The government is developing the country’s first industrial park for electrical and light engineering product manufacturers at a cost of Tk 300 crore in Munshiganj. This may help bring the highly scattered and disorganised industries under a single platform. Already 83 per cent of the project work has been completed, and the industrial city is expected to be ready by June next year.
According to a news report, the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) is developing the industrial area to provide all infrastructural facilities to engineering and electrical products manufacturing industries that cater to demands of the huge domestic market. The light engineering sector makes products worth Tk 10,000 crore, meeting one third of the local demand of Tk 30,000 crore annually. Electrical products makers say the local market for electrical items is Tk 20,000 crore to Tk 25,000 crore, and they cater to only a portion of the big market.
While allotting plots in the industrial park, there should be priority to manufacturers. Of the 362 plots in the industrial park, a half will go to the electrical products’ makers and the rest to the light engineering manufacturers. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the project in June 2016. If there is no major crisis, it is expected to be completed before the June deadline next year, project sources said.
As we see the quality of products of this sector has not improved in a big way as the entrepreneurs still use century-old technology. But at the industrial city, there will be opportunities to run business in an organised manner and improve the quality of products. There are about 50,000 factories all over the country. This sector directly employs 6 lakh skilled and about 10 lakh semi-skilled workers. Indirectly, about 60 lakh people are making a living from this sector. And the annual growth of the sector is 10 per cent. When the project is implemented, there will be a facility for proper waste disposal, and the environment will not be polluted.
It is important that proper monitoring and evaluation mechanism are incorporated in the new industrial park with concrete plans of action. Otherwise, the very purpose of creating the park would not be achieved.
