The government has signed loan deals with three foreign banks for the funding of Ghorasal-Polash Urea Fertilizer Factory project.
Once built, it will be the largest plant of its kind in Bangladesh.
The estimated cost of the project is Tk 104.6 billion, with over 80 percent of the funds from the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation or HSBC, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the MUFG Bank, according to officials.
HSBC said in a statement that it has jointly arranged $1.3 billion equivalent financing for Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation or BCIC to set up the plant.
This is the largest financing backed by Export Credit Agency (ECA) ever completed in Bangladesh, according to the statement.
The deals were signed recently in Dhaka. Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Majumder, Industries Secretary Abdul Halim, BCIC Chairman Haiul Quaium, and Japanese Ambassador Naoki Ito were present.
JBIC Deputy Governor Nobumitsu Hayashi, HSBC Asia Pacific Regional Head of International Countries, Commercial Banking Laura Galvin, and HSBC Bangladesh CEO Francois de Maricourt, among others, also attended the event.
Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and China National Chemical Engineering will build the plant.
HSBC said the new plant with a total daily capacity to produce 2,800 tonnes will be replacing two of BCIC’s oldest plants — Urea Fertilizer Factory Ltd and Polash Urea Fertilizer Factory Ltd.
The production of the new plant will be three times higher than the current output jointly from the old plants using the same volume of natural gas but more fuel-efficient technology.
Source: Bdnews24.