Negligible activity after millions spent for BSCIC's Gopalganj estate

GOPALGANJ, Dec 23: Despite over millions of Taka spent so far for the BSCIC industrial estate in Gopalganj, currently there are negligible industrial activities with only 45 out of 138 plots allocated and operations ongoing only on six of them.
In FY14, Bangladesh Small & Cottage Industries (BSCIC) acquired 50 acres of land in Horidaspur near the Dhaka-Khulna Highway in Gopalganj Sadar Upazila to operate the industrial estate.
As of yet, Tk 1,208.3 million was spent on the estate for land purchase; soil felling; ensuring power supply and water supply; construction of internal road, boundary walls, main gate, etc, according to BSCIC sources.
Currently, boundary walls are one of the most prominent features of the estate, followed by
some trees and factories are almost absent.
Operations at the estate started in January 2020.
Some investors said the absence of BSCIC's own bank has contributed to businessmen losing interest in building the estate.
Md. Farid Ahmed, owner of Star Spice Powder at the estate, said he had not received any economic support from the authorities at BSCIC for his spice factory and his product is yet to get an approval by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution. He added that he has been earning a meagre profit for his product which is "very much worthless."
BSCIC, Gopalganj,
Assistant General Manager A.K.M. Kamrujjaman said operations at the industrial estate were delayed due to the regime change, political context of the district, countrywide economic recession and loan repayment issues.
He added that he thinks it will take "some time" for the estate "to operate".
Horidaspur Union Parishad Chairman Md Elias Hossain said in the current situation, it is very important to create entrepreneurs and encourage them so that operations start at the industrial estate in full swing.

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