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Environmental protection: At what cost?

Syed Mansur Hashim
***If brick kiln owners decide to give up this business due to non-viability due to costs involved in replacing 50% of existing kilns, within the three months' stipulated timeframe, the first casualty will be the government projects**
The honourable minister of environment and forests informed the public during the current session of parliament on May 29 that traditional brick kiln owners in the country are "advised" to move on environmentally friendly "zigzag" or "Hoffman kilns" by September of this year, or face closure. Needless to say, we laud the minister's commitment to reducing, by half, the annual carbon emissions of the country's existing brick kilns in a mere three months. Perhaps the exuberance of the government has something to do with Asian Development Bank's $50 million loan earmarked for Bangladesh to be lent through local banks to help brick kiln owners make the switch to less-damaging technology.
Were a mere $50 million fund enough to mitigate the problems of nearly 5,000 brick kilns operating in the country, most of our pollution-related problems would undoubtedly be taken care of in the shortest span of time. Alas, things are seldom that simple. The bulk of the kilns in operation today operate on outdated technology, i.e. "Bull's Trench Kiln" (BTK) that has been around for nearly two centuries. It is notoriously inefficient in its energy usage. This view is supported by UN's "Financing Brick Kiln Efficiency Improvement Project" that is providing the $50 million assistance, which states: "There are six basic types of brick kilns in Bangladesh: (i) bull's trench kiln (BTK), (ii) fixed chimney kiln (FCK), (iii) improved zigzag kiln, (iv) vertical shaft brick kiln (VSBK), (v) Hoffman kiln, and (vi) tunnel kiln. From (i) to (vi), BTK is the least energy efficient and most polluting, and tunnel kiln is
among the most energy efficient and least polluting...FCK can be upgraded to improved zigzag kiln because of the similar technical design. Currently, 92% of the 4,880 brickfields in Bangladesh are using the highly polluting FCK design. Improved zigzag kilns, VSBKs, HHKs, and tunnel kilns are rare because of the lack of awareness of these technologies and inadequate market funding support."
As stated above, with more than 9 out of 10 kilns based on a combination of FCK and BTK technologies, it will be a monumental task to meet the deadline set by the ministry.
According to one UN study conducted in 2007, "studies in the 1990's show that out of 14.8 million households,
3.7 million or 25% used bricks as wall materials. Demand for bricks, which has been growing at about 10% over the last two decades, stems mainly from the growth of the construction industry which has been growing above GDP rates. GDP growth rates have averaged about 4% whereas the construction industry growth has been about 5.5% during this period." According to Bangladesh Brick Manufacturing Owners Association (BMOA), 60% of all bricks produced in the country are utilised by various government departments that include amongst others, Public Works Department, Local Government Engineering Department and the Roads and Highways Department.
According to a recent World Bank report published this year — "Introducing Energy-efficient Clean Technologies in the Brick Sector of Bangladesh" — "Bangladesh's brick sector is characterised by outdated technologies with low energy efficiency and high emissions; low mechanisation rate; dominance of small-scale brick kilns with limited financial capacity; and dominance of single raw material (clay) and product (solid clay brick). Adopting gas-based cleaner technologies is hampered by serious energy shortage and land scarcity."
What has become abundantly clear is that while the current scenario is not sustainable and Bangladesh must
move onto more efficient means of producing bricks in order to "save valuable natural resources, reduce air pollution, and increase energy efficiency," the report points out that viable transformation of the brick industry will take a period of 20 years.
Over the last decade, the brick industry has come under government regulation. For instance, necessary laws were passed that made it mandatory for all kilns to introduce 120 feet high (Stake High) chimneys to reduce air pollution load. When one takes into account that the average cost of BTK is Tk.3 million and entrepreneurs have invested Tk.l Tkl.2 million to comply with Stake High requirements, which was then declared as the "ulti-
mate" requirement to conform with environmental needs; there is bound to be negative reaction from the industry on this latest "requirement," as espoused by the ministry of environment. More so, since the shift from BTK to Zigzag or HHK will double the initial investment of Tk.3 million to around Tk.6 million, and that too within the span of three months.
With little consistency in policymaking, where does one draw the line (from investors' perspective) that laws will not change again, say in five years' time? The other question that policymakers may choose to ponder upon is: If brick kiln owners decide to give up this business due to non-viability due to costs involved in replacing 50% of existing kilns, within the three months' stipulated timeframe, the first casualty will be the government projects and a $1.2 billion per annum industry (contributing roughly 1% of the GDP) growing @ 2-3% a year, employing around 1 million people will be put in jeopardy.
The writer is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.