The government has decided to import another 50,000 metric tonnes of rice from India, costing 177 crore 10 lakh 90 thousand taka. The Cabinet Committee on Public Procurement has approved a proposal in this regard.
A virtual meeting chaired by Finance Minister Mustafa Kamal was held on Wednesday attended by members of the committee, senior secretaries of the cabinet division, secretaries of the concerned ministries and senior officials.
At the end of the meeting, the minister and the additional secretary of cabinet division Dr Shahida Akter highlighted various aspects of the approved purchase proposals.
After the meeting, the finance minister said that there were three proposals from the Road Transport and Highways Department, one from the Energy and Mineral Resources Department, one from the Food Ministry and one from the Local Government Department.
In the six proposals approved by the procurement committee, the total amount stood at one thousand 493 crore 49 lakh 45 thousand 773 taka. Out of the total financing, GoB will spend 958 crore 95 lakh 39 thousand 916 taka and project assistance (ADB, AFD and EIB loans) will cost 534 crore 54 lakh 5 thousand 857 taka.
Additional secretary Shahida Akhter told the media that the committee had approved a purchase proposal submitted by the Food Department under the Food Ministry to import 50,000 metric tonnes of non-basmati rice. The rice will be supplied by Indian company PK AgriLink Pvt. Ltd. The price of rice per metric ton will be 430 US dollars.
She said that the committee has approved the proposal of China CAMC Engineering Company to instal 14 km-long transmission line of purified water from Gandharbpur Water Treatment Plant to Baridhara under Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply (DESWS) Project Package-2 at a cost of Tk 777 crore 40 lakh 5 thousand and 27.
Apart from this, a purchase offer has been approved submitted by PetroBangla under the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources to import 33 lakh 60 thousand MMBTU LNG from Excelerate Energy LP, US at a cost of Tk 218 crore 7 lakh 29 thousand and 23.
