A NATIONAL English daily unveiled the potentials of the Bangladeshi people and the country’s economy by reporting that in Keraniganj several apparel centres produce denim and woven items, including T-shirts, jeans, shirts, undergarments and children’s wear, meeting around 70 percent of the demand for such products in the local market. People in Keraniganj, situated in the southwest part of Dhaka, developed their fortunes by setting up 8,000 small factories and 6,000 showrooms that transact Tk 1,000 crore in the month of Ramzan.The small and medium enterprise sectors not only contribute to boosting up the country’s economy but also employ about 2 lakh people. Though the capital city is expanding in the northern part of the city where the society’s well-to-do people live and modern-facility-enabled shopping malls are mushrooming, but the banks of Buriganga, following the past, is still keeping its importance as an apparel hub which sells quality products at competitive prices.The wholesale hub is mainly popular for its denim products as it accounts for 50 percent of the total readymade garment production in the area. An increasing number of retailers buy denim and woven items from Keraniganj as the manufacturers offer a wide range of items at lower prices as a pair of normal jeans is being sold between Tk 250 and 300 and quality ones at Tk 550 to 2,000 while the same products cost double or even triple in various outlets in the capital. Customers are now more attracted to local products than before because of the quality maintained by the manufacturers that targets both the lower and the middle-income groups. The trading hub, a cluster of about 200 markets, spread over an area of two kilometres in Aganagar and Suvaiddya unions, has already attracted banks to open more branches and transport agencies to set up more offices there. Despite its potential, the business hub is facing severe problems due to the high rent of factories and showrooms that are further worsened by frequent load-shedding, dilapidated roads, and unplanned expansion of factories. Some roads are so narrow that fire service vehicles cannot reach small factories in case of a fire incident, claim businessmen.The country is in a big crisis when it has the government too busy to remain in power but does not know how to build a nation by using national resources and putting competent people in responsible places. We urge upon the private sector entrepreneurs to fight the adversity for improving the lot of our people by using their hard labour and initiative.
