Transparency in aid utilisation to get top most priority WB country chief tells review meeting
Monday, 14 March 2011
FE Report
The World Bank (WB) puts more emphasis on 'transparency' than on expeditious use of its aid to ensure quality growth and poverty reduction in Bangladesh, the Bank's country chief said Sunday. WB country chief Ms Ellen Goldstein said: "It is imperative to speed up the development budget expenditure. But it doesn't mean that we will overlook the factors such as quality spending and transparency in aid utilisation." "The developed countries make available funds to the World Bank from the income of their taxpayers for disbursement of development assistance among the developing nations. So my job is to ensure accountability and protect reputation of the Bank," she said at an aid review meeting in Dhaka. The World Bank has made commitment for bankrolling 28 ongoing projects in Bangladesh at an estimate fund worth US$ 3.6 billion. The Washington-based lender arranged the Bangladesh country performance and result review meeting in the city amid concern that at least half of the 28 projects it is financing have failed to attain desired pace of implementation. Officials said four projects have been singled out as 'risky' and 'problematic' and at least 11 others have 'very high un-disbursed balances', raising fears the schemes may not achieve the desired results. At the opening ceremony of the review meeting, presided over by Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Advisor Dr Mashiur Rahman, Ms Goldstein said the aid commitment to Bangladesh is skyrocketing and the cumulative disbursement is also showing a positive growth. About the problematic projects, the WB country director said, "We are considering different options - readjustment, cancellation or withdrawal from those projects". "The government should give more focus on strengthening its public expenditure capacity to foster its growth and cut poverty," she said. "We hope this day-long discussion will help both the Bank and the government to work out ways to eliminate the bottlenecks and impediments," Ms Goldstein said. Senior officials from the government and representatives from the WB Dhaka office took part in the review meeting. The WB being the country's largest donor, on an average lends Dhaka $ 1.2 billion in soft loans annually. According to the Bank, Bangladesh government's project executing agencies have been able to spend only $ 195.7 million of its loan during the first half (July-December) of the current financial year (2010-2011). Ms Goldstein said the government should minimise its staff vacancies, strengthen monitoring and evaluation of procurement coordination and develop skilled manpower to overcome the project implementation problems. Dr Mashiur Rahman said if the implementation capacity is not changed and quality of growth is not achieved, the real development will not be possible. Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said sometimes there are delays from the development partners in endorsing the procurement plan of the government agencies. "In most of the cases, the WB goes for investigation in response to allegations made by anybody or any firm in case of any specific procurement. It takes a long time to endorse the procurement proposal," he said.
The World Bank (WB) puts more emphasis on 'transparency' than on expeditious use of its aid to ensure quality growth and poverty reduction in Bangladesh, the Bank's country chief said Sunday. WB country chief Ms Ellen Goldstein said: "It is imperative to speed up the development budget expenditure. But it doesn't mean that we will overlook the factors such as quality spending and transparency in aid utilisation." "The developed countries make available funds to the World Bank from the income of their taxpayers for disbursement of development assistance among the developing nations. So my job is to ensure accountability and protect reputation of the Bank," she said at an aid review meeting in Dhaka. The World Bank has made commitment for bankrolling 28 ongoing projects in Bangladesh at an estimate fund worth US$ 3.6 billion. The Washington-based lender arranged the Bangladesh country performance and result review meeting in the city amid concern that at least half of the 28 projects it is financing have failed to attain desired pace of implementation. Officials said four projects have been singled out as 'risky' and 'problematic' and at least 11 others have 'very high un-disbursed balances', raising fears the schemes may not achieve the desired results. At the opening ceremony of the review meeting, presided over by Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Advisor Dr Mashiur Rahman, Ms Goldstein said the aid commitment to Bangladesh is skyrocketing and the cumulative disbursement is also showing a positive growth. About the problematic projects, the WB country director said, "We are considering different options - readjustment, cancellation or withdrawal from those projects". "The government should give more focus on strengthening its public expenditure capacity to foster its growth and cut poverty," she said. "We hope this day-long discussion will help both the Bank and the government to work out ways to eliminate the bottlenecks and impediments," Ms Goldstein said. Senior officials from the government and representatives from the WB Dhaka office took part in the review meeting. The WB being the country's largest donor, on an average lends Dhaka $ 1.2 billion in soft loans annually. According to the Bank, Bangladesh government's project executing agencies have been able to spend only $ 195.7 million of its loan during the first half (July-December) of the current financial year (2010-2011). Ms Goldstein said the government should minimise its staff vacancies, strengthen monitoring and evaluation of procurement coordination and develop skilled manpower to overcome the project implementation problems. Dr Mashiur Rahman said if the implementation capacity is not changed and quality of growth is not achieved, the real development will not be possible. Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said sometimes there are delays from the development partners in endorsing the procurement plan of the government agencies. "In most of the cases, the WB goes for investigation in response to allegations made by anybody or any firm in case of any specific procurement. It takes a long time to endorse the procurement proposal," he said.