After missing several deadlines in the past, the balancing, modernization and replacement (BMR) of Carew and Company (Bangladesh) Limited, a lucrative plant of Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) at Darshana, Chuadanga, is expected to complete next year, officials of BSFIC said while talking to Dhaka Tribune on Sunday.
The Economic Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on April 20, 2012, approved an initial plan involving Tk46.57 crore to reduce the production cost and increase production of Carew and Co (Bangladesh) Ltd with government finance. However, on November 4, 2018, the Ecnec revised the original project cost at Tk102.21 crore, increasing it by some 120%.
The duration of the project initially ranged between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2014. BSFIC signed an agreement with Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) on September 18, 2013, to implement the project on a ‘turn-key basis’ instead of the open tender, sources said.
Later, the duration of the project was extended twice up to December 2016. Ecnec revised the original development project proforma/proposal (DPP) and decided to set a full-fledged mill house at the project site on November 4, 2018.
The duration of the project was revised between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2020.
The original plan was to modernize the 83-year-old sugar mill and retain its present production capacity. As of December 31, 2021, 51% of the infrastructure of the mill was completed, while Tk47.14 crore, 46.12% of the total cost, was spent.
Sources said that the current chairman of the corporation Md Arifur Rahman has promised to complete the project this year.
Sources also said an engineering delegation of BSFIC visited the project site at Darshana, Chuadanga, on August 30, 2020, September 14, 2020, and November 13, 2020, and suggested the BMTF modify some design of the plant.
A delegation of BMTF held a meeting with the BSFIC Chairman Md Arifur Rahman on June 6, 2021, that set a target of commissioning and trial run of the mill between December 20 and January 20, 2022.
Sources further said that Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) signed an agreement with a reputed Indian company, Uttamenergy Limited, to import necessary machines to modernize Carew and Company Limited.
The Indian delegation was due to visit the project site in 2020 but the spread of the coronavirus delayed their visit. Later, a three-member delegation of Uttam Energy Limited visited the project site on January 6, 2021.
The Indian delegation also promised to send a delegation to work on the construction site. But as the Covid-19 situation deteriorated, the delegation could not come to Bangladesh.
In FY21, Carew and Company earned Tk170.83 crore by selling hand-sanitiser, distillery products and bio-fertilizer and gave Tk73.88 crore to the government exchequer.
However, the mill incurred a Tk76 crore loss by selling sugar and other products while it earned a net profit of Tk20.90 crore during FY 2021.
The sugar industry plays an important role in the economy of Bangladesh by producing sugar, as well as by generating employment. At present, Bangladesh can meet about 5% of its annual demand for sugar through domestic production.
BSFIC helps the government to keep the sugar price stable, which can produce 2.1 lakh tons of sugar a year.
BSFIC was established in 1976. The economic life of most of the sugar mills has come to an end. To sustain the industrialization, BSFIC is gradually implementing some development projects of balancing, modernization and replacement (BMR) in sugar mills, product diversification projects like byproduct based fertilizer plants and production of electricity through co-generation, establishing of sugar refinery and effluent treatment plant (ETP), said an official.
Carew and Co (Bangladesh) Ltd is the only licensed distillery in Bangladesh owned by the government. It is located inside the Darsana Sugar Mills compound and is under the authority of Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation.
It is one of the 15 sugar mills owned by Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation that makes a profit.
Carew and Co (Bangladesh) Ltd traces its origin to the distillery established by the British businessman John Maxwell in 1803. He built the distillery in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh of British India. Being the first distillery in the subcontinent, it was successful and started making profits for Maxwell. He later hired Spirits Specialist Robert Russell Carew. Carew was impressed by the result and bought out the factory with two other investors.
Carew hired his younger brother as the manager. His brother died in the Indian Sepoy Mutiny in 1857.
After the mutiny, Carew reopened the distillery with the support of the British Army. The company became a joint-stock company in 1897. He opened branches in Asansol, Katni, and Darsana (East Bengal, which became East Pakistan in 1947).
The equipment in the factories was made in Glasgow, Scotland. After the birth of independent Bangladesh, The government nationalized the distillery at Darsana in 1973, which became Carew and Co (Bangladesh) Ltd.
The distillery is a profit-making company of the government and pays taxes as well. It has a 20 feet security wall and a strong security system. It makes two kinds of liquor, domestic one using indigenous recipes and foreign ones that do not use indigenous recipes. It has 200 distribution agents and 13 country liquor distribution agents.
