The advisory council committee on economic affairs on Wednesday decided to scarp cars imported in violation of the rules and establish an e-waste management plant at the high-tech park at Kaliakair upazila in Gazipur.
Besides, it also approved an agreement to design, finance, build and operate the Laldia Container Terminal under the Chittagong Port Authority by Maersk A/S, a subsidiary of the Danish integrated container logistics company Maersk Group.
The Laldia project will be implemented under a Public Private Partnership framework for 33 years with provision of 15 years of extension.
The decisions were taken at the meeting of the advisory council committee presided over by finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed.
He told reporters that the committee decided to scrap several hundreds more five-year-old imported cars following a proposal from the ministry of commerce.
He said that these cars were stuck at port yards for long and their fitness was questionable and added that the authorities concerned had been asked to scrap and auction them.
Replying a question, Salehuddin said that scrapping the cars had been the most suitable option.
Faced questions over the National Pay Commission 2025 and the proposed revision of the current national budget, the finance adviser reiterated his position on the pay hikes for the public officials and employees.
He said that for the interim government to implement the recommendations from the National Pay Commission 2025, likely to come in December, was uncertain as the next general elections was to be held in February.
On the revised budget, the finance adviser said that demonstrations and work abstention by the National Board of Revenue officials and employees disrupted revenue income and affected the implementation of the current national budget.
On Monday, a joint meeting of the coordination council and the budget management and resource committee, also presided over by the finance adviser, decided to revise down the country鈥檚 gross domestic product growth to 5 per cent from 5.5 per cent for the 2025鈥�26 financial year.
It also made upward revision of inflation to 7 per cent from the original 6.5 per cent and set an initial estimate to slash overall Tk 20,000 crore from the Tk 7.9 lakh crore budget.聽
Calling the e-waste management plant at the High-Tech Park at Kaliakair is an 鈥榠mport project鈥�, Salehuddin Ahmed said that the World Bank would finance it under the PPP model.
The proposed e-waste management plant will be jointly implemented by the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology and the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority under the Bangladesh Environment Sustainability and Transformation project worth Tk 3,837.49 crore.
The government and WB have been financing the project since 2022.
The committee also approved another proposal to procure Liquefied Natural Gas from Aramco Trading Singapore Pte Ltd under a short-term arrangement on Government-to-Government basis.
The proposal was submitted by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division seeking approval to import the LNG.
The finance adviser also presided over a meeting of the advisory council committee on government purchase at the same place and approved separate proposals for procuring some 80,000 tonnes of fertiliser, 1.20 crore litres of soybean oil, 50,000 tonnes of boiled rice and 12,500 tonnes of sugar.
Baygalata Danismanlik Hizmetleri A.S., Istanbul, will supply 12,500 tonnes of refined sugar at a cost of Tk 78.26 crore with each kilogram at Tk 94.94 and Credentone FZCO, Dubai will supply 1.20 crore litres of soybean oil at Tk 158.87 crore with each litre at Tk 164.21.
M/S Agrocorp International Pte Ltd, Singapore, will supply 50,000 tonnes of boiled rice under international tender quoting Tk 217.09 crore with per tonne costing $355.59.
The committee also approved another聽 proposal to procure consultancy services for the Bay Terminal Project under the Chittagong Port Authority from Infrastructure Investment Facilitation Company at a revised value of Tk 32.44 crore (including VAT and tax), up from the previously approved Taka 25.50 crore.