City Group yesterday received a pre-qualification licence from the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) to set up an economic zone on 108 acres of land in Munshiganj's Gazaria.

The licence is one of the two government approvals required for opening such a zone. The Hosendi Economic Zone can be expanded to 200 acres in the future, Beza sources said.

City Group is expecting to generate around 15,000 direct employments through the zone in the next five years. Industries expected to open plants in the zone include those of food and beverage and shipbuilding.

The government plans to set up 100 special economic zones to generate one crore jobs, earn over $40 billion in additional exports and attract $50 billion in foreign direct investment, all by 2030. Talking to The Daily Star, Paban Chowdhury, executive chairman of the Beza, said investment proposals of $17 billion had already been received from different countries.

He said the Beza already awarded prequalification licences for the establishment of 18 private economic zones. Till date, it has handed over final licences for seven private economic zones to go into operation.

Fazlur Rahman, chairman of City Group, was present at the presentation programme in the Beza headquarters in the capital.