The government will estimate the volume of khas land in the possession of its different ministries and divisions in the next two months and prepare a central database on the government land, said planning adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud on Wednesday.
These khas land will be utilised for the implementation of different development projects in the land-scarce country, added Wahiduddin while disclosing decisions of a meeting of the executive committee of the National Economic Council held at the Planning Commission in the capital Dhaka.
At Wednesday鈥檚 meeting, the ECNEC approved 13 projects involving Tk聽8,333.28 crore.
Presided over by chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, the ECNEC meeting viewed that the utilisation of khas land could easily meet the need for land acquisition for the implementation of development projects.
A delay in land acquisition is one of the reasons for time extension of projects, said the planning adviser.
Besides, land acquisition for almost all projects has threatened agriculture, he said.
The planning adviser also said that an advisory committee led by land adviser Ali Imam Majumder had been appointed to complete the calculation of khas land by the next two months.
He informed that the chief adviser expressed disappointment as the Planning Commission was yet to place any projects planned during the interim government which assumed office on August 8 past year after the ouster of the Awami League regime in a mass uprising.
鈥榃e are still dealing with projects planned during the previous regime,鈥� he said.
Lots of irregularities were involved in those projects which, according to the planning adviser, are a major reason for the less-than-expected implementation of the annual development programme.
Expressing displeasure over the ADP implementation rate of less than 2.5 per cent in two months (July-August) of the 2025-26 financial year, he said that the Planning Commission would convene an inter-ministerial meeting in the next week to find ways for increasing the ADP execution rate.
The finance adviser said that the new public procurement rule 2025 would be readied soon, which is expected to curb tender manipulation.
Two of the approved projects are linked to gas exploration.
Under a project worth Tk聽1,555.66 crore, state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company, known as BAPEX, will drill four evaluation-cum-development wells at Shahbazpur in Bhola and in Bhola and one exploration well at Shahbazpur by June 2028.
BAPEX will procure a 20,000 horsepower rig under the second project worth Tk聽577 crore with the deadline of December 2027 to replace obsolete rigs and enhance gas exploration capacity.
The other approved projects include the empowerment of women through ICT (phase-2, 3rd revised) with an additional cost of Tk聽57.86 crore,聽 the modernisation of research labs and infrastructure development at Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology in Gazipur at Tk聽866.55 crore, the modernisation of Nesco鈥檚 electricity network infrastructure development and power distribution system at Tk聽1,184.43 crore, the export competitiveness for jobs (3rd revised) at a reduced cost of Tk聽158.9 crore, the construction of multipurpose cyclone shelters in coastal areas (phase-3) at Tk聽636.09 crore, Sheikh Hasina Specialised Jute Textile Mill (1st revised) renamed as Jamuna Specialised Jute and Textile Mill at Tk聽479.03 crore and Khulna water supply project (phase-2) at Tk聽2,598.59 crore.聽聽
Among the approved schemes, seven are new ones, five are revised ones, while one project got an extension of duration without increasing cost.
