DHAKA, July 28, 2020 (BSS) – The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) today approved seven projects with an outlay of Taka 3,075.33 crore, including a Tk 2,334.14 crore project to modernise the sewerage system and improve sanitation system in Khulna city.
The approval came from the ECNEC meeting held virtually with Prime Minister and ECNEC chairperson Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The Prime Minister and Planning Minister MA Mannan joined the meeting from Ganobhaban through a videoconferencing while other ECNEC members were connected from NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
“We had placed seven projects of three ministries in the today’s ECNEC meeting. Five projects are new while two others are revised projects. The total estimated cost of these seven projects is Taka 3,075.33 crore,” said the Planning Minister at a virtual briefing.
Of the total cost of these seven projects, Taka 2,132.88 crore will come from the national exchequer, while the rest Taka 942.46 crore will come as foreign loans,” he said.
The planning minister said the good news is that the cost of the two revised projects has declined rationally keeping the projects perfect and not disturbing their possible outputs. “They (the authorities concerned of the projects) saved Taka 585.86 crore from the two projects,” he said.
The seven projects include three under the Local Government Division, one under the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division, two under the Ministry of Agriculture and one under the ICT Division.
About the Khulna Sewerage System Development project involving Taka 2,334.14 crore, the Planning Minister said Khulna WASA will implement the project by June 2025 in a bid to modernise the sewerage system as well as improve the sanitation system.
Of the total project cost, Taka 929.42 crore will come from the government’s fund while Taka 1,404.72 crore as foreign loans.
According to the Planning Commission, the main project operations include construction of two sewerage treatment plants, 173-kilometre sewer network, eight sewer pumping stations, 77-kilometre services line and one Wet Land, installation of 30,000 house connections, procurement of sewer cleaning equipment, laboratory equipment and development of 1,15,741-cubic metre of land.
The four approved new projects are Sheikh Russel Digital Lab (Phase-II) Establishment Project with Taka 938.73 crore; Mujibnagar Irrigation Development Project with Taka 231.33 crore; Water Supply System Rehabilitation in Rajshahi City with the Taka 93.45 crore; and Development of Cotton Research and Transfer of Technology Project with Taka 63.55 crore.
The two revised projects are Income Support Programme for the Poorest (ISPP) (3rd revised) Project and Amar Bari Amar Khamar (My house my farm) (4th revised) project.
With the latest revision, the cost of the ISPP project has come down to Taka 1980.59 crore as the total expenditure reduced by Taka 460.87 crore, while the cost of Amar Bari Amar Khamar project came down to Taka 7,885.27 crore declining by Tk 125 crore.
During the approval of projects related to the local government, the Prime Minister directed the local government bodies to be self-reliant gradually by increasing their revenues.
“Now you’ll have to think how the local government bodies can be self-reliant gradually,” the premier was quoted as saying.
About the Amar Bari Amar Khamar Project, Mannan said Sheikh Hasina has said that the project was taken so that the people can be self-reliant and come out of the vicious cycle of microcredit. She asked the people to try to be self-reliant, said the planning minister.
While giving approval to the digital lab project, the premier asked the authorities concerned to design such more projects for the capacity-building of the students.
During the ECNEC meeting, Mannan said, the Prime Minister asked again the authorities concerned for strengthening coordination among the agencies for implementation of the projects properly in time.