Govt to take initiative for quick execution of foreign aided projects

The government has decided to increase the capacity of the ministries and divisions, aiming to quick implementation of foreign aided projects. Senior Finance Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon told the Dhaka Tribune: “We know that the ministries and divisions cannot implement the foreign assisted projects due to development partners’ strict conditions. “Finance division wants to find out the problems that hamper the quick implementation of the foreign aided projects. It will then solve those problems by taking initiatives to increase the capacity of ministries and divisions.” Sources in the finance division said the major condition of the foreign aided projects is to follow the public procurement tender process and maintain deadline. Economic Relation Division said the Holey Artisan attack slowed down the project implementation rate and disbursement of the foreign aids in 2016-2017 fiscal year. The Japanese officials involved with the Metro Rail project recently returned to work. In 2016-17 fiscal year, foreign aid disbursement stood at $3396.1 million while it was $3563.6 million in 2015-16 fiscal year. As a result, foreign aid disbursement declined by $168.9 million or 4 % a year earlier. ERD officials said after the Holey Artisan attack, foreigners who were working in the Metro Rail, Matarbari power plant and Padma Bridge projects left the project site and went to their respective countries. The implementation of those foreign assisted projects hampered resulting in a decline of foreign aid disbursement, officials said. Sources in the finance division said is it not possible to utilise more than Tk40,000 crore out of the total Tk57,000 crore foreign aid for development projects. They said low implementation of foreign aided projects can widen the deficit gap in the current fiscal year. Now budget deficit is only Tk12,275 crore. According to Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), a total of 78% of the foreign funds were utilized in first 11 months of 2016-17 fiscal year in contrast to 89 % of the previous fiscal year. Total amount of foreign assistance was Tk35,796 crore in last fiscal year. In the current fiscal year, out of Tk153,331 crore original ADP, Tk96,331 crore will come from the national exchequer while the remaining Tk 57,000 crore will come as project assistance.