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New procurement policy to help facilitate faster project implementation: ADB

FE Report | October 12, 2018 00:00:00


The new procurement policy of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help facilitate better and faster project implementation in Bangladesh.

This was stated by senior ADB officials while explaining the multi-lateral lender's new procurement policy at a ceremony held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on Thursday.

Economic Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Dr Mashiur Rahman opened the event, said an ADB press statement.

ADB Country Director Manmohan Parkash, Additional Secretary, ADB Wing of Economic Relations Division Muhammad Alkama Siddiqui and Director General of Central Procurement Technical Unit, Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division Md Faruque Hossain spoke on the occasion.

Effective implementation of the new procurement policy in ADB-funded projects was discussed at the event where about 170 senior government officials, project directors and ADB staff participated, said the release.

The new policy, for which guidance notes were issued in 2018, emphasizes two new principles--- 'quality' and 'value for money' along with the existing principles of economy, efficiency, fairness and transparency, it mentioned.

"ADB's new procurement policy is a paradigm shift towards faster and more effective implementation of ADB-assisted projects," it said quoting ADB Country Director Manmohan Parkash.

The policy will help reduce the overall procurement time and transaction costs, improve quality of procurement, promote advanced and cleaner technologies, encourage deeper focus on project design and planning, and infuse more flexibility and dynamism in the bidding process allowing multiple stage bidding for complex procurement, said Mr Parkash.

"The policy also promotes the greater use of country systems and introduced simpler process for co-financed projects," the ADB Country director was quoted as saying.

Currently, ADB has 96 loans and grants for 56 projects with over $ 10.1 billion under sovereign portfolio in Bangladesh, according to the ADB statement.

During January-September 2018, ADB approved loans and grants equivalent to $ 2.15 billion, and contract awards crossed $ 1.1 billion and disbursement $ 700 million. ADB's portfolio performance in Bangladesh is expected to hit the highest record in 2018 while it has grown by 300 per cent since 2008, it said.

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