RAJSHAHI, June 2: The under-constructed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hi-tech Park has started becoming an employment hub for youths creating an enthusiasm among the young generation.
At present, around 400 youths are engaged in various works, including software development, site maintenance of famous companies and file works as per demand from abroad, generating working atmospheres in the park.
Afroza Arbi Tusi, who is working in Fleet Bangladesh, said she has got chances of developing her career living in Rajshahi with her family members.
“I was very much anxious about developing my career during university life and always thought about going to Dhaka for career development,” she said while talking to this correspondent here on Wednesday.
She added that the Bangabandhu Hi-tech Park has become a blessing for her as it has created scopes of building careers for many youths interested in the IT sector.
‘Tech Rajshahi’ has been working to deliver services related to mobile games and other software.
Mahfuzur Rahman, Chief Executive of the organization, said they have 142 workers and 28 of them are working in the hi-tech park.
He said the location of the park along with its modern facilities has enhanced the brand value of his institution.
Chief Executive Officer of ‘MD Info’ Monzurul Murshed said they have got spaces in Joy Silicon Tower and Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Building.
They have around 1,000 workers and 150 of them are working in the office as ninety-five percent of the workers are the residents of Rajshahi, he said.
Engineer Mahfuzul Kabir, Deputy Director of the hi-tech park, said there are two portions- Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Building and Sajeeb Wazed Joy Silicon Tower- in the park.
Construction works of the Sheikh Kamal IT Incubation and Training Centre were completed last year, while the Joy Silicon Tower is now on the final stage, he said.
Haque said ten companies have so far been given spaces in Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Building, while seven others in Joy Silicon Tower.
He added that the park has been built on around 31 acres of land in Nabinagar area adjacent to Rajshahi metropolis aimed at establishing knowledge-based IT industries together with ensuring an area-based development.
Bangladesh Hi-tech Park Authority is implementing the Taka 335.51-crore project initiated by the Information and Communication Technology Division.
Employment opportunities for around 14,000 youths both male and female will be created upon successful completion of the project by December, 2022.
The infrastructure development works include land development, a ten-storey silicon tower in the area of 2.70 lakh square-feet, substation building, internal roads and drains, boundary wall and high-speed internet.
The 62,000 square-feet IT Incubation centre with an energy efficient state of the art office building has multipurpose training facilities, high quality start-ups, rainwater harvesting and renewable energy sources.
Director of the “Establishment of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hi-Tech Park” project Engineer Fazlul Haque said there is also provision of a Cineplex for showing video documentaries to the investors from both home and abroad besides an auditorium.
He said the silicon tower will have multipurpose facilities including two basement parking floors, high standard training, seminar and conference rooms, rentable office spaces and lounge and recreation area.
All sorts of business environments were ensured for attracting investors from both home and abroad.
As a whole, the park will contribute a lot towards establishing a knowledge based IT industry in Rajshahi side by side with creating a business environment through attracting domestic and foreign investors.
It will also play a significant role in the national economy through creating opportunities for new IT entrepreneurs besides creating employment scopes, experts hoped.
All is set to start operation of ‘Mitali Express’, the third India-Bangladesh train service on Wednesday (June 1) from New Jalpaiguri station in West Bengal, India to Dhaka Cantonment station in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan and his Indian counterpart Ashwini Vaishnav will jointly flag-off the ‘Mitali Express’ in a virtual format from the Rail Bhaban, headquarter of Indian Railway ministry here, official sources said.
The Bangladesh railway minister arrived here on Saturday on a week-long official visit to India. Apart from flagging-off the train, the minister will visit Lucknow, Varanasi, Raebareli and Tughlakabad to inspect some railway coach factories there.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Railways of India Darshana Jardosh today inspected the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station in West Bengal ahead of flagging-off the ‘Mitali Express’. She reviewed the station operations, public service and maintenance of cleanliness at the station.
“Conducted an inspection visit of New Jalpaiguri Railway Station of Northeast Frontier Railway in West Bengal. Reviewed the station operations, public services and maintenance of cleanliness at the Railway Station,” she tweeted.
The minister stated that the Mitali Express, in addition to bilateral connections, will help to bolster tourism prospects and in the next few days, a hospital, shopping malls and low-cost hotels will be constructed in the area to help people navigate around the station, media reports say.
According to sources, the train will take nine hours to travel 513 kilometres between New Jalpaiguri and Dhaka Cantonment station. It will be operated by a diesel engine and will have four air-conditioned cabin coaches and four air-conditioned chair cars.
The ‘Mitali Express’ will leave the New Jalpaiguri station in northern West Bengal at 11.45 am and reach Dhaka at 10.30 pm Bangladesh time, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) on India’s Northern Railway told media.
It will only stop for 10 minutes each at Haldibari, the last station on the Indian side, and Chilahati—which is the first station on the Bangladesh side—for the change of drivers. Otherwise, it does not have any other stoppage.
During its return journey, Dhaka Cantonment - New Jalpaiguri Mitali Express will also run two days a week- on Monday and Thursday, which will leave Dhaka Cantonment at 21:50 hours (BST), the CPRO added.
