ETPs at govt sugar mills a waste of public money

Fifteen sugar mills under the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) have long been in dismal condition as they are not profit-making entities. Why they can’t make profit and why the government has so far failed to make them profitable ones is a million dollar question. The country can produce only one lakh tonnes of sugar while its demand a year is 25 lakh tonnes.

Very often the government decision comes into question when it spends money on a public project or public enterprises without giving it a serious thought or taking into consideration its necessity and profitability and how far its decision is practical. For a long time those ill-fated sugar mills have been a matter of discussion and debate. Of course, the policymakers always come up with their ideas of defending their viewpoints while others put the blame on widespread corruption and responsibilities of the people concerned with the mills.

With all those blames and counter-blames floating around the government in 2018 moved to install Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) at its 14 sugar factories out of the total 15. The 14 sugar mills that are supposed to have ETPs are Rangpur Sugar Mills Ltd, Thakurgaon Sugar Mills Ltd, Setabganj Sugar Mills Ltd, North Bengal Sugar Mills Ltd, Pabna Sugar Mills Ltd, Kushtia Sugar Mills Ltd, Carew and Co (Bangladesh) Ltd, Mobarakganj Sugar Mills Ltd, Faridpur Sugar Mills Ltd, Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills Ltd and Panchagarh Sugar Mills Ltd.

We are not obviously against the installation of the ETPs as they ensure a healthy environment for the biodiversity and create habitable atmosphere around the mill areas where people live. Back then the Planning Commission officials said the project aimed at protecting the environment from the non-biodegradable heavy molecules, protect the environment adjacent to sugar mills from the unwarranted bad odour of mill waste and thus protect the farmland, water bodies and irrigation water of those areas from the heavy waste released by the sugar mills.

But pertinent observers question whether it was a wise decision for the government to take when there was doubt over the continuation of those mills. If the mills were profitable or there was a plan for the government to make the BSFIC a profitable organisation then the decision was right and timely. But when there was an existential question about the mills and the issue of spending public money on those ETPs it should have been given a second thought.

The Business Post on 29 January ran a report on the installation of ETPs at 14 sugar mills of BSFIC. The report said the setting up of ETPs were near completion. According to the report, the government is now thinking about backing out of the project of about Tk85 crore at this unfinished stage considering the current circumstances and financial downturn.

BSFIC General Manager (Civil) and Project Director Md Shahidul Karim said to the newspaper: “The government is planning to leave the ETP project at an unfinished state and conclude the initiative. The construction of the ETP is now going to waste.”

When asked about the progress of the project he also said: “We were supposed to run some of the ETPs on trial basis and complete some other works this year. But the Planning Commission has not come to a decision on moving forward.”

We would like, in this regard, to draw the attention of the government that it should either make those sugar mills profitable with ETPs in place to protect environment and dig deeper into the real cause of the loss those organizations are making. Investigation into the issue must have been done much earlier as we need to increase the production of sugar.