Law may be approved today to convert Biman into PLC
Saturday, 30 June 2007
S M Jahangir
The revised draft on the Memorandum of Association and Article of Association of Bangladesh Biman is likely to be approved by the caretaker government today (Saturday) in a bid to convert the Corporation into Bangladesh Airlines Limited, a public limited company (PLC).
The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism has placed the revised draft to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for vetting, a senior government source said.
"I handed over Wednesday the amended draft on Memorandum of Association and Article of Association of Bangladesh Airlines to the Law Adviser Barrister Mainul Hossein for his ministry's consent," the Adviser in Charge of the Civil Aviation and Tourism MA Matin said.
He also noted that after going through the draft, the law adviser had found it as 'Ok'.
Official sources, however, said the draft has got the law ministry's nod and it is expected to be placed again before the scheduled meeting of the advisers' council on Saturday for its approval.
They said the authorities have updated the draft Memorandum of Association and Article of Association of Bangladesh Airlines in line with the directive of the advisers' council.
The civil aviation ministry placed the aforesaid draft before the council meeting on June 30 for approval, an official source said.
But, the meeting asked the concerned ministry for re-examining the proposed draft and placing it again before the council, the source mentioned.
However, the council approved the draft Bangladesh Biman Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance-2007, aiming to convert the state-run Corporation into a PLC.
Earlier, the government had decided to make the loss-making Bangladesh Biman Corporation a PLC with a view to preventing mismanagement and rationalising its manpower.
The ultimate goal of the move is to make the Biman operationally sound and commercially viable, sources said.
Under the initiative, the Biman authority has already decided to cut 1,593 jobs at various levels to reduce its manpower from around 5,000 to 3,400 under a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), sources said.
It has also sought Tk 2.9 billion from the government to implement the VRS, they noted.
Besides, at least 2,100 employees of Biman Bangladesh Airlines have already applied for the voluntary retirement.
According to the proposal, the government would shoulder the liabilities of Biman in order to turn it into a public limited company with zero liabilities after June 30, said the sources.
Initially, the Biman will be a fully government-owned company and its board of directors will have seven to 10 members.
Then the government would gradually offload up to 49 per cent of the shares to the private sector, sources said.
According official figures, the Biman owes around Tk 20 billion to different agencies, including Tk 15 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 year 2006-07 alone, sources mentioned.
The revised draft on the Memorandum of Association and Article of Association of Bangladesh Biman is likely to be approved by the caretaker government today (Saturday) in a bid to convert the Corporation into Bangladesh Airlines Limited, a public limited company (PLC).
The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism has placed the revised draft to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for vetting, a senior government source said.
"I handed over Wednesday the amended draft on Memorandum of Association and Article of Association of Bangladesh Airlines to the Law Adviser Barrister Mainul Hossein for his ministry's consent," the Adviser in Charge of the Civil Aviation and Tourism MA Matin said.
He also noted that after going through the draft, the law adviser had found it as 'Ok'.
Official sources, however, said the draft has got the law ministry's nod and it is expected to be placed again before the scheduled meeting of the advisers' council on Saturday for its approval.
They said the authorities have updated the draft Memorandum of Association and Article of Association of Bangladesh Airlines in line with the directive of the advisers' council.
The civil aviation ministry placed the aforesaid draft before the council meeting on June 30 for approval, an official source said.
But, the meeting asked the concerned ministry for re-examining the proposed draft and placing it again before the council, the source mentioned.
However, the council approved the draft Bangladesh Biman Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance-2007, aiming to convert the state-run Corporation into a PLC.
Earlier, the government had decided to make the loss-making Bangladesh Biman Corporation a PLC with a view to preventing mismanagement and rationalising its manpower.
The ultimate goal of the move is to make the Biman operationally sound and commercially viable, sources said.
Under the initiative, the Biman authority has already decided to cut 1,593 jobs at various levels to reduce its manpower from around 5,000 to 3,400 under a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), sources said.
It has also sought Tk 2.9 billion from the government to implement the VRS, they noted.
Besides, at least 2,100 employees of Biman Bangladesh Airlines have already applied for the voluntary retirement.
According to the proposal, the government would shoulder the liabilities of Biman in order to turn it into a public limited company with zero liabilities after June 30, said the sources.
Initially, the Biman will be a fully government-owned company and its board of directors will have seven to 10 members.
Then the government would gradually offload up to 49 per cent of the shares to the private sector, sources said.
According official figures, the Biman owes around Tk 20 billion to different agencies, including Tk 15 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 year 2006-07 alone, sources mentioned.