Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar: First factory opens next month
Bangladesh's largest industrial enclave, the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) in Mirsarai, Chattogram, is scheduled to witness the inauguration of its very first factory on June 10, likely through a virtual platform, by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Another five or six units will be inaugurated by December this year, including that of Asian Paints and SQ Electric, Paban Chowdhury, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza), told The Daily Star.
No development work was postponed for the pandemic and now it is just a matter of time for different investors to open their factories, he said.
According to Beza, the BSMSN drew investment proposals amounting to $20.8 billion till date -- $20 billion from locals and $823 million from foreigners.
Earlier, Jinyuan Chemical Industry was scheduled to be the first to be inaugurated but it faced a setback due to the Covid-19 fallout.
Taking its place is Nippon-McDonald, a joint venture of Japan's Nippon Steel and Bangladesh's McDonald Steel Building Products.
However, its commercial production of galvanised and prefabricated steel sheets would take up to September to begin. The machinery was brought from Japan and China, according to Sarwar Kamal, managing director of McDonald.
"Nippon-McDonald invested about Tk 100 crore in their joint venture factory to catch the growing market of steel plate along with economic growth and industrialisation in the country," he said.
According to him, Nippon Steel is highly compliant and renowned around the world and it sees a good future for the steel sector in Bangladesh.
This is what prompted the McDonald to go for the joint venture and make its maiden investment in the manufacturing sector, he said.
Kamal believes the steel sector will benefit from their initiative and help substitute imports.
Initially, the two companies have agreed to invest $59.19 million, or nearly Tk 500 crore, in phases to establish the plant.
The raw materials will come from China, Japan and other European countries and the finished product will be mainly used by the local pre-fabrication industry, including McDonald. The joint venture expects to make annual sales of $20 million in the local market and also plans to export to South Asian countries once it becomes fully operational.
Kamal said they have good a scope to export steel products to the northeastern states of India.
Industry insiders said the present annual demand for steel is around seven lakh tonnes with a growth rate of around 12 to 15 per cent.
McDonald Steel is also constructing its own factory at the BSMSN. It produces prefabricated structural steel with imports from Japan, Luxembourg, China and India.
The two factories will sit on about 25 acres of land out of 100 acres and employ about 2,500 people.