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refinancing at a lower rate by the government for industrial loan to
set up shipbuilding industry as well as its working capital, a
government committee has recommended in its report. The committee,
led by Director General of Export Promotion Bureau Md Khalilur
Rahman, was formed to submit report on problems and prospects of the
shipbuilding industry. The report was recently submitted to the
ministry concerned. The report suggested that the single borrower
exposure limit of commercial banks should be increased to 65 per cent
for non-funded facilities from the existing 35 per cent. According
to the present system, single borrower exposure limit of commercial
banks has been fixed at 50 per cent (funded 15 per cent and
non-funded 35 per cent) of the total capital. 'This is not
sufficient for shipbuilding sector in extending non-funded
facilities. It should be increased to 65 per cent for non funded
facilities for investment in the shipbuilding sector,' the report
said. The report made its recommendations in four parts — financial,
human resource development, infrastructure and marketing. In the
financial part, it recommended that the limit of government deposit
in private commercial banks has to be increased from present 25 per
cent to 50 per cent and that should be earmarked for investment in
shipbuilding sector. It also mentioned that commission for import
L/Cs has to be fixed at 0.25 per cent per three months. The
committee also suggested 10 per cent interest for industrial loan
while 7 per cent interest for working capital loan with nil margin
for bank guarantee and nil L/C margin for 100 per cent export
oriented shipbuilding industry. To avoid issuing counter bank
guarantee by a foreign bank as the bank guarantee issued by the
local banks is not accepted by the buyer's bank, the committee
suggested that Bangladesh bank could maintain a record of such
guarantees issued by local banks with cross reference to each other.
In the human resource development part, the committee suggested to
form a committee by the government with the members of marine
engineering department of universities, technical institutions,
concerned association and ship exporting companies to review the
course curriculum every two years and prepare a need basis syllabus.
The report also suggested making necessary arrangement for opening
naval architecture and marine engineering department in the
universities of Khulna, Chittagong and Barisal regions. In the
infrastructure part, the committee suggested to establish a special
zone having technical and geographical facilities including deep
channel, 200+ meter height of bridges on the rivers and uninterrupted
electricity and gas supply for 100 per cent export oriented
shipbuilding industries.
