The three-day Bangladesh Light Engineering Expo 2026, only the second of its kind, has brought to the fore the sombre fact of the gap between the country's capacity development in this sector and the potential it holds. Even the second such exposition corroborates this unmistakeable fact. But here is an engineering sector that boasts 50,000 units employing 300,000, contributing 3.0 per cent to the GDP. According to another source, the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) stands at 80,000 with a domestic market of over $8.2 billion. The sector also earns foreign exchange to the tune of $795 million and the projected earnings from export are likely to reach $12.56 billion by 2030.
What is particularly remarkable is the sector's growth without much of a backing by the government policy. Policymakers and political leaderships cry hoarse about diversifying the export basket and they often eulogise the light engineering industry for its potential to be the next frontier of foreign exchange earner after RMG, leather industry and pharmaceuticals. The kind of patronage RMG receives is beyond the reach of any other industry, let alone the light engineering industry. Few small industries can obtain government loans because of collateral.
There is no denying the fact that this country has no dearth of the kind of inventive minds this particular sector demands. Dholai Khal and Jinjira Bazar show how they can produce and supply the exact prototypes of car parts and other consumer goods on a mass scale. If only their talent and skills were used for designing and manufacturing machinery and equipment suitable for local conditions! Some of the contraptions fashioned by a few of the self-made technicians often make screaming headlines. However, words of encouragement by representatives of the administration are eloquent only to prove hollow soon.
A tradition and culture develop only if the techies' inventions are recognised for further improvement and mass usage. After all, light engineering industry is considered the 'mother industry' that supports sectors like agriculture, automobiles and manufacturing. By producing diverse machinery, components and consumer goods it actually provides pace to development. With its products, manufacturing, assembling and repairing turn into a tradition and culture so integral to industrialisation and self-reliance along with developing a capacity for export in all such sectors.
Bangladesh's landscape and ecosystem with its enormous demographic size is suitable for light engineering. Large-scale manufacturing is often capital-intensive and is noted for high energy consumption. On both considerations of large investment and requirement for enormous amount of energy on top of the spacious land areas required, Bangladesh is not an ideal place for developing many heavy industries. Small and light engineering industry can absorb unemployed youths at a rate consistent with the yearly emergence of job-seekers provided that they receive proper education in information, communication and technical subjects along with skill training.
This is exactly how the education system in this country must opt for technical orientation for the majority of students instead of turning them unemployed general graduates. Only the highly talented students should be allowed to pursue higher education. Light engineering industry with its domestic demand and export potential can change the production base in such a way that will ultimately help reduce the yawning social divide and disparities in wealth distribution.
If government policy is favourable for developing the light engineering industry after the model of Chinese industrial village, it will be easier to realise the huge potential of not only this sector but also of other allied sectors. The agriculture sector has started using power tillers, tractors, rice transplanters, seeders, sprayers, combine harvesters and other machines and tools but they are highly expensive. Some of these machines and tools are simple and local SMEs can be encouraged to manufacture parts in different units for an assembling plant to be set up either in the public sector or in public-private collaboration.
Similarly, some of the light engineering units may manufacture spare parts for the RMG and other industries in order to enlarge and diversify the production base. In this connection the possibility of producing jute poly bag known as 'Sonali bag' invented by Dr Mubarak Ahmad Khan on a mass scale in medium or large units in collaboration with small units can be explored. The smaller units can produce cellulose from jute fibre and play the role of suppliers of raw and processed materials.
Production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) may need industrial park as has been set aside in Gazaria, Munshiganj but no such exclusive location for a cluster of units is needed in case of manufacturing tools, equipment and consumer goods. Such manufacturing enterprises can be developed in rural areas consisting of several villages in a group. Thus the manufacturing base can be decentralised in order to distribute productive activities all across the country. There lies the beauty of distributing social and economic justice to the doorsteps of ordinary citizens and lessening disparities. Experience shows that the country's handicrafts, handloom and many other indigenous production bases including that of brass metal and muslin once flourished following this principle.
Happily, the country has recently got a much needed legal instrument called the Light Engineering Industry Development Policy. Much will depend on how it gets implemented at the field level as it is time-bound. The objective ought to be improvement in quality of products within as short a time as possible if the industry has to compete with rivals on international market. Then will the export diversification be possible.
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com