The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC)on Tuesday approved 10 development projects including a Tk 1059 crore one to develop 5G-capable optical fiber transmission network for expanding uninterrupted telecommunication and broadband internet facilities throughout the country.

The approval came from the 71st Ecnec meeting held with Ecnec chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

The PM joined the meeting, virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban, while ministers and officials concerned attended it at the NEC Conference Room.

“Today the meeting approved a total of 10 projects including two revised ones and the overall estimated cost of the projects is Tk 8,804.10 crore (only additional of the revised projects were counted here),” said Planning Minister MA Mannan while briefing reporters after the meeting.

Of the cost, Tk 8,515.87 crore will be borne from the GoB fund, while Tk 120.78 crore from the own fund of an organisation concerned. The rest Tk 167.45 crore will come from foreign sources as project loan.

The Minister the ADP implementation rate from July-December, 2021 was 30.21 percent, which is higher than 28.45 percent attained in July-December, 2020.

“Our ADP implementation rate, GDP, growth rate and per capita income have increased…..It has been possible due to the prompt and firm decisions taken by the Prime Minister ,” said Mannan.

Talking about the project titled ‘Development of Optical Fiber Transmission Network of BTCL for 5G,’ the Planning Minister said the project will be implemented by December 2024 in order to upgrade our infrastructures and networks for 5G.

The main project objective is to reach uninterrupted telecommunication and broadband internet facilities throughout the country and to upgrade and expand the optical fiber transmission network of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company limited( BTCL) to meet the growing demand.