The government plans to establish a new leather industrial park that will allot space to tanneries and industries related to leather goods.
As part of the plan to set up a full-fledged tannery city, the government is going to take initiative to set up a tannery park next to Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Tannery Industrial Estate at Hemayetpur in Savar.
According to BSCIC officials and tannery entrepreneurs, the project will be a large-scale leather industry town on 400 acres of land. According to sources, tanneries related to leather goods and backward and forward linkage industries will be given space in the new industrial park.
According to BSCIC sources, the tanneries have been shifted from Hazaribagh to Hemayetpur, but there is no provision for accommodation, training and research centre for the workers. The backward and forward linkage industries associated with the leather industry have not found any place there.
Apart from this, there is no fire station with the tannery industrial park. The waste is kept in open space. The environment is being polluted due to lack of waste management.
Tanners are in trouble due to complications related to the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP). The implementation period of the project will end in June this year.
This time, the proposed BSCIC leather industrial park will be set up on another 200 acres of land next to the tannery industrial city on the banks of Dhaleshwari River. Around 200 industrial plants will be set up on 270 acres of land, a modern CETP will be set up on about 21 acres of land and a 50 MW power plant will be set up on six acres of land.
BSCIC Deputy General Manager (Planning), Rashedur Rahman told Bangladesh Post that “The things that were not included in the previous tannery industrial estate project would be linked to the new industrial park to build a full-fledged tannery park. A DPP has already been sent to the Planning Commission”.
He said, “Plans have been made to set up accommodation, training, research and laboratory facilities for the workers in the new project. The previous plan was not incomplete, but some issues could not be included there. Space will be allocated for them in the new project. The new leather city will have a shopping mall and a commercial complex too”.
There will also be a power plant, two electrical substations, a gas station, a cold storage, a modern CETP, a solid waste management system and a dumping yard. The industrial town will also have a daycare center, clinic, club, conference room, bank and insurance, fire, police station, playground and water treatment plant.
The plan includes an allocation of 10 per cent or 27 per cent for committed women entrepreneurs to increase women's empowerment. If the project is implemented, employment for about one lakh people will be created.
