[🇧🇩] Semi Heavy to Heavy Engineering Industry in Bangladesh

[Saif]

Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0to_WY645xE

Repair and Manufacturing of Coaches and Machinery for Railways at Saidpur Railway Factory:

 

[Saif]

The initial requirements of building semi heavy industries in Bangladesh

IntroductionBangladesh needs to think in a different way about textile industry as the industry is adapting huge advance and sophisticated technology...

www.textiletoday.com.bd

The initial requirements of building semi heavy industries in Bangladesh​

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• M M Uddin

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Posted on February 1, 2018 11:56 AM

Introduction

Bangladesh needs to think in a different way about textile industry as the industry is adapting huge advance and sophisticated technology to fulfill the modern manufacturing demands. In this context, the country can focus on idea development, innovation in textile industry, more attention to research and development of the semi heavy industry could the strategy coming forward. The economic sustainability, social life standard elevation and environmental balance are not possible without moving towards semi-heavy industry. To be industrially developed country a nation needs independent manufacturing base that makes it self-sufficient and capable of opposing the leading states.

Bangladesh today lags far behind the industrial nations of the world while the western countries went through industrialization 150 years ago. Bangladesh has remained largely un-industrialized and in most of the cases, it is reliant on the developed world. The UK initialized above two centuries ago and still their government is investing in further development and bringing further excellence. A sign of this is a recent investment of UK government about 235 million pound for boosting research and devolvement in advance materials. In a changed global arena every country is looking for more industrial balance. Bangladesh today being one of the fastest growing economy in the world needs to understand the urgency of industrialization and building infrastructure from semi heavy to heavy industry.

Figure 1: If the country has a vision, turning it to be an industrialized country is not impossible for Bangladesh.

Earlier, value chain upgradation strategy of Bangladesh was discussed in an article of this author published in Bangladesh Textile Today, June 2017 issue, where several issues were discussed including holistic industrial development, ways of value chain up gradation and the proposition of building semi heavy industry. There are different strategies or criteria to develop semi heavy industry, some initial requirements have been discussed here.

State vision

The state vision is different from others because it is highly influenced by political and intellectual vision, which brings the global supremacy. Bangladesh needs a vision to be a industrialized country, which will show the way out to be a developed country, the dream of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Department of Heavy Industries under the Ministry of Industries, Bangladesh

A policy has to be taken to fulfill the state vision and according to the policy, Bangladesh government needs to form an individual department that could be called “Department of Heavy Industry (DHI)” under the ministry of Industries. This department will be full responsible to set the long-term vision & mission. The department will promote engineering industry like machine tools, heavy electrical, industrial machinery, automobile industry, aircraft and ship building industry, automation and control industry etc. and their administration and control. This department will be actively engaged in manufacture and in consultancy and contracting services. The department will ease and facilitate finance and technical expertise for the entrepreneurs who want to build such industries. The industries under the support of this department in the government will manufacture a wide range of products like boilers, gas/steam/hydro turbines, industrial machinery (textile, automobile, civil, construction) turbo generators, three-four wheelers tractors and consumer products such as spear parts, paper, salt, tires and watches.

The Ministry will also take care the machine building industry and make sure the requirements of equipment for basic industries such as iron, steel, non-ferrous metals, power, fertilizers, refineries, petrochemicals, shipping, paper, cement, sugar, etc. The Department also helps the building of a range of intermediate engineering products like boiler, iron, sewing machine, castings, forgings, diesel engines, industrial gears and gear boxes, needle. It will collaborate with Industry Associations and launch different types of programs for encouraging initiatives for growth of industry. It will be one of the main responsibilities of the department to assists the industry in achieving their growth plans through support for policy initiatives, suitable interventions for restructuring of tariffs and trade, promotion of technological collaboration and up-gradation, and research and development activities etc.

