The Accord Inactive Factory Remediation Fund has provided financial support worth Tk 40 million to five readymade garment factories for safety remediation work.
The Fund was launched in February 2017 to support Accord-covered readymade garment (RMG) factories that no longer have any Accord company signatories as customers.
The factories which have received financial support are: Hypoid Lingerie Ltd, Ritzy Apparels, Everbright Sweater Ltd, Ayesha Enterprise Ltd and Meek Knit Ltd.
These factories currently do not supply apparel to Accord signatories' brands and buyers and remediation progress is slower at these factories than the factories that continued business with Accord signatory companies.
"The Accord on Fire and Building Safety on Tuesday approved two additional applications from Accord-covered factories to receive remediation financial support through the Accord Inactive Factory Remediation Fund, adding up to a total of five factories," the EU-based apparel brands, buyers and trade unions platform Accord said in a statement on the day.
The amount of support provided is more than Tk 40 million ($514.000), it said, adding that the Accord will contribute to the outstanding remediation costs of these factories and will distribute funds by four installments.
The first is provided when signing the funding agreement and the remaining three will be provided based on Accord-verified completion of the remediation commensurate with the preceding installment, it added.
Quoting Accord Deputy Director for Implementation Joris Oldenziel the statement said, "The funding provided by the Accord through the Inactive Factories Remediation Fund does not require repayment by recipient factories."
The Accord will closely monitor the expenditure to ensure that the financial support is spent exclusively on safety remediation work, he added.
Accord-covered factories with no more business with Accord signatory companies for more than six months are encouraged to apply for financial support to complete remediation. The Accord is currently reviewing an additional five applications received from inactive factories.
Chairman of Everbright Sweater Ltd Tawfiq Quadir said they signed the remediation financial support agreement with the Accord in December 2017 and two months later they completed the outstanding retrofitting work and the installation of the fire hydrant system.
Nazmus Sakib Khan, director of the factory, said that 86 per cent of safety remediation at Ayesha Enterprise Ltd was done when the factory authority applied for the support.
They completed the engineering assessment and started procurement of fire standpipe system after they received first installment, he added.
Meek Knit Ltd Managing Director Faruque Khan said they were able to open L/C to import fire detection and hydrant systems and they can now move forward with installation.
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