The leather industrial estate project in Savar, which has been in the works for a decade and a half, has been delayed once again and is now gunning for a June 2019 completion.

The development comes after the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday extended the tenure of project by another two years. It was not given further funds.

The project was taken up in 2003 for completion by 2005 at a cost of Tk 176 crore. Since then, both the timescale and cost of the project have been extended several times. In 2013, the project cost was fixed at Tk 1,078 crore and the completion date by June 2016. But the planning ministry later extended the tenure to June 2017. About 60 percent work has been completed, according to a planning ministry official. The main component of the project, the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), which was scheduled for completion by August, is yet to be functional. The main aim of the project was to relocate the tanneries at Hazaribagh to Savar for preventing environment pollution.

So far, 92 of the 155 factories have relocated. In the absence of a functional CETP, the plants are now polluting the water of the Dhaleswari river.

A team from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division will soon visit Savar to verify if the units were actually contaminating the river, said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal. The prime minister has called for a dormitory for workers of the leather estate and the planning ministry will soon get to work on that, he added.

At yesterday’s meeting, a total of 8 projects costingTk 4,979 crore were approved. One of them was the ‘smaller water resources development (2nd phase)’ project for Tk 1,286 crore.

The project, whose aim is to boost the non-farm income of rural people, will include flood management, water sanitation and water retention and will be implemented in 220 upazilas under 29 districts in Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Rangpur divisions. Ecnec also approved a Tk 582.30-crore project for setting up the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences at eight medical college hospitals.

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission under the Ministry of Science and Technology will implement the project by June 2020. A planning ministry official said once the institutes were established it would be possible to easily diagnose and provide treatment to various diseases like thyroid, kidney, liver and bone cancer through nuclear technology.

It will provide treatment to the poor and common people at an affordable cost.

Ecnec also gave the nod to a Tk 1,249.05-crore project for power distribution system extension and renovation of West Zone areas.

MA Mannan, state minister for finance and planning, attends a roundtable on the export potential of Bangladesh at Prothom Alo office in Dhaka yesterday. BGMEA

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Exporters yesterday demanded long-term and stable tax and energy polices such that they can make their future investment plans accordingly. “We need a long-term roadmap from the government on taxes and energy prices and supply,” said Fazlul Hoque, former president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Every year before the budget, the National Board of Revenue increases the source tax on export receipts only to bring it down later following requests from businessmen or under political pressure, he said. For instance, the government has been importing liquefied petroleum gas for supplying to the industrial units. But, it is not clear yet how and when the gas would be supplied to the industrial units, he said.

“However, it is very simple to fix the rate for the long term so that the businessmen can predict their expenditure and plan for future,” Hoque said at a roundtable on the export potential of Bangladesh.

Bangla daily the Prothom Alo and banking giant HSBC jointly organised the discussion at the newspaper’s office in Dhaka, where a minister, exporters, bankers, manufacturers and entrepreneurs spoke.

Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, echoed Hoque’s views.

He also complained about the poor state of the premier Chittagong port and airport in Dhaka.

Not only the sea port and airport, the poor state of the Dhaka-Ashulia highway is also responsible for the bad transportation system.

The truckers demand higher fares because of the rundown roads between Dhaka and Ashulia-Savar, he said.

Subsequently, he called for the highways to be expanded into six lanes as hundreds of garment factories are located on both sides of the road.

David Hasanat, chairman and chief executive officer of Viyellatex Group, a leading garment exporter, said the garment sector’s success stories should be spoken of more.

“We should also continue with the PR initiative to carve out a positive picture of the country’s successful garment sector,” he added.

The exporters of Bangladesh are responsible for not only driving economic growth but also for establishing the ‘Bangladesh’ brand across the world, said Francois De Maricourt, chief executive officer of HSBC Bangladesh.

Muhammad Shohiduzzaman, country head of global trade and receivables finance of HSBC Bangladesh, said the popularity of export through open accounts system has increased worldwide due to simplicity of the process.

Bangladesh can also adopt it instead of the time-consuming and traditional letters of credit system, he said.

Saiful Islam, president of Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB), said the condition of the customs department at the Chittagong port has worsened. Customs officials take a lot of time to scrutinise the imported goods meant for manufacturing in the factories, Islam said, adding that the Chittagong port should have a contingency plan to avoid any kind of sudden deterioration in the system.

Abu Taher, former chairman of the LFMEAB, said the global market size of leather goods is $240 billion and in a few years’ time China will be importing another $100 billion worth of leather and leather goods and footwear. “So we have a lot of opportunity to export leather goods worldwide. We need export diversification,” Taher said. The demand for diversified jute goods like yarn has been increasing worldwide, so the scope for jute and jute goods exports is also rising worldwide, said Mahmudul Haque, managing director of Sadat Jute Industries Limited.

“We need the government’s support to make the best of this global opportunity,” he added. MA Mannan, state minister for finance and planning, said sometimes the government’s activities are stopped through filing writ petitions in the court.“This is one of the major reasons for the slow progress of the government’s development projects,” he added.

Abdul Qayyum, associate editor of the Prothom Alo, moderated the roundtable.

The government yesterday honoured 131 exporters with CIP (commercially important person) cards for their extraordinary performance in 2014.

The commerce ministry and the Export Promotion Bureau also awarded CIP cards to 33 business-persons from different business chambers and trade bodies under the ex-officio category.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed handed the CIP cards at a ceremony held at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.

The awards were given in 22 export sectors. The government would formulate a policy for the jewellery sector so that its exporters receive the cards in future, said Shubhashish Bose, commerce secretary.

The CIPs are entitled to various government facilities until the expiry of their cards. They are allowed to enter the secretariat and invited to programmes organised by the state and the municipalities.

They are also given the letter of introduction in Bangladesh embassies in different countries and allowed to use the VIP lounge at airports.

The CIPs, their spouses and children will get cabins at government hospitals on a priority basis. They are also given priority in reservation of seats at state-run airlines, railways and transports.

Speaking on the occasion, Ahmed said although the export volume from Bangladesh has increased, the value has not gone up much.

The government gives 3 percent cash incentive on exports to new markets and urged exporters to explore potential in those destinations, he added.

Bangladesh considers all export destinations as new markets except those in the European Union, the US and Canada.

On behalf of the CIP card recipients, Asif Ibrahim, a former president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Bangladesh’s exporters are facing tough competition due to the devaluation of the currencies of countries such as Vietnam and Turkey.

He urged the government to take special measures to boost exports to countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Russia.

Ibrahim called for clearing of congestion in the Chittagong port and improving the infrastructure at the land ports for smooth release and transportation of export and import goods.

The government should also withdraw the source tax on export receipts and give 5 percent incentive to exporters, he said.

Bijoy Bhattachariya, vice-president of the EPB, and Sheikh Fazle Fahim, acting president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, also spoke.