Samsung backtracked from investing $22b during AL regime due to land problems: Bida chairman

South Korea-based multinational electronics giant Samsung wanted to invest $22 billion in Bangladesh during the Awami League regime but backtracked from their decision due to land-related problems, said Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida).

"During the previous government, Samsung wanted to invest in the Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ), but due to some problems related to land mutation, the company moved to Vietnam instead of investing in Bangladesh," Chowdhury, who is also the executive chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza), said at the opening session of the four-day long Bangladesh Investment Summit today (7 April).

"Had the then government resolved this problem quickly, the investment would have stayed in Bangladesh," he said.

Not just Samsung, many other investors turned away from Bangladesh because the previous government did not provide opportunities, he added.

Chowdhury said, "The then government thought that this land could not be given to the KEPZ. But the current government has solved this problem in just two months. We have solved what was not possible in the last 10 years in just one month. In fact, if there is goodwill, everything is possible."

The Korean EPZ in Chattogram began operations in 1995. Korean company Youngwon Group privately developed the industrial zone.

Speaking about Youngone Corporation Chairman Kihak Sung, the Bida chairman said, "The day I first joined the job [September 2024], we had a meeting with Korean entrepreneur Kihak Sung."

At the meeting, Kihak Sung talked about the problems related to KEPZ's land mutation.

"I am doing business in Bangladesh, I love this country, but what is happening with me is not right," Kihak Sung reportedly said at the meeting.

Explaining the reason for Samsung's decision not to invest, Chowdhury said, "Samsung saw that the land papers were not in order and we could not tell them when the papers would be in order. After that, Samsung left Bangladesh."

During the meeting with Chowdhury, Kihak Sung also said that he would be able to bring many investors to Bangladesh if the land problems were resolved.
"We then formed a team in Bida called Project Ambassador. We added some inter-ministerial officials there, starting with the deputy commissioner of Chattogram. The work that they [AL govt] could not do in the last 10 years, we have done in the last two months."

Kihak Sung has brought about 30 investors from Korea to attend the investment summit, said Chowdhury. 

He said, "On behalf of the government, we will stop all the red tape. We are trying to do this in coordination with various ministries in the government."

In response to a question, he said, "The cost of doing business in Bangladesh is lower than that of competing countries. Compared to our competing countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, the cost of water, electricity, gas, and land is the same in two respects as ours. However, in all other respects, the cost is higher in other countries than in ours."

He also said, "Our country's workers can learn anything easily."

The Bida chairman said continuous communication will be maintained with the investors who have come to Bangladesh to participate in the summit for the next 6-12 months, and the goal is to get them to invest in Bangladesh. "Investment decisions are not made in a day, it is a continuous process."