孟加拉用中国经验建设经济特区
文｜朱拜尔·哈桑（Jubair Hasan） 孟加拉国《金融快报》记者 翻译｜王晓波
图片提供｜朱拜尔·哈桑（Jubair Hasan）
导读：
政府最新五年计划的目标是到2020年能够吸引到95.6亿美元的外商投资，而经济特区是实现这一目标的政策组合中的重要组成部分
-
亚洲特色的经济特区
-
期望借经济特区实现经济腾飞
-
米尔萨莱成为投资热土
-
结语
亚洲特色的经济特区
在全球化的今天，经济特区被认为是世界上最好的投资和就业模式之一。
经济特区（EZ）是一个可以在财政和投资方面享受优惠法律法规的产业集群。
上世纪五十年代末，爱尔兰的克莱尔郡首次尝试使用现代经济特区这一做法，并迅速从欧洲传到美国，然后又迅速成为亚洲和非洲经济加速发展的引擎。
二十多年后，中国在东南沿海地区也成立了四个经济特区，亚洲经济在经济特区的推动下取得了飞速发展。
这一模式的成功运作使其他发展中国家也深受启发，他们纷纷将其纳入国家发展计划中，借此吸引外资，增加出口，创造就业，带动产业发展和改善现有的基础设施状况。
虽然经济特区已经开始改变了许多亚洲经济体的产业格局，但大多数国家仍处于管理不善，或者未取得任何进展的现状。事实上，这一模式能否成功在很大程度上取决于特区内的营商便利环境及其相应的服务。按照统计，1995年全球约有500个经济特区，根据最新数据显示，现在全球130多个国家里，约有4300个经济特区，超过7000万的劳动力在特区工作。
在亚洲，中国拥有的经济特区数量最多，约1500个。紧随其后的是菲律宾，312个；印度221个；斯里兰卡12个。孟加拉国目前只有8个经济特区，它们被称为出口加工区（EPZs），因为它们主要是为了促进海外销售。
人们普遍认为，上世纪八十年代初，中国这个世界上人口最多的国家在深圳、珠海、汕头和厦门成立了首批四个经济特区后，经济才实现了突飞猛进的发展。
起初，开放这几个城市作为特区是出于政治原因，而非经济考虑。因为它们离香港和台湾很近，在各种优惠措施的作用下，比如免税和土地特许经营，这几个地方比较容易成为台湾和香港商业团体进入大陆的突破口。
在不到十年时间里，这些城市就在中国经济发展的过程中名列前茅。有了这一成功经验，一个又一个的特区相继产生。现在，中国的特区面积已经达到55万平方公里，占总人口近三分之一的人在特区生活。
经济特区占中国国内生产总值（GDP）的22%，外商直接投资（FDI）的45%，和对外出口的60%。据估算，它们大约创造了3000多万个就业岗位，并使当地居民的收入增加了30%。
期望借经济特区实现经济腾飞
孟加拉国也制定了实现工业化的长期规划，期望借助连接南亚和东南亚这具有战略意义的地理位置获得利益最大化。规划的具体内容包括到2030年，建立100个经济特区。
依靠经济特区带动经济发展能够取得静态和动态双面效益。静态效益包括创造就业、扩大出口和增加政府收入；动态效益则包括使经济呈现多样化发展，以及通过外商直接投资实现创新和获得先进的技术，进而促进技能升级。
孟加拉国作为南亚的新兴经济体国家有望在最近从最不发达国家（LDCs）的名单中脱离出去，迈入发展中国家的行列。因此它非常希望能够像亚洲其他经济体那样，通过吸引更多的当地和海外投资实现其制定的17个可持续发展目标（SDGs）。
为了使各项工作能够有计划地向前推进，孟加拉国于2010年成立了孟加拉经济区管理局（BEZA）。政府意在依托这一机构可以吸引到400亿美元的投资，并为1000万人提供就业机会。
孟加拉国土地面积匮乏，这使得企业在获得工业用地方面遇到了很大困难，但政府已经在很短时间里将40000英亩未使用土地规划为工业用地。于是全球的投资者们都已开始涌入孟加拉湾三角洲。
政府最新五年计划的目标是到2020年能够吸引到95.6亿美元的外商投资，而经济特区是实现这一目标的政策组合中的重要组成部分。
应当学习中国建立特区的经验
由于孟加拉国地处印度洋沿岸重要的战略和地理位置，因此外国投资者们对其投资的兴趣正在日益增加。
作为一带一路倡议的一部分，中国扩大了对外投资，而且中国对于建立经济特区也有着丰富的经验，因此它在孟加拉国吸引外资的名单上列居首位。
由于中国产业发展需要的不断增长，孟加拉经济区管理局已经在位于米尔萨莱的最大的经济特区（占地30000英亩）为其预留了1100英亩的发展用地。中国的钢铁巨头昆明钢铁控股公司（KISC）也为在那里建工厂寻求另1000英亩的土地。
