Gazipur To Become The Newest City Corporation

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Gazipur has become the 11 city corporation of the country after the government approved the decision on Monday. The newly declared city corporation has an area of 330 square kilometer comprising Gazipur and Tongi municipalities. The approval was confirmed in the 107th meeting of NICAR. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina being the chairperson, the meeting was held at Secretariat building of Bangladesh.

“Gazipur To Become The Newest City Corporation”

As Gazipur has become a city corporation now, the Ministry of the Local Government will publish a gazette notifying the issue. The gazette will also fix the boundaries and divide the city corporation into various wards. Mayor and other electoral posts will be chosen by an election. The election will be held after six months from publishing the gazette.

Once the city corporation comes into being, an administrator will be appointed to it. The administrator will conduct the polls in order to elect a Mayor and other representative posts for the corporation. The NICAR cabinet meeting has also upgraded the Tarakanda Thana in Phulpur Upazilla, Mymensingh to a fully functional Upazilla. Having a size of 315.69 square kilometers, the new upazila will consist of 10 unions and a population of 2,92,456.

The meeting also approved the proposal of establishing a pourosava at Pirganj Upazilla in Rangpur district. The pourosava will have a population of 50,000. Another pourosava in Uzirpur Upazilla of Barisal district was also approved in the NICAR cabinet meeting. This pourosava will have a population of 51,597. Both of these pourasava’s were approved under the Local Government Act of 2009.

Regular Land Route Of Dhaka-Chittagong To Be Re-opened Tuesday

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Regular traffic movement in the Dhaka-Chittagong highway will be resumed on Tuesday, according to the officials. As the pre-planned rehabilitation and conservation works of the damaged parts of the Meghna-Gomati and Meghna bridges are undergoing smoothly and according to the plan, it is expected that the works will be finished by Monday night. Traffic will be allowed to resume their regular passage afterwards.

“Regular Land Route Of Dhaka-Chittagong To Be Re-opened Tuesday”

The repairing of these two bridges on the most important land route of the country started on Friday morning. The repairing works have needed all traffic going through these bridges to take alternative routes until the repairing is completed. However, the authorities assured that traffic would be able to continue using their regular route by Tuesday.

The works included repairing hinge bearing, expansion joints and the scouring projections. All of these works are going in the right ways. The work is supervised by Special Works Organization of National Army and experts from Bangladesh and Malaysian engineering universities. The project officials are hoping that these repairing activities will make these bridges safe for at least the next ten years.

Communication Minister, Mr. Obidul Quader MP has visited the repairing work on Saturday and inspected the ongoing work on various sections. Officials from Roads and Highway and Engineers were present there. The original plan for repairing these bridges was taken in 2011. The plan has been modified recently and put to work. Another project is also being planned to repair the second Meghna-Gomati and Meghna bridges to make them fit for the next few years.

In Terms Of Value, US$ Weakens Against Taka

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Bangladesh has possessed a strong and fast developing economy and in every sector Bangladesh is doing well which catches the eyes of the international businessmen. Not only that, the value of ‘Taka’ gradually increasing in case of the US$. Generally, every deal in the field of the business is done in exchange of US$.

“In Terms Of Value, US$ Weakens Against Taka”

The standard of currency exchange weakens against the value of ‘Taka’ which is rally a hope of positive graph of the developing economy. The exchange rate of US $ has not been fixed by Bangladesh Bank, despite repeated market interventions. Dropping to below the 80:1 mark last week, the dollar continued to fall against the Bangladeshi Taka. The rate is hovering in between 80-79 taka per $.

A US dollar was trading for Tk 85, around this time, a year ago. Last week Inter-bank rate placed the value of a US dollar at Tk 79.85 and at the end of the last working day, only 5paisa raised. US$, at present is available in the banks only because of the rising quantum of foreign aid and the increased volume of remittances from abroad by the expatriate Bangladeshis and according to the specialists this is the reason of the fall of US$ and rise of the ‘Taka”.

Chief executive of the Bangladesh Bank’s Forex and treasury management, Kazi Saidur Rahman said that to stabilize the exchange rates, they are buying dollars with a view to have an positive impact on the remittances flowing from abroad and export incomes. At present the reserve of the Bangladesh’s Forex is US $12.72 billion dollars.

Ceramic Exporters Exploring New Destinations

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The ceramic product exporters of Bangladesh are searching for new potential markets, according to industry leaders. In order to explore new markets, the industry leaders have recently visited South Africa, Russia and Latin American countries. Ashek Alam, Executive Director of such a company has said that they want to establish business relations with new countries and for that reason they are visiting other potential countries.

