Mirsarai Economic Zone to become country’s industrial capital

The Mirsarai Economic Zone (MEZ) will be the industrial capital of Bangladesh and play a pivotal role in fulfilling the country’s investment prospects by establishing ‘One-Stop Services’ for various business enterprises to attract local and foreign investors, said the top executive of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA).

 

“Development work worth Tk. 2,600 crore, such as the development of a 50-km-long four-lane road inside the zone, nine gates, the 40-km Dhaka-Chittagong highway and an 18-km-long mountain road, is going on inside and near the MEZ,” BEZA executive chairman (secretary) Paban Chowdhury told The Independent.

In response to a question, he said, “Foreign and local investors have already proposed investing around USD 10 billion in various sectors like shipbuilding, food processing, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), steel, cycle and power plants.”

The MEZ is the first economic zone in the country that will incorporate a residential area, a power plant, a hospital, a

park, seaport, a school and a university.

Talking to The Independent, Paban Chowdhury said, “The size of the MEZ is 30,000 acres. We have already acquired 16,000 acres of land to develop the country’s biggest industrial park.”

Chowdhury said 10 world-class five-star hotels would be built inside the MEZ to facilitate the stay of foreign and local investors.

About employment generation from the MEZ, he replied that the MEZ is expected to create approximate 30 lakh jobs over the next 10 years. It would have the capacity to export goods worth USD 2 billion, he added.    

However, manufacturing industries, especially those that are labour intensive, are required to boost employment generation and the economy as well, he said.

He also said the zone, to be developed in some 30 phases, is along the strategic location of the Dhaka–Chittagong industrial corridor in Chittagong district.

According to BEZA officials, the World Bank (WB) has provided financial assistance worth some Tk. 600 crore to develop the two phases, adding that Mirsarai EZ is the first multi-sector EZ situated in the most suitable of the large sites of Bangladesh for setting up industrial establishments.

The BEZA chief said: “In Mirsarai, as well as in Chittagong division, business costs and the cost of living are significantly lower than those in other competing cities of the world.”

BEZA officials said Zhejiang-Jindun, a Chinese company, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a 1,320-MW coal-based power plant near the zone.     

Chowdhury disclosed that Rural Power Company Limited (RPCL) Power Gen is establishing a 150-megawatt (MW) power plant, the capacity of which would be increased to 1,000 MW in future. “Summit Power has also evinced keen interest in setting up a 300-MW power plant in the zone,” he added.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan told The Independent that ‘One -Stop Services’, as designed by the BEZA, could become the starting point to implement the MEZ. This includes the timely connection of utility services and other facilities to monitor the utilisation of land allocation. He gave an example of policy predictability, arguing that electricity prices should be hiked gradually each year by 5 per cent instead of being extended suddenly. This would benefit foreign and local investors as well, he added.

The BEZA has been working to set up 100 economic zones by 2030, which would create jobs for one crore people and produce goods and services worth USD 40 billion. It has identified 74 locations across the country for setting up economic zones.

Among 100 economic zones, places for 79 economic zone have been selected. “It is not a dream anymore to develop 100 economic zones,” said Chowdhury.