Commerce Minister gives ultimatum to relocate tannery

The owners of tanneries will get into trouble if they fail to relocate the factories from capital’s Hazaribagh to the leather industrial park in Savar by next June, said Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed.

He gave the ultimatum on Sunday at a press conference on declaring leather products as the Product of the Year-2017.

Industry Minister Amir Hossen Amu issued ultimatum several times before the commerce minister.

Mentioning that the government will bear the cost of constructing the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) the minister said, “I will request the finance ministry to bear the cost of CETP and finance minister will obviously do that.”

The country earned $116,09,50,000 by exporting leather products in fiscal year 2015-16 and can generate $5 billion worth of export earnings annually from the sector.

“Bangladesh will be one of the competitors in exporting leather products to the world market by next 10 years,” said the minister.

Senior Secretary to the Commerce Ministry Hedayetullah Al Mamun, Secretary to the Labour and Employees Ministry Michael Shiper, Secretary to the Ministry of Textiles & Jute Shubhashish Basu, Bangladesh Tanners Association president Md. Shahin Ahmed and former president of Leather goods & Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB) Saiful Islam, among others, were present there.