Prime minister Tarique Rahman on Monday directed authorities to simplify the project approval process in a bid to attract both domestic and foreign investment, while pledging support for investors willing to revive long-idle state-owned factories.
The directive was issued at a meeting held at the prime minister’s office at the Cabinet Division at the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital Dhaka on the day.
According to the prime minister’s press wing, the meeting focused on the current status and future course of action for closed mills and factories under the textiles and jute ministry, with senior officials from relevant ministries and agencies in attendance.
The prime minister said that the government remained committed to building an investment-friendly environment, observing that removing bureaucratic complexities was essential to achieving that goal.
A senior official present at the meeting said that delays in securing final project approvals had long discouraged investors.
The requirement to obtain clearances from multiple agencies was also identified as a significant barrier, contributing to procedural inefficiencies.
In response, the prime minister instructed officials to streamline and modernise the approval system.
He emphasised that approvals from ministries or departments deemed non-essential should be eliminated to expedite decision-making.
The prime minister also underscored the need to facilitate access to financing in order to encourage private investment in closed state-owned industrial units.
He directed relevant ministers to take swift and effective measures in this regard.
Commerce and textiles and jute minister Khondaker Abdul Muktadir Chowdhury, industries adviser to the prime minister Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, economic and planning adviser Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, state minister for textiles and jute Shariful Alam, principal secretary ABM Abdus Sattar, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority executive chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun, Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation chairman Brig Gen SM Zahid Hasan and Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation chairman Kabir Uddin Sikder, among others, were present in the meeting.
