No headway in govt initiative

Shamsul Huda | Published: February 13, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

There is no headway in the government's initiative to devise an automobile policy. Even the concerned officials say, 'we have no idea.'
An official in the ministry of industries said last year a final automobile policy draft was agreed upon aiming at the growth local assembling and manufacturing.
"There is no development till today since finalisation of the draft," he said.
When officials of relevant departments were contacted they replied they had no idea.
Pragoti Industries Limited managing director Engineer Mohammad Ali Chowdhury said automobile policy is an urgent need for helping the growth of vehicle assembling industry.
He said currently there is no significant duty difference between import of used and brand new cars and vehicles, but if a policy on component import is devised by reducing duties on those, people may get anduse locally-assembled brand new cars and also other vehicles.
He said under the existing rules, import duty of car components is almost the same in comparison with import of used cars.
Engr Chowdhury said due to absence of a policy the assembling entrepreneurs are not able to import car components at a lower duty.
If the government, through a policy, lowers duty on component import and promotes local assembling of vehicles, the number of used cars would gradually be reduced and the environment would be protected.
A Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) official requesting anonymity said, "The whole automobile sector is growing without a direction."
"A severe mismatch is prevailing in the sector and even the government's initiative to devise an automobile policy is likely to remain in the dark," he added.
The BRTA official said, "We were happy when we helped the ministry of industry in drafting a policy but after the draft, there is no progress till today."
He said if the draft policy is finalised, keeping clauses of patronising local assembling, then it is possible to get brand new cars and vehicles at cheaper costs than imported brand new and used cars.
An entrepreneur who assembles vehicles privately said, "Assembling is adding local value and creating employment opportunities."
He said after growth of assembling, investments in manufacturing cars and heavy vehicles would follow, if the policy favours automobile development.
He said like the development of readymade garments and other sectors, automobile is also going to take its own place in the huge local assembling market as still today the country is dependent on imported cars.
According to an estimate if there is a policy helping growth of local assembling, heavy investments will take place in the automobile industry within the next five years.
The source also estimates that if the existing duty structure on component import is reduced by 50 to 60 per cent and the vehicles are imported on complete knocked down (CKD) form, a massive car assembling industry will grow in the country.