BRAHMANBARIA: Urea fertilizer manufacturing at Ashuganj Zia Fertilizer Factory halted for mechanical breakdown early Thursday, for a fifth time in less than three months.

Factory sources said leakage in the boiler forced the suspension of production.

The factory’s daily output is 1400 metric tonnes of urea fertilizer. The shutdown forces the state-run company to count Tk 1.5 crore daily in production loss.

Earlier on September 18, the factory tripped due to leakage in Top Asses Dom of High Pressure Carbonate Condenser (HPC).

On condition of anonymity, an engineer told banglanews that the factory had to face the problem again as it “hastily went into production last time without proper repairs”.

Meanwhile, the authorities of BCIC have fixed the production target at 380,000 tonnes of fertilizer in the current fiscal. But the fertilizer factory might be at risk in reaching its target due to frequent suspension of production, factory sources added.

In the current fiscal, the factory has produced only 75,712 tonnes of urea up till now.

Managing Director of the factory Usman Gani told banglanews, “Local engineers are trying to repair the fault. It’ll take seven days to resume production.”

He informed that as the factory has now 1.60 lakh metric tonnes of urea in its stock, no fertilizer crisis would occur at this moment.

BDST: 1130 HRS, SEPT 23, 2010