Prioritising Economic Zones

The immediate past regime planned to launch 100 Economic Zones (EZs) across the country mostly on personal, political and other considerations. To that end, the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA), an agency to operate under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), was created in 2010 to manage the Economic Zones (EZs). In 2015, BEZA rolled out this highly ambitious plan of setting up so many industrial enclaves with the target of operationalising them by 2030 and gave approval to as many as 97 EZs, of which 68 were government-owned and the rest 29 were to be run privately. But given the bureaucratic sloth, the history of time overruns regarding initiation and implementation of development projects, and not to mention the complexities involved in land acquisition, activating such a large number of EZs by the set deadline of (2030) proved impractical. Also, the EZs in most cases failed to draw investors due to inappropriate site selection, among other reasons. Only a few including the Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar in Mirsarai of Chattogram, the Japanese Economic Zone at Araihazar in Narayanganj and the Srihatta Economic Zone in Moulvibazar, for instance, could make any visible progress. In all, only 10 EZs, about 10 per cent of the total envisaged economic zones, could finally get off the ground before the previous government's ouster.

However, the interim government, according to a recent FE report, is going to take a selective approach to EZs on the basis of viability. It is going to select a smaller number of government-owned EZs and fast-track their development with clearly defined timelines in keeping with the requirements of the investors. Out of the EZs identified by the past regime, the ones that might find themselves in the priority list as prepared by the interim government include the National  Special Economic Zones in Mirsarai, Sitakunda and Feni, Jamalpur, Srihatta, Moheshkhali and Sabrang Tourism Park.

Given the experience gathered on this score in the past, especially during the previous government, the investors are better given the opportunity to choose the industrial enclaves they want to invest in. In this connection, some experts are of the view that before actually prioritising the EZ plots,   the BEZA might well carry out a survey to assess the investors' point of view in this regard. To have a better understanding of what particularly discouraged the potential investors in majority of the EZs opened up for them by the previous government, the new executive chairman of BEZA appointed by the interim government should have exchange of views with them. At the same time, he should listen to the complaints and grievances of the entrepreneurs who did finally invest in the EZ sites awarded to them by the deposed previous government and take early measures to address their problems.

In fact, the emphasis of the interim government should be on not to repeat the mistakes the previous government committed in this regard. Notably, many investors in the EZs are learnt to have complained that the previous government failed to provide the promised facilities including utility connections. Even some were not duly informed of the VAT they had ultimately to pay against the land allotted to them to set up their ventures. So, the main focus of the interim government should be on building trust with potential entrepreneurs who might feel confident to put their money in selected EZs.