Govt to procure 6,000 tonnes of lentil, 40 lakh litres of edible oil for TCB

The government has approved the procurement of 6,000 tonnes of lentil and 40 lakh litres of rice bran oil for the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), a state-run agency under the commerce ministry.

The decision was taken at the 28th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) in this year held virtually on Wednesday with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Sayeed Mahbub Khan briefed the media virtually after the meeting.

The Cabinet Division additional secretary informed that following two separate proposals from the Ministry of Commerce, the TCB would procure some 6,000 tonnes of lentil under local Open Tender Method (OTM) from Nabil Naba Foods Ltd for the current fiscal year (FY24) with around Tk 57.05 crore where per kg lentil would cost Tk 95.09 against the previous price of Tk 94.44.

On the other hand, the TCB will procure some 40 lakh liters of rice bran oil under local Open Tender Method (OTM) for the current fiscal year (FY24) from Majumder Bran Oil Mills Ltd with Tk 64.60 crore where per liter oil will cost Tk 161.5 against the previous price of Tk 169.25.

Mahbub said the day's CCGP meeting has also finalised five separate proposals from the Ministry of Industries for procuring some 1.25 lakh metric tons of fertilizer from different sources.

Besides, he said the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will procure some 25,000 metric tonnes of rock phosphate from M/S Agro Industrial Input, Dhaka with around Tk 97.82 crore with per tonne rock phosphate costing $359 against the previous price of $375.

The BCIC will procure 10,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid from M/S Best Eastern, Dhaka for the TSPCL in Chattogram with around Tk 58.86 crore with the price of per tonne phosphoric acid at $540.

Meanwhile, the BCIC will procure 30,000 metric tons of bulk prield urea fertilizer from Muntajat, Qatar in 1st lot under state-level agreement with around Tk 130.52 crore with per tonne fertilizer costing $397.33 while the BCIC will purchase another consignment of 30,000 metric tonnes of bulk granular urea fertilizer from Muntajat, Qatar in 2nd lot also under state-level agreement with around Tk 131.13 crore where per tonne fertilizer will cost $399.17 against the previous price of $397.33.

Besides, the BCIC will procure 30,000 metric tons of bagged granular urea fertilizer from KAFCO, Bangladesh in the 3rd lot with around Taka 129.18 crore with per ton fertilizer costing $393.25.

Prior to the CCGP meeting, the 20th meeting on the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was held today with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

The meeting approved a proposal in principle for reducing the timeframe for submitting tender bids at 15 days from 42 days to be determined from the date of publishing advertisement in the newspaper for procuring wheat by the Directorate General of Food under international open tender method.