The prime minister of Bangladesh  Sheikh Hasina has wanted assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for agricultural technology transfer to Bangladesh for enhancing food production and productivity, particularly for boosting rice output, to attain self-sufficiency.

THE PRIME MINISTER OF BGD : SHEIKH HASINA

She also wanted FAO assistance for producing quality seeds, fertilizers, requisite agricultural inputs for promoting technology adoption by farmers, modern marketing of agricultural products, including perishable crops, fisheries and livestock products.

The Prime Minister made the requests when FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf paid a courtesy call on her on the sidelines of the World Summit on Food Security 2009 at the FAO Headquarter here on Tuesday evening.

She highlighted Bangladesh’s preferences for advancement in biotechnology and genetic engineering as a tool for a new green revolution and called for regional and global cooperation in this context.

The premier mentioned that Bangladesh is set to officially release submergence-tolerant rice varieties that would help farmers prevent up to a million tones of annual crop loss caused by flashfloods.

Hasina at the meeting mentioned her government’s plans and programmes for ensuring food security of the Bangladeshi people through increasing agricultural production by reducing prices of farm inputs and guaranteeing fair prices of farm produce.

She also mentioned that her government has brought the prices of essentials within the buying capacity of the commoners just after assuming office through the December 29 polls.

She noted with concern that the recent global economic recession has hard hit the poor in LDCs, including Bangladesh.

She also said climate change poses an immediate and far-reaching threat to people and communities around the world and is already hampering the lives and livelihoods.

Hasina underscored that climate change adaptation and mitigation options, technology and knowledge should be shared regionally and globally, especially among the Mekong, Nile and GBM deltas.

She also stressed the need for collective measures at the global and regional level to assure the world of adequate food security.

Renewed attention is required for the development of agricultural sector, particularly in the food-importing developing countries, the PM told the chief of the UN food and agriculture agency.

Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque, Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Abul Kalam Azad and Ambassador Ziauddin were present.

By the proper implementation of this agricultural technology, Bangladesh can easily be rich in agroproducts.

This is a memorable day for Bangladeshi Nation that justice finally utter the voice of just for the most hateable murder of Bongo Bondhu Sheik Mujibur Rahman.
Mujib Killers to to gallows as supreme court dismisses appeals.

Source :The global warming due to greenhouse gas emission and the energy scarcity world wide are prompting almost all the countries in the world to look for alternative sources of energy such as nuclear and renewable such as solar, wind, geo-thermal and wave energies, which do not cause carbon emission. Whereas developed countries can tap into nuclear energy, a developing country like Bangladesh is not fortunate enough to have that option available. Consequently, the only option that is open to Bangladesh at the moment is renewable energy such as solar and hydro-electric. Particularly solar energy is sufficiently abundant in Bangladesh and can fruitfully be harnessed.

Bangladesh’s overall energy situation is quite precarious. Whereas country’s energy supply is diminishing, demand is relentlessly increasing. Rapid industrialisation, population growth, improvement in living standards etc are all putting pressures on the energy sector. Altogether, it can be said that supply and demand on energy in Bangladesh are grossly out of phase now. However, Bangladesh is not unique in this situation. Almost all the countries in the world (except the oil rich mid-eastern countries) are in this situation.

This article concentrates on solar energy and how solar energy can be used to pull the country from the quagmire of energy crisis. This energy is available throughout the whole country and it does not demand strong industrial base (unlike nuclear power) to harness it. Altogether, solar energy has the promise and potential of solving Bangladesh’s energy problem.

Bangladesh is facing an acute shortage of energy. The present capacity-limited gas production cannot simultaneously meet both domestic gas requirements and support electricity generation for domestic and industrial purposes. The rationing of gas supply to the fertilizer factories is going to affect the agricultural output. With load shedding across the country, industrial sector is adversely affected, with the consequence of reduced volume of industrial output and diminished export earnings.

Only 35 per cent of the population is somehow covered by electric supply through national grid. Even with such lower percentage coverage, the national power requirement is around 6000MW; whereas present generation capacity is only 3,800MW. This shortfall necessitates load shedding. Moreover, many of the power generating plants have outlived their original design lives and may cease operation at any time, with the consequence of aggravating national energy scene even further.

The Power Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh on 15 September 2009 had depicted a gloomy picture of country’s energy situation and advocated urgent actions. The Power Division had also proposed that no gas supply should be given to gas-fired power plants after 2012, in order to conserve diminishing gas reserve for domestic use only. To remedy the situation, the country has negotiated a deal with India to import 100 MW of power (Energy Bangla, 10 September, 2009). The Government has also negotiated with private companies renting power plants on a temporary basis and buying power at higher rates. The whole situation borders on national energy crisis management.

Summary

Solar energy promises to be a major source of energy in Bangladesh. Rapid industrialisation, urbanisation, high population growth, increased food production, rising standards of living etc all place unrelenting demand on the energy sector. On the supply side, gas reserve in Bangladesh is rapidly shrinking and most of the existing power plants are beyond their design lifetimes.

