PM for undertaking projects without ruining nature, Today, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged everyone involved to take on and carry out development initiatives without endangering the environment. The Premier further instructed the relevant authorities to swiftly implement the development plans without needless revision while keeping ecological balance.
PM for undertaking projects without ruining nature
The instructions were given by the Prime Minister while he presided over a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) today in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar neighborhood of the city. The conference was attended by concerned secretaries, ministers, state ministers, and members of the Planning Commission.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said that the Premier while giving approval to a Taka 2,580 crore Coastal Town Climate Tolerance Project today said that the coastal belt is usually a sensitive area. In this regard, she asked the authorities concerned to implement this project carefully without disturbing the natural balance.
Turning to the issue of boosting agricultural productivity in the wake of global situation, Mannan said that the Premier stressed not only for boosting agricultural production, but also for ensuring production of quality food grains and nutrition enriched crops. She also asked the concerned ministries to pay attention on stockpile of food grains in godowns as well as pursuing higher technology in preservation of those as the Netherlands has better technical know-how in this regard.
Mentioning that the government has fared better during the COVID-19 pandemic, the planning minister hinted that the GDP growth rate in the current fiscal year would reach near 7 percent. The planning minister said that the Premier stressed again for avoiding revision of projects time and again alongside completing the ongoing projects in a speedy manner within the timeframe.
She also asserted that the canals in the capital should have to be kept free to ensure their usual flow of water.Touching upon the inflation situation, Mannan said that the overall inflation trend is now downward while the wage index is also on the uptrend. “Although it’s not too much satisfactory, but it’s a good sign.” He said the country is likely to witness a good Harvest of Aman crops this time which is definitely good news for all side by side it would also be helpful to boost the supply side to rein in inflation further.
Mannan said that million tons of food grains are in the field much to the delight of the farmers. Quoting data from the Ministry of Agriculture, he informed that the vegetables production has increased by six times over the years having a wide range of varieties while the production of nutrition enriched various food grains and fruits have started to impact the inflation trend.
Riding on the good supply side, he noted that the general point to point inflation would come down further in November and thus continue to fall in December, in next January and February also before the declining trend might get slow down in next March. He also informed that the Prime Minister has expressed her satisfaction over the current inflationary situation. The planning minister said due to various steps taken by the government and also from the central bank, the gap in the current account balance is gradually narrowing down while the overall inward remittance and exports earnings are still in the positive trend.
Replying to a question, he said that the Bangladesh Bank through giving some circulars are working to check under invoicing and over invoicing while the BFIU is also working to this end. State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam said that the inward remittance flow during the July-October period of the current fiscal year (FY23) totaled $7.198 billion which is higher than the corresponding period of the last fiscal year (FY22).
Mannan called on the media to adequately highlight the condition of the stable macroeconomic indicators while making a comment about the state of the foreign currency reserves, noting that the reserve has marginally increased. In this regard, he stated that all of the actions the government’s top official has done over the years have ultimately produced greater results.
In response to a different question, the planning minister stated that while certain individuals are working to undermine discipline in the nation, the relevant government authorities have remained steadfastly vigilant in this regard. The Prime Minister requested in the meeting that the relevant agencies acquire land as little as possible in order to preserve the farmland, according to Planning Division Secretary Mamun-Al Rashid.
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