NEC set to finalise Tk 1.93t RADP

The government is going to revise the Annual Development Programme (ADP), trimming down the allocations by Tk 102 billion to Tk 1.93 trillion, officials said on Tuesday.

Cutting the highest amount from available foreign aid funding, the National Economic Council (NEC) is likely to finalize the Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for the current fiscal year (FY), 2019-20, at a meeting in the capital tomorrow (Thursday).

The NEC meeting, headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is likely to approve revision of the current Tk 2.02-trillion ADP, following the lower implementation rate of the development programs.

"We've already drafted the RADP for the current fiscal. It will be placed before the NEC meeting on Thursday for approval," a senior official of the Planning Commission (PC) told the FE.

He also said the current ADP outlay is likely to be trimmed down, as they proposed a revision, lowering the allocations.

Another official said the drafted RADP will cut project aid (foreign aid) fund by Tk 98 billion, which is 14 percent of the total Tk 718 billion available funds.

However, the PC has not proposed cutting of Tk 1.31 trillion funds, allocated from the government's internal resources, he added.

According to the PC, the transport sector will remain atop the list in the upcoming RADP, as it was in the ADP. The PC has revised allocation for the sector down to Tk 475.54 billion from the current allocation of Tk 528.06 billion.

Infrastructure planning, water supply, and the housing sector has been proposed to get the second-highest allocation of Tk 265.16 billion in the RADP.

The power sector will receive the third highest allocation of Tk 237.65 billion from its current ADP outlay of Tk 260.17 billion.

A PC official said they had to revise the ADP downward, as the ministries and agencies failed to perform efficiently in implementing the development program.

The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) officials said the government agencies spent Tk 689.82 billion --, only 32 percent of the Tk 2.02-trillion ADP outlay --, during the first seven months (July-Jan) of the current FY.

They had performed miserably in executing the foreign-aided projects, as only Tk 200.73 billion --, 28 percent of the total Tk 718 billion project aid outlay --, was spent.

Officials said some 1,750 approved projects are included in the RADP for implementation in FY 2020. In the original ADP, some 1,475 projects were incorporated for execution.

The government cut the ADP outlay from Tk 1.73 trillion to Tk 1.65 trillion in the RADP in the last FY.