, Oct. 22 -- Rangpur has been waiting for a second industrial estate under the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) for decades, with repeated proposals for new land failing to secure approval from the relevant ministry.

The prolonged delay has left aspiring entrepreneurs struggling to find industrial plots, limiting the expansion of small and cottage industries, hampering job creation and pushing many educated and less-educated job seekers to migrate to Dhaka and other major cities in search of work.

BSCIC began its operations in Rangpur in 1967, acquiring 20.68 acres of land in the city's CO Bazar area and dividing it into 83 plots for industrial entrepreneurs.

The existing estate now houses 25 industrial estab...