The country’s Mirsarai Economic Zone in port city of Chattrogram is ready for investment, giving a new hope of earning a huge foreign exchange and creating employment opportunities, sources at the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) said. PowerPac-East West-GasMin consortium has received the contract for development and operation of Mirsarai Economic Zone in Chittagong.
PowerPac obtained the highest number 79.65, among eight bidders who submitted their tenders as developer of the 610-acre land in the Economic Zone, as per the circular on December 01, 2015. Power Pac Economic Zone (pvt) Ltd, a concern of local conglomerate Sikder Group is developing the zone aiming to provide all sorts of facilities to attract foreign investors.
BEPZA officials said, this is the largest economic zone among the country’s other eight economic zones and they are getting huge response beyond their expectation. The BEPZA is implementing the project in order to attract $ 1.25 billion investment and generate 0.15 million jobs for local people. Project concerned said, as many as 350 industrial units are being built at a cost of $4.5 billion at Mirsarai Economic Zone near the costal line of Bay of Bengal in Chattogram.
Some 250 industrial plots will be developed at a cost of $1.25 billon by June, 2021 which is expected to create employment opportunities for 1.5 lakh people, said BEPZA General Manager Nazma Binte Alamgir. According to project information, the world’s third largest Japanese steel producer, Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal, in association with the country’s McDonald Steel Building Products, has already signed an agreement to invest $59.19 million in Bangladesh’s steel industry. Under the agreement, Nippon will set up a steel factory on 100 acres of land in the Mirsarai Economic Zone.
The country will produce Honda Brand motorcycles soon. The leading global motorcycle producing company Honda Motor Corporation has established its factory on 25 acres of land in the privately owned Abdul Monem Economic Zone. Not only Nippon or Honda, even not only Japan, but also other countries like China, Singapore, India, Thailand, the United Kingdom and others are keen to invest in these SEZs.
BEZA has allotted 500 acres of land to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) for setting up a readymade garment factory park in the economic zone. BGMEA sought the land from BEZA for relocating the factories randomly established at different places in Dhaka.
BGMEA will invest $2 billion for setting up RMG and garment accessories factories at this park to generate employment for 500,000 people.
The project, BEPZA Economic Zone, Mirsarai (1st phase) is also expecting to generate $ 1.50 billion export earning annually to boost the socio-economic development of the country, said officials of planning ministry.
According to BEPZA information, after laying the foundation stone by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on January last, until now the project has achieved 70 percent progress. As a result, the authority concerned is having huge response from the investor. On the other hand, to attract the investor as per the BEPZA priority, the authority concerned is knocking the doors of the investors and highlighting the facilities of the economic zone.
“If everything is goes on the right track, plot allocation will start by next year and by 2021, goods from the economic zone will start exporting,” hoped BEPZA officials. Earlier, the Governing Body of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) in its fourth meeting decided to allocate around 1,200 acres of land to BEPZA to set up the economic zone at Mirsarai.
BEPZA in the first phase would set up 250 industrial units in the economic zone by developing land and other infrastructures, according to the Development Project Proforma (DPP). Eight export-processing zones (EPZs) under BEPZA located in Chattogram, Dhaka, Mongla, Cumilla, Ishwardi, Uttar (Nilphamari), Adamzi and Karnaphuli across the country have already earned reputation for attracting investment.
In the eight EPZs, the cumulative investment stood at $ 4.28 billion as of April this year. In those EPZs, a total of 600 organizations have been given permission to install industrial units, of which 469 industrial units are in production while 131 units are on the way to production. The operational industrial units in the EPZs exported goods worth $ 64.06 billion till February this year, creating jobs for 485,915 people, 64 percent of them being women.
