The garment industry accounts for almost 80 per cent of Bangladesh's total exports. Bangladesh intends to double its apparel exports to $50 billion by 2021. To this end, the country is setting up garment villages. These villages are aimed at making conditions safer for workers. Currently factories in Bangladesh tend to spread around in an unplanned manner, which makes them hard to monitor, and they spring up wherever space is available, including in decrepit, unsafe buildings.

Factories that don’t comply with regulations will be moved to villages, where workplace, health, and fire safety regulations can be enforced. There will be facilities for medical treatment, proper waste disposal, and day care. A village can have several hundred factories.

The US, which is the largest importer of garments from Bangladesh, will help the country build garment villages. The US will reportedly join two Bangladeshi banks in offering a $22 million credit guarantee on loans to help improve safety in garment factories. The rapid growth of Bangladesh’s garment industry has been a blessing and a burden to the country. Even as it has provided jobs to millions and helped Bangladesh reduce its poverty rate, it has also exploited the nation’s poorest and most desperate, leading to the deaths of thousands.