ECNEC approves 17 projects worth Tk 8974cr
Published: 24 June 2025, 5:58:47
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved 17 development projects with a combined estimated cost of Tk 8,974.28 crore.
The approval came during an ECNEC meeting held at National Economic Council (NEC) Conference Room at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka, with ECNEC Chairperson and Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus presiding.
Among the 17 projects approved, 11 are new initiatives, five are revised versions of previously approved projects and one project received a time extension without any additional expenditure.
Of the total estimated cost, Tk 3,180.34 crore will be funded by the Government of Bangladesh, while Tk 5,563.43 crore will come from project loans. The remaining Tk 230.51 crore will be contributed from the own funds of the concerned organizations.
The approved projects span a wide range of sectors. They include the second phase (second revised) of Upazila Complex Expansion Project, initiatives for integrated services and livelihood improvement for forcibly displaced Rohingyas and host communities, and the construction of 200-bed drug addiction cure and rehabilitation centers in seven divisional cities.
Another major project will enhance the capacity of four newly built marine academies through the installation of simulators and related facilities.
Also approved were projects to improve justice and case management systems for women, including strengthening community-based dispute resolution.
Other notable projects include the establishment of a third submarine cable to expand international telecommunication capacity (second revised), construction of 13 new buffer godowns across as many districts to improve fertilizer preservation and distribution (third revised) and the first revised phase of Kishore-Kishori Club initiative.
Additional projects involve strengthening quick response services for the prevention of violence against women and children, the TVET Teachers for the Future (TTF) Programme, and the third revised version of the Countrywide Mobile Library. Several digital modernization and governance enhancement projects also received approval, including the development of a digital database for managing the development budget under the programming division (third revised), the Improvement of Public Investment Management System (IPIMS), and the Procurement Modernization to Improve Public Service Delivery (PMIPSD).
Furthermore, ECNEC approved Statistical Capacity Enhancement and Modernization Project (SCEMP), Strengthening Public Audit Through Digital Transformation and Capacity Enhancement (SPADTEC) and Strengthening Domestic Revenue Mobilization Project (SDRMP).
Five of these projects; IPIMS, PMIPSD, SPADTEC, SDRMP, and SCEMP, will be implemented as umbrella projects under the “Strengthening Institution for Transparency and Accountability (SITA)” initiative, which is funded by World Bank.
These projects fall under various implementing agencies including the Planning Division, IMED, Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
In addition to the new approvals, ECNEC meeting was briefed on 15 projects that had been approved earlier by the Planning Adviser. The meeting was attended by concerned advisers, members of the Planning Commission and relevant secretaries.
