The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved a total of 10 projects worth Tk 29,344.27 crore.
The approval came from the ECNEC meeting held on Tuesday with the ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The Premier joined the meeting virtually from her official Ganabhaban residence while Ministers, State Ministers, Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned attended it from the NEC Conference Room in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
After the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan told reporters, 10 projects were approved involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 29,344.27 crore.
He said, “Of the total project cost, Tk 11,003.30 crore will come from the government of Bangladesh portion while Tk 18,932.04 crore as project assistance.”
Of the approved 10 projects, seven are new while three are revised projects.
The planning minister said the Department of Information and Communication Technology under the ICT Division would implement the project titled "Establishing Digital Connectivity" involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 5,883.74 crore by June 2025.
Of the total project cost, Tk 2,505.16 crore will come from the Bangladesh government while the rest of Tk 3,378.58 crore as project assistance from China.
The main objectives of the project are to reach the government services speedily and with ease and comfort after transforming those into e-service and thus establishing necessary ICT infrastructures to increase the use of ICT in the country.
The project also aims to stretch the fiber optic connectivity to the village-level from the union-level.
Under the project, some 1,09,244 broadband and user connectivity would be established, some 10,000 Sheikh Russell digital labs would be set up, central server infrastructures would be installed for accommodating some 555 Digital Service and Employment Training (DSET) centers while field-level cloud file services and digital storage would also be set up.
Referring to the approval of the Tk 3,490 crore project to develop elevated roads and physical infrastructures in Haor region, the planning minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the authorities concerned especially the LGED to implement the project if necessary, in coordination with the Bridges Division.
Replying to another question, Mannan said that although the ECNEC meetings did not take place frequently over the last few months due to the pandemic, the government is not afraid of slowing down the development works spree as a good number of projects are in the pipeline for approval.
Dr Shamsul Alam, State Minister for Planning Ministry said that the Prime Minister suggested forming a development authority in Matarbari for overall management since various development operations are being carried out there centering the coal-fired power plant.
Sharifa Khan, the member of the Planning Commission, said, “About the additional cost involvement of Tk 15,870.42 crore in the Matarbari 1200 MW ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant. The additional cost would mainly ensure deep-sea port facilities there.”
About 98 percent of the additional cost there would be utilized for ensuring deep seaport facilities, she mentioned.
“There is no problem of coordination regarding implementation of the project while the power plant is expected to go into operation in 2024,” she added.
The other projects approved in the meeting are : Modernization of Bangladesh Marine Academy through infrastructure restructuring with Tk 114.97 crore, Upgrading Aricha (Borangail)-Gheor-Daulatpur-Nagarpur-Tangail regional highway into due standard and width with Tk 1,635.10 crore.
Widening and development of national highway at Narail town portion with Tk 179.99 crore, Rural Transport Improvement Project-II, 3rd revised with no additional cost involvement, Development of important rural infrastructures at Sylhet Division, 1st revised with an additional cost of Tk 239.93 crore, Rehabilitation of Polder No-14/1 in Khulna district with Tk 1,172.31 crore, Disaster risk management extension (component-1, BWDB portion) with Tk 757.81 crore projects also got approval.
