Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine August Issue 2018 | Page 30

BANGLADESH CANVAS APPAREL RESOURCES NEWSLETTERS FACEBOOK FRIENDS To subscribe, send us an email at [email protected] Join more than 10,000 people who are already fans of Apparel Resources on facebook. Search for Apparel Resources at https://www.facebook.com/apparelresources/ ‘Taskforce' formed to identify foreigners working illegally; fails to make a mark Formed in March 2016 to prevent evasion of taxes amidst allegations that a large number of undocumented foreigners are employed in the country’s RMG sector, the Government taskforce (that had representations from a host of Government and non- governmental entities including Department of Immigration and Passport, Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority, National Security Intelligence, National Board of Revenue’s VAT and income tax wings, etc.) has allegedly failed to make much headway even after a period of two years. It may be mentioned here that as per an unpublished study of Dhaka University and The Centre of Excellence of BGMEA, there are around 34,340 expatriates holding top positions in RMG factories, who are remitting around US $ 2.36 billion in salary and allowances. The Government agencies are, however, said to have no statistics on the number of foreign workers. After its formation, the taskforce has reportedly visited 20 factories out of 40 listed for inspection but found only a few foreigners illegally working in those factories, which is said to be way lower than what the taskforce had initially expected. The NBR officials reportedly underlined concealing of information pertaining to foreigners working illegally by the concerned factories for the lesser number of detections, as the taskforce has reportedly visited the factories with prior notice. Meanwhile the NBR is said to have reconstituted the taskforce recently to bring momentum in the activities of the taskforce and to avoid any legal complications. Good news for RMG sector as Bangladesh signs deals for 6,000 MW electricity Smarting under power crisis for long, Bangladesh’s readymade garment sector can hope for better days following signing of two separate agreements to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity (largely from liquefied natural gas), recently. The first deal was signed between Bangladesh’s Summit Group, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and US’s General Electric Company, while the other one was signed between Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and GE Switzerland. As per the first deal signed between Summit, Mitsubishi and GE, the concerned parties reportedly agreed to invest US $ 3 billion to establish five power plants, two LNG terminals and one oil terminal. In the other deal, BPDB and GE Switzerland agreed to set up a 3,600 MW LNG-based combined cycle power plant in Moheshkhali, Cox’s Bazar at an estimated cost of US $ 4.4 billion. As per media reports, Senior Vice-President of the infrastructure business division of Mitsubishi Corporation Tetsuji Nakagawa, President and Chief Executive of GE Power Russell Stokes and Chairman of Summit Group Muhammed Aziz Khan represented their respective companies in the signing ceremony. It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh’s total current installed electricity generation capacity is around 16,000 MW while the demand for electricity is projected to reach 34,000 MW by 2030. Under the given 30 Apparel Online Bangladesh | August 2018 | www.apparelresources.com circumstances, many garment manufacturing units are reportedly languishing due to lack of sufficient power supply.