Savar Tannery Industrial Estate (STIE) must complete its central effluent treatment plant (CETP) by June next year to get the international buyers’ agency’s 'Leather Working Group' certificate.
This certificate is obligatory for boosting hides sale globally. But the certificate cannot be obtained without completion of the CETP, the work of which has been lingering over a protracted period. This is working as bugbear to our hides sales both locally and globally.
While extending the project schedule for the fourth time last year, the Prime Minister warned not to further extend the duration of the project. This time extension was till June this year, but due to the global Cocid-19 pandemic, the duration of the project has been extended by one year to June 2021.
STIE's project director JitendraNath Paul told Bangladesh Post, "Of the total, four modules of the CETP are now all operational. Even today, all are working here. What we cannot still complete are online monitoring and some automation work, these will not take long to complete. Hopefully, we will be able to complete the overall work in six months ahead of the schedule."
Once the CETP is completed, the concerned tannery businessmen concerned expect to get the international buyers agency 'Leather Working Group' (LWG) certificate to compete globally.
Due to lack of proper waste management to safeguard the environment, as well as the international buyer certification, tanners are unable to sell the products in the world market at present.
According to tanners, it requires an LWG certificate to sell leather in the international market. But the LWG authorities did not issue the certificate as the CETP or dumping yard in Savar was not ready. The environment of the tannery village at Savar has not yet met the standards of LWA and the Department of Environment.
"When the coronavirus spread, foreign engineers left the project. But now they are returning and some of them have already joined their workplace. Once completed, they will hand over the project to us. There is a lab in the estate with equipment which they will set up and make operational for rawhide testing. Likewise, all required work will be completed early," said JitendraNath Paul.
When asking about LWG certification, Paul replied, "There are 18 categories for LWG certification. Out of them only two categories depend on us, these are liquid and solid waste treatment. In these 18 categories there are 1355 points, where 200 points depend on us and rest on the tanners".
"As the estate is now almost ready, soon we will shift the open dump yard from outside. On the other hand, as all our modules are now operating, liquid waste is also being refined before dumping in the rives. From our side, we are hopeful that we will achieve environmental certification early too. But, there are some issues which also depend on the tanners, our joint work can make it faster by December," Paul added.
According to Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) information, even the project implementation duration was extended, but the government organisation reduced its cost by Tk 63 crore.
General secretary of the Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) SakhawatUllah, told Bangladesh Post, "The tanneries were shifted from Hajaribagh to Savar in 2017. We have been in crisis ever since. We have repeatedly said the work of the tannery city is not complete. But due to the government decision we had to shift there in a half done position. But sadly the work on the project is not finished till now. I hope the government will resolve it very soon."
When asked about their preparation, he replied, "The tannery estate is our asset. Many factories are already constructed there maintaining compliance issues. Maybe some factories are still waiting for the CETP, as it is the biggest requirement for the LWG certificate, to become fully operational."
"Once we get the certificate, I hope our local business will boost. As we do not have it now, our leather goods producers import hides from abroad. But, LWG will help boost our sale locally,” he added.
Replying to another question, Sakhawat was also optimistic that the concerned authority will be able to complete the tannery estate before the stipulated time.
The country's tanned leather exports fell from nearly $300 million in FY 2016 to less than $90 million at present. The concerned businessmen said, completion of Savar Tannery Estate will bring back old days in the leather industry.
