The government has approved a proposal to purchase a cargo of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the UAE this month at a cost of nearly Tk780 crore to meet the rising demand for energy.
The approval was given at a meeting of the Advisers Council Committee on Government Purchase (ACCGP) on Tuesday, chaired by Planning and Education Adviser Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud at the secretariat.
The meeting also approved the procurement of 30,000 metric tonnes (MT) of rock phosphate, 30,000 MT of MOP fertiliser, and 50,000 MT of non-Basmati parboiled rice.
Under the approved proposal from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Petrobangla will buy one cargo of LNG from M/S OQ Trading Limited, UAE through an international quotation process, with the price set at $16.77 per MMBtu.
As per a proposal from the Ministry of Industries, the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will procure 30,000 MT of rock phosphate for TSPCL from M/S Zentrade FZE, UAE (manufacturer: OCP S.A., Morocco) at a cost of around Tk82.26 crore, with each MT priced at $228.50.
Following a proposal from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) will buy 30,000 MT of MOP fertiliser under a state-level agreement from JSC “Foreign Economic Corporation (Prodintorg)” of Russia for approximately Tk107.78 crore, with each MT costing $294.50.
The government will also purchase 50,000 MT of non-Basmati parboiled rice from M/S Agrocrop International Pte Ltd, Singapore, through the international Open Tender Method (OTM) at a cost of around Tk265.20 crore, with each MT priced at $434.77.
Additionally, the Advisers Council Committee on Economic Affairs (ACCEA) has given in-principle approval to a proposal to start selling commodities among all consumers through Trading Corporation of Bangladesh trucks in eight divisional cities across the country.
Currently, TCB sells products at fair prices among family cardholders only under the government’s open market sale (OMS) programme.
