Cement industry booming as real estate gets new life

The rising demand of construction and resurgent real estate in recent times has helped the cement sector flourish, insiders have said. The domestic demand for cement has been surging from 5.0% to 8.0% over the last three to four years, boosted by industrial and construction sectors, they said. Secretary of Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association Sheikh Ashraf said most of the cement companies are doing well, thanks to the growing demand and that companies are also going to get more good days sooner, despite a competitive market. He said the sector also can reach another milestone if the plan to build roads is approved by the government. About export market, he said local companies export to only seven states of the eastern regions of India. Over the last three to four years, they have exported around 800,000 to one million tons of cement per year.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/07/25/147225

Premier Cement takes up BDT 4.0 billion expansion plan

Premier Cement Mills plans to double its production capacity with an approximate investment of BDT 4.0 billion to meet the growing demand for the construction material. The company’s current production capacity is 6,000 tons a day, which will be increased to 16,000 tons through the expansion plan approved yesterday at a board meeting. The cement industry is growing by around 22.5% a year, mainly driven by infrastructure development, said Md Shafiqul Islam Talukder, chief financial officer of Premier Cement. The expansion, which will be completed by 2018, will also help the listed cement manufacturer to make more revenue and profit, he said. Of the expected investment of BDT 4.0 billion, BDT 2.1 billion will be used for machinery and equipment import and the remaining BDT 1.9 billion for construction and other local purposes. Commercial production at the extended unit can be started soon after the completion of the expansion by 2018, Talukder said.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/premier-cement-takes-BDT-400cr-expansion-plan-1258846

Delhi seeks duty waiver on billet export to Bangladesh

India has requested Dhaka to allow duty-free export of their non-alloy steel billet to Bangladesh through a reversal of the recently levied regulatory duty and value added tax (VAT) on the item. To back up their desire, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka in a letter to the Bangladesh government cited the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) rules. The government has withdrawn the zero-duty benefit for the item under the SAFTA agreement in the budget for current fiscal year. In the budget for fiscal year 2016-17, the government has introduced 20% regulatory duty and 15% VAT to protect the domestic industry. However, it has waived the customs duty (CD) on the product. Customs officials said import of billet is subject to duty of BDT 11,500 per ton for import from India under the current duty structure for both SAFTA and non-SAFTA countries. Until FY 2015-16, import of the item had required BDT 7,000 per ton for other countries, apart from India.

Source:
http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/07/25/147271
http://newagebd.net/242272/delhi-wants-duty-free-benefit-billet-export/

Government moves to expand LPG use

The government is going to take an initiative to expand the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in different sectors of the country, officials said. The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation will conduct a survey by an international firm to assess the impact, they said. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division late last month. The decision is to convert the country’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) into LPG for motor vehicles as the gas reserve is depleting. Besides, a policy has been formulated for establishing LPG bottling plant under the public-private initiative. The LPG Bottling Policy 2016 has been framed to preserve the decreasing energy resources of the country. The country consumes more than 0.1 million tons of LPG a year. Of the amount, about 80% comes from import. The rest is produced by state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/07/25/147226

Bangladesh Shipping Corporation seeks authority to procure ship

Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) has sought authority over procuring ship from foreign countries. For allowing it to selling and purchasing ship, the state-owned entity has proposed to bring changes in Bangladesh Shipping Corporation Act, officials said yesterday. The proposal will be placed today at the cabinet meeting for approval. Another proposal for raising the paid up capital of the corporation will also being placed in the cabinet for consideration. The BSC will propose to raise its paid capital to BDT 3.5 billion from existing BDT 1.4 billion. Bangladesh is heavily dependent on foreign carriers, as the foreign ships visit the country’s ports annually. An official said the BSC needs to enhance its capacity for procurement of more ships in order to increasing volume of export and import of the country. In February last, the government had formed a committee to revise the draft of Bangladesh Shipping Corporation Act 2016 as the cabinet division returned the draft asking for updating some of its rules.

Source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2016/jul/25/bsc-seeks-authority-procure-ship#sthash.A7ziNfAy.dpuf

Ifad Autos to start auto assembly in September

Ifad Autos, which is building the country’s largest auto assembly plant at BDT 900.0 million, is expected to roll out its first vehicle in September. Initially, the plant aimed to assemble 4,000 trucks and buses a year, but revised the annual target higher at 7,000 vehicles, buoyed by the growth of the local market. Primarily, the plant will assemble heavy buses and trucks of Ashok Leyland, a leading Indian automobile manufacturer. Ifad, which was previously Ashok Leyland’s sole distributor in Bangladesh for about three decades, is now its strategic partner in the country. Ifad provides a full line of heavy duty trucks, buses and special service vehicles from Ashok Leyland of India. Ashok Leyland is concentrated on heavy buses and trucks. It has presence in the entire truck range, starting from 7.5 tons to 49 tons. Recently, the company has tied up with Nissan Motors of Japan to make light commercial vehicles or LCVs of less than 7.5 tons.

Source:
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/ifad-start-auto-assembly-sep-1258837
http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/07/25/147213

Ashok Leyland to set up plant in Bangladesh

Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland has firmed up its plans to strengthen overseas presence as part of its vision to garner one-third of revenues from exports, reports PTI from Chennai. The city-based heavy commercial vehicles maker is setting up an assembly facility in Kenya, another one in Bangladesh through a partner and also expanding its UAE unit, Ashok Leyland chief financial officer Gopal Mahadevan said. “We have firmed up our plans to set up assembly plant in Kenya. We are going to invest there. We will start with 3,000 units (in terms of plant capacity). Investments, it is not going to take more than $5 million,” he told reporters.

Source: http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/52775

Robi-Airtel merger awaits PMO’s nod

The merger proposal of Robi-Airtel has been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for final approval incorporating a mandatory merger fee of BDT 1.0 billion. The government decided to charge Robi Axiata Limited a total of BDT 6.1 billion as merger and spectrum fees as the operator is set to be merged with Airtel. Posts and Telecommunications Division yesterday forwarded a summary of the merger proposal to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her consent as she is also the minister for the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, an official of the concerned division told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. The amount includes BDT 5.1 billion as spectrum charge and BDT 1.0 billion merger fee. Apart from the merger fee, he said the telecom division has also fixed BDT 338.0 million for per Megahertz of 2G spectrum. Earlier on July 13, an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith finalized the merger fees and spectrum prices. On January 29, Robi and Airtel signed a merger agreement in Kuala Lumpur to venture into a joint business operation in Bangladesh. The joint venture will be named as Robi.

Source:
http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2016/jul/25/robi-airtel-merger-awaits-pmos-nod#sthash.LmuhZsjy.dpuf
http://newagebd.net/242269/robi-airtel-merger-proposal-sent-pms-consent/

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