Govt to spend Tk 15,683cr on 16 dev projects; proposals cleared

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved 16 development projects involving Tk 15,683 crore.

The approval came from its meeting held at the NEC conference room here with Ecnec Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

"Today, 16 projects were approved with an estimated cost of Tk 15,683.24 crore. Of the total cost, Tk 5,707.97 crore will come from government fund while Tk 8,740.20 crore as project assistance and the rest Tk 1,235.07 crore from the organizations’ own fund,” said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal while briefing reporters after the meeting.

Of the approved 16 projects, 15 are new while one is revised project.

In terms of cost, the biggest project is ‘Improvement of Power Transmission Infrastructures for Evacuating Power to be Produced in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant’ involving Tk 10,981.75 crore.

The Planning Minister said Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Limited (PGCB) under the Power Division will implement the project by December 2022.

Of the total project cost of Tk 10,981.75 crore, the government will provide Tk 1,527.64 crore while the PGCB Tk 1,235.07 crore. The rest of the amount of Tk 8,219.04 crore will come from the Indian third LoC.

On December 25, 2015, an agreement was signed between the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and the Russian Rosatom worth US$12.65 billion to construct the country's first nuclear power plant in Rooppur.

Of the two units of the plant, the first unit having the capacity of 1200 MW power generation is expected to come into operation by October 2022, while the second unit also having 1200 MW capacity is expected to come into operation by 2023. 

The project will be implemented in 37 upazilas of 13 districts in three divisions.

The main project operations include erection of 609-km 400 KV double circuit transmission line, construction of some 60 kilometer 230 KV Rooppur-Baghabari double circuit transmission line and 12 bay extensions.

The PGCB has already conducted a feasibility study on the project.
 
Source: unb