Harmonize the academy with industry

Bangladesh needs to establish its academy focusing on semi-heavy to heavy industry. There are many technical educational institutes in Bangladesh, which specializes in different sectors. Bangladesh University of Textile (BUTex) is one of them. The university is playing an important role to improve country’s economy producing professionals for garments and apparel sector. Professor Engr. Mashud Ahmed, Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh University of Textile said in a close interview with Textile Today said, “Education builds a strong foundation for a nation, and technology based education is essential for a country like ours. I believe that, Bangladesh University of Textiles will play a very remarkable role to upgrade the textile education, which will be compatible with the era of globalization. To fulfill the new sustainable globalization challenge of 21st century we’ve already added some new department like Textile Dyes & Chemicals Manufacturing, Machine Design & Manufacturing, Industrial Production Engineering etc., which will also reduce the dependency of this sector on foreign expertise and facilitate professionals and experts for machinery, chemical and technical textile industries.”

Needs enough power supply

Heavy industrialization without sufficient electricity back up will be hypothetical thinking. The country is suffering from lack of electricity than per industrial and personal demands. Only 77.9% population have the access to the electricity according to the BPDB but practical scenario is worse. However, our energy sector is booming rapidly and it’s the first priority project to Bangladeshi government. Only Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will add 2.4 GW power in the grid within 2023. Fuel mix for power generation is mostly natural gas (around 66%) based, followed by oil, hydropower and coal. Nuclear based power generation is must for supporting an industrialized nation.

Power System Master Plan 2016 (PSMP16) of Bangladesh government is to solve the electricity problem properly. PSMP16, sponsored by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), aims at helping the Bangladesh in formulating an extensive energy and power development plan up to the year 2041, covering energy balance, power balance, and tariff strategies.

Figure 1: Power System Master Plan 2016. (Source: BPDB, Feb 2017)

A meticulous analysis is required to find the best pathway to attain the sustainability of the energy and power sectors in balancing with the economic growth. The new PSMP study covers all the aforementioned challenges comprehensively, and come up with feasible proposals and action plans for Bangladesh to implement. If it is implementing properly electricity problem will not be the barrier for our heavy industry.

Raw materials

The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association’s Sr. Certification Officer Ali Ahmad said, “Every year we are importing capital machinery of about 30 billion dollar from different countries for different sectors and demand of the capital machinery are increasing day by day. The heavy industrialization isn’t possible in Bangladesh because our main problem is that we have no basic raw materials like Iron”.

However there is different opinion also, MM Hoque Harun, Alumni of BUTEX and Managing Director of Fatullah Enterprise Ltd. who is involved for last 21 years in Textile Machinery business in Bangladesh, said that, “Heavy industrialization highly possible in Bangladesh and we need it badly to face the new sustainable challenge. Raw materials, technical soundness and infrastructure are not big issues. Our main barrier is our government policy and their sincere willingness.”

Actually, for the semi-heavy industrialization iron is not only the raw materials. Gas, oil, coal, salt, petroleum, uranium, tin, bauxite, copper, gold, silver, rubber etc. are also the basic raw materials for it. Availability of raw materials is another requirement of semi-heavy industrialization in Bangladesh.

To turn the country into a semi-heavy industrialized country Bangladesh government’s initiative is must. Without government initiative, it will not be possible.

 

[Saif]

Bangladesh’s “Bored Tunnelers”: The first South Asian team to qualify for Elon Musk’s Not-a-Boring Competition

The Bangladeshi team Bored Tunnelers, this year, has emerged as the first ever South Asian team to be among those top teams in the finals.

www.thedailystar.net

Bangladesh’s “Bored Tunnelers”: The first South Asian team to qualify for Elon Musk’s Not-a-Boring Competition​

Photo: Sanjana Sharif

"It all started on a fine morning in February 2023, when my school friend Mahim and I saw the announcement for the fourth cohort of the 'Not-a-Boring Competition' and decided to take a chance," recalls Shaekh Mohammad Shithil, the team leader of Bored Tunnelers. "From just two members to a team of twenty, we evolved into a cross-institutional team comprising students from eight esteemed engineering schools including Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology (RUET), Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST), BRAC University, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), and so on," he adds.

