Anwara Correspondent: Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Company Limited (CUFL), a fertilizer factory run by the government agency Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) in Chittagong, is suffering daily financial losses of Tk 3 crore. The factory was supposed to go into production on March 27 this year after repairing the furnace damaged by the terrible explosion. But gas has not been received from Chittagong’s Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL) for the past six months. When asked why gas was not delivered, CUFL officials said, Ask this question to KGDCL officials.
CUFL officials told the media that our plant can easily start production if it receives 40 to 42 million cubic feet of gas per day. After repairing the blast furnace, temporary gas was supplied for the trial. Then, since March 27 until now, not a single drop of gas has been found to start the factory. In this lack of gas, 1,200 officers and employees have been sitting in non-production for the last six months. They said that if any chemical industry factory is kept without continuous production, then the machinery of that factory is greatly damaged. But we are ready. If we get gas, we can go to full production.
CUFL Managing Director Mizanur Rahman told the media that the first phase of the factory was closed in November 2022 due to the furnace explosion of CUFL. After the continuous standstill and after completing the repair of the furnace, we were ready for production on March 27. Then I still haven’t got gas. Six months have already passed. KGDCL officials are not even giving any answers to the question of why I will not get gas. Just saying, there is no allocation from above.
Mizanur Rahman said that the nearby gas factory is in continuous production after getting Kafco gas. Like that factory, we also have an agreement with KGDCL, where it is said that the gas company will have to pay compensation to CUFL if it is not able to supply gas as per demand. Sofiul Azam Khan, general manager of engineering services at KGDCL, told the media that we have not received any instructions from their parent company, BCIC, that CUFL should be given gas.
Every three months, on the orders of the top government, Petrobangla makes quarterly allocations to various important public and private industries in the country that burn gas in furnaces. Accordingly, BCIC also gets quarterly allocations from Petrobangla as per the demand letter or requisition.
Now KGDCL supplies gas to those institutions that are supposed to supply gas according to BCIC’s instructions or advisory letter.
