BSS, Dhaka :
Terming the scarcity of land as a major barrier to boosting private investment, finance minister AMA Muhith Saturday said a plan has already been taken to ensure proper use of land for setting up industries.
“Non-availability of land and weak infrastructure are the two big challenges for increasing private investment . . . the government has already taken some steps and projects to solve the problems,” said the finance minister while speaking at the opening of two-day conference of Bangladesh Economic Forum (BEF) here.
The slogan of the conference of BEF, a platform of Bangladeshi economists working at home and abroad, was “Vision 2030: a framework for economic policy making and strategy formulation in pluralistic democracy”.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Chairman Rehman Sobhan presided over the inaugural session. Professor Michael Lipton of Susses University of the USA presented the keynote speech.
Speaking at the session as the chief guest, the finance minister said a massive investment took place in the public sector over the last five years and there was a sluggish trend in private investment. Side by side with non-availability of land, political unrest, unemployment and power crisis were the major problems, he added.
“We’ve to face this situation . . . if we fail to act properly, the productive sector will severely be affected,” Muhith added.
About land crisis, he said there was no plan to ensure proper use of land. The government has started working on it, he added.
The finance minister said the country’s economy made a significant progress over the last two decades and for maintaining this pace of progress, the government has been trying to boost private investment. But political stability is urgently needed to boost productivity through investment, he said, adding that side by side, infrastructure will have to be developed.
About human resources development, Muhith said the government has been implementing various programmes to develop skilled manpower for expediting the progress of economic development.
CPD Chairman Rehman Sobhan said there is huge demand in the market but the market system is not becoming stronger due to weaknesses in supply side. As a result, there are instabilities in prices, he said and suggested taking steps for developing the communication system.
Professor Michael Lipton in his keynote said Bangladesh economy made expected progress during the period from 1990 to 2014, especially in the area of poverty reduction, reducing gender inequality and ensuring food security, health services and education.
