Government to complete construction of Uttara- Motijheel Metro Rail Line-6 by 2019

The first phase of the metro rail would be constructed from Uttara to Motijheel, the report said adding that works are going on to complete the project five years ahead of schedule.

Cabinet Division submitted the annual report of 2014-2015 to the cabinet during its weekly meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, cabinet secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the report highlighted the successes and works conducted by various ministries and divisions before the cabinet as well as country's overall socio-economic progress.

According to the report, country's per capital income has been raised to US$ 1,314 in 2014-2015 from US$ 1,190 in previous year. Country's export also increased by 3.35 percent in 2014-2015 thanks to diversification of goods, government steps, incentive packages of the government and relentless efforts of the exporters.

The report said the volume of the country's annual revenue earning also increased to Taka 1,36,579.50 crore, which was Taka 1,551.50 crore higher than the target. Flow of remittance has been increased by 7.65 percent during the period taking it to around US$ 15 billion.

The report said the foreign exchange reserve in 2014-2015 stood at US$ 25.02 billion, 16.33 percent higher than the previous year. The rate of Bangladeshi money against the US dollar was stable during the period.

It said general inflation rate at the end of 2014-2015 was 6.25 percent which was 6.97 percent at the end of 2013-2014 fiscal year. During the period a total of 226 development projects were implemented out of 247 making sure utilization of 95 percent of annual allocation.

The report said subsidy to agriculture, assistance to the agricultural research and rehabilitation and above all different financial support to the marginal and small farmers affected by natural disasters and climate change have helped increasing agricultural and food production.

The government has disbursed Taka 7,101.05 crore as a whole as subsidy in 2014-2015 fiscal year among farmers and it helped increasing production of the most of the agricultural items including rice, wheat, onion, vegetables, meat, milk, eggs, gas and fertilizer exceeding the estimation.

According to the report, country's overall poverty rate declined to 24.54 percent while abject poverty reduced to 10.12 percent during 2014-2015. At the same time, the report said, social disparity has been lessened during the time with high economic growth as the government has expanded the rate and scope of the various allowances to alleviate poverty and establish social justice.

Pointing out the promotion of digital services in the country, the report said around 800 public health care centers are giving internet services while 485 hospitals are giving tele-medicine services for free. About 12.68 crore people now use mobile phone while number of internet subscribers reached 4.80 crore making the tele-density 82.46 percent.

The report said construction work of the Padma Bridge is progressing satisfactorily while five percent physical work of the 46-kilometer Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE) from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Kutubkhali of Dhaka-Chittagong road has been progressed. The government has signed agreement for construction of a tunnel under the Karnaphuli River.

The cabinet secretary said after reviewing the report the cabinet has given some recommendations for expediting the execution of the decisions of the cabinet, cabinet committee and NICAR as well as achieving the goals of annual development.

The cabinet laid importance on development institutional capacity for execution of the government decisions and execution of the social safety net progarmmes (SSN) without any overlapping to alleviate poverty. The cabinet also asked for completing the database of the beneficiaries of the SSN programme.

The cabinet also asked for ensuring the presence of doctors in all public hospitals and clinics so that rural people get healthcare services according to the government plan. The cabinet also recommended continuation of the distribution of textbooks among students at the beginning of the academic year as well as improving the quality of education.

The cabinet asked the concerned officials to reduce the system loss of electricity from existing level and promote production of renewable energy, the cabinet secretary said.