Entrepreneurs in the brick-making industry on Thursday urged the government to provide them with loans with easy conditions to help them shift from traditional techniques to more environment-friendly technologies.
“A huge amount of investment is required to adopt environment-friendly technology in the brick-making sector- most of the brick kiln owners cannot afford this,” said Hamida Zinat.
Hamida, a female entrepreneur who transformed her brick kiln with the environment-friendly Zigzag method, made the appeal at a workshop held at city’s Lakeshore Hotel titled Towards Women Entrepreneurship in Brick Related Green Business.
“I adopted the new technology with my own funds in 2010, in line with the government guidelines, which cost around Tk60m which many of the investors may not be able to afford,” she said.
Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country, has already introduced two separate funds to finance environmentally friendly ventures in the country, including those in the brick-manufacturing sector.
Under its scheme, Bangladesh Bank has allocated Tk4bn from the Asian Development Bank to finance those who want to adopt energy efficient technologies.
Owners in the brick industry are presently facing difficulties in getting finance from banks as the government has ordered for loans only to be given to those who wish to adopt the Improved Zigzag method, not those who wish to adopt the Zigzag method, much to the frustration of owners, Hamida said.
“At first the government told us to shift from the 150 year old Drum Chimney to Fixed Chimney Kilns and later it asked us to adopt the Zigzag method in 2010,” said Mizanur Rahman Babul, president of the Bangladesh Brick Makers Owners’ Association.
Finally, the government suggested that brick kiln owners adopt the Improved Zigzag, Hybrid Hoffman Kiln or Tunnel method, he added.
The program was jointly organised by the United Nations Development Programme, Bangladesh, and the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
As of June 2013, a total of 6356 brick manufacturing sites were operating in Bangladesh, according to the Department of Environment.
Of them, only 1101 owners have already given up their traditional way of making bricks and changed to new technologies, the department said.
The brick-making industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in Bangladesh, estimated to produce around 8.66bn bricks per year.
The industry is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions for Bangladesh. About 90% of existing brick kilns in Bangladesh are based on the 150-year-old technology which is extremely energy intensive and emits huge amounts of carbon.
Some estimates indicate that about 33% of the fuel used in brick kilns is wood, despite this being prohibited in the government’s Brick Making (Control) Act 2012.
The government suggested that technologies like the Hybrid Hoffman Kiln are more energy efficient and clean as they can produce 7 times the amount of bricks from a single kiln and utilise 40% less fuel than traditional methods.
