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Published : 07 Jan 2025, 10:00 PM
In a shift from the Awami League government’s ambitious plan to develop 100 economic zones across Bangladesh, the interim government has announced it will prioritise work on just five zones.
Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority Executive Chairman Ashik Chowdhury outlined the revised strategy at a press briefing in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Ashik said there is no need to create 100 economic zones in Bangladesh and emphasised that it would be “sufficient” if 10 economic zones were created in the next 10 years.
“We want to complete the work of 10 economic zones within the next 10 years,” said Ashik.
“Work will be done on five government economic zones on a priority basis. We promise that water, electricity, gas and road connections will be provided in these economic zones within the next 12 to 24 months.
“Once the identified 5 economic zones are fully industrialised, if necessary, we will start work in the remaining 5 zones. This may take 5-7 years.”
These five zones are - National Special Economic Zone, Srihatta Economic Zone, Maheshkhali Economic Zone, Jamalpur Economic Zone and Bangladesh Special Economic Zone.
The interim government will work on these zones across their entire area.
The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, or BEZA, has come up with a plan to work in these areas on a small scale.
Meanwhile, the country's largest economic zone, “Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpanagar”, has been renamed as the “National Special Economic Zone”.
The industrial city is spread over an area of 13680.4 hectares and encompasses Sitakunda and Mirsarai in Chattogram, and Sonagazi Upazila in Feni. Under the new plan, only 421.3 hectares of this industrial hub will be developed over the next two years.
The reduction stems from what Ashik described as “a significant resource and utility shortage,” which has become a pressing concern for investors.
The phased approach will involve dividing the development timeline into four segments over two years.
While underscoring what BEZA aims to achieve through this, he said: “What is the output that we want from doing all this? Our expectation is that we will make 133 additional investors operational in BEZA by the end of 2026.”
“We want the investment to increase by $5.5 billion through local and foreign investment. Altogether, we expect a total investment of $5.5 billion. Ultimately, we expect to generate employment for 250,000 people in BEZA in the next two years.”
The organisation is also exploring ways to see if any other economic activities can be carried out in the areas that have been acquired but remain unused in the next two years, said Ashik.
According to Ashik, as a part of this, the BEZA is gaging the feasibility of building a solar plant in the Mirsarai area.
He also revealed plans to revitalise abandoned government jute mills and factories to repurpose unused land and facilities, instead of creating new economic zones.
Currently, work is underway in 19 economic zones, including both public and private initiatives across Bangladesh. These zones collectively house 122 institutions in various stages of construction and operation, covering 2913.8 hectares of land and generating at least 45,000 jobs.
To date, as many as 212 investors have committed to projects within these zones.
