Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the government is going to formulate a policy soon for the country's shipbreaking industry to protect the environment.

"Modern and sophisticated technology has to be used in the shipbreaking industry so that it does not cause any harm to the environment," she said when the newly elected Board of Directors of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) called on her at her office.

She said the government would set up seven separate special economic zones in the country's seven divisions for decentralisation of industries. The government has declared shipbreaking as an industry and will do whatever is necessary for its development with protection of the environment, the prime minister said.

CCCI President Morshed Murad Ibrahim led the delegation that included lawmaker MA Latif. The Prime Minister's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed

newsmen after the meeting.

The government headed by Bangabandhu in the post-independence era had taken a step to set up Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in each district across the country and the successive governments later suspended the project, said Hasina.

Describing Chittagong as the lifeline of the country's economic activities, Sheikh Hasina said her government has undertaken massive programmes for development of the port city through facilitating thecountry's trade and commerce.

She said her government has a plan to construct a tunnel under the Karnaphuli river and carry out dredging in the river.

Hasina thanked the businessmen for their cooperation in keeping the prices of essential commodities stable. The CCCI leaders apprised her of various problems faced by the Chittagong businessmen. Hasina assured them that her government would do whatever necessary for solving those problems.

Her Principal Secretary MA Karim, among others, was presenton the occasion.