Dhaka, Mar 7 (bdnews24.com) — The industries ministry has decided to set up a second urea fertiliser factory in Ashuganj as part of its efforts to achieve food security.
The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting in the ministry's conference room on Monday afternoon, a government statement said.
The factory, with a daily production capacity of 3,000 metric tonnes and named Second Ashuganj Urea Fertiliser Factory, will be set up at an estimated cost of Tk 650 billion, and will be spread over an area of 240 acre, adjacent to the existing fertiliser unit.
The government will finance 25 per cent of the cost and the rest will be funded internally by remittances from expatriates and syndicate financing from the banks.
The industries minister is understood to have stated in the meeting that fertiliser supply would have to be ensured to achieve total food security.
"It will be a model if the fertiliser factory is set up jointly with our own money," he said.
A report on the possibility of establishing the fertiliser factory was presented at the meeting.
According to the report, the fertiliser factory will be feasible due to availability of gas and sweet water, transport facility, land and several other factors.
It was possible to set up the factory by 2014, it added.
Spokesmen at the meeting said getting urea fertiliser would be difficult in the near future, as most countries import urea fertiliser to ensure food security.
"It will be logical to build a urea fertiliser factory instead of subsidising urea import every year," they opined.
Industries secretary K H Masud Siddiquee, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation chairman Golam Rabbani and other top officers of the industries ministry, Planning Commission, and Energy and Mineral Resources Division were present at the meeting.
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