e_Paper, Sunday, July 23, 2017

News 5
SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2017
‘Dhaka has a unique opportunity
that other cities don’t have’
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune’s Ibrahim Hossain Ovi, Chief Economist for South Asia Region
of the World Bank Martin Rama discusses Dhaka’s unique opportunity to transform itself by
well-planned expansion east of the Balu River
DT
How can Bangladesh attract more
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
when private sector investment
has only seen very slow growth?
What brings FDI is the opportunities
a country provides. The fact
that Bangladesh has been doing
so well with ready made garments
(RMG) but has had difficulty expanding
beyond that could be partly
related to the business environment,
the ease of doing business.
This is also related to logistics and
logistical cost. A place that is too
congested, that does not have good
infrastructure may not attract investors
because you lose a lot of
money just getting things going.
From that perspective, if you
think of a corridor to Chittagong
from east Dhaka over the Padma
Bridge then Dhaka will have a very
good connection towards the west
of the country. In a way Dhaka is
the hub of Bangladesh and having
a functional hub can be a way to
attract FDI.
Think of different scenarios for
east Dhaka. For example, you can
have a scenario where east Dhaka
is very much like west Dhaka and
you do the same thing, put in people
until there is no more space
left, that is unlikely to attract much
FDI. You will have factories, you
will have shops but you will not be
a very attractive place.
Now you can really develop east
Dhaka much better than west Dhaka.
That is a place where you can
build high quality services such as
universities, hospitals, schools and
IT and that will be much more attractive
for FDI.
Which sectors can attract FDI in
Bangladesh?
What you will expect from the
stage of development Bangladesh
is in, to move towards other light
manufacturing jobs. The candidates
for foreign direct investment
are pharmaceuticals, shipbuilding
and appliances.
The experience of South East
Asia’s development was that these
were the next thing that came after
garments, but poor logistics and
If the logistics and the business environment are conducive, you
can take advantage of the fact that there are many investors who
are looking for places that have a good labour force and Bangladesh
has a good reputation
difficulty of doing business is making
it difficult here. Again, good development
of Dhaka could change
that dramatically.
Bangladesh’s export earning is
starting to decline. Do you see an
export opportunity to the South
Asian markets?
Bangladesh is on the road between
India and South East Asia (Asean)
which are two of the most dynamic
markets in the world. That opens
up an enormous opportunity.
There is also the fact that western
RAJIB DHAR
economies are starting to recover
from the recession and Bangladesh’s
exports are concentrated in
Europe and US, that should help.
If the logistics and the business
environment are conducive, you
can take advantage of the fact that
there are many investors who are
looking for places that have a good
labour force and Bangladesh has a
good reputation. It also does not
have a high labour cost. So if the
logistics and business environment
can be addressed I am confident
Bangladesh can get a lot of investment
from the Japanese and the
Chinese.
Since old Dhaka is on the banks
of the Buriganga River, how can
Dhaka use river transport to ease
the traffic on the roads?
Rivers are very important in Bangladesh
and Dhaka has so many rivers,
those rivers have challenges
as they are already half dead. But
navigation could be improved and
a viable connection made to Chittagong.
You see now, Industrial and Export
Processing Zones (EPZs) are
being developed in places where
you can directly be on the river.
The connectivity to Kolkata will
happen with Padma Bridge which
will give an enormous dynamism
to that area.
Since Bangladesh is moving into
being a middle income country
what should be the focus on
increasing the GDP?
You can think about this in several
ways. You can think about it in
terms of sectors like how do you
move out of mainly RMGs to other
things as well, and that is important
and that would require improvements
in the business environment
but you can also think of it spatially
- growth happens in cities.
When some one moves from the
countryside, from being a farmer
to working in a city, there is a gain.
That person gains higher earnings,
and the country also gets higher
productivity. Successful urbanization
is very important for the
growth of Bangladesh.
When you look at the size of
Dhaka relative to Bangladesh, to
me the success of Bangladesh is
very much dependent on the success
of Dhaka. So being strategic in
making Dhaka a much better city is
a priority.
Two things that are very important
to Bangladesh, exports and
migrant workers, both have
slowed in growth recently. What
do you think Bangladesh should do
to revive or refocus our energies?
The prospect of exporting labour
depends on the economic situation
of what happens in Gulf countries
and things like fuel prices. These
are things that are beyond the control
of Bangladesh. You can be sad
if opportunities decline but what
is under the control of Bangladesh
is having vibrant job creation in
Bangladesh. You can cope with
reduction of opportunity in gulf,
if you have job creation in Bangladesh
and jobs are created in cities,
so job creation in cities should be a
top priority. •
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY
Dhaka 32 26 Chittagong 31 27 Rajshahi 32 26 Rangpur 32 26 Khulna 28 25 Barisal 30 26 Sylhet 32 25
Cox’s Bazar 28 26
RAIN LIKELY
SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2017
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 6:46PM
SUN RISES 5:24AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW
35.3ºC
24.2ºC
Sylhet
Rangamati
Source: Accuweather/UNB
PRAYER
TIMES
Fajr: 4:50am | Zohr: 1:15pm
Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 6:58pm
Esha: 8:45pm
Source: Islamic Foundation