News Briefs-(08-08-2019)

BTRC cancels 124 VSP licences

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) cancelled licences of 124 voice over internet protocol service providers (VSPs). Sources said 106 licences were cancelled for their failure to pay government dues on time and 18 for not complying with application requirements. To this end, a letter issued on August 05 was sent to the authorities concerned, BTRC senior assistant director Zakir Hossain Khan said. The regulator asked the errant service providers to pay the arrears within a month. If failed, BTRC will sue them under the Telecommunications Act 2001 and Public Demand Recovery Act l9l3, the letter cited. — FE Report

Kfw to fund Euro 90m for Sayedabad

water plant

German development partner KfW Development Bank would provide Euro 90 million to Dhaka WASA for upgrading Sayedabad water treatment plant. The fund will be utilised for construction of a raw water intake and pumping station on the Meghna River, construction of raw water transmission pipelines, extension and upgrading the primary water distribution networks. A tripartite loan agreement on "Climate-change adapted drinking water resources management Dhaka (Sayedabad Phase III) project" was signed among the Economic Relations Division (ERD), the KfW Development Bank and the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) in Dhaka on Wednesday. Monowar Ahmed, Secretary of the ERD, Taqsem A Khan, Managing Director of DWASA, and Anirban Kundu, Director of KfW Dhaka Office, signed the agreement with officials from the Local Government Division, ERD, DWASA and KfW present. The Euro 569 million project is co-financed by the KfW, French development partner Agence Francais du Development (AFD), the European Investment Bank and DANIDA Business Finance of Denmark. The project aims at securing and sustainably managing drinking water supply for the inhabitants of Dhaka metropolitan city and its adjacent areas.

— FE Report