France and Germany have offered more than $60 million in low-cost loans to Bangladesh to speed the remediation process in the garment sector. They are offering the money as many garment factories, especially the small and medium ones, are delaying remediation because of a fund crisis. The money is being offered at a low interest rate, one per cent, to make funds available for investment in the factories and to make the units safe and more environment-friendly.

Factory owners either are not getting money from banks or are not interested in borrowing from banks at a higher interest rate. Sometimes banks are not interested in giving the money to them. International retailers and garment makers have called for a government-guaranteed fund to finance the remediation as many small and medium units are yet to complete upgrades due to a shortage of low-cost funds.

Owners of about 3,800 factories in the country are now remedying their units as per the recommendations made by Accord and Alliance to improve workplace safety. So far, more than 60 per cent of the work is complete. It is estimated that 75 per cent of factories in Bangladesh will not need large structural retrofitting work.