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A cabinet body on Wednesday okayed in principle the procurement of services under the direct purchase method from China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) for the construction of a Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone in Chattogram.
The cabinet committee on economic affairs at a virtually held meeting on the day, with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair, gave the approval as the government of China nominated the CRBC as project developer. The funding for this initiative will be provided by the East Asian nation itself.
The economic and industrial zone will be set up at Anwara sub-district in Chattogram, covering 784 acres of land. This area is expected to accommodate some 371 industrial units.
According to officials at the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), factories for automobile assembly, chemicals, apparel, and pharmaceuticals may be built in the zone where some 30,000 jobs are expected to be generated.
In June 2014, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited China and offered Chinese investors to establish an exclusive economic zone in Bangladesh. Subsequently, BEZA entered into an agreement with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce to develop the industrial zone.
Afterwards, China initially nominated China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHECL) for the construction of the industrial area. However, no agreement was reached between BEZA and CHECL regarding this matter. As a result, China has now nominated CRBC to carry out the task.
The BEZA and the CRBC signed a deal in August 2022 for the construction of an industrial zone, for which 784 acres of land have already been acquired.
On the day, the finance minister chaired a meeting of the cabinet committee on government purchase, which approved a number of proposals including the procurement of eight million litres of soybean oil for the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Md Amin Ul Ahsan briefed newsmen after the meeting, saying that the procurement would be carried out under the local Open Tender Method (OTM) from Super Oil Refinery Ltd.
This procurement will cost the exchequer Tk 1.279 billion, with each litre of soybean oil priced at Tk 159.95.
Also, the meeting approved a proposal for the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) to purchase some 35.381 million textbooks at a cost of Tk 942.90 million for class two and class three students.
Moreover, Mr Ahsan said that the NCTB has been given the go-ahead to buy some 44.557 million textbooks at a cost of Tk 1.80 billion for students of class six and class seven.
The committee also approved three more service purchase proposals from the Road Transport and Highways Division, along with a cost variation proposal from the Ministry of Railways.