Nitol Niloy Group is all set to receive the final licence from Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) today to establish Kishoreganj Economic Zone.

The Bangladeshi business entity will set up a pickup assembly plant at a cost of Tk 300 crore inside the 84-acre land.

“We have already brought in the equipment that is necessary for the plant. We may start assembling pickups by November this year,” Matlub Ahmad, chairman of the group, told The Daily Star.

Local assembling of pickups would help to cut the present market price of each truck by Tk 1 lakh, he said.

The group would upgrade the plant in phases to go for manufacturing of pickups and heavy trucks in future, he said.

An Indian company has also showed interest to establish a steel manufacturing plant inside the zone, he said.

The Kishoreganj zone sits in a very suitable location and it will create nearly 15,000 jobs in five years of its operations, said Paban Chowdhury, executive chairman of the Beza.

Beza has so far handed over eight licences to private entities and all of them are in operation now.

Nitol Motors started assembling Tata buses and trucks in 1991 and has been a partner of Tata Motors since 1988.

Now, Nitol Motors is the largest distributor of Tata Motors in South Asia and the most dominant player in Bangladesh's commercial vehicle market having over 40 percent of the market share.

According to Nitol Motors, it accounts for over two-thirds of the pickup truck market in the country and it has been growing at a double-digit rate for the past five years.    

Nitol-Niloy Group has a diversified profile with exposure to assembling of vehicles, bus body making, after sales support, transport and aviation services, financial institutions, manufacturing industries, real state, properties development and sports promotion.