Project to build 0.1m low cost flats, offloading of oil cos shares approved

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The caretaker government (CG) gave the go-ahead to a big housing scheme to build 0.1 million low-cost flats for middle-class people under the private sector, reports UNB.
In another major step, the government decided to offload 49 per cent shares of the state-owned Meghna and Jumana petroleum-marketing companies as part of the privatisation process.
The CG's Advisory Committee on Economic Affairs in a meeting Monday gave approval to two proposals of the Housing and Public Works Ministry and the Energy Ministry respectively as regards building the apartment houses and share offloading from the two government oil-marketing outfits.
According to the decision of the advisers' body, known as Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee, only the local real-estate developers-bar any foreign investors-will be allowed to develop the apartments affordable to middle-income groups.
In the original proposal, there was no bar to inviting foreign developers in the bidding process.
But the committee gave the nod to the proposal setting a condition-that only the local developers should get the work.
Finance and Planning Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam, who presided over the meeting as committee chief, told reporters that the work would be tendered in different lots since there might not be found a single local firm capable of implementing the large-scale housing project.
"The Housing and Public Works Ministry will invite tender from interested builders to implement the project, and after the committee' s decision, now local real-estate developers would be able to do the job," he said.
However, two more proposals, coming from Industries Ministry, failed to get the approval of the committee. The proposals were mooted for providing financial support for rehabilitation of sick industries and also announcing the newly developed Savar leather and leather goods industrial city as a special economic zone.
Justifying the rejection decision by the Economic Affairs Committee, the Finance Adviser said, "It was proved in the past that no sick industry could get out of its sickness even after getting huge financial supports."