Staff Reporter:
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) yesterday approved a total of 10 pro-jects involving a total estimated cost of Tk 9,333.58 crore, including a Tk 4,963.67 crore project for rehabili-tating and strengthening rural roads across the country.
Of the total project cost, Tk 8,488.71 crore will come from the government’s own funds, while Tk 936.38 crore will be financed through project loans.
The approval came from the 2nd meeting of the ECNEC in this fiscal year held at the NEC Conference Room at the Planning Commission yesterday with Prime Minister and ECNEC Chairman Tarique Rahman in the chair.
State Minister for Planning Md. Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki briefed reporters after the meeting.
He said the ECNEC approved a major Tk 4,963.67 crore project for rehabilitation and strengthening of rural roads across Bangladesh.
The project, to be implemented by the Local Government Engineering Department under the Local Govern-ment Division, will cover all 64 districts and all upazilas in the country’s eight divisions.
Saki said around 5,223 kilometres of rural roads and 7,000 metres of bridges and culverts will be rehabilitated under the project.
He said the Prime Minister stressed the use of modern technologies to make rural roads more durable.
A proposal to use rubber-bitumen technology will initially be tested on 100 kilometres of roads in the first year. Its wider use in subsequent years will depend on the results and experience gained from the initial application.
He said the road repair projects were selected after assessing the conditions of roads across the country and identifying those where people are facing the greatest difficulties in communication.
“These are essentially repair works. After repairing the roads, maintenance must also be ensured,” he said, add-ing that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has instructed the authorities to incorporate maintenance into the projects.
The state minister said maintenance of roads remains one of the weakest areas in infrastructure management and stressed the need for institutional arrangements and effective monitoring to ensure proper maintenance.
Regarding the inclusion of around 7,000 metres of bridges and culverts in the project, he said these are mainly small bridges and culverts requiring repair. A separate project will deal with new construction.
The approved projects include two under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. These are the replace-ment and reconstruction of unusable structures at Dhaka Medical College with Taka 1,154.83 crore and con-struction of 19 modern hostel buildings for students of 10 medical colleges, 2nd revised with an additional cost of Taka 201.70 crore.
The Roads and Highways Department’s project titled “Capacity Development for Smart Maintenance Tech-nology of Bridges under Roads and Highways Department in Bangladesh” was also approved with Taka 115.73 crore.
Two projects under the Ministry of Water Resources involve protecting Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila from ero-sion along the right bank of the Dharla River with Taka 298.65 crore and strengthening the coastal embank-ment at Bashbaria Ferry Ghat in Sitakunda, Chattogram, and the stretch from the ferry ghat to Kumira Ghat with Taka 558.83 crore.
A project for strengthening the capacity of the Department of Livestock Services was approved under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, 3rd revised with a reduced cost of Taka 0.45 crore.
Two power sector projects were also approved. They involve construction of a 100 MW solar power plant at Madarganj in Jamalpur, 2nd revised with an additional cost of Taka 101.82 crore and expansion and strengthening of electrical infrastructure in the DESCO area of Dhaka, 1st revised with an additional cost of Taka 627.23 crore.
The ECNEC further approved an infrastructure development project for Ramu Cantonment under the Minis-try of Defence with an estimated cost of Taka 1,311.53 crore.
Meanwhile, the meeting was informed about nine projects costing less than Tk 50 crore that had already been approved by the Planning Minister.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Saki said the approved projects include important initiatives in health, rural roads, riverbank protection, renewable energy, electricity infrastructure, bridge maintenance and defence infrastructure.
Saki also said a new project has been approved to replace and reconstruct unusable structures at Dhaka Med-ical College with an estimated cost of Tk 1,154.83 crore.
The project will be implemented entirely with government funding from September 2026 to August 2030.
He said several buildings of the country’s oldest medical college have become unusable, including student hos-tels and other non-residential facilities. The project aims to replace and reconstruct those structures.
Another health-sector project involving the construction of modern accommodation facilities at 10 medical colleges was also approved.
The ECNEC approved a Tk 115.73 crore project titled “Capacity Development for Smart Maintenance Tech-nology of Bridges under Roads and Highways Department in Bangladesh.”
Saki said the project is being implemented with a support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). It will initially introduce modern technology to monitor the condition of four bridges.
The technology will allow authorities to centrally monitor changes in bridges and identify potential deteriora-tion in advance, enabling proactive maintenance instead of taking measures only after significant damage occurs.
Saki said the Prime Minister and ECNEC gave observations on whether major bridges as well as tunnels and other major structures, could eventually be brought under the monitoring system.
He said emphasis was also placed on technology transfer and training of Bangladeshi engineers so that the country can develop permanent institutional capacity and skilled manpower in this field.
The ECNEC meeting also approved a Tk 1,311.53 crore project for infrastructure development at Ramu Can-tonment.
Saki said more than 8,000 soldiers currently lack adequate accommodation at the cantonment.
The project will be implemented entirely with government funds. The Prime Minister directed that the natural terrain of the hilly area be preserved during construction.
“Buildings should be designed in accordance with the existing elevation of the land instead of cutting and lev-elling the hills,” he said.
He said the government has set a target of generating up to 10,000 megawatts of solar power during its five-year tenure, with solar power receiving the highest priority under the renewable energy strategy.
Responding to questions about two projects that were not approved at the ECNEC meeting because of con-cerns over their similarity with existing projects, Saki said the Planning Commission has undertaken a major reform initiative to prevent duplication and overlap.
He said the government has been working over the past 180 days to move from a piecemeal project approach to a program-based cluster system.
Under the proposed approach, similar projects-such as road maintenance projects-will be grouped under a common program so that overlaps and duplication can be identified and gaps can also be addressed.
“We need to move towards program-based cluster projects. This will help us achieve the optimum results from development programs,” he said.
Saki said the Planning Commission has already held meetings with around 41 ministries and divisions on the issue, while a committee headed by the member of the Infrastructure Division and Senior Secretary, who is reviewing the revised plans submitted by ministries and divisions.
He said the government is also reforming the project implementation process to make it time-bound and budget-bound. In some cases, he noted, a project takes one-and-a-half to four years to move from the initial concept to DPP preparation, approval and issuance of a work order.
He said a revised framework for project implementation has been prepared and is awaiting presentation to the Prime Minister.
A project monitoring dashboard has also been developed, through which the status of every project will be monitored. The Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Ministry, Planning Ministry and concerned ministries will have access to the monitoring system, he said.
Saki said the government is also working to modernize the national statistical system so that reliable, updated and representative data can be generated to accurately measure the impact of government initiatives.
Responding to a question about the country’s development outlook up to 2031, he said the government’s five-year strategic framework aims to take Bangladesh from “fragility to prosperity.”
He said the first two years would focus on economic recovery, the next three years on transition, and the five-year period overall on reconstruction with acceleration.
The state minister identified the energy and power sector as one of the major challenges inherited by the gov-ernment. He said the government was working to increase domestic gas production, expand renewable energy and increase emergency fuel reserves.
Ministers and State Ministers attended the meeting while Planning Commission members and secretaries con-cerned were present.
