BGMEA and BEZA to jointly create garment park employing 0.5 million people

Published in The Financial Express on March 24, 2018

Apparel makers are likely to invest a total of US$ 2.0 billion at the proposed garments park in Chittagong’s Mirsarai Economic Zone (MEZ), creating around 0.5 million job opportunities there.

Land for setting up garment factories in the country’s largest economic zone (EZ) is expected to be ready by this December.

These were mentioned during a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) at a city hotel on Wednesday.

BEZA executive member Harunur Rashid and BGMEA president Md Siddiqur Rahman signed the MoU on behalf of their respective sides.

Abul Kalam Azad, chief coordinator for SDG affairs in Prime Minister’s Office, attended the ceremony as the chief guest, while BEZA executive chairman Paban Chowdhury presided over it.

BEZA executive member M Emdadul Haque, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) president Md Shafiul Islam (Mohiuddin), and former BGMEA presidents Md Atiqul Islam and Abdus Salam Murshedy, among others, attended the ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, the BGMEA president said they have already received applications for setting up industrial units on more than 250 acres of land in MEZ.

He expected that the garments park there will help the readymade garments (RMG) sector achieve its $50-billion export earning goal by 2021.

The BEZA executive chairman said a dedicated garments park had been a much-needed industrial zone to sustain the sector’s growth.

“Besides providing 500 acres of land, we are also putting aside around 700 acres of land in MEZ for the RMG sector considering its future expansion.”

Highlighting the government’s efforts to attract foreign direct investment and support the private sector, the BEZA chief said the industrialists are getting plots in MEZ at much lower rates than the cost for land development there.

“We have to spend around Tk 30 million to develop each acre of land in MEZ, but we are providing each unit only at one-third of the cost.”

The BEZA chief also said the government is establishing 100 EZs across the country to give an impetus to national economy in line with achieving the target of becoming a developed nation by 2041. Among all the EZs, Mirsarai is going to be the largest one with around 30,000 acres of land.