Land scarcity in BD forcing foreign investors to move to other countries
Saturday, 15 December 2012
Shafiqul Islam Jibon
In a recent trip to Bangladesh a number of Japanese investors had sought some lands near the Kanchpur Bridge in Dhaka for fresh investments in the country, sources said.
They said as the government officials could not assure them of allocating such lands, they went back home. Now they are going to Myanmar for this purpose, the sources added.
Since last year a lot of foreign investors from other countries have also visited Bangladesh with their immense proposals. Sahara Group, Godrej Group or Tata Group could be the virtual examples who came with their investment plans in potential sectors of the country.
But those business tycoons possibly could not move further as they failed to manage lands in their designated areas, the sources said.
"The SRF, another business giant of India, had proposed to invest at least Tk 5.0 billion just six months ago. But very recently they have moved to Thailand as they could not find lands to set up business in Bangladesh," Abdul Matlub Ahmad, Chairman of the Nitol-Niloy Group told the FE Friday. However, the land scarcity has emerged as the prime concern in relation to attracting FDI (foreign direct investment) in Bangladesh. When the government has taken the investment issues on its prime agenda to boost up country's economy and create more jobs, then the land scarcity has come up as the most critical barrier to attracting FDI in the country, the sources said.
BoI (Board of Investment), the principal authority to accelerate private and foreign investments, and officials of the other departments concerned have met a good number of foreign investors in last few months.
But most of foreign investors had asked to allocate suitable lands beside of the highways connected with Dhaka, Chittagong and other metropolitan cities of the country.
"In fact, we could not ensure the foreign investors of allocating such lands for their business," a top official of the BoI admitted.
"And now it is a big challenge for BoI to boost FDI in Bangladesh," he added.
In recent months Bangladesh received a good number of FDI proposals from various multinational companies. But some new investors went back disappointedly or moved to other countries as they could not find suitable lands at their desired locations.
Therefore, a vast gap has emerged between the actual and proposed investments in Bangladesh. "If Bangladesh becomes able to receive at least 50 per cent of the proposed FDI, then we can say happily that the country has received a good amount of foreign investments," the BoI official noted.
"But we actually receive only 15 to 25 per cent net FDI against the proposed investments," he added.
The latest data shows that the BoI has received FDI proposals worth more than US$ 1.78 billion in November last, which is the highest ever in a single month exposure of its history. But the BoI official could not predict how much the actual FDI will be finally.
Most of foreign investors are now cancelling or withdrawing their proposals as they cannot manage suitable lands in this country.
Abdul Matlub Ahmad said: "We are getting actually less investment than proposed due to a heavy scarcity of lands."
"The land scarcity is the number one problem in Bangladesh followed by electricity and gas problems. So the government should immediately focus on solving the problem of lands on a priority basis to attract FDI," Matlub Ahmad said.
In a recent trip to Bangladesh a number of Japanese investors had sought some lands near the Kanchpur Bridge in Dhaka for fresh investments in the country, sources said.
They said as the government officials could not assure them of allocating such lands, they went back home. Now they are going to Myanmar for this purpose, the sources added.
Since last year a lot of foreign investors from other countries have also visited Bangladesh with their immense proposals. Sahara Group, Godrej Group or Tata Group could be the virtual examples who came with their investment plans in potential sectors of the country.
But those business tycoons possibly could not move further as they failed to manage lands in their designated areas, the sources said.
"The SRF, another business giant of India, had proposed to invest at least Tk 5.0 billion just six months ago. But very recently they have moved to Thailand as they could not find lands to set up business in Bangladesh," Abdul Matlub Ahmad, Chairman of the Nitol-Niloy Group told the FE Friday. However, the land scarcity has emerged as the prime concern in relation to attracting FDI (foreign direct investment) in Bangladesh. When the government has taken the investment issues on its prime agenda to boost up country's economy and create more jobs, then the land scarcity has come up as the most critical barrier to attracting FDI in the country, the sources said.
BoI (Board of Investment), the principal authority to accelerate private and foreign investments, and officials of the other departments concerned have met a good number of foreign investors in last few months.
But most of foreign investors had asked to allocate suitable lands beside of the highways connected with Dhaka, Chittagong and other metropolitan cities of the country.
"In fact, we could not ensure the foreign investors of allocating such lands for their business," a top official of the BoI admitted.
"And now it is a big challenge for BoI to boost FDI in Bangladesh," he added.
In recent months Bangladesh received a good number of FDI proposals from various multinational companies. But some new investors went back disappointedly or moved to other countries as they could not find suitable lands at their desired locations.
Therefore, a vast gap has emerged between the actual and proposed investments in Bangladesh. "If Bangladesh becomes able to receive at least 50 per cent of the proposed FDI, then we can say happily that the country has received a good amount of foreign investments," the BoI official noted.
"But we actually receive only 15 to 25 per cent net FDI against the proposed investments," he added.
The latest data shows that the BoI has received FDI proposals worth more than US$ 1.78 billion in November last, which is the highest ever in a single month exposure of its history. But the BoI official could not predict how much the actual FDI will be finally.
Most of foreign investors are now cancelling or withdrawing their proposals as they cannot manage suitable lands in this country.
Abdul Matlub Ahmad said: "We are getting actually less investment than proposed due to a heavy scarcity of lands."
"The land scarcity is the number one problem in Bangladesh followed by electricity and gas problems. So the government should immediately focus on solving the problem of lands on a priority basis to attract FDI," Matlub Ahmad said.