Ministries, divs seek Tk 65.83b more than draft RADP funds

The government ministries and divisions sought an additional allocation of Tk 65.83 billion in the revised development budget for the current fiscal to help implement priority projects, officials said Wednesday.
Since the Planning Commission (PC) cut the original outlay of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) by Tk 118.72 billion from Tk 658.72 billion in the drafted Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP), the ministries and divisions sought the higher amount of funds for their projects, a PC official said.
Earlier, the PC as per directions of the ministry of finance (MoF) framed the RADP showing the revised outlay at Tk 540 billion by cutting the original ADP outlay by 18 per cent in the fiscal year (FY) 2013-14.
The difference between the MoF's ceiling on funds for the upcoming RADP and the funds sought by the ministries and divisions for their projects already delayed finalisation of the RADP, a senior PC official told the FE.
He said: "The Commission has already sought a higher amount of funds from the government beyond the ceiling of the MoF. If the project executing agencies can utilise the entire funds, as sought for the current fiscal, we have no problem with allocating it."
"Now we are checking with the ministries for the requirement of additional funds. If they can justify their requirement of extra funds, we'll allocate it," the official said requesting for anonymity.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has already said they were not supporting any cut in funds for the ongoing development projects, if the agencies concerned could utilise those in time.
Of the Tk 65.83 billion, the Rural Development and Rural Institution Sector sought the highest amount of Tk 18.77 billion in addition to Tk 67.38 billion in the RADP as drafted for the current FY 2013-14.
Besides, the education and religion sector sought an additional allocation of Tk 11.65 billion against Tk 55.71 billion and the transport sector Tk 4.03 billion against Tk 26.96 billion in the proposed RADP.
AHM Mustafa Kamal sat with the division and sectors' chiefs of the PC Wednesday and directed them to scrutinise the fund requirements of the ministries and divisions that sought the additional amount of Tk 65.83 billion in the proposed RADP.
A chief of a division at the PC told the FE that as per directions of the minister, they were checking with the ministries and divisions for their higher demand for funds.
 "We are hopeful of getting a complete picture of the project executing agencies' demand for higher funds by Thursday. Then we would finalise the RADP for the current fiscal," he added.
The PC started preparing the RADP few months back to streamline project execution under the development budget by adjusting the allocations.
In the original ADP outlay of Tk 658.72 billion, the government had made the highest allocations for the local government, power and transport sectors to cut the country's poverty and develop infrastructure.
In the FY 2012-13, the government cut the development budget by 46.77 billion to Tk 503.66 billion by revising the original ADP outlay of Tk 550 billion.