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A granular urea fertiliser factory will be established at Ghorashal in Polash upazila of Narsingdi district at Tk104.61 billion cost in a bid to boost the country's urea production to meet growing demand for this fertiliser.
The annual production capacity of the proposed factory will be 0.924 million metric tonnes.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved a project during its meeting to set up the factory on Tuesday.
ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting held at the NEC conference room. Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal while briefing reporters after the meeting.
The minister said the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will implement the project by June 2022 to set up a granular urea factory adjacent to the existing Ghorshal Urea Fertiliser factory and Palash Urea Fertiliser Factory in Narsingdi with a daily production capacity of 2,800 metric tonnes.
Of the project cost, Tk 18.44 billion will come from the government fund while the rest Tk 86.17 billion from bidders.
The new urea factory will be set up aiming to meet the growing demand of fertiliser and thus ensure food security in the country.
According to project factsheet, now the daily production capacity of two existing Ghorashal and Palash fertiliser factories has come down to 1,050 metric tonnes as most of the machinery of the two factories became dilapidated.
The countrywide annual demand of urea is in between 2.6-3.0 million metric tonnes. But six fertiliser factories run under the BCIC can produce roughly 0.9-1.0 million metric tonnes.
The ECNEC meeting approved a total of 20 development projects at a combine cost of Tk325.25 billion. Among the approved 20 projects, 14 are new while six are revised projects.
Tuesday’s ECNEC meeting also approved a project for transporting fuel oil from Chattogram to Dhaka through pipeline, involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 28.61 billion.
The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources will implement the project by December 2020.
The Planning Minister said once the project is implemented, it will be possible to transport fuel oil in lesser time and in a cost-efficient way side by side the system loss in fuel oil transportation will reduce.