Plastics makers demand Tk 20cr for training centre

Plastic goods makers yesterday sought an additional Tk 20 crore in funds from the government to make the planned Bangladesh Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology a full-fledged training centre and educational academy.

The government has already allocated Tk 10 crore to set up the institute, and Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association or BPGMEA bought about 98 decimals of land in Keraniganj to establish the centre, which will conduct research on product development and create skilled manpower for the sector.

“Construction has already started but we need another Tk 20 crore to expand the institute into a full-fledged academy and turn it into a university,” said Md Jashim Uddin, president of BPGMEA. He placed the demand while addressing the closing ceremony of the 11th International Plastic Fair in Dhaka.

The four-day event along with the International Plastic Summit, 25th Asia Plastics Forum and 16th Asean Federation of Plastic Industries Conference took place at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on January 20-23.  The BPGMEA, Taiwan's exhibition management firm Chan Chao International Company, Asia Plastics Forum and Asean Federation of Plastic Industries jointly organised the events.

Exhibitors from home and abroad displayed their products and technologies at 370 stalls, booths and pavilions at the fair.

In response to BPGMEA's demand for funds, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal pledged to give financial assistance to set up the training institute.

“If you can establish the institute by December, we will provide the funds,” he said, adding that the plastics makers' association should not take two years to set up the training centre.

The minister also asked the plastics manufacturers to diversify their products as well as search for new export destinations, apart from the domestic markets. “You should have a $1 billion export target. And this export should be in direct form, not in a deemed way.”

Jasim Uddin also reiterated their demand to make a comprehensive packaging law for all sectors, to guide businesses on what packaging is permissible for which products. Some 5,000 factories in Bangladesh make and market plastics products worth Tk 20,000 crore a year.