The Government is planning to take back 2,000 acres of Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) land as only 500 acres of the land is used by the KEPZ authorities, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina observed. The 500 acres of land in Anwara, Chittagong, is used by the South Korean company Youngone Corporation to set up industries.
Disagreeing with the decision, Rana Dasgupta, Legal Advisor of KEPZ said the Government provided the land to KEPZ for industrial infrastructure. Despite innumerable obstacles, KEPZ has carried out the work. But there has been a conspiracy so that they cannot set up industries here. They were supposed to receive gas, electricity and other facilities, but the Government has not provided that. The KEPZ will carry on legal battle against this decision.
After an investment conference between Bangladesh and South Korea in 1995, the agreement for the KEPZ was signed. According to Export Promotion Bureau sources, last year about US $ 50 million was exported from KEPZ. Asia’s biggest shoes factory is also being set up in this zone. Seven factories are already operating and machinery is being installed in another five. Another four are under construction.
