Govt directs Milk Vita to finish project on time

The Rural Development and Co-operative Division (RDCD) has directed Bangladesh Milk Producer’s Co-operative Union, also known as Milk Vita, to finish the Baghabari Ghat milk factory project in Sirajganj within the deadline, which is December 31.

The Planning Commission as well as the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) have also directed Milk Vita to complete the project on time and not seek further extension of the deadline.

The directives were given at the seventh meeting on the project held early this month. The project deadline was extended four times. After the latest one-year extension, December 31 became the current deadline.

RDCD officials said an effluent treatment plant (ETP) has to be installed as part of the project to get the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution’s approval. The project director said the ETP installation had started.

At the meeting, the project officials were directed to complete the laboratory, solar panel, and machinery installations as well as commissioning on time using own funds. They were also instructed to maintain quality while installing the machinery.

IMED officials said the project director had been informed that the deadline would not be extended no matter what and everything had to be completed by then. Project officials said a roadmap of how the machinery would be purchased and installed within the deadline had been sent to the IMED.

An additional secretary at the RDCD said there was no way to get allocations from the annual development programme fund as the project got the required allocations from the government as per its development project proposal.