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Why are more countries embracing industrial zones? [VIDEO]

Douglas Zhihua Zeng 曾智华's picture




Innovating to get things done: Lessons from an industrial park program in India

Yannick Saleman's picture

Successful industrial parks can drive economic competitiveness  (Credit: World Bank, Flickr)

Why do so many industrial park programs fail? They are popular across the developing world, inspired perhaps by China, where they are widely used as a policy tool and where their products are impressive to the visitor: functional parks with many firms and bustling activity. But horror stories abound, even in China, of empty parks, subsidized land speculation and tax erosion, and often no parks at all. This has not dampened enthusiasm, however. The theory is simply too seductive. By providing high-quality, shared infrastructure to firms in specific areas, industrial parks are meant to create pockets of competitiveness that eventually spill over onto the rest of the economy. For capacity-constrained governments, they have the further appeal of focus.


Christopher Colford's picture




Learning from or repeating the past? Industrial zones in India (Part II)

On Tuesday, we looked at the disappointing performance of 2005’s SEZ Act when measured against the Government of India’s stated goals.

Will NIMZs be better for India's industry? ( Credit: Rajesh_India, Flickr Creative Commons)But the Indian government has an ambitious new plan to spur industrial growth, create 100 million jobs and increase manufacturing’s share in the GDP from 16 percent to 25 percent within the decade.  If ratified, the National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) will offer simplified regulation and better infrastructure to attract businesses. In this second installment of the series on India’s industrial zones, we assess its prospects.

Exporting is Easy; the Challenge is Making it Sustainable



Don't see the world through your own eyes; see it as your stakeholders envision it!

How we took this approach to popularize SEZs in Bangladesh, against a backdrop of regional resistance

Imagine that you are starting an economic zones development program in a region while next door, riots are already flaring over a proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Imagine that news of the protests is already all over the media in the country you are operating in and your clients and other stakeholders are bound to take note. How do you assuage their concerns and move ahead with the design of your economic zones program?