Retirement age 60 years for workers: PM asks officials to reopen closed mills

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday directed officials concerned to revive closed and sick mills, factories and industries making them profitable to contribute in the government's ongoing development activities.

Laying importance on public and private partnership in this regard, Sheikh Hasina said, this partnership is complementary to each other to greatly help in contributing towards progress and prosperity of the country.

She made the directives while addressing the officials of the Industries Ministry at its conference room at the Motijheel here yesterday morning.

Referring to G-20 summit that given priority on private- public partnership, the Prime Minister said, all over the globe one thing is now being thought of that public sector could have a role in every sectors including industrialisation so that it could serve as a safety-bulb of the economy.

"We want to infuse dynamism in the country's economy to help change the lot of the common people as the majority of them living under poverty line. We are attaching priority to private sectors side by side with public sectors," she told the industries ministry officials.

Underscoring the need for reducing import of cement, fertiliser and sugar, the Prime Minister said, "We don't want to depend on import. Rather, we want self-reliance by reopening the closed mills and factories".

Sheikh Hasina emphasised on industrialisation as industries could play a significant role in strengthening the country's economic footings. If private sector can make profit, why not the public sector enterprises turn themselves into profitable ones, she posed the question.

Referring to different welfare measures for the workers, she Favoured the 60-year age limit for the workers given the rise in life expectancy in the country.

Describing her vision-2021, the Prime Minister said, "We want to make a developed, prosperous and healthy digital Bangladesh based on knowledge and science.Sheikh Hasina said,"We don't want to depend to others. We want to develop the country's industrial sector. We want that industries should be established through public-private partnership."

The Prime Minister said, her government would continue to support this industrialisation process.

Sheikh Hasina said, her government had given priority on Information Technology (IT) and Agro based Industries in Agricultural sector and allocated Taka 100 crore during our previous tenure but that process was thwarted as we couldn't return to power in 2001.

Industries Minister Dilip Barua gave a detailed picture of the state of industries across the country and how to revive the closed and sick units to help boost national economic development.

Cabinet Secretary M Abdul Aziz, Prime Minister's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad, Industries Secretary Dewan Zakir Hosain and PM's Special Assistant Abdus Sobhan Golap were present.

Sheikh Hasina welcomed the industries ministry's decision on reopening the Chittagong Chemical Complex (CCC) as part of the government's initiatives to revive the closed industries.

She said her government wants to make the port city of Chittagong as a real commercial hub by bringing dynamism to different development sectors, including industrial one.

Referring to the past busiest industrial city of Khulna, the Prime Minister said the government would dredge the Pashur river to remove siltation for ensuring its navigability to enrich the capability of the Mongla Port. It would help set up industrial units on raised earth, she added.

Using the port facilities, Sheikh Hasina said the country could earn more foreign currencies as Nepal will use the Mongla Port for easy transportation of goods.

She said a number of profitable mills and factories, including Machine Tools Factory run by the Bangladesh Army, Khulna Dockyard run by the Bangladesh Navy, nine textiles mills run by workers ownership, were supposed to be closed due to losses in the past.

Seven of the textiles mills are making profits and the rest two fail to make profits due to non-cooperation by the previous government.

Referring to the Adamjee Jute Mills and the BRTC, the Prime Minister said there was tremendous pressure on her previous government to privatise these organisations.

"We wanted to privatise the mills with our own model protecting our own interests, but not comply with donors' formula," she said.

Keeping the Adamjee and the Khulna Textiles Mills operational, she said, her government had a plan to establish complementary or supplementary industries in the fallow land within the mills in the private sector.

In the regime of the BNP-led four-party alliance government, Sheikh Hasina said thousands of workers and employees lost their jobs and became unemployed following the closure of the Adamjee and several other mills and industries across the country.

The Prime Minister emphasised the need for setting up agro-based industries, saying there are a huge demand of Bangladeshi foods abroad. "If we can export processed foods, it would boost foreign currency earnings," she said.

She said the country's economy is based on agriculture but industrialisation is the key for overall and sustainable development. Citing an example, on how Japan, an agro-based nation, was turned into an industrial one, Sheikh Hasina said, "We have a huge potentiality to turn the country's agro-based economy into an industrialised one."