Some MoE dev projects facing fund shortage

Rezaul Karim | Published: January 12, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

A number of development projects under the Ministry of Education (MoE) are facing difficulties due to shortage of funds, officials said.
They said the MoE has sought an immediate allocation of Tk 17.40 billion for its development projects from the government in the Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) of the current fiscal year (FY).
A number of projects scheduled to end within this FY may not be implemented in time if the allocation is not made.Â Â Â
"A good number of development projects of the MoE have been facing fund crisis. It is, however, possible to implement the projects properly in time if the ministry gets the fund sought," Chief (Planning) of the MoE Swapan Kumar Ghosh told the FE on Sunday.
Some Tk 36.11 billion has been allocated for the development projects of the ministry for FY 2014-15 which is quite insufficient while some Tk 55 billion is urgently needed for the approved Development Project Proposals (DPPs).
Presently, there are 82 development projects under the ministry. Of those, some 19 projects are being implemented with foreign funds and 63 are investment projects.
The ongoing 15 projects scheduled to end this FY are facing fund crisis. So, necessary allocation is needed for those projects. Otherwise the MoE will fail to implement the same within the deadline which will cause rise in expenditure and execution period, the ministry data showed.
Physical infrastructure construction project of 3,000 non-government secondary schools, improvement of 1,500 non-government colleges' development projects and construction of academic buildings of 1,000 madrasas are being implemented across the country, the data mentioned.
Besides, several cluster projects have been taken to implement expansion of infrastructure of 14 universities and repairs of 12 universities, according to the MoE data.
A high official of the MoE said implementation of a number of large projects is being disrupted due to lack of necessary allocation in the Annual Development Programme (ADP).
A high official of the budget section of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said, "We have received an MoE letter recently. Decision for allocation in the RADP will be made in February/March next." Â
The MoE secretary could not be reached for his comments in this connection despite repeated attempts made by this correspondent over phone on Sunday. Â
According to an Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) report, the MoE performed badly in the current FY. The report showed that the ministry spent only 4.0 per cent of its allocated budget in first four months of the FY.
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