Higher costs for Bengal tanners

Tanners who are set to move to the new Bengal leather complex away from the city limits are worried that the price of relocation could increase. The BOT party (M L Dalmiya Construction Company) has said that the project cost, now pegged at around Rs350 crore (Rs1=US$0.021), would increase by at least Rs50 crore because of the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP). The BOT now envisages an extra Rs16 crore expenditure on a transportation system to carry the effluents to the CETP. The cost of the CETP projected at Rs22.8 crore, along with the cost of the four chrome recovery units, will place an additional burden of nearly Rs770 per acre on the tanners who have already blocked substantial capital by paying the cost of the land (at Rs600 per acre as fixed by the Supreme Court). The CETP global tender was floated in September. The tender papers were available from October 1, and the bid should be sealed on November 5. So far, five of the eight zones on the 1,100-acre complex have been allotted to 231 tanners who are currently located in the Tangra, Tiljala and Pagladanga areas on the eastern fringe of the city. There were 560 units in these areas, of which 531 have paid the necessary instalments to acquire the land at the complex. The first lot of land was handed over in January this year. The BOT party, which is yet to be handed over the entire land by the State Government, has told the apex court that zones six, seven and eight would be handed over to the allottees by October 31, 2001. NB 1 crore = 10 million Source: Daily Hindu Business Line, New Delhi