The World Bank (WB) has attached priority to four major areas to achieve higher and sustainable growth in the gross domestic product (GDP), which is required to promote the country to middle-income group.
According to its latest “Bangladesh Development Update”, the four areas include garment sector, road infrastructure, Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), BSS said yesterday.
The report is officially scheduled to be launched today at a programme at the WB Dhaka office.
“Moving forward in the immediate future, stronger attention is needed to swiftly complete the transition in the garment industry, finish the critical ongoing road development projects, enact the Public Private Partnership (PPP) law, and award contracts to build Special Economic Zones (SEZs),” the report said.
The report said that in garments, much more needs to be done for effective implementation of wage increases and the new labour legislations, recruiting more factory inspectors and complete building inspections followed by swift remedial measures such as relocation of closed factories.
It said there is also a need to focus on speedy completion of transformational ongoing projects in the road and energy sectors, particularly the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highway; double tracking of Dhaka-Chittagong Railway; the Padma Bridge, the Dhaka metro rail and the two Bibiyana gas field based large power plants.
“The government should prioritize the most transformative projects and provide all necessary resources for completion within a specified timeline,” the WB said.
It suggested for enacting the PPP law and equip the PPP office with staff having knowledge and experience in developing, negotiating and supervising PPP projects.
“A proper legal framework providing internationally attractive guidelines and incentive policies is essential. PPP cannot be managed as a part of the day-to-day bureaucracy,” the update said.
In addition, it said there is an urgent need for the government to finalize the awarding of contracts for the proposed economic zones to be developed under Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) while ensuring the related services such as power, gas, good road-connectivity, and security are available in the developed land.
The report acknowledged the progress in the fields of politics and economy after the January 5 national election, and suggested that the efforts of development need to be further consolidated in the near-term by sustaining GDP and remittances growth recovery, creating jobs, containing inflation, and making progress on improving the quality of service delivery in health and education.