ECNEC approves 9 projects with Tk 24.22b

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina chairs the ECNEC meeting at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area, Dhaka on 11 February 2020. Photo: PID
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina chairs the ECNEC meeting at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area, Dhaka on 11 February 2020. Photo: PID

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved nine projects involving over Tk 24.22 billion with a Tk 3.06 billion scheme to acquire necessary land and ancillary facilities development for implementing the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline Project.

The approval came at a meeting of the ECNEC with its chairperson and prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

Briefing the newsmen after the meeting, planning division secretary Md Nurul Amin said a total of nine projects were approved today involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 24.22 billion.

“Of the total project cost, Tk 21.08 billion will come from the government while the rest of Tk 3.13 billion from the concerned organisation’s own fund,” he said.

Of the approved nine projects, five are new while the four others are revised projects.

The planning secretary said Meghna Petroleum Limited (MPL) under the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will implement the project by June 2022.

The project aims to make necessary land acquisition and construct necessary infrastructures, including receiving terminal inside Bangladesh part to erect the underground pipeline for supplying and transporting fuel oil.

The implementation of the project would facilitate oil transportation and import from Numaligarh Refinery Limited under Shiliguri of India to Parbatipur Depot under Dinajpur district through erecting 10 inch diameter and 125-kilometre-long petroleum pipeline.

The main project operations include some 187.34 acres of land acquisition, some 126.14 acres of forced land acquisition, acquisition of some 12 acres of land alongside eight acres of forced land acquisition for transporting fuel to Syedpur Power Plant, procurement of necessary pipelines and other necessary equipments like pumps, meters and filters.

The project operations also include construction of six tanks having capacity of 6,761 tonnes of fuel oil for establishing the receiving terminal at Parbatipur Depot, installation, commissioning and operation of SCADA having optical fiber, installation of various types of valves, static equipments and rotating equipments, procurement of transformers and power cables, installing pipelines, completing testing and commissioning works.

According to the Planning Commission, the project has been undertaken considering the growing demand of fuel oil in the northern districts as around 580,000 tonnes of fuel oil is needed in the northern region of Bangladesh every year.

This project will facilitate importing fuel oil from Numaligarh Refinery Limited under Shiliguri of India to Parbatipur Depot under Dinajpur district.

Referring to the project of Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. which was placed in the meeting today to extend its network at the village level alongside modernisation of 5G network, Nurul Amin said prime minister Sheikh Hasina asked the authorities concerned to conduct feasibility study for the project by a third party to ascertain where it’s towers would be installed, before placing it again at ECNEC.

The prime minister also directed the high-ups of Teletalk Bangladesh to infuse dynamism into its activities.

The other projects approved in the meeting are upgrading of Baneswar (Rajshahi)-Sarda-Charghat-Bagha-Lalpur (Natore)-Ishwardi (Pabna) (R-606) district highway into regional highway at a cost of Tk 5.54 billion, Widening and strengthening of Syedpur-Nilphamari Highway, first revised with an additional cost of Tk 2.17 billion, Protection of both embankments of Kushiara river in front of the Bibiana power plants under Habiganj district with Tk 5.73 billion, Construction of multistory building of BSCIC at Tejgaon, first revised with an additional cost of Tk 303.5 million, establishment of BSCIC plastic industrial estate, first revised with an additional cost of Tk 2.64 billion, Maintenance and reconstruction of eight industrial estates of BSCIC with Tk 742.5 million, Further infrastructural Development of Khulna University, first revised, with an additional cost of Tk 1.46 billion and establishing 50-bed kidney dialysis center at medical college and 10-bed kidney dialysis center at Sadar hospital with Tk 2.55 billion.