One crore jobs in 15 yrs, says BEZA

Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) will provide jobs to one crore people in 100 economic zones across the country in next 15 years. Paban Chowdhury, Executive Chairman of BEZA, said this while addressing a seminar titled 'Attracting Investment in Economic Zones of Bangladesh' held at a hotel in the capital.

The vision of BEZA is to establish one hundred Economic Zones in the country by 2030 with a target of employment generation for 10 million people, goods' exports worth $40 billion and development of 30,000 hectares of land.
Paban  said, "These 100 economic zones will export more than $40 billion worth products in a  year which will push Bangladesh to  become a developed country."

He further said,"BEZA offers 100% tax exemption to investors for the first 10 years, 70% for 11 years and 30% for 12 years successively to draw investment interest." BEZA has targeted to bring 2.8m tourists by 2020 to the isles located around Teknaf under Cox's Bazar district.

The Naf Tourism Park extends over a total of 271.93-acre land which is 456km off Dhaka and 185km off Chittangong and 70km off Cox's Bazar Airport.  Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Principal Secretary, Prime Minister's Office, said, "BEZA has been working to develop a sound automated system of One-Stop-Services (OSS). The draft OSS Act, which has been approved by the BEZA Governing Board, is now awaiting cabinet's approval."

"All public and private economic zones will have the OSS desk that will be connected with the main OSS centre located at BEZA headquarters, he said,  He said, "It is commendable that BEZA has already developed the OSS portal and has been providing five essential OSS services only from its OSS platform since 2016 and it is planning to provide with five more services by this year."

Abdul Matlub Chowdhury, President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), has said BEZA has been ensuring congenial atmosphere for investors through developing policy and guidelines, appointment of developers and the issuance of private EZ licenses.

He has further said to offer attractive fiscal incentives to investors, BEZA is also working to provide online One-Stop Services to the investors which would ensure hassle-free investment climate for the private sector. Md Siddiqur Rahman, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said, "Significant involvement of the private sector is essential to catapult the national economy to an upper middle income economy and improve socio-economic condition of the country."

He also said, "Development of economic zones with consistent support from private sector will provide the necessary impetus for achieving an even higher targeted growth rate in GDP."