Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) is now looking for a new site to establish an industrial park for garment factories as the previous project at Munshiganj turned out to be an infeasible one.The apex trade body of garment manufacturers and exporters sought land adjacent to Dhaka city or in the proposed Mirsarai economic zone from Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA), which is developing 100 economic zones across the country. BGMEA said the previous project taken up in 2013 at Bausia in Munshiganj is now seemed to be an infeasible option for establishing an RMG hub.BGMEA leaders, including its president Siddiqur Rahman held a meeting with BEZA Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury at his office in this regard on Saturday.BEZA sources said BGMEA leaders have expressed their interest in establishing an RMG industrial park in a place adjacent to the capital.However, the BEZA chairman said they would not be able to provide any land in the suburb of the capital.The BGMEA then sought land in Mirsarai EZ, which will be the country’s largest industrial hub, to establish the proposed RMG hub. “We are planning to establish a garment industrial park and looking for a suitable site for the land. We sought land from BEZA and they have offered us land in Mirsarai,” BGMEA president Siddiqur Rahman said. “But it is not possible to allocate any land nearby Dhaka. So we offered them the land in Mirsarai,” the BEZA chairman said.Meeting sources said that BGMEA sought around 300 acres of land for the project.In 2013, BGMEA with support from the government, took an initiative to establish a garment industrial park at Bausia under Gazaria upazila of Munshiganj to relocate RMG units from the capital and adjoining areas.BGMEA and Oriental International Holding Ltd of China signed an agreement in 2014 to develop the industrial park on 530 acres of land at a cost of $2.3 billion.The district administration made ready the lands in the areas accordingly. But the BGMEA later became reluctant in making the payment for land acquisition.At one stage, the government cancelled the land acquisition process for the proposed industrial park.
