Savar tanneries to get govt support to restart: commerce minister

Detailed summary

The government will provide technical and financial support to restart tanneries at the Savar leather estate that are yet to start production, Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul…

The government will provide technical and financial support to restart tanneries at the Savar leather estate that are yet to start production, Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir said today.

No tannery that fails to comply with environmental regulations will be allowed to operate, he said at an event at Sheraton Dhaka jointly organised by the Netherlands’ Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) and LightCastle Partners.

Every factory of 50,000 square feet or more will have to set up its own effluent treatment plant, he said.

All Savar tanneries must also obtain Leather Working Group certification, an international certification that audits the environmental performance of leather manufacturers, according to a commerce ministry press release.

On exports, he said Bangladesh exported leather and non-leather goods worth around $1.78 billion last year. He called the European Union an important and promising market and India one of the main buyers.

On cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs), he said their contribution to GDP was less than one-fourth and needed to rise to at least 60 percent to reduce economic inequality.

Since he assumed office, the allocation for the SME loan refinancing scheme has been raised from Tk 300 crore to Tk 2,000 crore, the minister said. The scheme’s loan recovery rate was 98 percent, he added.

Netherlands Ambassador to Bangladesh Joris van Bommel and CBI Managing Director Judith Arends were also present at the event.

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