Speakers at a workshop on ‘Industrial Wastewater Management in Economic Zones’ said that central effluent treatment plant in the economic zones is cost-effective compared to running it for individual units.They made the observations at a workshop held in the city aiming to gain the structured knowledge on establishing CETP in the economic zones.Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) and 2030 Water Resources Group, concern of International Finance Corporation and World Bank Group jointly organised the workshop.Paban Chowdhury, Executive Chairman (Secretary), BEZA was the chief guest and Md Rasiul Alam Mondal, Director General, Department of Environment was the special guest.2030 WRG, Bangladesh part coordinator Saif Tanjim Qaium explained the overall aspects of CETP. He said that water treatment cost will reduce if it is done centrally rather go for single functioning. It is easy to operate in the economic zones.Paban Chowdhury said that it is indeed needed to discuss adapting new technologies with all the stakeholders that will help to know about the pros and cons of the new technology.The speakers discussed the key inputs from government bodies, industry, technology providers, infrastructure developers, investors and consultants on status of CETPs their performances along with type of technical, financial and managerial models adopted, international experiences and practices, issues of concern etc.The Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) are considered a viable treatment solution for collective treatment of effluents, particularly from small and medium scale industries.However, there are also challenges associated with CETPs. Within this background, the national workshop was held to deliberate on the issues, they said.The programme included the following sessions as below with 3 presentations covering various topics which included policies, challenges and opportunities including business, operating and management models.
