Badrul Ahsan :
The tanners operating in the city’s Hazaribagh area are in a fix after the High Court’s order to shift the factories to the Tannery Industrial Estate at Hemayetpur in Savar within April 6, although the project authority is yet to complete necessary construction works and utility connections there.
Visiting the Savar tannery estate on Thursday, this correspondent found that construction of the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) and its pipe network is yet to be completed. Setting up power transformer and its necessary works was also not fully done.
It was also found that waste of the running factories being dumped into a big pond dug inside the project and also partially being dumped into the Dhaleshwari River.
Besides, most of the roads inside the estate are still under construction and water lines to the industrial plots little done.
Moreover, no factory could get gas connection, a major energy resource to run a tannery till Thursday, although some 37 factories started their operation in the Estate in a limited scale.
Talking to The New Nation, people at running tanneries in the Estate said they have been processing only wet blue hides using generator and deep tubewell.
“Gas connection is the number one condition to run a tannery, but none of our fellow businessmen could manage connections despite repeated try. Project officials also never extend their hands to help us getting the connection,” Hazi Nur Alam, Managing Director of Progoti Leather told The New Nation.
“We are now processing wet blue in Savar and doing rest of the finishing work in Hazaribagh which is pushing our production cost and making us less competitive in the international markets,”
said Hasan Chowdhury, Managing Director of Chowdhury and Co.
“Besides, the Project Authority is now releasing waste water through an alternative way. If all the factories would come into operation in the meantime, what would be the scenario than? he questioned.
However, President of Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) Md. Shaheen Ahmed expressing grave concern over the situation said the sector fears a loss of more than Tk 100 million every day if the government forces them to shut operation in Hazaribagh area.
“We have no other option but to shut our factories as it is not possible to run factories in Savar for lack of utility connections,” he added.
Replying to a query, he said they would be able to shift to Savar fully in six months if the government ensures them all necessary utility connections like Gas, Electricity, ETP and Water lines in their factories.
“Leather and Leather goods, the second largest export earning sector would face a big blow in the coming days if we are forced to shut our factories right now,” said Shakwat Hossain, General Secretary of BTA.
“Export earnings from this sector will surely drop this year as we will have no option but to shut our production if the government forces,” he said.
Meanwhile, Abdul Qaiyum, Project Director of the Tannery Estate, claimed that they have made all preparations and are now waiting for more tanners to come to Savar and start their work.
“We need around 10,000 cubic feet of waste to make the CETP functional. But we are getting around 3,000 cubic feet. We need 40 more industrial units to generate waste for making our CETP fully functional,” Qaiyum told
Project Consultant Prof Delowar Hossain said the CETP has four modules and eight sections. Construction of three modules — A1, A2 and A3 — is complete, and that of A4 would be completed this month.
He also informed that experts from BUET are unwilling to accept some metal pipes brought from abroad for connecting treated water with the disinfection unit at the CETP as those were not up to standard.
“Those pipes are still lying at the Chittagong Port. We don’t want those sub-standard pipes,” he said.
Though construction of the CETP still awaits completion, the authorities have been conducting its test run since November last year, using generators.
However, Kazi Sarwar Imtiaz Hashmi, acting Director General of Department of Environment told The New Nation that after getting the court order, they would take immediate steps to shut down all the tanneries that are yet to relocate from Hazaribagh to Savar.
“We will cut-off the gas lines, power and water lines to those factories after getting the copy of the High Court verdict. We will also seize all equipment so that they cannot run these factories,” Hashmi added.
However, following a writ petition, filed by Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (BELA), the High Court in June 2009 directed the tannery owners to move their tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar. The High Court had set several deadlines for shifting the factories to Savar from Hazaribagh but the tanners missed all of those.
Meanwhile, The New Nation correspondent found that civil construction work in almost all the plots and installation work of machinery in some factories are going on in full-swing.
The government has so far allotted some 154 industrial plots to the tanners in Savar.
