State Minister for Planning Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki said on Wednesday said the government is going to introduce artificial intelligence (AI)-based monitoring, expert scrutiny and independent price assessment to ensure greater transparency and accountability in public project expenditure.

Briefing reporters after an Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting, he said the Planning Ministry was preparing a new rate schedule and developing a software-based system to use AI to examine whether project expenditure on goods and services was in line with the approved rates.

“Through this technology, we will examine every expenditure using software and AI to determine whether spending is being made in accordance with the rate schedule,” he said.

Saki said the government had also decided to bring subject experts into the Public Sector Committee (PSC) to scrutinise the prices of goods and services purchased outside the rate schedule, whether sourced locally or imported.

The Planning Ministry had already issued instructions to this effect so that specialists in the relevant fields could provide expert opinions on the prices of such purchases, he added.

The state minister said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had also approved a proposal to appoint price assessment companies for major projects to verify the prices of all procured goods against prevailing market rates.

He said the government was working to strengthen institutional capacity and establish a systematic system of checks and balances to ensure that public money was spent under proper scrutiny and accountability.

The measures would be introduced gradually, with the aim of bringing the entire process of project expenditure under closer monitoring and institutional oversight, he added.

Saki expressed hope that the new arrangements would soon enable the government to examine project spending more effectively and establish a higher level of accountability in public development expenditure than at any previous time.