The government is taking initiatives to quickly reopen jute mills that have been closed for a long time, both through domestic and foreign investors, State Minister for Textiles and Jute Md Shariful Alam said on Monday.
The state minister made the remarks during a courtesy meeting with RFL Group Chairman Ahsan Khan Chowdhury at his office in the Bangladesh Secretariat.
“The ministry is moving forward with initiatives to bring investment from abroad through international tenders,” Shariful Alam said.
He also called on those who have taken leases for mills to invest more on unused land to boost production and employment.
“Those who have taken leases for mills so far still have a significant amount of unused land. Production and employment must be increased through greater investment on the unused land. This will strengthen the country’s production sector, which will be beneficial for the economy,” he said.
RFL Group Chairman Ahsan Khan Chowdhury thanked the government for its initiatives to develop the jute industry and expressed a positive opinion about the tender process for reopening closed mills.
The operations of 25 jute mills under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation were declared closed in 2020. Subsequently, a process began to lease 20 mills, of which 14 have already been leased. Among these, nine operational mills are producing approximately 100 metric tons of products daily, according to officials.
