The ministry of industries has formed a committee to prepare proposals for establishing industrial parks on 400 acres of land of sick or idle state-owned enterprises after the prime minister's directive, officials said.
An additional secretary of the industries ministry is heading the 10-member body with representatives from the industries, finance, public works and housing ministries. Other members were picked from Privatization Commission and Board of Investment.
The officials said the Prime Minister's Office has asked the ministry to craft concrete proposals to help turn the unused land of seven SoEs into industrial parks in the light of a plan of the Privatization Commission (PC).
Turning the excess land of SoEs into industrial parks and allotting it to investors may be the right decision given the land scarcity that has virtually halted the pace of industrial development in the country, according to the Commission plan.
The PC said developing plots and selling them to investors could be the optimal way of utilising unused land of state-run enterprises.
Commission member Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told the FE that the Prime Minister liked the Commission's idea and asked the ministry to constitute the committee.
Officials said seven SoEs have at least 400 acres of land with readily available infrastructure facilities. The land may be converted into industrial parks to allocate to foreign and local investors who are facing setback in setting up new industries.
Mr Bhuiyan said the Prime Minister is placing importance on finding out land for allocation to new industries.
Industries ministry officials said that the committee has already started working and is scheduled to meet soon.
"We've a time line and we're aware of it," the convener of the committee told the FE.
Seven SoEs belong to two ministries-the Ministry of Industries and the Ministry of Jute and Textiles. Of them, only R.R Textile Mills belongs to the Textile Ministry while the remaining six belong to the Industries Ministry attached to Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC).
The other enterprises are Chittagong Chemical Complex, Khulna Newsprint Mills, Khulna Hardboard Mills, Dhaka Leather Company, Bangladesh Insulator and Sanitary ware Ltd at Mirpur and North Bengal paper Mills Ltd.
