The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved five projects worth Tk 3,308.36 crore on Tuesday.
The approval came at the Ecnec meeting held virtually with Ecnec Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The Premier chaired the meeting from the her official Ganobhaban residence while ministers, state minister, secretaries and other officials concerned joined the meeting from the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Division Senior Secretary Md Ashadul Islam said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed the authorities concerned not to disburse house rent money to the public servants who are staying in rented houses despite having government houses allotted in their name.
In the case of many schools or government institutions, government quarters often do not have officials or teachers, he added.
“As a result, these remain empty day after day. The reason for the absence of government officials and employees is that the house rent allowance has also increased due to higher salaries. They live in rented houses at a lower price than the rent that is deducted in government quarters,” he mentioned.
“In this context, the Prime Minister has given specific instruction,” Ashadul added.
Regarding the approval of the 1st revision of the project for further development of Rajshahi Science and Technology University with an additional cost of Tk 259.17 crore, he said that the Prime Minister directed the authorities concerned to develop a system for ensuring accountability of the universities in the country.
He said, “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the meeting stressed the need for having a ‘master plan’ in each upazila for properly building the infrastructures, mini stadiums and preserving water bodies. She also said that this master plan should not be prototype.”
“A total of five projects were approved today (Tuesday) involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 3,308.36 crore,” he mentioned.
“Of the total project cost, Tk 1,245.30 crore will come from the Government of Bangladesh, Tk 20.98 crore from the concerned organization’s own fund while the rest of Tk 2,042.08 crore as project assistance,” he added.
Of the approved five projects, two are new while three others are revised projects.
The Ecnec approved a Tk 1,882.59 crore project to ensure rural household drinking water supply, sanitation, following of health guidelines and thus providing WASH facilities to around 4.5 million people for their overall human resource development.
Revealing the details of the project, Planning Commission member of the Physical Infrastructure Division Mamun-Al-Rashid said “The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) under the Local Government Division will implement the project for ensuring rural water supply and sanitation by December 2025 with Tk 1,831.76 crore as loan from the World Bank and AIIB.”
The project will be implemented in 98 upazilas under 30 districts of eight Divisions.
Mamun also said that once the project is implemented, around 45 lakh people would get WASH facilities.
Besides, the day’s meeting also approved a project to ensure development of rural infrastructures in Narsingdi district with Tk 795.16 crore.
The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) under the Local Government Division will implement the project by June 2023 at Narsingdi Sadar, Palash, Shibpur, Monohordi, Belabo and Raipura upazilas.
The day’s ECNEC meeting also approved the 1st revision of the land acquisition for constructing sewerage System in Khulna Metropolitan with an additional cost of Tk 116.54 crore.