PM opens Southeast Asia's largest fertiliser factory in NarsingdiBangladesh will surely overcome arson violence: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged the people to boldly face any situation saying that Bangladesh will surely overcome manmade disasters like arson violence.

“We will take Bangladesh forward, surely overcoming manmade disasters like arson violence as we face the natural disasters. I would like to tell the countrymen to boldly face any situation,” she said.

The premier was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Ghorashal-Palash Urea Fertiliser Factory (GPUFF) – the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia - in Narsingdi.

She opened the environment friendly energy saving and modern technology based factory with production capacity of 9.24 lakh MT of fertilizer annually by unveiling the inaugural plaque at a civic rally on the GPUFF premises in Palash Upazila.

She said Bangladesh will move forward because commodity price hike has emerged due to external factors like wars, economic sanctions, and global inflation.

She once again called upon the people not to leave even a single inch of land uncultivated to ensure Bangladesh would never need to beg anyone for food.

She said Bangladesh today is a developing country that would move forward further and be a Smart Bangladesh; having a smart population, smart government, smart economy, and smart society.

She said Bangladesh faced repeated obstacles in its development journey, but none could stop its progress.

“None would be able to stop this progress of Bangladesh anymore,” she said.

She said the Awami League refused a foreign proposal to sell gas abroad before the 2001 general election. That caused her party’s defeat in the election.

But BNP leader Khaleda Zia agreed to it and won the vote, she said.

The PM said had she yielded to the pressure that day Bangladesh would not have seen such an excellent fertiliser factory today.

Several farmers were killed during the BNP regime as they had agitated demanding fertilizers in different places including Gaibandha and Tangail, she added.

The PM said no shortage of urea fertiliser was seen anywhere in the country in the last 15 years thanks to its uninterrupted distribution and import of this fertilizer. “Now there is enough stock of fertilizers in the country,” she said.

Mentioning that the cornerstone of the country’s foreign policy is ‘Friendship to All, Malice towards None,’ she said this newly built fertiliser factory is an example of the foreign policy as friendly countries assisted Bangladesh to construct the large factory.

She said this factory would reduce the country’s dependency on fertiliser imports and create jobs.

State-of-the-art technology are installed to run the factory smoothly while skilled manpower have already been prepared through proper training by foreign experts since the project's inception.

Construction of a railway line is undergoing for connecting the factory to Ghorashal Railway Station aimed at facilitating transportation.

The annual production capacity of the environmentally-friendly and modern fertiliser factory is some 1 million metric tons, capable of producing 2,800 metric tons of urea daily.

Now the local demand for urea fertiliser is some 26 lakh metric tons annually. If this newly built plant goes into full-swing production, some 20 lakh metric tons of urea will be produced yearly in the country.

So, the factory will play a leading role in meeting the growing demand for urea fertiliser, ensuring the supply of fertilisers to farmers at affordable prices, saving foreign currency by reducing imports and creating employment opportunities.

Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) has implemented the 'Ghorashal Polash Urea Fertiliser Project' on 110 acres of land at a cost of around Tk 15,500 crore. The construction work for the project began on March 10, 2020.

Of the total cost, the government provided Tk 4,580.21 crore, and Tk 10.920 crore was obtained through business loan schemes from JICA, HSBC, and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Limited.

The factory's two steam gas generators are capable of producing 32 MW of electricity while the plant needs 28 MW to run.

It is the first fertilizer factory in Bangladesh where the environmental pollutant Carbon-Di-Oxide (CO2) will be captured from the primary reformer flue gas and the production of urea fertilizer will increase (about 10pc ) by using the captured CO2.

This is "modern, sophisticated, energy efficient and green" fertilizer factory in the country which will reduce the import of urea fertilizer and save hard-earned foreign currency.

The prime minister released a commemorative postage stamp, marking the inauguration of the country’s largest fertiliser factory.

Earlier, PM Sheikh Hasina inspected the large urea fertiliser factory.

Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Mojumder, Narsingdi-2 MP Anwarul Ashraf Khan, and Industries Secretary Zakia Sultana, among others, spoke at the inaugural ceremony.