South Korean businesses have expressed the interest to establish an industrial park in Bangladesh’s Economic Zone (EZ) to set up factories for manufacturing apparel, leather products and ornaments.
Korea Industrial Complex Company Limited (KIC), a developer company of the East Asian country, has requested Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) to initially allocate 400 acres of land in an EZ. Around 100 South Korean companies will set up factories in the proposed industrial park, which will likely to fetch an investment of US$ 500 million.
Baeho Cho, Chief Executive Officer of the KIC, and other officials met Paban Chowdhury, Executive Chairman of BEZA, and held a a meeting in this regard.
According to the Korean delegation, the 100 Korean companies became interested to invest in Bangladesh after the Myanmar authorities failed to provide them with all required infrastructure in two industrial parks (IPs) there. The KIC officials said the developer company started establishing two IPs in Bago and Moan regions of Myanmar in 2013.
But the delay in establishing utility services like electricity and water has pulled off the interest of the Korean investors, prompting them to shift investment to another destination. In addition to setting up industrial units, the Korean entrepreneurs would likely to establish a modern residential area in the EZ.
The KIC delegate sought for all required support from the BEZA to develop the infrastructure as well as providing the utility services.
Baeho Cho said they want to start the construction work as soon as they obtain the land and other approvals from the government and the BEZA.
Paban Chowdhury reiterated their support to establish sustainable and environment-friendly industries by giving all required support to the investors. He hoped that, proposed investment of Korean entrepreneurs will create a new horizon in the Foreign Direct Investment in Bangladesh.
Currently, the size of the total investment by Korean companies in Bangladesh is $1.12 billion mainly in textiles, leather and banking sectors. The bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Korea stood at $1.5 billion in the last fiscal year of 2018-19 with export from Bangladesh worth $0.25 billion and imports worth $1.27 billion.
