New power company for north-west region approved

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The Advisers Economic Affairs Committee Tuesday approved a proposal of the Power Ministry for forming a new power-distribution company for the country's north-western region, under the nomenclature 'North-West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited', reports UNB.
The committee asked the Power Ministry to work in line with the agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that provides financial and technical assistance in instituting the new power outfit.
The new company will work in Rajshahi and its adjoining districts in the north-western region like DESCO in Dhaka and WZPDC in Khulna.
However, the committee sent back a proposal for raising the price of urea fertiliser, a delicate matter, as this input is vital for agriculture, particularly for food cropping.
Known as the Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee in times of the political governments, the committee presently comprises the advisers of the Caretaker Government. It also asked the Industries Ministry to make a further review of the proposal, and place it again by July 15.
The decisions came from a meeting of the committee with Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam in the chair. After the meeting, the adviser told the reporters that there are so many reasons and arguments in favour of the urea fertiliser-price enhancement.
Particularly, he said, urea fertiliser's price is much lower on the local market compared with that of neighbouring India. "That's why urea is being smuggled out."
"But, for more examination, we asked the concerned committee to further review their proposal, and place those by July 15," he told the reporters.
The Industries Ministry proposed to increase the price of per-tonne urea fertiliser to Tk 8,000, a 50.94 per cent hike from the current price of Tk 5,300 at the buffer end. The ministry proposed to set the production cost at the factory end at Tk 7,000, with a 45.83 per cent increase, against the current price of Tk 4,800.