The government, in a departure from age-old practices, has decided to make districts as the focal point of local-level development activities.
The direction for the switch came from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while presiding over a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) Thursday that endorsed the Tk. 2.65 trillion Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2024-25, officials said.
Planning Division Senior Secretary Satyajit Karmakar said the head of government advised taking up district-based projects instead of upazila-based ones and entrusting district-level officials with overseeing the works.
Explaining the plan, Planning Minister Major-General (retd) Abdus Salam said Members of Parliament (MPs) would be engaged in framing "participatory master plan" up to five years for each of the districts to make it realistic attuned to real needs.
"Even the upazila chairmen will be involved in the process," he told journalists about the switch, prompted evidently by reports stressing switchover in view of state of upazila-level development works.
The Planning Secretary quoted the prime minister having instructed reappointing the project directors and other officials in their specialised areas after completion of their training in concerned fields.
She also asked the authorities concerned of all ministries and divisions to "speedily complete the foreign-aided and grants-funded projects with additional efforts, if required, to expedite further the country's development drive".
Renewing her call for creating a pool of project directors, Sheikh Hasina emphasised again imparting necessary training to those projects directors and officials who lack in it.
"Furthermore, the prime minister directed the IMED to take necessary steps to register qualified firms for conducting feasibility study for the upcoming public-works projects," the official said.
The new ADP for the fiscal 2024-25 provides the highest allocation for the transport and communications sector like in the previous times, officials had said Tuesday.
The development programme has received a significant sum of Tk 1.0-trillion allocation, 37.73 per cent of the total ADP outlay, from external resources while the remaining Tk 1.65 trillion, or 62.27 per cent, from internal resources.
In the upcoming ADP, a total of 1,321 projects along with 60 fresh ones are getting fund allocations for their implementation, Planning Secretary Satyajit Karmakar said after the meeting.
The economic-policy body also endorsed Tk 132.86-billion allocation for autonomous and semi-autonomous public agencies in the upcoming ADP, he added.
The newly approved Tk 2.65-trillion ADP is 0.76-percent higher than the original Tk 2.63-trillion ADP and 8.16-percent up from the Tk 2.45 trillion revised ADP (RADP) for the outgoing fiscal.
Meanwhile, the PC in a meeting of its extended committee, headed by the Planning Minister, last week approved the ADP for the upcoming fiscal FY2025.
Like the previous, the transport and communications sector got the highest Tk 706.88 billion, 26.67 per cent of the total ADP outlay, in the upcoming fiscal.
The power and energy sector is in the second position while the education sector in the 3rd and the housing and community sector 4th position in the ADP.
Another PC official said they had set aside Tk 99.58 billion as block allocations in the upcoming ADP, including a Tk63.28 billion for "special development needs".
Meanwhile, the prime minister directed the authorities concerned to expedite the project execution, especially the foreign-aided projects, as the implementation pace is slower.
The IMED secretary, Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin, told journalists that the ministries and public agencies had implemented 49.26 per cent of the Tk2.54-trillion Revised ADP during the first three quarters of the current FY.
In the same period last year, the execution was 50.33 per cent.
Planning Secretary Mr Satyajit said the budget for FY2025 "aims to control inflation through ensuring coordination between monetary policy and fiscal policy".
Responding to another question, he said the dependence of government on foreign-aided projects did not increase compared to the past in terms of percentage but the volume or amount of such projects increased.
Mr Satyajit said it would be better for the government to utilize as much as possible foreign loans and grants by 2026 to expedite the development process as the country would be losing many of its existing facilities in 2026 through its LDC graduation.
"Although there are some mismatches in the fresh ADP in line with the 8th Five Year Plan due to the Covid-19 impacts and the Russia-Ukraine War, but the allocations against education, health and agriculture sectors have increased this time," he said about the priorities.
Planning Minister Major-General (retd) Abdus Salam, State Minister for Planning Md Shahiduzzaman Sarker, Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned attended the briefing.
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