Car manufacturing in Bangladesh: finding your way through the next biggest industry after apparel

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Bangladesh will soon start manufacturing cars, that too electric ones, according to a news report published in The Daily Star with the headline "Local firm to create a $200m plant to create electric vehicle" in July last year.

Presently the country has 12 million persons of the medium-income making affluent bracket and this segment of the populace is growing extremely fast -- by 10 % a year.

Meanwhile importing automobiles requires paying import duties which range from 130 % to 850 %. This inevitably results in a few consumers not getting their desired vehicles of their affordability.

Automobile density, which is the quantity of vehicles per unit length of the roadway, in Bangladesh is really as low as 0.5 %, when the global average is 12 %.

Moreover, heavy reliance of fossil fuels and the resulting carbon emissions will work against the country's fight to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Bangladesh's initiative to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) is what present times require and will broaden the economy. The large Chinese and Indian markets with duty-free access for Bangladeshi products will be an extra advantage soon, after the sector thrives like this of apparel. The manufacture and export of cars are going to unveil a fresh horizon for Bangladesh.

There is no replacement for industrialisation for accelerating sustainable development however, not at the price tag on losing farmland and food sufficiency.

The government has also declared that they might create all sorts of infrastructure at designated places for the establishment of industries that could be availed by local and foreign investors.

The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) has been selecting spots in different districts all over the country for special monetary zones.

Bangabandhu Industrial Park can be an commercial town being built on 30,000 acres of land by the river Feni. This commercial city is being create on the west side of Mirsarai. This commercial park is likely to generate 1.5 million jobs.

The BEZA executive chairman laid the building blocks stone of Bangladesh Auto Industries (BAIL) in the zone a couple of months back.

The EVs are thought to reduce fuel cost by up to 90 % and decrease maintenance cost to 10 % only.

With zero emissions its carbon footprint is even lower. While electric vehicles made in Bangladesh are expected to cost half that of current market prices, BAIL will ensure after-sales service and spare parts. This guarantees resale of their vehicles, a significant factor for the Bangladeshi market which gives a lot of emphasis on resale value.

Mir Masud Kabir, managing director of the BAIL, explained the opportunities of manufacturing environment-friendly automobiles in Bangladesh by leveraging on the fast-growing market and supportive government policies and incentives.

Within the next 25 years, 1.5 billion new generation smart vehicles will be created on the globe. The smart vehicles' market size is $30 trillion.

As the BAIL is getting ready to manufacture two, three and four wheeler EVs, its sister concerns are gearing up to manufacture lithium-ion batteries, motors, controllers and chargers. They are crucial components of EVs. Thus, it is a 360-degree EV manufacturing ecosystem in development.

The question has arisen as to the reasons the BAIL has taken up this ambitious plan when this country lacks efficiency in many sectors. The answer is based on the initiators of the BAIL having transformed the internet sector earlier and today seeing the auto sector as another frontier with a whole lot of promise and a success story for Bangladesh after apparel.

Just how will this industrial city will be obtaining a way to obtain 1.5 million skilled persons when these industries will be technology-based? The formation of National Skills Development Authority (NSDA) is a possible answer.

However, the NSDA should prepare plans not merely for the human resource just entering the work market but also those going to make a switch over apprehensions their existing sector might come to be abandoned eventually.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net

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