Jan 08, 2020
ECNEC chairperson prime minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in Sher-e-Bangla Nagara area, Dhaka on 7 January 2020. Photo: PID
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday cleared seven projects, including a Tk 88.5 billion one to ensure safe water supply across the country, reports news agency UNB.
The approval came at an ECNEC meeting held at NEC conference room in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagara area. ECNEC chairperson prime minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting.
“The meeting today approved seven projects involving a total estimated cost of Tk 110.42 billion. The entire cost will come from the government’s fund,” planning minister MA Mannan briefed newsmen after the meeting.
Among the projects, six are fresh and the remaining one is a revised one.
Talking about the project of safe water supply across the country, the planning minister said the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) of the Local Government Division will implement the project by June 2025 at a cost of over Tk 88.5 billion.
The major project operations include setting up of some 90,636 swallow tube-wells and 123,877 deep tube-wells, installation of 206,664 swallow tube-wells with submersible pumps and water reservoirs, installation of 170,222 deep tube-wells with submersible pumps and water reservoirs, 3379 ring wells, 3210 rainwater harvesting units, 491 rural piped water supply schemes, erecting of 320 solar PSF, 29,570 arsenic iron removal plants and 8,838 community-based water supply units.
The ECNEC approved the first revision of Narsingdi BSCIC Industrial Estate Extension Project increasing the cost by Tk 385.6 million. The project cost stands at over Tk 1.26 billion.
Disclosing the implementation status of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) during the first half of the current fiscal year, the planning minister said the executing agencies had been able to spend Tk 567.12 billion from July 2019 to December 2019.
The ADP implementation rate was 26.36 per cent in the first six months of the 2019-2020 fiscal, but the rate was 27.45 per cent with an expenditure of Tk 496.44 billion during the same period of the 2018-19 fiscal.
However, Mannan said the government is not worried about the implementation condition of the ADP as the implementing agencies are expected to spend more amount of money in the current fiscal year compared to the previous fiscal year.
At the meeting, the prime minister asked the authorities concerned to ensure that no sand lifting takes place beneath the bridges or adjacent to the pillars of the bridges, said the planning minister.
Sheikh Hasina put emphasis on the use of surface water and rainwater in harvesting crops reducing dependency on underground water, he said.
Talking about four transport sector projects, the planning minister said the government has a plan to gradually upgrade all the inter-district highways into four-lane ones.
The four transport sector projects are Replacement of the existing Bailey and RCC Bridges (Dhaka Zone) at narrow and important points with the estimated cost of Tk 11.9 billion, Permanent Protection Work on 3.8-kilometer River Bank to protect the Doarika Bridge from the erosion of Sugandha river with Tk 2.83 billion, Increasing the road embankment height, pavement reconstruction and widening road at Singra portion on Singra-Gurudaspur-Chatmohar road with Tk 1.35 billion, and Upgrading Puthia-Baghmara Highway into due standard and width with Tk 1.3 billion.
The ECNEC meeting also approved another project, Establishment of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre, Barishal at a cost of Tk 4.12 billion.
