The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Sunday approved 12 projects with an outlay of Tk 8,149.38 crore.
Of this, government financing is Tk 8,58.77 crore, project loan is Tk 143.33 crore and the organisation’s own financing is Tk 52.72 crore.
These included six new projects, four revised projects and two projects with extension of period without increase of any cost.
The approval was given at the ECNEC meeting held at the NEC Conference Room at the Planning Commission premises with Chief Advisor and ECNEC Chairperson Dr. Muhammad Yunus in the chair.
Planning Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Advisor Asif Nazrul, Home Affairs and Agriculture Advisor Lieutenant General (retd) Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury and Industry and Housing and Public Works Advisor Adilur Rahman Khan; and Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Road Transport and Bridges and Railways Advisor Muhammad Fawzul Kabir Khan and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Water Resources Advisor Syeda Rizwana Hassan were present in the meeting, among others.
The 12 projects approved in the meeting are: Construction of Road from Kalurghat Bridge to Chaktai Canal along the banks of Karnaphuli River (2nd Revised 4th Time Extension)” project, Establishment of 20 (12 new and 08 reconstruction of fire stations) Fire Service and Civil Defense Stations at important places of the country”, “Development of Logistics and Freight Maintenance Facilities for Bangladesh Coast Guard (Proposed 2nd Revised)”, “Rural Sanitation Project”, “Drilling of Canal from Bahaddarhat Badraipara to Karnaphuli River” (3rd Revised).
The other projects are— “Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Railway Lines of Eastern Zone of Bangladesh Railways, "Construction of Officers' Mess and BOQ of DSCSC at Mirpur Cantonment" (1st revised)", "Further Development of Dhaka University", "Income Generating (IGA) Training for Women at Upazila Level (2nd Phase)", "Expansion of Museum Building of Bangladesh Folk and Crafts Foundation and Construction of Other Infrastructure" (1st revised 4th time increase)", "Strengthening of Kandal Crop Research Project", and "Smart Pre-payment Metering Project in Distribution Zones of BPDB (1st revised)".
The meeting informed the ECNEC members about the 18 projects already approved by the Planning Advisor.
These are— Rural Road Rehabilitation Project (2nd Revised), Hilsa Resource Development and Management (2nd Revised) Project, Pesticide Risk Reduction in Bangladesh (2nd Revised) Project, Expansion of Fish Farming Technology Services at Union Level (3rd Phase) Project, Elephant Conservation Project, Construction of Flood Shelters in Flood-Prone and Erosion-Prone Areas (3rd Phase) (2nd Revised), Capacity Building of Bangladesh Safe Food Authority (2nd Revised).
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The others are— Essential Management Support Project of Gazipur Safari Park, Enhancement of Farm Machinery Research Activities for Mechanized Paddy Cultivation (2nd Revised), Expansion of GNSS CORS Network Coverage and Modernization of Tidal Stations (2nd Revised), Infrastructure development of Talna area adjacent to 300 feet Purbachal Road of Ward No. 43 under Dhaka North City Corporation, Integrated urban infrastructure development of Rajshahi metropolis (1st revised), Construction of Ansar and Village Defense Force armories (40 in the first phase) (2nd revised), Infrastructure development and expansion of Bangladesh Navy Dockyard Technical Institute in Chittagong, Feni Municipality Infrastructure Development Project (2nd revised) 16. Reconstruction of Jamalpur District Jail (1st revised), Establishment of Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College and Hospital (2nd revised) and Collection and preservation of audio-visual documents of the student-people's mass uprising-2024 from domestic and foreign sources.
The ECNEC also changed names of two projects, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo theatre, Barisal Establishment (2nd Revised) instead of Novo theatre, Barisal Establishment (2nd Revised) and Irrigation Development Project in Kushtia, Meherpur and Chuadanga districts instead of Mujibnagar Irrigation Development Project (2nd Revised).
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Regarding the project related to the development of Dhaka University, the planning adviser said that after last year's political changeover, the university's new administration was asked to prepare a ‘Master Plan’ for the development of the institution.
“This big project has been taken up under which new academic and residential buildings, dormitories for the male and female students, a stadium and swimming pool would be set up and renovated to meet the growing demands,” he said.
The adviser said that the ECNEC meeting has given directives that the residential facilities for the female students should be proportionately higher while the historical sites and structures of the Dhaka University like the SM Hall and the Curzon Hall should be preserved properly.
“I feel very much happy since this project got approval and I hope this will be implemented in a nice way for the development of the University of Dhaka,” he added.
The adviser said that under this project, the building on the Dhaka University campus would be multi-storey so that optimum utilisation of land is ensured.
Under the development of Dhaka University project, there will be construction of six academic buildings, four female residential halls, five male residential halls, two residential buildings for teachers and officers, five other buildings.
Referring to the project inspection report of IMED, Dr Mahmud said that they would expect a full-fledged report from the IMED to ascertain why many contractors fled the scene after the changeover of power, how much the concerned project directors are liable for this, whether investigations were carried out to that end, why the contractors often received full payments before the projects were completed during the previous regime and to determine the actual loss of the government for such malpractices.
Terming the Bus Rapid Transit project from Gazipur to Airport as an unplanned mega project, the adviser suggested a committee be formed with the experts from different ministries and concerned sectors to identify how this project was proposed, who prepared the project documents and whether any feasibility study was carried out properly in this regard to determine the rationality of the project.
Besides, he said that a proposal is also there to use the BRT lanes as rapid lane and thus realising toll.
The meeting, however, withdraw a proposal for constructing flats for the families of the martyrs of the July uprising since the draft project proposal would be evaluated further.