Paban Chowdhury

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Paban Chowdhury is a retired civil servant and the former Chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA). [1] [2] He is the chief advisor of City Group. [3] He was the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. [4]

Career

Chowdhury was the Additional Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office. [5] In January 2014, Chowdhury was part of a investigation team that looked at allegations of sexual harassment allegations against Md. Tauhedul Islam, the Bangladesh Consul General in Milan, by a coworker. [5] The investigation team, which included Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jishnu Roy Chowdhury and director Kazi Anarkoly, found evidence in favor of the allegations. [5]

On 30 June 2014, Chowdhury was appointed chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority. [6] He was promoted to secretary in 2015. [7] He was reappointed chairman on 28 June 2017. [6] His term was again extended in 2019 for which he thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. [6] He received a 200 million investment from Ashraful Haq Chowdhury of Star Infrastructure Dev. Consortium Limited for building industries at the Mirasharai Economic Zone. [8] He launched an one stop service center for the BEZA. [9]

Chowdhury announced plans to offer more incentives to encourage investments during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. [10] He removed registration fees for private economic zones. [11] It received 6 billion USD investment offers in 2020. [12] He announced 43.67 billion BDT investment to develop Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar. [13]

Chowdhury is the chief advisor of City Group. [14] [15] Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government, he was accused in a murder case along with 52 other retired secretaries. [16]

References

  1. "Mirsarai economic zone to be ready by 2018". The Daily Star. 2017-10-22. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  2. "Bashundhara Group Chairman visits BEZA head office". Daily Sun. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  3. "Beza cannot ensure gas, electricity supply to private EZs: Executive chair". The Business Standard. 2025-01-07. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  4. "Digital attendance to be introduced for doctors". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  5. 1 2 3 "Consul general in Milan to be recalled". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  6. 1 2 3 "BEZA Chairman Paban Chowdhury's tenure extended". Daily Sun. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  7. "New DCs for 20 districts, 4 made secretaries". Prothomalo. 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  8. Express, The Financial. "Paban Chowdhury". The Financial Express. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  9. "BEZA launches one-stop service centre". Prothomalo. 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  10. "Bangladesh plans redesigned incentive package for post-pandemic FDI flow". The Daily Star. 2020-06-30. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  11. "Govt lifts land registration fee for private economic zones". The Daily Star. 2017-10-06. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  12. "Beza received investment offers worth $6 billion in 2020: Exec Chairman of Beza". The Business Standard. 2021-06-09. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  13. "Mega push for a green Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar". The Daily Star. 2020-12-06. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  14. "Management". www.citygroup.com.bd. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  15. "Fazlur Rahman: The man who came from humble beginnings and built an empire". The Daily Star. 2023-12-25. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  16. Rahman, Arifur (2024-11-11). "53 former secretaries made accused in attempt to a murder case". Prothomalo. Retrieved 2025-02-19.