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Twenty-four international and local consulting firms have registered their expressions of interest with the shipping ministry to conduct feasibility study for a deep-sea port.
   The shipping ministry on Wednesday opened the bids after the submission deadline expired.
   The ministry started receiving expressions of interest from international consulting firms that want to conduct a techno-economic feasibility study for the port, if necessary hand-in-hand with local firms.
   According to ministry officials, CPCS Transcom, Canada, Water and Power Consultancy Services Limited, India, BCEOM, France, Tera International Group, USA, NIRAS Port Consultant A/S, Denmark, Natural Resources Planners Ltd, Bangladesh, Bremenports Consultant, Germany, Technital, Italy, Kellogg Brown & Root Pte Ltd, Australia, L&T Ramboll, India, Amsterdam Port Consultants, The Netherlands, Royal Haskoning, The Netherlands, DMJM Harris/AECOM, USA, Orient Resources Limited, Bangladesh, HPC Hamburg Port Consulting, Germany, Philipp’s Technical Consultants Corporation, Philippines, Nathan Associates Inc, USA, BMT Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, UK, HU International Limited, Bangladesh, PCI, Japan, DCCD Engineering Corporation, Philippines, Star Trading Corporation, Bangladesh, DK Resources Limited, Bangladesh, and Cullen Grummit & ROE (International) Pte Ltd, Australia, submitted their expressions of interest for conducting the feasibility study.
   Among the bidders, five are Bangladeshi firms while three are from the United States, two each from India, Australia, Philippines, Netherlands and Germany and one each from Canada, France, Italy, Denmark, Japan and the United Kingdom.
   A top official said that the ministry would short-list five to seven firms among the bidders after assessing their general experience, specific experience on feasibility study related to deep seaport development and experience in public and private partnership port development.
   ‘The ministry will then ask for technical and financial offers from the short-listed firms for the feasibility study,’ he said.
   One firm will be selected from the short-listed firms after analysing their financial and technical offers, the official added.
   He said that the selection process will be finished in as short a time as possible, considering the importance of the project.
   As per the terms of reference, the selected firm will review and analyse the present port’s situation, provide a port administration model and a public-private partnership model, and assess the potential market and business opportunity.
   The firm will also conduct site selection, site survey and investigation, and provide a layout plan, conceptual design, cost estimate, project appraisal and project management model and other ancillary services.
   The assignment is expected to be completed in two phases, within one year from the signing of the contract.
   The ministry has estimated that around Tk 5,000 crore will be needed for the construction of the port, of which 30 per cent will be provided by the Chittagong Port Authority while the rest of money will come from the private sector.
   The officials said the proposed port will function as a regional hub, facilitating not only Bangladesh but also other countries in the region to boost international trade.
   It will also reduce pressure on the Chittagong Port that handles around 80 per cent of the country’s $18 billion international trade, they added.

The major constraint to higher agricultural productivity is ‘low level’ of government expenditure on agricultural research, according to a World Bank study.
   Also, the current agricultural technology system is unable to effectively generate, transfer and promote the use of modern technology to increase agricultural productivity and meet the changing needs of farmers, it added.
   The World Bank conducted the study, Revitalising Agricultural Technology System in Bangladesh, report of which is yet to be released.
   According to the report, agricultural research expenditure in Bangladesh is about 0.2 per cent of the agricultural gross domestic product, which is at least 0.6 per cent in other developing countries and over 2 per cent in developed countries.
   Identifying the low research expenditure and inability of agricultural research institutes to generate relevant modern technology, the report warned that continuation of the recent trend in agricultural research and extension would have a detrimental impact on the sector.
   The higher agricultural productivity is an important component of rural development strategy for raising farm income, reducing poverty and making Bangladeshi agriculture more competitive in the global market, it said.
   As far as the national agriculture research system is concerned, the World Bank has proposed institutional reforms for enhanced system efficiency, augmenting research funding and strengthened research management to address emerging challenges in global context.
   It also stressed a dynamic agricultural technology system to ensure national food security and reduce poverty amid the declining trend of agricultural lands and increasing population.

The Left Democratic Front, a combine of the seven left political parties, on Wednesday extended their support to the July 4 human chain programme at the Shapla Crossing at Motijheel in Dhaka as part of their protest against disinvestment.
   The LDF leaders and workers held mass contact in front of the Rupali Bank head office and distributed leaflets protesting the disinvestment of the bank and appointment of the foreign consultants.
   The combine leaders also exchanged views with the Bank’s trade union leaders.
   The appointment of the consultants would do nothing except causing waste of
   money, they said, blasting the government for swallowing the prescriptions of the Wold Bank and International Monetary Fund.
   The LDF coordinator Zakir Hossain, its leaders Rashed Khan Menon, Monzurul Ahsan Khan, Mujahidul Islam Selim, Bimal Biswas, Dilip Barua, Mostafa Alamgir Ratan and Rupali Bank workers and employee’s leader SM Shahadat Hossain, Hamidul Haque Hamid and Dilip Kumar Das attended the programme.

