The port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh will have an apparel zone. It may be ready for operation by 2018. The move was largely prompted by the need for relocating a good number of apparel factories from various locations to Chittagong.

Setting up an apparel zone in the port city is a necessity in view of the need for restructuring the entire readymade garment sector with the required facilities given the emerging challenges as well as the 50 billion dollar export target by 2021. The facilities that the port city is potentially capable of offering far outshine those in any other part of the country.

Importing raw materials against back-to-back letters of credit and exporting finished materials - an unusual dual procedure on which the country’s export of apparels has thrived - can be better handled if the manufacturing plants are located close-by rather than having to operate from as far as in Dhaka and its adjoining areas where most of the apparel factories are located.

As the country’s main port city, it is Chittagong which should have prevailed as the prime location for export of apparels, especially in view of the intricacies involved in the back-to-back letter of credit system.