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BARSMA demands withdrawal of PSI system

. Staff Reporter
Bangladesh Auto Re-Rolling and Steel Mills Association (BARSMA) has placed 8-point demand to the government including withdrawal of the PSI (pre-shipment inspection) system in importing raw materials for their industries, value added taxes (VAT) on raw materials, chemical and machinery and decision to increase of per unit electricity price to Tk-16. Leaders of the BARSMA made these demands at a pre-budget press conference held at Dhaka Reporters' Unity on Sunday.
In a written statement, Abul Kashem Majumder, Secretary General of BARSMA said for ensuring uninterrupted power supply, the government recently fixed Tk 16 per unit electricity that will badly affect the steel mills.
He said normally, a steel mill pays Tk 5,500 as electricity charge for producing one ton of MS rod. If the government increases electricity price, it will add production cost of each ton by Tk 1000, making steel and re rolling sectors to face severe power crisis.
Frequent load shedding, low voltage and gas pressure have almost become a regular feature for the industry which suffer tremendously, he said.
The total investment in the steel and re-rolling industry in the country stands at now around Tk 20,000 crore he said adding that the annual production now averaged 40 lakh metric tonnes against the capacity of 80 lakh tonnes while the domestic annual demand is 30 lakh tonnes.
The local re-rolling mills are providing 80 per cent of the total national demand, he said, pointing to the sector's contribution to the country's industrialization and employment generation, Secretary General of BARSMA said.
President of BARSMA Sheikh Masadul Alam, Director Abul Kalam and Harunur Rashid were present in the programme.
Replying to a question, Sheikh Masadul Alam alleged that by increasing electricity price the government is facilitating foreign companies to push their products into our country.