The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam Thursday advised the leather and leather goods manufacturers and exporters to submit through the Industries Ministry a concrete proposal on the problems faced by them.

"Specific proposals through the Industries Ministry will be considered as a package," he told reporters, after a meeting at the Finance Ministry with a delegation from the leather industry. Dr Aziz said the banks and clients should settle interest waiver on their relationship under the interest waiver guideline. The government is going to formulate an interest waiver guideline soon, he added.

The delegation comprising leaders of Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters' Association (BFLLFEA) and Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) was led by BFLLFEA chairman Mohammad Tipu Sultan.

They apprised the Finance Adviser of the delay in developing the ECNEC-approved project of Leather Industry Estate in Savar, with a Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) and a dumping yard. The project is scheduled to be implemented by the year 2010 at a cost of Tk 545.36 crore.

"(Our) leather and leather goods will lose international market unless an environment-friendly industry is developed," Tipu Sultan told reporters.

He said the delegation also sought low cost loans to relocate their factories from the city's Hazaribagh area to the new Estate in Savar and the rescheduling of classified loans on down payment of 4 percent. In 2006-07, Bangladesh exported processed leather worth US$ 266 million, footwear worth US$ 136 million, and leather bags and purses totaling US$ 11 million.