Tesco to send official to sort Bangladesh issues

A top official of the British retailer Tesco is due in the country on June 29 to resolve its issues with Liberty Fashions.
Tesco recently cancelled an order worth $2 crore with the Savar-based Liberty Fashions after its surveyor team found problems with the building's “beams, slabs and columns”, a decision which Mozammel Huq, the company's managing director, claims has left him losing Tk 50 lakh a day.
To find a solution suitable for both parties, Christophe Roussel, Tesco's international sourcing director, is calling in Dhaka, Huq told The Daily Star.
He also said that Tesco informed him that it would re-consider its decision should the test results from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology's (BUET) inspection team come in favour of Liberty Fashions.
The expert panel have already examined the three-and-half storey building and will submit the test result by Wednesday, Sekender Ali, coordinator of the team, said.
Meanwhile, Primark, another British retailer, has decided on June 17 to terminate its relationship with Liberty Fashions with immediate effect, following feedback from its own inspection team that the supplier is “housed in an unsafe building”.
“Primark immediately asked the owners of Liberty Fashions to evacuate the building, and offered support on this basis. To date, Liberty has failed to evacuate the premises and is refusing to do so,” the British retailer said in a statement.
“Following further discussions with Liberty, trade unions, the ILO and BGMEA, Primark was left with no alternative but to terminate its relationship with this supplier with immediate effect.”
Primark added that it bought a “relatively small amount of clothing” from Liberty Fashions.