A memorandum of understanding was on Sunday signed for the relocation of leather industry at Hazaribagh to Dhaka Tannery Estate at Savar.
The Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, Bangladesh Tanners Association and the Bangladesh Finished Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association signed the tripartite agreement.
BSCIC project director Patit Paban Byddo, BTA chairman Shaheen Ahmed and BFLLFEA chairman Md Belal Hossain signed the agreement in presence of industries minister Dilip Barua.
‘Relocation of the leather industry by 2014-2015 would increase the overall export value to billions of dollars,’ said the newly-elected president of Bangladesh Finished Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association, M Abu Taher, while speaking before signing of the MoU.
Under the agreement, the government will implement a revised project on ‘Relocation of Leather Industry to Dhaka Tannery Estate’, with a cost of Tk 1,078 crore of which Tk 250 crore has been earmarked as grant for shifting of the tanneries.
The finance ministry has already approved the payment disbursement for the construction of the CETP, so that work may begin in the next one or two months, said the industries minister, while spoke on the occasion.
He said the work might be completed within 14 months, and ‘the entire relocation project is expected to be completed by December 2014.’
At present, there are about 185 tannery factories in the city’s Hazaribagh area producing about 1.80 crore cubic meters of processed hide.
Besides, nearly 21,600 cubic meters liquid was tages including chromium, sulphur, ammonia, salt and other poisonous metals are also being discharged everyday from these tannery industry which have created serious pollution in the river Buriganga and at its adjoining areas.
The annual export turnover from the leather sector, the second largest sector after RMG, is likely to reach $4 to 5 billion from its present level of earnings of $1 billion after implementation of the relocation to an environmentally compliant industrial estate, said the industry insiders.
Lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh also spoke as special guest.
-With New Age input
