ECNEC clears Tk 9,333cr development blitz, greenlights 10 projects

The government has approved a Tk 9,333 crore development package for 10 projects, unleashing fresh investment in healthcare, rural connectivity, riverbank protection, power infrastructure, renewable energy and defence facilities.

The projects, cleared by the ECNEC, include major upgrades to Dhaka Medical College, rural roads, electricity networks and a 100MW solar power plant in Jamalpur.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the projects at a meeting held at the NEC Conference Room in the Planning Commission complex at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Wednesday, with Prime Minister and ECNEC Chairperson Tarique Rahman in the chair.

Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Planning State Minister Md Jonaed Abdur Rahim Saki, other ministers  and senior officials, attended the meeting.

Six of the approved projects are new, while four are revised schemes. The government will shoulder Tk 8,488 crore of the total cost from its own resources, with the remainder coming from project loans.

The biggest thrust is on rebuilding and modernising Dhaka Medical College (DMC), where ageing academic buildings and hostels have become unsafe and largely beyond repair.

State Minister for Planning Md Jonaed Abdur Rahim Saki said the expansion and modernisation of DMC had become urgent as several existing facilities were no longer fit for continued use.

Under the approved project, a 15-storey residential quarter building with two basements, a 15-storey 800-bed student hostel with a basement and a 15-storey academic building with a basement will be constructed.

The project will also deliver four 300-seat lecture theatres, a four-storey service building housing two 300-seat examination halls and a four-storey mosque with capacity for 800 worshippers.

Other non-residential and ancillary structures, boundary walls, internal roads and culverts, sentry posts, walkways, pavements and drainage facilities will also be developed.

The Department of Architecture has been instructed to prepare a comprehensive master plan incorporating modern academic, research and student facilities, Saki said.

The health sector also received approval for a project to construct 19 modern hostel buildings for students of 10 medical colleges under its first revision.

In the road transport sector, ECNEC approved a project to strengthen the Roads and Highways Department’s capacity to use smart maintenance technology for bridges, aiming to improve monitoring, maintenance and asset management.

River erosion protection also featured prominently on the development agenda, with approval given to a project to protect Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila from the Dharla River.

The committee also approved a project to strengthen the Banshbaria ferry terminal in Sitakunda, Chattogram, while another scheme will rehabilitate and strengthen rural roads to improve connectivity in the countryside.

The livestock sector will receive support through the third revision of the project to strengthen the institutional and operational capacity of the Department of Livestock Services.

In the power and energy sector, ECNEC approved the second revision of a project to construct a 100MW solar power plant at Madarganj in Jamalpur.

It also approved the first revision of a project to expand and strengthen electrical infrastructure in the Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) area.

The committee further approved a project to develop infrastructure at Ramu Cantonment under the Ministry of Defence.

The Planning State Minister briefed journalists after the meeting on the approved projects.

ECNEC was also formally informed that nine other projects, each costing less than Tk 50 crore, had already been approved by the Planning Minister.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman unveiled the cover of ‘Five-Year Strategic Framework for Reform and Development’, a publication prepared by the General Economics Division of the Planning Commission.