The much awaited move to build an apparel zone in Chittagong equipped with all necessary facilities is most welcome. The fact that the port city is yet to have a manufacturing hub for the single most important export product – apparel, sounds quite incongruous given the advantages that could be had by the entrepreneurs in particular and the country in general. The initiative, believed to a decisive one, envisages a joint undertaking by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) to go for the project in the port city’s Kalurghat industrial area, to be ready for operation by 2018. The move was largely prompted by the need for relocating a good number of apparel factories from various locations in Chittagong which reportedly were suffering from various constraints threatening closure. Setting up an apparel zone in the port city deserves more than just merit. In fact, it is a necessity in view of the need for restructuring the entire readymade garment sector with required facilities given the emerging challenges as well as the $50 billion export target by 2021, set by the sector itself. More so, the facilities that the port city is potentially capable of offering far outshine those in any other part of the country, Dhaka included. As the country’s main port city, it is Chittagong which should have prevailed as the prime location for export of apparels, especially in view of the intricacies involved in the back-to-back letter of credit (LC) system. Importing raw materials against back-to-back LCs and exporting finished materials – an unusual dual procedure on which the country’s export of apparels has thrived – can be better handled if the manufacturing plants are located close-by rather than having to operate from as far as in Dhaka and its adjoining areas where most of the apparel factories are located. In this context, it may be recalled that the country’s pioneer export-oriented apparel factory, Desh Garments, kick started from Chittagong decades back. There were many who followed suit in the mid-eighties and the early nineties, but the momentum could not be sustained in the later years due mainly to the absence of well thought-out policies on the future of apparel exports. In fact, the facilities that Chittagong could have offered vis-à-vis other parts of the country were not explored. The apparel zone being planned to be set up on 10.36 acres will be able to house around forty medium-to-big factories with modern facilities. There are around 700 garment factories in Chittagong, about 40 per cent of which need relocation mainly to fulfill safety compliance. In course of time, there will be the need for more such apparel zones in Chittagong. In fact, a move is already on following the BGMEA-CCC initiative, to set up a garment village at the Mirsarai Special Economic Zone by the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority. Though belated, these initiatives deserve to be hailed as a significant step in restructuring the country’s apparel sector to meet the needs of the time.
