Most of the 121.4 hectares of land has been filled with sand and workers are constructing a boundary wall around this expansive space, reports bdnews24.com.

The foundation for the boundary wall on the north side has been laid, with iron columns already cast and placed. The workers have been constructing the boundary wall since December, and they estimate it will take a year to complete the enclosure.

Although the implementing agency, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation or BSCIC, hopes that plots will be allocated by the end of next year, chemical merchants remain sceptical.

Several devastating blazes fuelled by chemical warehouses and factories in Old Dhaka shocked
Bangladesh in the past one and a half decades. The tragedies forced the government to take steps to remove the chemical warehouses and factories from the congested area.

After the deaths of 124 people in the 2010 fire fuelled by chemicals stored at a warehouse in Nimtali, the government identified a place in Keraniganj to relocate the warehouses and factories.