An acute shortage of energy -- particularly natural gas -- remains the single-biggest obstacle to investment in Bangladesh, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun said on Thursday.
"The major issue is energy. There is no scope for doubt about it. Even from the government's perspective, we know very well that the specific fuel in focus is gas," he said.
"After that, you can raise the issue of electricity."
The BIDA chief made the remarks while responding to a question on the key challenges facing investors in the country at a journalists' workshop titled "Bangladesh's Investment Flows and Investment Facilitation", organised by BIDA at its headquarters in the capital's Agargaon, where he was the chief guest.
"If the energy constraint remains, no matter how many investment summits we hold, investors will not come," he said.
However, he noted that the list of challenges facing investors is not very long and that BIDA is working closely with relevant stakeholders to address them.
The workshop was presided over by BIDA Executive Member Humayun Kabir.
Bangladesh Bank Additional Director Nurjahan Akhter, BIDA Executive Member and Head of Business Development Nahian Rahman Rochi, and other officials delivered presentations.
Among those present were Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) Executive Member (Planning and Development) Maj Gen (retd) Md Nazrul Islam and senior officials from various investment promotion agencies.
Referring to the prime minister's upcoming visit to China, the BIDA chief said preparations were underway for several groundbreaking initiatives aimed at accelerating foreign direct investment (FDI), alongside facilitating high-level bilateral meetings between the prime minister and leading Chinese companies.
Rather than pursuing scattered industrial expansion, the government is focusing its infrastructure efforts on 10 specialised economic zones, he said.
Mr Chowdhury also addressed long-standing concerns regarding the One-Stop Service (OSS) platform.
Acknowledging that the system has yet to deliver its full potential because several government agencies still require offline documentation, he said BIDA would enforce a strict digitisation drive.
As part of the initiative, the authority plans to introduce Application Programming Interface (API) integration across relevant ministries and agencies to eliminate manual paperwork. A dedicated budget has already been allocated for the project.
In a presentation titled "BIDA's Role as an Investment Promotion Agency: Investment Facilitation, Coordination and Future Priorities", Mr Rochi highlighted the investor lifecycle and the importance of supporting investors at every stage.
"The volume of FDI attracted from abroad is widely discussed, but the investment journey consists of many phases," he said.
According to him, the process begins with research and exploration, followed by consultation and opportunity assessment, feasibility studies, approvals and market entry, and finally expansion and reinvestment.
To reduce investor dropouts during the feasibility stage, BIDA is prioritising stronger inter-agency coordination, he said, adding that key initiatives include joint investor consultations and bi-monthly problem-solving forums involving the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Bangladesh Bank.
He also said BIDA has set a target of securing US$1.5 billion in new FDI proposals this year.
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