Jagaran Chakma

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City Group is set to get the licence today to establish an economic zone, which would be the 11th under the private sector, as part of the government’s push towards industrialisation.

The government plans to set up 100 economic zones by 2030 with the view to generating one crore new jobs, earn $40 billion in additional exports and attract $20 billion in foreign direct investment.

To be called the Hossendi Economic Zone, the industrial park would span 108 acres of land in Narayanganj’s Gajaria upazila, according to the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza).

The economic zone, which would be the second for City Group, is expected to be complete by 2021 and will generate $2 billion in investment from home and abroad and create employment for 10,000.

The plants being planned are for: manufacturing salt, chemicals, prefabricated building materials, cement, dock and shipyard items, ceramics, paper, automobile and light engineering.

Of the land, 63.39 percent has been demarcated for industrial use, 4.51 percent for specialised infrastructure, 17.10 percent for utility and 15 percent for amenities.

The green economic zone will also have open spaces and facilities to care for children and for waste management and treatment of effluent and sewerage.

City Group officials declined to comment on the matter.

The consumer goods-focused business group already has a City Economic Zone in Narayanganj’s Rupganj upazila. It got the licence in January 2018.

Beza is sitting on nine more proposals for private economic zones.

Given the high demand, Beza is being scrupulous with the applications before giving out licences, Paban Chowdhury, executive chairman of Beza, told The Daily Star.