Badrul Ahsan :
Disappointed by dearth of lands and their higher prices, many Asian industrial giants are now considering relocating their factories from Bangladesh to Myanmar, Vietnam and some other countries, sources said.
According to them, faced with higher worker wages at home, these industrialists were trying to relocate their factories to Bangladesh but high prices and shortage of land, apart from some other hurdles, made them to rethink their decision. And finally, many of them are considering shifting to other Asian countries.
Sources at the Board of Investment (BoI) said top Asian conglomerates like Korean Samsung, Daewoo, and KANANN Group, Japanese Mitsubishi, Velbon Corporation and Jotye Auto, Indian Raymond, and Chinese 3G Group and Great Wall are among the regional big names that sought to expand footprint in the country.
But many of them have at last registered with investment authorities of neighbouring countries and some other destinations.
“We had been receiving lots of big investment proposals from the world’s leading electronics, automobiles, garments, footwear and other technical product makers till 2012. The flow of such proposals now is lower than before,” a director of BoI told The New Nation on Tuesday, preferring anonymity. He said the big investors like Samsung, KANANN Group, Velbon Corporation and Chinese 3G Group were hammering them to manage plots in EPZs or to buy lands within the proximity of Dhaka-to-Chittagong highway belt but they failed to manage.
“Persuasion of the industrial giants to manage industrial plots in Bangladesh has nowadays slowed down. So far as our information, at least five of those big investors have now got enlisted with the investment authorities of Myanmar, Vietnam, and some other countries,” he informed. AZM Azizur Rahman, former member (finance) with the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), said he used to face a number of foreign investors every day to allocate plots, mainly in the EPZs of Dhaka and Chittagong.
But, due to the scarcity of plots they could not commit them allotment, he said. “Although the size and quality of many investments have taken us by surprise, we can’t commit them plot allotment,” he lamented over the missed chances.
BEPZA officials said Samsung sought 500 plots, KANANN Group 150, Daewoo 30, and Raymond 20 plots in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in Chittagong or Dhaka. According to him, many international conglomerates from both traditional and non-traditional sectors have been knocking them regularly for allotment of plots though almost all the zones under it have no empty plot. Juny Park, Managing Director of Korea-based aluminum bar producer Chu Kin Zun, who has long been trying to invest in Bangladesh, said he could neither avail plots in export processing zones nor could manage land outside the areas due to scarcity and sky-rocketing prices.
“I have been trying to manage land for shifting my factory from Korea but could not manage it in or outside the EPZs, which made me to rethink for alternatives,” Park told The New Nation.
However, Executive Chairman of the BoI Dr. Syed Abdus Samad said the government is actively working to remove the barriers to investment. He said the country is eager to reshape its future as a new manufacturing hub for mobile phones, high-end electrical, electronic and home appliances, automobiles and some other world-renowned high-end products by ensuring easy access to investment in Bangladesh.
“We are now actively trying to implement Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as soon as possible. Land Acquisition of SEZs almost completed. Government is now moving forward to complete other necessary works,” Samad added. Describing the present situation of completion of preparing SEZs as satisfactory, he said, “We hope the bottleneck of investment will be cleared soon.”
Meanwhile, former adviser of the caretaker government Dr. Akbar Ali Khan said that the low-cost workforce, preferential facilities like generalised system of preferences (GSP) in export of locally produced goods helped lure overseas investors, but unfavourable business environment of the country disappoint them.
“There is no other option but to activate ‘SEZs’ for revolutionizing industrialization in the country,” he said.
He urged the government to take an immediate action plan to activate ‘SEZs’. BEPZA data shows that 405 existing and new companies in EPZs together invested around $378.29 million in the FY 2014-15 and 61 other local and foreign investors signed lease agreements on investment worth $580 million with BEPZA.
According to BoI data, more than 1,783 local and foreign investors have proposed to invest around $5.82 billion during the last fiscal, which was around $5.41 billion a year ago.
