The government on Tuesday approved separate proposals for procuring two cargoes of LNG, 12 million litres of soybean oil and 50,000 tons of non-Basmati boiled rice to meet the growing demand in the country.
The approvals came during the 14th meeting of the Advisers Council Committee on Government Purchases, held in the Cabinet Division conference room at the Bangladesh Secretariat, chaired by Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Salehuddin said proposals related to the procurement of rice, LNG, lentils and soybean oil were approved during the purchase committee meeting.
"The cost expenditure in all of today’s purchase proposals was lower compared to previous ones because we have made the process more competitive," he said.
The adviser added that in the past, only a few firms would submit their bids, but with the process being opened up more, competition has increased, resulting in reasonable prices and cost efficiency.
Following a proposal from the Ministry of Food, the government will procure 50,000 tons of non-Basmati boiled rice through the international open tender method (OTM) for the current fiscal year (FY25) from M/S Agrocorp International Pte Ltd, Singapore, at a cost of around Tk254.03 crore, with the price per ton of rice at $416.44.
In response to two separate proposals from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, the government will procure one cargo of LNG from M/S Vitol Asia Pte Limited, Singapore, from the spot market through an international quotation method at a cost of around Tk593.75 crore.
Additionally, the government will procure another cargo of LNG from the spot market from M/S Total Energies Gas and Power Limited, United Kingdom, at a cost of around Tk607.66 crore.
Following two separate proposals from the Ministry of Commerce, the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will procure 10,000 tons of lentils through the local OTM method from Sheikh Agro Food Industries, Dhaka, at a cost of around Tk92.75 crore, with the price per kg of lentils at Tk92.75.
Furthermore, the TCB will procure 12 million litres of soybean oil from Life and Health (Thailand) Company Ltd, at a cost of around Tk187.39 crore, with the price per litre of soybean oil at $1.28.