The tanners operating in the city’s Hazaribagh area are in a fix after the High Court’s order to shift the factories to the Tannery Industrial Estate at Hemayetpur in Savar within April 6, although the project authority is yet to complete necessary construction works and utility connections there.
Visiting the Savar tannery estate on Thursday, this correspondent found that construction of the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) and its pipe network is yet to be completed. Setting up power transformer and its necessary works was also not fully done.
It was also found that waste of the running factories being dumped into a big pond dug inside the project and also partially being dumped into the Dhaleshwari River.
Besides, most of the roads inside the estate are still under construction and water lines to the industrial plots little done.
Moreover, no factory could get gas connection, a major energy resource to run a tannery till Thursday, although some 37 factories started their operation in the Estate in a limited scale.
Talking to The New Nation, people at running tanneries in the Estate said they have been processing only wet blue hides using generator and deep tubewell.
“Gas connection is the number one condition to run a tannery, but none of our fellow businessmen could manage connections despite repeated try. Project officials also never extend their hands to help us getting the connection,” Hazi Nur Alam, Managing Director of Progoti Leather told The New Nation.
“We are now processing wet blue in Savar and doing rest of the finishing work in Hazaribagh which is pushing our production cost and making us less competitive in the international markets,”
said Hasan Chowdhury, Managing Director of Chowdhury and Co.
“Besides, the Project Authority is now releasing waste water through an alternative way. If all the factories would come into operation in the meantime, what would be the scenario than? he questioned.
However, President of Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) Md. Shaheen Ahmed expressing grave concern over the situation said the sector fears a loss of more than Tk 100 million every day if the government forces them to shut operation in Hazaribagh area.
“We have no other option but to shut our factories as it is not possible to run factories in Savar for lack of utility connections,” he added.
Replying to a query, he said they would be able to shift to Savar fully in six months if the government ensures them all necessary utility connections like Gas, Electricity, ETP and Water lines in their factories.
“Leather and Leather goods, the second largest export earning sector would face a big blow in the coming days if we are forced to shut our factories right now,” said Shakwat Hossain, General Secretary of BTA.
“Export earnings from this sector will surely drop this year as we will have no option but to shut our production if the government forces,” he said.
Meanwhile, Abdul Qaiyum, Project Director of the Tannery Estate, claimed that they have made all preparations and are now waiting for more tanners to come to Savar and start their work.
“We need around 10,000 cubic feet of waste to make the CETP functional. But we are getting around 3,000 cubic feet. We need 40 more industrial units to generate waste for making our CETP fully functional,” Qaiyum told
Project Consultant Prof Delowar Hossain said the CETP has four modules and eight sections. Construction of three modules — A1, A2 and A3 — is complete, and that of A4 would be completed this month.
He also informed that experts from BUET are unwilling to accept some metal pipes brought from abroad for connecting treated water with the disinfection unit at the CETP as those were not up to standard.
“Those pipes are still lying at the Chittagong Port. We don’t want those sub-standard pipes,” he said.
Though construction of the CETP still awaits completion, the authorities have been conducting its test run since November last year, using generators.
However, Kazi Sarwar Imtiaz Hashmi, acting Director General of Department of Environment told The New Nation that after getting the court order, they would take immediate steps to shut down all the tanneries that are yet to relocate from Hazaribagh to Savar.
“We will cut-off the gas lines, power and water lines to those factories after getting the copy of the High Court verdict. We will also seize all equipment so that they cannot run these factories,” Hashmi added.
However, following a writ petition, filed by Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (BELA), the High Court in June 2009 directed the tannery owners to move their tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar. The High Court had set several deadlines for shifting the factories to Savar from Hazaribagh but the tanners missed all of those.
Meanwhile, The New Nation correspondent found that civil construction work in almost all the plots and installation work of machinery in some factories are going on in full-swing.
The government has so far allotted some 154 industrial plots to the tanners in Savar.
