Parjatan Corpn plans massive privatisation

FBCCI President Annisul Huq speaks at a roundtable on “Responsibilities of leading businesses to flourish the country's tourism industry” in Dhaka yesterday. Former adviser to the caretaker government Major General (rtd) Ruhul Amin Chowdhury and Chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation Shafique Alam Mehdi are seen among others.

Bangladesh Parjaton Corporation, the state-run tourism promotional agency, will go for massive privatisation in order to provide more efficient services for tourists and to check on public money wastage as well, said its top official yesterday.
“The decision to handover management of all establishments to the private sector in phases has been taken to avert any loss of public money,” Shafique Alam Mehdi, chairman of the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, told a seminar on “Responsibilities of leading businesses to flourish the country's tourism industry” at FBCCI in Dhaka.
Government faces a loss of hundreds of crore taka every year in running different institutions under the corporation, Mehdi admitted.
“We have already privatised 18 establishments out of the 40 owned by the corporation. The privatisation of six duty-free shops at different airports is now underway,” he said, pointing to the fact that such shops failed to perform at expected level. Other establishments would also be privatised gradually, he added.
The corporation chief thinks the future of Bangladesh's tourism relies on how efficiently the private sector develops.
FBCCI President Annisul Huq chaired the seminar organised jointly by FBCCI and Bangladesh Wonders Promotion Association. Former adviser to the caretaker government Major Gen (Rtd) Ruhul Amin Chowdhury and FBCCI Director MA Rouf Chowdhury also spoke on the occasion.
Shafique Alam Mehdi said the government involves itself in business in the name of infrastructure development, but could not render required services to tourists.
“It (government) incurs crores of taka loss for being involved in direct business,” he said, adding: “The corporation will not remain involved in direct business.”
He however blamed bureaucracy's failure for the loss of public money in running different government institutions.
The FBCCI president said besides successive governments' failure in developing the tourism sector, they also could not involve the private sector in this regard.
“We have to develop tourism industry for the sake of the economy,” Annisul Huq said.
MA Rouf Chowdhury said Bangladesh has to bring about some changes in regulatory affairs in the interest of providing better services, including liquor to foreign tourists.
Masud Sarwar, convener of Bangladesh Wonders Promotion Association, presented a keynote paper on the subject.
The speakers asked the people to cast their votes for Cox's Bazar, the Sundarbans and Padma (Ganga) as wonders, following the terms and conditions of the Seven Wonders Foundation. Cox's Bazar and the Sundarbans were out of the wonders' list recently for wrong voting.