Govt to import 21 lakh tonne fuel oil at Tk18,760cr

The government will import a total of 21 lakh tonnes of fuel oil from six countries at a cost of Tk 18,760 crore.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) nodded to the purchase proposal placed by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division during a virtual meeting presided over by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday.

Briefing journalists after the CCGP meeting, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Syed Mahbub Khan said, “The committee has approved the import of 60,000 tonnes of diesel from India’s Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in the current calendar year through the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) at a cost of Tk 545.4 crore.

“The committee has also approved an expenditure of Tk 18,215.52 crore to import 20.40 lakh metric tonnes of refined fuel oil from Indonesia’s BSP, UAE’s ENOC, India’s IOCL, China’s PetroChina and UNIPEC, Malaysia’s PTLCL, and Thailand’s PTTT through BPC in the current calendar year.”

1.25cr kg of sugar import from India

Meanwhile, the CCGP meeting approved a proposal to import 12,500 tonnes or 1.25 crore kg of sugar from India at a price of Tk 56 per kg.

Additional Secretary Syed said, “The committee has approved a proposal to import 12,500 tonnes of sugar from Srinova Ispat Pvt Ltd in Kolkata through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB). The purchase will be made through the direct purchase method (DPD) at a cost of Tk 70.02 crore.”

Earlier, on November 10 last year, the CCGP approved the purchase of 12,500 metric tonnes of sugar for TCB from Brazil through open tender at a cost of Tk 65.98 crore.

60,000 tonnes of fertiliser import

The government will also buy 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser from two countries.

“30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertiliser will be imported from UAE’s Fertiglobe Distribution Ltd through Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) at a cost of Tk 150.08 crore. The price of each metric tonne of fertiliser will be $470 against the previous price of $480.

Besides, the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) will purchase 30,000 tonnes of muriate-of-potash (MOP) fertiliser from Russia’s JSC Foreign Economic Corporation under a state-level agreement. It will cost the government over Tk 183.51 crore. Accordingly, per tonne of MOP fertiliser will cost $470 against the previous price of $551.76.

Equipment and consultancy

The CCGP meeting yesterday approved purchasing 13,300-kilometre-long conductor and wire (bare) and 12,000 kilometres long conductor and wire (insulated) from BRB Cable Industries under three lots for the implementation of an electric distribution system modernisation and empowerment project in the Khulna Division. The purchase will cost the government a total of Tk 152.73 crore.

The meeting also nodded to a proposal to appoint a joint venture of STC, Seureca, Sodev and Dev Con as consultant to the Dhaka Water Supply Network Improvement project. In addition, the meeting approved an additional Tk 24.36 crore increase in the project cost.

Moreover, the CCGP approved another proposal from the Ministry of Railways for appointing the joint venture of Japan’s OCG, France’s EGIS, Malaysia’s HSSS and Bangladesh’s SODEV Consult International Ltd as consultant to the Technical Assistance for Railway Connectivity Improvement project. The appointment will cost the government Tk 193.64 crore.