Tanzania Square Pharma’s new export destination

Square Pharma, a leading medicine manufacturing industry in the country, has recently become the first Bangladeshi company that has been allowed to export its products to Tanzania, according to a press release. The company has successfully been qualified for the GMP Inspection conducted by the GMP Inspectors from the Tanzanian Food & Drugs Administration (TFDA).
Square Pharma views this as a golden opportunity for the Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry. Tanzania was heavily dependent on medicines from MNCs and Indian companies.

Source: the Daily Star

Panchagarh, Northern Bangladesh sees a good increase of small tea gardens

The number of small tea gardens are rapidly increasing in Panchagarh district. Sources said at present there are 215 mini tea gardens in Panchagarh district while there are only 13 medium-size tea gardens and 18 big tea estates. Generally gardens comprising one to five acres of land are regarded as mini tea gardens while gardens comprising five to twenty acres of land are regarded as medium gardens and tea gardens comprising above twenty acres of land are called big tea-estates. The sources added according to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Tea Board Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) is providing loan to the tea-gardens in the region.

When contacted an official of the Tea Board in Panchagarh said so far 1815 acres of land have come under tea cultivation in Panchagarh district and the area of tea cultivation is increasing steadily. He further said land of Panchagarh district is very tea-friendly. As a result more and more people from other districts as well as local entrepreneurs are investing in this sector.

Source:The Financial Express.

Nrityanchal Dance Festival begins Jan 25 at Dhaka, Bangladesh

A four-day dance festival, organised by the dance group Nrityanchal will begin from January 25 at the National Theatre Hall of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at Segun Bagicha in the city.

   The organisers, at a press conference on Wednesday, said that the programmes would start everyday at 6:30pm. Mohammad Jahangir, Shibli Mohammad and Shamim Ara Nipa of Nrityanchal were present at the briefing.

   They said that they would arrange a reception for veteran dance gurus Kartik Singh of Sylhet and Kunjalal Sarkar of Rangpur on the inaugural day of the festival.

   A multimedia dance musical titled ‘Tin Kanyar Dan’, directed by Shamim Ara Nipa, will be staged on the day. The dance performance will present three mythical and legendary women ‘Dhroupadi’, ‘Behula’ and ‘Sakhina’.

   ‘Bhanusingher Padabali’, directed Samina Hussain Prema and produced by the dance group Bhabna will be staged on the second day of the festival.

   On the third day, Sukalyan and Entourage of Kilkata will present the dance drama ‘Parijayi’ and other contemporary dance numbers, which will be directed by Sukalyan Bhattacharya. The organisers will also arrange a soiree of the classical instrument Esraj, to be played by AFM Ekram Hossain.

   On the concluding day, January 28, Nrityanchal will present the folk dance drama ‘Mahuya’, choreographed by Shamim Ara Nipa. Shibli Mohammad and Nipa will perform in the dance drama.

   According to the organisers, around 200 students of the Nrityanchal will take part in the performances in the festival.

   Tickets will be available at Sagar Publishers on Bailey Road, Pathak Samabesh at the Aziz Super Market in Shahbagh, Nrityanchal School in Manik Mia Avenue and VIP Studio at Gulshan-2.

Source: New Age

Power Development Board – Bangladesh signs deals for 5 rental power plants

The Power Development Board of Bangladesh on Wednesday signed agreements with two companies for the installation of five costly rental power plants within 120 days to add 200 MW of electricity to the national grid by this summer, when the demand for power reaches its peak.

   However, the fate of the agreements for two other rental plants with a combined capacity of 60 MW has become uncertain as the two other selected companies demanded changes in some terms of the agreements at the last moment before signing them.

   The representatives of the PDB and a consortium of Energy Prima, Hosaf Meter Industry and Geo-Spectrum Group signed four agreements for the installation of the Shahjibazar 50 MW, Kumargaon 50 MW, Fenchuganj 50 MW and Bogra 20 MW power plants on a build-own-operate basis, while the representatives of the board and a joint venture of Kaltimax Energy and GBB Power signed an agreement for setting up the 30 MW Bhola power plant.

   The newly appointed special assistant to the chief adviser for the power and energy ministry, M Tamim, the power secretary, M Fouzul Kabir Khan, and other high officials of the Power Division, PDB and Power Cell were present at the signing

   ceremony at DESA Bhaban.

   The signing of agreements for two diesel-run rental power plants — the 40 MW Khulna and 20 MW Bherama plants — could not be completed on Wednesday as the two selected companies, Agreeko International Projects and Alstom Power International, demanded changes in some terms of the agreement on penalty issues.

   The representatives of Alstom and Agreeko were discussing the terms of the agreements with their headquarters in the USA and Singapore till the filing of this report at 9pm.

   Fouzul told reporters that they had completed negotiations with all the four companies for setting up seven power plants with a combined capacity of 260 MW. ‘I hope that agreements for the two other plants will be signed soon. We have made our position clear to the selected companies and are not going to change it. They have to drop their demands if they want the work order,’ he told reporters.

   Fouzul said that around 260 MW of electricity would be added to the national grid by mid-May from these seven power plants.

   The PDB will pay 4.517 US cents for each unit of power to Shahjibazar, 4.148 cents to Kumargaon, 4.65 cents to Fenchuganj, 3.6 cents to Bogra, 5.198 cents to Bhola, 19.71 cents to Khulna and 21.77 cents to Bheramara power plants.

   Fouzul said that although they know the electricity from these plants will be costly in comparison with the price paid to PDB’s own power plants, they had no other option but to set up the plants to tackle the electricity crisis in the summer. ‘A number of large power plants will come into operation by the next two to three years. In the meantime we need emergency supply of electricity to reduce power shortage,’ he said.

   Tamim said that the price of the electricity of short-term power plants was usually higher than that of long-term power plants that are set up for twenty years. ‘I think these contracts are not bad as the prices of electricity from these rental plants are not that high,’ he said.

   Both Tamim and Fouzul hoped that they would be able to mitigate somewhat the electricity crisis in the summer with the help of these plants.

 

Source: New Age