Government nods procuring wheat, fertiliser, furnace oil

The government on Wednesday approved separate proposals for procuring one lakh tonnes of wheat, 1.20 lakh tonnes of fertiliser, and 40,000 tonnes of furnace oil to meet the growing demand in the country.

The approvals were given at 27th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and the 33rd meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) held virtually with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Md Shamsul Arefin said the government had decided in principle to procure some one lakh tonnes of wheat from Russia on G2G basis under Direct Procurement Method (DPM) to meet the growing wheat demand.

He said the Directorate General of Food under the Ministry of Food brought the proposal before the CCEA meeting and it was later approved in principle. He said once the negotiations are held with the Russian side, then the details on the import price of wheat would be ascertained.

Shamsul also said Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) under the Ministry of Industries would procure 30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertiliser from Muntajat, Qatar at a cost of around Tk 115.58 crore while the BCIC would procure another 30,000 tonnes of bagged granular urea fertiliser from KAFCO, Bangladesh for around Tk 119.18 crore.

Besides, the BCIC will procure 30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertiliser from Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, SABIC, Saudi Arabia for around Tk 115.58 crore while another 30,000 tonnes of bulk prield urea fertiliser also from SABIC at a cost of around Tk 114.30 crore both under state agreement.

Shamsul said the day’s CCGP meeting approved another proposal from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division under which Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) would procure 40,000 metric tonnes of furnace oil from PT Bumi Siak Pusaku Zapin, Indonesia at a cost of around Tk 174.20 crore.

He said that the CCGP meeting approved a cost escalation variation proposal of Tk 53.53 crore from the Ministry of Shipping under the project for removing wastes from Sadarghat to Bakalia Char of River Karnaphuli and thus enhancing navigability through dredging.

Besides, the meeting gave nod to a proposal from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism for appointing the joint venture of WOOJOO and SUNJIN, Korea as the consultant with around Tk 59.37 crore for expanding the runway of Cox’s Bazar Airport.