Staff Reporter :
Experts said that the last moment rush of using allocated fund before starting new fiscal year often affects work standard and increases the chances of corruption.
They said that when a new allocation is disbursed against the respective departments and ministries at the beginning of a new fiscal year, the work progress of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) remains slow but it gains double or treble speeds before the ending of the fiscal.
Generally, when the respective department cannot implement the ADP fund totally, the remaining fund will have to be returned to the government exchequer.
As a result, the practice of using remaining funds before returning it often lead to the fall of work standard and in some cases the manipulation of funds is reported.
Economists said that such old practice of going slow and going fast should be stopped and maintain a balance between the use of total funds and work progress.
According to the Implementation and Evaluation Division of the Planning Commission, the ADP implementation rate of the FY 2021-22 was only 65 percent while it was 55.18 percent till April.
Now, there are only 15 days remaining for the concerned departments and the ministries to use the allocated funds of the outgoing fiscal year to complete the remaining 35 percent.
The revised allocation for the ADP was 2,25,324 crore. The ADP implementation rate from July to May was 65.56 percent, which is Tk 1,42,387 crore.
Within this one month, the rest of the fund around Tk 65,163 crore will have to be used for the development projects.
“The ADP implementation rate till May was 65.56 percent. It was an increase of 7.2 percent compared to last year. In the last eleven months, more than Tk 20.56 crore out of the total amount has been spent,” Shamsul Alam, Minister of State for Planning told the media.
He also said, “In the last year, the ADP implementation was slow. Now the speed has increased.”
A total of 1771 projects are ongoing under the revised ADP. Of the projects, there are 1520 investment projects, 142 technical assistance projects and 108 projects under independent bodies or corporations.
“There is no hard and fast rules that the ADP implementation rate has to be hundred percent. If the respective bodies cannot use the fund, it will go to the government exchequer,” Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur, Executive Director of Policy Research Institute told the New Nation on Tuesday.
“But we see last moment rush of ADP implementation. It’s not good because when hasty implementation of projects cannot ensure work standard. Besides, there remain chances of the manipulation of fund,” he added.
“It’s an old practice of going slow at first and going fast at the end of the period. We have to come out of this practice for the maximum use of funds for standard work. It needs a balance between work, schedule and fund,” he opined.
Asked how to overcome such practice, he said, “The government can provide the scope to the respective ministries to use remaining fund as rolling budget. The ministries will not return the fund, rather it will be adjusted with the new budget. It can help prevent the hasty steps to finish the funds.”
