Complete work of CETP by June or face music

FE Report
The authority concerned has asked Chinese joint-venture company JLEPCL-DCL to complete the construction work of the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) at Savar Tannery Estate by June this year or face the music.
In a letter sent to the company and other related agencies on Thursday, the authority also warned that if the construction work is not finished within the stipulated time, they will be held responsible for the failure of the entire project.
"The company said they would complete the work by June. Yet we have issued the letter as a precautionary step. We don't want to extend the deadline anymore," Sirajul Haider, Project Director of Savar Tannery Estate, told the FE.
The project was taken up more than 10 years back aiming to save the river and environment of Dhaka from the pollution of over 200 tanneries at Hazaribagh, situated on the bank of the Buriganga River.
The Department of Environment reported that some 22,000 cubic metres of raw and liquid waste from Hazaribagh tannery units are dumped into the Buriganga where oxygen level is zero instead of minimum six required for aquatic species.
The EU, the major buyer of Bangladeshi leather and leather goods, threatened to stop buying products from the country if the sector manufacturers don't produce environment-friendly and global compliant goods.
When asked if they fail, Sirajul Haider said the company has signed an agreement to complete the work by June. "If they fail, there are clauses in the agreement, including cancellation of bank guarantee."
As per the deal, JLEPCL-DCL was scheduled to install the plant at the under-construction Savar Leather Industrial Park within 15 months at a cost of Tk 4.77 billion.
The government appointed the Bureau of Research, Testing and Consultation of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology as a consultant to oversee the construction of the tannery industrial park.
According to the estate authority's latest development report, around 90 tanneries have started full-fledged work at Savar Tannery Estate. The rest are still under way. A total of 155 plots have been allocated on 200 acres of land.
However, 149 tanneries, including those of 90, get their approved plan for the buildings. Six tanneries have yet to start the process.
"Some tanners think they can delay like the previous years, but it will not happen this time; if anybody fails to relocate their tanneries by the deadline, the allocations will be cancelled outright," the project director told the FE.  
The tanners and the government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in October 2013 to ensure relocation of Hazaribagh tanneries to Savar Tannery Estate.
According to the MoU, the government has decided to pay Tk 2.5 billion as compensation to the tanners for relocation and it will give Tk 6.63 billion (80 per cent) of the total project cost.
But the owners will have to pay the remaining Tk 1.65 billion (20 per cent) in instalments.
The estate authority has started paying compensation to only those who started the work. The other tanneries will get money if they start the relocation process.
Earlier in 2003 and 2007, the tanners and the implementing authority signed two agreements, but the deals will need to be revised as the cost has increased manifold.
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