Garment makers in Chittagong have received an offer to set up an apparel village at the Mirsarai special economic zone, industry people said. The offer came from the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) just a week after the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) signed the MoU with Chittagong City Corporation for building the apparel village at Kalurghat industrial area. “It is a good decision as we have been looking for an exclusive readymade garment village for relocation of the garment factories to the proposed special economic zone in Mirsarai,” said Moinuddin Ahmed Mintu, a vice president of the BGMEA. BGMEA leaders said that the BEZA (Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority) has decided in principle to provide 300 acres of land at the Mirsarai SEZ and wrote a letter to the BGMEA to send a proposal for the village at the SEZ. The BGMEA has already started working on the preparation of specific proposal, which will soon be sent to the BEZA. The decision to provide 200-300 acres of land to the Chittagong RMG factories for setting up the proposed garment village was taken in the board meeting of the Mirsarai Economic Zone Authority on December 3. BEZA Chairman Paban Chowdhury told the BGMEA leaders at a seminar held last November that the garment manufacturers in Chittagong would be provided with the required land at the Mirsarai SEZ for setting up a garment village there. The seminar on investment promotion road show on Development of the Economic Zones in Bangladesh was held on November 2 at Radisson Hotel in the city. BGMEA leaders at the seminar said Chittagong garment factories need to be relocated to meet compliance requirement of Accord and Alliance because a good number of the garment factories are housed in shared buildings and lack the necessary safety facilities. There are some 700 garment factories in the Chittagong region, but over 300 of them have been facing the compliance problems facing near closure. The BGMEA and Chittagong City Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on January 3 for setting up the Chittagong Apparel Zone at Kalurghat heavy industry. Under the pilot project, the CCC will implement the apparel zone on 10.36 acres of land owned by the corporation at a cost of Tk 3.0 billion to be fully financed by the intending garment factory owners. The non-compliant garment factories in Chittagong will be given priority while selecting the factories to be relocated to the zone. Mr Mintu said a good number of garment factories in Chittagong were found “non-compliant” by the Accord and Alliance following the Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka. At least 50 small and medium-sized garment industries in the shared or rented houses will be relocated to the Kalurghat Apparel Zone by the middle of 2018, which will help achieve the projected apparel exports US$ 50.0 billion by 2021. Garment industry in Bangladesh started its journey with Desh Garments at Kalurghat in Chittagong in 1978, but the industry could not grow as expected in Chittagong. Chittagong’s share in the country’s RMG export came down to 12 per cent from 40 per cent for multiple reasons, including the infrastructure, electricity and gas shortage.
