The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved 10 projects , including two related to COVID-19 emergency response and preparedness, involving Tk 16,276 crore.
The approval came from the 23rd Ecnec meeting of the current fiscal year held at the NEC conference room with Ecnec Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The Prime Minister joined the meeting through videoconference from her official residence Ganobhaban.
“We’ve placed 10 projects of seven ministries at the today’s meeting. The total estimated cost of the 10 approved projects is Tk 16,276.03 crore. Of the cost, Tk 14,401.52 crore will come from the national exchequer,” said Planning Minister MA Mannan while briefing reporters after the meeting.
He said four projects out of the ten actually got approval earlier, though we placed these at the meeting for formal approval.
The two COVID-19 projects are ‘COVID-19 Emergency Response and Pandemic Preparedness Project’ involving Tk 1,127.52 crore, and ‘COVID-19 Response Emergency Assistance Project’ with Tk 1,345.56 crore.
The Directorate General of Health Services under the Health Service Division will implement the two COVID-19 projects from April 2020 to June 2023.
Talking about the two projects, the Planning Minister said though the two projects were approved earlier, the today’s meeting didn’t require bring any amendment to the projects.
During the approval of the two COVID-19 projects, the Prime Minister stressed the need for enhancing oxygen supply to hospitals and having ICU unit in every district hospital, said MA Mannan.
Besides, the Ecnec meeting cleared four other fresh projects while revised four old projects.
