It is almost customary, as part of the country's increasingly lacklustre governance culture, that while investors are lured to come to Bangladesh with rosy promises, the facilities to run business with required infrastructures are barely made available to them. This has happened in the past in respect of individual investors, both local and foreign, causing serious frustration. The Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ), recognisably a watershed in the country's investment scenario, has reportedly been stuck with various difficulties ever since it was taken up for putting into operation in the country.
The KEPZ, located in Chittagong, is believed to be capable of attracting sizable investments from Korea alone once the lease deal for land acquired for the Zone is concluded. But delay in the execution of the deed and finalisation of other formalities have halted any move forward for quite sometime. Newspaper reports say prospective investors who were eying to invest in the zone are now in a state of fix, although the Korean company owning the zone obtained operating licence way back in 2007. The KEPZ was registered under Bangladesh Private EPZ Act, 1996, following decisions at the highest levels between Bangladesh and the Republic of Korea.
Apart from the deed transfer issue, the KEPZ is yet to get the supply of natural gas as had been pledged. As for electricity, it has been reported in this newspaper that the KEPZ management invested US$ 2.4 million for construction of a 33KV power supply line and a sub-station as well as a 4.8km transmission line, which were activated by Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), against a security deposit of Tk 8.4 million.
This indeed reflects a sorry state, and reports say there is not enough initiative on the part of the concerned authorities to do the needful to expedite full operationalisation of the private EPZ. However, it has been reported that despite the prevailing constraints, the KEPZ has set up 10 factory units and has also undertaken a project for eight more to be set up by early 2014. Some of these factories have gone for production and export, employing around 4000 workers, all from nearby places. Given the progress so far made, it seems inconceivable that administrative and legal bottlenecks should continue to thwart the gains that still look bright for the private EPZ to deliver. More importantly, the success of a private EPZ is a highly positive signal for boosting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country.
The country's investment scenario over the past years has not seen any mentionable progress. Although there was registration for fresh foreign investments with the Board of Investment (BOI), the number of investors who proceeded further is not notable. The reasons are obvious. Gross inadequacies relating to infrastructure facilities, access to gas and electricity have, for the most part, been responsible for the continuation of the stagnating environment.
The government has plans to introduce more private EPZs in the country. In order that such moves do not falter, it is critically important that the existing private EPZ gets the opportunity to operate, on fulfillment of required procedural formalities and requirements. In the process, bureaucracy must not be an impeding factor, but a facilitating one.
Activating private EPZ
FE Team | Published: December 15, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2025 06:01:00
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