Published in The Financial Express on Sunday, 24 May 2015.
New body for industrialisation on the anvil
FE Report
The government is set to establish a new authority to spur the pace of industrialisation in the country, officials said.
The proposed authority named ‘Bangladesh Industrial Development Authority’ (BIDA) will be formed soon.
The name for the new authority is likely to be finalised in a meeting to be held at the prime minister’s office (PMO) on June 02 next with principal secretary to the PMO Md Abul Kalam Azad in the chair.
The new authority will operate under the government’s ministry of industries (MoI).
Earlier, a meeting was held at the PMO on March 31 last to suggest the name of the authority with the principal secretary in the chair.
A high official of the PMO told the FE on Friday the main task of the body would be to promote industrialisation in backward areas, especially in northern and eastern parts of the country. It would also help expedite the activities of export-oriented industries.
Besides, the proposed entity will also help set up industries on unused lands, promote use of modern technology to get maximum productivity, create skilled manpower, set up training institute for the country’s prospective entrepreneurs, establish cold storages for protecting and ensuring fair prices of agro products and ensure standards of products and intellectual property rights. It would be engaged in preparing laws and ordinances needed for industrialisation, he added.
Presently, there are a number of authorities like Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, Board of Investment and Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority in the country.
Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Professor Mustafizur Rahman told the FE on Friday the existing state entities for investment and industrialisation so far failed to operate efficiently. So, the government should concentrate on removing the weaknesses of the existing ones for accelerating industrialisation in the country.
He felt a new organisation would outlive its utility with others still in existence. The existing entities needed to be strengthened further, he said.