ECNEC approves five projects involving Tk 46.37 billion

FT ONLINE

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved a total of 5 projects during its meeting on Tuesday involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 46.37 billion.

The ECNEC meeting was held at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area with ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing the reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said out of total project cost, Tk 14.76 billion will come from the state exchequer while the rest of Tk 31.61 billion from project assistance.

The planning minister said Tuesday's ECNEC meeting approved the 1st revision of the Multipurpose Disaster Shelter Centre Project with an estimated cost of Tk 31.71 billion mainly to protect the people of the coastal areas from various natural disasters.

The Planning Minister said some 556 cyclone shelters are being built under the project which would be mainly used for conducting academic activities of primary education and other academic purposes.

Mannan said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the meeting asked the authorities concerned to ensure necessary access roads, reservoirs for preserving rainwater, toilets and storerooms in those cyclone centers to ensure maximum facilities for the beneficiaries.

Under the project, there will also be a vertical and horizontal expansion of some 450 cyclone shelters side by side there will be the construction of some 182 kilometres of access roads and construction of 656 metres of bridges and culverts.

Today’s ECNEC meeting also approved a project to set up a chancery complex at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia in a bid to facilitate the operations of the Bangladesh mission at Jeddah with an estimated cost of Tk 2.09 billion.

The Planning Minister said the operations of Bangladesh's mission in Jeddah is currently run in a rented house, but Jeddah is commercially very important for Bangladesh for which the Chancery Complex would be built there.

Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah will implement the project by September 2023.

Under the project, the chancery complex would be built at the Bogdadia area in Jeddah.

The Planning Minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the meeting asked the authorities concerned to keep free access of the expatriates Bangladeshis in the Chancery Complex there once it is built.

She also stressed the need for keeping all necessary amenities there like spacious sitting arrangements, toilets and water facilities considering the huge number of expatriates there.

The Premier also underscored the need for further reducing the delay in the processing and implementation of the development projects.

Answering to a question, Mannan said he stood again by his earlier remarks that “misuse is horrible than corruption.”

The ECNEC meeting also approved a proposal for increasing the timeframe of the Establishment of National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Center (2nd revised) without increasing its cost.