Textile Focus News Desk
Shortage of gas and electricity, compulsion of effluent treatment facilities and fund constraints have left the dyeing industry of Bangladesh in total disarray. The picture of new investment in the dyeing sector over the last few years is very frustrating while some units have been shut down for these reasons.
According to the industry sources 5 closed dyeing and textile factories with the production capacity of 100 tonnes per day invested an estimated amount of Tk 2 billion it further stated that boiler is the production unit in the dyeing industry which is run on gas. A dyeing factory needs uninterrupted gas supply for 10-12 hours for running the same. But the gas distribution authority in Chittagong neither supplies required gas to running units nor gives gas connections to new ones.
To invest in the dyeing industry no entrepreneurs have come forward as expected due to lack of uninterrupted gas supply and new gas connections, says Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA). Frequent power outages, changes in the Bangladesh Bank regulations and excesses of the environment department for setting up effluent treatment plants (ETPs) in the factories have added to the woes, they added. It was also said that severe gas shortage has forced the unit to suspend production. The industry was set up at a cost of Tk 300 million with bank loan.
On the other hand, many more industries were given new gas connections in Narayanganj, No small businesses like dyeing factories will be benefited as the cost of furnace oil is much higher in our country than that of other countries as alternative fuel of gas and even though the government attaches importance on the import of LNG (liquefied natural gas) the production cost in the dyeing factories will go up much higher. In this situation the whole dyeing industry is in crisis of production.