2018年7月由董事长赵永平率领的昆明钢铁控股公司高级别代表团访问了孟加拉国，最终落实了打造生产基地的各项事宜。该基地未来每年可生产200万吨的钢铁合成制品。
与此同时，在政府间协商的基础上，中国港湾工程有限公司将在位于吉大港的安瓦拉城专门为来自中国的投资者们兴建一个经济特区，占地面积为778英亩。
国家重点关注的经济特区将按照孟加拉国政府拥有30%股权，外国投资者持有其余股权的政策设立。
印度投资者将在米尔萨莱拥有1000英亩土地，在伯拉马拉和勐拉经济特区分别拥有300英亩和100英亩土地。总部位于新加坡的威尔玛集团在米尔萨莱的占地面积为100英亩。一家澳大利亚公司也在米尔萨莱预定了20英亩的土地。
此外，孟加拉经济区管理局也已经为建立阿莱扎尔经济特区开启了土地征用的流程。它将为日本企业提供1000英亩的土地，两家来自印度的开发商已经入围这一特区的开发。
在接受采访时，孟加拉经济区管理局执行主席帕班·乔杜里说，通过政府间协商，并在认同孟加拉国政府持股30%的前提下，管理局已经选定了四个国家级经济特区。
他说到目前为止他们已经收到了价值170亿美元的投资申请，其中80亿美元来自境外投资者。
他说，“它们都不仅仅是申请，因为按照我们的规定，感兴趣的投资者需要先交纳1%的投资款。”
他提到许多中国企业家都表示了想在经济特区占据一席之地的愿望，这是一个很好的迹象。他进而补充说，“这些特区对于企业来说非常重要，因为它们可以在这里得到全方位并且是持续的服务。”
他特别提到了安瓦拉特区，因为这个特区交给了一个中国的开发商，并且已经开始开发。他说，“我确信该特区建成后，一定会产生巨大的收益。”
米尔萨莱成为投资热土
就在20年前，土地匮乏的孟加拉国有幸在位于孟加拉湾吉大港的米尔萨莱获得了一大片已开垦的土地。当地人说，这片广阔的土地以前被用作包括水牛在内的牛群的庇护区。
在评估了其潜能和经济可行性后，政府提出了在该地区实施工业化的动议，并将其命名为米尔萨莱综合工业城，是一个由25个经济区组成的集群区。
该综合工业城主要建在30000英亩已开垦的土地上，包括吉大港和芬尼河区域。建成后可以提供200万个从事制造业的岗位。预计这一最大的经济特区每年具有生产价值50亿美元可供出口产品的潜能。
它将分阶段建成，项目投资需要234.7亿达卡，里面将拥有的制造业包括服装和服装辅料、合成纺织品、摩托车装配、汽车装配、汽车零部件制造、液化石油气工厂、发电厂、船舶制造、陶瓷制品、制药、照明工程、皮革制品和鞋类等。
由于它所处的位置具有战略和地理优势，该产业园已经成了深受当地和海外投资者追捧的热土。
该经济特区除了能够提供财务方面的优惠外，它最大的优势是临海，并且距离达卡至吉大港公路和铁路以及吉大港都非常近。此外，由于这一区域只有10%的土地归个人所有，土地收购的复杂性较低，公用事业提供商也能够保证能源和电力的供应，这些都是令企业家们对该特区感兴趣的地方。
卡纳罗利煤气输配公司董事总经理阿里·莫德·马穆恩说，政府部门已经决定为米尔萨莱经济特区启动一个天然气管道的施工项目。
按照项目规划，在天然气传输有限公司的协助下，这家输配公司已经安装了一条11公里长的输气管道，压力容量可达到1000镑/平方英寸。招标过程完成后即开始在该特区建立一个分站，可以满足特区每天2亿立方英尺的用气需求。
他说，“我有信心在明年十二月前向该地区供应天然气，我们公司对完成任务没有任何问题。”他确定特区内的气压会更稳定，他还补充说，“如果将来在供气方面出现严重问题的话，我们已经准备好在米尔萨莱接通液化天然气。”
结语
基础设施薄弱和营商环境差是孟加拉国在吸引国内投资和外国直接投资时遇到的最严重的问题。根据世界银行2017年发布的各国经营指数，孟加拉国在190个国家中排名第176。从经营指数项下的细分明目中可以看出，孟加拉国表现最差的三个方面是“强制执行合同”、“电力供应”和“财产登记”，分别排在第189位、187位和185位。
毫无疑问，孟加拉国如果希望发展成为中等收入国家，最重要的是使经济得到快速且可持续的增长。这其中旨在促进国内投资和外商直接投资，推动孟加拉经济实现持续快速增长的经济特区的重要性必须引起足够的重视。
