Economic Reporter :
The implementation status of the Annual Development Programme (ADP), including that of the self financed projects, during the first 11 months (July-May) of the outgoing fiscal year (FY16) fared not so good as it reached only 62 percent with an overall expenditure of Tk 58,076 crore.
The implementation rate is also five-percentage point less than the July-May period of the last fiscal year, when the overall expenditure was Tk 51,997 crore with 67 percent implementation rate.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal revealed the details of the ADP implementation status at a ‘Meet the Press’ held in the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area on Monday afternoon. Planning Commission members, secretaries concerned and other high officials were present.
Kamal said the ADP implementation status during the July-May period of 2013-14 fiscal year totaled 66 percent with an expenditure of Tk 42,162 crore.
The ADP implementation status figures compiled by the IMED showed that out of the overall amount in this July-May period, the executing agencies could spend only Tk 37,583 crore or 61 percent from the state exchequer while Tk 17,734 crore or 61 percent from project assistance and Tk 2,759 crore or 95 percent from the organisations’ own fund.
About the slow implementation rate, the Planning Minister said although the rate was a bit slow, the July-May period witnessed over Tk 6,000 crore more expenditure than the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Mentioning that the implementation status of the revised ADP reached 91 percent in the last fiscal year, he also hoped that the implementation status of the RADP in this year would be close to that.
AHM Mustafa Kamal, commonly known as Lotus Kamal, also noted that the outgoing fiscal year had big infrastructural projects in the ADP like Matarbari power plant where the stake of project assistance portion is very high. “We need to enhance our institutional capacity in this regard.”
He said the project directors from the next year are likely to be appointed through interview after reviewing their past performances and experiences.
Mustafa Kamal said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already given directives that no project would be given extension twice while the project directors concerned would have to stay within their project areas during the implementation period.
“With the implementation of these steps, it is expected that the ADP implementation rate would further expedite in the next year,” he hoped.
The Planning Minister also expressed his high optimism that the GDP growth rate in the next year would be more than the targeted 7.2 percent while the size of the overall GDP would also expand.
He also informed that the gazette notification would be issued to appoint one project director exclusively for one development project from the next year to expedite the pace of implementation and thus yields better development outcomes.
According to the latest data of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry achieved the highest implementation rate of 96 percent during this July-May period while the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) the lowest utilisation rate of zero percent.
The ministries and divisions those attained better utilisation rate include Local Government Division (73 percent), Power Division (73 percent), Primary and Mass Education Ministry (64 percent), Education Ministry (60 percent), Agriculture Ministry (67 percent), Home Ministry (70 percent), Shipping Ministry (36 percent) and Religious Affairs Ministry (56 percent).
The utilisation rate of other ministries and divisions are Housing and Public Works Ministry (59 percent), Information Ministry (70 percent), Bridges Division (46 percent), Railways Ministry (67 percent), Health and Family Welfare Ministry (41 percent), Energy and Mineral Resources Division (65 percent), Water Resources Ministry (51 percent), Science and Technology Ministry (91 percent), Industries Ministry (21 percent), Election Commission Secretariat (31 percent), Environment and Forests Ministry (68 percent) and Internal Resources Division (19 percent).
Earlier on April 5, the National Economic Council (NEC) approved a Tk 93,894.68 crore overall Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for the outgoing fiscal year including that of the self-financed projects down from the overall ADP outlay of Tk 100996.92 crore apparently due to the slow pace in implementation. The overall RADP size is Tk 7,102.24 crore less compared to the original overall ADP size.
According to the IMED, the implementation status of the RADP finally stood at 91 percent in the FY15, including corporations’ self financed projects, mainly because of the three-month political turmoil and non-utilisation of hefty amount in the Padma Bridge project.
