1.16 lakh sq metre floors to be readied by December
Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority is going ahead to implement local and foreign investment proposals in multi-storied buildings now being constructed within its exclusive zones, as lands for new industries have depleted. There would be 1.16 lakh square meters of floor ready for setting up around 50 new ventures by December this year in all the eight export processing zones, a meeting at the prime minister’s office was appraised last week.
The meeting, presided over by PMO secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad, underscored completion of the building constructions by this year as investors from foreign countries including Japan, China, Germany and South Korea appeared to be interested in making investment in the lucrative EPZ areas, sources said.
‘Investments worth US$ 150 million to US$ 160 million are expected to be made on the new building floors to be readied by December for commercial operation,’ a member of BEPZA told New Age on Sunday.
As no land is left in five Export Processing Zones including Dhaka and Chittagong EPZs, the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority has stopped receiving any fresh investment proposals to be made in any of the five, the member added.
The other three EPZs are Karnaphuli EPZ, Chittagong, Comilla EPZ and Ishwardi EPZ that have no additional lands for any new investments.
Factory floors measuring 40,976 square meters will be available by December deadline through construction on the existing building structures in the EPZs, another 43,356 square meters of floors will come from a four-storey building now being constructed after demolishing a one-storey dilapidated factory and the rest 17,293 square meters to be readied as a new four-storey building is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The constructions of the said buildings are going on in full-swing in Dhaka, Chittagong and Comilla EPZs, the BEPZA official said.
He said they receive around 10 to 12 new investment proposals a month on an average, as most industrialists from home and abroad prefer land for their new ventures.
They hoped the building floors would be filled up soon as many foreign investors are keen to invest their fund in the safe zones of Bangladesh—a good number of them are
shifting investment from China to Bangladesh to minimise costs of doing business.
Meanwhile, the BEPZA identified 40 industrial plots for Japanese investors, in compliance with a MoU signed recently between the two countries during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Japan, it was learnt.
Ten plots each will be awarded to the Japanese in Iswardi and Uttara and the remaining 20 in Mongla EPZ, a BEPZA official said.
The total investment in the country’s eight EPZs stood at US$ 3.03 billion as of March, this year as above 400 industries employ 3,85,000 workers, the official added.
-With New Age input
