THERE is no denying the fact that the setting up of the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) at Savar is way behind its schedule which is impeding the shift of the Hazaribagh tannery factories to the Savar industrial estate. But its construction could not begin even after several years of waiting. Reports said vested interest groups are at work to get the project approved at an exorbitantly high cost and it is alleged that when one party gets the contract clearance, another party uses bureaucratic redtapism and legal means to halt the move. The latest development said a Chinese firm was selected two years ago to build the project, but another foreign bidder having equally strong support from local political quarters has halted the progress.
He has filed a litigation suit in the court challenging the procedure of the bidding and secured a stay, the news report on Monday said pointing out how the fights under the cover of local influential quarters is causing setbacks to the setting up of the vital plant. In the process, the shifting of the leather factories from the city’s overcrowded Hazaribagh area is failing to take place despite the fact the tannery estate has been ready for several years and the allocation of plots to users is already completed.
Meanwhile, the failure to shift is about to create more troubles at home and abroad. The European Union (EU) which buys the bulk of the leather products-both semi processed and finished goods is bringing pressure on the government to complete the shifting by 2014. They have set the environmental issue as the most urgent one to continue imports of leather and leather goods from Bangladesh. But without the treatment plant which will create the facility to manage solid wastes and its sewerage, the newly built industrial estate can’t start rolling.
Moreover, saving the river Buriganga from
continued discharge of tannery waste to the river through feeder channels is becoming critical. About 3,000 tonnes of untreated solid wastes and over 2.5 lakh tonnes of liquid wastes flow to the river every month from 150 tanneries at Hazaribagh. Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) is implementing the tannery relocation project. The project was originally approved in 2003 at a cost of Tk 175 crore to set up 205 tannery factories over 200 acres of land. The cost was revised to Tk 545 crore in 2007 and it has now doubled to Tk 10.78 billion in 2013.
It appears that powerful political lobbies are blocking the implementation of the CETP to financially gain from the project. It is not only creating problems for the industry at home and abroad but also its escalated cost is landing on the tax payers who are bearing the brunt. We urge the government to sternly deal with the lobbies which are blocking the progress to save a highly critical project which is environmentally important and also has a bearing on the country’s exports.
