Finalise coal policy at the earliest: MCCI
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Nazmul Ahsan
The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) urged the government to finalise the coal policy, bring major industrial belts under the railway network and lower the bank interest rate for export-oriented industries.
The chamber also demanded a direct flight from Dhaka to major European cities as the country's about 53 per cent of total export goes to countries falling under the European Union.
The proposals of MCCI have recently been submitted to the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) ahead of the meeting of the National Committee on Export. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will preside over the meeting sometime in late February, sources said.
The MoC sought proposals from major business bodies including the MCCI to be placed at the meeting. Hasina is expected to give some directions from the upcoming meeting to address the genuine and long standing problems of the exporters, a top official in the MoC said.
The MCCI, as an alternative source of energy, said the government should finalise the coal policy at the earliest. Besides, it should accelerate the process of importing 250 megawatt of electricity to offset the nagging power crises.
Expressing its concern on infrastructure constraints, the major chamber of the country urged the government to keep the Chittagong port free from all sorts of political activities and man-made chaos. The MCCI demanded for lowering different port charges, improved services and efficiency from Chittagong port, which handles about 80 per cent of the country's total export cargo.
'Various port and freight charges should be reviewed to lower the cost of production in order to attain competitiveness for Bangladeshi products in the global market. At any cost, the port must be kept functional at all times,' according to the proposals of MCCI.
The MCCI has proposed to connect the country with 2nd and 3rd submarine cable connections, establishing 2nd Dhaka-Chittagong highway leading to Chittagong port and bringing major industrial belts like Savar, Gazipur, Mawna, Shafipur and Chandra areas under the railway network.
'Theses industrial belts should be brought under railway communication. This will reduce the cost of products and increase competitiveness,' said MCCI in its proposals.
The Chamber in its written proposals said the existing 'Export Policy' should be renamed as 'Export Policy Order' so that measures and contents to be included in the proposed Order are considered as statutory order to ensure proper implementation by government agencies.
'Government should issue Export Policy Order, instead of only Export Policy, which is nothing but a wish list........,' said the proposals.
Citing example of India and other East Asian countries, it said the bank interest rates for export-oriented industries in India is 4.24 per cent, 3.03 per cent in Malaysia and 1.34 per cent in Thailand.
The Chamber demanded lowering of the existing seven per cent bank interest rate available for export-oriented industries.
The MCCI has proposed to introduce machine readable passport (MRP) and machine readable visa (MRV) soon to avert any problems to be faced by exporters in visiting foreign countries as the International Civil Aviation Authority has stipulated all countries to introduce MRP and MRV by April, 2010.
It demanded establishing direct flight services with Dhaka and Milan, Paris, Frankfurt or London.
The Chamber urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take up the visa problems of exporters.
Officials in the MoC said they have already included the proposals of MCCI in the paper to be placed to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the meeting of the National Committee on Export.
"The proposals of MCCI truly reflect the concerns of the country's exporters and be given utmost importance in the upcoming meeting,' a top trade official told the FE on Wednesday.
The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) urged the government to finalise the coal policy, bring major industrial belts under the railway network and lower the bank interest rate for export-oriented industries.
The chamber also demanded a direct flight from Dhaka to major European cities as the country's about 53 per cent of total export goes to countries falling under the European Union.
The proposals of MCCI have recently been submitted to the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) ahead of the meeting of the National Committee on Export. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will preside over the meeting sometime in late February, sources said.
The MoC sought proposals from major business bodies including the MCCI to be placed at the meeting. Hasina is expected to give some directions from the upcoming meeting to address the genuine and long standing problems of the exporters, a top official in the MoC said.
The MCCI, as an alternative source of energy, said the government should finalise the coal policy at the earliest. Besides, it should accelerate the process of importing 250 megawatt of electricity to offset the nagging power crises.
Expressing its concern on infrastructure constraints, the major chamber of the country urged the government to keep the Chittagong port free from all sorts of political activities and man-made chaos. The MCCI demanded for lowering different port charges, improved services and efficiency from Chittagong port, which handles about 80 per cent of the country's total export cargo.
'Various port and freight charges should be reviewed to lower the cost of production in order to attain competitiveness for Bangladeshi products in the global market. At any cost, the port must be kept functional at all times,' according to the proposals of MCCI.
The MCCI has proposed to connect the country with 2nd and 3rd submarine cable connections, establishing 2nd Dhaka-Chittagong highway leading to Chittagong port and bringing major industrial belts like Savar, Gazipur, Mawna, Shafipur and Chandra areas under the railway network.
'Theses industrial belts should be brought under railway communication. This will reduce the cost of products and increase competitiveness,' said MCCI in its proposals.
The Chamber in its written proposals said the existing 'Export Policy' should be renamed as 'Export Policy Order' so that measures and contents to be included in the proposed Order are considered as statutory order to ensure proper implementation by government agencies.
'Government should issue Export Policy Order, instead of only Export Policy, which is nothing but a wish list........,' said the proposals.
Citing example of India and other East Asian countries, it said the bank interest rates for export-oriented industries in India is 4.24 per cent, 3.03 per cent in Malaysia and 1.34 per cent in Thailand.
The Chamber demanded lowering of the existing seven per cent bank interest rate available for export-oriented industries.
The MCCI has proposed to introduce machine readable passport (MRP) and machine readable visa (MRV) soon to avert any problems to be faced by exporters in visiting foreign countries as the International Civil Aviation Authority has stipulated all countries to introduce MRP and MRV by April, 2010.
It demanded establishing direct flight services with Dhaka and Milan, Paris, Frankfurt or London.
The Chamber urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take up the visa problems of exporters.
Officials in the MoC said they have already included the proposals of MCCI in the paper to be placed to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the meeting of the National Committee on Export.
"The proposals of MCCI truly reflect the concerns of the country's exporters and be given utmost importance in the upcoming meeting,' a top trade official told the FE on Wednesday.