Fate of garment industrial park uncertain
Chinese developer has abandoned the job unfinished
Uncertainty lurks around the construction of the proposed garment industrial park at Bausia in Munshiganj as the Chinese developer company has abandoned the job unfinished.
“We are not certain yet about when we will be able to shift our factories there,” said Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. “Moreover, the cost of setting up factories in Bausia is too high.”
BGMEA and Oriental International Holding Ltd of China signed an agreement in 2014 to develop the industrial park on 530 acres of land at a cost of $2.3 billion.
The Bausia project, a joint venture of BGMEA and Oriental, was supposed to house more than 200 factories that would export goods worth $3 billion-$5 billion a year and employ nearly 300,000 workers.
“The Chinese company has left the project over land acquisition problems,” Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, senior secretary to the commerce ministry, told The Daily Star.
“We are hopeful that a new company will start developing the project soon, so that the garment makers can shift their units there.” He did not mention the name of the new developer.
The government cancelled the land acquisition process for the proposed industrial park as the Chinese investors failed to compensate the affected land owners within the stipulated time.
The industrial park, which was supposed to be completed within three years of signing the agreement, will have utility services, a central effluent treatment plant, daycare centres, waste-dumping yards, banks and insurance offices.