Size to be 20pc higher than that of FY14 despite sluggish implementation
The National Economic Council is likely to approve today a Tk 79,031 crore annual development programme for 2014-15 fiscal year which will be 19.98 per cent higher than the previous one, said officials. Taking Tk 5,685 crore into account for 153 projects of autonomous bodies and corporations, the total ADP for FY2014-15 would be Tk 84,716 crore.The government, however, is struggling to implement the ADP of 2013-14 as only 45 per cent of Tk 65,870 crore was implemented in the first nine months of the current financial year.
‘There is hardly any chance that the government will be able to implement such a huge development budget it is going to take up for the next fiscal year,’ former caretaker government advisor Mirza Azizul Islam told New Age on Monday.
He said the government is not clear about where the money will come from and even if it can arrange the fund, lack of utilisation capacity is another issue.
‘About Tk 45,000 crore ADP fund would be implemented in the current year. So taking an ADP twice as that is not realistic,’ he said.
Planning commission officials said transport sector would get the highest allocation of Tk 18,098 crore or 22 per cent, including the expense of Padma bridge, in the coming budget.
Education and religion sectors would get Tk 9,403 crore or 11.90 per cent as the second highest allocation while power sector would get Tk 9,227 crore or 11.74 per cent as the third highest allocation in the ADP of next financial year.
Infrastructure planning, water distribution and housing would get Tk 7,876 crore or 9.97 per cent, rural development Tk 6,871 crore or 8.69 per cent, agriculture Tk 5,575 crore or 7.05 per cent and health, nutrition, population and family welfare would get Tk 4,943 crore or 6.25 per cent.
The planning commission proposed allocation of Tk 5,685 crore for 153 projects of autonomous bodies and corporations which would be implemented with their own resources.
The commission also proposed to keep Tk 3,027 crore or 3.83 per cent of the total allocation for development assistance to various local government bodies such as Upazilas, municipalities, district councils, city corporations, Chittagong Hill Tracts and special areas under the Local Government Division, the Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office.
A total of 1,034 projects were included in the FY2014-15 ADP of which 897 were investment projects, 134 technical assistance projects and 21 were included under Japanese Debt Cancellation Fund.
Officials of the planning commission said 1,005 projects will be carried over from the current ADP while 29 new projects will be taken up under the ADP of FY2014-15.
In public private partnership scheme, the planning commission proposed for 17 projects.
A government also kept 681 unapproved projects in the ADP while another 276 new unapproved projects were kept for foreign assistance.
Planning commission sources said around 308 expired projects were also marked for including in the 2014-15 ADP.
The projects could not be completed within the deadline and the government has to extend the time to utilise the allocated funds for these projects, they said.
-With New Age input
