Seven development projects of the foreign ministry are currently underway to build chancery complexes in Pakistan, Germany, Bhutan, Brunei and Saudi Arabia. These projects were undertaken in the 2024-25 fiscal at a budget of a total of Tk 1.43 billion, but not a single penny has been spent in the first four months in July-October of the current fiscal.
Similarly, the Law and Justice Division could spend no money from the allocation of Tk 1.49 billion for their four projects during this period.
People concerned said various factors following the change in power contributed to the stagnation of the 11 projects, involving a total of 2.92 billion, of the foreign ministry and the law and justice ministry.
According to sources at the planning ministry’s Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), Tk 210.97 billion was spent for the annual development programme (ADP) in July-October of the current fiscal.
The amount was Tk 100 billion less than the expenditure in the corresponding time of the 2023-24 fiscal, which was Tk 316.92 billion.
The size of the ADP is Tk 2.78 trillion in the current fiscal.
A review of documents of IMED showed ADP implementation dipped 15-year low in the July-October period of the current fiscal since the 2010-11 FY.
The ADP implementation growth was always at 10-15 per cent in the first four months of each fiscal.
Officials at the planning ministry think everything including July-August movement, change in power, as well as contractors and project directors going traceless affected the development activities.
As a result, the interim government is experiencing the lowest ADP implementation growth over the past one and a half decades.
Regarding this, senior research fellow at Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Towfiqul Islam Khan, told Prothom Alo that the projects should be undertaken considering the financial capacity.
No projects should be implemented by borrowing massively from banks, he remarked.
Currently, many projects under the ADP have been undertaken on political consideration. Besides, several projects, which are not much necessary and currently at the starting phase, should be slashed from the ADP. Instead, focus should go to projects with foreign assistance and those are at the last phases of implementation.
38 ministries spent not more than 10pc
Currently 1,352 projects of 56 ministries and divisions have been included in the ADP. Of those, 38 ministries and divisions could not spend even 10 per cent of their allocations in the July-October phase of the ongoing fiscal year. That means 68 per cent of the ministries performed weekly.
These ministries and divisions include Road Transport and Highways Division, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, Ministry of Shipping, Health Services Division, Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Water Resources, Bridges Division, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, Medical Education And Family Welfare Division, Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Technical and Madrasah Education Division, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Ministry of Commerce and Election Commission Secretariat.
Activities of government
The interim government is trying to raise the expenditure to keep the economy vibrant. A decision was reached at policymaking level that initiatives of implementation will be taken for important projects on priority, and funds will be allocated to those projects in the revised ADP. Implementation of projects with foreign assistance will also get priority.
The government is currently reviewing the projects, and several projects undertaken based on overvaluation and political consideration will be excluded once the review ends.
* This report appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna