Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
The scheduled meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has been postponed due to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s visit to Japan, delaying the approval process of 15 development projects worth around Tk 9,000 crore.
The meeting was scheduled to be held on Sunday (October 25) morning at the NEC conference room in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital. It was scheduled to be presided over by Prime Minister and ECNEC Chairperson Tarique Rahman.
Although the official reason for postponing the meeting was cited as ‘unavoidable reasons’, Planning Commission officials said that the final decision to postpone the meeting was taken last night mainly due to the Prime Minister’s visit to Japan.
The Planning Commission said that the Prime Minister is scheduled to leave for Japan on a flight this evening. Before the visit, he has to complete some important official work on several files. If the ECNEC meeting had started, it would not have been possible to finish it before lunch. Considering all aspects, it was decided to postpone the meeting.
A total of 15 development projects were prepared for presentation at today’s ECNEC meeting. The total cost of these projects was estimated at around Tk 9,000 crore. Notable among the projects awaiting approval were the drilling of two appraisal and development gas wells in the Titas gas field – Titas-32 and Titas-33. Besides, the ‘Innovation Climate Smart Urban Development’ and the Netrakona University establishment project were also included in the list.
Other important projects on the list include the safe water supply and sanitation project in the Barendra region and the project to improve the damaged sections of the main roads of the Dhaka South City Corporation, sewerage and footpaths. In addition, two projects to purchase specialized vehicles and operational vehicles to enhance the capacity of the Bangladesh Police and the project to establish nuclear medicine centers in five medical colleges in the country were also fully prepared for submission for approval.