Potential of wind power

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Potential of wind power

May 16, 2018

It is very heartening to know that a recent survey by the American National Renewable Energy Laboratory has found the potential of producing wind power in Bangladesh to be quite bright. It arrived at this conclusion after completion of a wind resource mapping for the country. Based on an analysis of average wind flow in nine places, the average wind speed has been found to be between 5.0 and 6.0 metres per second, which is very much suitable for commercial production of wind power. Wind power can be produced if the wind speed is at least 2.3 to 2.5 metres per second. Besides, the production technology has now been improved so much that a single turbine can produce 5.0 megawatt (MW) of electricity. The production cost is also declining gradually.

Wind provides a clean, pollution-free green energy and its generation can be a sustainable solution to the energy crisis in Bangladesh. The use of fossil fuel is set to go down gradually in the coming days across the globe. Consequently more attention should now be paid to renewable sources of energy by the policymakers of Bangladesh. There is no fuel cost for producing wind power. The production cost would decline further if hybrid projects were taken up by combining solar and diesel with wind. If the global consumption pattern of electricity is considered, it is found that wind power is highly popular especially in the European countries. Even neighbouring India has taken up innumerable projects for producing 32 thousand MW of wind power. Although the length of the coastal belt in Bangladesh is 580 kilometres and the coastal areas account for almost 20 per cent of its total land area, opportunities for producing wind power here have not been tapped yet. Weathermen claim that the flow of wind in the southern regions of Bangladesh is quite good during eight months of the year from March to October. Some places of northern, north-eastern and eastern Bangladesh have also been found to hold promise for generating wind electricity.

Bangladesh currently has only two wind-powered plants — one at Muhurir Char of Feni produces a meagre 0.9 MW, while the other at Kutubdia of Cox’s Bazaar produces only 1.0 MW. A few contracts have also been signed by the Power Development Board for setting up wind power plants having combined generation capacity of up to 260 MW, but there has not been much progress in their implementation. Besides, the renewable energy target set by the government requires production of 1,370 MW of wind power by the year 2021, which does not appear feasible at the moment.

The high population density of Bangladesh alongside its rising economic growth rate during recent years can be viewed as a robust base for the growth of energy market in Bangladesh. Economies of scale can also be easily reached, given the high energy demand in both short and long terms. Besides, the ambitious plans of the government on the implementation of renewable energy projects as well as support extended by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank can be viewed as assets for moving forward with wind-power projects. But the lack of substantial policy incentives at the moment for renewable energy as well as absence of a comprehensive legal-cum-regulatory framework for the sector is wielding negative influences on the wind energy market. The government should wake up to the current reality and take appropriate measures for harnessing the potential of wind power

Efforts on to clear Eid pay on time: BGMEA

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Efforts on to clear Eid pay on time: BGMEA

The government and factory owners are taking steps to ensure timely payment of salaries and festival bonuses of 44 lakh garment workers to avert any unrest ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. “We are getting ready to clear the payments ahead of Eid like previous years,” said Mahmud Hasan Khan, vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). As in previous years, the garment makers will soon hold zonal meetings to identify factories which may struggle in clearing the payments, he said. There are 15 zonal crisis management committees for workers in different areas, including Dhaka, Gazipur, Ashulia, Chittagong, Savar, Narayanganj and Narsingdi.

“We did not receive any complaint or any news of dispute regarding the salary payments yet as Eid is still a way off,” said Khan. “Firstly, we will identify the vulnerable factories and warn the owners so that they pay in time.” The BGMEA never pays the workers from its own fund but in most cases it helps to manage funds from banks in crisis moments, he said. The association will stand by the factory owners who may fail in making the payments, Khan said. “The BGMEA leaders will mediate with the banks, with which the owners do everyday transactions, to help them avail quick loans.”

“In most of the previous cases we have mediated with banks…This initiative worked well and we manage to avert the crisis efficiently,” he said.

The meeting of a national crisis management committee would be held at the ministry on May 29, said Mujibul Haque Chunnu, state minister for labour and employment.

The committee is normally headed by the minister/state minister of the labour and employment ministry. Since its inception in 2010, the committee held its meeting ahead of Eid every year to ensure that the payments are made smoothly.

