Thrust on bridging rich-poor gap

FE Team | Published: October 23, 2019 23:39:18

Planning Minister M A Mannan on Wednesday expressed the hope that the gap between the rich and the poor would be bridged in the coming years through implementation of various plans and programmes of the government including the Delta Plan 2100, reports BSS.
"We'll implement the Delta Plan 2100 as an overall national mega plan…….like other economies we hope that we'll be able to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor to a level which is expectable through this exercise (Delta Plan and other plans)," he asserted.
The planning minister was addressing a consultation with the development partners on the implementation of 'Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100' as the chief guest at the NEC Conference Room at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city.
Organised by the General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission, the function was chaired by GED member Dr Shamsul Alam, who also made a power-point presentation on the plan.
Principal Coordinator on SDG Affairs at the Prime Minister's Office Md Abul Kalam Azad, secretaries, ambassadors of different countries and representatives from the development partners also spoke on the occasion.
Referring to the concerns of many over the 'growing disparity', the planning minister said, "We hope that the matter of disparity between the bottom line and upper line will be addressed to a large extent from this exercise (Delta Plan 2100 and other plans)."
Terming this Delta Plan 2100 as a 'game changer' in the overall aspect of the country, Mannan said this 100-year plan would act like an umbrella as it would be implemented through the Perspective Plans, five-year plans, and the year-wise Annual Development Programmes.
Regarding implementation of the Delta Plan and its necessary resource mobilisation, he said, "We want to implement this plan as being self-reliant. But, if anyone wants to take part towards implementation of this plan voluntarily, we'll welcome them and also our development partners."
Mentioning that the government has been taking all the necessary measures to protect deltaic country like Bangladesh from various climate change impacts, the minister sought cooperation from all the development partners and neighbouring countries towards implementation of this long-term plan.
Principal Coordinator on SDG Affairs at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Md Abul Kalam Azad said the Delta Plan is a guiding principle for Bangladesh and some of the deltaic countries in the world can avail the experiences of Bangladesh in this regard. GED Member Dr Shamsul Alam said the Delta Plan 2100 is a dynamic plan and it would be updated in every five to 10 years.
Water Resources Secretary Kabir Bin Anwar said his Ministry has already started implementation of two projects under the Delta Plan 2100.