ECNEC clears 6 projects in 1st meeting of new govt

The first meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman approved six out of eight development projects discussed on Monday, while sending 13 proposals back for consideration in the next session.

The meeting, part of the fiscal year 2025-26 agenda, was held at the Cabinet Division meeting room in the Bangladesh Secretariat instead of the usual NEC conference room in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. Officials said the venue change aimed to facilitate the Prime Minister's workload and secretariat-centric activities. 

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman presided over the session, with Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir serving as alternate president.

Ministers and senior officials attended the meeting to present and discuss project proposals. According to the Ministry of Planning, a total of 19 projects were scheduled for discussion, but only eight could be considered due to time constraints. Of these, six were approved, and two were kept for further review. The remaining projects will be taken up in next week's meeting.

The approved projects include two from the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives: the General Social Infrastructure Development Project-2 (GSIDP-2) (1st Amendment) and the Char Development and Settlement Project-4 (CDSP-4) (3rd Amendment). One project from the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology - the Establishment of IT Training and Incubation Center (2nd Amendment) - was also approved. Two projects from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, including the Child and Maternal Health and Health System Development (Component-2) for the modernization of diagnostic imaging systems in eight divisional medical college hospitals (1st Amendment) and the Establishment of Gopalganj Dental College and Hospital (2nd Amendment), were also cleared.

Planning and Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman, Power and Energy Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, Industries Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Sheikh Rabiul Alam, Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain, Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman, and other senior officials attended the meeting.