Tenders for privatising 16 SoEs from Jan next year

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Naim-Ul-Karim
The government will start floating international tenders for privatising 16 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from January next year, sources said.
The SoEs, sources said, includes one each from the jute, sugar and food, and chemical sectors, and seven from textiles and steel and engineering sectors.
Sources said the office of the Chief Adviser (CA) asked the Privatisation Commission (PC) to expedite the valuation process for finalising the assets and liabilities of the SOEs.
"We are expecting that the evaluation of assets and liabilities of the 16 SOEs will be completed by December and tenders would be floated by January," a senior official of the PC said.
He said the PC engaged its enlisted Chartered Accountant (CA) firms for carrying out the valuation of assets and liabilities of the SOEs and asked them to submit reports by December.
The SOEs to be privatised are Daulatpur Jute Mills Ltd in Khulna, Magura Textile Mills Ltd in Magura, Handloom Services Centre in Narsingdi, Service Facilities Center in Brahmanbaria, Rajshahi Silk Factory in Rajshahi, Thakurgaon Silk Factory in Thakurgaon, Dhaka Leather Company Ltd in Dhaka, North Bengal Paper Mills Ltd in Pabna, Chittagong Chemical Complex in Chittagong, Karnafuly Rayon and Chemical Ltd in Rangamati, Bangladesh Can Company Ltd (66.67% shares) in Chittagong, National Sugar Mills Ltd in Kishoreganj, Particle Board and Veneer Plant in Chittagong, Arco Industries Ltd in Chittagong (11.5% Share), Rangamati Textile Mills Ltd in Rangamati, and Khulna News Print Mills Ltd in Khulna, sources said.
When asked, sources said CA firms will be appointed soon for evaluating the financial position of five other SOEs-- Lumber Processing Complex in Rangamati, Karnafuli Timber Extraction Unit in Rangamati, Procurement and Sales Organization in Rangamati, S. A. F. Industries in Jessore (13.63% shares) and Aroma Tea Ltd in Chittagong.
They said the valuation of assets and liabilities of four other SOEs --Tangail Cotton Mills Ltd in Tangail, Chittaranjan Cotton Mills Ltd in Narayanganj, Textile Facilities Center (TFC) in Noakhali and Monowar Jute Mills Ltd in Siddirganj Narayanganj -- have remained suspended following court orders.
The government has earmarked a total of 25 SOEs for privatisation, sources said.
Sources said although the SoEs had potentials to prosper but are getting sick due to inadequate working capital, loan liabilities, marketing and management inefficiency, and resource utilisation below capacity.
Since the establishment of the Privatization Board in 1993 followed by the Privatization Commission in 2000, sources said 74 SOEs were privatised of which 54 were done through outright sale and 20, through offloading of shares.