e_Paper, Thursday, August 31, 2017

News
THURSDAY,
7
AUGUST 31, 2017
DT
Tanners face liquidity shortage ahead of Eid
• Shariful Islam
BUSINESS
An estimated four out of five tanneries
are expected to face a liquidity
crisis in purchasing rawhide
during Eid ul-Azha this year
following the forced relocation of
their factories.
In keeping with a Supreme Court
order to improve the environment
of Hazaribagh, the Department
of Environment (DoE) cut off the
power, water and gas connections
to the Hazaribagh tanneries in Old
Dhaka on April 8.
Shahid Ullah, the owner of
Ajmeer Leather, has been exporting
leathers to 20 countries over
the past 15 years but said his production
had “almost stopped”
since moving from Hazaribagh to
the purpose-built Savar Tannery
Estate on the edge of the capital
last April.
“I bought 60,000 pieces of rawhide
with a bank loan during the
last Eid ul-Azha, but due to the
tannery relocation I have not been
able to run my factory for the last
five months,” he told the Dhaka
Tribune.
Shahid said he had failed to adjust
the bank loan and had been
forced to cancel a 30,000-piece export
order for hide.
“I will not be able to buy rawhide
this year for liquidity shortage,”
he said.
The Salma Tannery owned
by Md Shakawat Ullah - also the
general secretary of Bangladesh
Tanners Association (BTA) - told
the Dhaka Tribune that there are
100,000 pieces of wet blue hide
still stored in his factory and that
he too would not be able to adjust
his bank loan from last year.
“I bought 2.10 lakh pieces of
rawhide last year, but I could not
export them for tannery relocation,”
he said. “I do not know how
I will be able to buy rawhide this
year.”
The Bangladesh Finished
Leather, Leather Goods and
Footwear Exporters Association
(BFLLFE) said most tanners
had failed to sell their 2016 hides
and will be unable to take fresh
loans.
“The tanners will face a liquidity
crisis and with the disbursed
liquidity we will be able to buy
only 20% of the rawhides,” BFLLFE
President Mohiuddin Ahmed Mahin
said.
However, the four state-owned
banks have decided to give loans
worth Tk735 crore to tannery-owners
to purchase rawhides.
Of the banks, Janata Bank will
disburse the largest amount of
credit worth Tk300 crore, followed
by Rupali Bnak Tk185 crore, Sonali
Bank Tk150 crore and Agrani Bnak
Tk100 crore.
Rupali Bank managing director
Ataur Rahman Prodhan told the
Dhaka Tribune that his bank was
still disbursing loans to its regular
clients and to those whose factories
are in operation.
“We will disburse credit to them
who can adjust their previous loan.
Otherwise, the dues would be adjusted
as fresh loans,” he said.
This year, the tanners have
planned to collect 80,000 pieces
of rawhide and have urged the
Finance Ministry to issue a special
order to the banks for giving them
loans considering the overall
situation of the leather sector.
“The banks are not giving us
loans at the eleventh hour and
that’s why we will face a liquidity
crisis as we have already counted
our losses due to the complexity
with tannery relocations,”
BTA General Secretary Md
Shakawat Ullah told the Dhaka
Tribune.
“Moreover, if we do not get
loans the next season will be the
worst year for the country’s leather
industry. That’s why the government
has to take necessary steps
immediately.” •
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
Russia officially agrees to take
back nuke plant waste
• Aminur Rahman Rasel
ENERGY
Bangladesh has signed an
agreement with Russia to
return the spent nuclear fuel
from Rooppur nuclear power
plant, which is being built
with Russian assistance.
Science and Technology
Minister Yeafesh Osman and
Alexey Likhachev, director
general of Rosatom, Russia’s
State Atomic Energy Corporation,
signed the agreement
in Moscow yesterday.
Earlier on March 15, the
two countries had approved
a draft of the agreement on
spent fuel management of
the project after a bilateral
meeting in Dhaka.
According to the agreement,
Russia will take back the spent
fuel from Bangladesh territory
for reprocessing, recycling
and management, confirmed
Science and Technology Ministry’s
Information Officer Md
Kamrul Islam Bhuiyan.
From the outset of the
project, Bangladesh has been
keen to return nuclear waste
to Russia, he added.
Science and Technology
Secretary M Anwar Hossain,
Bangladesh ambassador in
Moscow Dr Saiful Hoque
and Rooppur plant’s Project
Director Dr Shawkat Akber
were present among others
during the signing ceremony
at the Rosatom headquarters
in Moscow.
“The plant will be
equipped with two Russian
water-water energetic reactors
(WWERs), each with a
minimum capacity of 1,200
MW. The WWER-1200 offered
by Rosatom is a modern
generation 3+ project which
meets all post-Fukushima
safety standards and international
rules,” said a press
release from Rosatom.
At an estimated cost of
$12.65 billion, ASE Group of
Companies (Rosatom’s subsidiary)
on December 25,
2015, signed a contract to
construct the plant consisting
of two WWER power units,
each with a capacity of 1200
MW, at Rooppur in Pabna.
The first of the two units is
expected to go into operation
in 2023 and the second the
next year.
The Bangladesh Atomic
Energy Commission, under
the Science and Technology
Ministry, is in charge of implementing
the project that
is expected to add 2,400MW
of electricity to the national
grid by 2023. •