No more privatisation, says PM Hasina

No more state-owned units will be allowed to be taken over by private companies, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

She said her government will 'take back' the factories that were not yet running after they were handed over to the private sector.

The Awami League chief said this while visiting the Ministry of Textiles and Jute.

“Many industries are still closed in our country. We’ve decided not to hand over any more industries to private owners.”

“The order was already given to the Ministry of Industries and they must take more initiative to run such units,” Hasina said. " This is something you must always keep in mind’.

Bangladesh began privatization of state-owned factories in 1993 on the advice of the World Bank.

So far 74 such factories were allowed to go into private hands after the setting up of the Privatisation Board (now Privatisation Commission) in that year.

Among them, 54 factories have been sold out completely and partners were added in the remaining 20 factories.

Many of the new owners bought the factories along with ‘large amounts of land’ on condition that they will be reopened, but they have failed to do so until now.

“We saw how little they paid to own these industries once privatisation began. They then sold off the raw materials chemicals, machineries to get back the money it took to buy the factories and left it like that.”

She recounted the time when Nabisco was sold off.

“I was once an MP from Tejgaon. Nabisco was sold off for Tk 400,000. The money they got from selling the raw goods and chemicals was more than they paid for. They didn’t use that money … to restart the industry.”

She mentioned several other Tejgaon factories that closed down like that and asked ministry officials to make sure they are opened again.