Chemical stores, Plastic factories: Long wait for relocation

The government's move to relocate hazardous chemical warehouses and plastic factories from the congested neighbourhoods of Old Dhaka remains in limbo, 11 years after the initiative was taken in the aftermath of the Nimtoli inferno.

Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation drafted a plan on relocating the chemical warehouses elsewhere after at least 124 lives perished in the chemical-induced fire in Nimtoli of Chawkbazar on June 3, 2010.

However, the BSCIC took eight years to finally take up the project and decided that the businesses would be shifted to the city's outskirts in Keraniganj.

The project was revised after another devastating fire in Chawkbazar's Churihatta killed 71 people in February 2019. The authorities, at that time, decided the project site would be in Munshiganj.

The work progressed slowly since then.

The project, titled "BSCIC Chemical Industrial Park", was scheduled to be completed by June this year, but project officials say they need an extension of at least one year.

They mainly blame delays in selecting the relocation site and land acquisition for the slow pace of the work.

In the meantime, fear of another disaster like the ones in Nimtoli and Churihatta remains.

Seventy percent of the 310-acre project's land development work has so far been completed, Project Director Muhammad Hafizur Rahman told The Daily Star recently.

He said the structural work would start in June.

The project also involves construction of a drainage system, boundary walls, fire station, a Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) and two jetties.

Officials said the government planned to build two temporary sites in Tongi and Shyampur for the warehouses and factories, but the plan could not be executed.

In a survey in 2019, the Dhaka South City Corporation found 1,924 chemical warehouses in Old Dhaka. Ninety-eight percent of those were found to be "moderately risky", said the survey report.

Locals said the number would be much higher as owners of many other residential buildings rent spaces for warehouses taking advantage of lax monitoring by the authorities.

According to Bangladesh Environment Conservation Rules-1997, no industrial units using hazardous chemicals or goods can operate in and around a residential area.

After the Churihatta tragedy, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader had told reporters that the prime minister instructed to relocate the chemical warehouses and industries.

Around the same time, then DSSC mayor Sayeed Khokan said legal action would be taken against building owners if they were found renting spaces to chemical warehouses.

In 2017, BSCIC submitted a project proposal to the industries ministry on relocating hazardous businesses to Dakshin Brahmmankritto area of Keraniganj.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the project, spanning 50 acres and worth Tk 201.81cr, on October 30, 2010.

In the face of protests from locals over land acquisition and following the Churihatta tragedy, BSCIC changed the project site to Sirajdikhan of Munshiganj.

In April 2020, Ecnec approved a revised project worth Tk 1,615 crore as the number of plots increased to 2,154 from 946. The area of land to be acquired also rose to 310 acres.

Project Director Hafizur Rahman said the land filling suffered delays due to disruptions in supply of earth, collected from Chandpur, over the last few months.

Nurul Mostofa Khokha, president of Bangladesh Chemical and Perfumery Merchant Association, said they submitted all necessary papers to the project authorities for 1,500 plots two years ago.

"We were promised 200 acres of land there. All we need is land. Once everything is ready, we will relocate our businesses there," he said.

He said they were facing difficulties in running their businesses as the government stopped renewing their licences after the Churihatta incident.

Shamim Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told The Daily Star that they would relocate their businesses to the site once the land development work was over.

"We are interested in relocating our structures there. We expect the land price will be reasonable. Otherwise, it will worsen our woes," he said.

He also said 90 acres of land have been allocated for them in the chemical park.

A separate relocation project for plastic industries, also in Munshiganj, has seen only 1.47 percent progress so far, according to the BSCIC website.

On February 1 this year, the High Court bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and SM Maniruzzaman directed the government authorities to submit a list containing the names of buildings in Old Dhaka with chemical warehouses, stores, and factories.

The court, in response to a writ petition, also ordered the authorities to submit a report, stating the progress in setting up permanent and temporary chemical storage sites, by April 17.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association, said the government's decision to set up two temporary sites for the relocation was nothing but "a mockery with the lives of people".

"They should have accelerated the work in Sirajdikhan where all chemical factories and industries would move. Delays in the relocation process means negligence for the lives of Old Dhaka people who have faced one tragedy after another," she told The Daily Star .