VAT online project’s tenure extended to December 2020

The tenure of VAT online project has been extended by two years to December 2020 in line with the deferment of the new VAT law.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday approved the project’s second revision where its expenditure has also been increased by 25.11 percent to Tk 690 crore.

The project was approved by Ecnec in 2013 for the implementation of the new VAT law.

After yesterday’s meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said the system for paying VAT online could not be introduced yet due to the postponement of the law.

The system will be introduced through the project, he said. The law was scheduled to come into effect from the current fiscal year. One of its main provisions was that it would introduce a uniform rate of VAT replacing multiple ones.

Its implementation used to be deferred with the aid of two years in the face of opposition from the business community.

Muhith in the past this month stated the new VAT regulation might be implemented in FY2020-21.

He additionally stated it might also have two charges rather of one of 15 percent.

Muhith said a idea would be prepared on the new VAT charge before this fiscal year’s finances and will be left for the subsequent authorities to implement.

A finance ministry legit said the NBR would quickly appoint a advisor who would discuss with stakeholders and put together a new proposal on the revision of the VAT law.

The planning ministry thought says a VAT app and software would be developed underneath the project.

Moreover new IT infrastructure will be procured for introducing the new VAT gadget while field degree workplaces will be refurbished and integral gear collected.

The original task proposal said Tk one hundred and one crore was once to come from authorities money whilst Tk 450 crore from the World Bank. The revision expanded the government fund contribution to Tk 240 crore.

Yesterday 14 new and revised projects involving Tk 6,228 crore were accredited at the Ecnec meeting.

One is on renovating polders at Ukhia and Teknaf along the Naf river on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by means of June 2020 for Tk 144 crore.

Its major aims are to increase embankments with the aid of enhancing flood manipulate and irrigation device in some areas and stop illegal infiltration from Myanmar.

Another Tk 1,521 crore undertaking is for upgrading the power distribution system of thirteen upazilas in Comilla.

A mission of Tk 1,152 crore will improve Noakhali’s rural infrastructure.

Major safety concerns still remain unresolved in many RMG units

Major life-threatening safety concerns still remain outstanding in many garment factories inspected by the western retailers’ platform — Accord — although 80 per cent of identified safety flaws have so far been fixed.

In its quarterly progress update till October 01, the Accord said inadequate fire detection and alarm systems still remain outstanding in some 946 garment factories out of 1,378 units where the findings have been identified.

“While most factories have submitted fire alarm and fire detection design drawings to the Accord and are in the process of ordering and installing the systems, full installation including final verification of testing and commissioning has been completed at 31.3 per cent of the factories,” said the report published on November 17.

Lockable or collapsible gates have been identified in some 1,393 factories while 72 units are yet to remove evasion hazards during an emergency, its findings showed.

The record said, “94.8 per cent of the factories have eliminated lockable and/or collapsible gates. It skill employees have extra risk of escaping the factory structures in an emergency.”

It also confirmed that 243 out of 1,333 garment factories are but to install egress lighting.

Only 7.0 per cent or one hundred twenty garment factories out of 1,699 have so some distance carried out all the in the beginning identified protection flaws prescribed through the Corrective Action Plan (CAP).

It stated 665 factories have performed ninety per cent or greater than remediation work.

When asked, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Md Siddiqur Rahman stated he is yet to see the Accord report.

Regarding the progress, he claimed that the relaxation of the work would be accomplished within the Accord’s tenure till June 2018.

On the other hand, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety announced that eighty five per cent of required remediation has been completed while 234 gadgets out of 700 inspected garment factories have completed the entire CAP.

The Alliance suspended business relations with 162 factories and the Accord with more than eighty five devices over their failure to comply with safety requirements. Alliance govt director Jim Moriarty at a press convention held remaining week stated the platform will end its activities by using mid of subsequent year.

The Accord, on the other hand, bought six-month conditional extension with the name ‘Transitional Accord’ if a countrywide regulatory body is no longer succesful sufficient of taking charge of the current Accord.

So a long way 49 of Accord’s present signatory manufacturers and shops out of extra than 200 such as H&M, Hugo Boss, C&A, Primark, Inditex and Target signed the 2018 Accord, covering a complete of 1,200 garment factories.

Prospect for country’s leather industry

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s announcement that her government has a plan to set up two more leather industrial estates –one each in Rajshahi and Chittagong–reflects the importance the government attaches to the development of the industry. The plan is indeed big in that the country is eying to earn $5.0 billion from the sector by 2021 when its total export target is going to be $60 billion. This means one-twelfth of the foreign exchange may come from the leather sector by that time. Currently, the sector earns 1.54 per cent of the total foreign exchange earning with an average annual growth of around 29.8 per cent. By all accounts, the growth is already commendable but it will go up many folds when two more leather industrial estates will start operating. Even the lone estate at Savar is yet to go for its optimum production capacity. Indications, therefore, are clear that the country, if it can exploit its potential, will be a leading player on the global scene of footwear and other leather goods.

