Almost all public sugar mills incurring losses

Of the 15 government sugar mills in the country, 14 are incurring losses, said Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun.

He revealed this in response to a question raised by ruling party MP Ali Azam in Parliament on Sunday.

Nurul Majid said currently there are 15 public sugar mills in the country. Of them, only Carew & Co is making a profit while the other 14 mills are incurring losses. Sugarcane crushing at six non-profit sugar mills (Panchagarh, Setabganj, Shyampur, Rangpur, Pana and Kushtia) has been suspended by the government from the 2020-2021 crushing season.

In responding to a query of ruling party lawmaker Habibur Rahman, the minister said, "In order to establish agro-based industries in the country, the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (Bscic) has taken initiative to set up agro-based industrial cities/parks in five districts. These are: Bscic Food Processing Industrial City in Thakurgaon; Bscic Madhupur Industrial Park in Tangail for processing of agricultural products, including pineapple; Bscic Agricultural Products Processing Industrial Park in Bogura; Bscic Agricultural Processing Industrial City in Rangpur and Bscic Agricultural Products Processing Industrial Park in Meherpur."

Nurul Majid said Bscic has a total of 69 industrial cities across the country.

Tk4,000cr subsidy to Petrobangla in current financial year

In response to a question from ruling party lawmaker M Abdul Latif, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Nasrul Hamid, said Petrobangla has been given a Tk4,000 crore subsidy for LNG imports in FY 2021-22.

The state minister further said that the demand for LNG imports in the current financial year amounts to Tk23,367.48 crore.

In response to a question from AL law maker Benjir Ahmed, the state minister said, "For modernisation of the power system and a quality power supply, a plan has been undertaken to take power lines underground in major cities and metropolitan areas of the country. The DPDC and DESCO have respectively completed laying 1287km and 1366km of underground lines in Dhaka. Build out of about 2,702km of underground lines has so far been completed in Dhaka, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Rangpur."

In response to a question from Jatiya Party lawmaker Syed Abu Hossain, Nasrul Hamid said the price of 12kg bottled LPG was fixed at Tk975 on 12 April last year. On 3 March, its price was increased to Tk1,391.

Responding to a question from JP lawmaker Mujibul Haque, the state minister said the government has no plan to tap the blocks in the sea on its own. Oil-gas exploration, development, and production in the shallow and deep seas is carried out by international oil companies under a Product Sharing Agreement (PSC) as the process is highly technical, costly, and risky.

The state minister said Bapex, a domestic exploration company under Petrobangla, has the capability to explore gas on land, but it does not have the capacity for oil and gas exploration in the sea.