孟加拉国应当分析亚洲其他国家建立和管理经济特区的经验，然后制定出适合自己国情的计划，以期从中获得最大的收益。特别值得思考的是，为什么印度、斯里兰卡、缅甸和巴基斯坦在经营经济特区方面不够成功的原因和中国经济特区能够取得成功的因素。
如果孟加拉国希望其所建立的经济特区能够实现效益最大化，两个方面必须给予认真考虑。一个是公路、铁路和河流或海洋间的互联互通；另一个则是特区内的服务一定要到位，这样才能确保企业无需到园区外寻求必要的服务，为他们的经营创造便利化的条件。
孟加拉经济区管理局正在考虑推出一站式服务，包括了近70项服务内容。如果它能得以落实，孟加拉国就真的可以成为投资者们追捧的热土。（编辑：张梅）
英文版：
Bangladesh’s SEZs journey; China leads the tally
By Jubair Hasan, Journalist of the Financial Express, Bangladesh Photo by Jubair Hasan
-
SEZs on Asian context
-
Bangladesh’s leaping dream riding on SEZs
-
China leads SEZ tally in Bangladesh
-
Mirsarai becomes hot-cake for investors
-
Conclusion
SEZs on Asian context
The concept of economic zone is now considered as one of the best investment and employment generation models across the world in this age of globalisation.
Economic zone (EZ) is a cluster of industries that enjoys liberal fiscal and investment laws and regulations.
Though the first modern zone applied in the Irish county of Clare in the late 1950s, it started rolling from Europe to America before accelerating the economic wheels of Asia and Africa.
More than two decades later, the wave of rapid economic growth riding on the special economic zones hit the Asian economies with the introduction of four such zones in the Chinese south-eastern coast.
The success encouraged other developing countries incorporate special economic zones (SEZs) into their growth plans to attract foreign capital, boost exports, create jobs, stimulate industry, and improve the existing infrastructure.
Though economic zones have started changing the industrial landscape of many Asian economies, most are poorly-run or do never take off. The success rate largely depends on the number of services available to ease of doing business. From an estimated 500 SEZs in 1995, there are now some 4,300 in over 130 countries (by the most recent count), employing more than 70 million workers.
