A Correspondent :
The Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL), one of the major fertilizer producing industries of the country, could not achieve its target since the last few years. But the design capacity of production of the CUFL is 0.561 million metric tons (MT) which is never attained since its inception in 1987. The CUFL produced 1650 MT to 1680 MT fertilizer per day.
During the summer season, the government is compelled to supply gas to the power generating units to generate power to ease the load shedding.
So, production in the country’s major fertilizers producing industry is being disrupted during the last five years in the wake of acute gas crisis now prevailing in the country. According to CUFL sources, during the previous fiscal 2013-14, the CUFL produced only 61,000 metric tons of fertilizer with the capacity of 0.561 million tons against the target of 1.66 lakh MT.
During the current fiscal, the target has been fixed at 3.36 lac metric tons. But the production in the plant resumed on September 10 last. So, 70 days of the current fiscal have already been passed away.
Besides, there was no guarantee of supplying gas uninterruptedly till June next year.
So, the target will be revised further for the current fiscal, the sources said.
The Plant could not operate more than three months in the past fiscal due to shortage of gas.
Presently, the CUFL went on production since September 10 last after remaining suspended for more than six and a half month.
The CUFL went into shut down since March in 2013 due to shortage of gas.
According to CUFL sources, the plant was on operation only for three months in all the financial years in the past five years.
The sources said, the production in the plant had remained suspended for 8.5 months in the 2011-2012 fiscal.
Despite the suspension for a long time, the CUFL has produced 1.11 lakh metric tons of urea in 3.5 month in the said fiscal.
The CUFL is losing Tk 500 million every month following the shut down due to shortage of gas during the last five years.
According to CUFL sources, the organization could make a profit of Tk 10 million daily if the productions are continued regularly. Besides, the organization is to pay nearly Tk 100 million monthly against the salaries and other expenses.
So, the total loss of the CUFL stood at Tk 500 million monthly.
Meanwhile, the Tk 100 billion installations, the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) is under static corrosion due to suspension of production for nearly nine months in a year during the last five years.
The sources said different machineries of the highest investment project may be damaged.
Vassal equipment, turbine generator, heat exchanger, reformers and ‘urea reactor’ are gradually corroding due to non-operation for a long time.
CUFL was set up in 1987 at a cost of Tk 17 billion. But it will take Tk 100 billion to set up such a project presently. The guaranteed life of 20 years of the project has ended in 2007 last. Now it is running on residual life.
Besides, the CUFL had to face loss every year due to non-supply of natural gas. The total demand of gas in the CUFL is 51 million CFT daily. But the concerned authority could not supply the requisite quantity of gas regularly.
