The Government’s flagship initiative to reduce Bangladesh’s dependence on ready-made garments and widen its export base has faced another setback, with its implementation deadline pushed to June 2026 and costs rising sharply.
The Export Competitiveness for Jobs (EC4J) project, first approved in 2017 at a cost of Taka 941 crore with World Bank support, was designed to boost competitiveness in leather, footwear, light engineering and plastics while generating around 90,000 jobs. Planning ministry records now show the budget has ballooned to Taka 1,264 crore, up 34% from the original estimate.
Progress on the project has remained sluggish, with only about 70–78% completed in eight years. Delays in land acquisition and machinery procurement slowed construction of four planned technology centres in Gazipur, Chattogram and Munshiganj. These centres are meant to provide enterprises with access to advanced machinery, training and business development services.
Project director Md Abdur Rahim Khan, also additional secretary at the commerce ministry, said the land acquisition process consumed significant time and caused a three-month pause last year. “If construction isn’t finished, where would you keep the machinery after purchasing?” he explained, adding that procurement tenders are expected to be floated soon.
Khan attributed the higher costs mainly to the sharp depreciation of the taka. “When the project was taken up, the exchange rate was around Taka 80–90. Now it’s Taka 122–124,” he said, noting that the additional allocation is directed towards machinery, equipment, software and unfinished construction, not fresh spending.
Despite its goals, the project has yet to make a visible impact on export diversification. In FY ’17, garments made up 81.23% of US US $ 34.6 billion in total exports. By FY ’25, the share had edged up to 81.49%, according to data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). The country’s export destinations have also remained concentrated, with the European Union and the United States still accounting for more than two-thirds of shipments.
Officials at the Planning Commission, speaking off the record, criticised the project design and warned against further extensions, pointing out that implementation delays mean Bangladesh must repay World Bank loans in more expensive local currency.
Economist M Abu Eusuf, executive director of the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID), stressed the urgency of completing the project within the current deadline. “This is a crucial initiative, but progress has been painfully slow. As LDC graduation nears, export diversification must receive higher priority,” he said, urging policymakers to fast-track non-RMG sectors with strong untapped potential.
