The Asian Development Bank (ADB) called the government for speeding up project implementation, as it is unhappy over the progress of some seven projects, officials said on Friday.
The Manila-based lender sat in Dhaka on Thursday for reviewing it's nearly US$6.0 billion funded 47 ongoing projects, said an official of the Economic Relations Division (ERD).
The lender at the tri-partite portfolio review meeting sat with the project implementing agencies and ERD to remove hurdles on the way to their implementation.
"ADB identified seven projects as slow progressive. The lender was unhappy over their implementation status. It has asked the agencies concerned to quicken their execution," a senior ERD official told the FE.
The 'low-progress' projects include $300 million-funded Capital Market Development Programnme, a project of IDCOL for renewable energy
improvement, and $160 million-funded Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project.
"As there are startup delays in some development projects and several other hurdles in their implementations stage, the review team of ADB and the government has agreed to take some steps to facilitate removing the obstacles and ensure their quick or timely execution," the ERD official said.
The lender is the second largest multi-lateral donor of Bangladesh. It annually provides assistance worth nearly $600 million to the country on an average in the recent years.
In the last financial year (FY), 2013-14, ADB's aid disbursement plunged significantly, as it gave assistance worth $470 million, $283 million lower than that in the previous fiscal. In FY 2012-13 its annual loan disbursement to Bangladesh was $616 million.
Officials, who participated at the project review meeting on Thursday, said ADB urged the government to reduce approval time and start up delays of the projects to ensure extended support from the bank.
The government's project executing agencies agreed to follow the ADB's proposal for procurement of goods and services, appointment of project staff by the executing agencies, completing preparation of bid documents, and finalising land acquisition and resettlement plans before project approval, they said.
An official of ADB Dhaka office said: "The review will help improve project implementation by removing bottlenecks and constraints to achieve development results for the people of Bangladesh."
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ADB urges govt to expedite project execution
FE Report | Published: November 22, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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