“Ceramic Exporters Exploring New Destinations”

At present, ceramic exportation is limited to only European Union and the US market. As western countries are the primary target of Bangladeshi ceramic market and they are going through a prolonged financial crisis, remaining dependent on them is very risky for the sustainability of the industry. Therefore, they are now searching for new probabilities in other countries.

As part of the market exploration process, ceramic industry leaders have invited potential clients to visit the key industries in Bangladesh and compare the quality of the products with those of other countries. A large number of likely clients have visited Bangladesh and expressed their content. Bangladeshi ceramic companies are already getting orders from the above mentioned countries.

Ceramic exporters have to pay higher tariff to export their products to some of the new destinations including Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile etc. The key industry leaders have urged the government to negotiate with those countries to reduce the tariff barrier in order to facilitate the new possibility. Ceramic industries could bring a large amount of foreign currency and employ thousands of unemployed people, if they could increase their business to new destinations.

Traders Not To Be Panicked By SEC’s New Surveillance Software

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The regulators of the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) of Bangladesh have said that the traders should not be worried about the automated monitoring activities by the newly installed surveillance software. They have assured that the software is launched only to sustain the interest of the general traders by ensuring transparency. In the long term, it will actually help the traders to understand the market trends.

“Traders Not To Be Panicked By SEC’s New Surveillance Software”

The clarification came right after the panicking report by the software was revealed, which has identified 2,971 alerts after checking ten percent of the trades done in the last half an hour on Monday. Among those, 247 alerts were identifies as the red alerts, signaling the probability of some inappropriate activities against some specific number of BO accounts.

Traders and brokerages houses have expressed their concern that this may cause large investors to be called by the regulator if the software shows improper activities against them. However, the Chief Executive Director of SEC Saifur Rahman has ruled out this probability by stating with example that, big investors could place orders of two million or so shares without panicking as the software provides some thresholds.

He also said that the variation of price is a common occurrence in the local market. The surveillance software will inform us to check any abnormality it has found. It does not mean that investors will be accused without any proper reason just because the software has shown red alerts against them. Though, we will be tough against those who may come out as guilty in our investigations.

Government To Provide Textbooks On 1st January 2013

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The government has taken all the necessary steps to provide 270 million textbooks among 37 million students on the 1st January 2013, said Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid. The day will also be celebrated as the Textbook Distribution Festive Day. The Minister said all this in a press conference at the DU campus. Education Secretary Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdury and NCTB Chairman Mostafa Kamal Uddin were also preset in the conference.

“Government To Provide Textbooks On 1st January 2013″

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be inaugurating the festival at her office on Monday. The nationwide book distribution program will start at the Dhaka Residential Model College. The Education Minister re-affirmed his hope of distributing textbooks to every school-going student on the day. According to him, about 94.63 percent of secondary level textbooks and 98.88 percent of primary level textbooks have already reached their destinations.

The total of 270 million textbooks will be distributed among primary, ebtedayee, secondary, Dakhil and the vocational students. All of the textbooks will also be found at the following websites – www.ebook.gov.bd and www.nctb.gov.bd. Anybody would be able to download the textbooks for free from those sites. According to the minister, the government is trying hard to make the process easy and smooth for the people.

The education minister informed the journalists that some junior level textbooks have been changed to keep up the standard. Among them, Mathematics, English and Social Works textbooks are dramatically changed, while other textbooks also have some updates and new inclusions. The updates textbooks will help the students to have the latest information and be prepared for the upcoming challenges.

Deal For Operating Container Terminal

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The water way plays a very important in the internal and external business of the country because most of the imported and exported goods are carried from or to the sea ports through the internal water ways. But it is often seen hat due to the miserable condition of the container terminals; the exporters or the importers face tremendous problems while carrying their goods to their destination.

“Deal For Operating Container Terminal”

Through a deal which was signed at a meeting at Westin Hotel Dhaka, the UK-based Port Evaluation Management (Port-Evo) became a partner of the country’s first private inland container terminal. The chairman of the Rupayan Port & Logistics, Liaquat Ali and the chairman of Port-Evo in Bangladesh, James Sutcliffe signed the deal. As per the deal, Port-Evo will invest about $25 million to operate and develop the under-construction river-based Rupayan Container Terminal in Bangladesh.

The total project will cost $60 million and of the total amount Port-Evo will provide $25 million and Rupayan will provide $22.5 million and rest of the amount will be taken as loan. In the meeting, the managing director of Rupayan Port & Logistics Services PJ Ullah said that the terminal which can handle about 260,000 TEUs containers, will definitely save 50% export and import cost.

