The government expects to create some one crore new jobs by establishing 100 Economic Zones (EZs) across the country, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday. While placing the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 in parliament, he said, “Establishment of 100 Economic Zones across the country is in progress for employment generation through increased investment. Almost one crore new jobs will be created in these Economic Zones.”
He said the construction work of ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Industrial Area’ the largest, planned and modern industrial area on 30,000 acres of land in Mirsarai, Sonagazi and Sitakunda upazilas is progressing in full swing. “The investment proposals worth US$ 15.1 billion have been received so far for these Economic Zones,” the minister said.
Kamal said the government needs to enhance growth in the industrial sector to hasten GDP growth and generate employments. As an alternative to public financing, he said the government will encourage approval and implementation of projects under the Public Private Partnership initiative for infrastructure construction.
“Rules for Viability Gap for PPP Project, 2018 and Rules for PPP Technical Assistance Financing, 2018 have been issued for simplification of the government's financial involvement process. A policy has been formulated for the implementation of PPP projects under G2G agreement,” Kamal said.
He said the implementation of 3 PPP projects is underway at a cost of US$ 2.7 billion. “At present, 61 projects have been selected for implementation under PPP model. A good number of projects are also in the pipeline.”