The Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) has increased the number of industrial plots on offer by 71 percent this year, even as hundreds of plots advertised in 2025 remain without takers, highlighting weak entrepreneur interest in new industrial sites.

BSCIC has put 1,665 plots across 18 industrial estates and parks up for allocation in 2026, up from 975 plots in 19 locations a year earlier, according to the corporation’s data. Thirteen of the 19 estates listed in 2025 remain on this year’s allocation roster, indicating that a significant share of last year’s plots failed to attract investors.

The shortfall is starkest at the Munshiganj electrical goods and light engineering industrial town, where 29 of its 361 plots were initially allocated. Of the remaining 332 plots advertised in 2025, only six were allocated, leaving 326 available this year.

BSCIC officials attribute the slow uptake to land priced at over BDT 91.63 million an acre, high establishment costs and inadequate connectivity infrastructure despite the estate’s proximity to Dhaka.

Rajshahi BSCIC Industrial Area-2, established in 2022, shows a similar pattern. Only 28 of 237 plots offered last year were allocated, leaving 209 available this year. By contrast, the older Rajshahi industrial estate has no vacant plots.

Jafar Bayazid, BSCIC’s Rajshahi regional director, told Bonik Barta: “Rajshahi has always been an industrially lagging region. Government facilities make BSCIC plots attractive, but entrepreneurs naturally consider returns. We have taken steps to attract large industrial groups.”

In Rangamati and Moulvibazar, BSCIC failed to allocate any of the four plots on offer in each location. Elsewhere, uptake was patchy: two of 31 plots in Sunamganj, six of 65 in Srimangal, eight of 23 in Barguna and 14 of 51 in Chuadanga were allocated.

The same pattern emerged at the Gopalganj (Expansion) BSCIC Industrial Estate. In June 2025, the government announced 99 industrial plots for allocation, but entrepreneurs showed interest in only 47. A fresh notice has been issued this year for the remaining 52 plots.

BSCIC’s new list includes Raozan in Chattogram, with 163 plots, while new allocation notices have been issued for Barisal with 112, and Khagrachhari and Meherpur with one each. Madaripur’s expansion has 69 plots available for allocation this year, up from 26 last year.

Not all estates have struggled, however. Nearly all plots in Kishoreganj, Keraniganj, Lalmonirhat, Patuakhali and Bhola were allocated in 2025.

Sirajganj industrial park’s second phase also stands out as an exception. The number of plots on offer has risen sharply, from 83 last year to 557 this year. The park, established on 400 acres in 2024, has 829 plots in total. Stakeholders said its proximity to the Jamuna Bridge and road, rail and river connectivity could increase entrepreneurs’ interest in the park.

BSCIC has sought to attract large industrial groups to fill the gap. The agency approached Square Group and Nabil Group about Rajshahi-2 plots, but officials said the companies preferred to buy private land after inspections. Pran-RFL Group showed more interest in leasing jute mills than taking plots in the estate.

Kazi Nazrul Islam, BSCIC’s director for industrial development and extension, acknowledged that the empty plots cannot be blamed solely on the recent economic crisis. The way projects were selected and implemented in the past also raises questions. “It can’t be denied that political considerations influenced several projects in the past. That’s why repeated notices have struggled to attract genuine entrepreneurs. But the recent domestic economic crisis is no less responsible. BSCIC is working to address these constraints as it plans future industrial estates. At the same time, it is continuing to make every effort to allocate the vacant plots already available,” he told Bonik Barta.

Stakeholders said the slow allocation was linked to broader economic pressures including political and economic uncertainty, high dollar rates, restrictions on opening letters of credit, rising investment costs and weak local demand. Recent energy and electricity shortages have further increased the risk of industrial investment, they said.