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The cabinet committee on economic affairs once again sent back on Thursday a proposal for selection of a firm for construction of the Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover as it did not follow some provisions of private-sector infrastructure guidelines.
   The finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, who chairs the committee, said the proposal had been sent back for further correction as some of its conditions were not in line with the guidelines.
   ‘The meeting does not agree on giving tax holiday and exemption of value-added tax,’ he said. ‘When a local firm is involved in a similar construction work, we do not waive the tax; therefore, there is no question of waiving tax for a foreign company.’
   ‘The meeting has asked the city corporation to bring necessary correction to the proposal in accordance with the guidelines within 15 days,’ Saifur told journalists after the meeting.
   Since it is the biggest project ever under private-sector investment, the proposal should be properly evaluated, he said.
   The Dhaka City Corporation is the implementing agency of the proposed seven-kilometre flyover, which will be constructed by a private company on a built-own-operate-and-transfer basis. It will have four lanes and two by-lanes.
   Belhasa-Acom JV and Associates, a joint venture of the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh and India, was selected in January 2004 for the task on condition that the city corporation would further negotiate the deal.
   The local government ministry has proposed to give Belhasa a 15-year tax holiday.
   According to government estimates, the flyover will cost Tk 670 crore and will be set up within 30 to 36 months.
   The ING Bank of the Netherlands will lend $80 million and the Commercial Bank of Dubai 75 million dirham for the project. The developer will arrange the rest of the fund on its own.
   The meeting of the cabinet body also discussed draft guidelines for state-owned textile mills to solve their problem.
   Earlier, the cabinet committee sent back the proposal in June 2004.

The planned project of the construction of 27 public toilets out of 70 is unlikely to get off the ground as the authorities concerned have failed to give sufficient land for the purpose.
   Land was allocated for only 43 toilets out of 56, but construction of seven toilets had to be stopped midway due to certain reasons, so only 36 completed toilets are likely to see the light of day. The reasons are objections by organisations, local people, commissioners and other elected representatives.
   Although the Asian Development Bank agreed to provide about Tk 6 crore for 70 public toilets to be built in the city under the Urban Primary Health Care Project, the authorities called tender and gave work orders for 56 toilets last year because it was promised land for the above number of toilets only.
   Thirteen public toilets out of 56 could not be started as the concerned authorities failed to allocate land for the toilets.
   The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha and the Public Works Department, who had earlier assured the project officials of providing land for 18 and 6 public toilets respectively, failed to do so.
   The Bangladesh Railway provided land for five toilets as per their assurance, of which one at Shahjahanpur has been stopped due to injunction of the court.
   Rajuk provided land for 6 public toilets at Uttara, of which construction of one has been stopped due to objection by RAB office-1.
   Although Dhaka City Corporation has so far provided land for 32 toilets, the number is not sufficient.
   As the authority concerned failed to provide sufficient land for 70 toilets, a good amount of the allocated money will remain unused, and may be used for some other purpose under the Urban Primary Health Care Project, said an official.
   On the other hand the construction work of the rest of the public toilets under the project is yet to be completed although the second deadline was last month.
   None of the 56 toilets under the project could be completed in September last year, so the deadline was extended to January this year. But the toilets have remained unfinished. It will take one more month to complete the toilets, said an official.
   Failure to get the land for the toilets in time, facing different obstacles from local commissioners, local people and some organisations, and wrong site selection are the main reasons for the slow progress of the construction work, said an official of the corporation.
   Among the 43 toilets, about 90 per cent work of only 10 toilets has been completed, and 70 to 80 per cent work of 26 toilets has been done so far.
   About 40 to 45 per cent work on seven toilets has been completed, but construction was stopped due to obstacles from different quarters.
   An official of the corporation said they had to choose unsuitable sites as they failed to get sites in suitable places.
   The corporation has chosen sites for five toilets in four parks, but they are already facing resistance.

