Tannery owners on Wednesday agreed to form a company within this month to operate the Central Effluent Treatment Plant at Tannery Industrial Estate at Savar.Tannery owners will operate the CETP once the company is formed.The decision came at a meeting between tanners and prime minister’s private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman held at industries ministry.Industries ministry informed at the meeting that the progress in construction works of CETP was satisfactory as the process followed the suggestions of the auditor of the leather working group and Italian consultant. Though there are some flaws in construction, those can easily be solved, it said. Full benefits of CETP can be achieved by bringing some changes in solid and liquid waste management, it added.Industry leaders said that the under-construction CETP was the largest in Asia. Bangladesh will be third largest country in tannery and leather industry from current seventh if the CETP can be utilised properly, they said.Industries minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun presided over the meeting while state minister for industries Kamal Ahmed Majumdar, industries secretary Md Abdul Halim, Apex Tannery chairman Syed Manzur Elahi, Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh chairman Md Saiful Islam, Bangladesh Tanners Association chairman Shaheen Ahmed, Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association chairman Mohiuddin Ahmed Mahin, among others, were also present at the meeting.
