Finance Minister AMA Muhith expressed his happiness Wednesday over the economic breakthrough and asserted the GDP growth wouldn’t decline down seven per cent in the next year.
“At last… we have .achieved seven per cent growth. It took six to seven years,” he told the media after a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase at Bangladesh Secretariat.
Asked whether it would be possible to retain the present growth momentum, he replied: “As we got elevated to/achieved seven per cent growth… then we would not come down”.
In a word of appreciation the finance minister said everybody has contributed to achieving the growth.
He noted that power is fundamentally an important sector for spurring growth.
Without power it is impossible to aspire for expansion of anything. But agriculture has also contributed to it.
“If we want to achieve high growth, then all sectors need to contribute equally,” the finance minister said, a day after official data were revealed about breaking the six-percent trap to score above 7.0 per cent GDP growth.
The cabinet committee on public purchase approved nine projects worth over Tk 6.61 billion. The projects include building Kashiani-Gopalganj-Tungipara new railway lines and rehabilitation of Kalukhali-Batiapara rail lines in Gopalganj at a cost of over Tk 2.61 billion.
The cabinet committee on economic affairs also approved another three projects that include development of tow jetties at Mongla Port through public-private partnership (PPP), land development for building 1320-megawatt coal-fired power plant at Rampal by utilising sand/ earth being extracted through the dredging of Mongla-Gashiakhali channel and building National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute in Dhaka.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith presided over both the meetings at the cabinet division of Bangladesh Secretariat.
The projects that also got nod of the cabinet committee on public purchase are: building railway lines from Ishwardi to Dalakchar via Pabna at a cost of over Tk 587 million, and extension, rehabilitation and reconstruction of loop lines in Darsana-Ishurdi – Sirajganj Bazar section at a cost of over Tk 607 million, appointing consultant for safety audit of Dhaka Elevated Expressway at a cost of over Tk 429 million and extension of rural electrification for providing power to7.8 million consumers under different separate packages for purchasing conductor, bare, poles, SPC, distribution transformer at a total cost of over Tk 2.38 billion.