Govt moves to reopen 13 closed mills

KMA Hasnat: Under public private partnership (PPP), the government has taken an initiative to reopen 13 closed state-owned textile mills which are currently owned by Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC).

Official sources said the Ministry of Textile and Jute has taken the move following the administrative order of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

They said the 13 mills have some 380.47 acres of land worth Tk 1,592 crore and they will need an estimated amount of Tk 15,200 crore as PPP implementation cost to resume their operation.

Recently, a proposal to this end was approved at a high level meeting with Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith in the chair.

Eight of the mills as per the estimated PPP project cost and the amount of land with value are RR Textile Mills, Chittagong (estimated PPP cost Tk 600, land 18.95 acres worth Tk 30 crore), Amin Textile Mills, Chittagong (PPP cost Tk 1200 crore, 23.49 acres land worth Tk 310 crore), Rangamati Textile Mills, Rangamati (PPP cost Tk 1200 crore, land 26.24 acres worth Tk 20 crore), Magura Textile Mills, Magura (PPP cost Tk 1200 crore, land 16.17 acres worth Tk 310 crore).

The mills also include Bengal Textile Mills, Noawapara, Jessore (PPP cost Tk 600 crore, land 15.92 acres value Tk 28 crore), Rajshahi Textile Mills at Sapura, Rajshahi (PPP cost Tk 1200 crore, land 26.53 acres value Tk 73 crore), Sundarban Textile Mills, Satkhira (PPP cost Tk 1200 crore, land 29.47 acre value Tk 30 crore), and Dinajpur Textile Mills, Dinajpur (PPP cost Tk 2000 crore, land 35.45 acres value Tk 30 crore).

The other five mills are Jalil Textile Mills at Sadarpur, Dinajpur (PPP cost Tk 2000 crore, land 68 acres value 365 crore),  Daroani Textile Mills, Nilphamari (PPP cost Tk 2000 crore, land 68.30 acres value 20 crore, Dost Textile Mills, Ranir Haat, Feni (PPP cost Tk 1200 crore, land 21.47 acres value Tk 30 crore, Afsar Cotton Mills at Savar, Dhaka, (PPP cost Tk 200 crore, land 5.52 acres, value Tk 91 crore) and The Asiatic Cotton Mills, Chittagong (PPP cost Tk 1200 crore, land 24.96 acres, value Tk 255 crore.

According to the ministry’s proposal, the land of the mills will be considered as capital of the BTMC in the PPP patch-up while the interested private parties will have to implement the relevant projects, carry out maintenance, processing and marketing of products in addition to operations.

The shares of the BTMC and private parties will be distributed on ratio-basis or through negotiations.

Initially, the partnership between BTMC and the private parties will be for 30 years and the contract could be renewed or a new party could be reappointed for the PPP after the expiry of the PPP deal.

As per the BTMC’s official website, the state-owned corporation has 24 textile mills. Of these, six textile mills (7 units) are now running under the service charge system and producing different counts of cotton yarn/viscose yarn in the form of 32/1 to 80/1.

Another three closed mills are under process of reopening by Service Charge and Balancing, Modernisation, Rehabilitation and Expansion (BMRE).

Two mills -- Khulna Textile Mills, Khulna and Chittaranjan Cotton Mills, Narayanganj -- have been asked to set up Textile Pallis, inviting investors to buy industrial plots.

risingbd/Dhaka/Dec 30, 2017/Hasnat/AI