ADP implementation rate 43 per cent until March

The performance of the government agencies concerned was poor in development project execution until the third quarter of the current fiscal.  They could not pick up the rate of project execution even in a relatively calm political situation prevailing since the January 5 parliamentary elections.
The top ten recipients of development funds did fail to prove their efficiency until the end of the third quarter of the current fiscal, officials said Tuesday.
Planning Commission (PC) officials said between the months of July and March the project executing agencies could spend only 43 per cent of Tk 658.72 billion allocated in the original development budget for the current fiscal. The rate of implementation was six per cent lower than that of the same period of the last fiscal.
They said the top 10 recipients of development allocation could spend only 40 per cent of their allocations. The rate of spending during the corresponding period of the last fiscal by these agencies was about 43 per cent.
All the public sector agencies had utilised Tk 284.28 billion, 43 per cent of the total ADP allocation in the July-March period of the current FY, the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) data, released Tuesday, showed.
The ministries and other government agencies spent 49 per cent of Tk 550 billion ADP in the same period (July to March) in last FY2012-13, IMD data said.
"The overall performance in development fund spending was dismal until the third quarter of the year," said a senior PC official.
He said the bridge division, the third largest recipient of development fund, is the worst performer. The Division could spend only Tk 4.17 billion, six per cent of its Tk 68.88 billion outlay, during the July-March period of the FY2014.
The housing and public works Ministry and the power division were also placed on the list of the poor performers as they could spend 16 per cent and 37 per cent of their development fund allocations respectively.
The Local Government Division (LGD), the recipient of the largest development allocation, however, has performed better after the third quarter of the current fiscal, as it could spend Tk 64.01 billion, 60 per cent of its total allocations, IMED officials said.
The ministries and divisions, however, demonstrated their capability in spending local funds rather than those coming from the external sources.
According to IMED data, the implementing agencies spent 45 per cent or Tk 184.97 billion of Tk 413.09 billion coming from domestic sources while only 40 per cent or Tk 99.31 billion of Tk 245.63 billion allocations from the external resources in the July-March period this fiscal.
The poor spending of project aid has affected overall development budget execution, the IMED official said.
General Economic Division (GED) Member Professor Shamsul Alam said utilisation of the development budget outlay would have to be increased to achieve the target 7.2 per cent economic growth this fiscal.
If the development budget was not executed properly, it would be difficult to achieve the economic growth target and, thus, the goal of becoming a middle-income country would continue to elude the nation, he told the FE.