Summary of Work Done by SBMAB

McDonald Steel Building Products Limited (MSBPL) is a Category A member of Steel Building
Manufacturers Association of Bangladesh (SBMAB). According to Statement of Subscription of SBMAB
published on May 05, 2014, MSBPL is supposed to pay SBMAB BDT 400,000. This amount has been
requested as per decision of the SBMAB meeting held on June 08, 2013 regarding the following issues:
Working with National Board of Revenue (NBR), Ministry of Trade and Commerce, Ministry of
Industries and Ministry of Finance of the Government of Bangladesh for the reduction of tax
and duties of the raw materials used in the Steel Building Manufacturing sector as much as
possible
Providing for legal expenditure of SBMAB till date
According to the documents recently sent by SBMAB to MSBPL, SBMAB has been on the pursuit to
incentivize the Steel Building Manufacturing sector and has taken the following steps:
Applied to the Ministry of Trade and Commerce, Ministry of Industries and Ministry of Finance
of the Government of Bangladesh on February 16, 2014 to have meetings with the respective
ministers
Applied to the President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(FBCCI) on February 19, 2014 to make recommendation to the Government of Bangladesh in
favor of raw material tax reduction and incentivizing of the Steel Building Manufacturing
sector in preparing the National Budget Proposal for the fiscal year of 2014-2015
Applied to the Chairman of NBR on April 17, 2014
to reduce the tax on raw materials used in the Steel Building Manufacturing sector
to the minimum level,
to reduce the tax of some of the finished products such as Purlin, Floor Deck etc.
which are in fact used as raw materials in prefab steel building manufacturing
to eliminate the discrimination in duty incidence (as for some of the products used
for roofing and cladding of prefab steel structure, VAT registered Refrigerator and
Air-Conditioner Manufacturing Industry has to pay duty less than that of Pre-
fabricated Steel Building Manufacturing Industry)
Applied to Bangladesh Tariff Commission on April 26, 2014 not to recommend for tax rebate
on imported capital machineries and prefab steel structures for warehouses of Private Inland
Container Depots of Bangladesh
Made a decision in the SMBAB meeting held on April 30, 2014 to meet the Honorable Prime
Minister of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh to inform her about the demand of the
imported materials used in prefab steel building manufacturing and the necessity to reduce
the duties on those materials
Applied to the President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association
(BGMEA) on May 06, 2014 for help and patronization regarding the reduction of the duties of
imported prefab steel building construction materials to 0%
According to the document on BGMEAs proposal for National Budget 2014-2015, BGMEA
recommends for the reduction of the total tax incidence to 0% for many prefab steel building materials
and SMBAB has already applied to NBR on April 17, 2014 for tax reduction for 5 of the materials from
BGMEAs recommended list.
If the amount requested for the issue can help in achieving the tax reduction and assisting the
Government of Bangladesh in incentivizing the sector, then the opportunities for MSBPL may be
increased.
Furthermore, SBMAB have recently sent some Account Statements for 2008-2014, and from these
statements, it was found that:
Total Collection was BDT 7,559,909
Total Expense was BDT 7,434,068
Expense for NBR and Legal Affairs for the year 2013-2014 was BDT 3,625,000
Total Expense for FBCCI Subscription, Joint Stock, Commerce Ministry & Tariff Commission
from 2008 to 2014 was BDT 290,000
All collections and withdrawals were done through accounts opened at Bank Asia and
National Bank
MSBPL deposited BDT 50,000 at the Bank Asia account on March 4, 2014 as yearly
subscription fee
The outstanding SBMAB bill for MSBPL till date is BDT 400,000 [Taka Four Lacs], which is yet
to be cleared
Additionally, According to the document provided by SBMAB, as per the decision taken in a meeting
held on April 30, 2013, SBMA sent a condolence message mourning the loss in the Rana Plaza incident,
which was published by The Daily Star and The Bangladesh Protidin.