Government ministries and agencies could spend hardly 67 percent of the Tk 750 billion revised annual development programme (ADP) allocation in eleven months until May of the outgoing financial year (2014-15), in a decelerated delivery on national development works.
Now the government is left with a Herculean task of utilising the remaining 33 per cent of the total Tk 750 billion outlay in the last month (June) of the FY, officials said.
According to data of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Commission (PC), the executing agencies had, however, spent 66 per cent of their Tk 600 billion revised ADP in the same period (Jul-May) of the last fiscal year (FY2014).
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in a briefing at the PC Tuesday said the government spent Tk 519.97 billion or 67 per cent out of the total Tk 750 billion RADP funds during the first 11 months of FY 2014-15.
The development-budget-implementation rate was one percentage point higher than that of the FY 2014, he told reporters after a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
According to the IMED data, the implementation rate in the July-May period was highest in FY2012 with 70 per cent. The performance later went down to 67 per cent in FY2013 and 66 per cent in the last FY.
The IMED report shows that the government agencies this time "performed better" in spending their allocated funds from external resources (project aid) compared to the internal resources.
The agencies spent Tk 328.72 or 66 per cent out of total Tk 501 billion allocation from the internal resources while Tk 170.59 billion or 69 per cent out of Tk 249 billion from the external resources.
Among the largest development fund-holding ministries and divisions, the Science and Technology Ministry is on top of project-implementation list with its 97 per cent execution rate.
The Local Government Division implemented 78 per cent, securing second position, the Railway Ministry 77 per cent to stand in the third, the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry in the fourth position with 76 per cent and the Power Division 70 per cent, securing the fifth position, in terms of their fund utilization from the revised ADP.
Mr Mustafa Kamal said, "We'll be cautious from the next fiscal year so that right ADP execution rate in each of the four quarters is maintained, avoiding the present trend of highest implementation in the last quarter of a year."
The government agencies usually go in a hurry in the 4th quarter of a year to spend ADP allocations, thereby compromising on the quality of development works, officials said.
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