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Hazardous chemical and plastic businesses keep operating across Dhaka residential areas, posing severe health hazards and life risks to residents.

The government has failed to relocate such businesses despite several deadly fires experienced over the past 15 years and repeated project deadlines missed.

The government initiated the relocation move following the devastating Nimtoli fire in 2010 that killed at least 124 people.

Yet, the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, tasked with implementing two relocation projects — one for the chemical businesses and another for the plastic factories — has missed at least three deadlines since the projects were taken up between 2015 and 2018.

Experts and residents said that the failure to shift these dangerous businesses reflected a chronic lack of coordination and enforcement among the authorities concerned, while businesses kept continued operating by using oversight loopholes.

The issue came under fresh public scrutiny after the October 14 fire at a Rupnagar garment factory in the capital’s Mirpur, killing 17 people, mostly garment workers.

Fire service officials said that the blaze had originated from a nearby chemical store and quickly spread to the factory building.

Locals at Mohammadpur, Jatrabari, Uttara, and Old Dhaka told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that dozens of chemical and plastic businesses still operate in residential neighbourhoods of those areas, posing constant dangers.

‘We live in constant fear. Any time another fire could erupt,’ said Shariful Islam, a Jatrabari resident.

Department of Explosives officials said that 731 businesses under the Dhaka division currently hold licences to store and sell 54 listed inflammable chemical items.

They, however, admitted that many chemical businesses continue to operate illegally in residential areas without permits.

Department of Explosives chief inspector Hayat Md Feroze told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Monday that chemicals not listed as inflammable do not require a licence, a loophole that many find it easy to exploit.

‘Many chemicals are not flammable by themselves but can become dangerous when mixed with other agents,’ he said.

‘We are working to introduce new rules to ensure   coordinated handling of chemicals across agencies,’ he added.

Despite official claims in the negative, the Dhaka South City Corporation and the Dhaka North City Corporation officials acknowledged that unlicenced chemical warehouses continued to operate.

‘We have not issued any trade licence for chemical businesses in residential areas,’ said a DSCC official.

‘But we are aware that many continue to run such businesses in the guise of other types of businesses,’ said Shahkahan Ali, DSCC deputy chief revenue officer.

The Bangladesh Institute of Planners president, Adil Mohammad Khan, said that chemical businesses should never be allowed in residential areas — not only due to fire risks but also for long-term health hazards.

‘In the name of mixed-use zoning, many hazardous businesses are being allowed in densely populated areas,’ he said, adding that this was not only illegal but also dangerous for urban public health.

Following the Nimtoli fire tragedy, the DSCC suspended issuing trade licences for any chemical businesses in residential neighbourhoods and launched raids to identify such operations.

After another major fire at Chawkbazar’s Wahed Mansion in February 2019 — where 70 people were killed — the city corporation identified at least 1,924 chemical establishments in Old Dhaka alone.

According to residents and urban planners, the real number is likely much higher.

In 2018, the government approved the BSCIC Chemical Industrial Park Project on 310 acres of land in Sirajdikhan of Munshiganj at an estimated cost of Tk 1,454.8 crore.

The project was intended to relocate 1,500 chemical units from Old Dhaka to the designated industrial zone.

The project has already missed three deadlines — the first one was in July 2021. Officials have now sought yet another time extension for the project until June 2027.

Project director Muhammad Hafizur Rahman said that about 73 per cent of the project work had been completed so far.

‘Within two weeks, we will complete the earth-filling job of the entire 310 acres,’ he said.

‘We have requested the government to extend the project deadline to June 2027 as the full implementation by December 2025 is not possible,’ he said.

He added that the BSCIC authorities had planned to begin allotting plots to chemical traders by January 2026.

To offer temporary relocation facilities, the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation earlier built 54 makeshift warehouses in the capital’s Shayampur area at a cost of Tk 62 crore.

However, traders complained that the BCIC had charged excessive rent for the facilities, making them unaffordable for most small businesses.

‘Most of us cannot afford to move there. The government must quickly complete the permanent relocation site,’ said Alamgir Hossain, a trader at Chawkbazar.

The BSCIC Plastic Industrial Park Project, initially taken up in 2015 at a cost of Tk 509 crore, had been aimed to relocate 391 plastic factories from Old Dhaka to Keraniganj.

However, due to protests from Keraniganj residents, the project site was later shifted to Munshiganj.

According to project director Md Anis Uddin, the project was again relocated beside the Dhaka–Dohar road following a ministry decision in November 2022.

‘The land acquisition was completed in June this year at a cost of Tk 133 crore, and physical work began in last August,’ he said.

Under the revised plan, infrastructure on 365 plots will be constructed, expected to be completed by December 2025 but it is again likely to miss the deadline, said officials.

Progress has remained slow — only 12 per cent of the physical work has been completed so far — making it almost certain that the project will also miss its latest deadline.

Urban planners and fire experts warn that until the relocation projects are completed, Dhaka residents will continue to face catastrophic risks from chemical fires.

Fire Service and Civil Defence officials said that dense storage of flammable and reactive chemicals in mixed-use buildings in Old Dhaka, Jatrabari, and Mirpur made the city extremely vulnerable to large-scale fire and related disasters.

At least four people, including three fire fighters, died in a chemical warehouse fire at Tongi, Gazipur on September 27.

Despite repeated commitments and high-level meetings, relocation efforts have remained stuck in bureaucratic delays, land disputes, and funding bottlenecks.

Experts said the delays exposed a lack of urgency in protecting citizens from preventable disasters.

‘Relocation is a question of political will,’ said planner Adil Mohammad Khan, adding that the longer we wait, the higher the human cost.

With the relocation projects now expected to extend until 2027, thousands of Dhaka residents remain exposed to the twin threats of fire and toxic exposure.