Draft economic zone policy awaits final review by CAO

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FE Report
The Board of Investment (BoI) will submit the draft economic zone policy to the Chief Adviser's Office (CAO) by the end of March for its review, officials said.
Once reviewed, the Bangladesh Economic Zone Policy will be issued through a gazette notification to regulate the country's future economic zones (EZs), they said.
'The policy may revolutionise the way the country's traditional industrial parks are being managed,' a senior BoI official said.
'Now the draft is at the final stage. It will be submitted to the CAO by month-end for its final review. We hope to adopt the policy next month,' the official added.
Initially, the government has decided to develop five economic zones and a number of donor agencies agreed to finance the zones to boost employment generation.
The policy, drafted by the Infrastructure Investment Facilitation Centre (IIFC), a state-owned consultancy service provider, has suggested 'soft reforms' for industrial parks, managed by the BEPZA and the BSCIC.
The policy statement provides a direction to the interim administration to determine the future status of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) and Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).
In cases of BEPZA and BSCIC, the policy has said the government-owned agencies will be given choice-either they can opt for the economic zone model or stick to their current status.
Currently, the BEPZA is charged with regulating eight publicly-financed EPZs across the country while a special wing at the Chief Adviser's Office oversees the Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ), a private industrial park. The KEPZ is owned by the Young One Corporation, a South Korean apparel group.
Similarly, the state-run BSCIC is managing its scores of small-scale industrial estates located in many parts of the country.
According to official figures, EPZs brought in nearly $1.1 billion in investment between 1983 and 2005, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of annual exports, and 25 per cent of the country's total foreign direct investment.
On the other hand, the role of BSCIC industrial estates is even 'more limited,' with their main achievement being generation of employment for 96,000 workers.
The draft policy has also said the government should establish an Economic Zone Development Company (EZDC) for developing such zones.
Unlike the export processing zones (EPZs), industrial units in economic zones will be allowed to sell their products to the local market in a move to revamp the domestic economy.
The policy has also suggested creation of Bangladesh Economic Zone Regulatory Commission (BEZRC), to be modeled after the existing commissions, with a view to overseeing the economic zones.
The draft can be dubbed 'light-handed', persons involved in preparing the policy noted, given its flexibility of exploring different options in setting up EZs.
'The government can acquire land and develop zones and hand over those to investors. It will not give the responsibility of zone development to any unsolicited investor or company, but trade bodies and industry groups' bodies can be allowed to do the job,' said one IIFC expert, referring to the draft.