In the Asian context, China has the largest number with around 1,500 zones followed by 312 in the Philippines, 221 in India and 12 in Sri Lanka while Bangladesh has only eight special economic zones, known as export processing zones (EPZs), facilitating overseas sales.
It is also believed that Chinese economy got momentum in the early 80s after the largest country in terms of population established the first four special economic zones (SEZs) in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen.
Initially, opening up these locations was driven by more political reasons than economic because these areas were closer to Hong Kong and Taiwan and were considered entry points to attract business communities from across the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong with various incentives such as tax exemptions and land concessions.
In less than a decade, these cities flourished on top of Chinese economic growth. With this experience, one after another coming in and it covers in aggregate 550,000 km2 of land area and nearly one-third of the population.
The SEZs accounted for 22 per cent of China’s gross domestic product (GDP), 45 per cent of total foreign direct investment (FDI), and 60 per cent of exports. There are also estimated to have created over 30 million jobs, increased the income of participating farmers by 30 per cent.
Bangladesh’s leaping dream riding on SEZs
Bangladesh also joined the league and adopted long-term industrialisation plan to reap the maximum benefits of its geographical and strategic location connecting South and Southeast Asia by developing 100 economic zones across the country by 2030.
The SEZs-driven development plan was adopted to generate both static and dynamic benefits. Static benefits include employment creation, export growth and rise in government revenues; whereas dynamic benefits include economic diversification, innovation and transfer of technology through foreign direct investment (FDI), and skills upgrading.
The emerging economy in South Asia that recently became eligible to graduate from least development countries (LDCs) to developing ones wanted to successfully reach all 17 goals of SDGs (sustainable development goals) by attracting more local and overseas investors in the way other Asian economy did.
For facilitating the development works in a planned way, the country established Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) in 2010. It is also estimated that such sites will help attract $40 billion and create 10 million jobs.
The land-starved country where businesses face difficulties in getting land for their industrial setup already acquired 40000 acres of unused land for industrial usage in a short period of time. As a result, global investors started pouring in to the delta of Bay of Bengal.
The government’s latest five-year plan has a target of attracting $9.56 billion foreign investment in 2020 and special zones are a key part of the policy-mix aimed at reaching this objective.
China leads SEZ tally in Bangladesh
Foreign investor’s interest has been rising gradually, demonstrating the emerging importance of the country’s strategic and geographical location along the Indian Ocean.
China, which has scaled up outbound investment as part as its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), topped the list of overseas investors in terms of securing spaces in the special economic zones.
China has so far secured 2,878 acres of land followed by India (1,400 acres), Japan (1,000 acres), Singapore (100 acres) and Australia (20 acres).
Due to the growing demand for industrial space from China, the BEZA has kept 1,100 acres in the largest economic zone (30,000 acres) in Mirsarai while the Chinese steel giant Kunming Iron and Steel Holding Company (KISC) sought another 1,000 acres for setting up its plant.
A high-level delegation of KISC led by its chairman Zhao Yongping visited Bangladesh in July, 2018 and finanlised everything to setup a production bases with the annual capacity of producing 2.0 million-tonnes of integrated iron and steel.
At the same time under the G2G (government to government) basis, a SEZ only for the Chinese investors is being built on 778 acres of land by China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. in Anwara of port city of Chattogram.
The country-focused SEZs will be built in an arrangement where Bangladesh government will have 30 per cent equity and foreign investors will hold the rest.
Indian investors will get 1,000 acres in Mirsarai, 300 acres and 100 acres in Bheramara and Mongla SEZs respectively while Singapore-based Wilmar Group will get 100 acres in Mirsarai where an Australian company also booked 20 acres.
On the other hand, the BEZA has just started the land acquisition process for the Araihazar SEZ, which is being developed on 1,000 acres of land for Japanese companies while two Indian developers have been shortlisted for the job.
When contacted, BEZA executive chairman Paban Chowdhury said the authorities had selected four country-specific SEZs under G2G basis with 30 per cent government equity.
