Prime Minister Tarique Rahman presided over a meeting of the ECNEC held at the Cabinet Division conference room at Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital today. Photo: PID
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) today approved nine development projects involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 36,695.72 crore. The approvals came from the 11th ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal year (FY26) with ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in the chair at the Cabinet Division Conference Room at Bangladesh Secretariat today. Of the total project cost, Tk 36,490.93 crore will come from the government's own funds, while Tk 204.79 crore will be financed from the concerned organisations' own resources.
Among the approved projects, three are new, five are revised and one project got extension of tenure without witnessing cost escalation. Ministers and state ministers concerned attended the meeting while senior officials were present, said a Planning Ministry press release. The approved projects include two under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs - "Establishment of Chattogram Muslim Institute Cultural Complex (2nd revised)" with an increased cost of Tk 8.96 crore and "Construction of Multi-storey Building for the Department of Public Libraries (2nd revised)" with an additional cost of Tk 59.58 crore. One project under the Medical Education and Family Welfare Division titled "Upgradation/Reconstruction of Existing Mother and Child Welfare Centres in District Towns into 30-bed Mother and Child Welfare Centres (1st phase)" was also approved with Tk 1,329.53 crore.
The meeting approved one ICT Division project titled "Construction of Supporting Infrastructure for Hi-Tech City-2 (3rd revised)" with an additional cost of Tk 2.20 crore. Another approved project under the Ministry of Social Welfare is "Construction/Reconstruction of Government Children's Homes and Chhotomoni Nibash (2nd revised)" with an additional cost of Tk 208.26 crore. Under the Ministry of Defense, the ECNEC approved the project titled "Construction of 4 x SM Barrack Complexes to Solve Accommodation Problems of Soldiers at Savar Cantonment" with Tk 385.13 crore.
The committee also approved the "Chattogram City Outer Ring Road (Patenga to Sagorika) (4th revised)" project under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works with an additional cost of Tk 77.92 crore. A major project titled "Padma Barrage (1st phase)" under the Ministry of Water Resources also received approval at the meeting with an estimated cost of Tk 34,497.25 crore. In addition, the ECNEC approved the revised project titled "Construction of Gas Pipeline from Dhanua to Mymensingh for Supplying Gas to Mymensingh Combined Cycle Power Plant (1st revised)" under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources with an additional cost of Tk 204.79 crore.
During the meeting, the ECNEC was also informed about two projects costing below Tk 50 crore that had already been approved by the Planning Minister. These are: "Infrastructure Development Project of Mymensingh Zilla School" and "Construction of Airmen Barrack Complex at Bangladesh Air Force Base Kurmitola."
