CA reviews action plans for ADP implementation Aug 5-7

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FE Report
Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed would sit with different ministries from August 5 to 7 to review action plans and preparations on implementation of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) of fiscal 2007-08, official sources said.
The implementation status of ADP for last fiscal 2006-07 of various ministries would also be reviewed in the meeting, which would be held at CA's Office in Dhaka, the sources added.
Sources in the Planning Commission (PC) told the FE that the CA would discuss when the action plan of the ADP execution would be reviewed aiming to invigorate the implementing agencies for improving their implementation capacity.
A senior PC official said: "The development projects of seven large ministries might be discussed in the meeting." The seven ministries are: Local Government and Rural Development, Communica-tions, Energy and Power, Health, Agriculture, Education, and Primary and Mass Education.
The official said that such a review at the beginning of the new fiscal year aims to bring efficiency among the project implementing agencies of the government.
He said: "The highest authority in the government this time wants to bring all the development projects for current fiscal 2007-08 under its close surveillance. It will monitor, review and evaluate the ADP implementation in future days."
No ADP in Bangladesh's history has been fully implemented in the past decade. The agencies responsible failed to execute the ADP fully due to inefficiency. A number of agencies even failed to implement the revised ADP, sources said.
According to Implementation, Evaluation and Monitoring Division (IMED), during June-May of last FY2007, all the government stakeholders had been able to spend Tk 132.24 billion or 61 per cent of the total ADP of Tk 216 billion. The implementation rate of last fiscal ADP might not exceed 80 per cent, the IMED sources said.
Following slow implementation, the government last fiscal downsized the ADP to Tk 216 billion from the original Tk 260 billion.
Similarly, although the ADP in FY06 was trimmed down to Tk 205 billion, the agencies were able to spend only Tk 187.7 billion. The utilisation of ADP fund in FY05 was worth Tk 168.1 billion after it was revised down to Tk190 billion.
The senior PC official said the caretaker administration has taken the initiative to streamline the capacity of the implementing agencies.
He said: "The chief adviser will review the action plans and preparations of the ministries to implement the current year ADP. Later, he may review the physical and financial implementation status of different development projects under the ADP in the light of the action plans and preparations taken up by the ministries."
As most of the government agencies fail to fully implement the projects within the stipulated time, the donors do not disburse their committed funds leaving large amounts of unutilised aid money in the pipeline, he added.