ADB for reforms to boost business, investment

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) expressed its disappointment, at a review Thursday, over slow execution of development projects and suggested Bangladesh accelerate reforms to boost business competitiveness and investment, sources said.
The multilateral Asian lender called for implementing the limping projects in time, or else it could rethink fresh funding in future, said a finance official.
At the reappraisal meeting in Dhaka the donor side especially emphasised reforms to improve the financial sustainability of Bangladesh Railways.
Focusing the spotlight on the country's entire economic front, the ADB, while appreciating its pandemic recovery, stressed necessary reforms to enhance business competitiveness to attract more private sector investment.
The Bank also attached importance to ensuring occupational safety as it expressed dissatisfaction over the recent accident in Dhaka's Uttara area during construction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). It asked for maintaining the "highest on-site safety
The Bank took a serious note of the long-struggling and problematic projects in Bangladesh as it had confirmed their funding at least 5-6 years ago, the sources said.
"If the problematic projects are not implemented on time, the ADB will rethink the funding of those projects," said a senior official at the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
A delegation of the Bank sat for a tripartite portfolio-review meeting (TPRM) Thursday in Dhaka with the project authorities and the Economic Relations Division (ERD).
ERD Secretary Sharifa Khan and ADB Country Director Edimon Ginting co-chaired the TPRM plenary sessions where some 200 government officials, project directors, and ADB staff members were present.
A senior ERD official said the meeting agreed that the project-implementing agencies will improve further the execution of the ongoing ADB-assisted projects.
The TPRM also reviewed the progress on the action plan agreed in March 2022 meeting, readiness status of the pipeline projects this year, and emphasised occupational health and safety at workplace.
A total of 34 select projects were reviewed at the meeting on Thursday where 89 issues and some 120 specific time-bound actions on the project execution were agreed upon.
According to its latest statistics, the lender's sovereign portfolio in Bangladesh rose to $11.3 billion, as of August 2022.
Another ERD official said: "A few ADB-assisted projects out of the ongoing ones are struggling for implementation delays. The implementing agencies have failed to complete those in time, resulting in time-and cost-overruns."
The ADB in the last TPRM had called for streamlining the implementation of the slow-moving projects or else it would divert funds to other schemes, he added.
The last review also prepared an action plan for the ongoing ADB-funded projects which will be discussed at next week's review meeting, the ERD official said.
The projects on slow lane include the Tk42.68 billion Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Dhaka Airport to Gazipur, Tk 36.02-billion-cost Railway Rolling Stock Operations Improvement project, SASEC Gazipur to Rangpur 4-lane road project, and SASEC Chittagong-Cox's Bazar railway project.
Besides, though undertaken back in 2014, the implementing agencies couldn't execute the Dhaka environmentally sustainable water-supply project, SASEC rail connectivity: Akhaura-Laksam double-track project, Urban governance and infrastructure improvement (sector) project-3, Flood and riverbank erosion risk management investment programme-1, Irrigation management improvement project, and Flood and riverbank erosion risk management investment programme.
The ERD official said: "The government is emphasising faster and compliant procurement of goods and services to increase contract award and fund disbursement, complimenting government initiatives for creating jobs and increasing public investment."
The Asian Bank made a $2.0 billion worth of fund commitment in 2021 and disbursed $2.57 billion in loans and grants-the highest recipient among its developing member-countries.
ADB operates in Bangladesh in six sectors-energy, transport, water and urban/municipal infrastructure and services, education, finance, and agriculture, natural resources, and rural development.
The cumulative lending to Bangladesh stands over $48 billion in loans and grants, including co-financing.
Meanwhile, in a press release the ADB said its Director-General for South Asia Department Kenichi Yokoyama in his opening remarks at the TPRM on Thursday appreciated Bangladesh government's efforts in maintaining strong economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic despite increased global uncertainties.
He emphasised reforms to improve the financial sustainability of Bangladesh Railways, and business competitiveness to attract more investment, including from the private sector.
The DG also called for working more closely to ensure higher project readiness, significant reduction in the procurement lead time, high discipline to achieve timely completion and closing of the projects, while ensuring occupational health and safety in all ADB-assisted projects.
Country Director Edimon Ginting said as the ADB had almost doubled its portfolio in the last seven years, now Bangladesh would need to double the effort in enhancing project implementation to deliver development benefits to people early and accelerate socioeconomic recovery from the pandemic-induced losses.

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