ADP spending slower than last year
The annual development programme (ADP) is still dogged by the perennial syndrome of low implementation despite the government's various steps to speed up execution.
According to the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), ADP implementation in terms of monetary spending was Tk 6,318 crore in the first two months till August of the current fiscal year, down by 25.81 percent from the same period a year ago.
The government has allocated Tk 180,869 crore for current fiscal year's development spending, up by nearly 17 percent than the last year's revised outlay.
Historical data showed that ADP implementation rate remained very poor in the beginning of every fiscal year. To overcome the problem the finance division issued an amended guideline in June this year empowering project directors.
The guideline said that project directors can release the first and second quarter money of the development projects, a development that is expected to accelerate the implementation. Previously, the project directors needed approval from concerned ministries or divisions -- an exercise that ate up two to three months.
Not only the finance ministry, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal also met secretaries of different ministries and divisions in early August to inform them about the government's position on speeding up implementation of development projects in the election year.
“Slow implementation rate of a number of big projects may be one of the major reasons for the first two months' dismal figure,” said a senior planning ministry official.
According to IMED, Tk 3,719 crore, or 3.29 percent, of the government's own fund was spent in July-August. The government has planned to spend Tk 113,000 crore from its own sources in the fiscal year.
On the other hand, foreign aid implementation was mere 2.77 percent, or Tk 1,664 crore, against the annual target of Tk 60,000 crore. However, this time performance of state-owned enterprises improved -- they spent Tk 9,035 crore or 11.88 percent of their allocation in the first two months, up from Tk 761 crore in the same period a year ago.
According to the planning ministry, 15 large ministries and divisions account for 79.59 percent of the total ADP allocation for this fiscal year.
