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Bangladesh capital Dhaka is one of the fastest growing cities in the world with over 11 million population, the annual United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report for 2007 said.

It said in Bangladesh about 27 percent of the total population live in urban areas and urban population growth is projected to be 3.5 percent per year up to 2010.

There are more than 70 lakh power customers across the country with the peak demand for power exceeding 5,200 megawatt (MW) against a maximum supply of 3,300 MW last year.

The PDB’s earning rate from power sales is decreasing incrementally. On an average, the PDB now purchases power at Tk 2.53 per kilowatt hour (per unit) and sells it at Tk 2.15. In 05-06, the PDB earned Tk 2.27 per unit by selling power and Tk 2.41 in the previous fiscal year. It sells 80 percent of its power to the Desa, Desco, REB, and the Western Zone or Westzone at a rate much lower than its average price. For instance, the REB buys power at Tk 1.94 a unit and sells it around Tk 3 to rural customers. In addition, in the last fiscal, the PDB handed over huge distribution lines to REB. Some of these included PDB’s profitable zones. The Desa, which is the biggest consumer, and is mainly responsible for the loss making spectacle where power thieves take away nearly one fourth of the sales, pays the PDB Tk 1.88 per unit. The Desa however pays another Tk 0.23 per unit to the PGCB as transmission fee. The PDB sells the remaining 20 percent of the total power to its own customers at a much better rate. But this share is too little to improve the PDB’s financial condition. Only a few years back, the PDB’s average power purchase cost Tk 2.15 per unit while the sale price was around Tk 2.4. Back then, systems loss had been the major cause of the PDB’s loss.

DEALING WITH THE IPPS In addition to incurring losses, the PDB is contract-bound to make payments to independent power plants (IPPs) or for private power in foreign currency. Often the PDB is seen running into severe liquidity crisis in making these payments. The cost of IPP power had been largely very friendly for the PDB but the lack of PDB’s power sales price adjustments in the recent years is now taking its toll. The PDB paid a total of Tk 1,707 crore in 2004-05 and Tk 1,934 crore in 2005-06 to IPPs. The IPPS in 2005-06 supplied over 36 percent of the total electricity distributed across the country. The country produced 2,2741 gigawatt hour power during this time in which the IPPs supplied 8,286 gWh. Of all the IPPs, the Meghnaghat and the Haripur AES plants — 450MW and 360 MW — have kept the sinking PDB afloat for a few years. While the PDB swallows heavy losses from all private and public power plants due to inconsistent government policies, power from both Meghnaghat and Haripur plants remain the least costly. The average cost of Meghanaght power was Tk 1.46 a unit in 2004-05 and Tk 1.59 in 05-06, Haripur Tk 1. 25 in 2004-05 and Tk 1.33 in 05-06. The price remains low because of the original deals, and size and location of the plants although the deals demand payment in dollars. In contrast, other IPPs which were conceived and pushed by the Awami League government have remained unkind to the PDB. Two Mymensingh 70 MW simple cycle gas-fired units under the Rural Power Company (RPCL) charged Tk 3.51 a unit in 2005-06. The RPCL is owned by the government’s Rural Electrification Board (REB) and several palli bidyut samities, and is not a typical privately owned company. The NEPC 90 MW gas fired barge-mount plant charged Tk 3.63 a unit in 2005-06, Westmont 90 MW gas-fired barge-mount plant charged Tk 3.68 a unit during the same period and Khulna 110 MW oil-fired plant Tk 8.49 a unit. “Of them, Khulna unit is costly because it uses imported oil. Oil price has gone up from $90 a tonne to $300 in two years. The NEPC and Westmont deals demand payment in dollars, and the high dollar rate has contributed to this price hike,” one source pointed out. “Besides, small power deals always put up comparatively high prices.”

"The number of subscribers doubled in one year -- up from 11 million in 2006 to about 22 million in March 2007, and is forecast to increase to 44 million by 2009," the ADB said in a report released on Tuesday. It said that mobile telecommunications had become one of the most vibrant service sectors in Bangladesh with its growing network coverage, which reaches about 97 percent of the country's population and 82 percent of the land area.

Cargo handling at Chittagong port rose 2.3 percent to record 27.6 million tonnes while container handling increased 9.3 percent to 958,020 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2007, from the previous year.

Amin was speaking as the Pacific Consultant International (PCI) of Japan placed a study report on feasibility of a deep seaport proposed by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA). PCI suggested that Bangladesh should build the proposed $1.2 billion deep seaport near the country's main Chittagong port by 2055 in three phases, with the first phase completed by 2016.

PCI was awarded a $1.62 million contract to conduct the study in 2006, after the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) had took up a plan for the deep seaport off Kutubdia coast, 65 km (40 miles) south of the port.

Cargo handling at Chittagong port rose 2.3 percent to record 27.6 million tonnes while container handling increased 9.3 percent to 958,020 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2007, from the previous year.

