The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council yesterday extended a project to install prepaid gas meters in Dhaka households, which will see 1.2 lakh more prepaid connections by December 2022.

Residents of the capital can save 38 percent in costs if they are using prepaid gas meters, which also results in similarly reduced wastage of the utility, found a recent survey by Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited.

Titas is commissioning the meters at households in Dhaka to minimise wastage of the utility, and has set up 200,000 meters in the first two phases of the project that began in January 2015.

Planning Commission Member Nasima Begum yesterday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, while presiding over the weekly Ecnec meeting yesterday, observed that prepaid gas meters should be set up at more households.

"If we can install prepaid gas meters in commercial and industrial zones, we will be able to save more gas," Nasima said, quoting the PM.

Nasima said Titas in a survey found that after commissioning prepaid meters, a household using a double-burner stove consumes gas worth Tk 605 per month on average.

A household without a prepaid gas meter needs to pay Tk 975 to use a double-burner stove. Therefore, using prepaid meters can save Tk 370, or 38 percent.

She added that according to the survey, on average, a consumer used 78.12 cubic metres of natural gas every month, which came down to 48.06 cubic metres after setting up a prepaid meter.

She was talking to journalists after the Ecnec meeting yesterday, which approved the second extension of the project.

Primarily, the Tk 712 crore project was aimed at setting up prepaid gas meters at 1,70,000 households in 22 police precincts of the capital, and it was scheduled to complete the work between January 2015 and December 2018.

The project's first extension was till December this year, with a revised target of setting up prepaid meters at 30,000 more households in 12 more police precincts. In the first revision, the project cost had decreased to Tk 499 crore.

The second extension of the project is till December 2022 and the project cost has now increased to Tk 754 crore, Tk 651 crore of which will be financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

During this period, prepaid meters will be set up at 1,20,000 more households in seven additional police precincts of the capital.

Some 2,00,000 meters have already been set up in as many households, Nasima Begum said, adding that the project time and cost increased as another 1,20,000 meters will be set up in more Dhaka city areas.

The Ecnec also approved a Tk 1,883 crore project to ensure safe drinking water supply and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) facilities for around 4.5 million people.

The project also has a component of installing 882 hand washing stations at schools and in places where people frequently gather, and provide the necessary tools to prevent Covid-19 transmission.

Planning Commission Member Mamun-Al-Rashid said the Department of Public Health Engineering will implement the project between January 2021 and December 2025, with Tk 1,832 crore as loan from the World Bank and AIIB.

The project will be implemented in 98 upazilas of 30 districts.

In reply to a query about allotting Tk 26.89 crore for consultants, Mamun said it was seen that the monthly salary of qualified consultants -- like procurement specialists, financial management specialists -- is not less than Tk 2.5 lakh.

"We need qualified consultants for better work. We do not think there was too much expenditure on consultants."

He added that the project had allocated Tk 19 crore for feasibility tests, which was also not too much.

The Ecenc yesterday approved five other projects involving Tk 3,308.36 crore, of which Tk 2,042.08 crore will come from donors.

Of the five projects, two are new while three others are revised ones.