The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved 14 development projects involving Taka 6,228.49 crore including one project to ensure cent percent electrification under Comilla zone with Taka 1,521.76 crore.
The approval came from the 16th ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal year held at the NEC conference room in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area with ECNEC chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said a total of 14 projects were approved today with an overall estimated cost of Taka 6,228.49 crore.
“Of the total project cost, Taka 5,421.40 crore will come from the GoB portion, Taka 65.81 crore from the organisation’s own fund while the rest of Taka 741.28 crore from project assistance,” he added.
Of the approved 14 projects, nine are fresh while five others are revised projects.
The Planning Minister said Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) under the Power Division would implement the project titled ‘Power Distribution System Improvement, Comilla Zone’ by December 2021.
The project will be implemented at 13 upazilas under Comilla, Brahmanbaria, Chandpur, Noakhali, Feni and Lakshmipur districts.
The Planning Minister said the overall power generation capacity of the country is now 15,379 MW while some 80 percent areas of the country have already come under electricity network.
“A good number of projects are ongoing while more projects are in the approval process to bring the rest of the areas under power coverage. We want to cover cent percent areas by 2020 while the government and the concerned agencies will work in a coordinated manner in this regard,” he added.
According to the Power System Master Plan-2016, the demand of electricity will increase to 14460 MW by 2021, 27393 MW by 2030 and 50979 MW by 2041 with the demand of electricity to increase by 10 to 12 percent every year.
The minister also said the main project operations include construction of some 14 sub power stations (33/11 KV), upgradation of some 19 sub power stations (33/11 KV), erection of some 2106 kilometer distribution lines.
