Only 21pc implemented in five months
The government will follow a ‘different manner’ in implementing the annual development programme from next fiscal year as traditional ways have been facing some problems resulting in delay in execution of development projects, planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said on Sunday.
At a press briefing organised at the ministry on ADP implementation, he said that from the next fiscal year the government would formulate a template pinpointing the different components of every project to facilitate speedy implementation of development programmes.
A preventive management system will also be adopted to solve problems while planning wings of the ministries will be strengthened, he said.
Project directors will not be transferred without approval of planning ministry before completion of the projects or three years of their appointment, he added.
He also said that the implementation of ADP in the first five-month of the current fiscal year registered 21 per cent progress, slightly higher than the same months of the last fiscal year when the agencies spent 20 per cent of total allocation.
Like previous years, the ministry, however, provided some 15 common solutions for 11 common problems identified by the projects directors in implementing the annual development programmes.
The project directors have been facing those problems for years and the planning ministry has also been providing same solutions to them but the situation never improved as the problems existed till this year, officials said.
The problems identified at a meeting with secretaries and PDs held on Thursday include delay in land acquisition, absence of time-bound work plan and proper allocation, change in rate schedule in procuring goods and services, delay in appointment of consultants, appointing inexperienced PDs and their frequent transfer, faulty formulation of detailed project proposals, delay in tender process, delay by contractors in completing physical works and problems in getting foreign funds.
The ministry directed the development project implementing ministries and agencies to frame project proposal considering the land acquisition problems, prepare time-bound work plan and long-term rate schedule, and appoint experienced and trained PDs and not to transfer them before three years of their appointment or completion of projects, and strengthening monitoring activities.
Kamal said that in most cases development project implementation was delayed because of problems related to land acquisition.
‘Vested interest groups erect different structures including graveyard, mosque, shrines in the project areas and file cases against the government,’ Kamal said.
The government has to go forward by mitigating the disputes that consume time in project implementation, he said.
Planning commission will also be cautious about the land issues while evaluating the project proposals, he added.
The implementation of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the first five-month (Jul-Nov) of the current fiscal year (FY15) has registered 21 per cent progress, which was 20 per cent in the same period of the previous fiscal.
According to the planning ministry data, the ministries and divisions managed to spend Tk 15,896.87 crore, out of Tk 80,000 crore allocation for entire fiscal year.
The top 15 ministries and divisions in terms of highest ADP allocation, spent a total of Taka 13,970 crore.
Science and technology ministry attained the highest 80 per cent implementation status during the period while the ministry of foreign affairs did not spend any allocation.
Planning secretary Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam, planning commission member Shamsul Alam, among others, were present at the briefing.
-With New Age input
