Govt to acquire 500 acres more land for Araihazar Economic Zone

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved a revised project to acquire additional 500 acres of land for Araihazar Economic Zone in Narayanganj following the demand of Japanese investors.

The original cost of the project titled 'Acquisition of Lands for Setting up Economic Zones (Araihazar, Narayanganj, Mirsarai Economic Zones)" was Tk 7.6175 billion ( Tk 761.75 crore), which now increased at Tk 31.9581 billion (Tk 3,195.81 crore) in the revised project.

The approval came from an Ecnec meeting held at the NEC conference room with Ecnec Chairperson, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, reports UNB.

About the land acquisition project for the two economic zones, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said, "We had first allocated some 491 acres of land for Araihazar Economic Zone, but Japanese investors want more 500 acres of land there."

The main activities of the project are acquisition of 1,491.48 acres of land (991.48 acres for Araihazar and 500 acres for Mirsarai), development of 5524103 cubic metres of land and meeting cost of rehabilitation. The project period was extended to June 2019 instead of December 2018.