Pro-opposition lawyers on Wednesday formed a human chain on the Supreme Court premises in defiance of a High Court order that bans lawyers’ movements and public campaigns in any form.
   Leaders of Sammilita Ainjibi Samanway Parishad, a coalition of pro-opposition lawyers, vowed to continue its movement to uphold the dignity of the judiciary and to press home its demands, including the separation of the judiciary and establishment of rule of law.
   ‘Our movement is not against the court or judiciary, but against the autocratic government,’ said the convener of the coalition, M Amirul Islam.
   He claimed that the May 23 order of the High Court that bans lawyers’ movements and public campaigns in any form was part of the government’s conspiracy to infringe on the fundamental rights to the freedom of expression.
   A High Court bench of Justice MA Matin and Justice AFM Abdur Rahman issued a suo moto ex parte order of injunctions on lawyers’ ‘gathering, congregating, picketing or carrying out any ‘gherao’, restricting or limiting access of all persons to the courts, bringing out or holding any procession, rally or human chain or sit-in strike in any court premises, issuing leaflets, banners, and making, giving or publishing statements publicly’.

The High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a writ petition that had challenged the imposition of value-added tax of Tk 1,200 on each subscriber identity module card of Teletalk mobile phones, till July 10.
   A High Court bench of Justice Awlad Ali and Justice Jinat Ara passed the order after the government had sought more time to submit its reply to the June 21 rule of the court.
   The same bench on June 21 issued a rule on the Teletalk Bangladesh Limited and the government to show cause in a week why they should not be directed to sell every subscriber identity module card of Teletalk mobile phones to the subscribers, who won the lottery, at the price of Tk 1,800, as declared earlier, instead of the enhanced rate of Tk 3,000.
   The court also asked the respondents to explain why the statutory regulatory order issued by the National Board of Revenue on June 9 and the notice issued by Teletalk, the state-owned mobile phone operator, on June 13 levying value-added tax of Tk 1,200 on each SIM card would not be declared illegal.
   The rule was issued upon a writ petition filed by six Teletalk SIM card lottery winners.

The local Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League activists attacked a motorcade of the BNP leader, Kazi Siraj at Machkandi under Madhukhali upazila in Faridpur on Wednesday, leaving at least 20 people, including nine policemen, injured.
   The police said the BNP workers attacked the motorcade of Kazi Siraj as he along with his followers reached Machkandi in a motorcade from Dhaka at about 9.40am, leaving 20 people including the nine policemen injured.
   It was Kazi Siraj’s first visit to his constituency after he crossed floor to join the ruling party from the main opposition party in parliament, the Awami League on June 4.
   He was elected from Faridpur-1 on AL ticket in the last general election in 2001 and lost his membership after crossing the floor.
   Before the attack at Machkandi, the police advised the ex-lawmaker to leave the place without delay, as angry AL activists gathered since morning and were chanting slogans against him.
   But Kazi Siraj ignored the police advice and stayed there for a while only to come under attack by unruly BNP activists, who were later joined by AL activists.
   The BNP leader’s motorcade could not make the scheduled stopover at Boalmari, due to the protest by local people.
   On their way to Alfadanga from Boalmari, thousands of people, on both sides of the road displayed shoes, brooms, sticks and black flags as marks of protest.
   As the motorcade reached Alfadanga via Boalmari, Kazi Siraj and his followers again came under attack by AL activists, who damaged at least three microbuses.
   The police fired seven rounds of rubber bullets to disperse the angry AL activists and escorted Siraj to the upazila headquarters.

The Project 1000 Women, for Nobel peace prize 2005, on Wednesday nominated 16 Bangladeshi women for the prize as part of an international initiative to recognise women’s efforts for peace and human rights.
   The Project 1000 Women, supported by the Swiss ministry for foreign affairs, UNESCO and UNDP, nominated 1000 women from more than 150 countries for the prize.
   The names of the Bangladeshi women were announced at a news briefing at the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka.
   They are Shirin Banu, Rafiza Begum, Ashalata Baidya, Khushi Kabir, Sandhya Roy, Mohua Paul, Rahela Khatun, Sufia Khatun, Ebadon Bibi, Nanda Rani Das, Hena Das, SM Monowara Begum Monu, Masuda Khanam Ratna, Rokeya Kabir, Beggzadi Mahmuda Nasir and Angela Gomes.
   Presiding at the briefing, Sultana Kamal said the nomination was symbolic and it was an effort to give recognition to thousands of women engaged in making life better.
   She said since 1901, the Nobel peace prize for the recognition of peace efforts and courage in war situations had been awarded mainly to men. Women have been awarded the prize for only 12 times.
   Sultana said the project, launched in March 2003, had been able to compile a list in two years of efforts.

The hearing of the Udichi bomb explosion case began at a special tribunal in Jessore on Wednesday.
   The tribunal judge, Abul Hossain Bepari had fixed July 27 the next day of hearing after taking a partial deposition of the plaintiff of the case, sub-inspector, Abdul Aziz. Twenty one out of total 23 accused were present in the dock.