DHAKA, Aug 26, 2020 (BSS) – The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) today approved a total of 6 proposals, including one for extending the contract tenure of Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) & Associates, the Construction Supervision Consultant (CSC) for Padma Bridge.
The approval came from the 20th meeting of the CCGP in the current year held virtually with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting virtually, Kamal said the tenure for the KEC & Associates for the supervision of main bridge construction and river training for the Padma Bridge was scheduled to expire on August 2020 and the CCGP approved a proposal to extend such tenure by 34 months till June 2023 with a cost of around Taka 348.01 crore.
Answering to a question, the Finance Minister said the much hyped Padma Bridge is likely to be completed by 2022.
He said earlier it was projected that the work of the Bridge would be completed by 2021 and the works were going on smoothly until the Novel Coronavirus pandemic unleashed the attack.
“We were earlier hopeful of awarding the Bridge before the country’s people by 2021, but the project works were deterred due to this virus,” he added.
The meeting approved another proposal for awarding the contract to Hatil Complex Limited to supply furniture at 956 units at four twenty-storey and six sixteen-storey buildings at Green City Residential Palli under Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Construction Project with around Taka 55.90 crore.
Another proposal for supplying home appliances to these 956 units at the Green City Residential Palli under Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project was approved in the meeting where M/S JAP Trading will supply these home appliances with a cost of around Taka 26.97 crore.
Besides, the day’s CCGP meeting approved three separate proposals from the Secondary and Higher Education Division.
Out of these three proposals, around Taka 68.01 crore will be spent for printing, binding and supplying of some 6,56,56,767 free text books at the secondary (Bangla and English version), and the Ebtedayi and Dakhil stages for the 2021 calendar year.
Another proposal worth around Taka 205.84 crore was approved in the meeting for printing, binding and supplying of some 12,20,74,380 free text books at the secondary (Bangla and English Version), Ebtedayi, Dakhil, SSC and Dakhil Vocational, and technical (trade books) levels for the 2021 calendar year.
The CCGP meeting approved the other proposal for procuring 12,000 metric tons of printing papers and 1,300 metric tons of art cards for the distribution of free text books (Bangla version) at the secondary level with a cost of Taka 90.03 crore.
Kamal said like before, the government also aims to supply free text books at the very first day of the next calendar year as it is also the commitment of the Prime Minister.
The Finance Minister said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs meeting was held earlier today virtually where a project for constructing Bhola Bridge was placed.
But, he said, the proposal was not approved today and it was sent back for further clarification.
Kamal informed that the project will be implemented under PPP basis and toll will be realized to make cost recovery once the project is implemented.