The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has announced steps to facilitate ongoing tannery relocation process from the city's Hazaribagh to Savar, officials said.
Under the supports, the banks have been allowed to transfer non-performing loans (NPL) of the tanneries, which have already been relocated or are in a process of relocation, to blocked accounts giving one-year moratorium facility.
The tanneries will be given maximum eight years to clear their blocked account loans, according to a circular, issued by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Sunday.
"We've provided such policy supports to the tanneries for keeping their business running," a BB senior official told the FE.
He also said the interested tannery owners will have to apply to the banks concerned with proper documents for relocation or in a process to relocate their industries within six months from the date of issuing the circular.
"The tannery owners will avail such facilities as per satisfaction of the banks concerned about progress of their industries' relocation," the central banker explained.
The banks have been allowed to charge on the blocked account loans at 10 per cent or the cost of fund or which is lower, according to the directive.
"It will facilitate the tannery relocation process," Mohammad Abu Taher, president of the Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods & Footwear Exporters Association (BFLLFEA), told the FE.
He also said the tannery owners are now trying to receive loans from different banks and financial institutions on long-term basis for meeting the costs of relocation.
Around 50 tannery owners have already started construction of their factories at Savar Leather Industrial Park in a bid to expedite the relocation of hazardous factories from Hazaribagh in the capital.
The ministry of industries (MoI) has already allocated plots on the 200-acre leather estate to 155 tannery owners through the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, a wing of the MoI.
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