Ship breaking industry at big stake

The proposed government policy on ship breaking industry that has stopped import of scrap ships during the last six months is damaging and detrimental to the growth of a booming sector, say shipbreakers Under the newly framed rules of business Bangladesh will be facing crisis in the steel industry with the existing volume of raw materials to meet the country's need for barely one month, they added.
Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association leaders alleged that two non-government agencies (NGO) are working behind formulation of this destructive policy guideline so that the booming industry is shifted to the neighbouring countries.
They were addressing a press conference at Chittagong Press Club yesterday.
"The draft guidelines regarding issuance of environmental certificate prepared by forest and environment ministry shall stop import of scrap ships in the country forever," said Jafar Alam, outgoing president of the association.
The two NGOs in question have been included in the 21-member technical committee, instead of representatives from the NGO Bureau, he said in his written statement.
"The proposed regulations are impractical, full of improprieties and inapplicable as they will take as many as 110 days to get an environment certificate. As a result not a single scrap ship has arrived in the country over the last six months," Alam added.