The industrial estates of BSCIC have been promoting small and cottage industrial sector and thereby creating employment opportunities, attaining poverty alleviation and balanced regional growth, ensuring optimum utilization of economic and human resources and accelerating overall economic growth of the country. To provide services to the entrepreneurs of small and cottages industries it has one head office in Dhaka, 4 Regional offices, 64 District offices (Industries Service Centre), 74 Industrial Estates and 15 Skill Development Centers at different places of the country.

The objectives of this study are to:

• Identify the constraints for better utilization of the existing industrial estates and also the constraints for distribution and uses of the unused plots in the industrial estates,

• Estimate the economic contribution of the existing 74 industrial estates,

• Provide suggestions for development and maintenances of the established industrial estates, and

• Estimate the contribution of the industrial estates on tertiary economy/service sector and

• Recommend future policy directions.

It is also important to assess whether the current industrial estate model of BISCIC is sustainable and it has accomplished the mandated activities in line with the previous Industrial Policies. The evaluation will be conducted in the light of the following aspects.

a. Evaluation of infrastructure facilities of Industrial Estates, Capacity needs, Policy Relevance and Constraints 

b. Economic (Tertiary) and Social Impact of industrial estates, such as investment impact, employment impact, gross value added, technological innovations and transfers, spillover impact, sustainability of BISCIC industrial estate model etc.

c. Future policy directions for BISCIC IEs and alternative sustainability approaches. 

About 25 BSCIC industrial estates will be selected as treatment areas and 10 more areas, where BSCIC is going to establish new industrial estates, will be selected as control areas for qualitative data collection.  A total of 500 firms within and outside BSCIC estates will be surveyed.

Study Team: Dr. KAS Murshid, Dr. Monzur Hossain (Study Director), Dr. Harunur Rashid Bhuyan and Iqbal Hossain