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Two Ctg fertiliser units limp for faulty design

Produce only one-third their capacity

Abdullah Al Mahmud, ctg
At a time when the government halved fertiliser prices to boost agricultural production, the two factories of Diammonium Phosphate Fertiliser Company Ltd (Dap) in Chittagong are falling short by almost two-thirds their capacity due to faulty factory design and not having their own power plant operational.
The Dap-1 and Dap-2 factories were launched on September 12, 2006 to produce the composite fertiliser for the first
time in Bangladesh.
Located near Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUPL) complex at Laldiatchar of Anwara on the Karnaphuli, each of the two factories were built to have a daily production capacity of 800 tonnes. Together they are supposed to produce around 5.28 lakh tonnes of the fertiliser annually.
The use of diammonium phosphate, which meets requirements of triple superphosphate (TSP) and urea in soil - - is supposed to ensure a balanced use of chemical fertiliser as farmers tend to use
urea excessively. The two factories were expected to reduce the import of TSP and urea by five lakh tonnes and two lakh tonnes and save a huge amount of foreign currencies of the government, sources in the factories and Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) said.
None of the factories ever reached full production capacity due to technical problems and the factories not having their own power generation source.
According to sources, Dap-1 and Dap-2 require 5megawatt (MW) of power a day 2
Dhaka Saturday January 31,2009
and the two factories are currently operating by borrowing power from neighbouring CUFL factory. BCIC owns the CUFLandDap-1 and Dap-2.
However, after meetings its own requirement die CUFL can only provide 2MW of power to Dap-1 and Dap-2 and the two factories manage to produce only 600 tonnes of diammonium phosphate fertiliser a day against their capacity of 1,600 tonnes.
Jointly funded by the governments of Bangladesh and China, the Dap-1 project was constructed at a cost of Tk 510.64 crore by Chinese company Complant China while Toyo Engineering Corporation ( TEC) and Mitsui Ltd of Japan jointly constructed tire Dap-2 at a cost ofTk 519.64 crore, funded by Bangladesh government and Japan Bank for International Cooperation! JBIG).
The TEC installed an 8MW steam powered generator at Dap-2 site in 2004. But the generator that cost around Tk 50 crore requires a boiler and a
cooling tower which were supposed to be installed at the CUFL under an augmentation scheme to cut installation cost, sources said.
As per the plan, the Dap factories were supposed to supply 3MW of additional power it would have had to CUFLin return.
However, the augmentation project of the CUFL was cancelled leaving the Dap factories with a steam generator that neither has a boiler nor a cooling tower.
After the augmentation project fell flat, a fresh initiative was taken to set up the boiler and the cooling tower at Dap 1 site. Disappointingly, BCIC floated as many as seven tenders but failed to achieve any mcntionable result
Installation of the plant with the boiler and the cooling tower would have cost around Tk 40 crore three years ago but now it will cost over Tk 70 crore. BCIC had Tk 48.49 crore as an ADP grant for the installation, said a Dap engineer concerned.
Diammonium Phosphate Fertiliser Company Ltd was ready to provide over Tk 30 crore, which it realised as penalty from TEC for handing over the Dap-2 without completing the performanceguarantee test runs, for installation of the boiler and the cooling tower.
But the penalty money cannot be used since a project cannot be financed by the ADP and Dap's own money, the Dap engineer observed.
Diammonium Phosphate Fertiliser Company Ltd Managing Director (MD) Mahfuzur Rahman said as per quoted prices offered in the seventh tender, the installation of the boiler and tower would cost over Tk 70 crore.
"We cannot expect further increase in the allocation made for the boiler and the tower installation as the budget was revised three times and raiseri to Tk 543.67 crore from 510.64 crore," said the MD.
Rules allow a budget to be revised no more than three times.
"So we may have to refund the additional Tk 33.03 crore taken from the ADP and install the boiler and the cooling tower with our own funds realised from Dap and its sister concerns under BCIC," he added.
Meanwhile, the officials concerned at Dap fear that it may not be possible to raise daily production to 1,600 tonnes even after the power plant goes into operation.
The factories were constructed with "faulty designs' and develop technical problems. they said.
"After operating any of the factories in full swing for one or two days we have to suspend production for a period of time since running in full capacity jams die production line with dust which requires manual cleaning," said a higltly placed factory official preferring anonymity.
The official said the TEC had to return over Tk 30 crore as penalty for handing over Dap-1 only after three days of test runs instead of 10 days.