The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved a project involving Tk 88.51 billion to ensure safe water across the country.
The approval came at a meeting of the ECNEC with its Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair held at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area on Tuesday.
The Department of Public Health and Engineering under the LGRD ministry will implement the project by June 2025.
The main project operations include setting up of some 90636 non-deep tube wells and 1,23,877 deep tube wells, installation of some 2,06,664 submersible pumps and non-deep tube wells and 1,70,222 submersible pumps and deep tube wells with reservoirs, 3,379 ring wells, 3,210 rain water harvesting units, rolling out of some 491 rural piped water supply schemes, erecting of some 320 solar PSF, some 29570 arsenic iron removal plants and some 8838 community based water supply units.
"Once the project is implemented, it would be possible to ensure safe water supply in the rural areas," Planning Minister MA Mannan said while briefing the reporters after the ECNEC meeting.
The minister informed that a total of seven projects were approved on Tuesday involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 110.42 billion.
“All the seven projects cost will come from the government,” he added.
Of the approved seven projects, six are new while another one is a revised project.
Revealing the implementation status of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the July-December period of the current fiscal year, Mannan said the executing agencies spent Tk 567.13 billion during the first six months of current fiscal with an implementation rate of 26.36 per cent.
The ADP implementation rate during the July-December period of the last fiscal year was 27.45 per cent with an expenditure of Tk 496.45 billion.
The planning minister said the government is not at all worried about the implementation status of the ADP as the implementing agencies could spend more amount in the current fiscal compared to the previous fiscal.
He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the meeting asked the authorities concerned including the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges and local administrations so that no sand quarrying takes place just beneath the bridges or adjacent to the pillars of the bridges.
The prime minister also stressed the need for giving more importance on surface water and rain water harvesting through cutting dependency on underground water, Mannan said.
The premier also suggested auctioning the old and dilapidated Bailey bridges which are now not needed as well as to replace those with new bridges, he said.
Referring to the approval of today’s four transport sector projects, Mannan said the government would gradually upgrade all the inter-district highways into four lanes alongside increasing the thickness and strength of other roads.
Besides, the old and dilapidated bridges would be replaced with new ones, he added.
The other projects approved in the meeting are – increasing the road embankment height, pavement reconstruction and widening at Singra portion on Singra-Gurudaspur-Chatmohar road with an expense of Tk 1.36 billion, upgrading Puthia-Baghmara highway into due standard and width with Tk 1.31 billion, Some 3.765 kilometres river bank embankment permanent protection work to protect the Doarika Bridge from the erosion of River Sugandha with Tk 2.84 billion, replacing the existing bailey and RCC bridges (Dhaka Zone) at narrow and important points with Tk 11.91 billion, establishment of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre, Barishal with Tk 4.12 billion and extension of Narsingdi BSCIC Industrial Estate, 1st revised, with an additional cost of Tk 385.6 million.
Ministers and state ministers attended the meeting while Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present.