Mega push for a green Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar
The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) is set to invest Tk 4,367 crore on a fresh project aimed at developing a greener Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN).
Beza decided to undertake this initiative, to be implemented between January 2021 and December 2025, in order to create an enabling environment for sustainable private investment and a dynamic local market for industrial land.
The World Bank will provide $467 million (about Tk 3,970 crore) for the initiative under its Private Investment and Digital Entrepreneurship (PRIDE) project.
"The World Bank continues to support Beza's activities as the multilateral lender is satisfied with our actions," said Beza Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury, adding that this new initiative will promote foreign investment in the country's economic zones.
Under the project, Beza will construct a 30-kilometre road inside the BSMSN alongside other necessary infrastructures such as a central effluent treatment plant, desalination plant, solar energy systems and so on.
As per phase-1 of the Bangladesh Economic Zone Development Project, Beza prepared around 2,000 acres of land for the establishment of factories at three economic zones inside the BSMSN.
Having begun on January 1, 2014, the ongoing project is expected to be complete by January 30 next year.
Some 548 acres have been developed for industries in BSMSN-1 while the number is 1,939 acres for BSMSN-2 and 474 acres for BSMSN-2B. A total of 114 industrial units have already been established across the three zones under phase-1.
As of this November, numerous businesses from both home and abroad have come up with investment proposals valued at $19 billion for the industrial city, according to Beza data.
Of this amount, foreign companies such as Singapore's Wilmar, India's Adani Group and Japan's Nippon Steel accounted for roughly $10 billion.
The remaining $9 billion in investment proposals came from local businesses with the major investors being: TK Group, Karmo Foam Industries, Asian Paints, Mango Teleservices, BDCOM Online, Bashundhara Group, Samuda Food Products, Ananta Apparels, Siraj Cycle Industries, Abdul Monem Group, ACI, Star Allied and Ayesha Clothing Company.
The World Bank previously approved $500 million for the BSMSN's development on condition that no factories would be set up before the utility connections were provided.
During a visit to the site in late October, it was found that the industrial units of 13 different companies, including Asian Paints, McDonald Steel, Modern Synthetic and TK Group, are currently under construction.
"These factories may go into production next year," Chowdhury said.
Meanwhile, some other factories are waiting for their utility connections before starting their construction work, he added.
Regarding the fresh initiative, Chowdhury said Beza has already sent a project proposal to the Planning Commission for approval.
According to the Beza executive chairman, the BSMSN seems to be taking shape day by day as investors have started developing the physical infrastructure of the 30,000-acre economic zone.
In total, around 200 investment proposals have been received for the BSMSN with 76 coming from local garment makers.
Once these proposals become actualised industrial units, they will generate around 9 lakh opportunities for direct employment, Beza data shows.
Besides, three local business entities -- Confidence Group, Energypac and the state-owned Rural Power Company -- have expressed their willingness to invest nearly $3 billion in the power sector, Chowdhury said.
"With this, we hope that total investment in the BSMSN will reach $30 billion by 2030, which will be equivalent to the total investment made in all other economic zones combined," he added.
Even amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Beza received over $1.5 billion in investment proposals from home and abroad with most local companies looking to pour their funds into the pharmaceutical, chemical, steel, textile, automobile, electronics and ceramic sectors.
Chowhudry went on to assure that local and foreign businesses would enjoy equal benefits at the BSMSN.
But due to the growing interest amid foreign investors, Beza has even been forced to decline proposals as it would not be possible to accommodate them all with the limited amount of land available inside the industrial city.
Once complete, the zone will become the third largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and Chattogram as around 15 million people will live and work in the adjoining areas, Chowdhury said.
Jinyuan Chemical Industry, a Chinese company which exports chemical products to the US and Canada, was set to become the first business to begin commercial operations inside the BSMSN in March.
However, this debut has since been delayed by the Covid-19 outbreak.
"I received clearance to start factory operations," Wang Yang, chairman of Jinyuan Chemical, told The Daily Star ahead of the coronavirus outbreak in March.
Yang had shifted her factory from China to Bangladesh in a bid to lessen the tariff burden while exporting products to North America.
"My first aim was to avoid the impacts of the US-China trade conflict and make my products more competitive," Yang said.
The BSMSN will be the country's first public economic zone to go into operation as a part of the government's plan to set up 100 industrial enclaves across Bangladesh, Beza's Chowdhury said.
Comments