452 enterprises from 38 countries currently operating in 8 EPZs: Bepza

Currently there are 452 enterprises from 38 countries operating in eight export processing zones (EPZs) of the country, said Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza) Executive Chairman Major General Abul Kalam Mohammad Ziaur Rahman on Monday.

"We started with a single export processing zone in 1980 and now we have eight EPZs while another three are coming up," he said during a seminar on 'Investing in Economic Zones Progress and Priority Opportunities in Bangladesh' at the Bangladesh Business Summit organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) in the capital's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

He also said, "The total land area of these 8 EPZs is only 951 hectares. But from these 951 hectares of land we are contributing to, on average, 17-18% of Bangladesh's total export."

The Bepza executive chairman also informed that, in the last financial year, EPZ enterprises exported a record amount of $8.66 billion while total investment was $6.2 billion and total direct employment was about half a million people.

"This is a great success for Bepza. And Bepza's success in attracting FDI has prompted the government to establish economic zones," he said.

"In fact, the idea of establishing economic zones was first conceived by Bepza with the aim of encouraging local and foreign investors to set up factories that would provide backward support facilities to the EPZ enterprises."

Ziaur Rahman also noted that the government, under the prudent leadership of the prime minister, could rightly assess the requirements of the growing domestic market and, accordingly, decided to go for establishing 100 economic zones under Beza, where an investor can invest either for export oriented industry or an industry targeting the domestic market.

Because of BEPZA's huge success in attracting FDI, the government also decided to have one economic zone at Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagari in Mirsharai that will be operated by Bepza, he said.

"The economic zone is being developed in 460 hectares of land, in which we plan to have 539 industrial plots, each having an area of 3600 sqm."

He further said, "We have already completed approximately 70% of the total development works and allocated plots to our potential investors. A total of 18 enterprises from home and abroad have already started constructing factory complexes."

Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) Executive Chairman Shaikh Yusuf Harun and past FBCCI president Qazi Akramuddin Ahmed were present at the event among others.

Beza Executive Chairman Shaikh Yusuf Harun said, "The government aims to establish 100 economic zones across the country by 2041 to achieve industrial self-sufficiency, decentralisation and 1 crore employment target."

Several economic zones have already been developed in which local and foreign companies have invested, he said.

"So far, 97 zones have been approved and 10 of them have been completed while another 29 are currently under implementation. Production in the completed zones has also started."