“These mills need to be positioned to perform at best to meet the demand. For which the plants and machinery that were installed way back in the 60s and 70s and are outdated, need to be refurbished with new ones and latest technology” Mr Nurul Islam, Director (Commerce)BTMC said.
Informing about the plans exclusively to Fibre2fashion when contacted over phone, Mr Islam said “After independence 74 textile mills were nationalized by the Government and 12 textile mills were set up under the BTMC in different periods. In all, there were a total of 86 mills operating. Currently of the 18 mills (22 units) under BTMC fold, eight are operational”.
In reply to a question Mr.Islam said we depend on imported cotton from abroad as our own domestic production is 54% less than our requirement. So we are planning to develop cotton cultivation in regions like Kushtia, Jessore, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Comilla and Chittagong Hill to reduce dependence on import of raw cotton.
“Besides, BTMC has a land lying vacant near its main office, where we are planning to build a 20-storied building, self-funded at a cost of Taka 340 million, which will also help increase the earnings of BTMC”, he wrapped up by saying.