The Amar Ekushey Book Fair remained almost empty till Thursday evening because of the opposition sponsored daylong hartal, but it drew a huge crowd after the hartal was over.
   The sale, however, was not up to the mark although the highest number of new arrivals hit the fair since it began Tuesday, the sellers said and vented their anxiety sensing a slump in sale during the next hartals.
   More than 46 titles hit the fair on the day, according to the Bangla Academy.
   Unlike the previous years, there is no crowd of writers at the fair so far. No frontline writer was seen in the past three days.
   ‘The writers seem to be afraid of their security for the current political situation,’ a presidium member of the Jatiya Kabita Parishad, Muhammad Samad, said.
   ‘Last year’s attack on Humayun Azad on his way home from the fair and the recent bomb attacks at crowd places have made the writers afraid,’ he said. ‘Although security has been beefed up this year, it is not enough.’
   No Rapid Action Battalion member was in or outside the fair ground on the day.
   Although the fair committee announced that the fair guideline would be strictly followed, it was being violated widely.
   Not a single title published by Dhabisas was found at their stall and they were selling titles of others, violating the guideline.
   The Agami Prokashoni brought out a compilation of translated poems from world literature, Bishwakabitar Sonali Shasya, by Khondker Ashraf Hossain. A collection of short stories by Rashid Haider, Juddho O Jiban, was also available at the stall.
   Al Mahmud’s volume of poems, Na Kono Shunyata Manina, was brought out by Ananya. Daud Haider’s collection of poems, Nirbasaner Kabita, was published by Mowla Brothers. A collection of poems by Sarkar Amin, Char Panch Hazar Piprar Dukkha, was brought out by Mangalsandhya.
   Playwright Mamunur Rashid’s novelette, Showkat Alamer Bhut-Bhabishyat, was published by Oitijjhya. The house also published translations of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Quo Vadis by Bulbul Sarwar and Linda Blandford’s Oil Sheikhs by Anish Das Apu.
   Papyrus published memoirs by Sufia Khatun, Jiban Nadir Banke Banke, and Kalsrot, a novel by Kazi Fazlur Rahman.
   Dr Swarochish Sarkar presented the keynote paper at discussion on Bangla Academy’s contribution in 50 years. Narayan Chhandra Biswas, Muhammad Nurul Huda and Mahibul Aziz took part in the discussion. Ibrahim Khaled chaired the discussion.
   The academy has published complete works of more than 75 writers in 50 years, said Nurul Huda.

The government on Saturday cancelled a decision to keep all the education institutions in the capital closed on February 5-7 for the 13th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
   ‘As the SAARC Summit has been postponed, the earlier circular about a three-day closure of educational institutions has been withdrawn,’ says a Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education circular, signed by its director general, Professor Dilara Hafiz.
   The summit, which was pencilled in for February 6-7, was postponed Wednesday after India had announced that its prime minister, Manmohan Singh, would not attend.

On Thursday at the Ekushey book fair, one could hardly tell there was a general strike. People swarmed in without fear or confusion. Routine discussions and cultural programmes were also held. In fact a significant number of people attended the discussion on ‘Fifty years of Bangla Academy: Bangla Academy’s Contribution to Bangla terminology, dictionary and composition’.
   In the rush of would-be-buyers and casual visitors, a frequent visitor expressed his views about the number of visitors and new titles.
   Name: Mahmud-uz-Zaman Babu
   Age: 39
   Occupation: Singer, Script-writer, Documentary-writer; currently hosts a show called ‘Poraner Gaan’ on folk musicians.
   Residence: West Rajabazar
   Q: Since you came yesterday, would you say the number of visitors has increased?
   A: Yes. I saw the crowd increase in the afternoon. As it is a hartal day, people are coming to enjoy the fair rather than buying books.
   Q: As a reader, do you believe that new writers get enough exposure amid the more renowned ones?
   A: People buy what they see. As a result, they purchase what they see on the hoardings or banners in the streets near the fair. Prominent writers are selling well. But the newcomers, who impress the readers, are also recognised. Many people I know are rather interested in new authors.
   Q: What would you suggest to help grow this unrecognised but promising community?
   A: A poll of critics to judge books by new writers will surely be a good step. Also, a campaign to advertise new writers in the fair could go a long way.

