Minister says government pursuing reopening of closed state-owned factories

Textiles and Jute State Minister Md Shariful Alam said the government had taken an initiative to reopen closed state-owned industrial factories.

He made the statement while visiting the closed Tangail Cotton Mill in Mirzapur on 1 August.

Alam said the mill would be reopened soon.

Neither a reopening date nor details of financing, management, or a prospective operator were specified.

BTMC secretary and public-private partnership project director Kazi Firoz Hossain said the mill was established before Bangladesh’s independence on about 25 acres.

Hossain said it was nationalised under Presidential Order No. 27 in 1972.

He said Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation operated the facility until 1982, after which it continued under rental and other arrangements until 1998.

The mill has remained fully closed since 1998, Hossain said.

Alam said the government had begun short- and long-term work on electricity management, including solar-power initiatives intended to support industrial operations.

Alam alleged that the previous government had presented false information on electricity-sector performance and that the sector had experienced widespread corruption.

He said improvements would take time and urged the public to be patient.