Honda Motor Corporation plans to manufacture motorcycles in Bangladesh from next year.
To this end, the Japanese motor corporation is setting up an assembling and manufacturing plant at privately-owned Abdul Monem Economic Zone at Gazaria in Munshiganj district.
The total cost of the new factory is around US$440 million.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu laid the foundation stone of the factory on Sunday.
Amu said the factory will play a vital role in expediting the motorcycle industry in the country and create employment opportunities.
"The government has set a plan to increase the country's motorcycle production to one million and employment opportunities in the sector to 1.6 million by 2025," he added.
A BSS report says as per plan, Honda will produce one million motorcycles in the first year.
In the fifth year, they want to increase production to three million units, said an official.
Initially, the new factory will create employment opportunities for around 300 people. Later, the number of people employed in the factory will be 500, said Honda officials.
Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury, Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Hiroyasu Izumi, Head of Honda Motors for Asia and Oceania Region Shinji Aoyama and Managing Director of the Bangladesh Honda Private Limited Yuichiro Ishii were present at the function.
Japanese Honda Motor Company started its operation through opening a joint venture company with the state-owned Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) called 'Bangladesh Honda Private Limited' in 2013 and set up a factory in Gazipur for assembling motorcycle.
BSEC owns 30 per cent share of the company which has been maintained in the new factory.