LAKSHMIPUR — The industrial estate run by the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, known as BSCIC, has failed to attract the expected number of factories despite its considerable potential, authorities and local entrepreneurs said.
Twenty-eight years after its founding, the estate is mired in problems. Half the units that received plot allocations have not begun production, officials said. Yet this region along the Meghna River offers cheap labor, easy transport links to 21 districts and significant agricultural output. Local residents said planned development of the estate could transform the area’s economic prospects.
Entrepreneurs cited gas and water shortages, potholed internal roads, unplanned drainage, power outages, unlit lampposts and the absence of a boundary wall as major problems. Despite repeated complaints to authorities, they said no effective action has followed.
Sources familiar with the matter said the BSCIC estate was established in 1997 on 16 acres of land in the Banchhanagar area of Lakshmipur town. The goal was to address unemployment and promote economic growth through industrialization. Plot allocations began in 2000, and a total of 99 plots were distributed across three tiers for 54 industrial units. Of those, 30 units are currently operational.
A short way off the Lakshmipur-Raipur regional highway toward the estate, several large potholes filled with water are visible. Inside, road and drainage problems are severe. The roads are pitted with potholes of every size, and trucks and pickup vans carrying goods sway as they move. Everything is covered in dust. Piles of garbage have built up in the drains, drawing mosquitoes and flies. During the monsoon, even a light rain leaves knee-deep water inside. About 20 to 25 plots lie vacant, where local residents graze cattle and goats. The lack of a boundary wall has led to thefts and other crimes. The estate includes oil mills, bakeries, a chocolate maker, soybean processing units, an automatic rice mill and a lubricant repackaging plant.
Fatema Begum, a woman worker from the West Lakshmipur area, said she walks to the estate every day. “Sometimes I take a rickshaw, but the drivers don’t want to come inside. When it rains a little, I have to wade through knee-deep water to get in and out,” she said.
A young entrepreneur, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the environment for business at the estate is favorable. “But it isn’t easy to get the bank loans we expect. Sometimes I struggle even to pay workers’ wages. Because of these losses, I’ve kept the factory closed,” he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report