Land of state-owned jute mills off limits to other sectors

The government has decided to sell lands of recently shut twenty five BJMC (Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation) jute mills only to jute related industries if they are on sale.

The decision was taken at a virtual meeting of the Textile and Jute Ministry recently. The meeting was presided over by minister Golam Dastagir Gazi.

Finance secretary Abdur Rouf Thalukdar was dead set against selling the lands of state-owned 25 Jute mills to other sectors.

The meeting also decided to hold a meeting including stakeholders of jute industries that are capable of producing jute goods.

Besides, ministry officials will collect names of jute goods producers from EPB, BJMC and BKMEA.

This means, there is a possibility that the government may sell or lease out the lands to local and foreign investors in the same sector.

Industry secretary said in the meeting, “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered the concerned authorities to take necessary action to complete the shutdown process of the jute mills within three months. But we want to complete the process within two months."

Meanwhile, the government formed a 5-member committee second week of last month to ensure the payment of salaries, allowances and dues to permanent and retired employees of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) within 15 days.

However, BJMC has not yet sent a complete amount of salaries and allowances of staffs of the 25 defunct jute mills.

The government's plan to revitalise jute sector through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) has been met with scepticism from stakeholders in the industry.

The decision to form the committee comes after the government announced the shutdown of production at all state-owned jute mills and transition to the PPP model in a bid to modernise the sector.

The 25 jute mills under BJMC have been incurring losses for years, turning profits in just four of the last 44 years.

These incurred a cumulative loss of Tk 106.74 billion while the government provided subsidies worth Tk 106.74 billion in this sector over the last 48 years, according to official data.

The move to shut down the mills has sent about 25,000 workers at 25 jute mills into early retirement under a scheme, euphemistically called a golden handshake.

However, textiles and jute minister Golam Dastagir Gazi is hopeful that the state-owned jute mills will be up and running soon with modern equipment under the PPP model.

But, past experiences of privately-run jute mills are also not very promising, with many having closed due to heavy financial losses.