Relocation process of city tanneries sets slow pace

Ismail Hossain The process of relocating tanneries from the city's Hazaribagh area to the Savar Tannery Estate is not progressing as expected, as the tannery owners are still dilly-dallying to move there. According to the Savar Tannery Estate office, only one tannery submitted its design to the estate office, though the relocation process started almost ten years back. "We are trying to pursue tannery owners to start relocation as soon as possible, but their reluctance keeps the city as environmentally vulnerable as before," Project Director of the estate Abu Taher Khan told The Financial Express. He said the government met all their demands they placed as preconditions for moving to Savar. "We hope to complete the infrastructure development by 2016 and seek cooperation of the owners in relocating their units to the new site," said Industries Minister Dilip Barua while speaking at a press conference on August 18 last marking extension of the project period. The Industries Minister also said that the key reason for the delay was the tannery owners' non-cooperation. By not relocating the tanneries, Bangladesh took the risk of losing the country's largest leather export market in the European Union (EU), as the EU warned if tanneries were not relocated by 2014 they would stop importing from Bangladesh. A good number of local and international human rights and environmental organisations also put pressure on the government and owners to relocate the tanneries as soon as possible. "The government is not also cooperating," said Bangladesh Tanners Association and Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters' Association (BFLLGFEA) President Belal Hossain. He told the FE that the small size of plots would put the owners in difficulty while drawing up their designs. "However, we are preparing to move there and tannery owners very soon will start submitting their plans and complete other processes before the relocation," he said. According to a source, recently about 20 tanneries applied to the authorities concerned for expansion of their respective plot size in the estate. The tanners also demanded doubling the size of the estate area, as the existing 200 acres of land are not enough for accommodating all the tanneries from the city's Hazaribag area. Meanwhile, construction of administrative buildings, police outposts, fire brigade stations, and a pump house in the project area has been completed. Also deep tubewells, drains, culverts, water lines, electricity lines and gas lines have been installed, according to the sources. A sub-power station with a 10 MW generation capacity has been set up. The central water delivery system with 23 million litres daily capacity has started lifting water. The second revised project proposal on the Savar Tannery Estate, approved by the ECNEC on August 13 last includes new components like a solid waste management system, a sludge power generation system and a sewage treatment plant to make the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) there more effective and eco-friendly. The aggregate project cost now stands at Tk 10.78 billion, whereas in 2007 the ministry had estimated the cost at Tk 5.45 billion in the first revised project proposal. The original project cost doubled in the second revised proposal because of the delay in implementation. The project was originally approved in 2003 involving an approximate cost of Tk 1.75 billion.