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Interim govt to procure 55 lakh litres of soybean oil for TCB

The interim government will procure 55 lakh litres of soybean oil for the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) which will cost some Tk 87 crore.

Each litre of soybean oil will be bought at Tk 157.90. This time Tk 7.50 more will have to pay for each litre compared to the price at which the Awami League government last procured soybean oil.

The approval of procuring the soybean oil was given on Sunday (October 20) at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase held with Finance Adviser Saleh Uddin Ahmed in the chair.

The meeting sources said approval was given to purchase 55 lakh litres of soybean oil locally through open tender. The TCB will have to pay Tk 86.85 crore to the City Edible Oils Company Limited to buy the edible oil. Each litre of soybean will cost Tk 157.90.

Prior to the interim government took over power, the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina gave approval of procuring soybean oil on June 29 last. On that day, the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase gave approval of purchasing 2.20 crore litres of soybean oil locally through open tender.

The cost of each litre of soybean oil was amounted to Tk 150.48. The approval was given to procure 2.20 crore litres of soybean oil spending Tk 331,05,60,000. Decision was also taken to buy the soybean oil from City Edible Oil Limited. It shows that each litre of soybean oil was cost Tk 7.42 more for a litre than that of the price at which the Awami League government had procured.

Though the procurement of soybean oil will cost more, the interim government has recently purchased red lentil at must lower price. The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase at a meeting on October 9 last gave approval of procuring 10,000 metric tons of red lentil locally through open tender. The total cost to buy the red lentil was fixed at Tk 96.39 crore and cost of each kilogram of red lentil was fixed at Tk 96.39.

Before the interim government came to power, the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government procured red lentil at Tk 102.20. It means that the interim government has procured red lentil at a rate which is Tk 5.81 less than that of the price at which the Awami League government last procured the red lentil.