PM Hasina: Bangladesh will overcome arson violence

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday called upon the countrymen to face any situation with courage as Bangladesh must march ahead confronting all the hurdles like arson violence.

"Bangladesh is progressing ahead and will move further by overcoming man-made disasters like arson violence alongside natural ones. I call upon the countrymen to face the situation with courage," she said.

She made the remarks, addressing a civic rally after the inauguration of the newly constructed Ghorashal-Palash Urea Fertilizer Factory (GPUFF) on the GPUFF premises in Palash Upazila in Narsingdi. 

The prime minister said she has to move ahead confronting various impediments.

"None can stop Bangladesh's journey towards development," she said.

The prime minister said the BNP-Jamaat clique has again started the arson terrorism like 2013-14 ahead of the national election.

"They have again started the arson terrorism. I don't know when their conscience will rise and will be sensible," she said.

The prime minister reminded all that the Awami League was not able to come to power in the 2001 general election despite getting maximum votes due to local and foreign conspiracies.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the Awami League did not come to power at that time as she refused to sell gas at the request of America, saying that they would sell gas only after meeting the local demand and keeping storage for 50 years.

"Bangabandhu's daughter has no intention to come to power after selling the country's resources," she said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also called upon the people not to leave even a single inch of land uncultivated so that 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.

State-of-the-art technology is installed to run the factory smoothly while skilled manpower has 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 prime minister, as well, inspected the factory before its inauguration.

She also released commemorative stamps, opening envelopes and a special canceller marking the opening of the GPUFF.

A video documentary on the project was screened at the function.

Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun MP, State Minister Kamal Ahmed Majumder MP, Anwarul Ashraf Khan, MP and Senior Secretary Zakia Sultana were present.

The premier is scheduled to address a grand rally to be held at the Mosleh Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium here where she will also inaugurate a number of development projects in Narsingdi.

With the starting operation of the fertilizer factory, the dependency on importing fertilizer will reduce significantly as the local factories will produce together 1,924,000MT against the country's total annual demand of 2.6 million tons.

The local factories are currently producing about 1 million tons while the rest of the annual demand is met through import.

The factory will create 30,000 jobs, according to the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).

The factory which has the capacity of producing 2,800MT of fertiliser daily, was built at a cost of Tk15,500 crore on 110 acres of land

Of the total cost, the government provided Tk4,580.21 crore, and Tk10.920 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 28MW to run.

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

This is a "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.

Source: BSS