AB Bank provides Tk. 1.81b credit facility to Ananda Shipyard
FE Report | Friday, 29 August 2008
AB Bank signed a Tk. 1.81 billion credit facility agreement with Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd. (ASSL) Thursday at the Banks's corporate head office in the city. ASSL, the largest shipyard in the private sector in Bangladesh, has undertaken a US$12.50 million shipyard expansion project.
With the completion of the expansion programme, expected to be done by February 2009, the shipyard's output will reach to 30000 tonnes from existing 10000 tonnes, said a press release.
Currently ASSL has export orders of 22 vessels worth of US $ 150m. Out of them one ship has already been handed over to its German buyer, six more are expected to be delivered to Ministry of Transportation and Communication, Govt. of Republic of Mozambique by September 2008 and the rest by 2012.
With global rise in the demand for new ships, especially smaller ones with a capacity below 15,000 dead weight tons (DWT), Bangladesh has immense potential to earn billions of foreign currency. As traditional shipbuilding countries such as Japan, China, South Korea and Vietnam are no longer interested in building ships less than 20,000 DWT Bangladesh has come to international attention for shipbuilding option.
President and Managing Director of AB Bank Kaiser A. Chowdhury and ASSL group Managing Director Afruja Bari signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies. Chairman of ASSL Dr. Abdullah Bari, Deputy Managing Directors of AB Bank Niaz Habib and Faruq M Ahmed were present during the signing ceremony. Senior official of both the companies were also present at the signing ceremony.
With the completion of the expansion programme, expected to be done by February 2009, the shipyard's output will reach to 30000 tonnes from existing 10000 tonnes, said a press release.
Currently ASSL has export orders of 22 vessels worth of US $ 150m. Out of them one ship has already been handed over to its German buyer, six more are expected to be delivered to Ministry of Transportation and Communication, Govt. of Republic of Mozambique by September 2008 and the rest by 2012.
With global rise in the demand for new ships, especially smaller ones with a capacity below 15,000 dead weight tons (DWT), Bangladesh has immense potential to earn billions of foreign currency. As traditional shipbuilding countries such as Japan, China, South Korea and Vietnam are no longer interested in building ships less than 20,000 DWT Bangladesh has come to international attention for shipbuilding option.
President and Managing Director of AB Bank Kaiser A. Chowdhury and ASSL group Managing Director Afruja Bari signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies. Chairman of ASSL Dr. Abdullah Bari, Deputy Managing Directors of AB Bank Niaz Habib and Faruq M Ahmed were present during the signing ceremony. Senior official of both the companies were also present at the signing ceremony.