UNB :
Bangladesh will import 500,000 metric tons (mts) of wheat to meet its domestic demands.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in a meeting, with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair, approved a proposal of the Food Ministry in principle in this regard on Saturday.
The detail cost of import was not disclosed at this stage of approval process as the proposal will again come to the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase for final approval.
As per the proposal placed by the Ministry of Food, Directorate General of Food (DGF), the subordinate body of the ministry, will import 200,000 mts from the Russian Federation under a G-to-G contract while the remaining quantity from international market through open tender.
However, the DGF was permitted to import the bulk wheat from international suppliers through a tender process of curtailed time 15 days instead of regular 42 days, said Md. Shamsul Arefin, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, while briefing on the issue.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved a total of 16 proposals including import of LNG and procuring tag boats for Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority(BIWTA).
State-owned Petrobangla and its subsidiary Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL) will import 3.36 million MMBtu liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Excelerate Energy LP, United States, at a cost of Tk 488.16 crore with $13.42 per unit price.
BIWTA, under the Ministry of Shipping, will procure 7 bollard pull tag boats from Bangladesh Navy-run Dockyard and Engineering Works through DMP at Tk 96.99 crore.
The Committee approved 6 separate tender proposals of Public Works Department (PWD) for awarding contracts for construction of 20-story 6 apartment complexes at Azimpur in Dhaka.
Two proposals of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) under the Water Resources Ministry received approval of the committee.
One proposal was placed for awarding a contract to Joint Venture of (1) Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd., Canada (2) Inros Lackner SE, Germany and (3) HaskoningDHV, Netherlands B.V in association with CEGIS, Bangladesh, DDC Ltd. Bangladesh, SPMC Bangladesh and KMC Bangladesh for conducting feasibility study and preparing design for the project tiled: “Coastal Embankment Improvement Project, Phase-1 (CEIP-1)” at Tk 46.29 crore.
Another proposal of the BWDB was to increase the consultant’s fee by Tk 7.33 crore for monitoring and evaluation of the Coastal Embankment Improvement Project (phase-1) and also extending the consultant’s tenure by 20 months.
Sheladia Association Inc-USA in association with Sub-Consultant: BETS Consulting Services Ltd, Bangladesh, remained engaged in the project as consultant.