To provide environment-friendly and a very cost-effective solution to the exporters and importers of the country, this deal will work to enhance the capacity and efficiency of the port terminals which will boost up the business of Bangladesh, for sure. Modern facilities like fumigation area for customs, quarantine facilities, online container tracking service to agro inspection and other regulatory agencies will be infused in the terminals.

Chinese Ambassador Appeases Bangladesh’s Anxiety

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The interest of China in building a deep sea port in Bangladesh was not for any military use; rather it was based on only business purpose, according to the Chinese ambassador in Dhaka. The ambassador also tried to appease the over growing worries among some Bangladeshi interest groups about the actual intention of the Asian giant in constructing the port in Bangladesh.

“Chinese Ambassador Appeases Bangladesh’s Anxiety”

Chinese ambassador, Li Jun said that China believes in the economic development of Bangladesh. According to Mr. Li Jun, China wants to stabilize the South Asia region by providing the necessary supports. He said, a few years ago some Chinese construction companies expressed their interest in the deep sea project and some of them opened their local offices on Dhaka too.

The ambassador also noted that some other countries showed their interests too, though he didn’t mention the names of those countries. However, China is open to all and ready to cooperate with all the other interested parties, he added. The ambassador of the second largest economy of the world said that China has solid military relation with Bangladesh, but the sea port is only for business purpose.

Bangladesh officials wanted to build a deep sea port to cater the increasing demand of cargo movement of both the country and the region. The port was initially proposed to be built at Sonadia. Analysts find Bangladesh as a pawn in the hands of the two rising powers of the Asia continent, India and China. However, both of the countries have denied these allegations time once again.

Former President Iajuddin Ahmed Passes Away

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Iajuddin Ahmed, the former president of Bangladesh, dies at a Bangkok hospital. He left an example to Bangladeshi people that how an honest educationist loved by so many people was caught up by controversy when he surrendered to the unwarranted political stress. During his death he was 81 years old. Iajuddin Ahmed had been suffering from kidney and heart diseases and was in treatment at Bumrungrad Hospital where he died.

“Former President Iajuddin Ahmed Passes Away”

Iajuddin Ahmed played a vital role in the political history of Bangladesh. He did a lot to restore democracy in Bangladesh. He was so hard against the autocratic Ershad regime. He used to work hard as a renowned president of Dhaka University Teachers Association. He earned huge acclimation from all around the country. Just right after the falling of the autocracy in 1990, Iajuddin Ahmed had been appointed as an advisor to the temporary government that was led by then head justice Shahabuddin Ahmed.

Iajuddin Ahmed was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1995 for the immense contribution to education. He was made a president of Bangladesh on the advice of BNP in 2002. Iajuddin Ahmed was also held the place of the chief advisor of the care taker government at the end of 2006. But he had failed to free neutrally his constitutional tasks as the chief advisor as he worked as per BNP design makers. He failed to discharge neutrally his constitutional duties as chief adviser since he acted as per suggestions of the BNP policymakers.

This led to worsening of the political crisis and finally he resigned from the post of chief adviser, declaring a state of emergency on January 11, 2007 that suspended the January 22 scheduled parliamentary election. President Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also the leader of Opposition Khaleda Zia uttered deep upset at the death of Iajuddin and they prayed for the departed soul.

Project For Solving Traffic Gridlock In Dhaka

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The condition of traffic in Dhaka city is worse than any description. If you don’t experience the traffic of Dhaka then you cannot imagine how disgusting and problematic it becomes for the people. In comparison to the number of people and vehicles the Road of the city are not sufficient, that is why thousands minutes people waste in the roads waiting.

“Project Approved For Metro Rail System To Solve Traffic Gridlock In Dhaka”

On Tuesday, December 18, the project of building the country’s first metro rail system in Dhaka was approved. In a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council  the project was okayed by the authority and the cost of the entire project is initially determined at tk 21,985 crore. This project will be very time consuming.

As this is a very big project the total project will be fulfilled in 3 portions. Under this project a metro rail of 20.1 kilometer overhead rail track, via Pallabi and Sonargaon Hotel area- Uttara-Motijheel (Bangladesh Bank) route, would be constructed. First the rail track from Pallabi to Sonargaon Hotel will be constructed by 2019, then by 2020 from Sonargaon Hotel to Bangladesh Bank and finally by 2022 from Uttara to Pallabi .

The project will be started from current year and in 2024 it will be supposed to complete. 76% of the total cost about tk 16,595 crore will be provided by the Japanese government and the left 24% will be provided by the Bangladesh government. A study on metro rail was conducted earlier by Jica and in every three minutes the rail will be operated and 60,000 passengers will be carried.