The government is set to approve Tk 720 billion revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) today (Tuesday), giving highest priority to transport sector, officials said Monday.
The proposed outlay of revised ADP is Tk 83.15 billion down from the Tk 803.15 billion allocation in the original ADP.
Presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the National Economic Council (NEC) is scheduled to approve the revised ADP for the current financial year (FY) 2014-15.
"We will place the revised allocations before the NEC meeting tomorrow (Tuesday). We are hopeful of the meeting approving the development budget," said a senior Planning Commission official Monday.
The Planning Commission (PC) has revised the ADP for the current FY2015 against the backdrop of the ongoing troubled political situation and weak implementation performance of the project implementing agencies.
PC officials said in the Tk 720 billion RADP, allocations from both the government's own and the external resources have been cut.
In the proposed RADP, the PC has allocated Tk 471 billion fund from the government's internal resources while Tk 249 billion from external resources (as project aid).
According to PC officials, the transport sector has been allocated the highest Tk 170.32 billion followed by education and religious sector Tk 86.62 billion, power sector Tk 83.18 billion, rural development and rural institution Tk 70.03 billion, and health, nutrition, population and family welfare Tk 47.41 billion outlay in the RADP.
The Padma Bridge construction project has got the highest Tk 78.65 billion allocation in the revised ADP of the current fiscal, officials said.
The government agencies will implement 1,197 projects under the revised ADP. In the original ADP, the number of project was 1,187.
Earlier, the PC has started work to revise the current Tk 803.15 billion ADP to streamline its execution following weak implementation of projects by a number of ministries and divisions.
The government agencies have spent only Tk 258.58 billion, 32 per cent of the total outlay in the ADP during July-January period of this fiscal.
In the last FY2014, the government cut the development budget to Tk 600 billion from the original Tk 658.72 billion outlay.
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