Bangladesh to buy 50,000 tonnes of rice from India

The government has approved a proposal to purchase rice from Indian firm Bagadiya Brothers

The Advisory Council on Government Procurement has approved importing 50,000 tonnes of parboiled, non-Basmati, rice from India.

At its meeting on Thursday, the Council endorsed the purchase from Bagadiya Brothers at a price of $ 434.55 per tonne.

Finance Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed attended the session.

Earlier, on Feb 19, a vessel carrying 23,000 tonnes of Atap rice imported from Myanmar arrived at Chattogram Port under a government-to-government agreement.

This shipment was part of a total 105,000-tonne rice import plan with Myanmar.

WAREHOUSE CONSTRUCTION APPROVED

The Council also approved a project to construct warehouses for fertiliser storage and distribution.

Under this plan to build 34 “buffer warehouses” in various locations, it approved a 15,000-tonne warehouse in Manikganj and another in Munshiganj, awarding a Tk 1.2 billion contract to National Development Engineering, or NDE.

A joint venture of AIL-SCL from Faridpur secured a Tk 1.17 billion contract to build 15,000-tonne and 10,000-tonne warehouses in Jashore and Narail, respectively.

3 DEVELOPMENT PACKAGES FOR MATARBARI PORT

The Procurement Committee also approved three development packages for the Matarbari Port project.

With funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, a deep-sea port is under construction in the Bay of Bengal near the Matarbari power plant.

Under Civil Works Package-1, a Tk 61.96 billion contract was awarded to Japan’s Penta-Ocean Construction Company Limited.

For road infrastructure related to the port, the Roads and Highways Department awarded a Tk 32.09 billion contract to Tokyo-Mill Joint Venture.

Another Tk 35.77 billion package for road improvements was also awarded to it.

Following the meeting, Advisor Salehuddin noted that no “mega-projects” were approved.

The Matarbari project is part of the scheme funded by Japan, and it benefits from favourable loan terms that can eventually be treated as grants.