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Bangladesh to Set Up Cost-Effective Effluent Treatment Plants

Posted on: Saturday, 6 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

Bangladesh to set up cost-effective effluent treatment plants

DHAKA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi government and textile mill owners have agreed to set up cost-effective effluent treatment plants (ETP) in small and medium textile factories to prevent environmental pollution.

Whereas a full-capacity ETP costs around 20 million taka (330, 000 US dollars), these medium-capacity ETPs will cost only 1-1.2 million taka (16,000-20,000 US dollars), as was revealed at the meeting between the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Financial Express reported on Friday.

But these cost effective ETPs can treat polluted water of dyeing factories partly or up to 50 percent, the report said.

Five teams of the Directorate of Environment visited 90 factories, mostly textile units, in and around the capital from July 28 to Aug. 2, and filed cases against 68 factories for violating environment laws, the daily quoted sources at the Directorate of Environment as saying.

Most of the factories were found polluting air and water seriously as they did not have ETPs or other devices to check pollution. The inspection teams also found some factories did have ETPs but they kept those closed most of the time to save electricity.

"At present, big textile mills are constructed well within the rule of environmental compliance. Small and medium factories are the exceptions and most of these were built at least 20 years ago, " BTMA Chairman MA Awal was quoted as saying.

Awal said there is no rule on such compliance and most of the medium and small textile units don't have the financial ability to set up full-capacity ETPs.

There are more than 1,000 weaving, dyeing, knitting and finishing industries in and around Dhaka, said an industry source.

Earlier Wednesday, a decision was taken to form a national committee to ensure environmental compliance in textile and ready- made garments (RMG) factories, including the establishment and proper usage of ETPs in all the factories in phases.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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