Aiming to meet the national packaging demand local packagers and accessory-makers are going to invest Tk5,000 crore in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar. This move will also lift the direct packaging export. The packagers will begin the construction of the factory after getting certain authorizations from Beza. The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) has already approved the investment and allotted 25 acres of land to the packagers.
Md Moazzem Hossain Moti, President of the Bangladesh Garments Accessories & Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA), said that around 1,900 members of the association need at least 100 acres of land for the investment, which the association estimates will generate 4,000 jobs. BGAPMEA has set a target to provide packaging support to the garment village, and boost packaging and accessory export at the same time.
The new packaging factories in the industrial city will manufacture polybags, plastic hangers, different types of threads, twill tapes, drawstrings, padding and quilting tapes and zippers. According to the association, there are now around 1,900 packagers and accessory-manufacturing units, mostly in Gazipur and Narayanganj.
The factories supply 40 types of products, such as buttons, plastic hangers, polybags, labels, zippers, tags, tapes, thread, ribbon, rivets, laces, hooks, transfer film, paper, and ink, to export-oriented readymade garment industries. This backward linkage sector is able to meet the overall packaging demand of the local RMG and leather sectors.
Besides, local packagers provide backward linkage support to leather, pharmaceuticals, home textile, rice and crockeries. The packaging industry exported $7 billion in the last fiscal year through the apparel channel, while annual direct packaging export to 18 countries soars around $1 billion, according to BGAPMEA.
As the global packaging market is around $800 billion, so, Bangladesh has a great scope to enhance its presence in the global packaging market. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) is located at a distance of 10km from Mirsarai on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway and 60km from the port city.
It is being constructed on a contagious 33,000 acres of land on the seashore in Ichakhali, Charsharat, Char Mosharraf and Sadhur Char. It is the country’s largest industrial city. There will be a garment village at the industrial city spanning 500 acres of land.
BSMSN will be the first ‘green’ or eco-industrial city in the country in terms of nature, energy system, and waste management. It has been designed to address five central elements of industrial development: governance, economy, ecology, resources, and community.
