The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday cleared seven projects, including a Tk 8850-crore one, to ensure safe water supply across the country.
The approval came at an Ecnec meeting held at the NEC conference room here with Ecnec Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
“The meeting today approved seven projects involving the total estimated cost of Tk 11,042.14 crore. The entire cost will come from the government’s fund,” said Planning Minister MA Mannan while briefing reporters after the meeting.
Among the projects, six are fresh and the remaining one is a revised one.
Talking about the project of safe water supply across the country, the Planning Minister said the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) of the Local Government Division will implement the project by June 2025 at a cost of Tk 8,850.74 crore.
The major project operations include setting up of some 90,636 swallow tube-wells and 1,23,877 deep tube-wells, installation of 2,06,664 swallow tube-wells with submersible pumps and water reservoirs, installation of 1,70,222 deep tube-wells with submersible pumps and water reservoirs, 3,379 ring wells, 3,210 rainwater harvesting units, 491 rural piped water supply schemes, erecting of 320 solar PSF, 29,570 arsenic iron removal plants and 8,838 community-based water supply units.
The Ecnec approved the first revision of Narsingdi BSCIC Industrial Estate Extension Project increasing the cost by Tk 38.56 crore. Now the project cost stands at Tk 126.57 crore.
Disclosing the implementation status of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) during the first half of the current fiscal year, the Planning Minister said the executing agencies had been able to spend Tk 56,712.57 crore from July 2019 to December 2019.
The ADP implementation rate was 26.36 percent in the first six months of the 2019-2020 fiscal year, but the rate was 27.45 percent with an expenditure of Tk 49,644.80 crore during the same period of the 2018-19 fiscal year.
However, Mannan said the government is not worried about the implementation condition of the ADP as the implementing agencies are expected to spend more amount of money in the current fiscal year compared to the previous fiscal year.
At the meeting, the Prime Minister asked the authorities concerned to ensure that no sand lifting takes place beneath the bridges or adjacent to the pillars of the bridges, said the Planning Minister.
Sheikh Hasina put emphasis on the use of surface water and rainwater in harvesting crops reducing dependency on underground water, he said.
Talking about four transport sector projects, the Planning Minister said the government has a plan to gradually upgrade all the inter-district highways into four-lane ones.
The four transport sector projects are Replacement of the existing Bailey and RCC Bridges (Dhaka Zone) at narrow and important points with the estimated cost of Tk 1,190.78 crore, Permanent Protection Work on 3.8-kilometer River Bank to protect the Doarika Bridge from the erosion of Sugandha River with Tk 283.52 crore, Increasing the road embankment height, pavement reconstruction and widening road at Singra portion on Singra-Gurudaspur-Chatmohar road with Tk 135.71 crore, and Upgrading Puthia-Baghmara Highway into due standard and width with Tk 130.83 crore.
Besides, the Ecnec approved another project which is Establishment of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre, Barishal with the cost of Tk 412 crore.
