A 37-year journey of S. Alam Group in 53-year-old Bangladesh
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Pic: Barta24.com
Bangladesh is now the 35th largest economy in the world, and the fifth tiger economy in Asia. It is projected that by 2038 Bangladesh will become the world's 20th largest economy. London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) projects it. It shows that Bangladesh will maintain its continuous success and go 15 stairs up in the next 14/15 years.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina used to say, it’s not the government alone to do everything. She always urges all the private enterprises and entrepreneurs to come forward to work for the country to take it to the next level. Responding to her calls the S. Alam Group, one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Bangladesh has shown dedication towards the development of the country. And has been continuously contributing to this overwhelming success. Based in the port city and commercial capital of the country Chattogram, the industrial group has been humbly operating for more than 37 years since 1985.
Throughout its long journey, the entity has been involved in industrial and infrastructural projects opening businesses in dozens of sectors.
They include daily necessary commodities, power, health, textiles, IT, and many others. S. Alam Group has established economic zones for a smooth industrial journey investing thousands of crore of taka.
More than 200,000 people have been directly employed by this group eventually benefiting the country's economy.
From the refinery industries of S. Alam Group the country's local market gets a huge supply of edible oil (six brands are there), sugar (two refineries) wheat, flour, and other products.
Investing a huge amount of money this business conglomerate imports and processes several daily necessary products and supplies to the local market to fulfill the demand of crores of consumers every day.
The company imported 7 lakh 50 thousand tons of sugar in 2023, valued at 49 crore 5 lakh US Dollars and 5 lakh 20 thousand tons of wheat was imported in the same year, valued at 14 crore 56 lakh US Dollars.
Other major imported items and value in 2023 are listed below:
- 2 lakh 75 thousand 779 metrics tons Palm Oil by 25 crore 91 lakh 47 thousand 152 USD.
- 36 thousand 700 metric tons Soyabean Oil by $4 crore 19 lakh 1 thousand 72 USD.
According to a report, the S. Alam Group fulfills 30, 20 and 35 percent of the current domestic market demand of oil, wheat, and sugar respectively.
In the current year of 2024, the company has planned to increase the supply to 50%.
S. Alam Group's industrial capacity report shows that they have six edible oil refineries and two active sugar refineries. Another is under construction.
In these self-financed refineries, some 4,800 metric tons of edible oil and 5,100 metric tons of sugar are refined daily. All the refineries are using European technology, they said.
Two of the sugar refineries are located in Chattogram. The construction of the third mega sugar refinery will be completed by 2026, according to the sources inside.
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 employ more than 6,000 people.
The company has established a 2.6 billion USD Power Plant and a 3 billion USD worth Green and renewable Energy plant. S. Alam Group built the country's first large private coal-based thermal power project in Chattogram's Banshkhali with a capacity of 1320-megawatt investing of about 2.6 billion dollar or more than 28 thousand crore taka. S. Alam Group has a 70 percent in stake in the project, while the remaining 30 percent is held by Chinese companies SEPCO 3 and HTG.
in 2023 this power plant was integrated into the national grid, featuring two units, each possessing a 660 MW capacity. The first unit went on commercial production on September 18, 2023, and the second unit on October 26, 2023.
The speciality is the power of this project is more cost-efficient than the many other Power Plants in the country. The Green and Renewable Energy from a cycle power plant with an expected capacity of 3,000 megawatts to be established in Chattogram's Banshkhali this year investing $3 billion and it will be completed by 2027. This project will create 5000 direct employment opportu-nities. and more than 100000 people will find employment surrounding the project area.
Eco-friendly technologies from the leading technology companies like GE, Siemens and Mitsubishi will be employed in green and re-newable energy, the S. Alam Group says.
Due to the unique nature of this project, the country will get the benefit on carbon tax as per the Paris Agreement.
The S. Alam Group has been producing world-class steel and cement in the country by initiating the production process of galvanizing and steel sheets since 1995. Located in Chattogram and Narayanganj, these factories are using Japanese and Italian technologies to produce 'CI and GP Sheets,' 'Color Coated CGI Sheets,' 'Cold Rolled Steel Sheets,' and more.
The investment in these galvanizing plants and flat rolling plants is worth $640 million, and more than 2,000 employees work in the industry.
Four plants of galvanizing industry of S. Alam Group produce approximately 930 metric tons per day.
There are two flat rolling plants as well that annually produce 2 lakh 40 thousand metric tons.
In 2000 the S. Alam Group started a self-financed 'Portland Composite Cement factory at Charpatharghata in Chattogram investing 130 million US Dollars. This project has also created more than 1,500 employment opportunities. And the German technology based plant has a daily production capacity of 1,200 metric tons of cement.
Responding to the call of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the S. Alam group established the Banskhali S. Alam Economic Zones- 1 and 2 having ore than 58,000 crore taka investment plan and aiming to create 50,000 jobs.
'Banskhali S. Alam Economic Zone 1' is on 184 acres of land while the 'Banskhali S. Alam Economic Zone 2' is on 259 acres of land.
In the Economic Zones the group plans to invest 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 acres of land will be added 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.
Once in full operation, the projects are expected to create more than 50,000 new jobs and earn a substantial amount of foreign currency. It will also contribute to government revenue through taxes.
The group will be investing $200 million in the health-care sector to serve over 5 lakh people. By now S. Alam Group has established clinics, hospitals, and diagnostic centers in major cities under their financial institutions.
Providing free medical services to the underprivileged and making healthcare more accessible to everyone are the goals of this group. 'S. Alam International Hospital' project in Chattogram is underway.
The group also plans to expand healthcare services by establishing medical and nursing colleges & other medical facilities in various parts of the country.
