Fourteen local companies and industrial groups have submitted 86 investment proposals to reopen and invest in closed and loss-making state-owned factories, with the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) currently reviewing the proposals.
The proposed investments cover sectors including agriculture and agro-processing, electric vehicles and motorcycles, data centres and digital infrastructure, food and water processing, light engineering and renewable energy.
The government launched an initiative in June to reopen closed and loss-making state-owned factories through private investment. BIDA initially identified 44 factories that could potentially be handed over to the private sector, including 13 under the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation, 12 under the Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation, 10 under the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation, five under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation and four under the Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation.
Among the interested investors, PRAN-RFL Group submitted 35 proposals, followed by Akij Resource Group with 12, TK Group with 10, Kazi Farms with four and Transcom Group with three.
Several companies have expressed interest in the same factories. Paragon and Kazi Farms Group, for example, are interested in Thakurgaon Sugar Mills, while Nabil Group, BRAC Seed and Agro Enterprise and Milk Vita have proposed investments in Setabganj Sugar Mills.
PRAN-RFL has proposed investments across 16 state-owned factories, covering automobile assembly, agro-industry, construction materials, solar power, footwear, furniture, poultry and dairy farming. The group has also reopened Rajshahi Textile Mills and Rajshahi Jute Mills under a public-private partnership, employing around 3,500 people at the two facilities.
Other proposals include agro-processing and solar power projects by Paragon, agricultural and renewable-energy projects by Akij Agro and Livestock, electric vehicles and light engineering projects by Akij Electric and Electronics, and automobile components, EVs, footwear and solar-glass production by TK Group.
BIDA Executive Member Nahian Rahman said the level of private-sector interest has been encouraging. The authority is preparing a policy framework under which closed and loss-making state-owned factories could be transferred through long-term leases, profit-sharing or other investment models.
Industries Secretary Abdun Naser Khan said the final model for transferring the factories will be determined after rules are formulated under the Invest Bangladesh Bill 2026.
Experts have welcomed the initiative but stressed that the factories should continue operating as industrial facilities after being transferred to private investors. They also called for selecting investors based on their financial capacity, technical expertise and reputation.
The government expects the initiative to bring idle industrial assets back into production, attract private investment, create employment and strengthen industrial capacity across multiple sectors.
