Achieving the national goal of becoming a middle-income country by 2021 is heavily dependent on successful implementation of economic zones in the country, said an expert here on Sunday.
Dr Shoichi Kobayashi, team leader of the Private Sector Development Support Project (PSDSP), a project of the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA), said this while putting forward some specific recommendations for BEZA at a workshop held in a city hotel.
While presenting a draft final report on ‘Technical Advisory Services for Feasibility Studies for Economic Zones’, Kobayashi reminded his audience that Bangladesh will be deprived of investment if economic zones are not set up; and without investment, requisite job creation and income generation for Bangladesh will not be possible.
He thinks the BEZA needs to implement the Sherpur Economic Zone successfully first before turning its attention to two other economic zones to be implemented in Mirsharai and Anwara, Chittagong for attracting domestic and foreign investments, creating jobs and accelerating growth through expediting industrialization.
“Start Sherpur Economic Zone first fully supported by the Prime Minister’s Office with strong political will and demonstrate that BEZA is able to implement economic zones quickly and successfully,” Kobayashi said while making his presentation in the workshop.
Since the BEZA has a full mandate to develop economic zones, it should develop many economic zones as fast as possible with ‘can do spirit’, the expert said.
He mentioned that Bangladesh’s economy has been maintaining a 6.3 percent growth rate over the past five years but Bangladesh needs to accelerate GDP growth to 8-10 percent to reduce the poverty level from 40 percent now to 15 percent, in line with its target of becoming a middle income country by 2021.
In order to achieve the above goals, he mentioned, private investment must increase to 32 percent of GDP.
The expert said the Economic Zone (EZ) programme is aimed at achieving the above goals by attracting private investment – both foreign direct investment and domestic investment – accelerating GDP growth and creating new avenues for employment.
He said there is a need for strong political support and political will for successful implementation of the economic zone programme as Bangladesh requires millions of new jobs.
Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, Prime Minister’s Economic Affairs Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman, State Minister for Land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Jabed and BEZA Executive Chairman Fakhrul Islam, among others, were present.
The World Bank in cooperation with UK-DFID, and IFC is supporting the government to develop new economic zones in Bangladesh through the PSDSP.
Economic zones are strategic instruments for attracting domestic and foreign investments, creating jobs and accelerating growth.
The PSDSP project aims to promote diversified private sector investment by improving the business environment and access to industrial land through economic zones, as well as investing in training schemes to make human resources more responsive to enterprise needs.
The PSDSP was restructured in July 2013 to bring changes in the size, activity and scope of the project for more effective implementation.
Converting 40,000 acres of land to economic zones is vital in this process and will be a top priority for the taskforce. This will require an initial inventory of available land. State-owned enterprises which are lying dormant will be primary candidates for conversion to economic zones.
The BEZA has identified five new sites for the development of private economic zones, either wholly private zones or zones established under a public-private partnership.
Source: UNBConnect