China is bringing huge investment in Bangladesh

During the Corona period, the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) received two good news about Chinese investment. The first is that a Chinese company is taking 100 acres of land in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Industrial City for an investment of 3 million US dollars. They have also deposited money for this. Another is that 60 Chinese companies have shown interest in investing in the Chinese economic zone in Anwara, Chittagong, to developing Chinese companies.


Asked about this, Bazar executive chairman Pawan Chowdhury told Prothom Alo, "We want to see the initiatives we have taken to attract foreign investment as a benefit." It can be seen that when a big Chinese company invests in one country, others are also encouraged. '

Bangabandhu Industrial City with interest
The 3 million investment in Bangabandhu Industrial City is being made by China's Yabang Investment Holdings Group, which is part of China's Yabang Group. The group is a listed company on the Jiangsu Stock Exchange in China.

Yabang will produce textile chemicals, pharmaceutical raw materials as well as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and other chemicals on 100 acres of land. For this, they offered to take the land in September 2019. After long negotiations, they finalized the investment last Sunday.

"Chinese investment will come to take advantage of the 8,256 products that Bangladesh has got duty-free access to in the Chinese market."
—M Mashroor Riaz, Chairman, Policy Exchange
Beja said there would be a formal investment agreement with Yabang after the holy Eid al-Adha. Yabang said in a statement that they were one of the top 500 companies in China with operating income exceeding 2 trillion yuan . The Yabang Group has investments in various sectors including chemicals, human and animal medicine, pesticides, minerals, financial sector, housing.

By investing in Bangladesh, they want to export goods worth  1.5 million. And wants to sell 1million worth of products in the local market. According to the proposal, 2,200 people will be employed against Yabang's investment.

Bangabandhu Industrial City is being established on 30,000 acres of land in Mirsarai, Sitakunda and Feni in Chittagong. Investors from different countries are already taking land in this. On the other hand, a separate Chinese Industrial and Economic Industrial Zone (CEIZ) is being set up for Chinese investors in Anwara, Chittagong. The amount of land there is 783 acres.

Despite the controversy, China wants to bring investment to the harbor
Separate economic zones are being set up in Bangladesh for investors from Japan, China and India. China Harbor Engineering Company Limited is working as a developer in the Chinese economic zone.

China Harbor said in a letter to Beja last week that it had received the necessary approvals from the Chinese government's Ministry of Commerce and their parent company, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). If the Bangladesh government agrees, they want to sign a joint partnership agreement in the Chinese economic zone.

CCCCC is one of the top 500 companies globally in the famous American magazine Fortune. It was 93rd in the list of 2019. Their affiliate, China Harbor, says the deal will bring in 1 million in capital.

In the letter, China Harbor claimed that 60 Chinese companies have already shown interest in investing in the Chinese economic zone. The land required will account for 40 percent of the total land area in the Chinese economic zone. On the other hand, the investment will be 2.8 million US dollars. They hope to invest  1 billion in the Chinese economy. It will employ 60 to 90 thousand people.

Recently, Chinese investment has been increasing in Bangladesh. According to Bangladesh Bank, in 2019, the country received an investment of 28.7 core. Of this, 63 billion came from China, which is about 22 percent of the total investment.

China has made great strides in terms of infrastructure between the economic zones of Japan, China and India. But a joint partnership agreement with Bejar to establish a Chinese economic zone has not yet been signed. The reason for this is the controversy over China Harbor.

In November 2017, China Harbor Engineering was accused of bribing Nazrul Islam, then secretary of the Road Transport and Highways Department, with . Although the government has not blacklisted them. They are working in Bangladesh.

The China Economic Zone Joint Partnership Agreement has come to a standstill in the China Harbor debate. Asked about his views on the issue, M Mashroor Riaz, a former senior economist at the World Bank Group in Dhaka and chairman of the Policy Exchange, a non-governmental organization, said the Chinese economic zone needed to be accelerated. There should be no hesitation about it. Regarding China Harbor, he said there are many instances in the world where a company gets a job from being blacklisted for a certain period of time. They were not blacklisted in Bangladesh. Now you have to take special care to work with them.

Mashroor Riaz also gave an explanation as to why Chinese investment is increasing in Bangladesh. He said Chinese investment in countries like Bangladesh comes more and faster because they can take more risks. Lack of policy continuity and regulatory risks are high in Bangladesh. He thinks that Chinese investment will come to take advantage of the 8,256 products that Bangladesh has got duty free facility in the Chinese market.