The government is desperate to run a temporary chemical warehouse at Shyampur before the first anniversary of the tragic Chawkbazar fire that took 70 lives in 2019.
According to officials, the original site at Keraniganj to store highly flammable chemicals was due for completion by last September.
But the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), the implementer of the project, is still to start initial work like a layout there, they added.
Yet industries ministry has decided to inaugurate building work on the site on January 09, weeks before the anniversary is marked on February 20.
The move has drawn concerns from merchants who earlier requested the government to build sector-wise chemical warehouses instead of a common storage facility.
A senior official, who prefers to remain unnamed, said pressure has piled on the ministry to officially start construction before the anniversary.
"The ministry decides to start work on January 09. People will want to know about the shifting of combustibles from old Dhaka. Now we can say something."
The chemical corporation is building the depot at Tk 794.15 million (Tk 79.415 crore).
The initiative is a shocking sequel to the deadly fire that occurred at Churihatta under Chawkbazar last year.
Haphazard piles of chemicals in the dense residential-cum-commercial hellhole were behind the inferno.
The combustibles will remain at Shyampur until the 'chemical village' at Keraniganj, on the outskirts of capital, is ready, officials have said.
To avert a repeat, the government reiterated its commitment to relocating such silos from residential areas to the modern storehouse.
As the warehouse zone is not ready, the ministry asked the BCIC to take prompt steps to manage chemical bases somewhere else in the capital for the time being.
When contacted, project director Liakat Ali said they worked hard to reach this level and will start doing a layout plan after the inauguration.
On poor progress, he said they went through a lengthy procedure to make it happen and they finally handed the site to the contractors on December 24.
"We can say we'll be able to finish the task this September if everything goes as planned."
According to Mr Ali, the temporary site would be built on 6.17 acres with 54 godowns having two overhead and underground water tanks to store chemicals.
But the chemical merchants are not happy as they say the government should have built such warehouses close to areas where chemicals are consumed.
If the warehouse is built at Shyampur, it will be difficult for traders to deal in the chemicals from there, they point out.
Bangladesh Chemical Importers and Merchants Association vice-president Shahidur Rahman Porag said the Shyampur warehouse would rather multiply the traders' woes.
"I know nothing about the inauguration. The government should have talked to us before embarking on such a project. It's a waste of money…," he lamented.
Mr Porag said they frequently requested the minister to go for sector-wise warehouse relocation process which would be much effective.
They also requested relocation of leather warehouses to Hemayetpur where tanneries are shifted, pharmaceuticals to Bhaluka and textiles to Ashulia.
"Then it makes sense… But what we see is the ministry hurriedly implementing the project without paying any attention to our worries," the business leader said.
He trades in chemicals for leather industry, but the tanneries are located at Hemayetpur of Savar."Once the warehouse is built here," Mr Porag said, "I'll have to shuttle between Hemayetpur and Shyampur. It will augment both suffering and costs."
"If it is built at Hemayetpur, things would be much easier," he added.
Only 29 out of nearly 400 chemicals are highly flammable. "No problem should be fixed in a way that causes a fresh problem," he concluded.
