Kalurghat factories at high risk of natural disasters: study
The geographical location of Chattogram's Kalurghat industrial area puts nearly every factory there at high risk of natural disasters, including waterlogging, floods and cyclones, in the next 25 years to 50 years.
This was stated in a study of Programming Division, a wing of Bangladesh Planning Commission, which made it public at a programme in Chattogram yesterday.
However, the risk is lower in the coming decade, said the study, "Industry Sector Risk Profile: The Case of KEPZ and Kalurghat Industrial Area in Chattogram".
Researchers of the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) under National Resilience Programme project analysed past climate data of the area and collected primary and secondary data for over a year.
This study is a pioneering exercise for further risk reduction measures in the industrial sector of Bangladesh. Such risk profiles can be utilised by investors, industrial planners, policy makers, development planners and other stakeholders.
Established beside the Karnaphuli river, Kalurghat is the oldest industrial area in Chattogram city.
It now hosts 134 industries, including those of chemical, electric item, food, garments, metal, packaging, paper, leather, tobacco and plastic goods.
"We have studied 36 companies of KEPZ (Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone) and 134 companies of Kalurghat industrial area," said Mollah Md Awlad Hossain, director of the IWM, in a keynote presentation.
"We have tried to identify the effects of various natural hazards in 25 years and 50 years. This will make it easier for any investor to take his plan considering his risk," he said.
"At the same time, you will get an easy solution on what kind of investment will be beneficial in those areas," he added.
He said such studies would be conducted on all industrial areas of the country in phases.
Dr Raquib Ahsan of the civil engineering department of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said the study was not meant to discourage investors in those areas.
Rather it was to give them an idea of what their investment will be like, he said.
He said the Karnaphli river could easily inundate the industrial area, with a 58 per cent chance of waterlogging in the factories in the 50 years.
However, in case of cyclones, Kalurghat is almost 100 per cent and the KEPZ 97 per cent at risk, he said.
Additional Secretary to Planning Division Khandker Ahsan Hossain chaired the programme.
Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubur Alam and Joint Secretary to Planning Division Dr Nurun Nahar also exchanged their views.
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