Planning Minister blames political unrest and unspent allocation for Padma Bridge for missing the target
Revised ADP implementation rate 91pc in last fiscal
Despite targeting highest implementation rate for the Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) in the last fiscal, the Planning Minister, AHM Mustafa Kamal, informed that various ministries and divisions could achieve only 91 per cent utilisation in the 2014-15 fiscal.
The Planning Minister blamed the BNP-led three-month political unrest and the unspent allocation for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) project for missing the target.
The latest utilisation rate is two per cent lower than the previous fiscal year, when RADP achieved an implementation rate of 93 per cent.
Mustafa Kamal revealed these details at a press briefing held in the NEC conference room at the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city yesterday.
The minister cited two reasons for not achieving the targeted 100 per cent implementation. One was the violent politics of the BNP-Jamaat combine for three months during the dry season from January to March. The other he said was that about Tk 3,300 crore could not be spent from the Padma Bridge allocation for last fiscal year, which would be carried forward to next year.
He also noted that the government fared better this year compared to the past two years in terms of increased RADP expenditure and higher number of completed projects.
According to the data provided by the Implemen-tation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Ministry, though 91 per cent implementation rate for the 2014-15 fiscal year is two per cent less than the 2013-14 fiscal, its similar to what was achieved in 2012-13.
The comparative IMED statement on monthly ADP implementation progress shows that for the 2014-15 fiscal, 55 ministries and divisions of the government spent Tk 71,079 crore out of the Tk 77,836 crore of RADP allocation, including funds of autonomous bodies and corporations.
The implementing agencies spent the allocation on 1,453 projects.
The RADP implementation of 26 ministries is more than 95 per cent, while 10 ministries achieved over 91 per cent.
The Ministry of Housing and Public Works, the Post and Telecommunication Division, the Information and Communication Technology Division, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, the Power Division, the Social Welfare Ministry, the Fishery and Livestock Ministry, the Ministry of Defence, the Science and Technology Ministry and the Road Transport and Highway Division managed to implement their entire RADP allocations.
The rate of implementation of RADP allocation was 99 per cent for the Rail Ministry, Religious Affairs, the Agriculture Ministry, the Law and Justice Division, the Rural Development and Cooperative Division and the Home Ministry.
Traditionally, the progress of RADP implementation has been very low, forcing agencies to rush expenditure in the last months of the fiscal year. According to the IMED report, the progress of RADP implementation was just 67 per cent in the July-May period of the last fiscal.
Last month in a press conference, Mustafa Kamal told reporters it was partially true that rushed expenditure in the last quarter of the fiscal year hampered the quality of the overall development programme.
From the next fiscal year, the government will monitor proportionate implementation of development programmes throughout the year, the minister said.
According to the IMED report, development agencies spent Tk 45,962 crore or 92 per cent of government funds under RADP and could utilise Tk 22,569 crore or 91 per cent of foreign funds. Besides, autonomous bodies and corporations utilised Tk 2,548 crore, which was 90 per cent of the total budget.
