The Swadhinata Parishad, the third panel at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), has called for an election instead of a selection method for running the trade body for the next two years.

In recent years, with mutual understanding two panels, the Sammilito Parishad and the Forum, have been taking turns in running the apex trade body of the garment sector without holding any election.

Currently, Siddiqur Rahman, who belongs to the Sammilito Parishad, has been running the BGMEA as its president, meaning it is now the Forum panel’s turn to reign.

Rubana Huq, managing director of Mohammadi Group, a leading garment exporter, is the leader of the Forum Panel.

“But this time we want the election so that the general members can exercise their voting rights,” said Jahangir Alam, convener of the Swadhinata Parishad, at a press conference held at Dhaka Club yesterday.

He went on to make a threat of filing a case with the court if the election is not held. The BGMEA election is scheduled to be held on April 6 this year.

The election is needed as many general members are neglected by the BGMEA employees and the board of directors, said Alam.

He went on to cite his case as an example of the BGMEA’s apathy towards the general members.

The trade body had taken more than three months to enlist his newly constructed factory in Cumilla. As a result, he could not go into production as per schedule although he is still paying high interest rate for bank loans. “This shows the BGMEA is not serious about the concerns of general members.”

Alam said the current executive body does not know the real scenario of the garment sector.

“Many factories have faced closure for different reasons over the last few years, but they are not aware of it.”

He said Bangladesh has the opportunity to grab more work orders that are being shifted out of China because of tariff war with the US.  “We have the opportunity to grow more, but we have been failing at it.”

He said the sector’s target of exporting goods worth $50 billion by 2021 would not be achieved as the country could not improve its capacity. In fiscal 2017-18, garment export receipts amounted to $30.61 billion.

A consortium of Bangladesh and Japan is going to set up a 590-megawatt gas-based power plant at Anwara in Chattogram.

The cabinet committee on purchase approved a Power Division’s proposal for the plant at a meeting at the secretariat yesterday, with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

The government will purchase power at Tk 2 to Tk 5.50 a kilowatt-hour unit for 22 years depending on the type of gas used in production.

The flow of foreign direct investment to the country would increase with the participation of the Japanese company in the project, Kamal told reporters after the meeting.

Dhaka-based industrial group United Enterprises & Co Ltd and Japanese companies Kyushu Electric Power Co Inc and Sojitz Corporation will operate the plant on a build-own-operate basis.

According to the proposal, if power is produced using local gas, the government will buy electricity from the consortium at $0.0368 (Tk 2.9493) per unit. The tariff will be $0.0680 (Tk 5.4435) if re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) is used.

If the plant uses gas, the government will pay about Tk 28,371 crore for 22 years and Tk 52,362 crore for the same period in case of RLNG usage.

The committee also gave its consent to another proposal to import 14.20 lakh tonnes of petroleum products from January to June this year at an estimated cost of Tk 6,772 crore.

Some 11.90 lakh tonnes of diesel will be imported with per barrel premium of $2.95. One lakh tonnes of jet fuel with a premium of $3.95 per barrel would be brought in.

For imports of 30,000 tonnes of octane, the premium will be $5.50 a barrel. It would be $29.75 per tonne for 1 lakh tonnes of furnace oil.

The petroleum products will be imported from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Kuwait and the Philippines under state-to-state arrangements, Nasima Begum, additional secretary of the cabinet division, told reporters.

The committee gave a nod to another proposal of the Power Division to buy 150,575 prepaid metres and related equipment for Cumilla and Mymensingh zone at Tk 137.75 crore. China-based company Shenziang Star Instrument Ltd got the job.

It also approved a proposal to award a Tk 101.98 crore component of the Elenga-Jamalpur national highway widening project to Wahid Construction Ltd.

A three-day Food and Hospitality Bangladesh Expo 2019 will be organised in Dhaka starting February 14.

Bangladesh International Hospitality Association (BIHA) and Wem Bangladesh Limited under the supervision of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation will organise the fair at International Convention City Bashundhara.

Around 70 exhibitors from seven countries, including India, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Italy and Spain, 150 brands and 200 international delegates will take part, organisers told a press conference at the Radisson hotel in Dhaka yesterday.

The participants are representatives of hotels, restaurants, cafés, importers, distributors, housekeepers, spa specialists, architects and interior designers, hotel suppliers, chefs and government employees.

The fair is also going to have live shows such as chef challenges, workshops on food of different countries, roundtables with CEOs and job fairs.

Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir, the Parjatan chairman; HM Hakim Ali, the BIHA chairperson, and Khandakar Ruhul Amin, chairperson of Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association, attended the press conference.