The competition, hosted annually by Elon Musk's "The Boring Company", challenges inquisitive minds to devise innovative tunnelling solutions. Musk cleverly coined the term "boring" to refer to tunnel digging, infusing a playful twist into what might otherwise be viewed as a purely technical challenge.​

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Every year around 400 teams across the globe send their microtunnel boring machine (MTBM) designs and among them, only 10 to 12 teams survive the battle to the finals. The Bangladeshi team Bored Tunnelers, this year, has emerged as the first ever South Asian team to be among those top teams in the finals.

The team co-lead, Shahriar Iqbal Mahim explains the nitty-gritty of the team, "We have divided responsibilities among the students from various engineering domains and formed sub-teams dealing with software, mechanical, electrical, muck-removal, control and navigation, public relations and outreach, manufacturing, etc."

"Our 500 mm diameter 'cutter head' cuts deep into the layers of the earth while a 45-inch metal body is set in motion to make slurry via the slurry pump," Mahim adds. "Besides, we have a hydraulic system that pushes the machine forward and the area that has been excavated is automatically filled up by the automatic navigation system attached to the TBM. The navigation system has been automated in compliance with IR 4.0 consisting of advanced sensors, computer vision, and so on. The technical documentation of the team was sent by May 2023 with the TBM design after an extensive research and development process. We got the green signal in August.

Then the stimulation and testing reports were submitted in December followed by the visa invitation to test our rig in the field. Our TBM technology is directly aligned with the active civil engineering domain of our country."

Fahin Uddin Enam, the team's tech lead, emphasises that when WASA conducts digging for water lines, it leads to surface disruption, traffic congestion, and compromised drainage systems. Micro tunnelling technology offers a solution by avoiding haphazard surface digging. The MTBM is set underground through a long station. After boring a tunnel of around 30-40 metres, the MTBM can be lifted from the receiver station. Additionally, the civil infrastructure sector in Bangladesh heavily relies on manual labour, putting 78 percent of the 60 million people involved at risk of casualties due to inadequate safety measures. Bored Tunnelers aims to contribute to a smarter Bangladesh by implementing automated TBM facilities to improve safety, speed, and cost-effectiveness in tunnelling processes. This technology also holds promise for other applications such as underground cable systems, tunnels, and subways. The team manufactures the majority of machine parts at the Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Center (BITAC) in Tejgaon, Dhaka.

The team extends their heartfelt gratitude to Gigabyte Aorus for joining them on this journey as their tech partner. They also extend their gratitude to their advisors and mentors Salman Promon, Graduate Teaching and Research Fellow, University of Houston, USA, Md Mamunur Rashid, Executive Engineer, BITAC, and Md Ashrafuzzaman, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration.

Bored Tunnelers has reached up to this point on personal finance which is almost running out. Still, they strongly believe in revolutionising the civil engineering sector in Bangladesh as they prepare for the upcoming finals from March 24 in Bastrop, Texas this year.

Fatima Ashraf is a Campus Ambassador for The Daily Star from Military Institute of Science & Technology (MIST).​

 

[Bilal9]

When I talk about tapping the expertise of Pakistani Heavy Engineering entrepreneurs. this is what I am talking about (appropriate technology), You can get raw material using ship plate (even in forging operations Pakistanis are great)

 

[Bilal9]

The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association’s Sr. Certification Officer Ali Ahmad said, “Every year we are importing capital machinery of about 30 billion dollar from different countries for different sectors and demand of the capital machinery are increasing day by day. The heavy industrialization isn’t possible in Bangladesh because our main problem is that we have no basic raw materials like Iron”.

This guy is relatively clueless (like all "Mukhostho-Bidya" people are in Bangladesh).

