Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said a decision on raising the petroleum prices will come soon. “You will get informed whenever the decision is made,” he told reporters while virtually briefing on the outcomes of the two consecutive meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) on Wednesday.  He said the government always tries to bear the load when price of any product goes up in the international market.  “But when the cost goes up excessively, the government shares the load with people,” he said.  He, however, did not respond to an information that the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has made a profit of about Tk 50,000 crore since 2015. Mustafa Kamal said the government’s view is to give lesser pain to people.  Responding to another question, he said the country’s stock market will see the impacts of the steps announced in the recently unveiled national budget for 2022-23. Read:CPD for reinstating previous fuel prices The budget implementation will begin from the next month and then you will see the impacts, he adding, there are many things in the budget for the stock market.  He claimed that the country’s economy is in better position compared to the economies of other countries.  The finance minister admitted that a good amount of foreign exchange is being outflowed from the country due to employment of a huge number of foreign nationals in Bangladesh. But the accurate figure of the remittance-outflow is held by the departments concerned, he said.  Read: Fuel price hike a fresh blow to Covid-hit economy: Experts Many of our garment industries have to employ foreign nationals to promote their export. “This is a vis-versa. But despite that our remittance inflow will continue to grow”.           Kamal again defended the government’s recent amnesty for the money laundereders and black money whitening steps saying that money becomes black due to the flawed system of the government.  Due to the flaws in the government system, people get the change to evade taxes, he added.        

Fifty-nine unions under the country’s three hill districts—Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari—will get permanent broadband internet connectivity soon as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a proposal in principle in this regard on Wednesday. As per the proposal, Bangladesh Computer Council will implement the project through Bangladesh Army awarding it a contract through direct procurement method (DPM). “The BCC will award the contract to the Bangladesh Army to implement the project,” said Shamsul Arefin, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, while briefing reporters on the decisions of the Cabinet body. Read: Nearly half of global population still lack internet access: UN Chief The project was awarded to the Bangladesh Army considering the security risk and other relevant impediments in installing the optical fiber in remote areas of the hill tracks, he added.   The scheme will be implemented under the project titled, ‘Broadband Connectivity Setup at the telecommunication-deprived areas’ of the BCC under the Information and Communication Technology Division. However, the figure of the contract was not disclosed at this stage of approval. But it might be revealed when the project will gain be placed for the final approval of the Cabinet Committee of Public Purchase.    Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved 11 proposals of different departments under different ministries involving Tk 2,579.30 crore of which Tk 890.62 crore will be spent from the national exchequer while the remaining funds will come as loans by different financing agencies. The committee approved a proposal of the Public Security Division of Home Ministry to procure a “Vehicle Mounted Mobile Interceptor and related services” at a cost of Tk 56.56 crore from Toru Group Limited, Switzerland, whose local agent is Smart SCM Solution, Dhaka. The supplier was selected through a limited tender method (LTM) from two bidders vying for the works, according to the proposal. Two tender proposals of the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) under Local Government Division also got approval of the Cabinet body. Dhaka Wasa selected China Geo-Engineering Corporation, China for its project “Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply (DESWS)” under package -1 to install 25 km refined water transmission lines from Rampura to Kachukhet via Vatara, Airport Road, Uttara, Gulshan and Banani involving Tk 589.31 crore. Read:Landslide warning: People urged to evacuate foothills in Rangamati Dhaka Wasa’s proposal to extend the time and cost of the consultant for the same project also received the approval of the committee. As per the approval, the Joint Venture of (1) Kunhwa-DDC-FCEA and (2) Vernacular Consultant Ltd. Bangladesh’s work tenure was extended up to 75 months from the existing 36 months with an increased cost of 2.71 crore against the original cost of Tk 19.85 crore. A project of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) to construct a coordinated water control structure on the Punorbhara River in Dinajpur got approval raising its cost by Tk 12 crore against the original cost of Tk 43.74 crore. A total of six proposals of the Roads and Highways Department under Road Transport and Highways Division also got nod of the Cabinet body. Of these, China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group Co Ltd won a Tk 743.28-crore contract for interchange construction and maintenance under the improvement of Alega-Hatikamrul- Rongpur into a 4-lanes project. Abdul Momen Limited won a Tk 601.10 crore contract for civil and maintenance works of the same project. A proposal seeking a cost rise of Tk 47.88 crore for package PW-1 of the project to upgrade Cumilla (Tomson Bridge) to Noakhali (Begumganj) local road into a 4-lane highway received approval of the committee. Its original cost was Tk 193.84 crore. The package PW-3 of the same project received a Tk 39.21 crore cost extension approval while its original cost was Tk 194.98 crore. Read:Proposals to set up 15 MW HFO-power plant in Hatiya, 40,000 SHS in hill districts get nod The package DW-05 of the Improvement of Important Local Highways (Sylhet Zone) received approval for extending the cost by Tk 16.81 crore against its original cost of Tk 186.98 crore.   The Roads and Highways Department’s awarding of a Tk 301.35 crore contract to National Development Engineers Ltd., to implement package – PW-01 of the Project for installing excel-load contract central at the transportation source points at important locations of the highways received the Cabinet body approval. The Ministry of Labour and Employment’s proposal to appoint 112 non-government organizations (NGOs) for providing 6-month long sub-formal education and 4-month skill development training to 100,000 children at a cost of Tk 160 crore received the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.  

