BD-Kuwait JV to set up lube oil blending plant

The Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza) yesterday signed a land lease agreement with a Kuwait-Bangladeshi joint venture that will set up a lubricating oil blending plant in its economic zone.

KB Petrochemicals Ltd will establish the plant in the zone located at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar with an investment of $10.39 million. This will generate job opportunities for 129 Bangladeshi nationals, according to a press release from the Bepza.

The plant will produce 20,000 tonnes of finished lubricants annually.

Abul Kalam Mohammad Ziaur Rahman, executive chairman of the Bepza, Ali Reza Mazid, member for investment promotion, and Jahangir Hossain Patwary, managing director of KB Petrochemicals, inked the agreement.

"Bepza always welcomes high-end and diversified products manufacturing industries for investment in the Bepza Economic Zone," Rahman said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled the foundation stone of the zone, located on 1,138.55 acres of land in the industrial city in Mirsharai of Chattogram, in 2018.

Investors have already submitted 643 applications for plots. The Bepza has allotted 154 plots provisionally to 19 companies.