Over 75% of Bangladesh steel is met from Ship-breaking yards, which is a lot cheaper than smelting or ore processing, which destroys the environment and is also costly.

South Asia accounts for over 85% of the global ship-breaking, and Bangladesh has 45% of all global ship breaking by gross tonnage (majority by far), so we have a huge advantage on our hands.

We should encourage ship-breaking while the labor rates are still low and not listen to naysayers with sabotaging agendas on their mind (countries next door who want to sell us their expensive steel).

Look at how Pakistan is using ship breaking steel (sometimes adding forging) to form the basis of heavy engineering industry. If anything govt. should immediately provide policy incentives so entrepreneurs from Pakistan can come in to invest and form industries to provide spares and major machinery to textile spinning/weaving and agri sectors (just like in Pakistan), which should be our Job-Number-One at this point.

Here is a video of low cost village-level forging and machining operations in Pakistan. Such operations are a lifeline for lower level tech such as textiles.





here is high-grade industrial forging and machining at Mannan-Shaheed Forgings in Pakistan. Large parts for many different industries can be made.



Here is large scale and volume forging and machining from Qadri Group



- YouTube

Pakistanis are definitely willing to help us by setting up industry (unlike Indians who just want to keep mfg. in India).

 

[Bilal9]

Here is an article on why ship-breaking steel is far better for environment than refining iron ore (we are sitting on a Gold mine and we don't even realize it). You produce One and a half ton of Carbon Dioxide to produce One ton of steel from Iron ore - which is avoided when processing ship-breaking steel. This is what happens in Indian Iron mines (most of them are in Orissa/Odisha) and their environment is forever doomed because of open pit Iron mining.

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Images of hazardous shipbreaking practices from decades ago – displaying workers without any protective gear dismantling ships on the beaches of South Asia, exposing themselves and the surrounding environment to toxic fumes and waste – might lead one to assume that conditions would have improved. Unfortunately, the reality remains far more troubling.

In 2023, South Asia accounted for more than 85 per cent of the global ship recycling industry, with Bangladesh alone recycling more than 45 per cent of the world's ships by gross tonnage. With the global fleet capacity reaching 2.4 billion deadweight tonnes in 2024, and ships averaging a 22-year lifespan, the demand for ship recycling is set to surge. As the global fleet ages, the ship recycling industry stands at a crossroads. Embracing sustainable solutions will not only protect the environment and workers but also create a circular economy. It is an opportunity to transform a hazardous and polluting industry into a model of responsible resource management.

In Bangladesh, the shipbreaking industry meets 60 per cent of domestic steel needs, given the lack of domestic iron ore sources, while supporting substantial foreign currency reserves. The use of recycled steel offers a range of environmental benefits, including a direct reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Producing one metric tonne of recycled steel avoids 1.5 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide compared to steel made from iron ore. By using recycled steel from shipbreaking in the construction sector, Bangladesh also avoids about 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Other environmental benefits include diverting waste from landfills, reducing ecological footprint through conservation of natural resources, and lowering the impact of mining as metric tonne of scrap used for steel production avoids the consumption of 1.4 metric tonnes of iron ore, 740 kilograms of coal, and 120 kilograms of limestone.

However, the shipbreaking industry is fundamentally a trade in toxic waste, fuelled by the externalization of costs. Ships from Europe and East Asia are often sent to South Asian beaches, where suitable geographical conditions allow for ‘beaching’ – the hazardous practice of dismantling vessels directly on the shoreline, circumventing the expense of proper industrial facilities. This toxic trade, enabled by cheap labour, and the lack of enforcement of labour safety and environmental regulation, disproportionately burdens marginalized local communities. In 2015, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned: ‘Shipbreaking has grown into a major occupational and environmental health problem in the world. It is amongst the most dangerous of occupations, with unacceptably high levels of fatalities, injuries, and work-related diseases.’

