After being closed for eight long months due to gas crisis, urea production has resumed at Jamuna Fertiliser Factory in Sarishabari, Jamalpur. Granular urea production began at the factory at around 3:10am on Tuesday.
It is learned from the factory sources concerned that production was closed from 15 February due to the gas crisis. When Titas Gas authorities started supplying gas to the factory on 20 September, start-up activities began from 12:00pm that day.
However, due to lack of required gas pressure, production could not begin then. Later, after receiving the needed gas pressure, the organisation went into granular urea fertiliser production on Tuesday night.
Shariful Islam, senior technician at Titas Gas’s Tarakandi M&R Station, told TIMES that they could not supply gas to Jamuna fertiliser factory mainly because it was not available from the national grid for a long time. When available on 20 September, gas was supplied to the factory. Last night, 150 PSI gas was supplied. Later, they came to know that the factory had returned to production.
Afaz Uddin, Managing Director (current charge) of Jamuna Fertiliser Company Limited, said, “On 20 September, we received only 30 MMCF gas, which was very insufficient compared to demand. Later, the factory was in start-up activities. Last night, after receiving gas as per demand, the factory returned to production. From 20 September until now, gas worth Tk20 to 30 crore has been burned.”
He said the factory has a urea production capacity of 1,700 metric tonnes. However, due to many key machinery becoming old, 1,270 to 1,300 metric tonnes of fertiliser are being produced daily. He also said that due to the factory being closed for 8 months, the loss has been approximately Tk1,500 crore.
Established in 1990, the factory went into commercial production in 1991. The country’s second-largest fertiliser factory plays an important role in supplying fertiliser to 21 districts in the northern region, including Jamalpur, Sherpur, Mymensingh, Tangail and Rajbari.
