The government has taken an initiative to formulate policy to promote and develop engineering industries, create jobs and expand the country's industrial base.

The Business Promotion Council, an agency under the commerce ministry, and the Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners Association (BEIOA), have jointly prepared a draft policy.

The policy—presented at a meeting of the stakeholders of the commerce ministry in Dhaka on Sunday—will be submitted to the industries ministry after the addition of the recommendations.

The draft policy targets increasing the contribution of industries to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to 40 per cent by 2025 by developing light engineering industries.

It focuses on strengthening the sector by improving infrastructure, enhancing technology and skills, and diversifying products to face the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution.

The focus will also be given on the development of vendors of potential sectors such as motorcycle, bicycle, automobile, and heavy machinery, the draft policy said.

"It is good news for us. It is a timely initiative," said BEIOA President Abdur Razzak.

"The sector will flourish if the policy is implemented through disciplined compliance. We hope it would be good for the sector."

There is no policy for the light engineering sector in Bangladesh, although it plays a vital role in the economy.

Some 50,000 light engineering industries are operating in the country, making $8.2 billion worth of products every year.

Businesses operating in foundry, manufacturing, repair and maintenance sub-sectors produce 10,000 types of light engineering products, according to a paper of the BEIOA.

 "It would be a great help for the sector if a new policy is developed because every policy helps the government understand what needs to be done for the development of any specific sector," said Enayet Hossain Chowdhury, a director of the Bangladesh Electrical Merchandise Manufacturers' Association.

Light engineering is one of the important sub-sectors of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which create jobs and help the economy post higher growth.

"Local light engineering products have huge demand at home and abroad. It is possible to export the goods after meeting the domestic demand," Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said at the meeting of the stakeholders.

"The government has taken special initiatives to make the sector export-oriented, and the policy is being formulated considering the changes that are taking place because of the fourth industrial revolution."

There are ample employment opportunities in the light engineering sector. And the export market will expand with the production of new and diversified products, he said.

Despite being a potential sector, the light engineering industry could not flourish because of some bottlenecks, said Kazi Iqbal, a senior research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.

He said the problems the light engineering sector were facing right now had come up in various discussions.

"Light engineering is one of the important SME clusters that deserves more focus from the government. Equal attention should be given to every business in the sector irrespective of their size and earnings."

In his budget speech on June 3, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed a 10-year tax exemption to establish light engineering factories to promote local manufacturing.

Factories that will begin commercial production between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2030, will enjoy the exemption.

"We are looking at the matter positively. We believe this will open up a new opportunity for investment in this sector," said Razzak.