While the sector’s export revenues were worth around $1 billion seven years ago, they are now a mere $1.2 billion, Chowdhury told a recent national dialogue on ‘Greening the Tannery and Leather Sector of Bangladesh’.

He discussed ways to make exports reach $10-12 billion in the next five years.

The dialogue was organised by Solidar Suisse, Prokriti o Jibon Foundation, OSHE Foundation and the European Union in Dhaka.

He suggested tannery owners to ration the use of the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) among industries in the four blocks of the tannery estate during the upcoming peak season of leather processing because of Eid-ul-Adha festival.

Despite the tannery authority’s claim that the CETP's capacity is 25,000 sq m per day, its actual capacity is around 14,000 sq m, and it decreases with consecutive use. Rationing the CETP's use may help reduce pollution slightly, he was quoted as saying by domestic media reports.

Acknowledging that the partial transformation of the tannery and the incomplete CETP was a collective mistake, the minister urged stakeholders to stop the blame game and take collective action to restart the process. He expressed doubts that the sector could improve without upgrading the CETP.

He suggested seeking technological assistance from the European Union and other developed partners to make the tannery sector viable and profitable.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)