Meghna to set up economic zone in Cumilla

Meghna Group of Industries (MGI) is going to set up its third economic zone in the eastern district of Cumilla at a cost of around Tk 1,200 crore in a bid to develop an industrial area that will attract both foreign and local investment.

MGI, one of the leading business houses in Bangladesh, has already spent Tk 800 crore to purchase and develop 250 acres of land for the Cumilla Economic Zone (CEZ).

The company plans to invest the rest of the amount on preparing facilities so that factories in the CEZ can start production by 2024, according to Mostafa Kamal, chairman and managing director of MGI.

"We have already developed the land and work is ongoing to build internal roads," he said after the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) handed over the required license to MGI at an event at the InterContinental Dhaka.

The CEZ is the 12th private economic zone to be permitted for construction by Beza.

Once operational, the industrial area is expected to create employment opportunities for around 50,000 people and draw investment of $2 billion.

So far, 33 factories have been set up in the two other economic zones operated by MGI, and 12 of those companies are fully foreign owned.

"Being close to Dhaka, the CEZ will get a huge response from domestic and foreign entrepreneurs. There are plans to give at least 50 per cent of the land to foreign investors," said Shaikh Yusuf Harun, executive chairman of Beza. As such, this economic zone will become one of the centres of foreign investment, he added.

Beza has developed 15 economic zones under its own initiative through public-private partnerships and government-to-government contracts. The country's economic zones have so far received investment proposals of about $3.2 billion.

MGI earlier developed the Meghna Economic Zone and Meghna Industrial Economic Zone in Narayanganj.

The CEZ is situated in Meghna upazilla of Cumilla district, close to the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. There will be a total of 115 industrial plots in the zone that will expand to 350-acres after completion of first phase.

According to the plan, factories and administrative buildings, warehouses, logistics areas, water and waste treatment plants, roads and other necessary facilities will be constructed to make the CEZ a self-sufficient industrial hub.