Jan 14, 2016

In an address to the nation marking the completion of two years of the Awami League led Grand Alliance government, HPM Sheikh Hasina highlighted the key successes of her government from the last two years. Noting the impressive progress the country has made in several economic, social and human development indicators, the Premier thanked the nation for their support. She also mentioned the carnage by BNP-Jamaat in the beginnings of 2014 and 2015 and the positive alternative her government has been.

With all the preparatory works to build the first ever metro rail gaining full steam, plans are laid out to begin the construction work of the much-awaited project at the end of February this year. Works of half of a stretch will be completed by 2019 while the entire construction of 20-km line will cost $2.5 billion. Once realized, hundreds of thousands of city dwellers will enjoy a congestion free traffic and an improved, faster, comfortable and time-bound public transportation service will be established. As many as 60,000 passengers would travel to and from the said route in an hour.

Banking giant Citi, in its annual market update, stated that the year 2015 marked promising milestones for Bangladesh as the country gained 6.51% growth in 2015. 3% from the services sector, followed by the industrial and agricultural sectors with 2.7% and .5%, largely contributed to this attainment. Drop in the average inflation at 6.2%, food inflation slowing to 5.48 %, 7.8% rise in export earnings, overseas employment of 5,00,000 Bangladeshi workers and fulfillment of MDGs’ are some of the factors for this positive outlook.

At a discussion, held in the capital, representatives of South Asian countries unanimously opined that Bangladesh has emerged as one of the developing world’s biggest success stories in becoming an open defecation free country and taking sanitation coverage from 34% to 99% in the last decade. Lauding Bangladesh’s status as a role model for the world, the experts said that, formulation and implementation of visionary and time tested policies in ensuring sanitation coverage resulted in this stellar success.

According to recently released data, the inflow of foreign direct investment in the country has jumped 21.9% to $1.82 billion in the first 11 months of 2015 in comparison to the same period in previous year. Expansion of economic zones and introduction of incentive packages, coupled with friendly business environment, have made the country stand before the world as one of the most attractive investment destinations for international businesses.

Tender is being floated to set up a gas-fired power plant in Shahjibazaar that would remain standby to pump in electricity whenever there is a supply drop in the national grid. It would be the first of four 100-megawatt "Sewing" power plants to be used to prevent sudden nation-wide power failure due to accidental drop in regular power supply. Local and international bidders are vying to get this contract.

Bangladesh has witnessed a 102% growth in ICT sector over the period of last two years, owing to a number of stellar steps envisaged and implemented by the government. Around the country, the number of mobile and internet users has increased dramatically while most of the government services went digital. These steps and growth testify that the country is well on its way to become a “Digital Bangladesh”, as envisaged by the AL Govt.