The government moves to develop 20 more economic zones (EZs) and an exclusive tourist rendezvous on the Teknaf beach of the Bay of Bengal, officials said.
They, however, said fresh plans on special economic zones are made, despite poor execution of the existing zones.
Twenty sites, initially approved by the site-selection committee, will be finalised in a meeting of the Governing Board (GB) of Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) under Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on February 18.
The approval for five more EZs are expected may come sooner, BEZA executive chairman Paban Chowdhury told the FE.
"A good number of proposed EZs are relentlessly being implemented in the country. The government is getting significant responses from domestic and foreign investors to EZ-development plans," he said.
The government must set up all the zones to attract both foreign and domestic investments, he said on a note of confidence.
He said an application has been submitted by a Japanese entrepreneur while local Monem Group and AK Khan and Company have also expressed interest in establishing the EZs.
Under a major venture of such zoning, the government will set up an exclusive tourism zone in Teknaf along the world's longest unbroken beach on the Bay of Bengal.
He expressed the hope that a visible progress would happen in establishing Chinese and Japanese special economic Zones (SEZs) in the next couple of months.
Earlier, some 21 areas for establishment of EZ have been selected initially by the selection committee of the BEZA and 3 will be established with the participation of private sector, the Authority data showed.
The initially proposed 21 EZs are: Ashuganj, Brahmanbaria, Nilphamari, Manikganj, Noakhali (subarnochar), Comilla (Mainamati), Mymensingh (Fulbaria), Jamalpur (Sadar), Kushtia (Bheramara), Barisal (Agailjhara,) Patuakhali (Sadar), Bhola Sadar, Gazipur (Sreepur), Narayanganj (Bandor), Debiganj-Panchagarh), Anwara-2, Dhaka IT special economic zone (SEZ), Sabrang tourism SEZ Teknaf, Narsingdi Sadar.
Besides, the other private EZs will be developed by AK Khan and Company Ltd and Abdul Monem group.
The 21 EZs will be developed on 8680.54 acres of land across the country, according to the data.
The BEZA authorities could not give any information as to how many jobs and how much investment will be created on the 20 sites if the proposed new EZs are established.
Earlier, five sites have been selected to establish EZs by the GB of the highest body of the BEZA, which are being implemented.
The sites are Mirsarai in Chittagong, Gohira in Anwara of Chittagong, Sirajganj, Sherpur in Moulvibazar and Mongla seaport area in Bagerhat. The land areas of the zones are 9951.07 acres.
The overall activities of the BEZA are going at a slow pace and, especially, the rate of implementation of its different projects is poor for lack of adequate funds.
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