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Change Your Life! |
HBFC’s
special drive brought success |
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News |
May 8, 2000
Dhaka,
May 7 (UNB)- The state-run housing finance institution’s special drive
launched for survival brought it a success in recovery, debt service,
increased disbursement, and even leaving some profit margins for the last
two consecutive fiscal years. “As
recovery position has improved, we don’t have any shortage of funds for
disbursement at present,” Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation
(BHBFC) managing director SM Moniam Hossein told reporters today (Sunday). Loan
recovery amounted to Tk 115 crore in ‘94-’95 fiscal year, but jumped
to Tk 195 crore in ‘98-99 after the Corporation took up a special drive
targeting some 11,000 borrowers who shared Tk 323 crore in overdue loans. Till
April of the current fiscal year, BHBFC recovered Tk 171 crore as at least
4000 out of the 11000 borrowers who defaulted their installments responded
to the special drive, scheduled to expire on June 20 this year. The
management hopes additional Tk 50 crore will come till the end of the
drive. The drive, launched in August last year, offers some special loan
and interest rebates for borrowers who defaulted 24 installments or more. “We
expect 50 per cent of the rest defaulters will come up
to
avail of the special incentives we offer to reschedule their loans,” the
MD said at a press briefing. He
said the Corporation right now has no pending applications for loans. If
the land document is genuine and building plan approved by RAJUK, one can
get sanction of loans in 35 to 45 days. HBFC
Chairman Shah M Atiur Rahman said a lack of proper guidelines in the past
led the Corporation to a state of negative image. He said the Corporation
had not received any financial assistance from the government since August
1998, but it ran well as recovery position improved much. “Even
we have planned to further expand our lending programmes in and outside
the metropolis,” Rahman said. The
Chairman expressed his dissatisfaction over the activities of
“borrowers’ association,” which is lobbying for interest waiver or
escaping installments. “We
are ready to listen to problems of individual borrowers, not to the
so-called association, because we didn’t lend money to any
association.” He
also identified lack of interaction with borrowers also as a factor for
slowing down the recovery in the past. The
managing director said they had moved house to house of all borrowers to
motivate them to reschedule their credits. “We tried to make them
understand that they will have to repay their dues, and we are ready to
facilitate them.” Improving
recovery position was a must for the Corporation to run its business,
stalled for the last few years for want of funds, as the government
refused to inject any more money into its operations. The
Finance Ministry instructed the Corporation to run its business with its
own capacity or stop operation. “We
didn’t have any free money for disbursement. We’re paying interests on
the money we borrowed from the government and other sources,” the MD
said. Since
its re-inception in 1973, the Corporation got Tk 115 crore—Tk 97 crore
as paid-up capital and Tk 18 crore as loan and deposit from the
government. It already paid Tk 5 crore as principal amount and is
regularly paying interests on the rest amount, including the paid-up
capital. It
so far borrowed Tk 1880 crore from other sources against government
debentures and paid up Tk 204 crore. “We
haven’t yet defaulted on our loan and interest repayments, despite the
outstanding loans we have against our borrowers,” Hossein said.
The
Managing Director gave an account of the Corporation’s profits during
the last three fiscal years. It profited Tk 106 crore in ‘96-97, Tk 121
crore in ‘97-98, Tk 130 crore in ’98-99 and targeted to earn Tk 150
crore in the financial year 199-2000. The
BHBFC so far has disbursed Tk 2360 crore to over 61000 borrowers for
130428 houses. It disbursed Tk 112 crore till April of the current fiscal
year, Tk 91 crore in ‘98-99 fiscal year and Tk 106 crore in ‘97-98.
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