Govt set to revise RADP next month

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FE Report
The government is set to finalise the revised annual development programme (RADP) of current fiscal by early March this year, official sources said.
"We held a series of meetings for sorting out the priority and new projects. Those will be compiled within a few days for preparing the revised annual development programme," a Planning Commission official told the FE Thursday.
"The draft development programme will be prepared within a very short period. Then it is expected to be placed before the National Economic Council within early next month for getting approval," the official said.
He said the total outlay might be slashed as some of the ministries have failed to implement many projects as expected while some new projects are likely to be included in the RADP.
"Some rehabilitation projects in the flood and cyclone Sidr damaged areas will be incorporated in the RADP this fiscal," he said.
The caretaker government framed an ADP of Tk 265 billion for the fiscal 2007-08.
Against the backdrop of widening the budget deficit for successive calamities floods and cyclone Sidr in the first half of the current fiscal and low pace in project implementation, the government had decided to prepare the revised ADP trimming down the outlay of the original ADP.
During first half (July-December) of current fiscal, the ministries had been able to spend only 21 per cent of the total allocation of Tk 265 billion. The development spending was 25 per cent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
Delay in procurement resulting from reluctance of contractors and officials in an atmosphere of fear and soaring prices of construction materials slowed the development spending in the first half of 2007-08 fiscal, said a planning ministry report earlier. The finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam after a attending a meeting of the resources committee and budget monitoring on February 6 last told newsmen that the ADP might be downsized to Tk 220 billion or Tk 230 billion.
He also said that increased price subsidies on diesel, fertilisers and foodgrains would widen the budget deficit to 4.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 4.2 per cent as projected in the national budget.