Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved seven development projects, including the Saidabad Water Treatment Plant (Phase-3), involving a cost of Tk 7,215.63-crore (72.15) billion).
The approval came from the meeting of the government's highest policy-making body at NEC conference room at Sger-e-Bangla Nagar in city with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Ministers and State Ministers attended the meeting while Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present.
Of the cost of the projects, Tk 3,117.76-crore would come from government exchequer while respective offices will finance Tk 104-crore and Tk 3,993.87-crore will be provided as project aid.
Saidabad Water Treatment Plant (Phase-3) project will cost Tk 4,597.36-crore.
The project will help decrease dependency on ground water through building a surface water treatment plant that would contain 450-crore liter water.
The Planning Minister said the intake location of the project is the right embankment of River Meghna at Haria under Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj district while the water transmission line would go through Haria-Sonargaon-Narayanganj-Sayedabad and then Dhaka.
Under the project, there will be construction of intake raw water pumping station, sludge treatment plant, 52.8 kilometer transmission line, 54 kilometer distribution line and 33 kv electric line.
Planning Ministry officials said daily water supply demand for some 1.50 crore city dwellers is 2,200 million liter against the supply is 2,000 million liter. The daily demand would reach to 5,268 million liter water by 2035.
Dhaka WASA is now mainly dependent on groundwater for meeting up the demand and with such operations the layer of ground water is gradually decreasing by two to three meters every year which poses serious risk to the environment as well as supplying fresh drinking water in future.
The ECNEC approved another project titled "BSCIC Industrial Park, Tangail" with Taka 164 crore to be implemented by the BSCIC by June 2017.
The other projects approved in the meeting are Strengthening Research Activities of Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute with Taka 63.17 crore, Protection of right embankment of River Jamuna and constructing alternate embankment from Kurnibari of Sariakandi Upazila of Bogra to Chandanbaisha with Taka 301.53 crore, Karnaphuli Water Supply Project (2nd revised) with Taka 1,848.53 crore, Scour protection of Meghna Bridge and maintenance of Meghna and Gomoti Bridges with Taka 41.05 crore and development of various roads under Chittagong City Corporation with Taka 199.99 crore.