Land scarcity puts a damper on investments
Shah Alam Nur | Monday, 11 August 2014
Land scarcity has emerged as a major barrier to local and foreign investments, officials and business leaders said.
"A large numbers of entrepreneurs including local and joint venture companies have been seeking land at prime locations to go for fresh investment but yet to find out lands", President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed told the FE.
He said "Now I am at Cox's Bazar with two Japanese entrepreneurs. They want to invest in the service sector, but aren't getting land".
Many local and foreign companies are coming to the Board of Investment (BoI) and show interest to invest in manufacturing and service sectors such as agriculture, food, textiles, chemicals, glass and ceramics and engineering, face hurdles in getting land in suitable locations.
A director of BoI said "If we had offered land, a large number of local and foreign investors including from India, France, Turkey, Malaysia, Taiwan, China and Korea would have invested in manufacturing and service sectors."
He said while the country has improved power supply, shortage of land has emerged as a big hurdle to investments.
The BoI data showed domestic investors submitted proposals for setting up 889 industrial units involving an investment of Tk 315 billion in the first six months of the year. Last year, the board registered 712 proposals involving Tk 225 billion.
Rupali Chowdhury, president of Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry Bangladesh (FICCI) said many overseas investors are coming up with fresh or reinvestment proposals in Bangladesh, but they get discouraged due to unavailability of land.
She said if foreign investors get land and other facilities such as power and energy, they will be encouraged to invest in a big way.
Jahangir Alamin, president of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), said the establishment of heavy industries is constrained by land scarcity.
He urged the government to hand over unutilised land of state-owned enterprises to the private sector.