Dhaka: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved a development project on “procurement of dredgers and other related equipments for dredging rivers of Bangladesh” (1st revised) with an outlay of Taka 1,253 crore to be implemented by the Bangladesh Water Development Board by December 2016.

Under the project, the Planning Minister Mustafa Kamal said, there would be procurement of 21 dredger sets with 650 mm diameters, 500 mm diameters and 250 mm diameters.

Mustafa Kamal also informed some 216 dredgers would be required for carrying out capital dredging across the country for which around Taka 31,000 crore would be needed.

The Ecnec approved a total of six development projects with an outlay of Taka 3,961 crore.

The approval came at the 4th ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal year held at the NEC conference room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar with ECNEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.