The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) today approved 13 projects involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 12,415.79 crore including one project to ensure infrastructural development of some 3,250 private secondary schools across the country with Tk 5,237.38 crore.

The approval was given at the 14th ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal held at the NEC conference room at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka with ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that a total of 13 projects were approved today involving an overall estimated cost of Tk  12,415.79 crore.

"Of the total project cost, Tk  11,822.82 crore will come from the state exchequer while the rest of Tk  592.97 crore from project assistance," he said.

The planning minister said there are currently some 327 government secondary schools alongside 19,357 private secondary schools in the country having some 91,60,365 students.

Under the project titled "Upward extension of selected private secondary schools", there will be upward extension of academic buildings of some 3,250 private secondary schools as well as supply of necessary furniture in those schools, he said.

The meeting also approved the "Establishment of 160 Upazila ICT Training and Resource Center for Education (UITRCE), 2nd phase," project with Tk  845.42 crore.

The planning minister said that Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) under the Secondary and Higher Education Division will implement the project by June 2020.

The main objective of the project, he said, is to set up ICT training and resource centers with all necessary facilities to impart training to the teachers of the secondary level educational institutions on ICT.

AHM Mustafa Kamal said that of the total project cost of Tk  842.45 crore for the ICT Project, the government will provide Tk  252.46 crore while the rest of Tk  592.97 crore will come from Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) of South Korea.

The soft-term loan bears a very simple interest rate of 0.1 percent which will be repaid in 40 years with a 15-year grace period.

Under the project, some 160 upazila ICT Resource and Training Centers, each having a two-story building, would be set up in some 125 upazilas.

The planning minister also disclosed the progress of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year with the implementation rate witnessing 27.02 percent having an overall expenditure of Tk  44,331 crore.

The implementation rate during the first half of the last fiscal was 27.20 percent with an expenditure of Tk  33,554 crore.