At this juncture of energy shortage, solar energy can play a vital role. Use of solar energy does not require high technology and technical know-how and it can be used by wider population in remote villages. On top of it, it is risk free and mainly maintenance free and durable.

Solar energy is beneficial to Bangladesh not only on environmental grounds but also on pure economic grounds. But before this energy takes off in Bangladesh in a large scale, national government and/or international organisations must provide stimulus and grants to companies involved in spearheading its use. In particular, the following consideration should be given:

1.As solar panels and associated accessories need to be imported to Bangladesh, the government should make adequate provisions to meet the foreign currency requirements.

2.As solar energy requires large capital expenditure at the front end of the business, government should provide, like almost all western governments, financial incentives in the form of grants, loans, stimuli etc. This is extremely important as without the stimulus, fledgling solar businesses cannot sustain upfront cost and survive.

3.The government should encourage and nurture start-up businesses in solar energy by facilitating import of solar products, giving credit guarantees and eliminating bureaucratic impediments.

4.As solar business is in its infancy, or at best in childhood, Bangladesh should capture this opportunity and become a major world player in this multi-billion dollar business. For example, high quality storage battery production for use with solar panels is well within the country’s technical capability and it will offer export potential and generate a huge foreign currency.

The billion-dollar projects of elevated expressway and metro rail for the capital city without detailed feasibility study is likely to bring about financial and technical debacles, said country’s leading transport experts. .

The communications ministry is pressing the government to entertain an unsolicited proposal for setting up metro rail system in the capital.,
Rejecting the communications ministry’s proposal for considering an unsolicited tender offer, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairsokayed the ministry’s other recommendation for floating an open invitation for tenders for construction of a metro rail and an elevated expressway in the capital at an estimated cost of Tk 15,000 crore.

The communications ministry on November 18 embarked on a $2-billion project with invitation for tender bidding to build a 32.5km elevated expressway on public private partnership (PPP) basis.

Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, a noted civil engineer and transport expert, said the project seems to be the contractor-oriented.

“It is not understandable how the authorities will go for tender for the project without carrying out feasibility study,” he said adding, “It will be risky to proceed with such project without conducting detailed feasibility study and defining the project parameters.”

The government is interested in pursuing massive projects without exhausting any of the first-phase recommendations made in the twenty-year long Strategic Transport Plan (STP) (2004-2024).

The first-phase recommended projects in the STP include elevated way reviews, regional highway connections, Panthapath to Rampura highway, Tejgaon airport tunnel, bus route priority measures and mass rapid transit (MRT) preparatory works.

MRT system may be a long-term solution but effective traffic and pedestrian management and recovery of the existing road-width will significantly improve the traffic situation immediately, said Jamilur Reza who headed a 31-member advisory committee on STP.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs on October 20 gave a go-ahead to float open invitations for tenders for construction of a metro rail and an elevated expressway at an estimated cost of Tk 15,000 crore.

The committee also approved exemption from bidding prosedures in Private Infrastructure Committee, Major Terms and Conditions Committee and Bangladesh Private Sector Infrastructure Guidelines on a plea of saving time in selection process.

Nazrul Islam, executive director of Infrastructure Investment Facilitation Centre (IIFC) under Economic Relations Division, who was the team leader of preparing Private Sector Infrastructure Guidelines said, “Such multi-billion projects require adequate attention and care.”

Dr M Rahmatullah, policy adviser of Transport Sector Management Reform of the planning commission, said the initiative for mass rapid transit is a broad step but embarking on such a mega project without feasibility study will be seriously risky.

“An independent feasibility study by a credible organisation should have been in place before embarking on such a mega project,” he said.

“A study [report] would be the government’s strength, reference and basis for negotiation with the bidders,” he added.

The government cannot evaluate the bidder’s proposal and ascertain the actual costs of building the infrastructure without a feasibility study, said Rahmatullah.

Absence of the study may bring a disaster with giving scope for an irregular deal in favour of the contractor to make the project faulty leaving many liabilities on the government, he said.

Prof Alamgir Mojibul Hoque of Buet, who led the counterpart consulting team on making STP said, “The mega projects without feasibility study will not only increase construction costs but also may fail to meet people’s requirement. It may even put an undesirable structure in place unable to serve the purpose.”

The government should have first put in place bus rapid transit (BRT), proper traffic and parking management, optimum use of the existing road spaces, and removal of bottlenecks and small-scale improvement of traffic network.

Replying to a query, Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain told this correspondent at a seminar on November 3 that the strategic transport plan stands as a feasibility report for such projects.

Strategic transport plan has many things to provide every detail on each recommended project, he said.

“It will take a long time if we follow the existing rules,” said Hossain adding, “We need waiver of rules to complete the mega projects within tenure of the incumbent government.”

A party’s popularity in Dhaka decides the party’s fate in the elections, Hossain said, so their political commitment is to make the project happen within their tenure.

On November 8, the minister told The Daily Star that the tender documents include a provision that the bidders will have to conduct their own feasibility study for the elevated way project.

Rahmatullah said, “Strategic transport plan is not a feasibility study. It is a set of strategic and policy recommendations. It itself calls for feasibility study for such projects.”

