The government has no plans to demand stakes in two special economic zones India got, officials said. But China agreed to provide 30 per cent equity in the lone SEZ it got at Anwara, Chittagong as demanded from it, they said. Japan would also be required to leave stakes in one SEZ, either at Narayanganj or Sreepur. The two Indian SEZs are located at Mongla and Bheramara. Last year, the government took the decision to set up 27 Special Economic Zones at different places. To woo foreign investments, Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority offered 100 per cent profit repatriation and payment customs duty, VAT and income tax at concessional rates as incentives, said officials. BEZA executive chairman Paban Chowdhury told New Age that China Harbour and Engineering Company had been asked to leave 30 per cent equity of the Anwara SEZ to BEZA. The Chinese company would develop the SEZ at Anwara under a memorandum of understanding signed by the governments of Bangladesh and China in 2014. At a recent meeting held in Dhaka, China agreed to leave 30 per cent stakes of the Anwara SEZ to BEZA, officials said. The stakes Japan has to leave from its lone SEZ would be worked out though negotiations, said Paban. He said that BEZA had no plans to ask India to leave stakes from its SEZs to BEZA. India bagged the two SEZs under an MoU signed in June 2015. India requested for over 200 acres of land at Mongla and 477 acres at Bheramara to develop its SEZs by 2018 using the money from a $2billion credit from India now under negotiation. Unequal treatment of foreign investors was nothing new, said former caretaker adviser Mirza Azizul Islam. Japanese consortium led Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Limited gets gas supplies at concessional rates. Mirza Aziz said that the government’s decision to take back land allotted to the first special economic zone set up by a South Korean firm would not encourage foreign investment. Paban said BEZA was expected to sign the ‘final agreement’ with China Harbour and Engineering Company in the coming month. In 2012, Bangladesh received slightly over one billion $ in foreign direct investments n compared to India’s $226 billion, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
