Attracting investment in Economic Zones
Special incentives for investors sought
BEZA plans to establish 100
economic zones and create
10 million jobs
STAFF REPORTER, Ctg
Special incentives are required in order to attract investors from abroad, the public works and housing minister, engineer Mosharraf Hossain, said at an investment promotion seminar at a hotel in Chittagong yesterday.
Earlier, we used to provide tax holidays. Now there is no tax holiday for businesses in Bangladesh. The system should be brought back again to motivate businessmen to invest. Bangladesh is not so developed that tax holidays cannot be given to businesses here, he said while speaking as the chief guest at the seminar, titled Attracting investment to economic zones of Chittagong and Coxs Bazar, arranged by the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA).
He gave the examples of Singapore, Malaysia and other developed countries that give incentives to businesses to attract investments to their respective countries.
He said: If you want to attract outside investment into the country, you have to give incentives.
He also said his government, following a proposal from BEZA, reduced the land rate by 25 per cent in the economic zones.
In response to the speech by BEZA chairman Paban Chowdhury, the minister iterated that he would take all responsibility in his area of the Mirsarai economic zone to ensure its smooth functioning.
Other speakers at the seminar said BEZAs vision is to establish 100 economic zones in the next 15 years, leading to the creation of 10 million jobs and the development of 30,000 hectares of land. They also disclosed that the government has so far approved 76 new economic zones, the construction of 20 of which is being processed.
Recently, BEZA successfully selected the countrys second economic zone projectover 550 acres of land in Mirsaraito be developed through a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
Chowdhury also said: I am focusing on security in the economic zones so that foreign investors can feel secure. If it can be ensured that domestic and foreign investors feel more secure about investing here, more and more investments would pour in.
The investors will be given 33 different services at a single window to meet all their requirements. We have proposed a law that authorises punishment for delays in providing service to investors, said Chowdhury.
He added, Foreign investment is worth only USD 2 billion in Bangladesh, while neighbouring Myanmar has received USD 9 billion, even though its infrastructure is not as good as ours.
He added that the newly emerged land in Sandwip would be brought under BEZA for establishing an economic zone. He highlighted that the industrialisation of Bangladesh is happening steadily under BEZA.
Chowdhury also said: Sabrang Tourism Park will be the best tourism destination. It will be an exclusive tourism park in Coxs Bazar district, encompassing 1,027 acres of hilly and seaside land.
Shamsul Arefin, deputy commissioner (DC) of Chittagong district administration, said: Chittagong will be the most lucrative place for investment. BEZA is working on the allocation of land to economic zones8,000 acres for the G2G economic zone and 30,000 more for the Mirsarai economic zone.
In the two-session seminar, the first session, chaired by Paban Chowdhury, was addressed by public works and housing minister Mosharraf Hossain, divisional commissioner Ruhul Amin, Chittagong DC Shamsul Arefin, Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mahbubul Alam, and BEZA executive member Amdadul Haque.
The second session, titled the business session, was chaired by former IIFC managing director Nazrul Islam and addressed by BEZA manager Shohelur Rahman Chowdhury, Motoyama Junichiro of JICA, Bai Yinzhan, vice-president of China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd, and Mizanur Rahaman, director of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.
