ADP spending rises in Aug

The ministries and divisions put to use 5.15 percent of their total outlay in the first two months of the fiscal year thanks to a spike in expenditure in the month of August.

Last month, the ministries and divisions employed Tk 7,505 crore to take the two-month tally to Tk 8,457 crore, according to statistics from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division.

At this point last fiscal year, Tk 4,756 crore was spent, which was 3.86 percent of the total allocation for the annual development programme.

This year's total allocation was Tk 164,085 crore, so both in terms of percentage and amount, the ADP implementation this year has been better.

Subsequently, in a meeting yesterday with the 16 ministries, which got 85 percent of the total ADP allocation, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal commended them for their performance.

“Despite natural disasters the project implementation has been good,” he said, while also issuing directives to ensure the implementation rate goes even higher.

For instance, the status of the projects and the work of the contractors will be monitored going forward.

At the meeting, the planning ministry presented a report that said if ADP implementation improves so do private investment.

Subsequently, the report recommended a number of steps, such as revision of 52 projects in the current ADP by October and necessary allocation made available.

In the current ADP, 181 projects have run out their tenures and the ministries have not yet taken an initiative to extend the tenure of more than half of the projects.

The projects were supposed to be extended and their approval taken from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council by June.

The planning ministry said no money will be released against the projects if their tenures are not extended.

Consequently, they have called for immediate extension of the tenures. Otherwise, it will have a negative impact on the total ADP implementation.

Of the total ADP outlay for fiscal 2017-18, the government's own resource accounts for Tk 95,515 crore, about 5.74 percent of which was spent in the first two months.

From the foreign aid portion, 3.67 percent was used.

Of the 16 large ministries and divisions that got 85.88 percent of the allocation this year, seven spent higher than the average.

The road transport division spent 16.07 percent of its total allocation for the year, followed by the local government division at 8.65 percent, and secondary and higher education division at 7.89 percent.

Information and communication technology division spent 7.18 percent, agriculture ministry 6.99 percent, power division 6.87 percent, and health education and family welfare service division 6.07 percent.

The railways ministry, health service division, primary and mass education ministry, bridges division, shipping ministry, energy and mineral resources division, and housing and public works ministry managed lower than the average implementation rate.

The science and technology ministry, which has the huge Rooppur nuclear power project in implementation, could spend only Tk 2.71 crore in the first two months -- only 0.03 percent of its total outlay for the year.

Water resources ministry's performance was similarly dismal. It spent only 0.14 percent of their total allocation.