The government is set to prioritise healthcare and rail development as six new projects worth nearly Tk 12,990 crore are expected to be placed at the next meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), officials said.
According to Planning Commission sources, the government will finance Tk 8,386 crore of the proposed projects, while Tk 3,713 crore will come as foreign assistance.
In total, 16 development proposals are under consideration, including revisions to six ongoing projects and time extensions without additional costs.
Officials said the Planning Commission has tightened scrutiny of project selection following questions raised by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman at a recent meeting.
A special meeting will be held on Sunday to review the projects awaiting presentation to ECNEC. The meeting will be chaired by Planning Department Secretary SM Shakil Akhtar.
Apart from this, Prime Minister's Finance and Planning Advisor Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir and State Minister for Planning Md. Jonayed Abdur Rahim Saki may be present.
Officials said that the review will analyze the feasibility of each project, the need for key components and the cost of each project sector-wise. The Local Government Department has proposed a project worth Tk 921 crore to ensure emergency water supply in Dhaka. It has set a target of extracting an additional 576 million liters of water per day by installing 62 new deep tubewells and rehabilitating 728 existing tubewells.
Dhaka WASA will implement the project titled Emergency Water Supply in Dhaka city. However, the Planning Commission and experts have criticized the project.
According to them, it is contrary to the Dhaka WASA master plan. In that plan, the target of collecting 70 percent of water from surface sources was set from 20 percent in 2011 to 2021.
Experts said that such projects could be harmful to Dhaka's environment and could be an attempt to hide the lack of progress on the Tk 33,136 crore surface water project.
Meanwhile, the Roads and Highways Department has proposed a Tk 3,677 crore project to build five climate-resilient bridges in the Mymensingh and Netrokona border areas. It is expected to improve the communication system and increase economic potential in the northeastern region.
The Islamic Development Bank will provide a loan of Tk 2,765 crore for the implementation of the project. Bangladesh signed a loan agreement of $241.3 million at the organization's annual meeting held in Algiers, which was later approved by the government's non-concessional loan committee.
The Roads and Highways Department will implement the five climate-resilient bridge construction project in Mymensingh division and the work is scheduled to be completed by January 2031.
In addition, the Health Ministry has proposed a Tk 1,157 crore project to expand access to integrated healthcare for the urban population. Of this, the government will provide Tk 208 crore and the World Bank will provide Tk 949 crore loan assistance.
On the other hand, a project worth Tk 2,029 crore is awaiting approval for the maintenance and rehabilitation of the western railway line of Bangladesh Railway (phase one), which will be implemented entirely with government funding. In addition, the cost of the second phase of the border road construction project in Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban districts has been estimated at Tk 3,666 crore.
Bd-pratidin English/TR
