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Although the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) had established some industrial estates as far back as the 1960s, a number of plots at these estates remain unallocated as work on land filling, constructing roads, ensuring security services and other utilities is still ongoing.
The industrial estate in Barishal is one such case as it was established back in 1960 on 130 acres of land, 33 acres of which remain low. As a result, 109 of the 470 plots available are yet to be allotted.
Sources say the fact that the plots are still unused is depriving the government of revenue, people of jobs, and small-and-medium enterprises (SME) of serviced land.
Besides, the lack of proper roads and security services has resulted in a lack of interest among entrepreneurs, they said.
Golam Rasul, industrial estate officer of the bscic district office in Barishal, said a project was taken up in 2015 to ready plots on the 33 acres of low land. The project is set to expire this December, but the authorities do not expect it to be completed on time.
“It will take another six months to complete the entire work as the construction of roads and boundary walls is underway. The work on filling lowlands with sand is over though,” he added.
Sydur Rahman Rinto, president of the Barishal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the BSCIC had previously taken several initiatives to convert the lowlands into plots but has so far been unable for various reasons.
The industrial estate is located at the heart of Barishal city with business activities in the district having grown significantly in the last five decades.
Rinto then said the main approach road to the industrial estate is too narrow while the estate itself lacks the required facilities to set industries.
“For these reasons, the plots remain empty even after so many years since their establishment,” he added.
There are currently 127 manufacturing units operating at the Barishal Industrial estate, of which 119 are in production while eight are underperforming.
Another age-old industrial estate is the one in Pabna. Established in 1962, five of the 172 plots at the Pabna Industrial estate are yet to be allotted.
Rofikul Islam, deputy general manager of the BSCIC district office in Pabna, said work is underway to allocate these plots soon as a list of applications has been sent to the head office.
These plots were once allotted but the BSCIC ultimately withdrew the allotments due to non-compliance issues among the related entrepreneurs.
Apart from this, industrial estates in Rajbari, Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar that were built in the 1960s still have some vacant plots for various reasons, including legal complications.
For example, many entrepreneurs that secured allotments through political affiliation have gone abroad, leaving their plots unused for a long time and the BSCIC has been unable to reclaim them due to legal complications.
However, there are no plots vacant in the Comilla, Feni, Tongi, Mymensingh and Faujdarhat industrial estates established in the 60s.
ANM Mujibur Rouf, deputy general manager of the industrial estate division at the BSCIC, said the plots that remain unallocated are not serviced in most cases, unlike the central plots.
Some of the plots were allotted at different times but the allotments were later cancelled as the related industry was not established as per the rules.
ONLY EIGHT OF 500 VACANT PLOTS ALLOTTED
In March earlier this year, the BSCIC published newspaper advertisements seeking applications from entrepreneurs to allot 500 plots that have been lying vacant for years, even at the more recently established industrial estates.
According to the BSCIC, the industrial estate in Gopalganj has the highest number of vacant plots with 131 while the one in Moulvibazar closely follows with 119.
Meanwhile, some 50 plots at the industrial estate in Chuadanga, 43 in Jhalakathi, 40 in Barguna, 38 in Madaripur and 33 in Khagrachari are still unused.
Rouf said applications for the allotment of 165 plots have been received but only eight of them have been allocated so far.
The plots will be allotted through a “district plot allocation committee” with each one to be leased out for 99 years.
The BSCIC was set up in 1960 to develop industrial plots equipped with utility connections and connectivity to spur industrialisation.
Today, there are 11,922 plots in 80 industrial estates of the BSCIC across the country.
There are about 4,570 factories in production, of which 901 are export-oriented, at these estates. They employ over 62 lakh people with a total investment of Tk 63,318 crore so far, as per data from the BSCIC.
(TDS)
