RMC industry demands VAT exemption

Ready mixed concrete (RMC) makers at a press conference yesterday urged the government not to impose any value added tax on the burgeoning industry.
Pressed by tax officials for paying VAT, leaders of the construction sub sector said such a tax would hinder its growth.
RMC is the construction paste blended in a factory or batching plant in a controlled environment where proportionate use of raw materials such as sand, cement and crushed stone is ensured through a computerised system. The process allows producing quality RMC quickly in accordance with a set recipe.
The sector people demanded that it be exempted from the VAT net since there is no such tax on conventional concrete that accounts for 99 per cent of its total output, with RMC contributing only one per cent.
"RMC is a very new concept in Bangladesh. If government imposes VAT on it at this stage it will be no more cost effective to use and thus the sector will die down soon," said SK Lala, managing director of Concord Group.
Presently, there are around 7-8 RMC producers in the country.
They also demanded a tax waiver for the sector until RMC usage reaches 30-40 percent of the total concrete consumption.
Attaching importance to the usage of ready mixed concrete, Prof AKZ Shamimuzzaman Basunia, former chairman of Civil Engineering Department of Buet, said it is not possible to construct quality building without RMC.
So, the government should facilitate the new-borne RMC sector for the sake of quality construction, he suggested.
At the press conference, RMC producers pointed to the fact that RMC is very environment-friendly, while mixing of conventional concrete causes a huge air and sound pollution, which is why different cities of the world including Singapore and Kuala Lumpur banned the use of conventional concrete.
SM Anwar Hossain, chairman of Advanced Ready Mix Concrete Industry, a concern of Advanced Development Technologies Ltd, Nashid Islam, director of ABC Building Products Limited, Tariqul Islam, managing director of Equity Ready Mix Concrete Pvt Ltd, were also present.