The advisory council committee on economic affairs at a meeting on Tuesday agreed in principle to hand over about 55 acres of land of closed Jalil Textile Mills in Chattogram to the Bangladesh Army for establishing an ordnance factory.
Finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters after the meeting that the government should not provide any state-owned agency with land at token prices.
The committee meeting presided over by interim government鈥檚 finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed at the secretariat in the capital Dhaka decided not to award the land to the Army at a 鈥榯oken鈥� price of Tk聽17.04 crore as proposed by the Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation.
Genuine prices will be the decisive factor, said the finance adviser.
The BTMC which has been looking after the mill since it was acquired from the private owner in 1972 calculated the market price of the mill at Tk聽111.44 crore, said officials referring to the proposal.
The Bangladesh Army has been looking for land since 2024 to establish a plant under the Bangladesh Ordnance Factories at Bhatiari in Chattogram for its important geo-political location, said officials.
The Bangladesh Ordnance Factories is currently located at Gazipur cantonment.
Salehuddin said that many state-owned agencies gave requisition for land 10 times more than their actual requirement for the practice of token prices.
The advisory council committee also approved in principle another proposal to sign an agreement between the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation and the SABIC Agri-Nutrients Company of Saudi Arabia to import urea fertiliser under a government-to-government deal for the current financial year of 2025-26.
A meeting of the advisory council committee on government purchase, also presided over by the finance adviser, earlier at the same venue approved separate proposals to import two cargoes of liquefied natural gas.
The approval will allow Petrobangla to procure one cargo of LNG to be supplied by M/S Gunvor Singapore Pte Limited at Tk聽502.94 crore with per unit costing $11.97 and another one from M/S Posco International Corporation, South Korea at Tk聽486.42 crore with per unit costing $11.95.
Besides, the meeting approved two proposals from the Ministry of Shipping and one each from the Bridges Division, Local Government Division, and Information Communication and Technology Division.
A joint-venture of Spectra Engineering Ltd and S.S Rahman International Limited has been awarded with physical works of a shipping ministry project of the construction of container and bulk terminal in Narayanganj at Tk聽288.8 crore.
Another joint venture of HP-NJ based in Shanghi of China will supply two ships at Tk 162.2 crore under another shipping ministry project at the Payra Port in Patuakhali.
The cost of a Bridge Division project linked to expansion and construction of elevated road between Panchabati in Narayanganj and Muktarpur in Munsiganj has been increased to Tk聽43.35 crore from original Tk聽28.98 crore.
A joint venture of IWM-Dev Con-GKW based in Dhaka has been awarded consultancy jobs at Tk聽75.4 crore under a Local Government Division project aiming at expansion of water supply in the capital Dhaka.聽聽聽
Spectrum Engineering Consortium Pvt has won the supply bids of goods and services at Tk 156.47 crore under an Information Communication and Technology Division project on digital governance and strengthening economy.
