AKH Group, one of the highly integrated leading group in apparel manufacturing and exporting from Bangladesh which supplies to the like of M&S, Gap Inc, H&M, Primark, PVH and Debenhams has opened a new green factory, AKH Eco Apparel Ltd, investing Tk150 crore (US$25m) to set up the factory.

The new factory has been LEED certified by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) for its eco friendly measures. The new factory has also received gold certification from LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Gold is the second highest LEED rating, after platinum.

AKH Group hopes to achieve annual exports worth US$80 million from the factory, which has been claimed by Marcia Bernicat, US ambassador to Bangladesh, to symbolise "the new future of Bangladesh.

AKH claims that the new factory's sustainability measures will enable it to reduce electricity consumption by 1,295 megawatt-hours per year, fuel oil by 325 tonnes and water use by 30 per cent. About 25 percent of electricity demand at the factory will be met through solar power. The factory sits on 13 acres of land and has a rainwater harvesting system, with rainwater being reused to reduce the consumption of groundwater, according to the company.

Siddiqur Rahman, president of the BGME said that if they want to export $50 billion worth of garment items by 2021, they need such green factories and support of the buyers.

As recently reported in Ecotextile News, the textile industry in Bangladesh is one of the leading contributors to the country's water scarcity and pollution challenges, with most textile mills in Dhaka relying on un-metered and un-priced self-supply of groundwater from boreholes.

The new factor was inaugurated by Honourable commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, MP, while BGMEA president, Siddiqur Rahman, chairman of AKH Group, Delwar Hossain, EU Ambassador and head of delegation to Bangladesh, Pierre Mayaudon, US Ambassador, Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat, and German Ambassador Dr Thomas Prinz were also present on this occassion.

AKH group has few more than 14,000 people working and every month, they produce about 2.4 million pieces of knit and knitted fleece garments in its vertical knit division, and about 1.2 million pieces of shirts and blouses in its woven division.