The government project for supplying laptops at low prices has nosedived recently with sales falling drastically and production completely halted.
The Awami League government, which came to power in 2009, launched the Doel Laptop project in 2011 as part of its Vision 2021 Digital Bangladesh plan that was featured in its electoral manifesto.
Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina unveiled a Doel laptop on October 11, 2011, in Dhaka.
However, statistics have shown that state-owned Telephone Shilpa Sangstha Ltd (TSS), the company in charge of producing and distributing the laptops, has managed to sell only 204 laptops in June and July. The total proceeds from the sale of these laptops has been less than Tk9m.
High-ranked officials of the production plant have informed that there is not much chance of any increased sale because production has been stopped. They also said fund constraint has severely crippled the project with TSS failing to inject any money to save it.
Sources said, in the last two years, TSS has managed to sell only 98 laptops of the Tk10,000 “Primary Model 2102,” the cheapest of the Doel brands.
One of the major pledges of the Awami League government was to supply laptops at Tk10,000 to people living in every corner of the country.
“Thousands of pieces spare parts have been imported without any demand calculation. This has created a lot of problems. We are trying to sell the laptops already in stock. If we get any work order from any of the government offices, then we will import more accessories and assemble fresh laptops,” Md Husnul Mahmud Khan, managing director of TSS, told the Dhaka Tribune. “At least ten thousand laptop spare parts, imported in 2011, are lying idle in our stocks,” Husnul added.
Some users said quality was one of the main reasons why people had shown very little interest in buying Doel laptops and netbooks, named after the country’s national bird. No after sale services was another big reason for the lack of interest, they said.
In the recently held 214th board meeting of the laptop plant, officials in a presentation remarked: “The remaining laptops cannot be sold because there is no after sale service.”
Figures released in the board meeting working paper showed that TSS had imported spare parts worth Tk1.38bn for assembling 42,195 laptops, of which they had so far managed to assemble 37,059, and sold only 28,622 units. Of the total sales figure, the education ministry bought 17,815 laptops nearly two thirds of the actual sales figure. The army headquarters had also bought a few.
Although the working paper showed figures for June and July, plant sources claimed that production had been at a standstill for at least six months.
Sources also said TFT Display (M) SDN BHN, the Malaysian project partner, withdrew from the project soon after it had been launched. Now the Malaysian company is reportedly claiming back the money that it has invested in the project.
TSS MD Husnul Mahmud said: “Currently our priority is to sell out the remaining laptops in our stock. Importing spare parts and assembling new laptops are our second priority.”
“The management planned to import accessories without actually having conceived any plan for selling and marketing. That is why millions of taka has been wasted,” he said.
TSS is also charged with selling imported digital Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) land phone sets and PABX units, and locally assembled digital energy meters.
According to the working paper presented at the 214th meeting, TSS has managed to sell only two PABX units, two thousand PSTN phone sets and just three meters in June and July. Husnul informed that a total of 40,000 imported PSTN sets are lying idle in government stocks and there had been no production of digital meters over the period.
