The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Undertakings on Thursday recommended action plans to reduce losses in state-owned industrial enterprises, revive closed factories and ensure the proper use of unused government land and assets.
The recommendation came at the 9th meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, with its Chairman and Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni in the chair.
The committee reviewed the financial performance, profits and losses, prospects for reopening closed factories and future development plans of enterprises under the Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC), Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) and Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).
During the meeting, the committee examined the financial position of different BSEC enterprises and recommended identifying the reasons behind their losses and preparing effective, institution-specific action plans to reduce them.
It also stressed resolving ownership disputes and legal complications involving long-closed industrial units, making proper use of their unused land and assets, and assessing the feasibility of reopening the factories.
Discussing the BSFIC’s closed sugar mills, the committee considered the prospects for restarting them, increasing sugarcane production and encouraging farmers to cultivate more sugarcane.
As domestic sugar production remains significantly below national demand, the meeting stressed increasing the production capacity of sugar mills to reduce the country’s dependence on imports.
The committee also reviewed the activities of 84 industrial estates under BSCIC and directed the corporation to identify the problems and reasons behind production remaining suspended or below the expected level in some industrial plots.
It asked BSCIC to submit a detailed report on the matter at its next meeting.
The meeting also discussed expanding the operations of Pragati Industries Limited and exploring domestic electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing through joint investment in line with the government’s EV policy.
The committee asked the authorities concerned to present specific proposals and a detailed presentation on the initiative at the next meeting.
It recommended that the corporations concerned take effective measures to address the problems of closed and loss-making industrial enterprises, increase production capacity, explore joint investment opportunities and ensure the best possible use of state-owned resources.