700 projects to get EEF aid

The government has decided to assist about 700 firms from its Equity and Entrepreneurship Fund (EEF) including one for crocodile farming in Mymensingh.
Under the EEF terms and conditions, a project worth at least Tk 2 million, may receive 49 per cent financial aid if it invests the remainder from its own funds.
Projects in agriculture, fishery, agriculture and food processing, and information technology sectors are eligible. The financial assistance, in the form of loans, is repayable within eight years.
The government has approved 183 such projects since January and 500 others are now in line for similar assistance, Mohammad Iftekhar-Uz-Zaman, currently in charge of running and managing the EEF, told the news agency.
Of the 183 projects, there are 16 IT projects, each of which will receive between Tk 20 million and Tk 100 million, said Zaman, also the general manager of Investment Corporation of Bangladesh.
Asked if the financing had already begun, he said, ‘Eight firms have so far received the loans. But many parties are yet to complete 51 per cent investment and complete the full registration procedure of the land that will house their projects.’
‘Financial help will be provided to them once these formalities are completed.’
Around 1,000 firms have approached the government for assistance, for which there is around Tk 30 billion will be needed, however, the government has confirmed that there would be no problem with financing, said Zaman.
Most of the projects are related to agriculture, fisheries, and food processing while others are in the IT sector, he informed.
The government formed this fund in December 2000 to finance risky but promising projects. The Bangladesh Bank was then assigned to run and manage the EEF.
The charge was handed over to the ICB in June 2009, by which time the EEF had disbursed Tk 5.08 billion to 251 projects, of which 34 were related to information technology.
The ICB has since financed Tk 44.2 million for eight projects, of which two were IT and the others agriculture and food processing.
Iftekher-Uz-Zaman said, ‘We have taken a long time just to ensure efficient EEF financing.’
Before handing over EEF to the ICB, Bangladesh Bank had received 3,150 applications, of which 150 were for IT projects.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 projects were short-listed.