S Alam Group contributing to the country's economy with mega investments
Bangladesh is now considered to be the fifth tiger economy in Asia because of its continuous success. Although it might sound unrealistic at present, the emerging economic power was dubbed a "bottomless basket" on the world stage even a couple of decades ago.
According to the statistics ear-lier, Bangladesh has become the 35th largest economy in the world, defying the curse of hunger, fam-ine, and natural disasters. It is pro-jected to become the world's 20th largest economy by 2038 according to a forecast by the London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
This overwhelming success would not have been possible with-out the contributions of S. Alam Group, one of the largest industrial conglomerates based in the port city of Chattogram.
The group has been humbly op-erating for more than 37 years since 1985. Throughout its long journey, the entity has been involved in in-dustrial and infrastructural pro-jects spanning the daily necessary commodities, power sector, import and refining, the establishment of economic zones, health, textiles, IT, and other businesses, investing thousands of crore of taka.
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As a result of the development initiatives, over 2 lakh people have been directly employed, eventually benefiting the country's economy.
Import and Refinement of Essential Products: S. Alam Group owns six edible oil and two sugar refineries, in addition meeting most of the domestic demand for oil, wheat, and sugar
S. Alam Group plays a leading role in the importing and processing of essential products like sugar, wheat, chickpeas, onion, and oil in the country's market to meet the consumers' demand.
The company imported 7 lakh 50 thousand tons of sugar last year, 2023, valued at $49 crore 5 lakh. In the last three years (2023, 2022, 2021) the imported amount of sug-ar was 14 lakh 82 thousand metric tons, valued at $82 crore 61 lakh 98 thousand and 500.
Besides, 5 lakh 20 thousand tons of wheat was imported last year, 2023, valued at $14 crore 56 lakh. In the last three years (2023, 2022, 2021) the imported amount of wheat was 16 lakh 10 thousand tons valued at $49 crore 58 lakh 90 thousand.
Total import of palm and soy-bean oil of last year, 2023, was about 3 lakh 12 thousand 480 metric tons, where the palm oil was about 2 lakh 75 thousand 779 metrics tons and soybean oil was about 36 thou-sand 700 metric tons. Its financial market value was about $25 crore 91 lakh 47 thousand 152 for palm oil and $4 crore 19 lakh 1 thousand 72 for soybean oil respectively. In the last three years (2023, 2022, 2021) the total oil import amount was 13 lakh 106 metric tons, valued at $156 crore 82 lakh 42 thousand 331.
S. Alam Group fulfills 30, 20 and 35 percent of the current domestic market demand of oil, wheat, and sugar respectively, which the com-pany has planned to increase to 50% this year.
S. Alam Group has six edible oil refineries and two active sugar refineries. Another is under con-struction. In these self-financed refineries, some 4,800 metric tons of edible oil and 5,100 metric tons of sugar are refined daily, using European technology. Of them, two sugar refineries are located in Chat-togram. The construction of the other mega sugar refinery will be completed by 2026.
S. Alam Group's net investment is around $500 million in the oil industry and around $700 million in the sugar industry. Throughout these initiatives, the company was able to provide employment to more than 6,000 people.
Power sector investment in Banskhali: $2.6 billion SS Power Plant and $3 billion Green & Renewable Energy
SS Power Plant
S. Alam Group built the country's first large private coal-based ther-mal power project in Chattogram's Banshkhali. The SS Power Plant, with a capacity of 1320-megawatt, has been built with an investment of about $2.6 billion or more than taka 28 thousand crore. S. Alam Group has a 70 percent in stake in the project, while the remaining 30 percent is held by Chinese compa-nies SEPCO 3 and HTG.
The last year, the power plant was integrated into the national grid, featuring two units, each pos-sessing a 660 MW capacity. Com-mercial production was inaugu-rated for the first unit on September 18, 2023, and the second unit on October 26, 2023. The special aspect of this project is that its generated power is more cost-efficient than the many other Power Plants.
