The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Wednesday approved a total of eight development projects involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 14,041.21 crore.
Of the total project cost, the government will provide Tk 10,494.21 crore from its own resources, while Tk 3,550.44 crore will come as project loans.
The approvals came at a meeting of the ECNEC chaired by ECNEC Chairman and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman at the Cabinet Division conference room at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Wednesday.
Of the approved projects, thare new andhile five are revised.
Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury; Local Government and Rural Development Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir; Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed; Industries, Textiles, Jute and Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir; Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman; Disaster Management and Relief Minister Asadul Habib Dulu; Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood; Water Resources Minister Md Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee; State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam; and State Minister for Planning Md Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki, along with senior government officials, attended the meeting, said a Planning Ministry press release.
In the ECNEC meeting, the Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry secured approval for three projects: the Universal Social Infrastructure Development-2 (GSIDP-2) (1st revised) project, the Integrated Development Project for Greater Dinajpur (Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh) Districts, and the Rural Road Maintenance and Employment Project.
The Disaster Management and Relief Ministry received approval for the Construction, Renovation and Improvement of Disaster Shelters (3rd Revised) project.
The Road Transport and Bridges Ministry’s Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Motorway Construction Project (2nd Revised) also received the green light.
Under the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, ECNEC approved the Power Distribution System Development Project for Sylhet Division (3rd Revised) and a project to drill one appraisal-cum-development well (Begumganj-5) and two exploratory wells (Begumganj-6 and Sunetra-2).
The meeting also approved the Health and Family Welfare Ministry’s Second Revised Project for Upgrading Existing Kidney Dialysis Centres at Medical College Hospitals to 50-bed Facilities and Establishing 10-bed Kidney Dialysis Centres at District Hospitals.
The meeting was also informed about the approval of 11 development projects, each involving less than Tk 50 crore, which had earlier been cleared by the planning minister under delegated authority.
These projects include the second revision of the establishment of three regional offices of the National University (2nd revised); the Barishal Textile Vocational Institute at Gouranadi (2nd revised); installation of mobile network facilities at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s third terminal; several revised road upgrading schemes in Sirajganj, Pirojpur and Tangail; the first revision of the power transmission infrastructure for evacuating electricity from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant; the second revision of the Eastern Grid Network expansion and capacity enhancement project; and the establishment of six BITAC centres in Gopalganj, Sunamganj, Barishal, Rangpur, Jamalpur and Jashore (2nd revised).
