Set up cell to oversee effluent treatment plant installations

SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) has urged the government to set up a separate cell to look after implementation and facilitation of installing effluent treatment plants (ETPs) for the factories discharging toxic elements into the environment.
"If the Ministry of Environment sets up such a cell, it will be easier to see the installing and operating process of ETPs," Deepak Adhikary, principal operations officer of SEDF, a multi-donors facility managed by International Finance Corporation, a concern of World Bank Group, told a view exchange meeting with media people in Dhaka yesterday.
Held at the SEDF office, the meeting focused on the problems-prospects and present state of ETP installations in different garments, washing and textile dying factories.
The speakers pointed out that most of the garment industries in the country failed to meet minimum environmental standards.
Recent estimates show around 20 per cent of the 1,200 washing and dying factories have ETPs. However, these plants are not being properly run due to dearth of skilled manpower and reluctant mood of the factory owners, the meeting was also told.
The speakers cited the Sri Lankan example of public-private partnership, which could be very fruitful in complying with environmental standards.
If Bangladesh's garment units are not serious about environmental standards, buyers may shift their orders to some other countries like Vietnam and Cambodia who are more compliant than Bangladesh, they warned.
Javed Bin Karim, an SEDF consultant, said money is not the main problem to set up ETPs as there are many banks ready to give loan, but the problem is the mindset of the people.
Generally factory owners do not want to spend money for environment purpose, as it has no direct profit return, he added.
SEDF is providing the small and medium enterprises with technical assistance to maintain environmental standards to stay competitive.