Home ›› 29 May 2022 ›› Front
The formal inauguration of industrial production at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) – the country’s largest industrial hub located in Mirsharai – is set to take place this June.
Confirming the matter, a top official at the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the historic event.
They added that along with the BSMSN, a number of other infrastructures in government and private industrial zones, and more industrial plants will be inaugurated across the country, and foundation stones will be laid as well.
BEZA’s Executive Member Mohammad Irfan Sharif said three factories and a power plant in BSMSN at Mirsharai are ready to go into production, and experimental production is already underway in these facilities.
“Production will be officially inaugurated in this industrial area – currently the largest one in the country – this June. The prime minister has agreed to inaugurate, and a date will be announced soon by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). It could be any day between 20 and 30 June,” Irfan Sharif told The Business Post.
According to BEZA, three companies including MacDonald Steel Builders, Nippon McDonald Ltd – a joint venture with Japan’s MacDonald Steel Builders, and Asian Paints have already completed the work on setting up their factories.
A power plant of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has also completed work on setting up their plant, and they are now ready for production.
These facilities have completed test production and are preparing for the announcement of inauguration next June.
The domestic company McDonald Steel overtook everyone else, and the first shipment of their products - 20 tonnes of steel – has already been delivered to the Bangladesh Bridge Authority on March 23.
A company spokesperson said it was experimental production, and they are now ready for regular production of steel in the factory.
BEZA sources further said on the day of BSMSN’s inauguration of production, 14 different installations will be inaugurated in several other economic zones of the country.
Formal production will begin and foundation stones will be laid for about 50 industries – which are being set up with local, foreign and joint ventures.
BSMSN, an initiative of BEZA, likely faced some delays due to the surge in Covid-19 cases since 2020. B-R Powergen Ltd plant – operating under the BPDB – was scheduled to begin electricity generation on December 31 last year.
The three companies, including MacDonald Steel Builders and two other steel and paint plants, were also preparing to start operations in the same period, but these activities were delayed till June this year, BEZA insiders said.
A summary of delays
Previously, Executive Engineer of B-R Powergen Ltd plant Maruf Saleh had told the Business Post that they were ready to start production in December 2021, but the experts from the German machinery supplier company were supposed visit them in Bangladesh.
Four officials from that company were scheduled to arrive on January 15-20, but Covid restrictions preventing prevented them from traveling. The construction of this 168MW power plant at the Mirsharai EPZ was completed a few months before at a cost of Tk 1,068 crore.
Nippon-McDonald Steel Industries Ltd, with a $59.19 million proposed investment, was the first factory that had plans to launch operation in the middle of 2021 in the country’s largest industrial enclave.
The plant has an annual capacity of producing 60,000 tonnes of steel goods, and generates around 2,019 job opportunities.
The Indian paint brand Asian Paints Ltd, with a proposed investment of $26 million and an annual production capacity of 25,000 litres of paint, completed infrastructure construction and installation of machinery within December 2021.
This plant’s production got delayed as specialists from India could not visit the factory during that period due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
According to insiders, BEZA has allotted plots to around 153 companies in the “Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar,” and permitted $2.3 billion in investment. At least 15 companies are working to set up their factories in Mirsharai EPZ.
