Cabinet endorses draft law to form Bangladesh Investment Development Authority

The government has approved a draft legislation aimed at facilitating the merger of the Board of Investment and Privatisation Commission.  

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 31 August 2015, 08:54 PM
Updated : 31 August 2015, 08:55 PM

A Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Secretariat on Monday endorsed in principle the draft of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority Act 2015.    

Once it becomes law, the officers and employees of the two bodies would become part of the new organisation.

Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain told the press about the development after the meeting.

 “A new establishment, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, would be formed with the merger,” he said.

It will have a governing board, headed by the prime minister, and the finance minister as its vice chairman.

The 17-member board will also have the industry and trade minister, besides other ministers. 

The proposed body will register all private industrial units and the offices of all foreign commercial organisations, Hossain said.

However, entities such as the BEPZA, EPZ, economic zones, private EPZ, BISIC industrial town, the Hitech Park Authority and investments made by ministries would be outside the jurisdiction of the new body, said the Cabinet secretary.

The Board of Investment was formed in 1989, and the Privatisation Board in 1993, which was later transformed into the Privatisation Commission in 2000.

The Privatisation Commission’s job was to sell loss-making state units.

“However, not much headway has been made in this field. In the 15 years since 2000, its performance has not been up to the mark,” said Secretary Bhuiyan. 

From 1993 until now, only 58 state units have been privatised.

“The government feels closed state-owned factories that can be run profitable should reopen. The land of those that are not viable should be put to better use.”      

The merger had been thought of in this context, he said.

The merged body would be under the PMO. It will be empowered to select and notify places as industrial areas, and help registered industrial units acquire land.

The authority will also arrange one-stop inter-ministry service facilities to meet the infrastructure needs of the registered industrial units.