The members of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) urged the Government to build special economic zones in Rajshahi and Rangpur in a bid to generate employment.
For the sake of balanced development, the government should give tax exemption to the entrepreneurs who want to build industry in the areas, they said.
FBCCI members said this yesterday while they met with the Industry Minister Dilip Barua at the latter`s office.
They strongly criticised mobile court’s recent operation that crossed the line in the name of hygiene, and even it was creating panic among the traders.
Supporting the court’s operation, Fazlul Ahad, Director General of the Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute (BSTI), said the BSTI operated mobile courts round the year and they had just intensified their operation during the Ramzan.
“We are just trying to ensure hygienic food particularly during this period, he added.
FBCCI President AK Azad discussed about the prices of essential commodities and said they would form special policy after Ramzan to stabilise the prices of essentials.
He said the FBCCI would try to find out the businessmen responsible for hoarding and the price manipulation.
The FBCCI chief also requested the government not to issue any new trade or industry license to operate in Dhaka city as “the city is already overcrowded”. “Special economic zones can be created with special benefits to encourage industrialisation in other areas of the country,” he suggested.
Azad also requested the government to formulate an industrial policy as a law to ensure its implementation.
Expressing concern over the government’s decision not to transfer any more state-owned enterprise to the private sector, he warned, “The government has to answer to us if it uses our tax money to cover the losses of the state-owned enterprises.”
However, Industries Minister Dilip Barua said his office was more concerned about providing support to industries. “My ministry is here to help industrialisation by formulating a policy, developing infrastructure and facilities. We are less interested in building new industries by ourselves,” he said.
The minister pointed out the fact that many of the state-owned enterprises transferred to private sector were not working as planned, and that some of the enterprises transferred to private sector “were not even operational”.
Barua said the government was planning to set up 21 new industrial areas for the development of this sector.
