23 of 47 are sick

A total of 23 out of 47 state-owned industries or factories under the Ministry of Industries are sick and unprofitable, according to the statistics placed by Industries Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir in Parliament on Monday.

He placed the statistics, while replying to a starred question from ruling party lawmaker Md Selimuzzaman Mollah (Gopalganj-1).

Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad tabled the question-and-answer session at the beginning of the day’s business started at around 3:00pm.

The minister said the 47 state-owned enterprises are run under three corporations of the ministry– Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) and Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC).

Of them, 15 out of 16 industrial entities (15 sugar mills and one engineering enterprises), run under BSFIC, are sick, while 5 of 18 entities under BSEC and 3 of 17 industrial entities and factories under BCIC are sick and unprofitable.

The Minister focused on different steps taken by the government to make these sick industries as profitable enterprises.

In reply to another question from BNP lawmaker Arifa Sultana (Women Seat-30), the industries minister said the government is reviewing proposals to revive  sugar mills whose operations were suspended through domestic and foreign investments under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements.

He said six out of 15 sugar mills suspended sugarcane crushing operations in the 2020-21 fiscal year to reduce losses and maintenance costs.

The affected mills are Shyampur, Setabganj, Rangpur, Panchagarh, Pabna and Kushtia sugar mills.
An 11-member task force was formed in 2024 to recommend measures for restarting these mills.

As per the recommendations of the Task Force Committee, the suspension order of sugarcane threshing has been lifted with the aim of resuming threshing activities in Shyampur and Setabganj sugar mills in the first phase, Panchagarh and Pabna sugar mills in the second phase, and Kushtia and Rangpur sugar mills in the third phase, subject to sufficient sugarcane being received at the sugar mills.
 The ministry sought allocations from the Finance Division to restart Shyampur and Setabganj sugar mills during the 2024-25 fiscal year, but the proposal was turned down.

In this context, Muktadir said operations at the mills would be resumed gradually, depending on the availability of funds and adequate sugarcane supply.