Tk 246cr to be spent on hilsa development, project cleared

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved five projects involving 1,266 crore taka, including a 246-crore taka one to develop hilsa resources in the country.

The approval came from the 9th ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal year, held virtually with ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

The Prime Minister, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and Planning Minister MA Mannan joined the meeting from Ganobhaban through a videoconference, while other ECNEC members were connected from NEC Bhaban.

“In today’s meeting, we placed five projects of five ministries. Of them, five are completely fresh projects. A total of 1,266.13 crore taka will be spent on the five projects and the entire fund will be borne from the state coffer,” said minister Mannan at a press briefing.

The Department of Fisheries of the Ministry of the Fisheries and Livestock will implement the project titled ‘Hilsa Resources Development and Management’ by June 2024 at a cost of 246.28 crore taka.

The project was taken aiming to protect mother hilsa and Jaa (hilsa fry less than 9-inch long) to boost up the production of hilsa in the country by the scope of alternative income sources for some 30,000 fisher families dependent on catching Jaa and mother hilsa.

The major project operations include running and management of six sanctuaries, creating a scope of alternative employments for some 30,000 fisher families, providing valid nets to 10,000 fishers, and providing training to 18,000 over alternative jobs.

About another new project titled ‘Establishment of 25-bed Shanti Nibash in 8 Government Shishu Paribars’ involved spending 73.99 crore taka, Mannan said the eight 25-bed Shanti Nibash (retirement homes or old age’s home) will be constructed to accommodate the neglected elderly people besides the children.

The Shanti Nibash will be constructed in Tungipara of Gopalganj, Lalmonirhat Sadar, Shambhuganj in Mymensingh, Sunamganj Sadar, Maijdee in Noakhali, Baya in Rajshahi, Maheshwarpasha in Khulna and Sagardi in Barishal to pave the way for the coexistence of both elderly people and children.

The Department of Social Services under the Ministry of Social Welfare will execute the project by June 2022.

The two other new projects are ‘Upgrading Digpait-Sarishabari-Tarakandi Road of Jamalpur into proper standard and width’ project involving 376.56 crore taka; ‘Construction of BGB’s 73 composites/modern observation posts (BOP) in border areas’ project with 233.52 crore taka; and ‘Establishment of 25-bed Shanti Nibash in 8 Government Shishu Paribars’ project involving 73.99 crore taka.

The lone revised project is ‘Establishment of 40 Technical Training Centres in 40 upazilas and Institute of Marine Technology in Chattogram’ (1st revised) project with an additional cost of 335.78 crore taka.

In the revision, both the cost and time of the project were extended. The original cost was 1,331.30 crore taka, which has been raised to 1667.08 crore taka in the revised project, according to the project factsheets provided by the Planning Commission.

The project period was extended to June 2022 instead of June 2020.

(Source: UNB)