BSS, Dhaka
A special economic zone on 1000 acres of land in Sylhet district could attract more FDI from expatriate Bangladeshis to help set up industrial projects there.
Talking to BSS on Sunday, Sylhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Junnun Mahmud Khan said that the business leaders of the district have planned to take up the project. It will create opportunities for local entrepreneurs and expatriate Bangladeshis, who have been sending a huge amount foreign Currencies, he said.
The project will specially be designed to uphold the interests of the third generation of the expatriate Bangladeshis who are gradually missing their social links with native country, he said adding the present flow of remittance would decrease in the days to ahead, if the social bondage is not maintained by them, who have world class specialization in different professions.
Khan said that the chamber leaders identified over 1000 acres of land at a location in between Sylhet-Tamabil Highway, which has been determined after a feasibility study. The study has given a framework for defining important criteria through identifying key factors to be considered while selecting the location of the zone, he said.
A cross section of interviews, the chamber leader said, were taken to evaluate the location.
Based on the key parameters and opinions of the cross section people, several locations have been identified having varying degrees of importance in view of their individual merits and any location within Sylhet Sadar district is the first preference to the most potential investors and existing entrepreneurs, followed by a location somewhere in between Sylhet-Tamabil Highway.
The size of individual plot would be from 30,000- 40,000 square meters. The study team recommends industrial cluster development in some areas in Sylhet at a later stage.
The chamber president said the Special Zone has been planned to be divided in ten segments, including administrative zone, power zone, garment zone, inland container terminal, leather zone, engineering zone , textile zone, other country zone and water plant.
Junnun Mahmud Khan said the concept of the special economic zone is to develop a one-stop service for the new entrepreneurs in the industrial sector. Other chamber leaders are continuing dialogues with the Board of Investment (BOI) to facilitate acquiring land of the zone.
“We have plans to set up the specialized zone with an administrative section where the concerned officials of the finance ministry, commerce ministry, industries ministry and planning ministry will work with proper authorities to facilitate the new entrepreneurs,” the president said.
He said in the past most of the new entrepreneurs felt discourage to invest in Bangladesh as they had to face hassle and other complexities to set up a new industry in the country.
The chamber president said it had already conducted a feasibility study on the project, which had yielded positive results in setting up the zone.
He said the study analyzed the historical trend of financing Economic Zones in other Asian countries and suggested sourcing of external funds for the next phase of development of the project.
Possible sources of fund, including the Regional Development Foundation, are also mentioned in the report and to mobilize funds to float industrial bond is proposed to ensure participation of local community, NRS and other interest groups.
The report also makes a tentative cost estimate to implement the Economic Zone project based on certain key elements, which need to be re- examined and finalized before the actual cost estimation at a later stage upon completion of techno-economic feasibility study.
Formation of action foundation is recommended under the Companies Act 1994 involving public, private and civil society for the ownership of Economic Zone that will ensure participation of people from all corners of the society and the Foundation will be a non-profit organization.
The facilities of the Economic Zone are proposed to be a one- stop service center. A professional team of qualified persons, including university teachers and management experts, has suggested to run the zone with extreme autonomy in order to ensure proper discipline and accountability.
Recruitment of short-term foreign experts also proposed with the funding support from the donor agencies and they will work closely with the local experts.
The study team also evaluated the possible positive and negative impacts of Economic Zone on the local communities and the surrounding environments.
Field survey was conducted on particular aspects of Industrial Park/Economic Zone and majority of the findings react positively.
Courtesy: thebangladeshtoday.com
