PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT PROJECT
Boosting business with new economic zones
Basic Information Start date: 1 March 2011 Š Ismail Ferdous
End date: 30 June 2016 Total commitment: US$ 120 million
Implementing agency: Ministry of Finance; Economic Relations Division
Challenge
Lack of serviced land and quality infrastructure has been identified as the two recurring constraints for private sector development in Bangladesh. In partnership with the UKDepartment for International Development, The Private Sector Development Support Project (PSDSP) facilitates investment to set up Economic Zones for the emerging manufacturing and services sectors of the economy with the aim to create more jobs.
Scarcity and cost of land in Bangladesh, due largely to its topography as well as the sheer size of its population, is systematically ranked among the major obstacles for doing business. Much of the land is waterlogged or occupied, either formally or informally. This is compounded by an inefficient land administration system and deficiencies in urban planning making the serviced land market highly informal and non-transparent. Access to reliable power is another primary binding constraint to growth. Firms in urban areas reported losing 12 percent of their sales to electricity outages (ICA 2008), more than any other comparator country in the region.
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Š Mahfuzul Hasan Bhuiyan
Overview