Govt spends 65pc of ADP outlay in 11 months

The ministries and divisions managed to spend 65 percent of their development budget in the first 11 months of fiscal 2016-17, which -- although higher than last year -- is in keeping with the past trend of comfortably missing the target.

At this point last fiscal year, 61.85 percent of the allocation for annual development programme (ADP) was utilised by the ministries and divisions, according to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division.

Between July last year and May this year, Tk 77,204 crore was used, meaning Tk 42,092 crore has to be spent this month to be able to exhaust the full allocation, which was already revised downwards.

In the previous 11 months, Tk 7,018 crore was spent on an average every month.

As has been the practice in past years, the ministries and divisions amp up their spending in the last month to flatter their full-year performance -- an exercise that leads to outrageous misuse of money. This fiscal year too, the practice will most likely to continue.

“The ministries and divisions will obviously not be able to spend the rest of their ADP allocation,” said an official of the planning ministry.

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on various occasions had put forward argument that the physical work of the project runs all throughout the year but the payment for them is made in the last part of the year.

“In money terms, the execution rate is shown at the end of the year,” he added.

The bridges division got the highest allocation of Tk 6,583 crore this fiscal year, of which Tk 2,502 crore or 38 percent was spent in 11 months.

There are three projects under the bridges division including the Padma bridge project, for which Tk 4,674 crore was allocated. Of the amount, Tk 1,798 crore was spent in the first eight months.

Spending on the Padma bridge project was higher this year than the last but it is still low against the allocation, the planning ministry official said.

The total cost for the Padma bridge project is Tk 28,793 crore, of which Tk 12,273 crore has been spent until February.

The most complex work in the Padma bridge project is piling, which is taking a long time. “The physical progress is more than what the amount spent suggests,” he added.

The science and technology ministry spent only 41.86 percent of its allocation in the first 11 months of the fiscal year.

The road transport and highways division spent 68 percent of its revised allocation in the first 11 months, health ministry 50 percent, railways 42 percent, secondary and higher secondary education division 59 percent, primary and mass education 70 percent.

However, the power division implemented 80 percent of its revised allocation and the local government division 81 percent.

Of the total allocation for the fiscal year, 66.39 percent of the government's own fund was spent, which was 60.77 percent in the same period last fiscal year.

Some 58.25 percent of foreign funds have been utilised during the period in contrast to 60.82 percent a year earlier.