“From the meeting with stakeholders, we will instruct when and how the owners will pay workers ahead of the Eid festival to avert any unrest,” Chunnu says. He, however, declined to comment on media reports that over 100 garment factories might be unable to make the payments. “I did not receive any such list yet from any agency or any quarter. I cannot say anything in advance,” said Chunnu.

“We are observing the situation in different zones. Still everything is calm,” said Md Nawsher Ali, director general of the Industrial Police of Bangladesh.

“We will also make a list of vulnerable factories soon after the ministry meeting,” he said.

Ecnec approves 10 projects including excavation of 5 Dhaka canals

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Ecnec approves 10 projects including excavation of 5 Dhaka canals

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved 10 projects amounting to a total cost of Tk3,416 crore, including one to excavate and re-excavate five canals in Dhaka in a bid to reduce water logging. The projects were approved at an Ecnec meeting held at the NEC conference room in the capital, with Ecnec Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. “Today (Tuesday), a total 10 projects were approved with an estimated cost of Tk3,415.86 crore. Of the total cost, Tk 3,400.93 crore will come from government funds while the remaining Tk14.93 crore will come from the organisations’ own funds,” said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal when briefing reporters after the meeting.

Of the 10 projects, nine are new while one was revised. The project titled “Land acquisition, excavation and re-excavation of Hazaribagh, Baishteki, Kurmitola, Manda and Begunbari Canals” will be implemented from December 2018 to December 2019, the minister said. Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) will implement the project at an estimated cost of Tk 607.16 crore, with all of the funds coming from the state coffers, he added. Mustafa Kamal said the main objective of the project is to reduce water-logging by keeping the flow water through the canals normal during the rainy season. The main activities of the project include acquisition of 30.562 acres of land for the five canals, provision of compensation to the affected people, construction of 0.15km of road-crossing culverts, 13.50km of canal excavation and erection of some 2,200 pillars. Of the 30.562 acres of land, 4.355 acres will be acquired for the Hazaribagh canal, while 6.385 acres will be for Baishteki and Journalists’ Colony canal, 4.613 acres for Kurmitola canal, 1.905 acres for Begunbari canal and 13.304 acres for the Manda canal. The Ecnec meeting also approved another project titled “Establishment of Kishore-Kishori Club,” to set up some 4,883 adolescent clubs across the country to enable marginalised adolescents to resist child marriage and gender-based violence, said the planning minister.

The Department of Women Affairs under the Women and Children Affairs Ministry will implement the project by December 2020, with an estimated cost of Tk551.56 crore. The adolescent clubs will be set up in 4,553 unions and 330 municipalities under 64 districts. In addition, the Ecnec meeting approved a project for widening the Elenga-Jamalpur national highway at a cost of Tk 489.82 crore. The Roads and Highways Department will implement the project to upgrade some 77.60 km of the highway into four lanes by June 2020. This four-lane highway will stretch from Elenga to Sarishabari via Kalihati, Ghatail, Madhupur, Gopalpur, Dhanbari and Jamalpur Sadar. The seven other projects approved at the meeting are the “Sheikh Sayera Khatun Medical College, Medical College Hospital and Nursing College, Gopalganj (2nd revised) Project” (involving Tk705.04 crore), “Joyeta Tower Construction” (Tk154.25 crore), “Strengthening Publicity Programme for the Development of Rural Communities” (Tk59.63 crore), “Replacing Ashuganj 132 KV AIS Substation with 132 KV new GIS Project” (Tk356.99 crore), “Strengthening Bangladesh Institute of Management (BIM) in Dhaka” (Tk 147.86 crore), “Canal Re-excavation Works for Irrigation at the Coastal Polders in Barguna District” (Tk 61.33 crore),and the “Widening and Strengthening Mawna-Phulbaria-Kaliakoir-Dhamrai-Nabinagar (Dhulibhita) Highway Project” (Tk 282.22 crore).

Marine survey vessel so far finds 298 fish species in Bay

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Marine survey vessel so far finds 298 fish species in Bay

Though the high-tech ocean survey vessel has successfully continued its assessment for the last two seasons, Bangladesh will have to wait for two-three years more to get the reliable data on fish resources in the Bay of Bengal, according to experts, reports UNB. Conducting the survey in the last two seasons (November-April), the research vessel found a total of 298 fish species within the country’s sea area, officials said.

