The government has extended again the tenure of the much-vaunted Hazaribagh tannery relocation project till June 2017. The planning ministry in the past week approved an appeal of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation for the extension of the tenure of the project by one year, said officials. Project director Abdul Quayum told New Age on Saturday that he was aware of the extension of the project tenure although the corporation was yet to receive the order from the planning ministry. He said that the extension of the project tenure did not mean any extension of the tannery relocation deadline that had been missed by the tanners much earlier. He said that they needed the time to complete the handover of the Central Effluent Treatment Plant set up at tannery park at Savar to a new management. The corporation, which has been implementing the project since 2003 for the relocation of the tanneries from Hazaribagh in Dhaka to Savar, sought the extension as it failed to commission the Central Effluent Treatment Plant, a main component of the project, the tenure of which expired in June. Lack of effluent to be provided by tanners was to blame for the corporation’s failure to commission of the plant that had already been set up and underwent a trial run in January, Quayum said. Only 40 out of 155 tanners could so far complete setting up their factories at tannery park at Savar, he added. Only one tannery however has so far completed the relocation of the factory. Bangladesh Tanners Association president Shaheen Ahmed, however, denied the allegation, saying that the extension of the project for another year proved that the corporation’s performance to set up the CETP was not up the mark. On June 16, the High Court ordered the errant tannery owners to deposit Tk 50,000 each in the account of the industries ministry in their daily fines until they shifted their factories from Hazaribagh to tannery park at Savar. The appellate division, however, on July 18 reduced daily fine to Tk 10,000. Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan general secretary MA Matin said that the government raised fresh doubts about its commitment to shift the polluting factories from the capital’s densely populated neighbourhood by yet another extension to the project tenure. He accused a powerful group in the government of backing the errant tanners. On August 8, the government increased cash incentives for leather goods exporters. The cash incentive was increased to 15 per cent from 12.5 per cent would cost the exchequer additional expenditure of Tk 300 crore annually. The decision was made even after the prime minister on July 31 expressed her disappointment with the inordinate delay in relocating the tanneries which released 25,000 tonnes of untreated wastes and 60,000 cubic metres of toxic chemicals to the river Buriganga. The prime minister made the remarks at a programme at Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh in Dhaka marking the World Environment Day. In 2003, following a High Court order, the government assigned BSCIC to develop a tannery park at Savar with modern effluent treatment plants.The delay in shifting the tanneries escalated its project cost to Tk 1,079 crore from Tk 545.36 crore, estimated 13 years ago.
