The Privatisation Commission sent the Saudi prince's proposal to the Cabinet Division yesterday for approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

The Saudi prince, declared the highest bidder by the Privatisation Commission on Sunday, proposed to invest $12 million for the development of Rupali Bank's human resources, $55 million for its IT infrastructure and $33 million for the refurbishment of its branches, sources said.

In the technical and financial offer of the Saudi prince it was stated that their net worth is $20 billion. The Privatisation Commission's minimum requirement to bid for Rupali Bank was $250 million.

"We are hopeful that the cabinet committee's approval of the Saudi prince's proposal will come by next week," said a high official of Privatisation Commission.

The process of signing a deal between the government and the Saudi prince and handing over the bank to him will follow soon after the approval, he added.

"The prince proposed to pay the total amount as soon as the deal is signed. The amount will obviously help the government in balancing the budgetary expenditure," he said.

Privatisation Commission sources said the bid offer submitted a list of 15 members of a high-level team comprising both local and foreign experts for the management of Rupali Bank.

The Saudi prince has also submitted a five-year business plan for the bank that includes rural banking through micro finance and credit facility for small and medium enterprises in urban areas.

The technical offers of the Saudi prince include introduction of online banking, global banking and investment banking. The new administration also aims at opening branches of Rupali Bank across the subcontinent.

In the early 1980s, Pubali Bank was sold out for $6.4 million only (Tk 16 crore) when the exchange rate for US dollar was Tk 25.

"So, we are getting an attractive price for Rupali Bank," the Privatisation Commission official said.

However, the government will have to spend a good chunk of the amount for realising the bank's liabilities in phases, he added.

The government will bear the liabilities of the existing pensioners and the accrued rights of the current employees with cash payments made from the government budget.

"For this, the government will have to spend about Tk 500 crore," the source said. Besides, there are bad loans of around Tk 1,000 crore from the bank by different state-owned enterprises.

The owners will have to inject Tk 400 crore for capital when the bank will go private and the government will have to bear 27 per cent of it as per its shares.

The Saudi prince offered such a huge amount of money for buying Rupali Bank with a view to bringing in remittance from around five lakh Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia through online banking, Privatisa-tion Commission sources said.

The new administration has also plans for investment in other businesses in Bangladesh like tourism, hotel and the energy sector, and their banking business will help them in this regard, the sources said.