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Chinese co to invest $1.0b in solar panel plant
Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh
BEPZA can't provide adequate land
Badrul Ahsan
A Chinese manufacturing giant has planned to invest US$1.0 billion to set up a solar panel manufacturing plant in Bangladesh, triggered by the US government's anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese export of such items to its market.
Managing director (MD) of the Chinese company - Giga Solar Energy Holding Ltd - visited Dhaka last month and submitted proposal to the Board of Investment (BoI) and the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) in this regard, officials told the FE Thursday.
Last year, the US imposed around 25 per cent anti-dumping duties on import of any kind of solar panel system from China to its market.
Targeting the huge opportunity of export to the US, the European Union and Australian market, the proposed plant will initially produce solar panels capable of generating two mega watts (MW) of electricity per year. It has a plan to gradually increase the production up to four MW within a couple of years, sources said.
The Chinese company, in the meantime, has finalised a joint venture agreement with a local firm namely Bangladesh Allied Solar Energy (BASE) to set up the plant.
"We are now in talk with the Chinese company to finalise the ratio of investment," Managing Director of BASE Mostafa Al Mahmud told the FE.
Mr Mahmud, also the general secretary of Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA), informed that they sought at least 35 plots in any EPZ. But BEPZA offered them only 16 plots in the Mongla EPZ, which is not viable for installation of such a big unit. As a result, they are now searching for lands outside the EPZs.
"We have planned to invest $250 million initially, and the rest of the amount will be invested in phases," said Mahmud.
Mr Mahmud also told the FE that the main destinations of the solar panels are the US, the EU and Australia, where the Chinese mother company has already established a sales chain.
"Demand for renewable energy is increasing all over the world. Our main focus is to gradually export products across the globe."
Only the US imports solar panels worth over $ 3.0 billion from China every year. Most of the developed countries are now trying to turn to renewable energy sources to reduce dependency on gas and oil-based power generation.
"If everything goes according to our plan, at least 12,000 workforce will be recruited in the proposed plant," he added.
However, a BEPZA official has expressed his dismay over their failure for not providing the Chinese company its required land.
"Although the size and quality of the investment has surprised the BEPZA, we could not commit adequate land to the company due to shortage of plots in the EPZs," he added.
According to BEPZA, majority of the plots of the EPZs are already occupied with industrial units, which has been disappointing many high-profile investors for the last couple of years.
Only Mongla and Uttara EPZs have a few plots left for allotment. However, both the EPZs have been facing shortage of gas and electricity as well as high water salinity.
However, local businesses have welcomed the proposed investment and said the attention of such high-tech investors proves that Bangladesh is on the right track to woo foreign investment.
"Arrival of such investments will gradually reshape the country's economy in future by increasing export earning," President of Exporters' Association of Bangladesh Abdus Salam Murshedy told the FE.
Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh
BEPZA can't provide adequate land
Badrul Ahsan
A Chinese manufacturing giant has planned to invest US$1.0 billion to set up a solar panel manufacturing plant in Bangladesh, triggered by the US government's anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese export of such items to its market.
Managing director (MD) of the Chinese company - Giga Solar Energy Holding Ltd - visited Dhaka last month and submitted proposal to the Board of Investment (BoI) and the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) in this regard, officials told the FE Thursday.
Last year, the US imposed around 25 per cent anti-dumping duties on import of any kind of solar panel system from China to its market.
Targeting the huge opportunity of export to the US, the European Union and Australian market, the proposed plant will initially produce solar panels capable of generating two mega watts (MW) of electricity per year. It has a plan to gradually increase the production up to four MW within a couple of years, sources said.
The Chinese company, in the meantime, has finalised a joint venture agreement with a local firm namely Bangladesh Allied Solar Energy (BASE) to set up the plant.
"We are now in talk with the Chinese company to finalise the ratio of investment," Managing Director of BASE Mostafa Al Mahmud told the FE.
Mr Mahmud, also the general secretary of Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA), informed that they sought at least 35 plots in any EPZ. But BEPZA offered them only 16 plots in the Mongla EPZ, which is not viable for installation of such a big unit. As a result, they are now searching for lands outside the EPZs.
"We have planned to invest $250 million initially, and the rest of the amount will be invested in phases," said Mahmud.
Mr Mahmud also told the FE that the main destinations of the solar panels are the US, the EU and Australia, where the Chinese mother company has already established a sales chain.
"Demand for renewable energy is increasing all over the world. Our main focus is to gradually export products across the globe."
Only the US imports solar panels worth over $ 3.0 billion from China every year. Most of the developed countries are now trying to turn to renewable energy sources to reduce dependency on gas and oil-based power generation.
"If everything goes according to our plan, at least 12,000 workforce will be recruited in the proposed plant," he added.
However, a BEPZA official has expressed his dismay over their failure for not providing the Chinese company its required land.
"Although the size and quality of the investment has surprised the BEPZA, we could not commit adequate land to the company due to shortage of plots in the EPZs," he added.
According to BEPZA, majority of the plots of the EPZs are already occupied with industrial units, which has been disappointing many high-profile investors for the last couple of years.
Only Mongla and Uttara EPZs have a few plots left for allotment. However, both the EPZs have been facing shortage of gas and electricity as well as high water salinity.
However, local businesses have welcomed the proposed investment and said the attention of such high-tech investors proves that Bangladesh is on the right track to woo foreign investment.
"Arrival of such investments will gradually reshape the country's economy in future by increasing export earning," President of Exporters' Association of Bangladesh Abdus Salam Murshedy told the FE.
