Relocation likely to miss deadline

The relocation of the Hazaribagh tanneries to Savar outside the capital is unlikely to be completed by the March 2015 deadline, environmental organisation Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Poba) said yesterday, based on its recent spot survey.

Only 15 out of the total 155 tanneries have started construction of their buildings and 19 have just erected the boundary walls in the new industrial zone of Savar, the green activists said at a press conference at Poba's office in the capital.

Poba described the status of the relocation process and expressed its deep anxiety about whether all the 155 factories will be able to shift from the capital in time, which has been set after a second extension.

The organisation has recently conducted a survey at Hazaribagh and Savar and has collected information of the advancement of the project.  

Mohammad Abdus Sobhan, executive general secretary of Poba, urged the government to put pressure on the tannery owners for relocation in due time, as people were being affected day after day--many even died--because of the pollution.

He said the government had acquired 200 acres of land in Savar upazila and developed 205 plots, each measuring 10, 20, 30, and 40 thousand square feet, and all 155 tanneries had got plots there for the construction of their multi-storey factories.

Since it would take a minimum of two years to build a five or six-storey factory, it would be really hard to shift the tanneries in time, he added.

Abu Naser Khan, chairman of Poba, said the European Union would stop importing leather and leather-goods, which were produced at the cost of the environment after 2014. "So we have to be careful about the timeline."

According to Poba's survey report, Hazaribagh tanneries have been dumping 22,000 cubic metres of liquid waste and 200 tonnes of solid waste during peak season and 5,000 cubic metres of effluent and 100 tonnes of solid waste during off-season for a long time.

Because of this, the level of concentrated oxygen in the Buriganga water has been too low to support aquatic life like fish or for purification for drinking.

Against this backdrop, the government took an initiative to relocate the tanneries in 2002, and initially the process was supposed to be completed by 2005. But it was first extended till June 2012 and then again till June 2016, chiefly because of the owners' protests.

The cost of the relocation project has also jumped sixfold to Tk 1,078 core, from Tk 175 crore initially.

Poba officials said the tanneries must relocate by March 2015 because the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) would start operation at that time and all the tanneries must be connected to it before that.

The CETP will treat 20,000 cubic metres of effluent during high season and 5,000 cubic metres regularly.