The government will reopen all the closed state- owned mills and factories gradually to safeguard the workers and their families. At the same time, plans have been made to make the factories profitable.
Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun on Thursday said, “No state-owned factory will be closed and all closed factories will be reopened in phases. We look after the interest of the workers, no worker will lose his job. Officers, workers and employees- all have to jointly work to make the factory profitable”.
He said this while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of the construction work of Chhatak Cement Company Limited's production system conversion from wet process to dry process.
The government has already taken massive plans to reduce the amount of losses in state- owned organisations, and to bring many factories under denationalisation, corporatisation, privatisation and public-private partnership (PPP).
Meanwhile, plans are underway to draw investment in these government- owned mills and factories.
Speaking as the special guest, the industries state minister Kamal Majumder said, “Our government is not against the Trade union. Labour leaders also have to act like ordinary workers. Labour leaders urged the factory not to do business on recruitment. No officer will take overtime without work”.
According to government data, the loss of factories under five state- owned companies was Tk 325 crore in 2008-09. In the 2016-17 Fiscal Year, the loss has increased to Tk 1,851 crore. In other words, the loss has increased six times in 10 years. In the current fiscal year 2020-21, 103 state-owned enterprises in the industrial sector will have to count Tk2,387 crore in operating losses.
Among these three companies are Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) and Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) under the Ministry of Industries. Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) and Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) are under the Ministry of Textiles and Jute.
Although many private entrepreneurs have been able to make the industries profitable, the public sector factories have been running at a loss.
BSFIC cited old mills, lack of working capital, and non-increase in sugar prices as opposed to sugarcane as the reasons for the losses. The problem of textiles and jute sector is more evident. Many old machines have become almost obsolete in this age, their production capacity is very low. Yet they are being running whose operating costs are very high. Besides, there are coercion in the name of trade unions and irregularities and corruption in the administration.
BSFIC has incurred a loss of around Tk 4,000 crore in the last five years. The loss of the corporation has been estimated at Tk 1,045 crore in the financial year 2020-21. It is recommended that steps be taken to reopen the closed sugar mills, expose the root causes of losses in the sugar industry, lay off unnecessary manpower and motivate trade union officials and employees to work on a regular basis like other officials and employees.
According to the government, BJMC has been at a loss for 44 out of 47 years of its establishment. At present, the company's accumulated losses have exceeded Tk 10,000 crore. However, many private sector jute mills are running at profit.
In this situation, the government shut down all the state- owned jute mills and is now working to reopen them after making necessary renovation. These mills are expected to reopen under public private partnership.
Economic analysts said that the corruption of the corporations, overhead manpower, lack of skilled workforces, sub-standard production and others are incurring the losses.
Professor Dr A B Mirza Azizul Islam, former Advisor of the caretaker government, said , “The loss amount of the government-run corporations is increasing day by day due to lack of accountability and transparency. The government should privatise all loss-making industries”.
A report prepared by the finance ministry’s monitoring cell, titled “Budget-Summary of State-Owned Institutions for Fiscal Year 2020-21” showed besides many existing problems there is a new problem—that productivity is much lower than the wages of workers.
DrZahid Hussain, former lead economist of the World Bank’s Dhaka office, said, “The government’s industrial and commercial enterprises that have been losing money over the years should not be allowed to continue. As long as these institutions continue, they will make more losses.”
