Bangladesh is going to form a US$ 1.7 billion public investment fund for creating a 1.2 million-strong pool of manpower by imparting them technical education to cater to the growing demand in the local industrial sector and the overseas job markets, officials said Saturday.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) officials said they had tied up with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and some other development partners to form the $ 1.07 billion government-donor fund shortly.
"We are going to sit for negotiation in late March with the ADB for forming the fund. It will be the largest fund supplier," said a joint secretary of the ERD.
The proposed $ 1.07 billion fund for the "Skills for Employment Investment Programme" will be utilised in seven years to create the pool of specialised manpower for the country's growing garment, textile, leather, light engineering, IT, ceramics, software and construction sectors, he told the FE.
Besides, he said, the government would also impart skill development training to people to groom them for the overseas job market, from where Bangladesh earns more than $ 16 billion a year.
Bangladesh has tremendous potentiality of development in the local industrial arena apart from exporting semi-skilled and skilled manpower to different countries in Middle East, Europe and America and even to developing countries in Asia.
The government kept it in mind before forming the largest ever fund for the programme, sources said.
The country's garment sector and other industries were growing rapidly in the last one decade, which would require thousands of hands every year.
The ERD official said the Manila-based ADB was expected to extend the largest share of $ 350 million for the billion dollar programme while the government would provide $ 200 million, the Switzerland government $30 million and the rest of the fund would come from some other development partners.
"We are contacting some other development partners for joining the multi-donor fund. We are hopeful that some Middle East and European donors will take part in forming the fund," he said.
Another official at the ERD said the fund would be utilised by both the private and public sectors.
The donors would provide their respective portions of the fund to the ministry of finance (MoF) while the ministry would hand over those to some government agencies and private sector trade bodies and associations for creating the manpower by imparting technical education, he added.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Association of Construction Industries, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, Bangladesh Association of Call Centre and Outsourcing, Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners Association and Bangladesh Ceramic ware Manufacturers Association will get the funds from the MoF for creating the required manpower through their training institutes.
In addition, the state-run Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Centre (BITAC) and the Directorate of Technical Education will also get some funds.
On the other hand, the Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) would get a portion of the fund for training manpower in the rural areas.
The ERD official said as per terms and conditions for receiving the funds the private sector trade bodies would train the manpower and must employ at lest 70 per cent of them.
However, the donors will disburse their respective portions of the fund in different phases during the proposed seven-year period up to 2017.
Govt to form $1.7b fund to train manpower
FHM Humayan Kabir | Published: March 09, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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