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New conditions for brick kilns announced
KATHMANDU, JAN 02 - The government has banned registration of brick kilns operating with traditional technology and announced ten new conditions for new brick kilns to obtain license for operating in the Kathmandu Valley.
Such conditions have been devised after studies showed that the brick kilns working with traditional technology had adverse impacts on environment of the Valley. A meeting of the Industrial Promotion Board (IPB) had approved these conditions recently.
According to the latest notice issued by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS), only those brick kilns, which are equipped with modern and environment-friendly technology would be allowed to operate in Kathmandu Valley.
"Also, the proprietor of the kiln while registering the factory will require to submit document ~ ~ proving that one has leased in the land where the factory would be set up for at least five years," said Govinda Prasad Kusum, Joint Secretary of the MoICS.
Such a condition has been imposed after the Ministry officials found that the factories were actually not set up at place where these were registered for due largely to the failure of proprietor in securing the land, he added.
The Ministry has also specified the area for setting up the brick kilns. According to the notice, the factory area should extend along a diameter of at least 400 meters.
Apart from these, the Ministry has also made the submission of soil-cutting plan and re-claim plan mandatory for registering a new brick factory. It has further banned factories from using wood, rubber, tyres and plastics, among others; and these must use coal as a fuel.
"Even the coal used for the purpose should meet the standard if the government preferred to set up such standard in future," said Kusum.
The IPB has also agreed to provide a time span of additional one and a-half year for existing traditional brick factories to upgrade their technologies and make them environment-friendly. Also, these factories would be required to expand their area to 300 meters in diameter.
Moreover, it has also decided to shut down the factories that are operating without formal registration with the government with the help of local administration. An independent estimate suggests that more than 60 brick kilns out of 200 operating in the Valley are operating without license currently.
The government in a bid to promote environment-friendly brick kilns has already announced incentives of exempting excise duty of Rs 100 thousand to factories that adopt environment-friendly technology and double the excise duty to those that do not upgrade their technology.Posted on: 2004-01-03 04:27
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