With the growing demand at home and abroad, PRAN-RFL Group, a leading food processor and household product manufacturer, is set to invest Tk 680 crore in its Habiganj Industrial Park (HIP) located at Shayestaganj in Habiganj within next one year.
The business expansion will create employments for more than 3,000 people and over 85 per cent of them will be employed from local residents.
The company has already invested Tk 6,300 crore in Habiganj Industrial Park (HIP).
Kamruzzaman Kamal, director marketing of Pran-RFL Group, made the disclosure at a view-exchange meeting with the members of Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) held on Thursday at HIP.
The new facility will produce poultry, bakery, noodles, glassware, recycled products, fittings, switches and sockets, stationery, cables, bicycles and SS pipes.
HIP has been established on 300 acres of land at Shayestaganj in Habiganj and the new plant would be set up on 200 acres of land adjacent to the existing industrial park. HIP was launched in 2010 and the plant went into production in 2013.
“We have already invested Tk 6,300 crore in the park in different categories and it created 25,000 employments. This new investment will create employment opportunities for around 3,000 people,” said Kamruzzaman Kamal.
The company is going for capacity expansion as the demand for goods is rising at home and abroad.
Currently, the company exports goods worth $400 million a year to 145 countries globally. The group’s annual turnover is $ 3.0 billion, Kamal said.
The group produces 300 brands, 6,300 kinds of products in 31 locations in the country.
Some 25,000 employees are working at HIP and the number of group’s total employees is 1.45 lakh.
About one lakh farmers are also directly supplying goods to the company, Kamal also said.
At present, PRAN-RFL's Habiganj Industrial Park manufactures various products. These include products of daily use as well as products that were once heavily imported. Moreover, there are products which are in great demand worldwide.
Besides, the country's largest plastic recycling plant has been established in this park. In addition to PRAN-RFL Group products, world famous brand products are being manufactured in this industrial park. These include Coca-Cola and Gillette.
This industrial park has 47 production lines, where various products including fruit drinks, beverages, candy, liquid glucose, biscuit, confectionery, transformer, electric cables, fans, melamine, bicycles, MS and GI pipes, recycling products, cassava processing, toiletries are being manufactured.
As a result of the production of various products, this establishment has become the most diversified industrial park in the country. Moreover, it is one of the largest private industrial parks in the country in terms of the size, Kamal said.
One of the objectives of PRAN-RFL Group is to create employment for the mass people in rural areas.
The group lays highest emphasis on it while setting up any factory or industrial park. Moreover, availability of energy and socio-economic situation are considered with utmost importance, he added.
The products produced here are now being exported to 145 countries across the world. So far, around 25 thousand people have been employed in this industrial park, of which about 65 per cent are women.
Nearly 80 per cent of the workforces are local residents. Apart from working here, a section of the local people supply various products to this industrial park.
Moreover, various establishments, including markets, have been developed around Habiganj Industrial Park through which many people have been employed, Kamal also said.
