Govt to purchase 90,000 tonnes of fertiliser

The government is set to buy 30,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser from Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Limited (Kafco) and import another 60,000 tonnes from Qatar and Saudi Arabia at a total cost of Tk546 crore.

The decision was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase, chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, on Wednesday.

The Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), under the Ministry of Industries, will buy the fertilisers.

After the meeting, Additional Secretary of the Cabinet Division Shamsul Arefin told reporters that 30,000 tonnes of bagged granular urea fertiliser would be procured from Kafco at a cost of Tk185.75 crore.

"Qatar has approved a proposal to import 30,000 tonnes of bulk prilled urea fertiliser for Tk189.39 crore from the state-owned Muntajat. Another 30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea will be imported at a cost of Tk190.25 crore from Saudi Basic Industries Corporation," he said.

The country produced 10,33,913 tonnes of fertiliser in the 2020-21 fiscal year, which was 40.58% of total demand.

Meanwhile, the committee also approved a proposal to purchase two Mi-171A2 helicopters from the Russian state-owned JSC Russian Helicopters at a cost of Tk428 crore for police.

At the meeting, approval was also given for development projects of the Bangladesh Agricultural University at a cost of Tk100.61 crore.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the finance minister, gave in-principle approval to BRTC, Buet and SMEC International Pty Ltd to appoint consultants for the Rajshahi WASA Surface Water Treatment Plant.

In addition, the committee on Wednesday also approved in principle the proposal to procure materials for 11 IT training incubation centres in 11 districts of the country through the Bangladesh Diesel Plant Limited run by the Bangladesh Army, under the Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Centre project of the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority.