MP alleges rod prices spiked to hinder development before election

A ruling Awami League MP has alleged a syndicate of steel mill owners is hindering the government’s development work ahead of the general election by raising iron rod prices.

AKM Bahauddin, who is a member of the parliamentary standing committee on the commerce ministry, brought the allegation in a letter to the panel’s head Tajul Islam Choudhury of the Jatiya Party.

The committee discussed the letter in its meeting on Thursday, but Bahauddin was not present.

Bahauddin from Comilla said in the letter contractors in many government projects have stopped work due to the hike in rod prices.

“The mill owners have formed a syndicate and planned to hinder the government’s huge development work in the year of election by raising prices of construction materials,” he said in the letter.

Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, a member of the parliamentary committee, told bdnews24.com: "We’ve asked the commerce minister to look into the issue."

Constructors’ organisation Bangladesh Association of Construction Industry or BACI has made a similar allegation.

It told a media briefing on Mar 29 that the price of mild steel or MS rod was Tk 63,000 per tonne in the morning on Mar 27 but shot up to Tk 72,000 in the afternoon.

“It proves that a syndicate is raising the prices,” BACI President Monir Uddin Ahmed had said.

According to him, the price of MS rod was between Tk 48,000 and Tk 50,000 in September last year, but increased by Tk 20,000 to 22,000 per tonne in six months.

Data released by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh or TCB show grade-60 MS rod was being sold in Dhaka at Tk 71,000 to Tk 72,000 per tonne on Mar 29. The price of this kind of rod was between Tk 62,000 and Tk 65,000 in the previous week.

Building Construction Workers’ Union forms a human chain in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on Wednesday, protesting a hike in prices of rod, cement, bricks and sand.

Rod manufacturers’ organisations Bangladesh Auto Re-rolling and Steel Mills Association and Bangladesh Re-rolling Mills Association have denied the allegation of manipulating the market.

They point to the rise in cost of production behind the price hike.

The parliamentary committee’s chief Tajul told bdnews24.com Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has been asked to sit with the businesses and ake steps to bring down rod prices.

He also said the committee recommended tough monitoring to keep prices of commodities under control during the Ramadan.

The Parliament Secretariat said in a media release the government plans to purchase 2,000 tonnes of sugar, 1,500 tonnes of lentil, over 1 million litres of edible oil, and around 2,000 tonnes of gram and sell those at 187 points countrywide during the Ramadan.

Committee members Sanowar Hossain, Laila Arjuman Banu, and Hasan Imam Khan also attended the meeting.