Jamalpur Municipality and LGED's failure to complete the rehabilitation of abandoned water-bodies and adjacent older religious establishments in Jamalpur town in four years had pushed up the project cost by 81 per cent, officials said.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday revised the "Building of Sheikh Hasina cultural development village project" increasing the cost by Tk 1.03 billion to Tk 2.29 billion.
In its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the government's highest economic policy-making body also endorsed four other projects at a combined cost of Tk 74.03 billion.
After the meeting, Planning Secretary Asadul Islam told journalists that the ECNEC endorsed a total of five projects on the day. Of them, three are fresh and two others are revised ones.
According to the revised project proposal, the Jamalpur Municipality and Local Government Engineering Department had failed to complete the reconstruction of older religious establishments and abandoned water bodies in Jamalpur town. The project was taken up to make the town attractive to tourists.
Both the agencies started the project work in March 2016 at a cost of Tk 1.26 billion. The entire project was scheduled to be completed within three years up to February 2019.
But they had failed to complete the works within the stipulated time and brought a massive change in the project design, officials said.
Later, the agencies have incorporated some scopes of works afresh and sought 81 per cent higher fund from the existing estimation of Tk 1.26 billion, they said.
They had also sought three more years up to June 2022 to complete the remaining works of the project.
Besides, the ECNEC approved a project for the rehabilitation of rural infrastructures, damaged by cyclone Amphan and flood, at a cost of Tk 59.05 billion.
Briefing journalists, Planning Commission member Zakir Hossain Akand said the LGED will implement the project at 355 upazilas in 55 districts of the country by December 2023.
The project aims to reduce the transportation cost and time through ensuring a sustainable road maintenance system, simplifying the marketing system of various produce, and generating more rural employments for making the rural economy operational.
The ECNEC also approved "Protecting Gobindi and Holdia areas under Saghata upazila and Katalmari area under Fulchari upazila of Gaibandha district from erosion on the right embankment from the Jamuna River project" at Tk 7.98 billion, "Rural infrastructures development: Barishal, Jhalakathi and Pirojpur districts project" at Tk 3.05 billion and "Improvement of waste management of Khulna City Corporation project" at Tk 3.93 billion.
Ministers, Planning Commission members and other senior officials concerned were present at the meeting.
