WB unhappy over slow execution of its projects
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
FE Report
Review of the World Bank (WB)-funded 22 development projects in Bangladesh began on Monday, where the appraisers found slower pace of implementation and delay in aid finalization, said official sources.
The Economic Relations Division (ERD) officials also said such shortcomings surfaced, as a WB team is doing a close scrutiny of the US$ 3.5 billion-worth projects.
The WB team on the first day of the two-day review at ERD office in the capital sat with some ministries for a reappraisal of their ongoing projects - most of which the global lender has already identified as slow-going.
"WB is reviewing the projects' disbursement progress. Besides, it is evaluating processing time and other problems on the way to finalizing aid for some projects and their implementation," a senior ERD official told the FE.
He said the WB team on Monday sat with ERD, line ministries and project directors of the development projects for their progress review. Their assessment is going to end today (Tuesday) at WB's country office.
Currently, the multilateral financer has confirmed loans and grants worth nearly $6.8 billion for a total of 34 ongoing development projects in Bangladesh.
Another ERD official said WB will review performance of 22 of the projects, as it is not satisfied with fund utilisation and physical progress as well as progress of the pipeline projects.
The Washington-based lender has already informed ERD and the implementing agencies about the unsatisfactory pace of execution of those projects, he added.
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