Municipality of Saida to build tannery center

The Municipality of Saida has allotted a site near Saida’s sorting facility for the relocation of the city’s tanners.

The plot of land has an area of 10,000 square meters (m2). Ziad Hakawati, Municipality Architect, said that the municipality is reclaiming the land from the sea. It is in the process of finalizing the paperwork to be able to exploit the land, which is public property.

Tanners are considered to be a first category industry as they cause pollution. This is the reason that is behind the move. “It is not possible to keep the tanners in their current locations as they are next to the public garden,” said Hakawati.

There are seven tanners in Saida. Habib Hneineh, a tannery owner, said that they agreed with the municipality to the move. The old facilities will be demolished, and machinery will be moved to the new premises.

Investments required for building the facilities is estimated at five million dollars. Hakawati said that the municipality is negotiating with the European Union to obtain funds for the project.

Each tannery will have a 1,000 m2 space, distributed over several floors. Mohamad Al Shami, tannery owner, said that tanners will be responsible for connecting their sewers to the main line installed by the municipality.

Hneineh said that demand on leather products dropped in recent years. The average production at his facility is 10,000 square feet (approximately 929 m2) of leather per week.