ECNEC approves construction of passport office bldgs in 16 dists

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved on Tuesday eight projects, including one to construct 16 regional passport office buildings, reports UNB.

The passport office buildings will be built in order to improve passport services in 16 districts.

The approval came at the first ECNEC meeting of the new fiscal year, 2018-19, held at the NEC conference room in the city.

ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting.

"The ECNEC approved eight projects with an estimated cost of over Tk 64.93 billion," Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said while briefing reporters after the meeting.

Of the total cost, Tk 32.79 billion will come from the government fund, while Tk 30.33 billion as project assistance and the remaining Tk 1.79 billion from the organisations' own funds.

Of the eight projects, seven are new and the other is a revised project titled 'Construction of Padma (Jasholdia) Water Treatment (Phase-1)' involving Tk 36.70 billion.

The new passport office project involves Tk 870 million.

The Planning Minister said the 'Construction of 16 Regional Passport Offices Project' has been taken as part of the move to decentralise government services.

"We want decentralisation of the services so that people do not need to come to Dhaka for passports," he said.

"We've taken the project as part of our efforts to take all the services to the doorsteps of people."

The project will be implemented by June 2021.

Under the project, five-storey buildings will be constructed for regional passport offices in 16 districts-Bandarban, Khagrachhari, Narail, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Natore, Joypurhat, Pirojpur, Jhalakati, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Sherpur and Sylhet.

Now, there are 67 regional passport offices across the country.

Multi-storey buildings have already been constructed for 34 regional passport offices under different projects.

Now, the construction of buildings for 17 other regional passport offices is going on.

So, the project has been taken to construct buildings for the remaining 16 regional passport offices, the minister said.

The six other new projects approved at the meeting include Construction of Community Centres under Dhaka South City Corporation Project at an estimated cost of Tk 2.68 billion, Construction of 132/33/11KV Underground Grid Substation at Gulshan in Dhaka at a cost of Tk 9.50 billion and Acquisition and Development of Lands for Setting up 100MW Solar Power Plant at Mollahat (Bagerhat) Project at a cost of Tk 827 million.

Two other projects are establishment of Institutes of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) in Mymensingh and Institute of Nuclear Medical Physics (INMP) in Chittagong and Cyclotron Facilities in Savar Project at a cost of Tk 6.73 billion and the development of Sonaimuri-Senbagh-Kalyandi-Chonderhat-Basurhat roads at a cost of Tk 2.41 billion.