Md Nur Islam Noyon:
The company has found itself in a new crisis as the sales of stone produced at the Madhyapara hard rock mine in Dinajpur have decreased significantly. There is a fear that production activities will be disrupted as a large amount of stone is accumulated in the mine’s stack yards in an unsold state. The mine authorities fear that production may be partially or completely stopped within the next month if sales do not increase quickly.
According to sources related to the mine, the mine’s 25 stack yards are currently almost full. There are an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of stone in stock, of which the amount of 40-60 mm size ballast stone suitable for use on railways is about 867 thousand tons. This situation has arisen due to the decrease in demand from the mine’s main buyers, Bangladesh Railways and the Water Development Board.
According to those concerned, the local market has shrunk due to the increased use of imported stone instead of domestic stone in various major government projects. In addition, the nearly 13-kilometer railway line from the mine to neighboring Bhavanipur has been inoperative for a long time, making it impossible to transport stone at low cost. As a result, quarry stone is lagging behind in the market competition due to high cost of transportation by road.
Meanwhile, production costs have also increased due to the increase in duty and royalty on explosives, said the concerned people.
The mine authorities said that after the Germania-Trust Consortium (GTC) took over in 2014, daily production increased from 700 tons to about 5,500 tons at present. As a result of the increase in production, the mine reached a profitable level from the 2018-19 fiscal year, but the company is facing losses again in the 2023-24 fiscal year due to the recent sales crisis.
Technical experts said that the quality of the stone from Madhyapara is of international standards and it is suitable for use in large infrastructure construction as it can withstand high pressure. Although there is a huge demand for stone in the country every year, a large part of it is being met through imports. They believe this is putting pressure on the foreign exchange.
To overcome the crisis, those concerned have recommended giving importance to the issue of using domestic stone at a certain rate in government projects, as well as the rapid renovation of useless railway lines and a review of the tariff structure. In this regard, Mine Manager Engineer M Jobayed Hossain said, the pressure of stone in the stack yard is gradually increasing. If sales do not increase quickly, it will become difficult to continue production activities.
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