PMO, BUILD form committee for logistics infrastructure development
BI Report || BusinessInsider
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The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) have jointly formed the 7th thematic high-powered committee to propose strategies for logistics infrastructure development in the country.
Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah, secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, and Abul Kasem Khan, chairperson of BUILD, co-chaired the first meeting of the Logistics Infrastructure Development Working Committee (LIDWC).
Held on Wednesday at the PMO, the meeting hosted 13 representatives from different concerned ministries and government agencies related to the logistics and infrastructure sector in Bangladesh, presidents of leading private sector associations, development partners and academia as members of the committee.
This committee will work to provide data-driven, fact and research-based policy advocacy to the government of Bangladesh to achieve targeted macroeconomic indicators of the Perspective Plan 2021-2041, reads a press release.
It will do so by taking initiatives to establish an efficient and responsive logistics infrastructure system.
“In this Mujib Borsho, I strongly believe that LIDWC will assist the government by providing policy research assistance for the betterment of logistics infrastructure scenario of Bangladesh to achieve Vision 2041,” said Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah.
He added that there is a huge gap between the understanding of public and private sector and the committee will help reduce these gaps.
The secretary further informed that by 2022-23, a number of new projects will be coming for which “we need better institutional arrangement.”
Abul Kasem Khan said that this working committee is a good example of public private dialogue.
“Top priority has to be given on infrastructure and logistics development in the country. Six to seven percent of GDP will be required for infrastructure development of the country. This working committee, following concrete objectives, can contribute a lot… Pragmatic collaboration between public and private sector is a must in this regard,” he added.
Mohammad Lutfullah, senior private sector specialist at IFC, presented a study on “Logistics for Sustained Growth,” where he highlighted the priority given towards logistics in the Perspective Plan.
Absence of logistics contains national growth by 19% and causes higher cost of the product ranging between 4 to 48 percent, he said.
Nihad Kabir, president of MCCI, said that the strategy regarding logistics has to be aligned with national growth. Development in rail network and warehousing in land and water ports is highly needed, he added.
Among others, BUILD CEO Ferdaus Ara Begum, CCCI President Mahbubul Alam, ASM Mainuddin Monem, president of the Private Economic Zones Association of Bangladesh, Mohammad Naquib Uddin Khan, president of the Bangladesh Supply Chain Management Society, also spoke at the event.