State-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will procure 2.75 crore (27.5 million) litres of Soybean oil from local suppliers for its Open Market Sale (OMS) programme.
Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) in a virtual meeting on Wednesday approved three separate proposals of the Commerce Ministry in this regard.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the meeting, while other members of the committee attended it virtually.
This move of the TCB, which has been operating as a state-marketing agency to tame the rising price hike of essentials, is part of the government's plan to procure some essential commodities in bulk, and sell those through the OMS programme.
As per the Commerce Ministry's proposals, the TCB, a subordinate body of the ministry, will procure the entire quantity of edible oil through three open tenders.
Under the proposals, some 1.10 crore litres of soybean oil will be procured from privately owned City Edible Oil Limited at a cost of Tk 203.32 crore. The cost of each litre will be Tk 104.48.
A similar quantity of soybean oil will be procured from Super Oil Refined Limited at a cost of Tk 204.44 crore. The cost of each litre will be Tk 185.95.
Additionally, some 55 lakh litres of soybean oil will be purchased from Shun Shing Edible Oil Ltd at a cost of Tk 101.47 crore, with each litre's price at Tk 184.05.
The CCGP also approved some other procurement proposals, including the procurement of 1,30,000 tonnes of fertiliser.
Of these, the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) will import 50,000 tonnes of Muriate of Potash (MOP) fertiliser from the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) at a cost of Tk 344.90 crore.
The Canadian Commercial Corporation will supply another 50,000 tonnes of MOP at the same price under a separate lot.
State-owned Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will import 30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea from Fertiglobe Distribution Limited, UAE at a cost of Tk 163.75 crore.
The BCIC will also import 10,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid for its Chattagram TSP Complex Limited from Guizhou Chanhen Chemical Corporation, China (local agent Best Eastern, Dhaka) at a cost of Tk 73 crore.
The CCGP approved several proposals of the Housing and Public Works Ministry to raise the cost of civil works under its “Construction of Elevated Expressway from Lalkhan Bazar in Chittagong City to Shah-Amanat Airport” project.
Under the proposals, the cost of the civil construction works No-WD-1 will be increased by Tk 649.02 crore.
The cost of civil works No-WD-1 of “Construction of road from Kalurghat Bridge to Chaktai Canal along the banks of Karnaphuli River” will get higher by Tk230.05 crore.
The CCGP approved a proposal of the Roads and Highways Department to award a Tk1,085.34 crore contract to a joint venture of (1) CHSIETC, China; (2) SLGC, China and (3) PDL, Bangladesh to implement the Construction of lot No DS-06 of the WP-03 package of the “SASEC Dhaka-Sylhet Corridor Road Development” project.
The committee also approved three proposals for the extension costs of the three segments of a project under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC).
As per the approvals, the cost of the work of the No-WP-10 package of the “Sasec Road Link Project-2: Upgradation of Elenga-Hatikamrul-Rangpur highway to 4-lane” will be increased by Tk 211.03 crore.
The cost of the work No - WP-11 package of the same project will be increased by Tk 147.65 crore, and the cost of the works No-WP-12 package will be enhanced by Tk 142.84 crore.
