Development spending lowest in six years
Ministries and divisions spent Tk 28,171 crore, or 34 percent of their total development budget, in the last month of fiscal 2015-16, in continuation of the old practice of accelerated expenditure toward the end of the year.
Total spending under the annual development programme was Tk 83,488 crore last fiscal year, which is 91.74 percent of the budget -- the lowest in six years.
Economists often criticise the large expenditures at the end of the fiscal year, saying it leads to waste.
At the beginning of the fiscal year, implementation works are usually delayed due to monsoons, said planning ministry officials.
But data shows that spending did not accelerate even when the dry season set in. Spending ranged from only Tk 4,000 crore to Tk 5,000 crore, going over Tk 6,000 crore in only two months.
Over the last two years, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal spoke of various steps to increase ADP implementation but the performance did not improve.
The government's ADP allocation increased in recent times but the ministries and divisions' implementation capacity did not improve, said planning and finance ministry officials.
The officials also said there has been no progress in addressing the problems that have been causing lacklustre ADP implementation.
The government has taken steps to ensure that implementation gains momentum this fiscal year, they said.
The size of the total ADP in the current fiscal year has been set at Tk 110,700 crore, which is 21.64 percent higher than the revised ADP of the immediate-past fiscal year.
A separate pool will be formed this fiscal year, from which a project director will be appointed. Such an initiative was once taken in 2015, but it never materialised.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, in his closing speech before the budget was passed in parliament on June 29, said some structural changes will be brought about in project formulation and implementation.
Muhith said the preparatory works will be completed before the approval of the projects. For this end, Tk 100 crore has been allocated in this fiscal year's budget.
There will also be a provision to appoint a separate project director as one will not be able to focus on several projects; and rules will be prepared for this as well, he added.
The finance and planning ministries will jointly sit with the ministries to accelerate the implementation of the ADP projects this year.
However, the first month of the new fiscal year has nearly passed and no such step is visible yet.
In fiscal 2015-16, the 10 large ministries and divisions got 76 percent of the total ADP allocation.
Of the amount, power and housing and public works ministries spent more than 100 percent of their allocation.
The road transport and highways division and education and primary and mass education ministries also spent almost all of their allocations.
The bridges division is the lowest spender, managing to use up only 68 percent of its allocation. Another ministry, health and family planning, spent 85 percent of its allocation.