& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Ministry mulls Kafco's plan for second plant

Sohel Parvez
The industries ministry may approve a plan by Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (Kafco) to invest $1 billion to set up its second plant to produce 12 lakh tonnes of urea a year.
The second plant, as proposed by Kafco, will be built under publicprivate partnership and the company seeks to supply all its produce in Bangladesh to meet its growing domestic demand for urea for farming, Salahuddin Ahmad, the company's chief executive officer, told The Daily Star yesterday.
"We are positively considering Kafco's proposal to build an energyefficient plant," Dilip Barua, industries minister, told The Daily Star by phone after a meeting with a Kafco board of directors at his office.
The Kafco board met with Barua to hand over a cheque for dividends for government shareholding with the joint venture. The government owns 43.51 percent of the company. Ahmad said the company paid Tk 500 crore in dividends to shareholders for the nine months through April.
Of the amount, Kafco paid Tk 248 crore in dividends to Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) under the industries ministry.
Last year, the joint venture firm, also owned by investors from Japan, Denmark and the Netherlands, filed a proposal with the industries ministry to establish its second plant to produce urea.
And early this year, the company submitted a draft of memorandum of understanding to the ministry for signing a deal to start discussions on land, gas supply and gas prices, Ahmad said.
The issues of engineering design and factory layout will be discussed after settling the issues of land, gas supply and its prices, he said.
Kafco will require 80 MMCF (million cubic feet) gas daily to run its second plant which it wants to build in Ashugan j, Ahmad said.
Kafoc's proposal of establishing its second unit comes at a time when local entrepreneurs cry for gas supply and connections to their newly built factories for starting production.
Ahmad also said Kafco, which consumes a minimum of 48 MMCF gas daily, cannot continue production due to irregular gas supply.
He however said the government will be able to provide the amount of gas Kafco will require for the second.
Established on the bank of the Kamaphuli river in Chittagong, the Kafco factory produces more than 6 lakh tonnes of urea and 1.5 lakh tonnes of ammonia a year, according to the company’s website.
Ahmad said the company supplies all its production to the government at international price.
"We also pay higher prices for gas compared to any consumer in Bangladesh," he said.
Ahmad said Kafco proposed to sell all its 12 lakh tonnes of urea to be produced in the second plant to the government for meeting Bangladesh’s domestic requirement.
"If the government does not want to buy, we will