. UK Trade and Investment will promote UK companies that collaborate with Bangladeshi ones, he said .
Shakhwat Ali, director of Export Promotion Bureau, Feroz Mahmood, country representative of Microsoft and Mostofa Jabbar, president of Bangladesh Computer Samity were present at the press conference.
The theme of this year event is ‘Get, Gain and Grow’.
Around 200 software and IT service companies are expected to participate at the fair. The exhibition will be categorised into zones such as business software, outsourcing, multimedia, animation and games, e-commerce, e-governance, hardware technology solution, telecommunication and networking, and a number of other categories.
The expo will also feature a Best IT Use Award, IT job fair and seminars on IT issues like e-commerce, e-governance, cyber laws, access to finance, and human resource development.
Organisers expect about one lakh visitors at the exhibition.
Source: Newage
