Kamruzzaman Bablu :
Economic Zones (EZs) developers and investors in Bangladesh will get full exemption from customs, regulatory and supplementary duties and value-added tax on imports of materials locally unavailable, sources said. The government recently offered a set of incentive packages to them for more investments, both foreign and local.
The Internal Resources Division issued separate gazette notifications to the effect.
The facilities have been offered for the EZs under the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority Act 2010, officials said.
However, the National Board of Revenue has tagged several conditions that the EZ developers and investors names will have to be registered for VAT.
All the goods imported under this notification have to be approved and certified by the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) detailing the names of the products to be imported and the description and the quantity of the goods.
But, the investors and the developers cannot avail the benefits if the materials like construction materials are available in Bangladesh.
They will also not be given the benefit if the goods imported are not directly linked with development and construction of the EZs.
Such products include office equipment, air conditioners, refrigerators, passenger transports, articles for household use and other similar goods, and consumable goods.
Meanwhile, the authorities had also relaxed conditions for the EZ investors for duty-free car import facility to increase foreign investment inflow.
An industrial unit of the EZ can import two duty-free vehicles by investing $10m or equivalent local currency and can employ 500 people in that unit.
However, the approval letter and certificate from BEZA have to be submitted to the customs authority at the time of assessment of duties and clearance of the imported vehicles.
BEZA will allow EZ investors to import two duty-free vehicles, including a Sedan car, of less than 2000cc engine or micro-bus, pick-up vans or double-cabin pick-ups for an industrial unit.
The importers, however, are not allowed to transfer ownership of the vehicles for five years. Investors can import duty-free vehicles only once.
The vehicle imported cannot be used for any other activity or any commercial purpose other than production purpose and for related activities of that industrial unit.
Earlier, the NBR had offered complete tax-waivers on a company’s dividend income, capital gains from transfer of shares and on payable royalties, technical know-how and technical assistance until 10 years of commercial operation.
It also offered 10-year tax holiday for investors and 12-year tax holiday for the developers of the economic zones and the high-tech parks.
The government plans to establish 100 EZs across the country over the next 15 years, which are expected to generate about 10m additional jobs.
By 2030, the export earnings only from the EZs are expected to stand at $40bn, according to BEZA.