The survey vessel, equipped with the latest technology of fisheries and other oceanographic research, was procured from Malaysia in 2016 to assess the country’s marine resources as Bangladesh got a vast sea area through the disposal of longstanding disputes with the two neighboring countries — India and Myanmar. “We’ll reach a decision over utilisation of marine fish after completing the survey for five years (2017-2021),” Fisheries and Livestock Minister Narayon Chandra Chanda told UNB. According to initial findings of the survey, there are huge potentials of having good stock of marine fish in the Bay of Bengal, he said. Bangladesh will get a comprehensive and reliable data over the stock of fish resources in the Bay of Bengal by 2022 through conducting the assessments by the survey vessel, the minister added.

He said the survey vessel can conduct assessments for six months (November-April) a year, while it cannot do for the rest six months due to bad weather in the sea. “The survey vessel has successfully completed its assessment in the two seasons (November-April). And it has so far found 349 species (of living resources), including 298 fish species in the sea,” said Director General of Fisheries Department Md Goljar Hossain.

Echoing the minister, Goljar Hossain said there is possibility of having good fish stock in the sea as per the initial report of the survey. “But, it will take a few years more to get the overall picture on the stock.” The DG said they will prepare a policy on tapping the fish resources after having the overall picture on the reserve in the country’s marine boundary. The policy will be prepared in the line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 2030 and the Vision 2041, said Goljar Hossain. Prof Sayedur Rahman Chowdhury of Institute of Marine Sciences and Fisheries at Chittagong University said they are hopeful of having a good assessment by the survey vessel.

“We’ll have reliable data on marine fisheries by 2022 as it requires the survey reports of the five years to draw a reliable conclusion over the stock of fish resources,” he said. Prof Chowdhury said Bangladesh should concentrate largely on tapping fish as there is a better potential of good reserve of living resources than that of mineral resources –petroleum and non-petroleum ones– in the sea. “Living resources or fish resources are renewable resources. So, the government should pay attention largely to utilisation of fish resources,” he said.

He said the potentials of petroleum and non-petroleum mineral resources are not so high in the Bay as different international studies and reports suggest.The high-tech 37.8-meter-long multipurpose research vessel, which cost Tk 65.5 crore, started its assessment in the Bay in November, 2016. In 2012, Bangladesh won 111,631 square kilometres of sea area after a longstanding dispute with Myanmar following the much-celebrated verdict of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea based in Hamburg, Germany. Bangladesh also gained some 19,467 square kilometres of maritime area in a case against India in 2014 through a verdict of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) based in The Hague. According to experts, the two verdicts have paved the way for Bangladesh to unlock the marine potentials in the vast sea area.

Compensation may increase in Bangladesh labour law

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The file photo shows Bangladeshi volunteers evacuating an injured garment worker after an eight-storey building collapsed in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka on April 24, 2013. The government and representatives of factory owners and workers have reached a consensus on raising compensation for workplace death and injury in the labour law. — AFP photo

Compensation may increase in Bangladesh labour law

The government and representatives of factory owners and workers have reached a consensus on raising compensation for workplace death and injury in the labour law. ‘The members of the tripartite committee on preparing draft amendments to the labour law discussed the issue in most of the meetings held by the committee and agreed that the existing compensation amount is poor and it should be increased,’ one of the members of the tripartite committee told New Age on Sunday. He said that the issue was also discussed in a committee meeting held on Sunday at the Labour Department office in the capital but the amount of the compensation was yet to be settled due to an absence of proper representatives of factory owners in the meeting.
Labour leaders in the meeting discussed the convention of International Labour Organisation related to compensation and proposed an amount.

Meeting sources, however, declined to make the proposed amount public. ‘We are hopeful that the compensation amount would be increased in the labour law but it would not be in line with the ILO standard,’ another member of the tripartite committee said. As per the Bangladesh Labour Act, the amount of compensation is Tk 1 lakh in case of death and Tk 1.25 lakh In case of permanent disablement.According to the meeting sources, to address the concerns of the ILO, the government wants to prepare a draft amendment to the labour act before the next International Labour Conference to be held in June. The tripartite committee has made progress in preparing draft amendments in some areas including definition of workers, trade union rights and maternity leave. The committee has proposed bringing the shops or stalls in any public exhibition or show established for its own requirement which deal only in retail trade under the labour law through scraping the existing provision 1(4)(e).

