The government has given policy approval to procure vehicles for the Rapid Action Battalion under the direct purchase method instead of open tender in the 2025–26 fiscal year, citing the need to enhance the force’s operational capacity.
The approval was disclosed at a press briefing on Tuesday following the third meeting of the Advisory Committee on Economic Affairs.
According to the briefing, the committee approved in principle the procurement of three jeeps, 100 patrol pickup trucks and 60 air-conditioned microbuses under the project titled “Enhancement of Operational Capacity of RAB Forces (1st Revised).”
The committee recommended that the vehicles be procured through direct purchase rather than the Open Tender Method.
The proposal was placed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
At the same meeting, a proposal from the Ministry of Agriculture to provide subsidies to potato farmers affected by losses was withdrawn from the agenda at the ministry’s request.
A proposal from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division on transporting gas from Bhola in the form of LNG via river routes was also withdrawn from discussion.
The committee further recommended policy approval to withdraw the Ministry of Railways’ proposed project titled “Construction of a Multimodal Hub at Dhaka Airport Railway Station” from the public-private partnership list.
However, another PPP proposal to modernize the railway hospital in Kamalapur and establish a medical college was withdrawn at the ministry’s request.
Meanwhile, the fourth meeting of the Advisory Committee on Government Procurement for 2026 was also held on the same day. A total of seven procurement proposals were placed and discussed at the meeting.
These included proposals for the purchase of urea fertilizer, MOP fertilizer, lentils, soybean oil, LNG, as well as a research vessel and speedboats, all of which received recommendations for approval.
At the procurement committee meeting, a proposal from the Ministry of Industries to import 40,000 metric tons of bulk granular urea fertilizer from Fertiglobe Distribution Limited of the United Arab Emirates was recommended for approval.
Approval was also recommended for the purchase of a research vessel and speedboats for the Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
