Infrastructure support to the Software and ITES sector
posted on
Oct 24, 07 12:11PM
Since 1997 the Government has been very proactive in its efforts to spur the growth of the Software and ITES sector in Bangladesh, at least at the policy level. It was in the aforesaid year that the then Commerce Minister Mr. Tofayel Ahmed invited Prof. Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, presently Vice Chancellor of BRAC University, to chair a committee comprising a number of IT industry executives to formulate an action plan to jump-start the software export industry which was virtually non-existent back then. This committee, popularly known as the JRC committee in the IT industry circles (not to be confused with the Joint River Consultative Committee, a bilateral India-Bangladesh body to oversee the sharing of natural water flow), prepared a 26-point recommendation including regulatory, infrastructure and promotional issues which were to be implemented by the government within 12 months or less. Accordingly, a task force was constituted, also chaired by Prof. Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, to monitor the implementation of the 26-point recommendation, which was convened regularly between 1997 and 1998 under the auspices of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). One of the recommendations in JRC report was to set up a High-tech Center, which would provide the requisite infrastructure on ready availability basis to software and ITES companies.
Accordingly, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) submitted a proposal to the EPB in 1998 to set up a 'Software Technology Building' with the following facilities:
1. 24 hour uninterrupted electric supply,
2. 2 Mbps Internet bandwidth through its own VSAT,
3. A common Software Testing Laboratory,
4. Partial subsidy on the rent and utilities.
The idea behind the High-tech Center or Software Technology Building or as such was that this place can be used as a showcase for potential overseas buyers and local corporate buyers of software and IT services. However, that proposal never saw the light of day. But the software industry managed to somehow survive and grow on its own in an organic fashion.
In 2002, when the BNP-led government was in power, a delegation from Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) met Mr. Mahmudur Rahman, the then Executive Chairman, Board of Investment and discussed the idea of ICT Incubator in line with such establishments in India and other regional countries. Thereafter, when Dr. Moyeen Khan was appointed as the Minister of the newly constituted Ministry of Science and ICT, a BASIS delegation led by this author went to meet him. At that meeting, the ICT Incubator issue came up when this author, as the then President of BASIS, apprised the honorable Minister that in 1998 a proposal for a Software Technology Building was submitted to the government through Export Promotion Bureau but has not been acted upon.
The author also explained that an incubator implies more than just infrastructure support and these other implied support services could be difficult for the government to manage, but a straightforward infrastructure support such as a Software Technology Building can be set up rather quickly and at a small cost. All the seven members of the then BASIS board including the author bore witness to the historic fact that the honorable Minister readily accepted the long pending proposal from 1998, which incidentally was also authored by this writer who was then the Secretary General of the first board of BASIS.
When informed by this author that the BSRS Bhaban, in the heart of the city in Kawran Bazar, had 70,000 sq. ft. ready-to-occupy space vacant, the Science and ICT Minister spoke to the then Managing Director of BSRS, Mr. Rabiul Islam and expressed his interest to set up a Software Technology Building there.
Later on this issue was taken up by the then Commerce Minister Mr. Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury at the National Export Council Meeting which was chaired by the then Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. The author had the honor of placing this proposal formally to the Prime Minister's ICT Task Force where the then honorable Finance Minister Mr. Saifur Rahman agreed to set aside Taka 3.60 crore for this project to be set up in BSRS Bhaban. The ICT industry was elated that the project finally came through, but unfortunately the 'ICT Incubator' name stuck.
Thus began in 2003 the first Software Technology Building in the country under the name 'ICT Incubator' with a funding of Taka 3.60 crore from the government, jointly managed by Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) and BASIS. The ICT Incubator today houses 48 software and ITES companies that employ 1,700 ICT professionals at an investment of Taka 38 crore funded by private sector entrepreneurs. Needless to say, the ICT Incubator is a landmark project in Bangladesh and has proven itself highly successful by all measures. However, there appears to be some confusion in the government circles as well as in the industry regarding the name. An ICT incubator notionally implies a place, which takes in fledgling but promising ICT companies and does some handholding for capacity development regarding financial resources, marketing and management. As these companies mature and attain self-sufficiency, they leave the nurturing of the incubator for the real world and make room for new fledgling companies to move in.
However, as explained at the beginning, 'ICT Incubator' is a misnomer for this project that has its roots in the original BASIS proposal and the JRC Committee report for a Software Technology Building. The ICT Incubator at BSRS Bhaban is not an incubator of any sort, as it does not provide any nurturing or management capacity development of the occupants other than providing a meager Taka 5/- per sq. ft. rent subsidy.
To remove this confusion, the ICT Incubator should be renamed as 'Software Technology Center'. When this project was set up, BASIS had less than 100 members. Today that membership stands at more than 250 and is growing rapidly. To ensure the continuous growth of the industry, the ICT Incubator, more appropriately, the 'Software Technology Center', must be allowed to continue beyond its current tenure that ends in October 2007 and at the same time, additional software technology centers should be set up in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and other divisional headquarters to cater to the increasing number of software entrepreneurs in all parts of the country. It is heartening to learn that the Ministry of Science and ICT is planning to construct several additional floors on top of the BCC Building at Agargaon and allocate at least three floors measuring around 150,000 sq. ft. for a Software Technology Center.
While we look forward to the implementation of this plan, we urge the Ministry of Science and ICT to extend the present tenure of the ICT Incubator at BSRS Bhaban.
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