It has also proposed bringing hostel, mess, hospital, clinic and diagnostic centre (run not for any profit or gain), ocean-going vessel and agricultural farm where normally less than five workers work under the labour act scrapping the provision 1(4)(h), (m)and (n) respectively. The committee has also agreed that trade union should be allowed for the members of the watch and ward or security staff, fire-fighting staff and confidential assistant of any establishment and to scrap a portion of section 175 of the labour act. The tripartite committee has also suggested incorporating a new provision in the section of procedure regarding payment of maternity benefit. ‘The provision is: If any woman gives birth to a child before giving notice to her employer, the maternity benefit will be payable for eight weeks within three working days following the production of proof to the employer in favour of her motherhood,’ the meeting sources said.

RMG exporters to get more low-cost funds

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RMG exporters to get more low-cost funds

Apparel and textile exporters can now take low-cost loans of up to $25 million from the Export Development Fund after the central bank yesterday increased the limit from $20 million. Members of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association can borrow from the fund against their letters of credit or firm export contracts, said a BB official yesterday. The EDF was launched with an initial amount of $100 million in 2005, which was gradually increased to $3 billion. The loans are payable by the banks upon receipt of export proceeds within 180 days of the date of disbursement. The interest rate on loans from the fund is now LIBOR plus 2.50 percent.

The central bank had increased the ceiling in response to applications from the BGMEA and the BTMA, said Faruque Hassan, senior vice-president of the garment makers’ apex trade body.The foreign suppliers show interest when the local manufacturers operate their business borrowing money from the central bank’s fund, said Abdus Salam Murshedy, managing director of Envoy Group.

Industries to get 2,000 new gas connections

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Industries to get 2,000 new gas connections

The textile factory owners see an increase in their productivity, as the government has finally decided to allocate 2,000 new industrial gas connections and supply adequate gas to the existing units. The move to allow new industrial gas connections after a seven-year pause comes in light of the recent import of liquefied natural gas from Qatar.The government has already approved 196 new gas connections last month for members of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, the platform for spinners, weavers, dyeing mill owners and other allied industries.

The BTMA members are one of the major gas consumers as the running of spinning mills requires a lot of gas, said Mohammad Ali Khokon, vice president of the association. The primary textile sector will be immensely benefitted as many of the factories could not begin production in the absence of gas connections, while the other mills were running below capacity for want of adequate gas pressure. “I hope that productivity in my mill will go up now,” said Razeeb Haider, managing director of Gazipur-based Outpace Spinning.Last month, state-owned Titas Gas agreed to increase the gas pressure in the unit of Haider in response to an application which was submitted in 2014. Khokon said the development will come as a boon for garment manufacturers as they look to boost their export receipts to $50 billion from the existing $28 billion by 2021.

“Their lead time will be cut significantly.” At present, the garment makers have to import fabrics from China and India, but soon the local spinners and weavers would be able to supply the fabrics to them. Gas supply through the new connections will start from next month, according to Mir Mashiur Rahman, managing director of Titas Gas. Khokon urged the government to fix the price of LNG as low as possible so that the industry truly benefits from the initiative. The government has proposed to fix the LNG price for factories at more than Tk 14 a cubic metre, up 45.53 percent from the existing rate.

At present, the textile millers pay Tk 9.62 for every cubic metre of gas and use Tk 8 to Tk 9 worth of gas to produce a kilogramme of yarn, according to industry insiders. The ship carrying Bangladesh’s first import consignment of LNG anchored in the Bay of Bengal on April 25. Supply to the national grid is scheduled to begin next month.

13 industrial units win President’s Award

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13 industrial units win President’s Award

The government will confer awards on 13 industrial units today (Tuesday) for their outstanding contributions to economic development of the country. The ‘President’s Award for Industrial Development-2016’ will be given to the winners under heavy, medium, small, micro, cottage and high-tech industry categories.President Md Abdul Hamid will give away the awards at a ceremony at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital. Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu will preside over the ceremony. The industrial units nominated for the awards under heavy industry category are Fariha Spinning Mills Ltd, Spectra Engineers Ltd, and Envoy Textiles Ltd.

