Excellent innovation!

CONGRATULATIONS to the group of students from BUET (also my alma mater, as Ahsanullah Engineering College-1954) for building a wonderful 100 cc economical car. It can be a boon in reducing environment and noise pollution and ideal for our usually narrow urban roads!
Though the prototype was built for around Tk. 70,000, mass producing the car, including seat cushions, internal lining and painting, could raise the retail price to around Tk.1.25 lac! Even if it is, say, Tk. 2 lac including dealer's margin, it will be a bargain!
The best way will be for the two neighbouring assembly and metal working plants near Sitakundu Industrial Area to help in manufacturing and assembling the car. The major investment will be for the body forming dies and necessary jigs and fixtures for regular mass production. Off the cuff, my guess is that this investment may be around Tk. 2.5 to 3 crore, for setting up an assembly line for this car.
The government should positively support this car production venture by giving special duty benefits only for this plant so that the sheets for making the body, engine, seats, windshield wipers, seals, brake, clutch and other needed components that have to be imported can be bought for less price.
For city driving, it should be a safer vehicle, given its small engine and overall size and low maximum speed! It will be a dream come true; to see this project off the ground, and see the first Bangladeshi designed and manufactured -- and less polluting -- car on the road! Finally, congratulations to Dr. Mahbub, Sharof, Yasin and Bakhtiar for their wonderful brainchild!

The writer is a retired engineer.