The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a proposal in principle for construction of a bridge over the Meghna river on the Bhulta Araihazar-Banchharampur road.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs held the virtual meeting with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

Briefing the reporters virtually after the meeting, Kamal said that the project will be implemented in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) method and once completed toll will be realized to recover the cost.

He said cost will be realized to recover the cost and repay foreign investors to get back their investment. The bridge construction project will be implemented hrough Government to Government (G2G) Partnership.

Once the bridge is completed, it will establish speedy communication linking Dhaka, Brahmanbaria and Agartala of India via Araihazar and Banchharampur.

When asked about the contract price for the project, Kamal said it would be ascertained when it comes to the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase.
The day's Economic Affairs Committee meeting approved another proposal for procuring 17 tug boats under the package-2 (Lot-1 and Lot-2) under the project "Procurement of 35 dredgers, ancillary marine vessels and ancillary equipments and construction of necessary infrastructures" being implemented by BIWTA.

These tugboats and ancillary equipments will be purchased from Dockyard and Engineering Works operated by Bangladesh Navy under the Direct Purchase Method. The finance minister said these tugboats and ancillary equipments will be able to fulfill our demand.

He further said every year the government distributes books in a festive atmosphere. The government will do that again this year. For this, 7.20 crore books have been approved for printing, binding and supply. The government will spend Tk 132.41 crore.

The Finance Minister said, "When tenders were called 1,022 companies participated." Of these, 98 people were given the task after checking their credibility. Only those who have experience and quoted low prices were given the job. '

The finance minister said, "Security money of 10 per cent has been taken from those who have got the job of supplying books completing the work properly."

It was proposed to increase the security money but it was not increased considering everything. The previous one has been kept. We hope that the companies we provide will deliver the books on time. "