Bangladesh has received investment proposals worth around USD 20.13 billion from 153 investors, including those from China and Japan, for its first planned industrial city which it wants to develop as a world-class business and industrial center. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) – the industrial city named after Bangladesh’s founder and first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – is coming up in the country’s second-largest city Chattogram (previously Chittagong).

The city is expected to create employment opportunities for 1.5 million people in the next 15 years and ensure USD 15 billion export from this industrial enclave.

The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), which is in charge of the BSMSN, has already allocated over 6,000 acres of land among the investors.

The investors include Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA) Economic Zone, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Garments Village and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Zone, according to an official of BEZA.

The official said China-based Zhuzhou Jinyuan Chemical Industry Company Limited, Japan-based world-renowned Nippon Steel and Bangladeshi MacDonald Steel Building Product Limited (joint venture), Indian Asian Paints BD Limited, Mango Teleservices Limited and Modern Syntex Limited are setting up their factories in the industrial park.

Talking to Bangladesh news agency BSS, BEZA executive chairman Shaikh Yusuf Harun said BSMSN is one of the most suitable sites for setting up industrial establishments in the country. He said it is along with the strategic location of Dhaka-Chattogram industrial corridor and business and living costs are significantly lower at Mirsarai as well as in Chattogram division than other developing cities in the world.

“With a high-quality business-friendly environment, it has positive impacts and contributions in shaping Chattogram into a leading regional business hub,” he added.

BEZA is developing the industrial city to encourage rapid economic development through the increase and diversification of industry, employment, production and export.

The industrial city is being developed on around 30,000 acres of land touching three sub-districts - Mirsarai, Sitakundu and Sonagazi - under Chattogram and Feni districts respectively. It is located on the mouth of river Feni covering 25 kilometers of coastlines of Sandeep channel of the Bay of Bengal.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the EZ on 28 February 2016.

BEZA is in the process of developing a comprehensive master plan including incorporating seaport, rail connectivity, marine drive, residential area, tourism park, power plant, hospital, school and university for developing this self-contained industrial city.

Various types of industries, including garments and its supporting industries, agro-products and agro-processing products, integrated textiles, leather and leather goods, shipbuilding, motorbike assembly, food and beverage, pint and chemical, paper and products, plastics, light engineering (including auto-parts and bicycles), pharmaceutical products, power and solar park will be set up in the industrial city.

(SAM)