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Move to turn sick jute units into textile mills

By Masud Hasan Khan
Bangladesh is planning to convert a dozen state-owned sick Jute industries into composite textile mills.
Italian private entrepreneurs have ofTered assistance to replace the obsolete jute machinery with textile machines.
Disclosing this, Jute Minister Brig (retd) ASM Hannan Shah told The Daily Star Saturday that the government was also actively considering offering existing structural and land facilities of the 12 public sector sick Jute mills to imple-
ment the scheme.
"Our response (to the proposal) is positive and we have received clearance from the Prime Minister's office to go-ahead with the project," he said.
However, the Minister declined to name the sick Jute mills to be turned into textile mills.
Brig Shah will lead a delegation to Rome sometime in September to finalise the proposed project with spinning, weaving, dying and printing fa-
cilities.
The move by the government to replace the sick Jute mills with textile industries under foreign collaboration is a bld to salvage the Jute sector from continued losses as well as to increase textile production to meet domestic needs and exports.
The proposed project would also help divert and rehabilitate the surplus labour force in the country.
A visiting Italian parliamentary delegation, which' called on the Jute Minister June 2, conveyed interest of the Italian private investors to take part in the Joint venture textile project with Bangladeshi private entrepreneurs.
The Minister said that the Italians have also desired taking over management, quality control and proposed marketing of the products outside the countty, particularly in the European market.
They have also assured provision of necessary funds in grants and in aid for the proposed project, he said.
Italian Ambassador in Dhaka Claudio Pacifico and an official of the Italian Trade Commission have had several meetings with the high officials of the jute ministry to work-out modalities for implementation of the project.
According to an estimate, the 36 state-owned Jute mills have so far suffered losses amounting to Taka four billion.