The Green and Renewable Energy A recent mega project undertaken by S. Alam Group is Green and Renewable Energy. The combined cycle power plant to be established in Chattogram's Banshkhali will have an expected capacity of 3,000 megawatts. From the inception the power plant will be capable of us-ing 50% green energy and there-after gradually it will be increased up to 100%. The investment in the project is approximately $3 billion and it will be implemented by 2027. Once completed, this project will create direct employment opportu-nities for about five thousand peo-ple. Besides, one lakh people will be employed indirectly there.
Eco-friendly technologies from the leading technology companies like GE, Siemens and Mitsubishi will be employed in green and re-newable energy. Due to the unique nature of this project, the country will get the benefit on carbon tax as per the Paris Agreement.
Steel and Cement Industry in Infrastructure Construction Sector: World-class steel and cement are being produced in the country
S. Alam Group initiated the pro-duction process of galvanizing and steel sheets in 1995. These facto-ries are located in Chattogram and Narayanganj. In these Japanese and Italian technology-based fac-tories, products such as 'CI and GP Sheets,' 'Color Coated CGI Sheets,' 'Cold Rolled Steel Sheets,' and more are manufactured.
The investment in these galva-nizing plants and flat rolling plants is worth $640 million, and more than 2,000 employees work in the industry. The total production ca-pacity of the galvanizing industry's four plants is approximately 930 metric tons per day. Additionally, the two flat rolling plants have an annual production capacity of 2 lakh 40 thousand metric tons.
In a significant self-financed move, S. Alam Group started the 'Portland Composite Cement fac-tory at Charpatharghata in Chatto-gram in 2000. With an investment of $130 million, that employs more than 1,500 workers. Utilizing Ger-man technology, this plant has a daily production capacity of 1,200 metric tons of cement.
Banskhali S. Alam Economic Zones- 1 and 2: More than 58,000 crore taka investment plan, aim-ing to create 50,000 jobs Aligning with the government's vi-sion, S. Alam Group has planned two private economic zones, name-ly 'Banskhali S. Alam Economic Zone 1' with 184 acres of land and 'Banskhali S. Alam Economic Zone 2' with 259 acres of land.
The planning of investment in-cludes more than Tk 58,000 crore for two special industrial zones where Tk 35,000 crore for the power sector, Tk 15,000 crore for the H R Coil sector, Tk 7,500 crore for the DRI Plant sector, and more than Tk 500 crore for private economic zones development.
Moreover, in the coming future, more than 400-acre land will be add-ed to 'Banshkhali S. Alam Economic Zone 2' and there is a plan to establish a few medium and heavy industries under a joint venture with Japan.
When these two special econom-ic zones, currently under construc-tion in Banskhali, Chattogram, begin their operations, they are ex-pected to create more than 50,000 new jobs and serve as new avenues for substantial foreign currency earnings and significant govern-ment revenue through taxation.
Healthcare Fund: $200 million will be invested in the health-care sector to serve over 5 lakh people
S. Alam Group has established clin-ics, hospitals, and diagnostic cent-ers in major cities under their fi-nancial institutions. Their goal is to provide free medical services to the underprivileged and make health-care more accessible to everyone.
With this vision in mind, the S. Alam Group has initiated the 'S. Alam International Hospital' pro-ject in Chattogram, which is near-ing completion. It will provide ser-vices such as oncology, cardiology, nephrology, endocrinology, ortho-pedics, pediatrics, gynecology, and maternity care etc.
The group also plans to expand healthcare services by establishing medical and nursing colleges & oth-er medical facilities in various parts of the country and is now working on land development in Purbachal, Bashundhara, and other areas.
S. Alam Group's initiatives will create employment for over 5,000 people. With an investment of $200 million, based on European, In-dian, and East Asian business part-nerships, that will constantly serve over five lakh people.
