THERE have been four mills centrally managed by Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). Out of these, three have already been closed down. Only Karnaphuli Paper Mills, Chandraghona, Rangamati is in operation.

The four paper mills are: 1. Karnaphuli Paper Mills, (KPM), 2. Khulna Newsprint Mills (KNM), Town Khalishpur, Khulna, 3. North Bengal Paper Mills Ltd. (NBPM), Paksey, Pabna and 4. Sylhet Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd. (SPPM), Chhatak, Sunamganj. KNM was closed on 11.01.02. Use of green jute plants (low grade) and BMR could save the mills, it is stressed.

Now first I want to dwell on Karnaphuli Paper Mill. It is an integrated pulp and paper mill situated at Chandraghona some 28 miles upstream of the river Karnaphuli from Chittagong Port. It was established during the period 1949-52 by Daud Group who also set up Adamjee Jute Mills, largest in Asia and the world. The construction was completed on 23rd October 1952. Trial and commercial production started on the same day. Total land area is 1232.24 acres -- (a) factory 442.32 acres including KRC (Karnaphuli Rayon and Chemicals), (b) housing colony 55.72 acres, (c) others 734.20 acres. The original project cost is 2511.89 lakh taka and the installed capacity 30,000 MT per annum. The main raw materials and source are bamboo, wood, imported pulp, chemicals and pulp of SPPM. Financial aspects are: (a) authorised capital-15,000.00 lakh taka, (b) paidup capital-460.00 lakh taka, (c) equity-2,509.62 lakh taka, loan capital being 1693.81 lakh taka (including debenture).

Value of total fixed assets is 6582.92 lakh taka and total liabilities including current liabilities (Tk. 10947.34 lakh) stands at 14626.61 lakh taka. Products are white paper, other grade papers, connecting products and chemicals. Production and sales range from 99 per cent-100 per cent and 98 per cent-110 per cent of the targets, marketing system includes distribution through appointed dealers and selling to government agencies. The cost of production and average selling price are Tk. 43.729 per MT and Tk. 42.375 per MT respectively.

MBR was done in 1984-85 at a cost of Taka 2800.00 lakh and the outcome was encouraging. Production came down to 16,000-17,000 MT before BMR and after completion it achieved 105-110 per cent of the installed capacity. KPM manufactures paper through bleached sulphate process. The manpower upto June 2001 as per approved set-up was (a) Worker-2079, (b) Staff-1268, (c) Officer-303, total 3650 against actual- (a) Worker-1441, (b) Staff-1139, Officer-281, total 2861. Total demand for the products in the country is 97,500 MT a year. A huge amount of taxes is contributed to the national exchequer ranging from Tk. 2772.48 to Tk. 3249.87 per annum. The factory switched over to gas in 1985 supplied by Bakhrabad Gas System Ltd. replacing furnace oil as the major energy source.

The mill is bearing the burden of huge loss every year due to illegal use of electricity and water by the unauthorised habitants in the protected area of the mill. The minimum amount of such loss stands at Tk 5 crore a year. About 70 thousand people live in the area unlawfully. Miscreants are active in the area under the shelter of political parties and they reportedly steal the valuable parts. About 7/8 crore taka is counted as loss every year due to stealing of parts and other reasons. The mill authority sometimes takes action against unauthorised occupants, but it produces almost no result.

The mill earns profit, but due to losses as stated it remains a loss-incurring factory. The traditional raw materials like bamboo and wood are becoming scarce and for this alternative raw material must be searched out. This is green jute plant. All concerned must ponder over the matter.

We may now have glimpses of North Bengal Paper Mills (NBPM). It stands on the bank of the river Padma flowing through Pabna district southern area. It is also an integrated pulp and paper mill with ancillary chemical plants. The plant-machinery were heavily damaged during the war of liberation. In order to restore the plant to the original installed capacity of 15,000 MT per annum BMR was implemented under the guidance of BCIC at an estimated cost of Tk. 22.11 crore in 1988-89. As a result annual loss came down from Tk. 15.84 to Tk. 6.69 crore next year. Cost of production is Tk 49,000.00 per MT and average selling price is Tk. 44,221.00 per MT. Production ranged from 95 per cent -100 per cent and selling ranged from 68 per cent-100 per cent of the targets over the years. In the same way contribution to the national exchequer varied from 175 lakh taka to 676 lakh taka over the years.

