The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved 10 projects involving Taka 16,276.03 crore, including two projects related to emergency response and preparedness on novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to strengthen the country’s health system, reports BSS.
The approval came from the 23rd ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal year (FY20) held at the NEC conference room in the capital’s Sher-e-Banglanagar area with ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined the meeting through videoconferencing from her official residence Ganobhaban.
Briefing the reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said they had placed 10 projects of seven ministries in the meeting.
“The total estimated cost of those 10 approved projects is Taka 16,276.03 crore. Of the cost, Tk 14,401.52 crore will come from the government of Bangladesh (GoB) portion while the rest Taka 1,881.97 crore as project assistance,” he added.
Four out of these 10 approved projects actually got approval earlier, Mannan said, adding: “But, we placed these four projects before the ECNEC meeting today for formal approval alongside six other projects.”
He said the two COVID-19 related projects are ‘COVID-19 Emergency Response and Pandemic Preparedness Project’ involving Taka 1,127.52 crore, and ‘COVID-19 Response Emergency Assistance Project’ worth Taka 1,364.56 crore.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the Health Services Division will implement the two COVID-19 related projects from April 2020 to June 2023.
The Planning Minister said although these two COVID-19 related projects were approved earlier, today’s meeting did not make any amendment to these two projects.
Mannan said during the approval of the two COVID-19 projects, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stressed the need for enhancing oxygen supply to hospitals and having ICU unit in every district hospital.
