Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd (HSBC) and Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) are going to release Tk 2100 crore on March 9, for Ghorasal Polash Urea Fertilizer Factory, turning it into the country’s largest urea fertilizer factory, industries minister Nurul Majid Humayun confirmed this.
He was addressing ‘Annual Development Project Review’ meeting until January this year, at the Industries Ministry conference room in the capital on Thursday. He said, “Global trade is being disrupted by the spread of the novel Coronavirus disease. The government is working to ensure sufficient stock of raw materials in the country. We also need to focus on our development program progress which is not advancing as per expected rate”.
The Ghorasal Polash Urea Fertilizer Factory project is being implemented at the place of the existing two fertilizer factories -- Urea Fertilizer Factory Ltd. (UFFL) and Polash Urea Fertilizer Factory Ltd. (PUFFL) which are now very old. The production capacity per day will be about three times higher than that of the existing two fertilizer factories.
It will help the country reduce import of urea fertilizer and save hard-earned foreign currency. The total cost of the project has been estimated at Tk 10,460.91 crore or $ 1,245.35 million. Of the total cost, the government of Bangladesh will bear Tk 1,844.19 crore or USD$ 219.55 million while the rest of the amount Tk 8,616.72 crore or USD$ 1,025.80 million will come as commercial loan.
The project will be implemented by the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) under the Ministry of Industries by June 2022. The main project objectives include setting up a new granular urea fertiliser factory at Polash adjacent to the existing Ghorashal Urea Fertiliser Factory Ltd and Polash Urea Fertiliser Factory Ltd under Narsingdi district with a daily production capacity of 2,800 metric tons and annual production capacity of 9,24,000 metric tons.
Besides, the new urea fertilizer factory will also aim at meeting the growing demand of fertiliser to ensure food security in the country side by side ensuring smooth supply of fertiliser to the farmers at an affordable cost. Once the project is implemented, it will help save foreign currency through reducing import of fertilisers alongside generating more employment opportunity in the country.