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The government has taken an initiative to reopen 13 state-owned textile mills under public private partnership (PPP).
The mills are currently owned by Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation(BTMC).
Official sources said the Ministry of Textile and Jute has taken the move following the administrative order of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, according to UNB.
They said the 13 mills have some 380.47 acres of land worth Tk 15.92 billion and they will need an estimated amount of Tk 152 billion as PPP implementation cost to resume their operation.
Eight of the mills as per the estimated PPP project cost and the amount of land with value are RR Textile Mills, Chittagong (estimated PPP cost Tk 6.0 billion, land 18.95 acres worth Tk 300 million), Amin Textile Mills, Chittagong (PPP cost Tk 12 billion, 23.49 acres land worth Tk 3.1 billion), Rangamati Textile Mills, Rangamati (PPP cost Tk 12 billion, land 26.24 acres worth Tk 200 million), Magura Textile Mills, Magura (PPP cost Tk 12 billion, land 16.17 acres worth Tk 3.1 billion).
The mills also include Bengal Textile Mills, Noawapara, Jessore (PPP cost Tk 6 billion, land 15.92 acres value Tk 280 million), Rajshahi Textile Mills at Sapura, Rajshahi (PPP cost Tk 12 billion, land 26.53 acres value Tk 730 million), Sundarban Textile Mills, Satkhira (PPP cost Tk 12 billion, land 29.47 acre value Tk 300 million), and Dinajpur Textile Mills, Dinajpur (PPP cost Tk 20 billion, land 35.45 acres value Tk 300 million).
The other five mills are Jalil Textile Mills at Sadarpur, Dinajpur (PPP cost Tk 20 billion, land 68 acres value 3.65 billion),Daroani Textile Mills, Nilphamari (PPP cost Tk 20 billion, land 68.30 acres value 200 million, Dost Textile Mills, Ranir Haat, Feni (PPP cost Tk 12 billion, land 21.47 acres value Tk 300 million, Afsar Cotton Mills at Savar, Dhaka, (PPP cost Tk 2 billion, land 5.52 acres, value Tk 910 million) and The Asiatic Cotton Mills, Chittagong (PPP cost Tk 12 billion, land 24.96 acres, value Tk 2.55 billion.
According to the ministry's proposal, the land of the mills will be considered as capital of the BTMC in the PPP patch-up while the interested private parties will have to implement the relevant projects, carry out maintenance, processing and marketing of products in addition to operations.
The shares of the BTMC and private parties will be distributed on ratio-basis or through negotiations.
Initially, the partnership between BTMC and the private parties will be for 30 years and the contract could be renewed or a new party could be reappointed for the PPP after the expiry of the PPP deal.
As per the BTMC's official website, the state-owned corporation has 24 textile mills. Of these, six textile mills (7 units) are now running under the service charge system and producing different counts of cotton yarn/viscose yarn in the form of 32/1 to 80/1.
Another three closed mills are under process of reopening by Service Charge and Balancing, Modernisation, Rehabilitation and Expansion (BMRE).
Two mills -- Khulna Textile Mills, Khulna and Chittaranjan Cotton Mills, Narayanganj -- have been asked to set up Textile Pallis, inviting investors to buy industrial plots.