The government will procure a total of 60 million doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines from China under the Direct Procurement Method (DPM) as per the price mentioned in the agreement to bolster the government’s efforts to vaccinate the country’s people.

The approval came from the 27th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) this year held today virtually with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting virtually, the Finance Minister said that following the proposal placed by the Health Services Division, the CCGP meeting today gave endorsement to the proposal.

Kamal said that the government aims to vaccinate a total of around 13.82 crore people for which there is a need for around 27.64 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

He said the government has currently around 2.55 crore doses of vaccines while the rest would have to be collected in phases.

Answering to a question, he said that the price of the Sinopharm vaccines did not increase compared to the past while negotiation is on to collect the rest of the required doses of vaccines from various sources.

Joining the briefing on virtual platform, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Md Shamsul Arefin said that the government is expecting to receive these vaccines by November this year.

He informed that the day’s CCGP meeting approved a total of nine proposals including three separate ones for procuring a total of 90,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer.

Shamsul said Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) under the Ministry of Industries would buy 30,000 metric tons of bagged prield urea fertilizer from Muntajat, Qatar with around Taka 125.39 crore.

In another proposal, BCIC under the Ministry of Industries would procure another 30,000 metric tons of bagged granular urea fertilizer from KAFCO, Bangladesh with around Taka 116.47 crore.

Apart from this, BCIC under the Ministry of Industries would purchase another 30,000 metric tons of bulk granular urea fertilizer from Fertiglobe Distribution Limited, UAE with around Taka 123.43 crore.

The day’s meeting approved a proposal from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division to appoint G Thomas (TOM) West Jr as the legal consultant for five years with spending around Taka 5.59 crore to provide legal support to Petrobangla for importing LNG.

In another proposal from the Bridges Division, China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) has been appointed for five years for operations and maintenance of the Bangabandhu Bridge with around Taka 172.61 crore.

The National Curriculum and Textbooks Board (NCTB) will collect some 76,42,071 Textbooks of both Bangla and English versions for class one and two for the 2022 academic year from Kochua Press and Publications Ltd, Ma System Computers Printers and Packaging, Krishna Traders, Bartopa Printers Limited with around Taka 18.33 crore.

Following a proposal from the Power Division, the package No GD-2 under the project for ensuring cent percent electrification at Hatia Island, Nijhum Island and Kutubdia Island under turn key method has been awarded to the consortium of JATI, Malaysia, PSDC, Bangladesh, Youngin, Myanmar with around Taka 148.04 crore.

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

The meeting approved a proposal from the Secondary and Higher Education Division to procure digital classroom content by the NCTB under the DPM method to conduct the curriculum activities of students through online or digital method to fill up the gap of usual method.

Besides, the CCEA approved a proposal of the Health Services Division to purchase PCR test kits, Antigen test kits, VTM with swab stick, PCR lab consumables, CPAP and BiPAP machine under DPM method on emergency basis to save the lives of the COVID-19 affected patients during this time of pandemic.bss