He said that they have received investment proposals worth $17 billion until now, of which overseas investors share stood at $8.0 billion.
“It’s not just a proposal because the interested investors are also required to deposit one per cent of the proposed investment in accordance with our requirement,” he said.
He said large number of Chinese entrepreneurs is coming to get space in the economic zones, which is a good sign. “These sites are very important for businesses, who will get all kinds of services uninterruptedly from the areas,” he added.
About the Anwara zone, he said they have handed over the site to a Chinese developer who started developing the site. “I do firm believe it will deliver hugely once the site is completed,” he added.
Mirsarai becomes hot-cake for investors
Just 20 years back, land-starving Bangladesh was blessed with a considerable volume of reclaimed land from the Bay of Bengal at the Mirsarai point of Chattagram. And local people say the vast char land was used as a sanctuary for the cattle population including buffaloes.
Assessing the potential and economic viability, the government moved with an idea to go for planned industrialisation in the area. The infrastructural initiative was named Mirsarai Integrated Industrial City, a cluster of 25 economic zones.
The mega zone is being built on mostly reclaimed 30,000 acres of land, encompassing Chattagram and Feni districts, to create 2.0 million manufacturing jobs. The potentially biggest economic zone is expected to produce exportable goods worth $5.0 billion a year.
It will be readied in phases and the project involving Tk 23.47 billion will house industries like garments and garments accessories, integrated textiles, motorbike assembling, automobile assembling, automobile parts manufacturing, LPG plant, power plant, shipbuilding, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, light engineering, leather products and footwear.
The industrial site has become a hot cake for both local and overseas investors, thanks to its strategic and geographical advantages.
Besides fiscal benefits, the major advantage of the mega zone is its close proximity to the sea, the Dhaka-Chittagong highway and railway and the Chittagong port. At the same time, less complexities over the land acquisition and the assurance of utility providers to supply energy and power have generated interest in this zone among the industrialists. Only 10 per cent of land is privately-owned in the zone.
Managing Director of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd Ali Mohd Al-Mamun said the state agency has taken a new project named Construction of gas pipeline project for Mirsarai Economic Zone.
Under the project, the company finished installation of 11 kilometre-long pipeline with 1,000 PSI pressure capacity by the help of GTCL. The tender process was completed to start the construction of a sub-station there with a supply requirement of 200 million mmcf.
“I am confident of supplying gas to the zone by December next. There will be no problem from our side,” he said.
He also said the gas pressure would be better in the zone, adding: “If there is any severe gas supply problem in future, we are prepared for the LNG connections in Mirsarai.”
Conclusion
Weak infrastructure and poor business environment are critical problems for Bangladesh in attracting both domestic investment and FDI. According to the 2017 Doing Business index of the World Bank, Bangladesh ranks 176th among 190 countries. In terms of sub-components of the Doing Business index, Bangladesh's worst performances are observed in the areas of 'enforcing contracts', 'getting electricity' and 'registering property' with rankings of 189th, 187th and 185th respectively.
There is no denying that rapid and sustained economic growth is very important for the Bangladesh economy on its way to becoming a middle income country. The importance of SEZs, aimed at propelling both domestic investment and FDI for rapid and sustained economic growth in Bangladesh, can't be undermined.
Bangladesh should analyze zoning experience in other Asian countries and chalk out proper plan for getting maximum outcomes from the zones. It needs to be considered why India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan are not so successful in implementing SEZs; factors behind the Chinese success story in using SEZs.
Two factors Bangladesh needs to be seriously considered for getting maximum benefits from such special sites. One is smooth connectivity with roads, rail and rivers or ocean and another factor is availability of services. Such industrial climate requires to be ensured so that entrepreneurs do not need to go outside the industrial parks for any service.
BEZA is working to implement an OSS (one-stop service) project, a package of nearly 70 services. Once it is completed, Bangladesh will turn into a hot cake for investors.
