Cement factories on verge of closure in Khulna
Sunday, 21 October 2007
KHULNA, Oct 20 (UNB): Cement factories in the Khulna region are on verge of closure due to various problems.
There are a total of 17 cement factories in the region. Of them, 13 are in Maowapara and four in Mongla. Of the total, seven cement factories have already stopped production while the rest are staggering as production cost of cement is increasing fast due to shortage and price hike of clinker and high transport fare.
The stoppage of production are causing factories to incur huge losses and hundreds of employees and workers there have become unemployed.
Authorities of the cement factories said each factory used to produce 7,000 to 8,000 sacks of cement daily two years back but now it had been reduced to 3,000 to 4,000 sacks due to scarcity of raw materials.
The authorities are importing per tonne clinker from Russia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand at US$ 65/66 against US$ 26 in 2003.
Official sources said there was a high demand of Bangladeshi cement in India but there were some barriers in exporting cement there.
The closed cement factories could resume production if necessary measures were taken immediately to remove the hurdles, the sources said.
There are a total of 17 cement factories in the region. Of them, 13 are in Maowapara and four in Mongla. Of the total, seven cement factories have already stopped production while the rest are staggering as production cost of cement is increasing fast due to shortage and price hike of clinker and high transport fare.
The stoppage of production are causing factories to incur huge losses and hundreds of employees and workers there have become unemployed.
Authorities of the cement factories said each factory used to produce 7,000 to 8,000 sacks of cement daily two years back but now it had been reduced to 3,000 to 4,000 sacks due to scarcity of raw materials.
The authorities are importing per tonne clinker from Russia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand at US$ 65/66 against US$ 26 in 2003.
Official sources said there was a high demand of Bangladeshi cement in India but there were some barriers in exporting cement there.
The closed cement factories could resume production if necessary measures were taken immediately to remove the hurdles, the sources said.