At the shipbreaking yards, workers – predominantly exploited migrants and children – face dire working conditions and human rights abuses. They work in hazardous environments with risks of occupational fires and falling steel plates, while being exposed to toxic substances like asbestos, mercury, and lead. These toxic materials have contaminated agricultural lands, beaches, and groundwater, posing long-term threats to surrounding ecosystems and communities. In Bangladesh, the uncontrolled release of harmful metals and metalloids from shipbreaking activities was the largest contributor to soil contamination, leading to high concentrations of cadmium, lead, and arsenic found in food crops. Estimates by Young Power in Social Action, a Bangladesh-based non-profit organization, indicate that nearly 60,000 mangrove trees have been cut along the 14-kilometre coastline near Chattogram in recent years to make way for more shipbreaking yards.

While existing international frameworks address various aspects of ship recycling, their implementation and effectiveness remain a challenge. The Basel Convention aims to control the cross-border movement of hazardous waste, such as end-of-life vessels, especially exports from OECD to non-OECD countries. A significant enforcement challenge lies in the convention’s definition of vessel status, as ships are only classified as hazardous waste when owners declare their intention for disposal. Often, ship owners navigate vessels to South Asian countries under the pretext of ‘operational voyage’, only announcing scrapping plans upon arrival, thereby circumventing the convention’s control measures. Moreover, definitional loopholes in the distinction between ‘waste’ and ‘non-waste’, and between ‘hazardous waste’ and ‘non-hazardous waste’ have allowed a wide range of hazardous waste to circumvent the convention’s stringent regulations; for instance, until May 2019, most plastic waste was not considered hazardous.

Another example of how the shipbreaking industry is exploiting regulatory gaps is the practice of ‘flags of convenience’. To circumvent UK and EU rules, which prohibit vessels under their flags from being recycled in South Asian shipbreaking yards due to poor health, safety and environmental records, ship owners often register their vessels in countries with lax regulations. This is evidenced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which indicates that more than 70 per cent of the world’s shipping capacity was registered under a foreign flag – in countries different from those where the beneficial owners of the ships are based. Consequently, nearly 40 per cent of all end-of-life ships beached in South Asia were imported under flags of convenience.

In the absence of comprehensive laws, policies, and financial regulations that extend beyond flag state jurisdiction, implementing the ‘polluter pays’ principle for ship owners remains a significant challenge. To address this, shipbreaking legislation should extend beyond flag registries to encompass the ‘beneficial ownership’ of vessels to ensure that the regulations apply to the owners of the ships, regardless of where the ship is registered. This aspect could potentially be incorporated into existing frameworks such as the Hong Kong Convention or the EU Ship Recycling Regulation.

The Hong Kong Convention, although not yet in force, provides a more comprehensive approach, requiring inventories of hazardous materials (IHMs), ship-specific recycling plans, prioritization of worker safety and environmental protection. The IHM provides information on the removal and treatment of hazardous wastes during ship recycling. To enable a circular economy for ships, a material passport that focuses on recovering and retaining components and materials to prevent them from entering the waste stream during a product’s life cycle is needed.

The ILO has developed guidelines on health and safety in shipbreaking, specifically targeting Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey. It outlines standards for personal protective equipment, workers’ training, hazard awareness, and health services. Apart from international conventions and guidelines, South Asian countries have several pieces of legislation to protect the environment and human rights. However, the challenge lies in the weak enforcement of existing legislation, which needs to be addressed through a coalition of governments, civil society and the private sector. Its effective implementation will pave the way for developing an inclusive and just circular economy model.
This article was informed by a webinar hosted by Chatham House's Environment and Society Centre in March 2024 as part of their Environment and Society Discussion Series (ESDS). The session, "Exploring environmental injustice in South Asia's economic growth," brought together experts Ingvild Jennsen, Muhammad Shaheen Chowdhury, Prakash Kashwan, and Manisha Anantharaman.