According to a preliminary estimate of local cement companies, the total loss could stand at about Tk 300 crore due to the alarming fall in sales.

Some leading manufacturers fear if the current flood spell continues few more weeks it will bring the cement sector down to earth as already a number of companies have gone out of the sector due to saturation.

Floodwaters have entered many cement factory premises on the banks of Meghna and Shitalakhya rivers. Though Chittagong factories have not been affected, most of the flood-hit plants in Sylhet suspended their production.

Besides, the factories in Khulna region, which is not affected by the flood, have reduced their production significantly as they cannot supply cement to the northern region now reeling under the devastating flood.

At present, some 40 operational companies have an installed production capacity of 1.5 crore tonnes per year while the consumption is only 70 lakh tonnes. The low utilisation of capacity is causing huge loss to the industry, which requires big investment.

DK Chakraborty, marketing manager of Shah Cement Industries Ltd, one of the leading cement producers, said, "Production in the factories in Munshiganj and Narayanganj areas has declined by at least 30 percent."

The floods have led to a collapse in communication system of the country, which affected the supply chain. Due to flood most of the construction works have been kept suspended resulting in as high as 65 percent dip in consumption.

"The total consumption in Dhaka, Chittagong and Barisal has fallen by 50 percent, north Bengal by 60 percent and Sylhet by 90 percent," Alamgir Kabir, director of marketing of Premier Cement Ltd, said referring to his brief market study.

"We have incurred a loss of Tk 50 lakh in last one month due to sales drop," said Abdul Quaiyum Miah, executive director, MTC Cement Industries Ltd. About infrastructure loss, he said, "It will cost another 2.5 crore to reconstruct the plant'.

Talking about succour plan, Azizur Rahman Selim, secretary of Bangladesh Cement Manu-facturers Association, told The Daily Star, "If the government makes a tax waiver and promote use of concrete in road and highway construction, the demand for cement will rise as well as the longevity of the highways will increase."