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a proposal of the Health Service Division to import Sinofarm Covid-19 vaccine. Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, disclosed this while briefing reporters after a meeting of the committee.  She, however, did not provide any detail about the price of the Chinese vaccine and its quantity. “It’s just an approval made in principle. Details of the proposal will be known when it’ll come again for approval of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.”  Dr Shahida said the proposal was instantly placed on the table during the virtual meeting. She said the CCEA approved another proposal of the Health Service Division to import 40 Oxygen generators to be used for the treatment of Covid patients. Also read: Dhaka requests Delhi to send vaccine to Bangladesh soon The Central Medicine Store Department (CMSD) will import the oxygen generators. Another proposal made by the Industries Ministry received approval of the CCEA to sign a contract for the import of 1.28 million metric tons of fertiliser from three countries for the fiscal year 2021-2022. Of the bulk fertiliser, 500,000 mt will be imported from Muntajar Qatar, 500,000 mt from Sabic of Saudi Arabia and 250,000 mt from Fertiglbe of the UAE. Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase (CCPP) approved nine proposals, including the import of LNG and awarding a contract for installing a 400MW power plant to a Chinese contractor. As per the proposal, state-owned Petrobangla will import 3.360 million MMBtu of (liquified natural gas) LNG from AOT Trading of Switzerland at a cost of Tk 340.62 crore -- $10.199 per unit. Also read: Bangladesh to get 106,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine on June 2: Health Ministry State-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will award an EPC contract to Chinese contractor SEPCO-III Electric Power Construction Company Ltd, at a cost of Tk 1,796.72 crore to set up a 400MW gas-fired power plant at Raozan Power Station in Chattogram. The plant will be installed replacing the existing one. A proposal of the Bangladesh Police received approval of the committee to award a contract Joint Venture of (1) Smart Technologies (BD) Ltd, Dhaka and (2) Digicon Technologies Ltd, Dhaka to introduce surveillance systems on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway. Under the contract, the contractor will set up CCTV monitoring systems and other infrastructure on the highway. Two other proposals of the Directorate General of Food (DGF) received approval of the CCPP. Also read: Bangladesh seeks at least 2 mln doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada The DGF will award a Tk 261.70 contract to the Joint Venture of (1) Beximco Computers Limited, Bangladesh, (2) Bangladesh Export Import Company Ltd. Bangladesh, (3) Tech Mahindra Ltd. India, and (4) Tech Valley Networks Ltd. Bangladesh to install software, set up data centres and monitoring systems at all the food storehouses across the country under the package No-GD-27 of the “Modern Food Storage Facilities (MFSP)” project. The DGF will award another contract of Tk 330.86 crore under the package No-W-21 of the same project to Joint Venture of (1) Confidence Infrastructure Limited, Bangladesh and (2) The GSI Group LLC, USA to set up a food steel silo for rice at Barisal. Payra Port Authority’s tender proposal to award a Tk 5,629.18 crore contract to Jan De Nul (JDN), a Belgium-based dredging company, to conduct capital dredging and maintenance at the Rabonabad channel of the Payra Port received approval of the committee. Another proposal of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) under the Shipping Ministry received approval of the CCPP to award a contract to Karnaphuli Ship Builders Ltd., to construct and supply four coastal passenger vessels at a cost of Tk 230.95 crore.

The government will import 350,000 metric tons of rice more in the coming days as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its nod in principle to a proposal of the Directorate General of Food on Wednesday.

The government has decided to import 550,000 metric tons of rice to give a boost to the country’s current food stock.

The government will cut the bidding time for foodgrain import from the international market.

From now on, jewellery manufacturers will be allowed to import raw gold to refine it locally.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved in principle a proposal of the Health Services Division to procure Covid-19 vaccine directly from any organisation through negotiations without following any bidding process.

The 4.68km Bhola Bridge on Tentulia-Kalobador River will be built by private sponsor under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme at a cost of Tk 12,916 crore.

Dhaka (Joydebpur)-Mymensingh Highway is going to be upgraded to an expressway as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a proposal to develop the road under public-private partnership (PPP).