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Fenchuganj Fertiliser Factory

Govt takes up $170m rebuilding plan

By S Y Bakht
The government has decided to undertake a rebuilding-scheme for the 31-year-old Natural Gas Fertilizer Factory (NGFF) in Fenchuganj, Sylhct at an estimated cost of 170 million US dollars including
private equity participation.
Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). the parent company of the factory, will soon Invite offers from in-' forested local and foreign in-.
vcstors to participate in equity funding for the project to rebuild NGFF.
Set up in 1961, the first fertilizer factory of the country. with a production capacity of 106,000 tons per year, was earlier reported to have reached a stage of becoming
to operate any longer.
Both local and foreign experts recommended the closure of the factory as soon as possible.
The rebuilding scheme, just approved by the Ministry of Industries, will be undertaken on a scrap and build' process under which the infrastructure of the old factory will be retained and new processing machinery will be installed.
After necessary techno-economic studies by Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) and foreign consultants it was decided that the factory would be rebuilt by installing new and modern plants for the ammonia and urea sections while modifying and expanding the utility plants as required.
Under the plan the new factory would have a production capacity of 180,000 metric tons of granulated urea per year.
Of the total estimated cost, the foreign exchange component would be 135 million US dollars while the Letter of Credit (LC) component would be 35 million US dollars.
Thirty per cent of the total fund requirement for the plan will be arranged from suitable foreign loans while the remaining 70 per cent of the cost is expected to come from equity to be shared by BCIC and Interested private equity partners.
BCIC will also consider setting up of a larger plant with a production capacity of 330,000 metric tons of urea per year.
In January this year. UNICO International Corporation of Tokyo, the consultant commissioned jointly by the BCIC and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan to review the renovation schemes of NGFF, said In Its report that the economy of the factory has suffered because of the outdated processing machinery.
The condition of the machinery and equipment at the factory has also considerably deteriorated, the report said, despite rehabilitation works compjeted in 1978 and 1986.
"The obsolete nature of the process and the deterioration of equipment has now reached the point where continuous operation of the existing plant has become questionable in
terms of financial viability, safety and environmental factors." the UNICO report added.
The report recommended the replacement of the urea, ammonia and utility plants at the factory while retaining the product handling and auxiliary facilities including plant office, machineshop and employee's housing complex.
The UNICO report also noted that at least three to four years would be needed to implement the project.
It pointed out that if the planned gas-turbine power plant and the IPO separation plant in the region could be integrated with the NGFF renovation scheme, the economic viability would then be greatly improved.
One of the largest government-owned sector corporations in Bangladesh, BC1O manages and operates 23 industrial units including six large and medium-size urea factories, four pulp and paper mills and a number of other chemical factories.
The corporation also has equity participation ranging from 20-40 pec cent tn a number of Joint-venture projects in partnership with both local and multi-national private companies.
These include the local operations of Ciba Geigy, Rhone Polenc and Squib, Rahim Pulp and Paper Mills. Magura Paper Mills, Eastern Pulp and Paper Mills. Dhaka Match Industries, Monospool Paper Converting and Bulk Management, Khulna Packaging, Converting and Chemical industries and the Eastern Packaging Industries.