Cabinet purchase body endorses 300,000-tonne rice import

The Cabinet Purchase Committee approved on Wednesday 15 procurement proposals, including the import of 300,000 tonnes of rice, reports UNB.

Of the approved import, 250,000 tonnes of Atap (sunned) rice will be procured from Cambodia under a government-to-government deal at a total cost of Tk 9.39 billion (939.97 crore) as the price has been set at $453 per tone.

The remaining 50,000 tonnes, which are non-Bashmoti parboiled rice, are being imported from the international market through quotation.

A Singaporean company, Regington International, won the contract to supply the rice at the total cost of Tk 1.97 billion as its per metric tonne price has been fixed at $407.89.

The meeting, held with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair, gave the approval amid the growing concern over the possible food grain shortage due to the loss of crops in countrywide flooding.

The government has already withdrawn duty on rice import and also declared some banking facilities to encourage the import of food grains in the private sector. Last week, the Cabinet body approved a similar proposal for the import of 150,000 tonnes of food grain.

The cabinet body approved six separate tender proposals of Rural Electrification Board (REB) to procure 21 sub-stations of 33/11 kV capacity for its different projects.

 Of these, local supplier EnergyPac won the five contracts to supply 18 sub-stations at the total price of Tk 1.19 billion while another local company, Sunrise Energy, won one contract to supply three sub-stations at a cost of Tk 201.1 million.

However, another tender proposal for procuring two sub-stations went unapproved as the REB was asked to resubmit the proposal.

Power Division's proposal for awarding a project to a local company, United Enterprise, to set up a 115 MW HFO-based power plant on build-own-operate basis at Jamalpur district got the committee's nod.

The state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) will purchase electricity from the plant for the next 15 years at a tariff of Tk 8.7312 per kilowatt hour.

Power Division's two more proposals to extend the tenure of the contract to buy electricity from two rental power plants received the approval of the cabinet body.

Of these, Precision Energy's 55 MW gas-based rental power plant's contract was extended for another five years with a new tariff of Tk 2.90 per unit against the previous tariff of Tk 2.91 per unit.

PowerPac  Mutiara Keraniganj 100 MW HFO-based power plant's contract tenure was extended for five years with a new tariff of Tk 11.52 per unit against the previous tariff of Tk 11.63 per unit.

The cabinet body approved a pricing formula and contract document for import of LNG (liquified natural gas) for 15 years from RasGas Company of Qatar.

A proposal of the Railway Ministry to appoint a consultant for the construction of single-line dual-gauge rail-track from Dohazari to Gondum board with Myanmar via Ramu of Cox's Bazar also received the committee approval.

It also approved a proposal of the Energy Division to import 16,000 tonnes of octane from Indonesia under a government-to-government deal. The premium for the petroleum import was fixed at $4.55 per barrel.