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High prices and red-tapism in the application process are holding back entrepreneurs from securing industrial plots at BSCIC’s industrial estate 2 in Rajshahi.
The Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation recently invited applications for allocating 296 vacant plots at the estate but only 28 entrepreneurs have shown their interest in 36 plots there.
The entrepreneurs find the price of the plots high as the corporation estimated the price of land Tk Tk 1,136.26 per square foot. It means the price of A categories plots stands at Tk 68,17,560 and the price of B categories plots price Tk51,13,170 while the price of S-1 category plots is Tk 54,93,590 and S-2 categories plots Tk 81,91,298.
A mandatory provision of depositing 20 per cent of the total price with the application for plots is also pushing away the entrepreneurs, said the business people.
The Rajshahi district president of the National Association of Small and Cottage Industries of Bangladesh (NASCIB) Md Shafiqual Islam said the price of the plots is so high that makes few entrepreneurs in the region uninterested to invest there. He said people in the Rajshahi region are somehow more interested in trade than setting up industries, he said.
BSCIC Chairman Md Mahbubor Rahman told The Business Post that those who are complaining about high prices are actually not interested to set up large industrial units
“We are trying to draw the attention of big investors for the sake of employment but they are yet to come forward but we hope they will come in the future” he added.
A senior officer of the corporation seeking anonymity said aIS the corporation tried to pursue some big and medium entrepreneurs to invest in its industrial estates but the move went in vain. Zafar Bayezid, acting deputy general manager of the estate, said many entrepreneurs told him that they find the price of the plots at the estate much high.
The estate was developed on 50 acres of land at Parila Kechuatoil area in Paba of Rajshahi to flourish industrialisation in the region.
There are three types of plots at this estate. There are 133 6,000-square-feet plots under category A, 113 plots with 4500 sq ft each under category B plots, 24 plots with 4834.80 sq ft each under category S-1, and 16 plots with 7,209.60 sq ft each under category S-2.
The work on the project started in 2015 and ended in December 2021 at an estimated cost of around Tk 172 crore.
Of the total expenses, Tk 105 crore went into land development while the remaining Tk 67 crore is spent on infrastructure development including construction of roads, drains, culverts, boundary walls, pump houses, offices, ponds for water conservation, and ensuring water, gas, and electricity line connections.
But the entrepreneurs who showed interest to set up factories at the estate said till now there is no gas and electricity connection at the estate.
Rajshahi industrial estate -2 was expected to ensure about 10,000 employment opportunities.
