The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a proposal in principle for procuring 40 lakh pieces of Machine-Readable Passport (MRP) booklets and 40 lakh lamination foils on Direct Procurement Method (DPM).

The approval was given at the 22nd meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs held virtually with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair on Wednesday.

At a virtual meeting with the media, the Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal said that based on ‘demand calculation’ these MRP booklets and lamination foils will be procured for the Department of Immigration and Passports under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Answering to a question, he said that if the government could have fully launched the e-passports services in the country, then there would have been no such necessity of using more MRPs.

“There is no denying that there was an impact of the Covid-19 in this regard,” he added.

Dr Saleh also said that the 31st meeting on Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) was also held today virtually with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair where it gave approval to a total of four proposals including Tk 140.1 crore projects of the Power Division.

Saleh said the CCGP meeting approved a proposal of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) for awarding the contract for installing 17,040km conductor to the lowest bidder Rangpur Metal Industries Limited (unit 3) with a cost of around Taka 47.10 crore.

The meeting also approved a proposal from the BREB for procuring 35km 11kv and 33kv underground cable from the lowest bidder BBS Cables Ltd worth around Taka 16.52 crore.

Saleh said the CCGP meeting gave nod to another proposal from the BREB for procuring 295km conductor from the lowest bidder Partex Cables Limited with a cost of around Taka 2.56 crore.

Besides, the meeting approved another proposal from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) for procuring retail machineries and expert services from the M/S BHEL-GE Gas Turbine Services Private Limited, India for ensuring operations and maintenance of the Gas Turbine Unit 1 and 2 of the Shahzibazar 330 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Habiganj worth around Taka 60.90 crore.