It has been said time and time again that for Bangladesh to reach its full potential as a nation, it must develop more industries. Currently, we are overwhelmingly dependent on the RMG sector for export dollars and noticed first hand the adverse effects during the Covid-19 pandemic that any shocks to it bring.
As such, our light engineering sector has emerged as having the potential to contribute significantly to our economy.
Unfortunately, despite its potential, the industry has not seen the kind of growth that had been expected of it. Factors like outdated technology, low productivity, poor quality of products, lack of access to finance, high price and unavailability of quality raw materials, and lack of policy support and industrial facilities have all been identified as major challenges.
It is unfortunate therefore that there is such a long list of challenges for an industry we wish to establish, and it is about time we seriously paid attention to overcoming them.
To that end, it is good to see that the authorities are indeed paying attention, and a new policy is in the works -- an 11-point plan would help develop infrastructure, ease financing, and offer industrial incentives for the sector by 2027.
This is the sort of thinking we expect from leaders; identify a budding industry as having massive potential for export and then devise the appropriate policies to take it to the next level.
What is important now, first and foremost, is to ensure that these policies being developed actually see the light of day. Too often, we come up with plans only for them to languish and never proceed towards implementation.
This sector has massive potential, and we must do all we can to help it flourish, while simultaneously identifying and supporting more such industries to ultimately create a diversified export basket.
