The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved the 3rd submarine cable project involving Tk 693 crore for the expansion of the international telecommunication system.
The Ecnec also approved three more projects at a meeting at NEC conference room at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital with Prime Minister and Ecnec Chairperson Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The prime minister joined the meeting through a video conference from her official residence Gonobhaban.
Some other ministers and state ministers also attended the meeting with Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned in attendance.
Once the project is implemented, Bangladesh will be connected with a third submarine cable to meet the rapidly growing demand for internet bandwidth and ensure uninterrupted broadband internet services, officials of the Posts and Telecommunications Division said.
At the end of the ECNEC meeting, Dr Shamsul Alam, Member (Senior Secretary) of General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission presented detailed information to the journalists.
“A total of four projects worth Tk 2,115.20 crore got the Ecnec approval on Tuesday. Of the total, Tk 1,440.87 crore comes from government funds, Tk 300.83 crore from various organisation funds and Tk 373.50 crore from foreign grants,” he mentioned.
Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) will implement the project “Establishment of third submarine cable for expansion of Bangladesh International Telecommunication System,” from October 2020 to June 2024.
The SEA-ME-WE-6 submarine cable from Singapore to France will extend through the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
The cable will have core landing stations in Singapore, India, Djibouti, Egypt and France. The Bangladesh branch will extend through the Bay of Bengal to the cable landing station at Cox's Bazar. So the project area has been selected.
Under the project, submarine cables and related equipment will be procured and installed. The 13,275 km core submarine cable will be installed along with 1, 650 km branch submarine cable.
Lighting up the equipment and land cable connection to Carrier Natural at Singapore and France landing stations.
The landing station will have electrical equipment and other equipment, data center infrastructure and electrical work, a 500 KVA stand-by-diesel generator, automatic fire extinguishing system and air-conditioning system.
Construction of a building and an international standard rest house for installation of equipment, construction of 2428 sq ft two story (ground floor vacant) functional building and construction of 2,595 sq ft three story rest house will be done.