Cabinet approves solar, procurement draft laws and public holidays

The Cabinet on Monday approved the final drafts of the Special Solar Power Installation Act, 2026, and the Public Procurement (Second Amendment) Act, 2026. 

Chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, the cabinet also approved 29 public holidays for 2027 and a draft Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement on Criminal Matters with Hong Kong.

Briefing reporters at the Press Information Department, Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani said the Special Solar Power Ordinance, 2026 was promulgated under Article 93(1) of the Constitution to expedite special solar power installations. 

After vetting by the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, it will be placed as a bill at Parliament's first meeting under Article 93(2).

He said the Public Procurement Act, 2006 had undergone six amendments, including a 21 September ordinance, to ensure transparency, accountability and open competition. 

The proposed draft protects domestic industries and provides special facilities for micro and small women entrepreneurs and disadvantaged tenderers. It also modernises open tendering, expands limited tendering for equitable resource distribution and clarifies professional misconduct provisions.

The 29 public holidays for 2027 comprise 15 general holidays and 14 through executive orders. Excluding seven holidays coinciding with weekends, comprising four general holidays on two Fridays and two Saturdays and three executive-order holidays on one Friday and two Saturdays, the country will have 22 effective public holidays.

Government employees will also be allowed up to three optional religious holidays annually, while ethnic community employees across the country, including in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, will get two optional holidays for Boisabi.

Meanwhile, the agreement with Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, will facilitate criminal information exchange, the apprehension of offenders and other legal cooperation.

Source: BSS