Plan to erect IT parks in six closed state firms

Rezaul Karim | Published: August 18, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The government plans to build industrial parks on the sites of half a dozen state-owned enterprises, officials said.
They said industrial or IT parks will be established under private initiative if the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) fails to reopen the closed mills and factories.
The authorities are trying to resume the operation of the closed state-owned entities in light of the government's decision, a senior official of the Ministry of Industries (MoI) said.
Earlier, the prime minister had directed the authorities to start the process of reopening the closed firms instead of privatisation, he added.
A meeting held last year decided to reopen the seven entities within six months.
But the Ministry of Textiles and Jute (MoTJ) and the BCIC failed to make any visible progress in reopening the closed state-owned agencies as per the set deadline, only the Chittagong Chemical Complex Ltd (CCCL) could do it. Â
Khulna Newsprint Mills, Khulna Hardboard Mills, Dhaka Leather Company, Bangladesh Insulator and Sanitary Ware Factory Ltd, North Bengal Paper Mills Ltd, CCCL under BCIC and RR Textile Mills Ltd under MoTJ have remained closed for long.
A project involving Tk 1.5 billion was taken to reopen CCCL. Over 52 per cent of the project has been completed until April, according to sources in the Privatisation Commission.
Ministry officials expressed the hope that CCCL would resume operation sometime next year.
The MoI will sit this week to discuss necessary strategies for carrying out the government order. Secretary of the MoI Md. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan will preside over the meeting. "In the next meeting, we will review all the decisions taken earlier," Mr Bhuiyan told the FE Monday.
He said, "We are trying our best to implement the government's directives on the resumption of some closed state-owned enterprises. In the meeting, we will take necessary steps or decisions in this regard."
The land owned by the entities will be handed over to private entrepreneurs on condition that they would establish industrial and IT parks there, a senior industries ministry official said.
Housing projects will be taken up if the government doesn't get positive response from entrepreneurs, he noted.
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