The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) will start land filling for construction of a modern one-storey abattoir at Gabtali with a meat-processing unit, slaughtering shed, pump house and by-product processing room on 2.58 acres of land.

The house will be equipped with modern machines for slaughtering animals and processing of meat and leather and it would have the facility to slaughter and process 200 cows and 300 goats in a shift, said a DCC official.

The project is waiting the approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), the highest policymaking body of the government, for long time. The DCC has a plan to complete the project with its own fund in phases if it fails to get clearance from the ECNEC, said the official.

"We will develop the land and build the boundary wall in three months spending Tk 2 crore from our own fund and ECNEC will approve the Tk 24.90 crore project by this time," he said.

"If the government fund is not available yet, the DCC is ready to go ahead with the project considering need of the city dwellers for modern slaughterhouse," he added.

The DCC earlier undertook a project to construct four abattoirs in the city involving Tk 151 crore, but it failed to get attention of the donors in over two years.

The LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry asked the DCC last year to submit a proposal, which was revised for the second time, for one abattoir instead of four due to lack of positive response from external funding sources.

The DCC then decided to construct an abattoir at Gabtali and submitted the project to the Planning Commission for the ECNEC approval fixing the estimate cost at Tk 24.90 crore. The proposal has remained pending with the commission since then, said another DCC official.

As per the revised proposal, the one-storey abattoir will be constructed on 2.58 acres of land.

At present, the DCC has five abattoirs at Kaptanbazar, Hazaribagh, Mohammadpur, Mirpur-1 and Mirpur-11. All of the abattoirs are running under a very pitiable condition.

Two other slaughterhouses at Kashaituli and at Gulshan had been closed down about three years and one-year back respectively, said the official.

Dr Azmat Ali, Veterinary Officer of the DCC, said, "On completion of the construction of the abattoir, no cows or goats will be allowed to enter into the city as animals slaughtered at the abattoir will meet the demand of meat of the city people."

The modern abattoir would help save the city dwellers from diseases like viral encephalitis, anthrax and food poisoning, he said.