The Chief Adviser’s Office (CAO) has received a formal proposal from the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) allowing local Bangladeshi contractors to work on land development projects at the Indian Economic Zone in Mirsarai, Chittagong. Since no Indian contractors have turned in their bid documents by the due date, this request is made in light of the considerable delays.
The stipulations associated with the Indian line of credit, which require that land development contracts be given to Indian companies, are the source of the issues. Beza has said that even though the original project timeframe was set between April 2019 and June 2021, the land development work for the Indian Economic Zone has not yet begun. Since then, the deadline has been moved to June 2025, and there may be plans to extend it once more.
Beza also recommended reallocating monies across various project sectors in a letter to the CAO in order to guarantee the project’s timely completion. On 27th August 2023, Beza, the designated project implementation agency, published land development tender documents, focussing on Indian firms such International Seaport Dredging Private Limited and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited. These companies did not, however, submit their bids by the deadline of 28th February 2024, even if they had purchased the contract.
The sixth meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Working Group, which took place in New Delhi on April 23, 2024, included discussions about the project. A response to the request that Indian authorities take into account permitting both Indian and Bangladeshi contractors to take part in the re-tendering process has not yet been received.
According to Beza sources, an implementation review conference on June 23 recommended that the project plans be reviewed after Indian officials’ input on the re-tendering is obtained. The 900-acre Indian Economic Zone is a Taka 965 crore project situated in Bangladesh’s largest industrial metropolis, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar. The majority of finance would come from India’s soft loan program, with Bangladesh providing Taka 50.26 crore.
By building the required infrastructure, the initiative primarily seeks to establish an atmosphere that is conducive to business for Indian developers and investors. About Taka 6.03 crore had been spent on the project as of June 2024, of which Taka 57 crore had been allotted in the current fiscal year’s Revised Annual Development Programme, which includes Taka 47 crore in project assistance and Taka 10 crore in government funds.