Two new urea plants under study
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Naim-Ul-Karim
The government is actively considering to set up two new urea fertiliser factories with a production capacity of about 850,000 metric tonnes (MT) at an estimated cost of about Tk 50 billion, sources said.
They said the projects for setting up the factories have been included in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) as unapproved in the current fiscal budget 2007-08.
"Secretary of the Ministry of Industries has already held separate meetings with some local and foreign agencies who earlier submitted proposals in this connection," a senior official of the ministry of Industries told the FE.
He said the agencies are ABCD of USA, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Corporation of Japan, Summit Mercantile Corporation of Bangladesh, PSG International of Czech Republic, Chinese Compliant and Western Gas System Ltd of Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs).
The agencies were asked to submit concrete proposals mentioning source of fund and technical support, the source further said.
The government will proceed further including invitation for bidding as per public procure ment regulations (PPR) if the proposals seemed to be viable.
One of the factories with a production capacity of 500,000 MT will be established in northwestern region of the country.
The government had earlier planned to establish the other factory at Fenchuganj in Sylhet named as 'Shahjalal Fertiliser Company Ltd' with 350,000 MT urea production capacity but the site is likely to be changed because there is no huge demand for fertiliser in the region, source said.
"Though we are actively considering establishing both factories at a time but our priority will be the factory in the northwestern region," senior official source of the ministry said.
Presently there are six urea fertiliser factories in the country and together they produce about 1.7 MT of urea while the total demand is over 2.8 million MT, sources in the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) said.
They said urea fertiliser production in the state owned factories over the last few years has declined by about one lakh MT because of inadequate maintenance.
Referring to this declining trend, sources said unless steps are taken to open new factories country's dependency on import will go up.
The government can establish a factory with the amount that it requires to import fertiliser for three years, they said.
The government is actively considering to set up two new urea fertiliser factories with a production capacity of about 850,000 metric tonnes (MT) at an estimated cost of about Tk 50 billion, sources said.
They said the projects for setting up the factories have been included in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) as unapproved in the current fiscal budget 2007-08.
"Secretary of the Ministry of Industries has already held separate meetings with some local and foreign agencies who earlier submitted proposals in this connection," a senior official of the ministry of Industries told the FE.
He said the agencies are ABCD of USA, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Corporation of Japan, Summit Mercantile Corporation of Bangladesh, PSG International of Czech Republic, Chinese Compliant and Western Gas System Ltd of Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs).
The agencies were asked to submit concrete proposals mentioning source of fund and technical support, the source further said.
The government will proceed further including invitation for bidding as per public procure ment regulations (PPR) if the proposals seemed to be viable.
One of the factories with a production capacity of 500,000 MT will be established in northwestern region of the country.
The government had earlier planned to establish the other factory at Fenchuganj in Sylhet named as 'Shahjalal Fertiliser Company Ltd' with 350,000 MT urea production capacity but the site is likely to be changed because there is no huge demand for fertiliser in the region, source said.
"Though we are actively considering establishing both factories at a time but our priority will be the factory in the northwestern region," senior official source of the ministry said.
Presently there are six urea fertiliser factories in the country and together they produce about 1.7 MT of urea while the total demand is over 2.8 million MT, sources in the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) said.
They said urea fertiliser production in the state owned factories over the last few years has declined by about one lakh MT because of inadequate maintenance.
Referring to this declining trend, sources said unless steps are taken to open new factories country's dependency on import will go up.
The government can establish a factory with the amount that it requires to import fertiliser for three years, they said.