Ecnec okays expansion project for Southwest grid

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has approved an expansion project of the Southwest Transmission Grid.

The approval came from an Ecnec meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at the NEC conference room in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Sunday.

The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh sought a revision of the project to accommodate route expansion and build new substations.

The duration of the Southwest Transmission Grid project, which began in July 2018 with a deadline until June 2023, has now been extended by another year.

At the same time the cost of the project has been revised up from Tk3,273.88 crore to Tk4,322 crore.

In the meeting, the government approved eight projects worth Tk12,167,15 crore, State Minister for Planning Professor Dr Shamsul Alam said at a press briefing.

Besides, the government has given nod to a project modernising the country's major customs stations in Chattogram, Dhaka and Benapole at a cost of Tk1,686.46 crore aiming to meet the challenges of LDC graduation in 2026.

Of the projects' benefits, the most important include reducing the import and export clearance time by 25%; increasing assessed import and export declarations, and reducing average physical inspections at crucial border points to 5% from the current 10%.

Presently, import clearance at the Chattogram port takes around 11.5 days and export clearance takes about five days.

The World Bank will provide 87% of the money as a loan for the Customs Modernisation and Infrastructure Development project.

The project will reduce the time and cost of handling imports and exports at the port by improving customs infrastructure and increasing the efficiency of officials, according to the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

Additionally, the scheme is expected to contribute to raising revenue through a modern toll system.

Other approved projects include – Promoting Gender Responsive Enterprise Development and TVET System project, Urban Resilient Project: Project Coordination and Monitoring Unit (3rd revised), South Chattogram Regional Development, Mymensingh District Rural Infrastructural Development, Resilient Infrastructure for Adaptation and Vulnerability Reduction, and Rehabilitation and River bank projection of Meghna-Dhonagoda Irrigation.

Besides, deadlines for four projects have been implemented without revision of the project costs.