RAJUK bar puts Hazaribagh Tannery land owners in limbo

Abul Naser inherited Hazaribagh’s Kashem Tannery last year following the death of his father Abul Kashem.

Before he could recover from the grief of losing his father, Naser learnt that he cannot resume production as his company has not been able to relocate its factory at the BSCIC Tannery Industrial Estate in Savar due to unavailability of plots.

He also learnt thathis father was declared a loan defaulter for failing to repay around Tk 3 crore and the bank would not grant him new loans to restart the business.

But his biggest headache was that his 12 katha (8640 sq ft) factory land in Hazaribagh was demarcated as an ‘open space under the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) of Rajdhani UnnayanKartripakkha (RAJUK), which bars him from selling, leasing or developing his property.

DAP is a 20-year urban development project(2015-2035) drafted by RAJUK in an effort to develop the capital into a modern and liveable city with all basic amenities.

“We had to do something, but our options were limited. The bank refused to approve a new loan as my father was declared as a defaulter. Finally, we had to sell another land we owned to repay the bank,” Abul Naser told The Business Post.

The detailed area plan of RAJUK divides the entire metropolitan area of Dhaka into 13 “land use zones” based on urban, residential, commercial and agricultural areas.

According to the Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA), a total of 102 acres owned by 222 tannery entrepreneurs insideHazaribagh Tannery Pallihas been demarcated as an open space by RAJUK.

Some of the owners have their residences inside this area.No banks are interested to approve loan against these landsdue to the DAP restrictions.

“If the government removes the demarcation, we can sell the land or build a new structure on it. But now it is completely useless and a huge burden for us. What is our fault that made us suffer for the last four years?” he questioned with regret.

“Hopefully, BSCIC will allocate us a plot when the second phase allocation begins. But our demand to the government would be to allow us to build or sell our landinHazaribagh Tannery Palli,” told Naser.

Not only Nasser, many other tannery owners in Hazaribagh are also facing similar problems as their assets remain unutilised for almost four years.

Back in January 1954, the then government of Pakistan approved the establishment of a leather processing zone on the Bank of Buriganga in Dhaka, which is presently Hazaribagh, with a layout plan for tannery industries over a parcel of 43 acres.

Primarily, 19 factories went to production, after that it reached around 600 factories, with several parts of the leather. In the beginning, each factory was established on parcels of land from 0.30 acres to 1.23 acres.

However, some owners sold or rented their space over the years.

In 2003, the Bangladesh government took an initiative to shift the tannery factories out of the capital city following protests from environmentalists expressing concerns over the dumping of high levels of toxic chemicals by these tanneries into the river and soil of the area, which is surrounded by residential areas.

The government allocated 199 acres of land in Savar, around 16 km to Hazaribagh, for establishing modern leather industries under the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).

In 2003, the government allocated Tk175.75 crore for process replacement, excluding setting up the central influent treatment plant (CETP).

However, BSCIC failed to relocate the industry for almost 15 years.

On April 8, 2017, BSCIC cut-off all facilities for Hazaribagh tannery to force them to move to Savar, following a high court rule demanding the relocation at any cost.

The move came amid allegations by tannery owners that Savar wasn’t ready for production at that time.

A total of 154 tanneries, out of 222, were allocated plots in the Savar leather industries park so far.

According to BSCIC, the government will acquire another 200 acres for relocating the rest of them.

In a bid to find a solution to the problem in Hazaribagh, representatives from the Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) held talks with RAJUK officials on how they can use their lands in line with the drafted plans.

“We sent a letter to RAJUK and met its chairman in person. We have requested him to change the land use type in the DAP. He has given us his commitment to consider the issue cordially,” said BTA General Secretary Md Shakawat Ullah.

“We want the lands to be developed by its owners and that is why we want permission to build infrastructure which will have no relations with the tannery industry,” he said.

“If the government wants to acquire it to create an open space, it will take a long time.Therefore, we are not interested in the acquisition or cooperative system,” he added.

RAJUK said the tanneries had polluted some 8 feet to 12 feet of soil at Hazaribagh, and they were trying to find out ways on how they could recover the land.

Talking to The Business Post, RAJUK Chairman ABM Aminullah Noori said, “We just received an application from BTA. We are analyzing the issue and it will need some time. But we are trying to come to a decision on it as soon as possible.”

According to the Industries Ministries, the cost of relocation of the tannery industry reached Tk 1,075.75 crore in 2020, excluding the cost of CETP.

At present, CETP has been set up and a dumping area has been prepared, while another dumping area is being built.

But the tannery owner claimed the capacity of CETP and the dumping area isn’t enough.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh exported leather and leather goods products worth $1,161 million in FY2015-16, with an export growth is 3 per cent. In the next fiscal, the country’s leather export growth jumped to 6.29 per cent with a total volume of $1234 million

In FY2017-18, leather and leather goods exports fell to $1086 million registering a growth rate of -12 per cent. The growth rate stood at -6.06 per cent and export volume fell to $1020 million in FY2018-19

Bangladesh witnessed a massive fall in exports to the global leather market earning only $797 million in FY2019-20, and the growth rate dipped to -22 per cent.

In FY2020-21, earning from this sector reached $942 million where growth rate stood at18.06 per cent.