Utility facilities comprise generator-3.26 MW, Sub-station 5.00 MW. Total land area of the plant is 133.54 acres -- (a) factory-31.06 acres, (b) housing colony-38.57 acres, (c) others-63.91 acres. Financial data includes authorised capital-Tk 100.00 crore, paid up capital-Tk 500.00 crore and equity-Tk 23.88 crore, loan capital being Tk. 836.04 lakh. The amount of foreign loan and government loan is Tk. 63.85 and Tk. 772.19 lakh respectively.

The construction of the plant started in March 1967 and was completed in 1970. Trial production took place in November 1970 and commercial production started in March 1975. The mill manufactures white writing and printing paper, foil, manifold and duplicating paper, blue match and wrapping paper. As said the mill suffered heavy damage during the war of liberation and it was restored to functional stage after repair work and obviously commercial production got delayed.

The raw materials necessary are bagasse obtained from the sugar mills of northern zone, imported pulp and pulp from SPPM. The demand for the products is 97,500 MT per annum. The mill failed to achieve annual installed production capacity because of incapability of old paper machine to run for full time, increase in 'down time' for reasons including use of local spares and dearth of technically capable persons.

The manpower position of the mill up to June-2001 was workes-641, staff-291 and officer-117 total 1049 according to approved set-up against actual worker-596, staff-276, officer-98, total-970. The mills was closed some three months back. The employees are very worried. To free the working personnel from their worries and also for the sake of indigenous industry it is urgent to raise the factory, only one in the northern zone, to functional level by using alternative raw material say green jute plants. Adequate technical persons must be posted and 'down time' be managed to the minimum. The old paper machinery is to be replaced and better functioning must be ensured.

Sylhet Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd. (SPPM) started functioning in July 1977 and trial production occurred in September 1975. The construction work began on 15-07-1973 and was completed in Feb 1975. It was under Bangladesh Forest Industries Corporation (BFIC) and handed over to BCIC in 1977. The mill manufactures pulp from soft wood-nalkhagra-jute cuttings. It has a jute line which was not commissioned in BFIC time because of some inherent fault, it is learnt. The mill with an annual installed capacity of 30,000 MT of chemical pulp is situated on the bank of the river Surma in Chhatak, Sunamganj.

The original project cost is F/C Tk. 8137.40 lakh, L/C Tk. 5038.54 lakh, total-13175.94 lakh taka. The financial side includes-(a) authorised capital Tk. 20,000.00 lakh, (b) paid up capital 1,000.00 lakh taka, equity-3206.50 lakh taka and loan capital of 2004.54 lakh taka. Production varies from 15 per cent to 100 per cent and sale from 21 per cent to 100 per cent of their targets. The contribution of mill to the national exchequer ranges from 153.95 lakh taka to 783.13 lakh taka per month. The demand for the product in the local market is 20,000 ADMT per annum. The pulp is directly handled by the mill authority through own marketing department. The main buyers are paper mills of BCIC. A little quantity is sold to the private parties. Pricing is settled by BCIC with the approval of government. The cost of production is Tk 46,008.00 per MT and selling price average is Tk. 31,891.00 per MT.

The land area is 139.36 acres: factory-60.00 acres, housing colony-64.51 acres, others-14.85 acres. The manpower position, as per approved set-up was worker-450, staff-325, officer-155 total 9309 against actual -- worker-343, staff-249, officer-107, total-699, up to June-2001. The loan capital includes government loan ADP-453.00 lakh taka, loan from CUFL-500.00 lakh taka, gratuity fund-1051.54 lakh taka. BMR programme was taken up in 1984-86 and completed at a cost of Tk. 28.00 lakh taka. The programme aimed at removal of inherent defects/deficiencies of the plant-machinery in order to achieve full operational success. Because of dearth of fund jute line functioning could not be raised to the expected level.

The entire public sector paper industry faces acute problems as shown. To save the industry by opening the closed mills (KNM-MBPR-MPPM) and ensuring smooth functioning of all four mills, top priority should have been given to the alternative raw material i.e. green jute plants and modernisation where necessary. But 'pay-off' of the three mills was declared on November 30, 2002 to the utter surprise of all concerned. This is the age of industrialisation. Why should we opt against?

Syed Reza Quader is former head of trg. KPM, and head of administration deptt. KNM-NBPM.