Weekly News Clippings (20 June, 2013)

Rajuk knocks down illegal part of mall (The Daily Star, June 20, 2013)

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) demolished the illegal portion of a 15-storied shopping mall encroaching on the pavement of Mouchak intersection, one of the busiest intersections in the capital. The builder of Fortune Shopping Mall had started constructing the illegal shops in violation of the building’s approved design illegally occupying the pavement near the Mouchak footbridge. Global Engineers and Developers Ltd, the construction company of the shopping mall, started building the illegal shops at its entry gate several months ago. Eight of the 11 directors of Fortune Shopping Mall own Global Engineers and Developers Ltd.

Grameen Bank faces uncertain future (Dhaka Tribune, June 19, 2013)

Bangladesh’s pioneering microcredit organisation faces an uncertain future after a commission proposed the government to break up the Nobel-winning Grameen bank which was founded by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus. The commission has released a working paper on restructuring the microlender which has lent more than Tk 88,000 crore ($11billion) to millions of people – mainly women – to help them gain financial independence. The paper recommends that Grameen Bank should be broken up into 19 separate organisations with a headquarters, resembling the erstwhile Bangladesh Shilpa Bank (BSB) or Rural Electrification Board (REB) in order to give the government absolute control over the microcredit organisation. The move comes at a time when the successful microcredit model of Grameen Bank is being replicated not only in the developing world, but also in developed economies.

Importers anticipate price stability during Ramadan (Dhaka Tribune, June 19, 2013)

Each year, during the month of Ramadan, an increase in consumption triggers an increase in demand leading to a rise in the prices of essentials, especially food. Supply shortage, both natural and man-made carries the products beyond the affordability of the lower-middle class. However, this year, private importers have started to bring in large consignments of edible items with less than a month to go for Ramadan. Already 14 vessels carrying 450,000 tonnes of food have arrived at the Chittagong Port.

Internet for rural people (The Daily Star, June 19, 2013)

The government has approved a project worth Tk 499 crore to bring all the upazilas under the optical fibre cable network to allow people living in rural areas access the internet. At a meeting, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the project under which internet connection will be provided to 290 out of the 486 upazilas in Bangladesh. According to the planning ministry, a total of 179 upazilas are now under the optical fibre cable network provided by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and other projects.

Gender discrimination persists in banks (New Age, June 18, 2013)

Banks are reluctant to hire women to avoid granting them maternity leave and providing them with transport facilities if they work overtime. So far only 29 banks had so allowed their female staff to take maternity leave. According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, in the 47 scheduled banks in Bangladesh, there are only 9 to 19.85 per cent females employed in various departments of the banks, as of December 31, 2012. Of the total staff in the banking industry, the percentages of female staff at various levels were:

·         17.80 at entry level.

·         15.11 at mid level

·         11.15 at senior management level.

·         14.17 per cent as board members.  

Bangladesh Factories’ Safety Issues Run Deep: Survey (The Irrawaddy, June 17, 2013)

According to a survey conducted by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), over 10 percent of 200 garment factories were so dangerous that were ordered to shut down their operations. Some of the owners who are among the more safety conscious in the industry volunteered their buildings for inspection and even paid for the surveys. The conditions in the remaining 4,000 garment factories however, could be far worse, said Mujibur Rahman, head of the university’s department of civil engineering. The engineers found that huge numbers of the factories were housed in commercial or residential buildings not designed to withstand the vibrations and heavy loads of industrial uses. Machinery vibrations were one of the causes for the collapse of Rana Plaza.

Black money in real estate to push land prices up further (The Financial Express, June 16, 2013)

The provision of “whitening” black money in the real estate sector would push the prices of land and flats beyond the reach of most people. Businessmen and experts want the government to allow the undisclosed money in sectors which generate more employment, like the manufacturing sector instead of the real estate sector. "The prices of land and flats have already been out of reach for most of the people of the country," said Executive (PRI) Director Ahsan H Mansur Policy Research Institute (PRI), adding that the penal tax should be higher than 10 per cent. President of Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said that there would not be any new land for setting up factories in the future if the proposed facility is approved.

Wetland, water bodies disappear fast as govt drags its feet on DAP (The Financial Express, June 15, 2013)

Real estate companies and unscrupulous individuals have been destroying wetlands and grabbing water bodies while the government is yet to take firm measures to counter such violations. Experts and urban planners are expressing their doubts over the success of the government's planned actions as bureaucratic tangles have slowed down the process of its implementation. A number of committees and sub-committees were formed with political ministers heading those rather than technical experts. The DAP of Dhaka is the third component of Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP), popularly known as the master plan of the metropolis. The DMDP was initiated in 1992, completed in 1995 and officially gazetted in 1997. But Rajuk started working on it in November 2004. In spite of the delay, it also extended the deadline three to four more times, the latest extension expiring at the end of June. The delays resulted in filling up of vast low-lying areas in and around the city increasing the threat of environmental hazards, flooding and water logging in the city.

Tesco stops sourcing from a Bangladesh factory due to safety concerns (Reuters, London, June 15, 2013) Tesco one of the largest retailers in the word has stopped sourcing clothes from a factory in Bangladesh after discovering serious problems with the safety of a building. The retailer has promised to conduct structural surveys of all the factories it sources from and has urged the owners of Liberty Fashions to stop its operations and to evacuate the premises to ensure the safety of its workers. It had also announced its decision to the relevant authorities, including the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BMGEA), along with other customers. Tesco said it had sourcing from 15 factories housed in risky buildings in Bangladesh in the past 12 months.

Chevron to build LPG plant in BD (The Financial Express, June 14, 2013)

Chevron Bangladesh is planning to build a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant in the Bangladesh. The US firm has submitted a proposal to the Energy Division under the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources to build the LPG plant near its Bibiyana gas field in the Sylhet region. Chevron is the operating the largest gas-producing field in the country with an average output of around 820 million cubic feet of gas per day from the 12 wells.