ADP outlay slashed 4pc

The government has slashed the development budget for the current fiscal year by about 4 percent by reducing its reliance on aid and trimming allocation for state enterprises. 

As a result, the annual development programme's outlay has come down to Tk 157,594 crore, from Tk 164,084 crore in the original plan.

A meeting of the National Economic Council chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the revised ADP yesterday.

The government's contribution to the revised ADP remained the same at Tk 96,331 crore, but it would go up later this month.

On the other hand, the project aid was cut by 8.68 percent, or Tk 4,950 crore, to Tk 52,050 crore. The allocation for the state-owned enterprises was trimmed by Tk 1,540 crore, or 14.32 percent, to Tk 9,213 crore.

After the meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told reporters that some ministries have demanded an increase in the allocation.

He said the prime minister has given him the responsibility to weigh the demand for the increased allocation. He said no ceiling has been set for him and he can raise the amount after looking into valid need.

In the last fiscal year, the government's contribution rose by Tk 7,000 crore in the revised ADP over the original allocation, while the foreign fund was slashed by the same amount.

As a result, the ADP size remained the same even after the revision. In the end, however, Tk 33,435 crore of the Tk 110,700 crore ADP was unused.

Among 17 sectors, the highest allocation went to the transport sector at 25.28 percent, followed by the power sector at 15.06 percent, rural development and rural institutions 11.27 percent, infrastructure, water supply and housing sectors 10.26 percent, and education and religion 9.56 percent.

The number of projects has increased by more than 300 to 1,658 in the revised ADP.

Usually, when the projects are more in numbers, small allocations are made to them and they are included in the original ADP.

As a result, their implementation delays, raising the cost of projects finally.

A list of 1,027 projects has been included in the ADP, but no funds have been allocated to them. These projects will be given a place in the original ADP with small allocations in the next three months.

According to the original ADP, 411 projects were scheduled to be completed by this fiscal year. But the number was brought down to 300 in the revised one.