No sign in sight to reopen Khulna Hardboard Mills
Khulna Hardboard Mills with its huge infrastructure is gathering dust as the state-owned factory, closed due to financial constraints six months ago, hardly sees any hope for early reopening.Photo: STAR
Five months into suspension of operation due to severe fund crisis, state-owned Khulna Hardboard Mills still faces uncertainty about resumption of its production as mill authorities' letters for allocation of required fund are reportedly gathering dust at the ministries concerned. As many as 239 workers and employees became jobless as fund problem compelled authorities of the hardboard mill to suspend its production on July 16 this year. Now Tk 54 crore including Tk 10 crore as running capital is needed for resuming production and conducting maintenance works, mill sources said. Seeking allocation of required fund, management of the hardboard mill on several occasions wrote to industries and finance ministries but no concrete decision is still in sight. Established in 1965 at Khalishpur industrial belt at the initiative of Canadian Commercial Corporation, the hardboard mill went into commercial production in 1966. On December 15 in 2002, the then BNP-led government closed the mill on pay-off basis on the grounds that it became a losing concern. But it had to be reopened on September 14 in 2005 in the face of tough movement launched by Greater Khulna Development Action Coordination Committee. According to a highly placed source of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), the mill management will have to wait till next financial year for getting allocation of the fund as per demand. "I have received a green signal from BCIC for allocation of Tk 10 crore as running capital to resume production of the mill. I hope to get it shortly," said Kazi Ruhul Amin, managing director of the mill. Asked about the matter, State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Mannujan Sufian could not say when the mill would be able to resume production as allocation of the fund is being delayed. "The BCIC has imported some important modern machinery that has already been unloaded from Mongla Port. It will be installed at the mill only after receiving allocation of fund," she said.
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