Mohammad Rashed

Infrastructure is considered as the engine of growth for economy with possibilities of high return yield for the investors, because of its nature of high payback period. However, in Bangladesh the infrastructural sector has been suffering a lot due to fund shortage. Bangladesh is one of the highest remittance recipient countries in the world, but current saving schemes of the country are not enough to attract the non-residence Bangladeshis (NRB). In this situation, NRB infrastructure fund can be one such initiative to meet the gap, where NRB will invest in private infrastructure projects like toll roads, private power plant, land and seaport etc. In 2004 government prepared the Private Sector Infrastructure Guidelines (PSIG) that emphasized about the formation of NRB fund for infrastructure sectors, but still now there is no such initiative was taken by the government except a mutual fund under Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB). The status of the fund is far below than expected. As a consequence, this paper proposes an alternative approach of NRB fund only for private infrastructure sectors. The fund will be utilized for equity contribution to the different private infrastructure project development companies with option to trade the share of NRB in the local market. The fund will be used for a longer period of time in the company in complacence with the infrastructure project parameters. The paper also provides some technical and commercial aspects for forming such fund in the country and its impacts on the economy as a whole.

Key Words: Infrastructure Development; Remittance; Non-residence Bangladeshi (NRB); Infrastructure Development Fund