The approval came at the Ecnec meeting held virtually with Prime Minister and Ecnec Chairperson Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

The Prime Minister and Planning Minister MA Mannan joined the meeting from Ganobhaban through a videoconference, while other Ecnec members were connected from NEC Bhaban.

“We’ve placed seven projects of three ministries in today’s Ecnec meeting. Five projects are completely new while two are there for revision. The total estimated cost of the seven projects is Tk 3,075.33 crore,” said the Planning Minister at a virtual briefing.

Of the total cost, Tk 2,132.88 crore will come from the national exchequer while Tk 942.46 crore as foreign loans, he said.

Mannan said good news is that the cost of the two revised projects logically declined keeping the projects unchanged and not disturbing their possible outputs. “They (the authorities concerned of the projects) saved Tk 585.86 crore from the two projects,” he said.

Three of the seven projects are under Local Government Division, one under the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division, two under the Agriculture Ministry and one under the ICT Division.

Talking about the Khulna Sewerage System Development involving Tk 2,334.14 crore, the Planning Minister said Khulna Wasa will implement the project by June 2022 in a bid to modernise the sewerage system.

Of the project cost, Tk 929.42 crore will come from the government’s fund, while Tk 1,404.72 crore as foreign loan.

According to the project factsheet provided by the Planning Commission, the main project operations include construction of two sewerage treatment plants, 173-km sewer network, eight sewer pumping stations, 77-km services line and one Wet Land, installation of 30,000 house connections, procurement of sewer cleaning equipment, laboratory equipment and development of 1,15,741-cubic metre of land.