Govt set to slash ADP over 9%

The government is set to slash the current Annual Development Programme (ADP) by over 9% due to slow implementation of development projects. The National Economic Council (NEC) is likely to approve a Tk88,000 crore Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) in its meeting today. The proposed RADP was Tk9,000 crore or 9.3% down from Tk97,000 crore which the government targeted to spend in improving standard of the people’s life for the fiscal year 2015-16. Earlier, the Planning Ministry proposed the RADP outlay to place at the NEC for seeking approval at its extension meeting with Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair. Of the total proposed RADP, the government will provide Tk58,000 crore, down 6% from original allocation of Tk61,660 crore, and donors over Tk29,000 crore, down 17% from original allocation of Tk34,160 crore, according to the draft RADP. For this fiscal year, ADP consists of 1,215 projects, including state-funded 125 under 53 different ministries and divisions. In setting the RADP, the government planned to cut fund allocation both from internal and external sources. Around Tk34,500 crore was allocated from the external sources like development partners and the rest Tk62,500 crore from the internal sources in the current ADP. The expenditure from project assistance was much lower than that of the government-funded projects, which has left billions of dollars as foreign assistance unutilised, source said. At present, the unutilised concessional foreign assistance has crossed US$18 billion-mark, according to the ERD data. Officials said the public agencies performed worst in spending the project aid in proportion to the funds from the government internal resources in the current fiscal. The transport sector will get the highest allocation of around Tk19,640 crore, followed by the education and religious sector Tk9,901.74 crore. Of other major allocation sectors, power will receive around Tk15296 crore, physical planning, water supply and housing over Tk9,507 crore, rural development institution around Tk8,120 crore, agriculture over Tk4,284 crore and the health, nutrition, population and family welfare around Tk5407 crore. In the previous fiscal year, the government trimmed over Tk20,000 crore in framing RADP, down 25% from the original ADP outlay of Tk80,314 crore. The government in first eight months of the current fiscal year spent 34% to Tk34,674 crore out of the entire annual allocation of TK97,000 crore, according to Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division. The current ADP consists of 1,215 projects, including own-funded ones, under 53 ministries and divisions.