The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has approved four development projects involving Tk 3,903.31cr on Tuesday.
The approval came from the ECNEC meeting held at the NEC conference room in the capital’s Sher-e-Banglanagar area with ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined the meeting through videoconferencing from her official residence Ganobhaban.
Briefing the reporters after the meeting, Planning Commission Member (GED) Dr Shamsul Alam said “The total estimated cost of those 4 approved projects is Tk Tk 3,903.31 crore. Of the cost, the total amount will come from the government of Bangladesh (GoB) portion.
Among the four projects, the project titled, “Widening the Road and Construction of Two-storey road from Panchabati to Muktarpur Bridge” will be implemented in Narayanganj Sadar and Munshiganj Sadar upazilas at a cost of Tk 2,227.77 crore by June 2025, he added.
About the project, Md Mamun-Al-Rashid, another member of the Planning Commission, said, “If the expressway is constructed, the travel cost will come down by 62 percent, while the waiting time by 74 percent. The average speed of traffic will go up four-five times.”
“The main project operations include acquisition and rehabilitation of 44.50 acres of land, excavation and earth-filling of 7,01,114 cubic metres, pavement and related works of 10.75 km, construction of 14.79-km median and construction of 9.06-km expressway with ramp,” he added.
Besides, Ecnec endorsed another fresh project titled, ‘Improvement of Roads, Drainage Networks and Amenities Services of Mymensingh City Corporation’ involving Tk 1,575.06 crore.
The main project, to be completed by 2024, operations include construction of 475-km roads, 346-km drains and 17-km footpath.
Dr Shamsul Alam said the Ministry of Agriculture has brought the first amendment of the project “Modernization of Agricultural Information Service and Strengthening of Digital Agricultural Information and Communication.”
The amendment has increased the cost by Tk 41.20 crore. As a result, the original expenditure of Tk 68.71 crore has increased to Tk 109.91 crore.
The duration of the project has also been extended. The project, which started in January 2018, was scheduled to be completed in June 2020. Now its term has been extended till June 2022.
The other revised projects are: Modernization of Agriculture Information Services and Digital Agriculture Information and Communication Strengthening (1st revised) Project with an additional cost of Tk 41.20 crore and Improvement and Widening of Charkhali-Tushkhali-Mathbaria-Patharghata Road (1st revised) Project involving an additional cost of Tk 44.57 crore.
