The government has approved procurement of one cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a Japanese supplier to meet a growing need for gas mainly in the industrial sector.
The cabinet committee on government purchase gave the approval at a meeting on Wednesday, with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Cabinet Division's Additional Secretary Sayed Mahbub Khan said M/S JERA Co. Inc of Japan will supply 3.36 million MMBTU of LNG to Petrobangla at a cost of Tk 6.904 billion.
He said the government is buying this cargo of LNG through collecting quotations from companies that signed master sale and purchase agreements with Petrobangla.
Each MMBTU of LNG is costing the exchequer US$16.50, lower than the per unit price of LNG bought earlier this month from France-based TotalEnergies that charged $19.5 per unit.
The cabinet meeting also approved procurement of 11 million litres of soybean oil and 8,000 tonnes of lentil for the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
The total buying cost of soybean oil is Tk 1.919 billion while each litre will cost Tk 174.50.
On the other hand, lentils will be imported from Turkey, with each tonne costing $858 million, totalling Tk 7.344 billion for the entire procurement.
Moreover, the committee also approved procurement of 20,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid from the United Arab Emirates at a cost of Tk 1.194 billion.
Also, the committee gave the go-ahead to a proposal to import 25,000 tonnes of rock phosphate from Malaysia at a total cost of Tk 886 million.
A joint venture of M.M. Builders Engineers Ltd. and M/S Podder Enterprise has been awarded a contract to construct a 730-metre bridge over the Khoyrabad River at Nolchity upazila in Jhalakathi district.
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