Bangladesh formulates guidelines for an environment-friendly ship-breaking industry
It is important to keep the ship-breaking industry alive re safety and non pollution Industries Minister Dilip Barua said this week the government will formulate policy guidelines for an environment-friendly ship-breaking industry.Ship-breaking industry of the country is now under the grip of a severe crisis following High Court ban on its operation that led to closure of some re-rolling and steel mills. The fate of investment worth Tk 55 billion already been made by different banks in this industry is also becoming risky.Business leaders claimed that due to High Court ban on import and dismantling of scrap vessels, about 300 re-rolling mills and 50 steel mills were closed down over the last several months. A good number of non-government organisations (NGOs) are propagating against dismantling of scrap vessels in Bangladesh citing the cause of environment pollution. Rod and steel traders bitterly criticised their role saying that such NGOs were conspiring to destroy the country's prospective ship-breaking industry by raising some 'irrelevant' environmental issues.They claimed that the businessmen involved in the sector were counting financial loss worth around Tk 320 million daily due to such anti-industry activities by these NGOs. The ship breakers of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have floated a ...
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