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Beza to seek govt suggestion on fate of two Indian economic zones
No visible progress in over two years
JAGARAN CHAKMA
The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) is likely to seek suggestions from top government officials over deciding the fate of two Indian special economic zones (SEZs), which have not seen any visible development over the past two years or so.
In February 2019, Bangladesh adopted a Tk 845 crore project to develop one of the zones on 1,000 acres of land inside the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar in Chattogram’s Mirsharai for Indian investors.
In October 2019, Beza signed a memorandum of understanding with the Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, which had been chosen by India, to implement the task.
In April 2022, another deal was signed on the terms of forming a joint venture for this purpose. Sources at Beza said they sent a draft to the Adani on how the joint venture would be run, but the latter was yet to send any feedback.
Besides, two Indian companies selected by India to place bids for the zone’s earth filling project informed of their withdrawal just a day before the February 29 tender submission deadline this year, sources said.
Beza wrote to the Indian authorities, including Exim Bank of India, to allow Bangladeshi firms to participate in the bidding process, an option unavailable under an Indian line of credit (LoC) for implementing the project, they said.
Another condition stipulates that 65 percent of components must be purchased from India during the implementation of any project under the Indian LoC, which is another obstacle to implementing the Indian SEZ, the sources added.
As for the other zone, Beza had allotted 110 acres of land near the Mongla port in Bagerhat as per an agreement signed between India and Bangladesh in 2015.
India has agreed to provide a loan of $15 million and appointed Hiranandani Group as the developer and ARTELIA Consulting to provide the designs.
A draft on the formation of a joint venture to implement the project was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office over two years back and there has been no response, according to Beza sources.
Since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, there has been no correspondence between Beza and the Indian authorities.
However, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi had highlighted the need for initiating operations fast at the two zones with the-then prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina visited Delhi on June 22.
Officials of the Adani, on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star last Wednesday that they had lost interest in making investments there as the situation was not favourable and would have no complaints if Beza cancelled the project.
Moreover, Bangladesh up until now owed Adani Group over $900 million in electricity bills, for which they had lost interest, he said.
Md Sarwar Bari, executive chairman of Beza, recently said they would write to the chief adviser of the interim government about the progress regarding the two zones.
“If India does not implement the projects, we will allocate the land to other investors as we have a scarcity of land,” he said.