The Rise of Special Economic Zones in Bangladesh
The government recognizes that inadequate basic infrastructure and a severe shortage of accessible land discourages greenfield investments and industrial development.Bangladesh has one of the world’s most cost competitive, sizeable supply of labor,...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/506801537440057608/The-Rise-of-Special-Economic-Zones-in-Bangladesh http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30555 |
| Summary: | The government recognizes that
inadequate basic infrastructure and a severe shortage of
accessible land discourages greenfield investments and
industrial development.Bangladesh has one of the world’s
most cost competitive, sizeable supply of labor, ideal for
labor-intensive production in sectors such as garments,
footwear, leather products and toys. However, despite large
development success fueled by RMG, microfinance, and
remittances, three out of five Bangladeshi workers still
find themselves in vulnerable employment.The Bangladesh
Export Processing Zones Authority Act of 1980 was aimed to
boost industrialization and job creation through the
promotion of trade and investment and it has had some
success.The Act led to the establishment of the
semi-autonomous Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority
(BEPZA), which leases serviced land to industrial tenants in
eight export processing zones (EPZs) across the country,
primarily focused on the garment sector.The Bangladesh
Economic Zones Authority Act and the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park
Authority Act—both of 2010—created two more agencies like
BEPZA and these three agencies have overlapping mandates.
The two new acts led to the creation of two new
semi-autonomous agencies— the Bangladesh Economic Zones
Authority (BEZA) and the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority
(BHTPA)—tasked to oversee the expansion of economic zones
(EZs) and hi-tech parks (HTPs) in the country.Bangladesh’s
development agenda using special economic zones is affected
by internal andexternal challenges that the government will
need to address.These include: Legal and regulatory
mandates, Governance and technical capacity, Safeguards
management and Connections to the national investment climate. |
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