The contractors in their feasibility study will naturally press for an extended concession period, as the government will not have scope to assess the concessions demanded by the contractors, he said.

The Strategic Transport Plan, framed in 2005 by The Louis Berger Group, USA and Bangladesh Consultants Ltd and approved in March 2008 is just a strategic plan, said Mojibul Hoqu

SC delivers Bangabandhu verdict at 11:00am today as nation waits to see culprits behind the horrendous crime get punished

The nation waits to hear the ultimate verdict today in the Bangabandhu murder case trial with bated breath and also in the expectation that finally justice will prevail. It has been a long, painful journey for the people of Bangladesh. It ought not to have been this way, for the particular reason that the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistani occupation in December 1971 was considered symbolic of a clean break with the past. That Bangalees would see democracy grow in their country, that under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman they would go forth to create Shonar Bangla, a cause the Father of the Nation had consistently espoused since he emerged with his Six-Point programme of regional autonomy in the mid-1960s, was not a misplaced expectation. Indeed, it was a dream that seemed eminently attainable with Bangabandhu as the undisputed leader of this country

At least 12,000 extra policemen have been deployed in Bangladesh ahead of a verdict in the trial of army officers accused of killing the first president.

Authorities say they are concerned that supporters of the five army men on trial may try to disrupt proceedings.

The trial began 10 years ago and the last stage has seen the final appeal of the alleged killers.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed in 1975, just four years after leading Bangladesh to freedom from Pakistan.

Five of the accused are in prison in the capital, Dhaka. Six others are on the run abroad.

The killers were a group of young army officers, who went on to murder not just the charismatic president, but also his wife, three sons, two daughters-in-law and about 20 other relatives and aides.

Mr Rahman’s daughter Sheikh Hasina, who was re-elected prime minister in December, escaped the massacre only because she was out of the country at the time.

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Bangladesh began the trial after Rahman’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, who was abroad during the coup, became prime minister in 1996 and overturned an indemnity law passed by the military government 11 years earlier.

After Rahman’s death “the murderers were indemnified, which is unprecedented in history,” Wali-ur Rahman, a former trial coordinator and now director of the Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs research body, said by phone from the capital, Dhaka. If the Supreme Court upholds the death sentences “it will be historic,”

Police will “focus their attention on diplomatic areas, the Dhaka central jail, the Supreme Court and judges’ complex,” Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder said from Dhaka. The increased security will continue after today’s verdict, he said.

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Taqfazzul Islam, will deliver the verdict at 11 a.m. Bangladesh time today, according to a statement posted on the Web site of Hasina’s ruling Awami League alliance.

Party leaders and supporters have been instructed to be on the alert after “subversive incidents” occurred during the trial, the alliance said in a separate statement.

Threatening Letter

Increased security is needed because Attorney-General Mahbubey Alam last month received a letter from an unidentified person threatening to kill him and family members if the army officers weren’t released, Sikder said.

Unidentified attackers last month threw a bomb at the car of legislator Fazle Noor Tapas, an Awami League member, Reuters reported at the time. At least a dozen people were injured in the attack. Tapas, who escaped unhurt, is one of the lawyers taking part in the trial process, according to the report.

Death sentences were handed down on 15 army officers by a court in 1998 and the group first appealed the ruling in 2000, Bangladesh’s New Nation newspaper said on its Web site. Three officers were later acquitted.

Seven of the killers fled Bangladesh and “are staying abroad,” Sikder said. The five in jail will have 30 days to file an appeal against the Supreme Court judgment and their last option is a mercy petition to the president, Sikder said.

The killers were “sent abroad as diplomats,” the Bangladesh Institute’s Rahman said. “Many countries, especially in the Middle East, accepted them.”

Trial Delayed

Hasina’s government couldn’t complete the trial process while in power and the administration led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia didn’t “pursue the matter at all” when it took over in 2001, Rahman said.

A military-backed government declared emergency rule in January 2007 and started an anti-corruption drive that resulted in the arrests of leading politicians, including Hasina and Zia, causing further delays.

“The masses wanted a clear and fair trial,” Retired Major General, A.N.M. Muniruzzaman, president of the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies, said by telephone from Dhaka. “It is a long awaited trial. It went through a very lengthy legal process” that was “very transparent.”

“No one can complain on that count,” he said.

The government is also taking precautions after the recent arrests in Bangladesh of Lashkar-e-Taiba militants from India and Pakistan, Muniruzzaman said.

Militants Active

More than 50 Islamic militants from both the countries are active in Bangladesh and police have arrested six Indians and three Pakistani militants since May 27, Bangladesh’s daily New Age newspaper reported on Nov. 15, citing Monirul Islam, deputy commissioner of the country’s detective branch.

Bangladesh, which has had at least five military coups since its creation in 1971, was hit by its first suicide bombings in 2005, attacks that were blamed on the Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh terrorist group.

Eighty-three percent of the country’s 156 million people are Muslim and almost 40 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

“We hope the judgment of the high court will be sustained,” Rahman said. A verdict in favor of the government will uphold the rule of the law, he said.

“The sense of impunity that is prevailing in the country today will be gone,” Rahman said.