BHTC shows the way

The report that 12 tech giants, including the likes of Nokia, starting plant operations in the country is an encouraging development as the nation heads towards attaining its goal of a ‘Digital Bangladesh’ and the government works to realise the dream of becoming a developed country by 2041.

The number is significant given that until November last year, only five big ICT companies were running manufacturing operations at the Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City (BHTC) in suburban Gazipur and more companies are expected to come up with investments. The growth is a testament to the immense potential the country holds. Nine more companies committed to invest $140.81 million were allotted 20.50 acres of land in BHTC. Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) officials said they expected the park to draw an investment of $1.27 billion and create jobs for 41,269 people by 2025. BHTPA Director Syed Zahurul Islam said the investing companies would get tariffs exceptions for 10 years and receive 10 per cent incentives on exported products.

Officials of the state-run BHTPA, which runs the BHTC, said different domestic and foreign tech companies have invested about $120.76 million so far. BHTPA Director ANM Safiqul Islam said the companies are producing or set to produce smartphones, bio-medical equipment like kidney dialysis machines and life-saving therapeutic products. They have employed 460 workers at BHTC.

Seventy domestic and foreign tech companies were allotted ready space or land so far in the tech-park, the country’s first such facility in a single complex developed on 355 acres, while 12 of them started production. Finland-based Nokia set up its plant on a five-acre plot under a company Vibrant Software (BD) Limited, a joint initiative of Bangladesh’s Union Group and UK-based Vibrant Software. Vibrant Software (BD) officials said they were currently producing 2.5 lakh smartphones every month and planned to start producing feature phones from January next. The devices are branding ‘Made in Bangladesh’.

US-based Sonar Bangla Foundation (SBF), which operates as SBF Research and Development Centre at the BHTC, is assembling high quality kidney dialysis machines. The price of each machine is Tk 4 to 5 lakh lower than the imported ones, SBF official Engineer Al Imran Sarker said while market prices suggest the imported such life-saving device costs Tk 12 lakh to 13 lakh each. He said they received an investment proposal from another US company to turn the plant into a supply hub for the Asian region.

Bangladeshi company Oryx Bio-Tech Limited which produces plasma, set up its plant on 25 acres allotted land at BHTC investing $300 million. It aims to produce plasma with a target to initially meet 25 per cent of Bangladesh’s demands. The country needs to import plasma worth of Tk 2,000 core annually. Meanwhile, telecom operators Robi has been allotted 1.5 acres of land to set up their plant in the park while the Bangladesh-India joint venture company is expected to invest $2.6 million to produce its SIMs and related hardware. On the other hand, Fair Electronics emerged as Bangladeshi producers of South Korean Samsung devices with a planned investment of $10 million.

During its 1996-2001 tenure, the Awami League government decided to set up the park when its feasibility studies and related works were underway but the subsequent BNP-Jamaat regime abandoned the plan. In line with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Digital Bangladesh vision, the plan was revived after the party was reelected to power in 2008, and her ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy was entrusted with its oversight task.

Bangladesh’s export income from the ICT industry was $26 million before 2009 which now stood at $ 1.3 billion. To meet a $5 billion export earnings target by 2025, we will need more such high-tech parks and policy support as Bangladesh moves out of the LDC bracket to woo investment and create jobs and turn the country into ‘Digital Bangladesh’ in the true sense.