The government is going to appoint park developer to start soon construction of a part of the much awaited multi-million dollar Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park (KHTP) which is expected to be the lifeline of country's IT sector, officials said. They said an agreement will be signed between Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) and Summit Technopolis Ltd tomorrow to start immediately development of block II and V of the total 5 blocks of the Tech Park that spread across 232 acres of land, reports BSS.
The signing of agreement with Fiber@Home, a local company will be held within couple of weeks as the company has won the bid to develop 40 acres of block III, they said.
As per the draft agreement, the joint venture of local Summit Technopolis Ltd of Summit Group and Infinity Infosys Parks Ltd will invest a total of $207.59 million to construct Multi-Tenant Building (MTB), convention center, hotel, custom infrastructure, warehouse and develop industrial area in the block II on 62 acres of land.
It will also develop industrial area, build water treatment plant and sub-station in the block V on 29 acres of land of KHTP, the agreement said.
"Hi-Tech Park is our dream project which was delayed for 14 years due to legal problems. Finally we are going to sign an agreement with Summit Technopolis Ltd to build block II and V of KHTP after the resolution of the legal issues," said State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak who took the KHTP in the list of ICT Division's priority projects for implementation immediately after assuming office on January 12, 2014.
He said the government is committed to build the Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park which was undertaken in 1999 during the tenure of Awami League
government to build on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis.
"It will be a specialized economic zone and lifeline of the country's IT sector. A world-class business environment will be created for the local and foreign investors in the KHTP," he added.
According to a source, of the 232 acres of land around 98.9 acres would be developed as roads and open areas based on international industry norms and the remaining area will turn into around 14.51 million square feet of space which will be used for commercial, residential and other amenities purposes.
ICT Secretary Shyam Sunder Sikder said the Hi-Tech Park will be an attractive location for
developing the country's IT and IT-enabled services sector especially the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).
"We are approaching with a duel strategy to attract investments through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and provide state-of-the-art
facilities to the Bangladesh based IT/ITES Industry," he said.
Managing Director of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Hosne Ara Begum said the agreement between the government and Summit Technopolis Ltd will be signed for 40 years, which can be extended by another 20 years and Summit is among the seven firms that submitted proposals to the ICT Division in April.
She said the BHTPA has divided the 232 acres of land into five blocks keeping one block in hand and the rest up for tender. If implemented, the KHTP will create an opportunity to employ 60,000 IT professionals, Hosne Ara added.