BRB Polymer Ltd., Chittagong Denim Mills and Basumati Distribution Ltd will be awarded under medium industry category. Under the small industry category, the winners are Runner Automobiles Ltd., Auto-Tex Ltd, and M/S Abul Industries. Smart Leather Products at Mohammadpur in Dhaka will be awarded under micro-industry category and Karupannya in Thakurgaon under cottage industry category. Under high-tech industry category, awards will be given to Super Star Electrical Accessories Ltd and Service Engine Ltd. Proprietor of Smart Leather Masuda Yesmin Urmy told the FE on Monday that she was delighted to be nominated for the award.

Urmy, who started her business in 2004 with only Tk 0.3 million as initial capital, said lack of access to funds is a big barrier to the growth of businesses run by women entrepreneurs. The monthly turnover of her business now stands at Tk 1.5 to Tk 1.6 million. The ministry of industries has initiated the award in 2014.

IFC offers $40m loan to lower middle-income group

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IFC offers $40m loan to lower middle-income group

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has proposed investing up to US$ 40 million in a state-run financial entity in the form of loans to the lower middle-income people in Bangladesh, officials said. According to its Articles of Agreement, the private sector lending arm of the World Bank (WB) needs to take prior permission from the member state concerned if it wants to finance an enterprise in the territories of that country. The IFC, according to an available note, wants to invest US$ 40 million in Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) to help it provide loans to the lower middle-income people.

“The IFC is considering an investment in IDCOL to support the company’s provision of mortgage loans to the lower middle-income segment in Bangladesh. IFC’s proposed investment will consist of a loan of up to US$ 40 million equivalent in BD taka,” according to the sister concern of the WB. Of the total proposed loan, the IFC wants to provide US$ 20 million in tranche in the next few months and the rest of investment in about a year. The corporation has made the proposal to the Economic Relations Division (ERD) in this regard. The ERD has sought opinions from the finance ministry, an ERD source concerned said.

According to statistics available with the IFC, until June 2017, its committed portfolio in Bangladesh reached over US$ 1.0 billion. Recently, the lender has sought the government’s approval for investing US$ 72 million in two local conglomerates -Pran Agro Business Ltd, Pran Agro Ltd and Natore Agro Ltd and Esquire Knit Composite Ltd- to make sure that both groups get working capital.

In the recent past, the IFC injected US$ 125 million into Summit Power. It also invested in various banks, non-bank financial institutions, power plants and in the hospitality sector of the country. The corporation promotes sustainable growth and private sector development in Bangladesh through investing in critical infrastructure, boosting financial inclusion, enhancing textiles competitiveness and supporting reforms to make doing the business easier for the private sector. In late 2016, the IFC set a target to invest US$ 2.5 billion in three years in Bangladesh under long-term financing. ERD secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam could not be reached over phone for his comments in this regard

FBCCI suggests overall dev of railway sector

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FBCCI suggests overall dev of railway sector

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) emphasised on Monday overall development of the country’s railway sector.In this connection they pressed for adding more transport trains to the fleet on different routes to facilitate trade and business activities. The views of the apex trade-body came at a meeting of its standing committee relating to the Ministry of Railways at its board room. The meeting observed that the importance of the railway sector was increasing day by day. FBCCI senior vice-president Sheikh Fazle Fahim underscored the need for running more transport trains to match the pace of development activities in the country.
He also emphasised expanding activities of the Kamalapur ICD (Inland Container Depot).

The discussants at the meeting focused on operating more trains on the Dhaka-Chattogram route as well as adding more compartments to the existing ones for transportation of goods.They also suggested fast train services connecting important places with Chattogram and Mongla seaports as well as Benapole landport.The business leaders also supported the government’s decision of launching bullet trains on the Dhaka-Chattogram route in near future. Chairman of the standing committee Sarwar Wadud Chowdhury presented its detailed future plan at the meeting.FBCCI directors Md. Rejaul Kariem Rejnu and Hafez Harun-Or-Roshid also participated in the discussion.