SR Group, Bangladesh has set up a chemical manufacturing plant in Bogura, the largest of its kind in the country’s northern region, at an investment of Tk 850 crore. The project started operation during the last month. The group manufactures more than 650 tonnes of liquid caustic and 450 tonnes of caustic soda and sold them in the domestic market. Caustic soda is one of the main chemicals used in the textile industry.
Asif Rabbani, managing director of SR Chemical, said, “We have a ready market in the garment and textile industries. Therefore, we have established this factory as a backward linkage of the country’s growing garment, textile, and cosmetic industries. We are running a zero-liquid discharge ETP [effluent treatment plant] following the environmental guideline. An auto machine unit is controlling the plant, and there are 67 sensors. If leakage occurs, the whole plant will be shut down within seconds.”
SR Group runs 17 units in telecom, transport, logistics, restaurant, garment accessories, food processing, fast-moving consumer goods, CNG processing, information technology, and chemicals. The plant will create jobs for 1,000 people. It has already recruited 800 people, including technicians, engineers, and workers, said Md Rayhan Ferdoush, head of the production.
The factory’s annual production capacity is 54,000 tonnes, including 30,000 tonnes of caustic soda, 12,000 tonnes of bleaching powder, and 12,000 tonnes of bleaching fine. Some other items will be produced as byproducts. Once full-fledged production begins, it can have seven types of chemicals, including caustic soda (flake), liquid caustic bleaching power, bleaching fine, hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochlorite, and liquefied chlorine worth Tk 500 crore annually.
