The government on Wednesday approved proposals for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from spot market, wheat, fertiliser, and the procurement of electric poles, among others.
The cabinet committee on government purchase approved the proposals at its virtually held meeting, with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.
Singapore-based Vitol Asia Pte Ltd. will supply one cargo of LNG, 3.36 million MMBTU, from the spot market to Petrobangla at a total cost of Tk 7.62 billion. Each unit of LNG will cost US$ 17.55.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, cabinet division additional secretary Sayed Mahbub Khan said the committee approved four proposals for fertiliser imports.
Under one proposal, Russian company JSC Foreign Economic Corporation "Prodintorg" will supply 30,000 tonnes of muriate of potash (MoP) to Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) at a total cost of Tk 1.065 billion.
Also, the committee approved a proposal to import 30,000 tonnes of bulk prilled urea fertiliser from Muntajat, Qatar. The Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will have to pay Tk 1.367 billion for the procurement.
Moreover, the BCIC will import 30,000 tonnes of bagged granular urea fertiliser from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company Limited (KAFCO) at a total cost of Tk 1.319 billion.
The meeting also approved a proposal to import 25,000 tonnes of rock phosphate by the BCIC from the United Arab Emirates at a total cost of Tk 956 million.
Under another approval, the Directorate General of Food was given the green signal to import 50,000 tonnes of wheat from M/S Agrocorp International Pte Ltd, Singapore at a total cost of Tk 1.64 billion.
The directorate would also procure a service for Balancing, Modernisation, Rehabilitation and Expansion (BMRE) of Chittagong Silo from Vigan Engineering S A, Belgium at a price of Tk 632 million under the direct-pricing method.
Also, three proposals of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) to procure essential commodities got approval of the committee.
The TCB will buy 6,000 tonnes of lentil from Shabnam Vegetable Oil Industries Ltd at a cost of Tk 665 million, 4.0 million litres of rice bran oil from Majumdar Bran Oil Mills Ltd at a total price of Tk 625 million, and 8.0 million tonnes of soybean oil from City Edible Oil Ltd at a cost of Tk 1.25 billion.
The Payra Port Authority got approval to buy two mobile harbour cranes from Saif Powertec Ltd. at a cost of Tk 1.09 billion.
Also, the committee approved the tariff rate of two more solar power plants to be set up in Jamalpur and Munshiganj districts.
One 180-megawatt capacity plant will be set up in Jamalpur Sadar upazila. A consortium of the China-based Hangzhou Boiler Company Ltd and the locally-owned Max Infrastructure Ltd will jointly set up the facility. The tariff for this power plant is set at $0.0999/kWh.
The other 130 MW capacity plant will be built in Gazaria upazila under Munshiganj district. A joint venture of Energon Renewables (BD) Ltd and PWR Energy Trading LLC will set up the plant with an approved tariff rate of $0.10/kWh.
The committee further approved three proposals relating to the procurement of 48,597 pieces of SPC Pole for expansion of the electricity supply system.
A joint venture of TSCO Power Ltd, Confidence Infrastructure Ltd, and Vicar Concrete Products will supply 24,300 pieces of SPC Poles at a price of Tk 694 million to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).
Another joint venture of Contech Construction Ltd, Poles & Concrete Ltd, and Pasha Poles Ltd. will supply the BPDB 24,297 pieces of SPC Poles at a price of Tk 693 million.
On the day, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also held a meeting with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.
The meeting approved in principle a proposal of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to buy 1.5 million tonnes of crude petroleum oil from Saudi Aramco and UAE-based Adnoc under direct purchase method in 2024.
