After a seven-month shutdown, state-owned Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) located in Anwara, Chittagong, has resumed production.
Urea production began at the factory from 3:30 am on Saturday (November 1), said CUFL Managing Director Mizanur Rahman.
Earlier, fertilizer production worth about Tk 3 crore was disrupted every day due to the closure of the factory due to gas shortage.
Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KDCL) stopped gas supply to the factory on April 11. As a result, urea production completely stopped. When gas supply was resumed on October 19, production started on Saturday night after mechanical preparations.
According to CUFL sources, 48 to 52 million cubic feet of gas is required daily for full-scale production. Due to gas shortage and mechanical problems, the factory produced 250,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer in the last fiscal year.
CUFL MD Mizanur Rahman said, "We have received gas supply since October 19. Now urea production is going on in full swing. If the gas supply is not stopped and there is no mechanical failure, production will continue."
The demand for urea fertilizer in agriculture-dependent Bangladesh is about 2.6 million metric tons every year. Of this, CUFL and various factories of BCIC together produce about 1 million tons of fertilizer domestically. The government has to import the remaining 1.6 million tons of urea.
CUFL was established on October 29, 1987, with technical assistance from Japan, in Rangadia, Anwara, on the south bank of the Karnaphuli River. Although the daily urea production capacity was 1,700 metric tons at the time of commissioning, it has now stood at 1,200 metric tons. In addition, the factory can produce 310,000 metric tons of ammonia per year.
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