The people of Rajshahi eye for a new spirit of hope as the construction of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Silicon City (hi-tech park) is going on at Haragram-Nabinagar area in the city.
Just a few months ago the area was full of illegal slums where quarrelling, violence and gathering of drug peddlers were everyday events. Now the scenerio has changed.
The hi-tech park is being built at a cost of Tk 281.91 crore at Bulanpur under Rajpara police station in the metropolis.
The park will create new employment for more than 14,000 youths both males and females.
Deputy Project Director Mahfuzul Kabir said the park will provide incubation facility to new entrepreneur companies in IT and ITeS sectors along with drawing local and foreign investors.
The work on the project covering an area of 31.63 acres is going on in full swing. The youths will get the opportunity to work in the area once the construction is finished in June, 2019.
“We are implementing the project with highest priority as it was promised by honourable prime minister. We hope we would be able to initiate the activities of the park by completing its construction within the stipulated time,” Kabir added.
Mayor-elect of Rajshahi City Corporation AHM Khairuzzaman Liton terms the silicon city as dream of Rajshahi and it is going to be a reality within near future. On completion of the park, Rajshahi will be familiarised with the global arena by 2021.
He says that the park will play a key role in accelerating the economic development by expanding hi- tech industries, establishing hardware and IT/ITeS industries, and creating a healthy investment environment for foreign firms.
“Rajshahi will become a digital economy hub by generating IT-based employment in that park,” Liton said adding that the park is being built following a pledge made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a rally in Rajshahi in 2011, when she had promised a bright future for the city’s students.
“The city is hosting more than 100,000 students of different educational institutes like Rajshahi University, Rajshahi Medical College, Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET) and Rajshahi College,” he said.
At the preliminary stage, the interested persons will get training and afterwards they will get works in the park. Fazley Hossain Badsha, MP, said Bangabandhu hi-tech park would play a vital role in boosting the current economy of the region by creating new technology-based employment.
He said a total of 672 families who were residing on the 31-acre park site were given around Taka 3.74 crore in phases as compensation for their proper rehabilitation.
Badsha said that the ICT Division has been implementing the hi-tech park project as the present government under the dynamic leadership Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is very much keen to implement the project for socio-economic development of the region.
The lawmaker said the park would play a key role in building Digital Bangladesh, accelerating the national economic development by expanding hi- tech industries, establishing hardware and IT industries and creating a conducive atmosphere to attract foreign companies.
Foreign companies, he said, would be allowed to provide technological support for developing local industries. The present government is pledge-bound to promote the ICT sector for overall development of the country, he added.
To this end, the government has been implementing massive programmes and people of both rural and urban areas are enjoying benefits of modern technology, Badsha also said.
Upon successful completion, the silicon city will infuse dynamism into economic activities of the region, said Prof Abdul Wadud of Department of Economics in Rajshahi University.
In addition to generating massive young entrepreneurs, the park will contribute a lot to creating employment opportunities.
The number of Dhaka-bound job hunters from this region will be reduced, Prof Wadud expected.
“I am very much hopeful about positive outcomes of the park”, said Akheruzzaman, a student of Department of Computer Science and Engineering in Rajshahi University.
He expected that many of the
graduates of Rajshahi University and Rajshahi University of Enginee
ring and Technology would get job in the park.
