Reopening of closed textile mills under PPP suggested
Friday, 4 December 2009
S M Jahangir
A high-profile committee has recommended resumption of production in the closed state-owned textile mills under public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement instead of disposing those through tender.
The recommendation was made at a recent coordination meeting of the committee, formed earlier by the government on liquidation of four closed textile mills.
The committee comprising representatives from Ministry of Textile and Jute, Ministry of Land, Power Division, Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA), Board of Investment (BoI) and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), is expected to submit its report shortly.
"The committee has decided, in principle, to resume production in the four textile units, which were listed earlier for liquidation, under the PPP arrangement," a senior official familiar with the process told the FE.
The official further said the inter-ministerial committee has favoured the PPP arrangement as liquidation process usually take a long time to be executed.
The Liquidation Cell is now waiting for the final PPP policy guideline for moving ahead with the idea of reviving production in the four textile mills.
They closed state-owned units are: Muslin Cotton Mills, Orion Textile, Mohini Textile and Chishti Textile, official sources said.
Although the government had prepared a list of eight state-owned units for liquidation several years back, four of them have already been liquidated, officials said.
Apart from suggesting resumption of the listed textile units under the PPP, the committee also discussed a foreign company's proposal for purchasing the Muslin Textile Mills at Gazipur.
A Hong Kong-based company recently submitted a 'proposal paper' to the textile and jute ministry for purchasing the unit, an official said.
Terming the foreign company's proposal 'insufficient', the committee suggested that it (the aspirant company) should submit a detail proposal, including the project layout plan, investment plan and mode of repayment of bank and other liabilities, he added.
Besides, the current initiatives, the Liquidation Cell has also taken steps for settlement of legal and land-related disputes centring the closed textile units.
A high-profile committee has recommended resumption of production in the closed state-owned textile mills under public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement instead of disposing those through tender.
The recommendation was made at a recent coordination meeting of the committee, formed earlier by the government on liquidation of four closed textile mills.
The committee comprising representatives from Ministry of Textile and Jute, Ministry of Land, Power Division, Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA), Board of Investment (BoI) and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), is expected to submit its report shortly.
"The committee has decided, in principle, to resume production in the four textile units, which were listed earlier for liquidation, under the PPP arrangement," a senior official familiar with the process told the FE.
The official further said the inter-ministerial committee has favoured the PPP arrangement as liquidation process usually take a long time to be executed.
The Liquidation Cell is now waiting for the final PPP policy guideline for moving ahead with the idea of reviving production in the four textile mills.
They closed state-owned units are: Muslin Cotton Mills, Orion Textile, Mohini Textile and Chishti Textile, official sources said.
Although the government had prepared a list of eight state-owned units for liquidation several years back, four of them have already been liquidated, officials said.
Apart from suggesting resumption of the listed textile units under the PPP, the committee also discussed a foreign company's proposal for purchasing the Muslin Textile Mills at Gazipur.
A Hong Kong-based company recently submitted a 'proposal paper' to the textile and jute ministry for purchasing the unit, an official said.
Terming the foreign company's proposal 'insufficient', the committee suggested that it (the aspirant company) should submit a detail proposal, including the project layout plan, investment plan and mode of repayment of bank and other liabilities, he added.
Besides, the current initiatives, the Liquidation Cell has also taken steps for settlement of legal and land-related disputes centring the closed textile units.