The Ministry of Planning is trying hard to finalise the Revised Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the current fiscal year (FY) within January or February, ahead of the usual time, with a view to achieving better development outcomes.
The ministry also stressed the need for ensuring necessary land acquisition before undertaking those projects which require land acquisition for implementation.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) held in the city recently to review the six-month progress of the projects under the ADP for current FY (July 2014-June 2015).
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal chaired the meeting where officials concerned of all the implementing ministries and divisions were present.
Talking to UNB, a Planning Ministry official said that the meeting adopted a nine-point decision that included taking effective and fruitful steps by all the ministries and divisions to achieve cent-per cent implementation rate in both Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and Project Assistance segments.
The meeting underscored the need for finalising the fiscal procurement plan by the ministries and divisions concerned based on the overall procurement plan, and suggested the Economic Relations Division to maintain continuous communication with the development partners for expediting the receipt of committed assistance from the development partners for the aided projects.
The official said that the meeting also suggested taking efforts for reducing the number of projects under the ADP to a rational level, after identifying the less important and weak projects, side-by-side with ensuring necessary fund allocation for those projects which were set for completion in the current FY.
The meeting also decided to take necessary measures in a bid to complete some 400 projects this year through identifying the less important and problematic ADP-enlisted projects as well as lowering the allocation of those ministries and divisions which would be unable to implement cent per cent ADP.
Chief of the Programming Division of the Planning Commission informed the meeting that an additional amount of about Tk 53.02 billion would be required in the current FY to complete some ongoing 253 projects under 55 ministries and divisions.
The meeting sources said that during the meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal directed the authorities concerned for giving necessary fund allocation in the revised ADP against those projects which are set to be completed in the current year since project cost gradually increases due to the run-over of projects period.
The planning minister also suggested the laggard ministries and divisions to expedite their efforts and strengthen monitoring for ensuring cent per cent implementation rate.
The meeting was informed that the ongoing total number of projects under the ADP is 1,287 whereas the overall ADP allocation in the current FY is Tk 860 billion.
During the 1st half (July-December) of the current FY, the ADP implementation of some 55 ministries and divisions is 28 per cent or Tk 237.45 billion compared to 25 per cent during the July-December period of the previous FY.
Of the 55 ministries and divisions, the average implementation progress of 14 ministries and divisions are below 20 per cent.
About the ADP implementation progress of the big Bridges Division, the meeting was informed that there is no implementation problem regarding the Padma Bridge project in the current FY and once the bill is paid when the necessary bridge equipment comes to the country, the implementation progress of this Division would increase by a significant rate.
The joint chief of the Road Transport and Highways Division informed the meeting that additional funds would be required for implementation of the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways into four-lane projects.
Besides, the official said that additional Tk 2.32 billion would be required for implementation of some 55 projects under this Division set to be completed in this year.