An official of the Chittagong Port Authority sustained serious bullet wounds when miscreants attacked him with firearms at the city’s port-connecting road area under port police station late Wednesday night.
   Police and CPA sources said a group of miscreants had shot Year Ahmad, an upper division clerk, in front of the port market when he was on his way to his residence at around 10:00pm. Year, also a top ranking CBA leader, sustained serious bullet wounds in his head and was taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
   Later, he was shifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka by an aircraft of Youngone group on Thursday afternoon.
   The reason behind the attack could not be known and a case was lodged with the port police station.

Workers Party
slates sacking of
govt in Nepal
The Workers Party of Bangladesh on Thursday condemned the dissolution of the coalition government of Sher Bahadur Deuba by King Gyanendra in Nepal. The king sacked the government and declared emergency for an indefinite period to strengthen his power, alleged the party’s politburo at a meeting. The meeting also alleged that the king had killed his brother and other family members and jeopardised the democratic process. The party demanded immediate release of the leaders and political workers arrested by the king. The party also slated the BNP-Jamaat alliance government for expressing solidarity with Gyanendra. No democratic country or government can support the king for what he did, the politburo said.
— New Age

BUET closure cancelled
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology has withdrawn its earlier decision to keep the institution closed between February 5 and 7 because of the 13th SAARC Summit. A press release said the university would remain open from February 5.
— New Age

REHAB donation
The Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh recently donated money earned from sale of entry tickets of the REHAB Fair 2004 to different social organisations. The association president, Toufiq M Seraj donated Tk 50,000 to the United Theatre for Social Action, Shishu Bikash Chhaya and School of Gifted Children Programme of Tauri Foundation each. It will handover Tk 50,000 for the treatment of folk singer Kangalini Sufia soon. The association also distributed winter clothes of Tk 2.5 lakh to the people of north Bengal on January 6 and handed over Tk 5 lakh to the Sri Lankan high commissioner in Bangladesh for the tsunami victims on January 10.
— New Age

NDC team visits defence ministry
A 31-member delegation, including the commandant of the National Defence College, Major General Abu Tayeb Mohammad Zahirul Alam, along with other faculty and course members, visited the Ministry of Defence Thursday morning. The visit was part of the training curriculum of the seventh batch of the college course. The course included 13 officers from the Bangladesh Armed Forces, nine from the Bangladesh Civil Services, two from the Bangladesh Police Service and two each from Sri Lanka and Nepal. The delegation members met the defence secretary, Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, and senior officials of the ministry. Earlier, on their arrival at the MOD, the delegation members were received by the joint secretary, Brigadier General Shah Muhammad Sultan Uddin Iqbal, Bir Pratik.
— New Age

Help for language martyrs’ families
The Premier Cement Mills Limited will assist families of martyrs to the language movement. The help will be handed over to the families on February 21, said the company director, Rafiq Ahmad, at a news briefing at the National Press Club on Tuesday. The company general manager (marketing and sales), Saiful Islam Helaly, manager (sales of distributor), Khurshed Alam, manager (sales of dealer and retailer), Ferdousur Rahman and deputy manager (marketing and sales), AKM Manir Hossain, were present.
— New Age

EU awards scholarship
The Merit Award Scholarship ceremony of the East West University for the spring semester was held at the university auditorium on February 1. Twenty-eight students received full tuition merit scholarships and sixteen were awarded the Medha Lalon Fund Scholarships. The university Board of Directors member, SM Nousher Ali, presided over the programme and distributed certificates among the scholarship recipients.
— New Age

Comilla Association confce on Feb 20
The conference of the Greater Comilla Association, Dhaka, will now be held on February 20 instead of February 4 at LD Hall of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, a news release said on Wednesday.
— BSS