STP to be set up at Janata Tower

The new ICT minister said that he would take move to put an end to the legal dispute over Janata Tower by launching the country's first Software Technology Park (STP) at the building.

State Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak said he would take measures to resolve the issue considering the court order by establishing the STP at the Janata Tower.

The minister visited the proposed park at the Tower Tuesday and expressed his opinion about the development of the software park. He thinks the park will play an important role in promoting the ICT sector and boost export earnings from the sector.   

At present, the country has no unique software park which is required for attracting the foreign companies to import ICT products from the country as well as giving incentives to the local firms, according to the industry insiders.   

As per the BASIS (Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services) statistics, the software products export of the country totalled US$ 101.7 million in fiscal year (FY) 2012-13 while it was $ 70.8 million in the previous FY.

According to a provision of Bangladesh high-tech park authority law 2010, the government declared the Janata Tower a software technology park for expansion of the country's high-tech industry. Later in 2012, the Tower was handed over to the software and information-based trade body -- BASIS.

Software companies, except three firms, are not getting opportunity of setting up their offices due to legal dispute. The minister Tuesday ordered the authorities concerned to give office space at the tower for the ICT journalists' association.

The 11-storey structure, situated at Karwan Bazar, had been abandoned for a decade because of legal disputes and controversies centring the building.

The government acquired Janata Tower in 2000 after the High Court convicted former president HM Ershad and his wife Raushan Ershad in a corruption case relating to purchase of the land on which they constructed the building.