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Eight out of 12 national/regional and international waste water operators showed interest to invest in Bangladesh's CETP (central effluent treatment plant) projects, a survey has shown.
Of 12 operators, three showed less interest while one is not interested in the project.
The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) will face challenge as requirement for industrial water is expected to increase by 109 per cent by 2030, contributing to the gap between supply and demand, operators have identified.
They recommended that the government show commitment to ensuring that efficient treatment from the industry is addressed as a national priority.
On the other hand, BEZA executive chairman Paban Chowdhruy said on Wednesday that they would not invest in any CETP in the 100 special economic zones (SEZs).
Rather, SEZs have created opportunities for the investors who work in wastewater area and financial institutions to invest in the green projects like this.
The government can exempt taxes from operators until the CETP firms start making profit and go for viability gap funding (VGF).
He was speaking at a seminar on 'Wastewater Management and Financing in Special Economic Zones' at a city hotel. Flowater Solutions Ltd, a local company, with support from the Dutch FMO Bank and nijhuis water technology orgnaised the programme.
"Public-private partnership will not be a very good model for establishing CETPs in SEZs. BEZA can exempt them from tariffs until those become profitable," said the BEZA chairman.
Companies like Flowater and funders like FMO Bank of the Netherlands have opportunities for financing such green projects, he added.
"The finance ministry will subsidise the CETPs if we can convince them by providing viability fund," said Mr Chowdhury.
There will be more than 20 CETPs and hundreds of ETPs at the Mirersarai zone as it is a great concern due to environmental hazards.
Referring to the unwillingness of the banks and other financial institutions to finance CETPs, he said, adding, "Four years ago, I was denied access to finance by them. Today FMO is here to finance CETPs.
"As a citizen of this country, I am very concerned about the after-effects of establishing huge economic zones," he said, citing the example of Hazaribagh, which was recently shifted to Savar but the CETPs established there are not functioning well.
Mirersarai and Moheshkhali are major concerns for the authorities as "we cannot afford or allow Moheshkhali to be contaminated," he said.
Flowater Solutions Ltd managing director Mustafa Azim Kasem Khan said they are the local partner of nijhuis water technology company, based in the Netherlands. Mirersarai will be a pilot project for them, he added.
FMO is a bank, having 51 per cent share of the dutch government and 49 per cent ownership of banks and the private sector. They have an investment portfolio of 9.2 billion euros worldwide.
It invests mainly in agriculture business, energy (renewable, transmission and distribution) and financial institutions.
In Bangladesh, it has investments in other sectors but they are investing in water projects, focusing on the textile sector.