DHAKA, Oct 8, 2018 (BSS) – The government has taken an initiative involving Tk 10,461 crore to set up a granular urea fertiliser factory at Ghorashal under Polash upazila in Narsingdi district with an annual production capacity of 9.24 lakh metric tonnes aiming to meet the country’s growing urea fertiliser demand.
The ‘Ghorashal Polash Urea Fertiliser Project’ is likely to be placed before the 9th ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal to be held tomorrow (Tuesday), said a senior official of Planning Commission.
ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to preside over the meeting at the NEC Conference Room in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) under the Ministry of Industries will implement the project by June 2022, the official said.
Out of the total estimated project cost of Tk 10,460.91 crore, Tk 1,844.19 crore will come from the government portion while the rest of Tk 8,616.72 crore from bidders financing.
The main objectives of the project include setting up a new granular urea fertilisaer factory at Polash adjacent to the existing Ghorashal Urea Fertiliser Factory Ltd and Polash Urea Fertiliser Factory Ltd with daily production capacity of 2,800 metric tonnes and annual production capacity of 9,24,000 metric tonnes.
The official said: “The new urea fertiliser factory will also aim for meeting the growing demand of fertiliser to ensure the country’s food security side by side ensuring smooth fertilizer supply to farmers at an affordable cost”.
Once the project is implemented, he said, it will help save foreign currency through reducing fertiliser import alongside generating more employment opportunities in the country.
An official at the BCIC told BSS that the countrywide annual demand of urea fertiliser is in between 26-30 lakh metric tonnes whereas the six fertiliser factories under the BCIC could produce only 9-10 lakh metric tonnes. “So, the rest of deficit 17-20 lakh metric tonnes of urea fertiliser are being procured from KAFCO or be imported,” he said.
Apart from these, he said, most of the machineries of the Ghorashal Urea Fertiliser Factory Ltd and Polash Urea Fertiliser Factory Ltd have become dilapidated for which the daily production capacity of the two existing factories has now come down at 1,050 metric tonnes.
Under this circumstance, the Ministry of Industries has proposed the project to set up a modern and high-tech urea fertiliser factory there.
The main project operations include setting up a new fertiliser factory with daily production capacity of 2,800 metric tonnes, procuring necessary machineries and equipments, necessary land acquisition and setting up rail track for the factory, construction of roads, residential and non-residential buildings, jetty, godown for preserving fertiliser, and setting up customer metering station.
The Pre Evaluation Committee (PEC) meeting on the project was held on September 26 this year where the Planning Commission recommended giving approval to the project.