State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque yesterday said the government has decided to double the number of engineering firms to conduct the Detailed Engineering Assessment (DEA) to expedite remediation works.
The decision came in the wake of slow progress of remediation of RMG factories, which were inspected under the National Initiative (NI).
“We have decided to double the engineering firms as the factory owners said they are facing problems in getting firms to conduct the DEA,” Mujibul Haque told reporters after a meeting with the owners of Dhaka zone. The meeting was held to learn about the progress and find out reasons behind slow progress of remediation.
Currently, there are 13 engineering firms, which are eligible and permitted to conduct the assessment as per the requirement of global retailers.
In the meeting, the minister also sought time frame from the factory owners within which they would be able to complete the remediation process. In response to the query from the minister, some factory owners said they have no knowledge about remediation.
Some want to relocate and some have been facing problems as the factory buildings are rented, added they.
Replying to a question, Senior Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar said that the owners have been facing problems to conduct the DEA due to shortage of engineering farms.
To expedite the remediation, the meeting decided to increase the number of engineering farms to 25 as soon as possible.
The factory owners, who are under the inspection of Accord and Alliance, are craving for funds but the owners under the National Initiatives did not show eagerness for funds.
Mikail Shipar said the RMG owners who were present at the meeting did not mention the issues of financing to complete remediation.
“We assured the owners that the government is trying to arrange foreign fund to help small and medium factories.”
Under the NI supported by the International Labour organisation (ILO), a total of 1,549 factories have been inspected. Of which, 115 got amber marks from Dhaka Zone. Of the total factories under Dhaka Zone, 45 have to relocate while another 45 are under the remediation process. Of those under remediation, 5 got approval for its Corrective Action Plan (CAPs).