While the train will arrive at Chilahati (Bangladesh) at 05.45 hours (BST), it will depart from Chilahati at 06.15 hours (BST). Further, the train will arrive at Haldibari (India) at 06.00 hours (IST) and depart from Haldibari at 06.05 hours (IST) to reach New Jalpaiguri at 07:15 hours (IST), Indian Railway sources said.
They added the train tickets for this journey will be available at the overseas Passenger Reservation System counters at New Jalpaiguri Station and Kolkata Railway Station.
Meanwhile, the other two Indo-Bangladesh passenger trains - Maitree Express and Bandhan Express, whose operations were disrupted due to Covid-19 restrictions, started their operations on Sunday.
Maitree Express, which began service in 2008 is the first train to run between the two countries since the British partitioned India in 1947. Bandhan Express began service later that year.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpanagar (BSMSN), an upcoming smart industrial city, is gradually becoming a successful initiative of the present government by attracting huge amount of local and foreign investments.
Located at a distance of 10km from Mirsarai on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway and 60km from the port city, Chattogram, BSMSN is being constructed on a contagious 33,000 acres of land on the seashore in Ichakhali, Charsharat, Char Mosharraf, Char Lakkhi and Sadhur Char.
The strategic location of BSMSN along the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway and advantages of being an ocean-front economic zone motivated the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) to dream in a bigger canvas.
Talking to this correspondent, BEZA Executive Chairman Shaikh Yusuf Harun said BSMSN is one of the most suitable sites for setting up industrial establishments in the country.
He said it is along the strategic location of Dhaka-Chattogram industrial corridor as business and living cost are significantly lower at Mirsarai as well as in Chattogram division than other developing cities in the world.
“With a high-quality business friendly environment, it has positive impacts and contributions in shaping Chattogram into a leading regional business hub,” he added.
He expressed his optimism that BSMSN, the first planned industrial city of the country, would pave the way for establishing a truly world-class business and industrial center.
BEZA Consultant Md Abdul Quader Khan said Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With increasing economic prospects and industrialization, migration of rural population to urban areas has become the country’s biggest challenge as the existing urban areas are becoming more concentrated.
With a density of 47,400 people per square kilometer, Dhaka remains the most densely populated city on earth,” he added.
By 2035, he said, nearly 110 million people, about half of its total population, are expected to live in urban areas; currently, more than 60 percent of Bangladesh’s urban population is concentrated mainly in four metropolitan cities– Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, and Rajshahi.
Given this pace of urbanization, he said, Bangladesh is likely to face challenges in meeting the needs of its growing urban population in terms of housing, transportation, energy and other infrastructure along with employment and other universal services.
Abdul Quader Khan, also a development activist and consultant for environmental and social development, said a smart industrial city, to address the woes of urbanization, can be the perfect panacea at the moment.
“It propels the growth of an economy and spurs its development. It addresses the immediate need to provide adequate urban infrastructure, meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social and environmental aspects using ICTs and other means to improve quality of life, the efficiency of urban operation and services and competitiveness,” he added.
He mentioned that smart industrial cities are known to leverage technological advancements using the Internet of Things (IoT) platforms to monitor city infrastructure, overseeing everything from traffic flows, parking, water and even air quality, and using the resulting data to handle long-term planning around environmental sustainability.
Abdul Quader Khan said that instead of focusing only on the concept of economic zone, BEZA decided to utilize the BSMSN project area in such an unprecedented approach that will transform the entire economy of Bangladesh, as well as improve the overall quality of life attracting businesses and citizens to settle in.
To transform BSMSN into a self-contained smart industrial city, Abdul Quader Khan said BEZA has developed a comprehensive master plan to build a ‘Smart City’, incorporating seaport, rail and road connectivity, power plant, marine drive and social infrastructures like residential areas, tourism-park, hospital, school and university.
The primary goal of the master plan is to ensure that critical infrastructure is economically sustainable and public services are interactive, transparent and responsive, he added.
He said the comprehensive master plan has been designed addressing five central elements of industrial development: governance, economy, ecology, resources and community.
He said BSMSN, the first planned city of the country, will pave the way for establishing a truly world-class business and industrial centre.
It is expected to create employment opportunities for 1.5 million people within the next 15 years and ensure US$25 billion export from this industrial enclave, he added.
He said the city has started attracting leading companies from around the world to start manufacturing for domestic and export market.
“Local companies, considered as giants, have also begun establishing factories to commence their operation in the city.
It is expected that various types of industries, such as garments and its supporting industries, agro-products and agro processing products, integrated textiles, leather and leather goods, shipbuilding, motorbike assembly, food and beverage, paint and chemical, paper and products, plastics, light engineering (including auto-parts and bicycles), pharmaceutical products, power and solar parks will be set up in the industrial city,” he added.
Abdul Quader Khan said BSMSN is going to be the country’s first ‘green’ or eco-industrial city harmonizing with nature, energy systems, materials and waste management; water supply and drainage; effective eco-industrial park management; construction or renovation; integration with the local community.
As per BEZA sources, BEZA has already allocated about 5,614 acres land among the 127 business houses and their proposed investment is around Taka 1,50,000 crore.