STAR BUSINESS REPORT

The new Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, yesterday scrapped one development project and sent back another, which is located in the PM’s home district of Bogura, for cost review.

According to meeting sources, of a total 19 projects placed before the body, only seven were taken up for detailed discussion, with the remaining deemed too questionable for a cursory review. Five revised projects were approved.

At the meeting, a Tk 1,122 crore proposal to develop the Karatoya river system was sent back. The project had reportedly been placed at the top of the agenda partly because it falls within the prime minister’s home district, said sources.

Rahman questioned why land acquisition alone accounted for more than Tk 500 crore of the budget for a river excavation project, and made clear that geographic or political proximity to his office would carry no weight in approval decisions.

“No project will be approved simply because it is linked to a particular region,” he said, according to sources familiar with the meeting. The project was sent back for a full cost review.

A second project -- the Participatory Rural Development Project Phase-4 -- was scrapped outright, the committee having found no adequate justification for its implementation.

In addition to the two rejections, the meeting He called