BANGLADESH is shortlisting bidders amongst the British, Indian and local entrepreneurs to operate its closed jute mills, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
The country closed all its state-owned jute mills a year ago.
In April, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) floated an ‘expression of interest’ (EOI) tender to lease out 17 out of 25 closed factories.
Private jute sector entrepreneurs from the UK, India and Bangladesh submitted 59 proposals, the newspaper said quoting sources.
The remaining eight mills will also be leased out in the second phase, it said.
The government might take three more months to award the leases to operate closed mills after completing the remaining procedures, said deputy secretary Imran Ahmed of the textiles and jute ministry.
The BJMC owned 73 jute mills in 1971, which has reduced to none now. However, it still has 3,000 staffers under its payroll.
The jute mills under BJMC suffered losses due to management inefficiencies, non-modernising of the units. Eventually, the last remaining 25 mills under the corporation closed in July 2020 with lay off of more than 50,000 workers.
“...we have decided to lease out the mills to private investors under a five to 20-year agreement,” a BJMC official said.
Leases would be awarded to the highest scoring bidders ranked on the basis of a combined score of technical and financial proposals, he said.
Considering the employment generation potentials of the closed jute mills, the government thinks a lease process will ensure a faster resumption of production under new private ownership.
In the world's production of textile fibers, jute stands second to cotton. Bangladesh, India, China and Thailand are the leading producers of jute.
