Economic zones for Japanese investors to be costlier

The cost of a project aimed at setting up two economic zones for Japanese investors is set to quadruple as the government will have to acquire more land for the scheme.

The project cost will now be Tk 3,195 crore, up from Tk 762 crore originally.

A planning ministry official said the revised project may soon be presented at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for approval.

According to a planning ministry proposal, the government will acquire the land at Araihazar in Narayanganj and Mirsharai in Chittagong.

The Ecnec approved the project in March 2017 with a plan to acquire 491 acres of land in Araihazar and 500 acres of land in Mirsharai.

Now, the government is going to acquire additional 500 acres of land for the economic zone in Araihazar to meet the requirements of the Japanese developer.

An extra Tk 2,377 crore will be needed to acquire the additional land. This includes Tk 1,771 crore in land value and Tk 482 crore in compensation for the affected land-owners. The compensation was not incorporated in the initial project cost. 

The project was scheduled to complete by December 2018. Now, the new deadline will be June 2019.