Shipping ministry officials say India and Myanmar repeatedly seek transit facilities from Bangladesh through Chittagong port.

Pacific Consultant International (PCI) of Japan placed a study report on feasibility of a deep seaport proposed by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA). PCI suggested that Bangladesh should build the proposed $1.2 billion deep seaport near the country's main Chittagong port by 2055 in three phases, with the first phase completed by 2016.

The country's overall trade deficit rose to $3.451 billion during the period from $2.838 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.During the period, export earnings stood at $9.073 billion against the import payments of $12.524 billion, according to the central bank statistics."Due to larger current account transfers of $5.784 billion the current account balance recorded a surplus of $464 million during July-January, 2008-09 against the surplus of $168 million during July-January, 2007-08," the central bank said in its Major Economic Indicators: Monthly Update-March, 2009, released recently.The overall balance also showed a larger surplus of $618 million during the period under review against the deficit of $45 million during July-January period of the previous fiscal, the Monthly Update added.

"Both the government and the central bank are now working to help mitigate the impact on the ongoing economic meltdown in our economy," the central bank official said.He also added that the BB has taken some measures including slashing interest rate on lending in five specific areas and relaxation of loan rescheduling rules to four affected export-oriented sectors.

Meanwhile, remittances from Bangladeshi expatriates stood at $7.029 billion in nine months of this fiscal, growing by 24.43 per cent from that of the corresponding period of last fiscal.The country received $7.029 billion during the July-March period of fiscal 2008-09 against $5.649 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB's data showed.However, the flow of net foreign direct investment (FDI) rose to $764 million during the period from $430 million of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the Update.On the other hand, the flow of portfolio investment has recorded a deficit of $67 million during the period under review due to the ongoing global financial meltdown, they added.The net receipts of foreign aid stood also lower at $580.62 million during the period against $669.15 million of the corresponding period of previous fiscal, the BB officials confirmed.

The top three operators -- Grameenphone, Banglalink and AKTEL -- have withdrawn their Tk 0.25 special tariff. The three operators control more than 90 percent of the market, or 40.14 million customers. The total market size is 45.21 million customers.The mobile operators had previously charged Tk 0.25. Now they are charging a minimum of Tk 0.40 to Tk 0.49 per minute. Grameenphone and Banglalink have recently increased their 'start-up' prices to Tk 900, which ranged from Tk 450 to Tk 500 a month ago. "Bangladesh has the lowest call rates in the world, which means that return on investment takes a very long time. This is why most mobile operators today are still not profitable," Ahmed Abou Doma, chief executive officer and managing director of Banglalink, said yesterday.

Egypt-based Orascom Telecom's subsidiary Banglalink entered the market in 2005. Even after having the market's second largest customer base, the company is yet to enjoy profits mainly because they had to bear the huge subsidised connection costs.

Till December 2007, Aktel was churning profits. But after paying a big fine for conducting illegal VoIP (voice over internet protocol) operations, like other companies, Aktel started to incur losses from early 2008. However, among the top three players, only Grameenphone is now enjoying profits. But it has also revised its tariff plan to continue the trend.

We believe the ADB’s latest predictions are more credible and plausible - although it shows GDP in Bangladesh slower at 5.6% than the Bangladesh Government’s current official forecast of 6%, it is worth emphasizing that this still results in Bangladesh achieving the second fastest growth within Asia, and expanding more than India, a remarkable achievement in terms of economic resilience.

As noted by the World Bank, collapsing Global Trade demand in advanced economies has had serious implications for global trade, with 2009 expected to experience the first yearly decline in world trade volumes since 1982, the largest decline in 80 years.

The World Bank forecasts that remittance flows are estimated to have reached USD 305 billion in 2008, an increase of around 9 percent from 2007

The annual growth in the number of workers leaving Bangladesh for overseas jobs slowed sharply to 5.1 percent in 2008 compared to 118.2 percent in 2007.Among the major destinations for overseas employment, new jobs for Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia fell by 35.3 percent in 2008. Kuwait has reduced hiring Bangladeshi workers since late 2006. In 2008 new jobs for Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait fell by 92.4 percent and in Bahrain by 19.8 percent.New job opportunities also declined in 2008 in Malaysia by 51.8 percent and in Brunei by 11.1 percent on economic downturn.The recession is also badly affecting new Bangladeshi job seekers in Europe. Jobs fell by 36.7 percent in Italy and 2.1 percent in the UK in 2008.Job opportunities however grew by 202.6 percent in Oman, 85.2 percent in the UAE, 68.9 percent in Qatar and 47.6 percent in Singapore.The central bank officials' forecast indicates a lower remittance inflow in the next few months as a significant number of workers returned home.

According to the latest revisions by the World Bank, India, China and Mexico retain their position as the top recipients of remittances among developing countries. The top 10 recipients list also includes Philippines, Poland, Nigeria, Romania, Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan.