Decision on large FDI proposals

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IT is a piece of welcome news that the government will take its decisions on various foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals.
The report carried Monday by the FE said the decisions on such proposals are likely to be finalised by next month.
FDI proposals involving very large amounts of investments have been lying pending with the Board of Investment (BoI). The concerned authorities have not been in a position to handle such proposals because of their long-term policy implications.
The caretaker government has so far thought it convenient to keep such proposals pending for the next elected government to take decisions on the same, taking the people's hopes and aspirations into account. Such pending FDI proposals include those of India's Tata group, Asia Energy, the US-based Vulcan Energy, South Korean Luxon Global and Saudi Arabian Kingdom Group.
No foreign investor would like to wait for an unlimited period, for the decision to come from the authorities concerned on their investment proposals. Most developing countries have opened up their economies and are trying to attract FDI through various kinds of policy supports.
In this situation, we should not expect the foreign investors to waste time for getting clearance of their investment proposals. If such proposals are not welcome, the authorities concerned should not have, first of all, accepted the same.
Moreover, when the present caretaker government is taking policy decisions on vital issues where it is also going for institutional changes and reforms, it does not stand to logic that it is not in a position to take decisions on FDI proposals, if the same do not go against the earlier announced industrial policy.

Mohammad Mohsin
Motijheel,
Dhaka.