ADP implementation in Q1gives disconcerting picture

FHM Humayan Kabir The government could implement only eleven per cent of annual development programme (ADP), in terms of its financial outlay, in the first quarter (Q1) of this fiscal, reflecting a disconcerting picture about the utilisation of the allocated funds, mostly in the form of foreign aid. Planning ministry officials said a total of 54 government ministries and divisions spent Tk 48.35 billion -- 11 per cent of Tk 460 billion outlay of the ADP for the whole fiscal year (FY) 2011-12 -- during the July-September period. The government in July-September period this fiscal received only US$246 million in foreign aid, $70 million less than that of the same period last fiscal (2010-11), finance ministry data showed. According to Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), the government agencies spent only four per cent of their allocated Tk 186.85 billion project aid (foreign aid) while 15 per cent were spent out of Tk 273.15 billion from domestic resources in the first quarter of the current fiscal. A senior IMED official said the project implementation rate increased by two percentage points to 11 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2011-12 fiscal compared to the situation during the same period last fiscal. The project aid utilisation, however, dropped during the period under report. The ministries and agencies performed relatively better in utilising funds from the government's internal resources as they could spend Tk 40.11 billion, out of Tk 273.15 billion outlay in the ADP. Though several policy measures were taken to help accelerate the pace of ADP implementation and raise the capacity of the agencies concerned, most large spending ministries, out of a total of 10, continued to show a poor level of execution in the Q1 of the current fiscal. Only the local government and power division could implement 20 and 16 per cent respectively of their development budget, but eight other ministries and divisions with larger allocations spent their funds within a range between 2.0 and 5.0 per cent, he said. The government has framed a Tk 460 billion ADP for the current FY2012 to execute 1039 projects in order to expand country's poor infrastructure, improve the situation in social sector and alleviate poverty. The IMED data showed that energy and mineral resources division and the health and family welfare ministry performed the worst among the 10 large development budget spenders. Only 2.0 per cent of their allocated funds could be utilised in the Q1 of FY2012. The water resources ministry, 8th largest development budget spender, could utilise only 3.0 per cent of their ADP allocations in July-September period. Besides, the primary and mass education ministry, railway, road and bridge divisions and the education ministry spent in Q1 only 5.0 per cent each of their total budget outlay of this fiscal, the IMED data showed. The government took some strict measures in July, the very first month of the FY, to help strengthen the capacity of the implementation agencies because most of them used to fail in making timely procurement, a major area of concern for quickening the pace of ADP implementation. The planning ministry has already issued some guidelines to the development budget spenders, taking their monthly action and procurement plans into consideration, in order to streamline the implementation of their development projects. "The major spenders failed to utilise the maximum amount of the allocated fund, adversely impacting the overall implementation scenario in the Q1 this fiscal, though they received about 80 per cent of the total Tk 460 billion development budget outlay," a senior IMED official told the FE.