Govt to prepare master plan for roads, highways

The government will prepare a master plan for roads and highways to ensure proper design and quality in construction.

Such a decision was taken on Wednesday at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair, reports UNB.

“The master plan will be prepared in line with observations of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina which she made at Ecnec meeting,” he told reporters while briefing about the outcomes of the cabinet body meeting.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Tuesday’s Ecnec meeting that many roads and highways are not being built maintaining quality while many are being constructed damaging crops fields, he said.

Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Nasima Begum said a high-level committee will be formed to implement the cabinet body decision.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Division issued a circular on maintaining guidelines in construction of roads and highways across the country.

The finance minister informed that the cabinet committee on public purchase approved four procurement proposals involving Tk 334.4 crore, of which Tk 229.23 crore will be spent from government fund while Tk 105.17 crore will be provided by the World Bank and local banks as credit.

A proposal of the Local Government Division for appointment of a consultant for Dhaka South City Corporation for its Dhaka City Neighbourhood Upgrading Project (DCNUP) received the approval of the committee.

Joint venture of Dahwa Engineering Co Ltd, Korea’s Junglim Agriculture Co Ltd, Bangladesh’s Dev Consultants Limited, Design and Planning Management Consultants Limited and Tanya Karim NR Khan and Associates obtained the contract at Tk 43.95 crore.

The cabinet body approved a proposal of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) under the industries ministry to import 30,000 metric tons of phosphoric acid for its DAP Fertiliser Company Limited at Tk 87.97 crore.

Another proposal of the BCIC also received the nod of the committee to import 25,000MT of bagged granular urea fertiliser at Tk 61.21 crore.

The cabinet committee approved a proposal of the Roads and Highways Division to award contract to a bidder for road upgrading works for 4-lane in the part of Kushtia town.

Jahirul Limited obtained the contract at Tk 141.25 crore.

However, the committee rejected a proposal of the Roads and Highways Division to award a contract of Tk 105.83 crore for road improvement project at Shariatpur (Manohor Bazar)-Ibrahimpur Ferryghat.

“Since there was a single bidder for the work, the committee rejected the proposal of the tender,” the finance minister said.