/ Businesses should be allowed to operate in peace

The business community had to toe the government line during the Awami League rule of the past 15 years, Mohammed Amirul Haque, managing director of Premier Cement Mills, told The Daily Star in an interview recently.
“Businessmen could never speak up about their problems with the immediate past government. Rather, those who tried to speak up were suppressed by the agencies, and as a result, businessmen began to follow the political parties. This was the real truth,” he said.
Businessmen should be allowed to do business in peace, he said, while questioning the logic behind the requirement for clearance from intelligence agencies to get utility connections in industrial plants.
If a political party turns businessmen into lawmakers, they will make laws for their own interests and in that case, the country’s interests will not be protected, he said.
While the immediate past government took some good initiatives and took up key projects in some cases, that was not always the case.
He cited the case of the Mirsarai Economic Zone and the construction of the Karnaphuli tunnel for easy access to the industrial park to further his point.
“The Mirsarai Economic Zone is definitely a good plan even though investors have to wait at least five more years to get sufficient and uninterrupted gas and water.”
However, making a tunnel under the Karnaphuli river for easy access to the economic zone was a wrong plan because it is not very useful at present and is a burden for the country.
“If a project does not work after implementation, then it cannot be called development — rather, it is a waste of money. Taking up development projects only for the name and fame will not benefit the people or contribute to economic development.”
The interim government should listen to the people by talking to every stakeholder so they can understand the needs and take action accordingly.
“In our country, no government involves the people in public hearings or decision-making. As a result, the governments do not understand the needs of the people. We should learn from the mistakes of the past and prioritise the future.”
During the last government’s tenure, a one-stop service was introduced to facilitate business.
“But it is not really of any use — it just exists only on paper.”
Haque said he had to pay a bribe of Tk 5 to 15 lakh every year to the chairman of Narayanganj Union Parishad to renew a trade licence.
“How can I do business easily? In no place that I have set up factories have I found a gentleman who has helped investors to do business safely?”
No government has simplified business-related documents including trade licence renewal.
“This government is not doing it and I don’t know if any government will do it in the future.”
During the tenure of the previous government, the development trend was shown on paper.
“But in reality, things did not improve much. The concerned officials had prepared those statistics on the instructions of the government. That is why even though the economy has shown growth, the number of educated unemployed has increased because there has been no real growth.”
If there were real growth and sustainable development, then there would be no educated unemployment in the country, he said.
“Banks and other institutions have not experienced such a difficult situation as they are going through right now in 53 years of Bangladesh’s history.”
Three years ago, the interest rate was 9 percent; now it has reached 15 to 16 percent in real terms.
“So how is it really possible to make a profit by investing with such high-interest loans?”
Exemplary punishment should be given to those who took loans from banks in the name of business and smuggled money abroad without doing business.
“Then loan defaults will decrease and the possibility of money laundering will decrease.”
If the businessmen want to do business, they may default on loans for the time being due to natural calamities, political unrest or any financially uneven change in geopolitics.
“It has to be seen whether they have defaulted on their debts or have defaulted on their own volition and trafficked the country’s money abroad.”