From Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Jun 29 (PTI) Bangladesh's leading conglomerate Summit Group and India's Infinity Infosys Parks will jointly invest USD 207.59 million to build the country's biggest technology park that will provide jobs to nearly 60,000 IT professionals.
State-run Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) and Summit Technopolis Limited, a sister company of the Summit Group, signed the deal here last night to build the Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park (KHTP) at Gazipur district, 37 kilometres north of Dhaka.
"This is part of our initiative to transform Bangladesh into a merit-based nation from a labour-intensive country through the development of our ICT sector," state minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said.
He added the KHTP would be a specialised economic zone and lifeline of the country's IT sector providing room for foreign as well as Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to create a "world-class business environment", developing the facility under the government's Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme.
Summit's chairman Aziz Khan expects the park to become the "cyber capital of the (South Asian) region in next 15 years".
Under the agreement, Summit Technopolis and India-based Infinity Infosys Parks Limited will jointly invest USD 207.59 million in the first phase of building the high-tech park, for which the government had provided the KHTP with 232 acres of land.
According to the project documents the first phase of development will be fully operational within 10 years and would create job opportunities for 60,000 IT professionals.
The Summit would bear 90 per cent of the total costs of the project while the Infinity would provide the remaining 10 per cent.
The ICT ministry officials, meanwhile, said the park would be designed to accommodate Multi-Tenant Buildings (MTB), convention centers, hotels, custom infrastructure, warehouse, water treatment plant and power sub-stations alongside the IT-based industrial units.
"We are approaching with a duel strategy to attract investments through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and provide state-of-the-art facilities to the Bangladesh based IT/ITES Industry," ICT Secretary Shyam Sunder Sikder said.
Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority's managing director Hosne Ara Begum said the agreement between the government and Summit Technopolis would be valid for 40 years, which can be extended by another 20 years.
