KPM faces fund crunch as Tk 2cr papers lie unsold

Uncertainty looms over payment of salaries, debts
Authority of the Karnaphuli Paper Mills, an industrial unit of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation, is suffering an acute fund constraint as papers worth around Tk 2 crore lies unsold, said sources in the KPM.
Uncertainty looms over payment of salaries and allowances to its workers and employees and outstanding bills to contractors and suppliers because of non-sale of the papers stocked in the mills warehouse, observed the sources.
More than 2,000 tonnes of paper worth around Tk 2 crore are lying unsold in the warehouse as the National Curriculum and Textbook Board did not receive the papers after it [NCTB] made an order for the same through the higher authority, said the general manager-in-charge [commercial] of KPM, Mohammad Abul Kalam.
   As there is no more space in the warehouse to stock more products, KPM, the largest paper ufacturing plant in the south-east Asia,has almost reached an stage to suspend its production leading to further fund constraint.
Acknowledging the fact, the managing director of KPM, Mohammad Shahidullah, said that the NCTB which was a major buyer, procured papers every year from it (KPM) for printing books of primary, secondary and higher secondary levels and madrassahs.
The NCTB purchased around 8,000 tonnes of paper from KPM through orders in 2008.
It’s order last year was for 11,000 tonnes, said Shahidullah, adding that KPM had manufactured the papers despite difficulties in procurement of raw materials, including scarcity of bamboos caused by rat attack and fall in water level in Kaptai lake.
Asked why NCTB did not receive the papers, against the order, the chief administrative officer of KPM, Mostafa Miah, told New Age, ‘It (NCTB) did not clarify the reason.’
‘We could not supply papers to our 200 appointed dealers, attaching importance to NCTB following directive of the higher authority,’ added Mostafa.
The dealers are now reluctant to take delivery of papers as they were not supplied with those in time, observed Mostafa.
‘We did not say that we will not receive the papers stocked at KPM warehouse,’ said the NCTB chairman, Mostafa Kamaluddin, when contacted over cell phone on Thursday, declining to make any further comment.
KPM, having a workforce of around 2,000 workers, employees and officers, meets 30 per cent national demand for papers.

Courtesy of NewAgebd