Time for T20

Production at all fertiliser factories except Jamuna Fertiliser Company in Jamalpur will remain suspended to ensure smooth power supply during the T20 Cricket World Cup and boro season.
"We have already taken a decision to stop gas supply to the fertiliser factories. We will send letters to them today [Thursday]," Petrobangla Chairman Hossain Monsur told The Daily Star yesterday.
Suspending gas supply to fertiliser factories to increase power production is nothing new in the country, as the government each year gives priority to boro farmers for rice production due to power shortage.
"This year we are closing down the fertiliser factories a bit earlier than we normally do due to the T20 World Cup," Monsur added.
He also said it might take five to seven days to completely shut fertiliser production, as the factories cannot stop the production suddenly.
Fertiliser factories consume 240 million cubic feet of gas per day, nearly 10 percent of the country's total gas production of 2,300mmcfd.
The boro season normally runs between December and May.
"If gas production improves, we may resume supplying gas to fertiliser factories again," said Monsur.   
Currently, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) has a stock of 6.09 lakh tonnes of urea fertiliser, according to the industries ministry data.
The projected demand for urea is 2 lakh tonnes in March and 1.86 lakh tonnes in April, said Kamrul Ashraf Khan, chairman of Bangladesh Fertiliser Association, a platform of fertiliser dealers and non-urea fertiliser importers.
"There will be no crisis of urea in the current boro season," said Kamrul, also a lawmaker, but opposed the plan to suspend gas supply to fertiliser factories.
He said it was reasonable to suspend gas supply to the fertiliser factories because of acute power shortage in the past. Now electricity supply situation had improved, he added.
"At this stage, it is unacceptable to suspend gas supply to the factories. The suspension will cause production loss and increase the country's dependence on imported fertilisers at prices higher than that of local produce," Kamrul observed.