United News of Bangladesh

The interim government is contemplating on the small but people oriented development projects to accelerate the very low implementation of the annual development project (ADP). According to the Planning Ministry sources, in the last couple of ECNEC meetings the advisers have detailed discussions on this issue to induce a vibe in the economy as it is now more or less at a stagnant situation after the fall of Awami League government on August 5 last year. A top official of the Planning Ministry said that the government has directed the concerned officials to pick up small projects which could be implemented very quickly. Worried about slowdown, govt pushes for speeding up ADP implementation “But these small projects must be beneficial to the local people greatly, this is the intention of the current government,” the official told UNB. The ECNEC meetings chaired by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus made it clear that the government wanted to implement some good projects for the welfare of the people of the country. In this regard, the ECNEC meetings asked the officials concerned to have discussions with the people who will be benefited by these projects. Interim govt seeks to rationalise health sector funding in ADP In this connection, a planning commission official said that directives have been given to talk to the local people first while taking any development in a specific area. In this connection, he mentioned that if any irrigation project has taken for a specific area it should be done through a proper consultation with the local people to find out their traditional irrigation process and their attitude towards the new irrigation system. “If the new irrigation project is designed from the capital city without consulting with the local people then it would not bring any positive results for the users. The local people may not get involved in this project or feel encouraged to use it,” he said. The planning commission official said that forcing any big project through taking assistance from the lending agencies might not end with good maintenance. ADP set to shrink significantly in interim govt’s revised budget “So the government wanted to implement small projects with local consultation to improve ADP implementation rate and induce money to roll the economy,” he said. According to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), ADP implementation during the July-November period was 17.1% in the last fiscal, 2023-24, and 18.4% in 2022-23. Versus just 12.3% in the current 2024-25 fiscal, of the Tk 278,288.90 crore ADP passed by the AL government in its last budget. After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5 in the face of a student-led uprising, the interim government led by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus was sworn in on August 8. IMED data shows that ADP spending in the July-November period amounted to Tk34,214.55 crore, compared to Tk46,857.38 crore in the equivalent period of the previous fiscal year. IMED officials cited delays in the review the interim government had initiated into all  ongoing and newly proposed projects, along with increasing delays in the release of funds, as factors contributing to the slowdown in ADP implementation. Additionally, many contractors abandoned projects after the interim government assumed power in early August.    

The implementation pace of government's development programmes has remained sluggish, with the Annual Development Programme (ADP) showing one of its lowest execution rates in the past five years. During the first four months of the current fiscal year, from July to October, the ADP implementation rate stood at only around 8%, the lowest figure in recent years, according to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Ministry. Its data highlights that, in contrast, the same period last year saw an execution rate of 11.54%.  Specifically, for the period from July to October of the current fiscal year, the government managed to implement development projects worth Tk 21,978 crore, according to the IMED. The total ADP allocation for the fiscal year is Tk 2,78,288 crore, but the slow start raises concerns about the government’s ability to meet its targets. Moody’s downgrade doesn’t reflect economic progress since July upsurge: Bangladesh Bank Several factors, including government spending cuts, the political unrest during the July-August period, and the reassessment of large projects, have been cited as the main reasons for the drop in implementation rate, according to relevant officials. While the government is facing challenges in speeding up the execution of development projects, experts are urging for greater focus on overcoming delays in order to meet the targets set for the rest of the fiscal year.    

The government is taking a series of measures to enhance the implementation rate of Annual Development Programme (ADP) in an effort to overcome the lack of capability to use project funds and speed up the pace of development. Allocations for ADP in the budget have been increasing steadily over the years but challenges remain in implementing those. “That's why the government has taken an effective move to take the ADP implementation to a satisfactory level,” according to an official document. Steps being mulled by the government include introduction of IBAIS++ digital platform for all ministries and bringing massive reform in the disbursement of funds. From the last 2019-20 fiscal, project directors have been given the authority to disburse all four installments of government funds. The document said that these steps would help ensure the highest usage of project assistance besides playing an auxiliary role in resisting the misuse of funds in implementing projects. It noted that one of the main sources of creating capital in public sector is ADP. Also read: Ambitious ADP worth Tk 2.13trn on the cards ADP Implementation Over The Years The ADP implementation in 2013-14 fiscal was 91% against the revised budget of Tk 600 billion up from 86.6% in 2014-15 fiscal against the revised budget of Tk 750 billion. In 2015-16 fiscal, the revised budget for ADP was Tk 910 crore but the implementation was 88.9% whereas in 2016-17 fiscal the revised budget was Tk 1,107 billion but the implementation was 76%. In 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscals, the revised budgets for ADP were Tk 1,483.8 billion and Tk 1,670 billion while the implementation rates were 80.6% and 88.2% respectively. Meanwhile, the preliminary allocations for ADP for 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscals were Tk 658.7 billion, Tk 803.1 billion, Tk 970 billion, Tk 1,107 billion, Tk 1,533..8 billion and Tk 1,730 billion. This means considering the initial allocation for the ADP, the implementation will be much lower. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, the ADP implementation rate was 80.18% amid the Covid-19 pandemic that stalled all works in the country for a long time as the government enforced months-long general holidays to curb the spread of the virus. For the 2020-21 fiscal, the government had approved a Tk 2,051.45 billion ADP, but in March it was revised to Tk 1,976..43 billion.  

The progress rate of the Ministry of Land in the implementation of ADP is 14.64 percent, which is 1.85 points higher than the national progress rate of 12.79 percent.