The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Wednesday approved a Taka 4,347.21 crore project to develop the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) as a state of the art and international standard greener economic zone of the country.

The approval came from the 21st meeting of the ECNEC in the current fiscal year (FY21) held with its Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. The Premier chaired the meeting virtually from her official Ganobhaban residence, reports BSS.

Ministers, state ministers and others concerned attended the meeting from the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said that the ECNEC approved a total of eight projects today with an overall estimated cost of Taka 11,324.33 crore. “Of the total project cost, Taka 5,140.39 crore will come from the government of Bangladesh, Taka 18.12 crore form the concerned organization’s own fund while the rest Taka 6,165.82 crore as loan from foreign sources,” he added.

Of the approved eight projects, six are new while two others are revised projects.

The planning minister said Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will implement the project titled “Development of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar” with an overall estimated cost of Taka 4,347.21 crore.

“Of the total project cost, Taka 3,967.47 crore will come from the World Bank as project loan while the rest Taka 379.74 crore from the government of Bangladesh,” he said.

BEZA will implement this project by December 2025, in order to create an enabling environment for sustainable private investment and a dynamic local market for industrial land.

Mannan said this huge project is being implemented at Mirersarai where foreign companies from countries like China, Japan and South Korea have already shown their interest to invest.

According to the Planning Commission, the project mainly aims to ensure infrastructural development of various zones including Zone 2A and Zone 2B of BSMSN and thus creating private investment friendly environment there.

Besides, it also aims to turn this BSMSN as a green economic zone as well as creating new employment opportunities through attracting necessary investment. The project will be implemented by December 2025 at Mirersarai in Chattogram.

The project also aims to attract local and foreign investment, ensuring speedy industrialization as well as product diversification, boosting export earnings and thus creating scopes for earning valuable foreign currency.

Besides, once the project is implemented, there will be huge employment opportunities, including for women, which will also play a supporting role in further alleviating poverty.

Talking to BSS recently, BEZA Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury informed that BEZA has already received investment proposals amounting to over US Dollar 20 billion from over 127 local and foreign business entities for the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN).

He also said beyond these investment proposals, many world-renowned foreign companies are coming with big investment offers.

Under the project, BEZA will construct a 30-kilometre road inside the BSMSN alongside other necessary infrastructures such as a central effluent treatment plant, desalination plant, solar energy systems, solid waste management, biogas plant, waste sorting facility, rooftop and floating solar.

Besides, there will be necessary land development, necessary site upgradation, constriction of one investor club and one stop service (OSS) center, one emergency response center, one skills development center, sanitation and water supply network along with telecommunications network, power network, gas pipeline network, environmental lab and monitoring system.

The BSMSN is taking shape day by day as investors have started developing the physical infrastructure of the 30,000-acre economic zone.