Nishat Jute Mills set to resume production
Mill to be handed over to Hameem Group Thursday
Sarwar A Chowdhury
Nishat Jute Mills Limited, a state-run enterprise which was closed last year in the face of huge losses, will come to life again in three months under private ownership.Hameem Group, mainly engaged in apparel manufacturing, has purchased the mill with a view to injecting new inspirations into the country's depressed jute industry. The government will formally hand over the jute mill to the private owner, Hameem Group, on Thursday. "We hope to resume production in the mill within next three months and make it a profitable concern," said AK Azad, managing director of Hameem Group, while talking to The Daily Star yesterday. Initially the jute mill will create employment opportunity for 2,000 to 2,500 people. "We have a plan to enhance the production capacity and increase the number of staff to 6,000 in the next three years," Azad said. The mill, located at Tongi in Gazipur, had about 2,000 staff when it was shut down in December last year. "Hameem Group purchased the mill through open tender offering Tk 19 crore along with taking bank liabilities of over Tk 24 crore," said Azad, also the president of Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI). He hoped the mill will become profitable under the group's ownership and it will be able to export its products. In reply to a query, Azad said jute and other industries in agro-based sector have an immense potential to flourish in Bangladesh if they get adequate supports and required investment in capital, labour and merit. In India new jute mills are being set up while the mills in Bangladesh are closing down one after another, he regretted. "For the government's supportive policy, jute sector in India marked 20 per cent growth last year." The Hameem Group managing director said the government should increase cash incentives in jute sector to 15 per cent from present 5 per cent and lower interest rates on industrial loans to 7 per cent. "We need a comprehensive study for digging out reasons why the jute mills in Bangladesh are closing," he said suggesting the researchers, economists, government agencies and entrepreneurs to conduct such a study. Azad's Hameem Group now employs around 8,000 people in its export-oriented ready made garment factories.
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