It may sound harsh, but we’ll say it: Savar’s wastewater treatment plant was a failure. And that failure now risks undermining the Bangladesh government’s broader mission. The goal was to replace the outdated (and heavily polluted) industrial district of Hazaribagh with a new estate designed to upgrade both companies and the supply chain, but the process has dragged on for years and, at a time of weak international demand for finished leather, it’s now clear that without an adequate “CETP” (centralized effluent treatment plant), Bangladeshi leather could see its place in the global market shrink. That’s why Dhaka’s commerce minister has announced plans to build a new wastewater treatment plant, this time properly designed and executed.
Savar’s treatment plant? A failure
The minister, local press reports, spoke at an event organized by the leather goods exporters’ association and offered two reassurances. First, what should now be considered the “old” treatment plant won’t be decommissioned, but restored. The mistakes need to be corrected, including those that left a plant designed for 25,000 cubic meters able to handle only 14,000/15,000. Talks are reportedly already under way with two interested partners: “an Italian company and a Chinese state-controlled company”. Paradoxically, the government member noted, refurbishing the existing CETP could cost twice as much as building a new one. The intention, he said, is to do things properly: “A transparent tender will be launched, involving associations and the best international players”.
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Read also:
- Bangladesh: eight years on, Savar’s CETP remains a problem
- Sacrifices: good for Pakistan’s leather industry, not for Bangladesh
