Ongoing projects being scrutinised ahead of review meeting
Thursday, 5 July 2007
FHM Humayan Kabir
The ongoing development projects of different ministries are now being scrutinised by the higher authorities ahead of a review meeting, which will be held shortly, official sources said.
Sources in the finance ministry said the finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam is going to sit with different project implementing ministries, divisions and agencies in mid-July for a review.
The government will take appropriate measures to streamline the capacity of the implementing agencies in the light of on-going scrutiny, the sources said.
The Planning Commission, Economic Relations Division (ERD) and the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) will take part in the first review meeting of fiscal 2007-08.
The finance ministry sources said the foreign funded projects will be reviewed thoroughly as most of the implementing agencies could not utilise the fund properly in time due to their alleged inefficiency and misappropriation.
A senior ERD official said that the ERD had identified 30 important donor funded projects for a review by the finance adviser.
He said: "The adviser will review the implementation status including monthly action plan, procurement, physical implementation, and fund utilisation etc of the projects. Besides, he will also look into problems relating to the pace of implementation."
Since many of the project executing agencies of the government has failed to utilise the committed foreign assistance in time, foreign aid worth about US$6.9 billion remained in the pipeline until last month, sources in the ERD said.
Preferring anonymity, a senior ERD official told the FE that due to delay in project implementation, the government was deprived of a large amount of overseas development assistance every year.
"Even after 36 years of Bangladesh's independence, the project implementing agencies are still not capable of implementing foreign funded projects in time," he lamented.
"As most of the government agencies fail to fully implement the projects within the stipulated time, the donors do not release the full amount of fund leaving the unutilised aid money in the pipeline," he said.
The ongoing development projects of different ministries are now being scrutinised by the higher authorities ahead of a review meeting, which will be held shortly, official sources said.
Sources in the finance ministry said the finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam is going to sit with different project implementing ministries, divisions and agencies in mid-July for a review.
The government will take appropriate measures to streamline the capacity of the implementing agencies in the light of on-going scrutiny, the sources said.
The Planning Commission, Economic Relations Division (ERD) and the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) will take part in the first review meeting of fiscal 2007-08.
The finance ministry sources said the foreign funded projects will be reviewed thoroughly as most of the implementing agencies could not utilise the fund properly in time due to their alleged inefficiency and misappropriation.
A senior ERD official said that the ERD had identified 30 important donor funded projects for a review by the finance adviser.
He said: "The adviser will review the implementation status including monthly action plan, procurement, physical implementation, and fund utilisation etc of the projects. Besides, he will also look into problems relating to the pace of implementation."
Since many of the project executing agencies of the government has failed to utilise the committed foreign assistance in time, foreign aid worth about US$6.9 billion remained in the pipeline until last month, sources in the ERD said.
Preferring anonymity, a senior ERD official told the FE that due to delay in project implementation, the government was deprived of a large amount of overseas development assistance every year.
"Even after 36 years of Bangladesh's independence, the project implementing agencies are still not capable of implementing foreign funded projects in time," he lamented.
"As most of the government agencies fail to fully implement the projects within the stipulated time, the donors do not release the full amount of fund leaving the unutilised aid money in the pipeline," he said.