The government will install 200,000 prepaid gas meters for home users in 12 areas of Dhaka with an aim to reducing wastage of the scarce natural resource.
The areas are Badda, Gulshan, Tejgaon, Cantonment, Mirpur, Kafrul, Khilkhet, Uttar Khan, Dakkhin Khan, Uttara, Purbachal and Jhilmeel.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the Tk719 crore project titled “Installation of Prepaid Gas Meter for TGTDCL” at a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at the NEC conference room yesterday.
On January 11, 2012, some 4,500 household prepaid gas meters were installed in Mohammadpur and Lalmatia areas under a pilot project run with financial assistance from th.e Asian Development Bank (ADB).
After the Ecenec meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told reporters that about 2.4 million more consumers in the capital would gradually be brought under the prepaid metering system. “This is expected to reduce system loss by minimising misuse.”
Of the total project cost, the government will provide Tk237 crore, Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) Tk45 crore and the rest will come from public agencies.
State-owned natural gas distribution and transmission company Titas will implement the project by 2018.
“Around 45 megawatt of power can be generated from the gas that will be saved once the entire capital city comes under the system,” the planning minister said.
The Ecnect yesterday approved five other development projects.
Under the Tk791 crore “Secondary Education Stipend Project (2nd phase),” the government will give stipend to 4.244 million poor students, aimed to prevent drop-out and child marriage. Thirty percent female and 10% male students in every grade will be given the stipend.
Sixth and seventh graders will get Tk100 per month, eighth graders Tk120 and ninth and tenth graders Tk150. In addition, sixth to eighth graders will get Tk15 per month for paying tuition fees and ninth and tenth graders Tk20.
Those appearing in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams will get a bulk stipend of Tk750.
The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education is entrusted to implement the project by June 2017 covering some 217 upazilas in 53 districts.
Planning Minister Kamal said for availing the stipend, students will have to obtain at least 33% marks in all annual exam papers at grade six and seven, 40% in grade eight and nine and maintain a minimum class attendance of 75% all through.
Students, whose guardians own less than seven decimal land and have less than Tk50,000 annual income, will be eligible for the facility.
The planning minister said the project will continue until 100% enrollment is achieved at the secondary level.