Govt to get Tk 158m a year from leased-out jute mills
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
S M Jahangir
The government will receive Tk 157.90 million per year through leasing out five state-owned jute mills to the private operators.
They are Kaomi Jute Mill in Pabna, People's Jute Mills in Khulna, and R R Jute Mill, M M Jute Mill and Karnaphuli Jute Mill in Chittagong, sources said.
According to the jute industry insiders, the bidding for leasing out the jute units took place last week.
The government recently invited bids for leasing out the aforesaid jute units to the private sector following an official decision to this effect.
Among the bidders, an entrepreneur from Faridpur separately quoted the highest prices of Tk 48.20 million and Tk 61.50 million per annum for getting the Kaomi and People's jute mills on lease respectively.
On the other hand, another company- Alexander Watt - became the highest bidders for three other jute mills in Chittagong.
It quoted Tk 12.50 million for R R Jute Mill, Tk 13.70 million for M M Jute Mill and Tk 22 million annually for running the mills under the leasing arrangement, sources said.
Source said the necessary formalities regarding leasing out of all the five jute mills to the highest bidders will be competed shortly.
In July last, the government had shut down the Kaomi Jute Mill, People's Jute Mill and Karnaphuli Jute Mill, leaving a total of about 6000 employees and worker jobless while the reaming R R Jute Mill and M M Jute Mills are in operation with bad financial conditions.
A few months back, the interim government decided to lease out its closed and loss-making jute mills to the private sectors to revitalise the country's public jute sector, the accumulated losses of which had already reached Tk 50 billion.
Against this backdrop, the advisory council on economic affairs at its recent meeting with the Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam approved the proposal for leasing out eight such mills.
According to sources, the current initiative to lease out the state-owned jute mills for adjusting the liabilities of the closed jute mills with their leased money.
Previously, the authorities had advised the concerned banks to stop counting interest on the outstanding loans that the closed jute mills had received from them.
The government will receive Tk 157.90 million per year through leasing out five state-owned jute mills to the private operators.
They are Kaomi Jute Mill in Pabna, People's Jute Mills in Khulna, and R R Jute Mill, M M Jute Mill and Karnaphuli Jute Mill in Chittagong, sources said.
According to the jute industry insiders, the bidding for leasing out the jute units took place last week.
The government recently invited bids for leasing out the aforesaid jute units to the private sector following an official decision to this effect.
Among the bidders, an entrepreneur from Faridpur separately quoted the highest prices of Tk 48.20 million and Tk 61.50 million per annum for getting the Kaomi and People's jute mills on lease respectively.
On the other hand, another company- Alexander Watt - became the highest bidders for three other jute mills in Chittagong.
It quoted Tk 12.50 million for R R Jute Mill, Tk 13.70 million for M M Jute Mill and Tk 22 million annually for running the mills under the leasing arrangement, sources said.
Source said the necessary formalities regarding leasing out of all the five jute mills to the highest bidders will be competed shortly.
In July last, the government had shut down the Kaomi Jute Mill, People's Jute Mill and Karnaphuli Jute Mill, leaving a total of about 6000 employees and worker jobless while the reaming R R Jute Mill and M M Jute Mills are in operation with bad financial conditions.
A few months back, the interim government decided to lease out its closed and loss-making jute mills to the private sectors to revitalise the country's public jute sector, the accumulated losses of which had already reached Tk 50 billion.
Against this backdrop, the advisory council on economic affairs at its recent meeting with the Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam approved the proposal for leasing out eight such mills.
According to sources, the current initiative to lease out the state-owned jute mills for adjusting the liabilities of the closed jute mills with their leased money.
Previously, the authorities had advised the concerned banks to stop counting interest on the outstanding loans that the closed jute mills had received from them.