Star Business Report

The government will set up five light engineering industrial parks in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Jashore, Bogura and Narsingdi to utilise the potential of the growing domestic sector.

At the same time, a light engineering training institute will be established to provide the industrial parks with skilled workforce.

Moreover, initiatives will be taken to increase the skills of indigenous manpower at the training institute with the help of world-class instructors and technologies.

The decisions were taken at an inter-ministerial meeting yesterday, which was organised to decide how to implement the activities identified by the industries ministry to develop the light engineering industry.

The industries ministry has started the work to draw up a policy for the light engineering industry, said KM Ali Azam, industries secretary, who presided over the meeting at the ministry, according to a press release.

The policy will be finalised in consultation with stakeholders, he said.

Besides, initiatives will be taken to enact subcontracting laws to ensure marketing of products produced by the entrepreneurs at the industrial parks.

The importance of the light engineering industry has increased a lot when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared it as the ‘Product of the Year 2020’ on January 1 this year, said Azam.

“There is no alternative to setting up dedicated industrial parks to harness the potential of the industry,” he said.

For the convenience of the entrepreneurs, full-fledged one-stop services should be ensured at the eight industrial cities of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), including the light engineering industrial parks, he said.

Low-cost funds and financial incentives will also be extended to the entrepreneurs, who will train workers and managers, market manufactured goods and develop subcontracting industries.

Md Helal Uddin, additional secretary of the ministry, highlighted the recommendations made for the development of the light engineering industry.

Md Shafiqul Islam, managing director of SME Foundation; Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, president of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries; Md Abdus Salam, a director of BSCIC; and Md Abdur Razzak, president of the Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners’ Association, also spoke.

Around Tk 30,000 crore worth of light engineering products are sold every year in Bangladesh. Of the sum, products worth Tk 9,000 crore are produced locally while the rest are imported.

Bangladesh exports $349 million worth of light engineering products a year while the annual global demand hovers around $6 trillion.