Drive against old city buses from July 20

Like the metro-rail, the government is going to introduce e-ticket service on some bus routes from July 20 for handling the present chaotic traffic situation, piloting it in the BRTC and three circular bus services as well as expressway in...

Tk 5.16b more sought amid delays, design flaws

The Bridges Division under the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges has sought approval for an additional Tk 5.16 billion for the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway project, pushing the project's cost beyond its already-revised outlay of Tk 175.53 billion.If approved, the...

CPA calls for more wagons to ease container congestion

CHATTOGRAM, July 10: Amid growing container congestion, the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has called on Bangladesh Railway (BR) to urgently increase the number of wagons and locomotives to ensure uninterrupted operations at the Inland Container Depots (ICDs) connected to the...

Trump's aggressive reciprocal tariff may backfire

Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policy smacks of a could-not-care-less attitude. In a way he has antagonised the rest of the world except perhaps Israel. No American president has ever flaunted his country's superiority so blatantly although its military might and...

DSE mobile app users vanish in large numbers as market return evaporates

The number of active users of the DSE mobile app dropped to an eight-year low due to the prolonged depressed market trend and the imposition of service charge on app users.The number of mobile app users was 26,067 at the...

Waterlogging keeps Ctg submerged for five days

CHATTOGRAM, July 09: Monsoon rain has been leaving the low-lying areas of Chattogram under knee-deep water daily for the past few days since July 5, causing residents and traders immense suffering.On Wednesday, several hours of torrential rains left the inhabitants...

Understanding what youths want

There is apparently a broad agreement in the country that some of the most insurmountable obstacles to good governance are corruption, political nepotism and cronyism, and deteriorating law and order. This is what the citizen realise in everyday life and...

Corbyn, Musk and rise & decline of parties

Political exigencies often necessitate the coming into being of new political parties. It is an exercise which has in modern times been undertaken in a very large number of countries around the globe, especially after the end of the Second...

Hilly regions in Ctg face landslide risk

CHATTOGRAM, July 08: Continuous monsoon rain from Saturday has left tens of thousands of people living in the hilly regions of Chattogram in high risks of landslides.Rainfall continued till the filing of this report on yesterday (Tuesday) evening from Saturday...

Nearly half of production capacity remains unutilised in a decade

Nearly half of the production capacity at the Shahjalal Fertilizer Factory-established at Fenchuganj in Sylhet at a cost of around Tk 50 billion to reduce import dependence by producing 580,800 tonnes of urea annually-has remained unutilised even after ten years...

Japan-only bidders, fat quotes and no room to negotiate

A fresh dilemma has emerged in Dhaka's ambitious metro-rail expansion as the state-owned operator faces exorbitant bids from a narrow pool of Japanese firms.Despite interest from companies worldwide, restrictive Japan-specific tender conditions have effectively sidelined all but a few players,...

Bilateral treaty only means to readjust domestic tariffs for US

Government revenue authorities find limited scope to satisfy the Trump administration by reducing tariffs for US imports unless Bangladesh goes for bilateral treaty -- the only byway to skip set world trade rules.Though import duty on 110 products has been...

Bangladesh's LDC graduation: risks & readiness

Bangladesh is at a landmark in the nation’s life—one of jubilation and an invitation to strategic contemplation. Bangladesh. With its anticipated graduation from the United Nations’ List of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by 2026, the nation is poised to turn...

Fines nothing but way to cover up failure to punish market frauds

The imposition of fines by the securities regulator is nothing but a symbolic action with rare occasions when it translates into meaningful punishment for stock market fraud. The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) still prefers levying monetary penalties to...

Readying for global microchip market

Tasked with preparing a roadmap so Bangladesh may explore its potential as a player in the world's booming semiconductor market, the National Semiconductor Taskforce (NST), which was formed in early January this year, has come up with a set of...

DMTCL drafts long-awaited service rule, organogram for 3,800 metro rail staffers

Almost a decade after its formation, the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) has finally drafted its service rule to ensure the proper functioning of its employees, and has proposed an organogram of more than 1,800 staff.However, the total number...

Empowering students to step confidently into corporate world

BRAINIACS 2025 took place inside the BRAC University Auditorium recently, gathering students from nearly every major public and private university in Dhaka for a day that promised to do more than simply inspire. Organised by the BRAC University Business Club...

Blue-chip stocks back in dominance in equity market. Here is why

Appreciation in the market value witnessed by blue chip companies played a pivotal role in the rising turnover and return from the broad index of the premier bourse over the last one month. The market recovery, driven by fundamentally-strong stocks,...

Bangladesh needs to accelerate green transformation of the leather industry

Leather industry is one of the oldest industries in Bangladesh. While the global demand for leather and leather goods is constantly increasing, the leather industry of Bangladesh is grappling with challenges that, unless redressed effectively, stand out as hurdles for...

Endless suffering of road digging

Repeated, haphazard road digging by various agencies and delays in repairing those dug-up roads have long been a chronic problem in Dhaka. In recent months, however, the situation has worsened, particularly in Dhaka South, seemingly due to the prolonged administrative...

Economy in a new fiscal year

Another fiscal year, 2025-26, to be precise, began on Tuesday with a mix of legacy burdens and achievements in the country's economy. Moving forward and achieving the desired economic growth and inflation targets by the end of the year will...

Ways to be true trade unions

The contribution of the industrial sector to Bangladesh's economic development is extremely significant. Millions of workers are directly involved in various industries, especially in the garment, leather, electronics, food processing, and pharmaceutical sectors. However, one of the major obstacles to...

BD Police calls for not taking counter steps

Bangladesh Police, a state law-enforcement agency, has urged the government not to take any counter-step against India's recent restrictions on the entry of some items from the former.Although Bangladesh has already taken a counter- measure after cancelation of transshipment facility...

Bangladesh on FTA hunt as its graduation nears

Bangladesh now gears up drives for striking free-trade deals, with negotiations underway with a couple of countries, as the country prepares for post-graduation trade sans tariff concessions. The country is likely to start negotiations with two more countries this month...

Rewiring economy through NSEZ

As Bangladesh charts its path toward upper-middle-income status by 2031, few projects encapsulate the country's ambitions more than the National Special Economic Zone (NSEZ) in Mirsarai. Envisioned as a transformative industrial corridor on the country's southern coastline, the NSEZ is...

When AI is not only a liar but also deceptive, intriguing and intimidating

It is not unlikely that a creator is overwhelmed by the created, a master is outperformed by his disciple and the patron is betrayed by his protégée. This is such an unreliable and unpredictable age when even a son can...

Taskforce proposes 'oversight body' to shield market from influence of lobbyists

The taskforce of the country's capital market has recommended forming a seven-member oversight body to ensure accountability of the securities regulator and to keep the finance ministry from unnecessarily interfering in regulatory affairs. The oversight body may consist of the...

Steady new business reg reflects resilience amid political shifts

Despite political uncertainty and economic headwinds, Bangladesh saw a relatively steady trend in new business registrations in the just-ended fiscal year (FY 2024-25), suggesting a quiet but persistent confidence among entrepreneurs across sectors.A total of 10,225 new firms and entities...

OBUs allowed using FCDs as loan security

To facilitate foreign investment in the country, the Bangladesh Bank has allowed offshore banking units (OBUs) to use foreign-currency deposits (FCDs) by non-resident accountholders as collateral against lending.Under a relaxed regulation, foreign companies are eligible to avail local currency, Bangladesh...

A mix of memory and fiction

No one can avoid diving into the sea of memory, which is a matter of both joy and sorrow. Again, not everyone can recall the past precisely. Those who have strong feelings of both pleasure and sadness when thinking about...