50,000 tonnes of rice to be imported
Price to be higher than on local market
Staff Correspondent
The advisers' committee on purchase yesterday approved import of 50,000 metric tons of rice from India at a price higher than local market price.A meeting of the committee chaired by Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam gave the approval for rice import to supplement the government's rice stock. LMJ International Ltd, an Indian company, has been selected as the lowest bidder to supply rice worth Tk128.58 crore. The company offered $349.90 per metric ton, while two other Indian bidders offered $368.11 and $372 for the same quantity of rice. Following the decision, the government will have to pay Tk 24 for per kilogram of coarse rice, whereas the price is Tk 22 in the local market. The government has decided to import rice at this time to meet its rice procurement target, the finance adviser explained. "As we need to increase the supply of rice to the local market, the stocks should be strengthened by importing rice, " he further said. Besides, Tk 882 crore has been allocated in the budget for purchasing 4.50 lakh metric tons of rice in the current fiscal year. The meeting also approved to purchasing a leased airbus for Biman Bangladesh Airlines. The government will have to pay an additional $23 million within next three years for it. The committee members decided to procure 1.86 lakh metric tons of urea fertiliser and also approved the proposal of appointing international consultant for Siddhirganj peaking power plant.
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