Setting up of 100 special economic zones in different parts of the country is one of the 10 key initiatives Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has undertaken for accelerating the development of the country.

Mongla Economic Zone is one such zone that PowerPac Economic Zone (Pvt) Limited, a concern of Sikder Group, is establishing in Mongla under Bagerhat district on 205 acres of land.

PowerPac Economic Zone was awarded with a licence for 50 years to Design, Build, Finance, Own, Operate and Transfer (DBFOOT) the economic zone under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA).

BEZA Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury and PowerPac Economic Zone (Pvt) Limited Chairman Rick Haque Sikder laid the foundation stones of several projects and inaugurated a rest house in the economic zone on Friday.

The projects include an oil depot of PowerPac Petroleum Limited having the capacity of 1 lakh tonnes, a depot for healthy edible oil, an international-standard rest house for foreign investors, a dormitory for foreign people working in the economic zone, a central effluent treatment plant, cargo jetty and Bashundhara cement bag manufacturing plant.

Speaking on the occasion, Rick Haque Sikder said, “This economic zone, which is adjacent to Mongla seaport and 20 kilometres away from the proposed Khan Zahan Ali Airport, will play a vital role in the economic development of the country, especially in job creation in the southern region, and will contribute greatly to poverty alleviation in the country.”

“Sikder Group has been working relentlessly since its inception at the instruction of Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as a partner in the building of Sonar Bangla as dreamt by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” he said.

Harunur Rashid, Additional Secretary to the government, Sean Haque Sikder, Director of Sikder Group and the son of PowerPac Limited Chairman Rick Haque Sikder, Adviser Farid Uddin Khan, Sikder Group COO Syed Qamrul Islam Mohon, Director Salauddin Ahmed, and other senior officials of BEZA, Sikder Group and Bashundhara Group were present at the event.