A total of 163 vehicles are being procured to enhance the operational capability of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). These include three jeeps, 100 patrol pickups and 60 air-conditioned microbuses.
The vehicles will cost Tk 1.22 billion. They will be purchased through the direct procurement method. State-owned (Progoti Industries Limited) will supply the vehicles.
The proposal for the purchase was approved today, Thursday, at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase held at the Secretariat and chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury. The proposal was presented by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
According to sources at the Home Ministry, each jeep will have an engine capacity of 2,500cc. The market price of each could be around Tk 15 million. Meanwhile, the current market price of a patrol jeep is Tk 6.4 million and that of a microbus is Tk 4.8 million.
On 5 April, the Finance Division of the Ministry of Finance issued a circular suspending the purchase of all kinds of vehicles.
Before the national election, a policy proposal for the direct purchase of these vehicles had been approved on 26 January at a meeting of the Advisory Council Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by then Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed.
RAB’s activities have drawn widespread criticism both at home and abroad at different times. In such a situation, the proposal to buy the vehicles was first approved in principle during the final phase of the interim government. Today, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government decided to proceed with the purchase.
The cost of procuring the 163 vehicles in the current 2025–26 fiscal year will be borne under the project titled “Enhancing the Operational Capability of RAB Forces (First Revised).”
The project was originally undertaken in 2018 during the tenure of the previous Awami League government. At the time, the project cost was estimated at Tk 10.34 billion. Later, Tk 2.07 billion was cut from the budget, the project tenure was extended until 2026, and the revised cost stood at Tk 8.27 billion.
Under the project, there is a target to procure a total of 1,570 vehicles of different types and 131 pieces of equipment. So far, 809 vehicles and 101 pieces of equipment have already been purchased.