Editorial
Honouring 'movers and shakers'
Business leaders want change
Stepping into its 12th year, the annual business awards jointly organised by The Daily Star and DHL Express bestowed accolades to business leaders. The primary objective of hosting this annual event is to showcase achievements of business leaders, as ambassadors of good ethical practices in the commercial world. We congratulate this year's winners in all categories, in particular, Mr. Mahbubur Rahman for lifetime achievement in promoting business, Mr. M.A. Samad awarded posthumously for lifetime contribution to the insurance sector, and Mr. Latifur Rahman, Chairman of the Transcom group for bringing a unique honour and recognition to our business community by his being awarded the prestigious Oslo Business for Peace award, whose jury board members are all Nobel Laureates.
The winners of this year's awards did however carry some special messages for the government. Their thoughts, as expressed during the event, revolved around pressing issues in three areas, namely, lack of infrastructure in terms of communication; dearth of gas and electricity; and the rapidly deteriorating political and law and order situation in the country. Businessmen were unanimous in their demand for better roads & highways and overhauling of the long-neglected railway, for it is railway in most other countries that is the carrier of choice when it comes to cost-effective and timely delivery of bulk goods. For any meaningful growth in industry and new investment, whether local or foreign, power is a pre-requisite and Bangladesh has been faltering on this issue for many years in a row. Last but not the least, the issue of law and order: the constant state of confrontational politics between the two major political blocs has led to ever-growing unrest leading to 'hartals' and violence resulting in production stoppages and loss of business activity. Added to this, one cannot but emphasise on the ever-present 'extortionist' activities by various political and criminal elements that business entities are subjected to.
The message that the business community has conveyed to policymakers in a nutshell is all that is needed from the government is an improved infrastructure and an enabling environment, and the private sector will do the rest, i.e. it will arrange its own finance for new business ventures and the current rate of GDP can potentially be doubled from the present 6% to nearly 12%.
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