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Move to build chemical warehouse at Shyampur

FE Report | March 06, 2019 00:00:00


The government has moved to undertake a Tk 886.74-million project for building a chemical warehouse at Shyampur in Dhaka.

Initiated by the industries ministry, the project will be implemented by the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC).

A development project proposal (DPP) will be sent to the industries ministry tomorrow (Thursday) for fine-tuning, if necessary. Later, it will be sent to the planning ministry for final approval.

A meeting with stakeholders concerned was held at the BCIC building on Tuesday with BCIC chairman Md Haiul Quaium in the chair.

Md Amin Ul Ahsan, Director (Commercial), and Md Billal Hosain, Director (Finance), were also present.

Besides, representatives of fire service and civil defence, environment department, and chemical specialists of government and from Dhaka University attended the meeting.

According to the draft design details, a total of 53 chemical storages would be built by September this year. And in April 2020, the warehouse will be handed over to BCIC for its operation.

The chemical storage will also have underground and overhead water tanks and other necessary safety measures in order to fight any fire hazards, according to the DPP.

Some participants, however, observed in the meeting that the storage space would not be enough to address the chemical safety issues.

Director of Fire Service and Civil Defence Lt Col SM Zulfikar Rahman said, "The proposed warehouse is so small to deal with flammable chemicals safely."

He also emphasised the importance of building such a warehouse in an isolated area.

Citing the recent deadly fire incident in Old Dhaka, he pointed out that only a handful of unauthorised chemical stores could be shifted to the proposed warehouse due to lack of enough storage space.

The BCIC chairman told the meeting that the DPP has been made as temporary measure to immediately relocate chemical warehouses from Old Dhaka.

"It's a temporary initiative taken by the government on an emergency basis. But the government is working to find a permanent solution to the problem of chemical storage in the country."

The move has been initiated to relocate chemical warehouses elsewhere from Old Dhaka following the recent fire incident at Chawkbazar which claimed at least 71 lives and left 40 others injured.

nsrafsanju@gmail.com


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