Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday asked the authorities concerned to speedily repair the damaged embankments in the coastal areas due to the recent tropical cyclone Remal that lashed the country.
The prime minister gave the directive while chairing the 10th meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council held at the NEC conference room in the capital鈥檚 Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, planning minister Major General (retd) Abdus Salam said that the prime minister in the meeting asked the authorities concerned to speedily repair the damaged embankments in the coastal areas owing to the impact of cyclone Remal.
State minister for planning Md Shahiduzzaman Sarker, Planning Division senior secretary Satyajit Karmakar, Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present at the briefing.
鈥楾he damaged embankments must be repaired speedily as monsoon is approaching,鈥� Salam said quoting the prime minister.
He informed that prime minister Sheikh Hasina also directed to ensure safe water in the affected areas so that water-borne diseases could not spread.
Abdus Salam said that the prime minister herself monitored the cyclone situation throughout that night and gave necessary directives to the concerned agencies for tackling the situation.
He said that the state minister for disaster management and relief informed the ECNEC meeting that the loss of lives was less in the cyclone since all the government agencies, district and upazila administrations were cautious enough to face the situation.
Planning Division senior secretary Satyajit Karmakar said that the day鈥檚 ECNEC meeting approved a total of 11 projects involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 14,337.38 crore. 鈥極f the total project cost, Tk 6,541.52 crore will come from the government of Bangladesh portion, Tk 7,879.15 crore from the development partners while Tk 83.29 crore from the concerned organisation鈥檚 fund,鈥� he added.
Of the approved 11 projects, seven are new while four are revised projects.
Turning to cyclone Remal, Satyajit said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina monitored the cyclone situation intensively throughout and thus gave necessary directives to the field-level officials at district and upazila levels to deal with the situation in a coordinated manner.
The prime minister reminded of all the concerned officials and stakeholders to keep operative the land phones alongside the mobile phone networks in such calamities, he added.
Sheikh Hasina also directed the government officials irrespective of their portfolios to stand beside the affected people of the tropical cyclone Remal.
The prime minister also asked the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief to assess the loss of lives and properties in cyclone Remal (verifying media reports if needed) and thus publish its brief by next Sunday.
Satyajit said that the ECNEC meeting approved two separate cluster projects for the benefit of the forcibly displaced Rohingya people and the host communities in the Chattogram division.
These two projects are Host and Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals/Displaced Rohingya Population Enhancement of Lives Through a Multi-Sectoral Approach Project 鈥� Infrastructure Related Project with Tk 4,081.84 crore where the World Bank would provide Tk 2,329.89 crore as loan and Tk 1,485 crore as grant.
Another project is Inclusive Services and Opportunities for Host Communities and FDMN Populations Project with Tk 4,401.13 crore where the World Bank will provide Tk 2,145.38 crore as a loan and Tk 1,759.37 crore as a grant.
For the first time, these aforesaid two projects were approved by the prime minister through Project Planning System software which would eventually infuse more dynamism into the operations of the Planning Commission as well as make those time-bound, Satyajit continued.
He said that the prime minister asked all concerned officials involved in the execution of these two projects to think 鈥榦ut of the box鈥� and exercise their innovations to successfully implement those through facing possible challenges and obstacles.
The Planning Division senior secretary further said that the World Bank would provide the grant amount for the Rohingya people while the loan amount would be spent in the areas of health, education, roads, forestry, and railways for the benefit of the host community since they were also affected for the forcibly displaced Rohingya people.
He said that at the very beginning of the negotiations with the World Bank for availing support, the lending agency only pressed for lending support to the Rohingyas, not for the host community. But, due to the strong stance of the government, the World Bank later agreed to support the host community also alongside the Rohingyas.
Satyajit also informed that the World Bank loan would be very soft.
He informed that a central coordination unit would be there at the Economic Relations Division for these two projects for Rohingyas and the host community while a committee headed by the prime minister鈥檚 principal secretary would oversee the operations.
When asked whether the fresh Annual Development Programme for the next financial year is loan-based, Satyajit said that neither the country鈥檚 economy nor the fresh ADP was loan-based.
He said that despite various challenges and adversities, the budget deficit of the country never crossed five percent of GDP.
Replying to another question, the planning minister said that Bangladesh had been witnessing balanced development during the rule of the Awami League government.
Since the present government put much emphasis on implementation, he said that a record number of 356 projects were going to be completed within this financial year ending in June.
The other projects approved in the meeting are embankment protection work to avert erosion in various areas of the Karnaphuli River and its adjacent canals at Boalkhali upazila in Chattogram with Tk 134.09 crore, sustainable water management at Bashkhali and Anwara upazilas in south Chattogram (first phase) with Tk 874.57 crore, construction of modern steel silo with capacity of 48,000 tonnes at Mohadebpur upazila in Naogaon with Tk 367.52 crore, rural infrastructural development of Rajshahi, Natore and Chapainawabganj with Tk 2,100 crore, Technical Assistance for Repurposing Agricultural Public Support Towards a Sustainable Food System Transformation in Bangladesh with Tk 180.50 crore, procurement of 35 commercial and eight ancillary vessels for BIWTC and construction of two new slipways, second revised with an additional cost of Tk 518.96 crore, upgrading Cumilla-Lalmai-Chandpur-Lakshmipur-Begumganj (R-140) and Begumganj-Sonaimuri-Ramganj regional highway into four-lane, second revised with an additional cost of Tk 1,679.32 crore, Cox鈥檚 Bazar Airport Development (first phase), fourth revised with an additional cost of Tk 129.69 crore, establishment of water treatment plant and deep tube well at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar, second revised with an additional cost of Tk 129.14 crore.