AL MP Hanif says the Board of Investment has failed, calls for restructuring

Awami League MP Mahbubul Alam Hanif has said the government has failed in certain sectors including in the task of attracting investments.

He also criticised the budget proposal in Parliament on Wednesday, lashing out at the proposal to impose value added tax on higher education.
 
The party joint secretary general said the Board of Investment (BoI) had ‘failed miserably’ in developing infrastructure and framing policies that foreign investors would find attractive. 

A UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report said Foreign Direct Investment dropped in 2014 by $652 million in comparison to the $1.59 billion the year before.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith, in his FY2015-16 Budget Speech on June 4, said the government aimed at increasing the share of foreign investment in the GDP by two percent to 30 percent. 

Hanif said the BoI was unable to attract FDI in any sector. “The investment board’s failing streak will end only if it is restructured with professional, skilled, hard-working, and patriotic people.”
  
He said that, although Bangladesh had managed to meet power generation targets, it failed to ensure the supply of natural gas to factories. “Thousands of applications for gas connections have piled up in Petrobangla.”

The Kushtia-3 representative went on to detail various government steps to develop education and said a proposed 10 percent VAT on higher education was ‘unprecedented’ and in conflict with the basic rights enumerated in the constitution and the country’s education policy. 

He also demanded discussion on the move to cut education expenditure.