Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has sought an interest-free loan of more than Tk 3.02 billion from the government to help establish the proposed Jamalpur economic zone (EZ), officials said. The executive chairman of the BEZA has sent an official letter to the ministry of finance (MoF) recently seeking the fund and for taking necessary steps in this connection, they said. The zones regulator has sought the loan for 20 years (grace period) with a 0 per cent rate of interest, they said. Different autonomous agencies, public sector corporations and state-owned companies can obtain loans in local or foreign currency. But there is no opportunity for the zones authority to secure loan through local currency as the BEZA was not included as a party under the government policy, a high official of the BEZA said. The government has taken initiatives to set up EZs across the country aiming at ensuring and expediting industrialisation and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), he said. As part of the move, the BEZA has already decided to build up about 59 proposed EZs across the country, according to the BEZA data. Currently, EZs are being built in the country under the public and private initiatives. Meanwhile, separate memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with China, Japan, and Indian under government to government (G2G) arrangement have already been signed for establishing EZs in the different parts of the country. The BEZA aims to establish economic zones in all potential areas in the country including backward and underdeveloped regions with a view to encouraging rapid economic development through increase and diversification of industry, employment, production and export, he said.