The introduction of cutting-edge equipment and technological know-how has surely superior the capability of manufacturing and first-class of products. However, not all leather-based factories have opted for the technological transformation. The lengthen in relocation of leather-based factories from Dhaka’s Hazaribagh to Savar has not helped the cause. Even the Savar leather estate nonetheless faces numerous problems, disposal of stable waste and the failure of the central effluent remedy plant to run to its attainable being the most important ones. The hope that the surroundings of the new location will ease the many mismanagement and troubles dealing with the manufacturing unit employees has not yet materialised. Additionally, a wide variety of tannery gadgets have allegedly commenced polluting the Dhaleswari River in the identical way they did the Buriganga earlier.

Clearly, there is a gap between the lips and the cup. Now that the Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB) has emerge as a member of the Confederation of International Footwear Association (CIFA) and is privileged to host the 36th International Footwear Conference two (IFC) 2017, the event will grant the required impetus to bring its house in order. The authorities intention is clear and with guide from some of the technologically leading contributors of the CIFA, Bangladesh tanners can take the industry countless steps forward through the deadline set for incomes $5.0 billion from the sector. The theme of the conference, ‘Think Ahead, Think Bangladesh’ is the right method for the purpose.

Now the greatest project will come from the environmental concern. No industrial development can be made at the price of surroundings of this tiny land. It has to be sustainable improvement all the way. The Savar tannery property did not have an auspicious beginning. If such lapses can’t be taken care of, foreign investment, one of the key components, and technological know-how switch will be challenging to come by. The zero-tariff incentive as provided for overseas investors will be a temptation but it has to be complemented via similarly facilitation of working environment.

Sweater exports on the rise

Sweater shipment from Bangladesh is on the rise thanks to competitive pricing and longer winters in the Western world as a result of climate change, exporters said.

Bangladesh exported sweaters worth $3.37 billion in fiscal 2016-17, up 5.64 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau.

Even three years ago, the window for sweater sales was at most four months, from November to February. Now, the window opens in October and continues until March.

The shift of work orders from China to Bangladesh is also another factor for the higher shipment, said Saif Ahmed, deputy general manager of Mohammadi Group, which exports nearly three million pieces of sweater in a year.

Seeing that the winter season has expanded in the Western world, almost all sweater manufacturers in Bangladesh have expanded their capacity, he said.

Besides, the knitwear is no longer used in the winter only; it is worn all yr round, stated Ahmed, who supervises the sweater part in Mohammadi Group.

Given the higher demand, most of the factories have additionally began automating their manufacturing line to raise output and cope with strict lead time.

However, the expenses of knitwear have no longer expanded however the prices of manufacturing have due to inefficient port operation and bad street prerequisites between Dhaka and Chittagong, Ahmed said.

In the long-term, Bangladesh’s sweater enterprise will increase, said a German client who purchases $1.3 billion well worth of garment gadgets from Bangladesh, 30 percentage of which is knitwear.

In current times, Vietnam and Cambodia have come to be predominant competitors of Bangladesh due to their shorter lead time, he said.

The lead time from Bangladesh is round 40 days, whereas it is 20 days from the other two Asian nations.

The motive for Bangladesh’s longer lead time is that all knitwear is made from yarn imported from China, he said.

“Many Chinese corporations have massive investment in Vietnam and Cambodia. As a result, they can get yarns easily.” Regarding the prices, the German consumer said: “Even two years in the past we paid $11 for a sweater, however now it is $9.”

Build Laldia terminal in shortest possible time

Shortest possible construction time and use of modern equipment for an output of international standard should be the prime criteria for selecting a private entity to build a multipurpose terminal in Laldia, Patenga.

This is to ease the pressure on the Chittagong port which is already facing vessel and container congestion, both of which are continually increasing.

The suggestion came from users of the Chittagong port at a views-exchange meeting organised yesterday by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) to frame terms and conditions to get the terminal constructed and run for 25 years before taking it over.

This is the port’s first public-private partnership project, approved by the cabinet committee on economic affairs in March 2013.  The terminal will have four jetties, two for container vessels and two for bulk cargo carriers, and is estimated to cost about $301.60 million. Five qualifying international firms have been shortlisted from six that vied to take up the project.

The five are Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (India), Bolloré SA (France), China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd, DP World FZE (United Arab Emirates) and Global Ports Services Ltd (Singapore).

Speaking at the meeting, MA Latif, a lawmaker and also a member of the parliamentary standing committee on shipping, underscored the need for making the operator accountable for terminal activities.

Former CPA member Hadi Hossain Babul said the CPA would have to restore tariffs, behavior dredging, allot vessels, make sure protection and control the motion of ships.

Khairul Mostafa, a former chief engineer of the CPA, suggested retaining provision for compensation if the construction cut-off date was not met. He proposed consisting of performance symptoms such as vessel turnaround time and container coping with rate.

Ahsanul Hoque Chowdhury, chairman of the Bangladesh Shipping Agent Association, pressured the need for fixing a timeframe for speedy construction.

Kharul Alam Sujan, director of the Bangladesh Freight Forward Association, stated unloaded containers ought to be despatched to a bonded warehouse close by on devoted roads and trains to keep away from traffic congestion in the city.

CPA Chairman M Khaled Iqbal chaired the meeting.