Dhaka Bureau: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate and lay foundation stones of 50 industries and infrastructure in 9 economic zones of the country including Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar. Prime Minister will inaugurate these through video conference from his official residence Ganabhaban on Sunday morning. The vast grasslands along the Mirsarai coast of the Bay of Bengal did not produce crops due to high salinity. Therefore, the area of several thousand acres was mainly used for fish farming and cattle grazing. But with the passage of time, the region has now become one of the largest economic regions in South Asia. The industrial area which was once built as the first economic zone of Bangladesh around 5000 acres of land is now 33000 acres of ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar’, the whole of which is built on land rising from the sea.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib will inaugurate the commercial activities of four factories in Shilpa Nagar, two in City Economic Zone, seven in Meghna Economic Zone and one in Srihatta Economic Zone. Along with this, the prime minister will lay the foundation stone of 29 factories with the target of investing 250 million US dollars, where at least 39 thousand people will be employed. Six important infrastructures including roads, buildings, power plants of the economic zone will be inaugurated. Besides attracting domestic and foreign investment, the government is developing 100 economic zones in different districts of the country for massive employment. Out of these 28 economic zones are under development. ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar’ is formed with Mirsrai-Feni Economic Zone. Already, out of the total area of 33,000 acres of this industrial city, 17,000 acres of land has been handed over to Beza authorities from the government. Among them, 5 thousand 43 acres of land has been allotted to 136 domestic and foreign investors so far after land development. A total investment of about 18 billion dollars has been proposed in the allotted land. It will provide employment to more than 752,000 Bangladeshi people, sources said. Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) has organized this event today on the Golden Jubilee of Independence.
About 15 companies have started construction in the Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar area. Gas and electricity have already been provided in the project area. Road construction is going on. A coastal embankment is being constructed along the coast under a separate road network with Chittagong port. This embankment will also be used as a road. Garment factories, shipbuilding industry, steel, automobile, textile factories, export oriented garment factories, steel factories will be developed in Mirsrai Economic Zone. According to Beza information, multinationals like Singapore’s Wilmar, India’s Adani Group and Japan’s Nippon Steel have already offered to invest around $1 trillion in Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar. Bangladeshi industrial groups are not far behind.
The Prime Minister will officially inaugurate Karnaphuli Drydock Special Economic Zone today through video conference. The Karnaphuli Drydock Special Economic Zone is located south of the Karnaphuli River in Badalpura and Shah Mirpur mouzas. It was established by Karnaphuli Ship Builders, one of the largest companies in the country, on land allocated from the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA). The World Bank has provided a soft loan of Tk 800 crore towards the construction cost of the drydock. This drydock is 285 meters long and 56 meters wide. It is possible to build and repair ships of 100,000 tons at the dock. Construction of another drydock is also underway at a cost of Tk 1,200 crore. Construction of two jetties under ‘Karnaphuli Drydock Special Economic Zone’ has already been completed at Anwara on the south bank of Karnaphuli river. Imported cargo ships have started arriving at the jetty and loading-unloading activities are going on regularly. Which is playing a helpful role in reducing congestion and increasing productivity of Chittagong port’s cargo ships. Foreign exchange is being saved due to reduction in waiting time of ships especially at outer anchorage. Two 170 meter long ships can congregate at this jetty and 10 to 12 ships can unload and unload goods together, but can unload 6 thousand tons of goods daily and 1 lakh 80 thousand tons of goods in a month. Under this economic zone, 20.98 acres of land will be leased in Bejar Madham for the construction of two more jetties and container terminal.
Today, the project inauguration and foundation stone laying will be held simultaneously from a total of eight venues. The venues are Ganabhavan, Dhaka, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (Mirsrai, Chittagong), Shrehatt Economic Zone (Sreehatt, Moulvibazar), Karnaphuli Drydock SEZ (Anowara, Chittagong), Meghna Industrial Economic Zone (Sonargaon, Narayanganj), Jamalpur Economic Zone (Jamalpur Sadar), Sabrang Tourism Park (Sabrang, Cox’s Bazar) and Hossaindi Economic Zone (Gazaria, Munshiganj). The event will end with an exchange of views with investors from the financial sector. Karnaphuli Ship Builders Limited Authority has already built 1,200 ships and boats, repaired about 800 ships and built and handed over 50 dredgers to the government. In this event, which started with the welcome speech of BEJA Executive Chairman Sheikh Yusuf Haroon, after the video screening on the activities of Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority, MP Engineer Mosharraf Hossain of Chittagong-1 Constituency, Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman Rahman will speak.
