Govt promises non-stop gas supplies to urea plants

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar on Thursday said the government would ensure uninterrupted gas supplies to urea plants for boosting domestic production for Rabi season.

He said in a meeting with manufacturers of the fertilizer industry. The meeting reflected upon current stock position and production targets of urea and other fertilizers in month of December 2021.

According to the minister, domestic production of urea in the country stood around 34lac tonnes in this year. While highlighting the notified price of urea, the minister claimed that irrespective of escalating global prices of urea amounting Rs10,000/bag, the government managed to keep price of urea at Rs1768/bag for robust cultivation of Rabi crops.

The minister also appreciated cooperation from the fertilizer companies to ease out artificial fertilizer crunch. He said the collective efforts helped the district administration to provide urea bag as per notified prices.

He shared that the government would introduce a new enactment to reward whistleblowers to check hoarding and profiteering, by which, a maximum of Rs5 million to be rewarded to those who will provide credible and actionable information about hoarding of fertilizers to the government.