LGRD minister Tajul Islam on Monday said the government will revise the cost of various projects considering the rising cost of construction materials including rod.

He said this in parliament Monday, replying to a supplementary question from independent lawmaker Rezaul Karim.

The minister informed the House that this will be done within the next one week to 10 days.

“In that case the contractors will be interested to carry out works of different projects,” he said.

In the supplementary question, Rezaul Karim said, MPs have received a special allocation of Tk 20 crore. But development works remained stalled due to increasing price of rod.

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“The contractors are not working,” he added.

He wants to know what alternative measures will be taken to break the stalemate.

In response, the local government minister said prices of almost all commodities had risen worldwide due to two years of coronavirus infection and the ensuing Russia-Ukraine war.

“Inflation in Bangladesh is much better than in the rest of the world. Even then the prices of construction materials including rods have gone up,” he said.

The minister said he had raised the issue before the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a recent meeting.

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“The Prime Minister has given instructions. According to that instruction, local government engineers following discussion with the officials of the finance ministry have taken initiative to re-fix the cost of different projects,” he added.

In this case, Tajul Islam said that the contractors will be interested in working following extension of the project estimate.