Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The government’s latest December 31 deadline for tannery relocation from the city’s Hazaribagh area to Savar was missed again by industry owners.
They missed the deadlines several times.
When asked, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu told The New Nation yesterday that as many as 40 tanneries have already been shifted to Savar and process to relocate 115 more tanneries is underway.
“However, the complete relocation from Hazaribagh to Savar Tannery Industrial Park will take few more months as construction of factory buildings is not yet completed,” he added.
The Minister said, they will not go tough against the tannery owners for missing the deadline of factory relocation. But we will keep them under pressure so that they move to Savar as early as possible.
“But, we will not tolerate any unnecessary delay,” he added.
Amu also said that the Ministry is not going to issue a fresh deadline to relocate tanneries to Savar as the owners seem to be making hurry to shift their factories there.
The Minister earlier issued an ultimatum that the service lines of gas, electricity and the Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) of Hazaribagh tanneries will be snapped if the factory owners fail to relocate their factories within December 31.
“We do not want to halt factory production because they are bringing foreign currencies to Bangladesh through export of leather and leather goods. Our intention is to stop pollution. We only want to shift the tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar immediately, considering the health and environmental hazards,”
said the Minister.
In 2003, the authorities had decided to shift the tanneries as they had virtually turned the Buriganga river into a pool of septic water, with the untreated waste from more than 200 local tanneries which is being dumped into the river.
The government initially took the three-year project in 2003 to set up the Tannery Industrial Park at Savar at a cost of Tk 175.75 crore.
However, the project cost was revised and increased by 614 per cent to Tk 1,079 crore over the decade.
The government’s latest December 31 deadline for tannery relocation from the city’s Hazaribagh area to Savar was missed again by industry owners.
They missed the deadlines several times.
When asked, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu told The New Nation yesterday that as many as 40 tanneries have already been shifted to Savar and process to relocate 115 more tanneries is underway.
“However, the complete relocation from Hazaribagh to Savar Tannery Industrial Park will take few more months as construction of factory buildings is not yet completed,” he added.
The Minister said, they will not go tough against the tannery owners for missing the deadline of factory relocation. But we will keep them under pressure so that they move to Savar as early as possible.
“But, we will not tolerate any unnecessary delay,” he added.
Amu also said that the Ministry is not going to issue a fresh deadline to relocate tanneries to Savar as the owners seem to be making hurry to shift their factories there.
The Minister earlier issued an ultimatum that the service lines of gas, electricity and the Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) of Hazaribagh tanneries will be snapped if the factory owners fail to relocate their factories within December 31.
“We do not want to halt factory production because they are bringing foreign currencies to Bangladesh through export of leather and leather goods. Our intention is to stop pollution. We only want to shift the tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar immediately, considering the health and environmental hazards,”
said the Minister.
In 2003, the authorities had decided to shift the tanneries as they had virtually turned the Buriganga river into a pool of septic water, with the untreated waste from more than 200 local tanneries which is being dumped into the river.
The government initially took the three-year project in 2003 to set up the Tannery Industrial Park at Savar at a cost of Tk 175.75 crore.
However, the project cost was revised and increased by 614 per cent to Tk 1,079 crore over the decade.
