Officials of Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA) Wednesday said that the country's EPZs attracted US$ 135 million foreign investments during the first seven months of the current fiscal year. Entrepreneurs, mainly from South-East Asian countries, made investments in different potential sectors such as textile, woven garment, knitwear garment and tent-making, they said. "Chinese and Korean investors are investing in the clothing sectors to cash in on low-paid workers in the country," a senior official at the Investment Promotion Department of the BEPZA told the FE. The Karnaphuli EPZ in Chittagong attracted the largest amount of investment during the period which was worth $ 30.61 million followed by Chittagong EPZ with $ 29.2 million. Investment at the Dhaka EPZ was worth $ 24.86 mil- lion during the period ending in January 2011, official statistics showed. Comilla got $ 22.03 million and Adamjee EPZ, $ 18.35 million. However Mongla and Ishwardi EPZs attracted the lowest amount of investments - $ 1.7 million and $ 2.60 million respectively - during the period. The official also said: "We've limited spaces in the EPZs. For this, we cannot give new plots in the most sought-for Chittagong and Karnaphuli EPZs." He said: "We are now encouraging the investors to set up their factories at Uttara, Mongla and Ishwardi EPZs." The leading investors are HKD, a Korean tent manufacturer, M/s Universal Hats and Bags Ltd, a Chinese company, Gee Bee, an Indian garment company and Nantong Tong Feng, a Chinese company. There were investments worth $ 222 million in the country's eight EPZs last year, marking a 50 per cent growth over the level in the previous year. The total investments in the EPZs stood at $ 1,935.86 million since 1983-84. The EPZs employed 19,635 persons during the seven months of the current fiscal, providing employments to a total of 282,392 persons. The factories belonging to the EPZs exported goods worth nearly $ 2.0 billion during the period.
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