Delay of contract renewal affects mine production; sales dropped as stock plunges
Sales of hard rock at Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Limited (MGMCL) have come to a standstill due to snail pace ofrock production as uncertainty starts looming over the renewal of the contract with the present contract holding company, which is scheduled to be ended on September 2 this year.
MGMCL, a company of Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla), is located at Maddhapara village in Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur.
According to the official sources of the hard rock mine, it has around 90,000 tonnes of rock at the stockyard, with four different sizes. But, the mine does not have a stock of 5/20 shaped rocks, which have a higher demand for various development projects across the country.
Daily average sale dropped to below 1,000 tonnes, said mine sources.
During a visit to the mine on Sunday (August 22), this correspondent found more than 1,000 trucks from various parts of the country waiting in queues on both sides on Phulbari-Mithapukur highway in the mining area to take the load from the mine.
But, a few of them were getting the rocks.
There are several stockyards at the mine's compound, but all the yards have already been empty for the production slump.
Habibur Rahman, a trucker of Madaripur district, said he reached the mine area on Thursday last week to take the load from the Maddhapara mine. He got his load after three days of waiting.
"Situation is the same for others," he said, adding that if people suffer this way, they will turn up to other alternative rock sources as it's being imported from other countries, including India and Bhutan as well.
Although there is a high demand for hard rock from Maddhapara for the development of the various projects in the country, many companies are not getting their loads as per the demands for the shortage of rocks, he said.
Sources said that developments of many mega projects in the country, including Roopur Nuclear Power Plant, Paira, Matharbari seaport, and third terminal of Shahjalal International Airport, are using the hard-rock ofMGMCL.
"The development of these mega projects is much dependent on the rock production of Maddhapara mine. If the production is hampered, it will affect the development of the projects", said an official requesting not to quote him.
On the other hand, the uncertainty of contract renewal with the incumbent contracted company has already affected the rock production as the foreign and local miners are worried about their jobs.
Mine sources said around 600 local miners and approximately 80 foreign miners have been working under Germania Trest Consortium (GTC), the contracted company.
However, local miners said working condition under GTC is far better than that of Namnam, a North Korean based company of MGMCL.
Namnam was the first company contracted by MGMCL.
Sources said Petrobangla took over the mine in 2007 after Namnam developed the mine from 1998. The same year, MGMCL signed a six-year term contract with Namnam for the mine's development and production. Under the agreement, Namnam had to produce 5,500 tonnes of rock daily operating the mine under three shifts, but it could never achieve the given target. Hence, the mine suffered massive losses.
Later, Germania Trest Consortium (GTC), a Belarus-based company, was hired by MGMCL on September 2 in 2013, through international biddings for the mine's development and rock production. Formally, the 6-year term contract ended on February 20 last year.
Meantime, the authorities of MGMCL floated tender for six times inviting bidding applications from experienced international companies, but the bidding process could not be completed since the Covid-19 induced global pandemic.
Later, MGMCL signed a Side Letter Agreement (SLA) contract with GTC, which will be over on September 2, said the mine official.
But, with only a week left, there is no sign to be seen to finalise the renewal agreement.
Md Abu Taleb Farazi, general manager (mine operation) of MGMCL, said MGMCL and Petrobangla have been working hard to finalize the contract as early as possible. GTC produced around 40 lakh tonnes of rock during its tenure. The MGMCL has sold hard rock worth Tk 627.22 crore since mid-2018.
Comments