Biman starts journey as public limited co
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
FE Report
The state-run national flag carrier has officially started its journey as a public limited company (PLC) with the government retaining the complete ownership of the new entity - Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited (BBAL).
The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSCF) issued Monday the certificate under the Companies Act 1994 for running the national flag carrier into a PLC, an official source confirmed.
The airlines was earlier known as Bangladesh Biman Corporation.
The RJSCF issued the certificate after the council of advisers had approved the Memorandum and Article of Association of the BBAL at its July 14 meeting.
Earlier, the interim government endorsed a new law -- Bangladesh Biman Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007 - to convert the Biman Bangladesh Airlines into a PLC.
Besides, the government has already formed a seven-member board of directors with the acting Finance Secretary, Mohammad Tareque, as the chairman of the BBAL.
The members of the BBAL board are: Commerce Secretary Feroz Ahmed, Acting Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain, Energy Secretary AMM Nasir Uddin, and Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Sheikh Altaf Ali and its Joint Secretary Fakhrul Islam.
The government has converted the loss-making Biman into a public limited company with a view to stopping mismanagement and rationalising its manpower, official sources said.
Such a move aimed at making the natural flag carrier operationally sound and commercially viable, they mentioned.
Under the initiative, the government will shoulder the exiting liabilities of the now-defunct Biman Bangladesh Corporation.
Besides, the government has a plan to float up to 49 per cent share of the new company.
According official figures, the defunct Biman owes about Tk 21 billion to different agencies, including over Tk 16 billion to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation on account of purchasing fuel and Tk 3.0 billion to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.
It incurred a loss of around Tk 12 billion in fiscal 2006-07 alone, sources mentioned.
Meanwhile, Biman Bangladesh Airlines will start making payments of dues to its 1863 employees, who opted for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), from the beginning of next week, sources said.
"In the first phase, we will pay 70 per cent of the total dues of an employee," a high official source of the national flag carrier told the FE Monday.
When asked about payment schedule of the remaining dues the source said, "It's not clear to us when the rest of the amount will be available for payment, as no specific time frame has been received from the ministry concerned ".
He said, Biman has been given Tk 2.13 billion for the first phase payment of dues of the employees who accepted VRS.
Biman will require additional Tk 1.0 billion to make full payment of the dues.
Biman has, meanwhile, asked about half of the 1,863 employees, who took the golden handshake offer, to continue serving on daily basis as it faces manpower shortage, sources added.
About 2,200 staff and officials of Biman have applied for voluntary retirement responding to the offer of golden handshake June 4.
Meanwhile, sources said, there are a number of proposals from local and foreign airlines where they expressed their interest to take the responsibility of the operation of the national flag carrier.
"As soon as the next board meeting of Biman takes place we will raise the issues for decision at the earliest," they said.
The national flag carrier has earned a bad reputation of erratic schedule manager by chronic delays and incurring over Tk 10.0 billion over the last few years.
The state-run national flag carrier has officially started its journey as a public limited company (PLC) with the government retaining the complete ownership of the new entity - Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited (BBAL).
The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSCF) issued Monday the certificate under the Companies Act 1994 for running the national flag carrier into a PLC, an official source confirmed.
The airlines was earlier known as Bangladesh Biman Corporation.
The RJSCF issued the certificate after the council of advisers had approved the Memorandum and Article of Association of the BBAL at its July 14 meeting.
Earlier, the interim government endorsed a new law -- Bangladesh Biman Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007 - to convert the Biman Bangladesh Airlines into a PLC.
Besides, the government has already formed a seven-member board of directors with the acting Finance Secretary, Mohammad Tareque, as the chairman of the BBAL.
The members of the BBAL board are: Commerce Secretary Feroz Ahmed, Acting Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain, Energy Secretary AMM Nasir Uddin, and Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Sheikh Altaf Ali and its Joint Secretary Fakhrul Islam.
The government has converted the loss-making Biman into a public limited company with a view to stopping mismanagement and rationalising its manpower, official sources said.
Such a move aimed at making the natural flag carrier operationally sound and commercially viable, they mentioned.
Under the initiative, the government will shoulder the exiting liabilities of the now-defunct Biman Bangladesh Corporation.
Besides, the government has a plan to float up to 49 per cent share of the new company.
According official figures, the defunct Biman owes about Tk 21 billion to different agencies, including over Tk 16 billion to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation on account of purchasing fuel and Tk 3.0 billion to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.
It incurred a loss of around Tk 12 billion in fiscal 2006-07 alone, sources mentioned.
Meanwhile, Biman Bangladesh Airlines will start making payments of dues to its 1863 employees, who opted for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), from the beginning of next week, sources said.
"In the first phase, we will pay 70 per cent of the total dues of an employee," a high official source of the national flag carrier told the FE Monday.
When asked about payment schedule of the remaining dues the source said, "It's not clear to us when the rest of the amount will be available for payment, as no specific time frame has been received from the ministry concerned ".
He said, Biman has been given Tk 2.13 billion for the first phase payment of dues of the employees who accepted VRS.
Biman will require additional Tk 1.0 billion to make full payment of the dues.
Biman has, meanwhile, asked about half of the 1,863 employees, who took the golden handshake offer, to continue serving on daily basis as it faces manpower shortage, sources added.
About 2,200 staff and officials of Biman have applied for voluntary retirement responding to the offer of golden handshake June 4.
Meanwhile, sources said, there are a number of proposals from local and foreign airlines where they expressed their interest to take the responsibility of the operation of the national flag carrier.
"As soon as the next board meeting of Biman takes place we will raise the issues for decision at the earliest," they said.
The national flag carrier has earned a bad reputation of erratic schedule manager by chronic delays and incurring over Tk 10.0 billion over the last few years.