The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved 11 projects worth Taka 13,655.98 crore including a project on environmental development.
The approval came from the ECNEC meeting held with its Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair on Tuesday.
Ministers, state ministers, planning commission members and secretaries concerned attended the meeting at the NEC Conference Room in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said that a total of 11 projects were approved involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 13,655.98 crore.
“Of the total project cost, Tk 3,129.87 crore will come from the government while Tk 10,526.11 crore from the foreign loan,” he mentioned.
“Of the approved 11 projects, seven are new while the rest four projects are revised ones,” he said
The approved projects in the meeting are: Export
Competitiveness for Jobs (EC4J), 2nd revised with an additional cost of Tk 93.15 crore, Construction of some 34 buffer godowns in various parts of country to facilitate preservation and distribution of fertilizer, 1st revised with an additional cost of Tk 365.43 crore, Bangladesh Environmental Sustainability and Transformation Project (BEST) with Tk 2,995.88 crore, Emergency assistance to rehabilitate flood management with Tk 699.81 crore and Affected rural infrastructures rehabilitation due to flood in 2022 with emergency support from ADB with Tk 1,123 crore.
Besides, Development of Sylhet-Charkhai-Sheowla highway with Tk 4,257.07 crore, Rehabilitation of Sylhet Chatakbazar Section of Bangladesh Railway severely affected due to flood in 2022 with Tk 241.59 crore, Emergency assistance to reconstruct water supply and sanitation system affected due to flood with Tk 343.91 crore, Construction of Bangladesh Chancery Complex at Islamabad, 4th revised with an additional cost of Tk 17.56 crore, Development of Bangladesh Land Survey Education, 1st revised with an additional cost of Tk 61.43 crore and Accelerating Transport and Trade Connectivity in Eastern South Asia (Access)-Bangladesh, phase-1 (BLPA component) with Tk 3,457.15 crore have also been approved during the meeting.
When asked whether the price hike of fertilizer would put an impact on inflation, Mannan said there might be an impact, but it was not possible right at the moment to determine the extent of impact.
Supplementing the Planning Minister, DrAlam said there would be no impact of this if there is high yield of food grains.
Replying to a question, Mannan said that the Prime Minister is not in favour of recruiting many consultants in the development projects as the local human resources has improved a lot.
He also informed that the trend of incorporating consultants in the projects would decline in the coming days.
Answering to another question, Planning Division Secretary SatyajitKarmakar said that the project for constructing Chancery Complex in Islamabad has been revised again since there has been huge inflation in Pakistan side by side the government of Bangladesh wants to make it more scenic and a 'flagship project'.
