The National Economic Council (NEC) on Tuesday approved an Annual Development Program (ADP) involving Tk225,324 crore for 1,426 projects in the 2021-22 fiscal year, with the focus on the transport and communications, power, housing, education and health sectors.
The approved projects include 1,308 investment projects and 118 technical assistance projects.
The ADP was approved at an NEC meeting held at its conference room. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who joined the meeting through videoconferencing from her official residence Ganabhaban, presided over the meeting.
Planning Minister MA Mannan said Tk 11,469 crore was allocated for autonomous entities.
Of the Tk225,324 crore, up to Tk 137,300 crore will come from internal sources and Tk88,224 crore from foreign sources. Of the Tk 11,469 crore for autonomous entities, internal sources will provide Tk6,717 crore while the foreign portion will be Tk4,751crore.
The planning minister said the number of development projects for the next fiscal year for autonomous entities will be 89.
The total number of development projects will be 1,515, involving Tk 236,793 crore.
The transport sector will get Tk 61,631 (27.35%); power sector Tk 45,668 crore (20.36%); housing and community facilities Tk 23,747 crore (10.54%); education Tk 23,178 crore (10.29%); health Tk17,307 crore (7.68%); local government and rural development Tk14, 274 crore (6.34%); environment, climate change and water Tk 8,526 crore (3.78%); agriculture Tk 7,665 crore (3.40%); industries and economic services Tk 4,638 crore (2.06%); and science and information technology Tk 3,587 crore (1.59%).
The Local Government Division will get the highest allocation of Tk 33,896 crore, followed by the Road Transport and Highways Division with Tk 28042 crore; Power Division Tk 25,349 crore; Science and Technology Ministry Tk 20,634 crore; Railways Ministry Tk13, 558 crore; Health Service Division Tk 13,000 crore; Secondary and Higher Secondary Division Tk 11,920 crore; Bridges Division Tk 9,813 crore; Primary and Mass Education Division Tk 8, 022 crore; and Water Resources Ministry Tk 6,871 crore.
The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will get the highest allocation in the next fiscal year with Tk 18426.16 crore, followed by the Matarbari Ultra Super critical Coal Powered Power Project with Tk 6162 crore; Primary Education Development Program-IV Tk 5053.98 crore; Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (Line-6) Tk 4800 crore; Padma Bridge Rail Connection (1st amended) Tk 3823.51 crore; Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Tk 3580 crore; Padma Multipurpose Bridge (2nd amended) Tk 3,500 crore; Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated expressway Tk 3227.20 crore; Expansion and Strengthening of Power System Network under DPDC Area Tk 3051.11 crore; and Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Expansion (1st phase) (1st amendment) Tk 2827.52 crore.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister Mannan said the prime minister has given some directives, including not to appoint foreign consultants to development projects indiscriminately.
“Foreign consultants will be appointed as required, not indiscriminately. We won’t appoint consultants blindly, they will be appointed as per need and after scrutiny,” he said.
The minister said the prime minister asked the officials concerned to complete the projects that have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stressing the importance of research, the prime minister directed all the ministries to utilise research funds properly.
In the ADP for the next fiscal year, Tk 4,147 crore has been earmarked as a block allocation against the new projects, of which Tk 2,893 crore will be mobilized from local sources and Tk 1,254 crore as project loans.
A total 596 unapproved new projects have been incorporated in the new ADP without any allocation, while 141 new unapproved projects have been included in the new ADP subject to the availability of foreign funds.
There are 88 projects to be implemented under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) while 356 projects have been earmarked for completion by June 30, 2022.
Besides, 73 projects that were supposed to be completed by June this year are to be completed by the next fiscal year (FY22).
The planning minister said the economy of Bangladesh is performing well despite the shock of the pandemic due to good performances in the agriculture sector and for domestic labour, and the hard-earned remittance being sent by expatriate Bangladeshis.
Referring to the recent attainment of $2,227 per capita income, Mannan said the per capita income has witnessed a jump of 9% despite the pandemic and this shows the resilience of the domestic economy.
He also said the current size of the country's GDP is Tk 30,111 billion or $355.04 billion.
Replying to a question, the planning minister said the Ministry of Health has attained a very good capacity over the years in implementing development projects.
He said although there was a bit of lethargy in the operations of the Health Ministry when Covid-19 hit the country last year, it regained momentum in its operation within one or two months.
