With this, the total number of factories approved under the Accord Inactive Factory Remediation Fund has increased to five. The factories receiving financial support are Hypoid Lingerie Ltd, Ritzy Apparels, Everbright Sweater Ltd., Ayesha Enterprise Ltd. and Meek Knit Ltd.

Financial support to complete remediation under the fund is available to Accord covered factories with no more business with Accord signatory companies for more than six months. Remediation progress is slower at these factories than at factories with continued business with Accord signatory companies.

Once approved for financial support, the Accord contributes to the outstanding remediation costs of the factories and distributes the funds in four instalments: the first is provided when signing the funding agreement and the remaining three are provided based on Accord verified completion of the remediation commensurate with the preceding instalment. The amount of support provided thus far under the fund totals more than 4 crore BDT.

To be deemed eligible for financial support under the fund, factories that submit a funding application must demonstrate they have made legitimate efforts to complete the safety remediation. All immediate safety items (e.g. removal of locking features from the egress doors/gates, load management to relieve column stress) and low-cost maintenance remediation items must have been completed, Accord said in a statement.

“The funding provided by the Accord through the Inactive Factories Remediation Fund does not require repayment by recipient factories. The Accord will closely monitor the expenditure to ensure that the financial support is spent exclusively on safety remediation work,” said Joris Oldenziel, Accord deputy director for implementation. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India