Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also ECNEC chairperson, presides over the weekly ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal year held at the NEC conference room on Tuesday (January 3, 2017)

Dhaka: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved the procurement of equipment and machinery for repairing and maintenance and road infrastructure construction at an estimated cost of Tk 585.88 crore.

The approval came from the 15th ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal year held at the NEC conference room 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 six projects were approved with an overall cost of Tk 2,474.65 crore.

"Of the total project cost, Tk 2,002.35 crore will come from the national exchequer while the rest of Tk 472.30 crore from project assistance," he said.

Of the approved six projects, five are new while one is revised one.

The Planning Minister said Roads and Highways Department will implement the project by December 2017. Of the total project cost of Tk 585.88 crore, the government will provide Tk 113.58 crore while the rest of Tk 472.30 crore will come as project assistance from the Indian Line of Credit (LoC).

The Roads and Highways Department has some 65 road divisions, 137 road sub-divisions, 18 mechanical divisions, and 21 mechanical sub-divisions while those divisions and sub-divisions are tasked with management and maintenance of countrywide some 21,302 kilometers of hHighways, 18,258 bridges alongside ferries and pontoons.

Under the circumstances, the project has been undertaken to strengthen the Roads and Highways Department through procuring modern and high-powered machinery and equipment, management and maintenance of newer roads, highways, and bridges through modern equipment and machinery.

Regarding the implementation rate of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) during the July-December period of the current fiscal year, Mustafa Kamal said the ADP implementation rate reached 26.7 percent during the last six months with an overall expenditure of Tk 32,997 crore.

He also said the ADP implementation rate during the July-December period of the last fiscal year was Tk 23,777 crore with an implementation rate of 24 percent.

Asked about the reason behind the better implementation rate, the Planning Minister said there were no such political turbulence over the last six months hoping that the ADP implementation rate in the next month would reach around Tk 15,000 crore.

The ECNEC meeting also approved the first revision of the construction of some 156 Fire Service and Civil Defense Stations at important upazila headquarters with an estimated cost of Tk 1,258 crore.

The Fire Service and Civil Defense Department and Public Works Department are jointly implementing the project at 156 upazilas in 58 districts of the country.

The Planning Minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always put emphasis on having water bodies while building any infrastructures.

The Prime Minister also said the project was undertaken to cover all the upazilas of the country in phases.

The other projects approved at the meeting are Infrastructural development of Nangalband Mohastami Punnasnan Festival with Tk 120.74 crore, Protecting Ramnewaj launchghat areas under Monpura upazila and Ghosherhat launchghat areas under Charfashion upazilas of Bhola from river erosion with Tk 280.69 crore, Approach road widening and other necessary infrastructural development for Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park, Gazipur with Tk 70.32 crore and enriching Bangla language in ICT through research and development with Tk 159.02 crore, reports agency.

Ministers, State Ministers, Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present at the meeting.