The National Economic Council (NEC) on Wednesday approved Tk 227,566.09-crore Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for the current fiscal year (FY23), cutting Tk 18,500 crore from the allocation of foreign sources portion in the original ADP outlay. Out of the total RADP allocation, Tk 153,066.09 crore will be drawn from the local sources while the rest of Tk 74,500 crore will come from the foreign sources. The funding from the local sources remained intact in the RADP. The approval came from the NEC meeting chaired by NEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the NEC Conference Room in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area. Earlier, the original layout of ADP was finalised at Tk 246,066 crore. Of the amount, Tk 153,066 crore was estimated to come from the local sources, while Tk 93,000 crore from foreign sources as project assistance. But now the funding from external sources was slashed by Tk 18,500 crore. “In the revised ADP, the overall allocation of the concerned autonomous bodies and corporations remained intact at Tk 8,994.58 crore. So, with the allocation of the autonomous bodies and corporations, the overall size of RADP in the current fiscal year reached Tk 2,36,560.67 crore,” said State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam at a press briefing. The number of projects in the RADP reached 1,525, including 1,410 investment projects and 115 are technical assistance projects, he said. If 102 projects from the autonomous bodies and corporations are added, then the total number of projects in the RADP would reach 1,627 ones. About the performances of the major macroeconomic indicators, the state minister said the inward remittance has been witnessing an uptrend since October 2022, while the export earnings have also been witnessing buoyant performances since September 2022. Besides, he said the general point to point inflation has been witnessing a downtrend since August 2022, while the foreign currency reserve on February 22, 2023 was more than US$32 billion. Planning Division Secretary Satyajit Karmakar said they prioritized food security, agriculture and agro-based industries, poverty alleviation, employment generation, human resource development and ensuring balanced development while framing the revised ADP for the current fiscal year. Replying to a question, he said although the government has much capacity in utilisation of local resources, it still lacks capacity to some extent in utilization of funds from the foreign sources. "The compliance factor of the development partners is a bit complex and their bureaucracy is very strong. There are many barriers from their side also. For that, we often lag behind in implementing allocation of funds from foreign sources. Moreover, the foreign aid in the pipeline is now nearly $52 billion," he added. The planning secretary informed that some 21 ministries and divisions have witnessed increased allocation in the RADP while some 37 ministries and divisions have witnessed cut in allocation in the RADP. Besides, some 343 projects are scheduled for completion in the current fiscal year. In the revised ADP, the 10 sectors with the highest allocation are transport and communication with Tk 61,810 crore (27.16pc), power and energy with Tk 38,317 crore (16.84pc) and housing and community amenities with Tk 25,939 crore (11.40pc). Besides, local government and rural development with Tk 20,231 crore (8.89pc), education with Tk 18,431 crore (8.10pc), health with Tk 12,745 crore (5.60pc), environment, climate change and water resources with Tk 12,600 crore (5.54pc), agriculture with Tk 9,394 crore (4.13pc), industry and Economic services with Tk 4,689 crore (2.06pc and religion, culture and entertainment sector with Tk 4,271 crore (1.18 pc). In terms of ministry and Division wise allocation, the Local Government Division received the highest RADP allocation of Tk 39,563 crore (17.68pc) followed by Road Transport and Highways Division with Tk 29,897 crore (13.36pc) and Power Division with Tk 25,247 crore (11.28pc).  

The National Economic Council (NEC) on Tuesday approved the Annual Development Programme (ADP) involving Tk 225,324 crore for 1,426 projects for the 2021-22 fiscal year with focus on transport and communications, power, housing, education and health sectors. Among the approved projects, 1,308 will be investment ones while 118 will be of technical assistance. The approval to the ADP was given at an NEC meeting held at its conference room. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who joined the meeting from her official residence Ganobhaban through videoconferencing, presided over it.  Planning Minister MA Mannan said Tk 11,469 crore also was allocated for autonomous entities.   Read: Govt upgrading ADP implementation capacity for growth acceleration Of the Tk 225,324 crore, an amount of Tk 137,300 crore will come from internal sources while Tk 88,224 crore from foreign sources.  Of the Tk 11,469 crore of the autonomous entities, the internal sources will provide Tk 6717 crore while the foreign portion will be Tk 4751crore. The Planning Minister said the number of development projects for the next fiscal year for autonomous entities will be 89.  The total number of development projects will be 1515 involving Tk 236,793 crore.  Transport sector will get Tk 61,631 (27.35%) while power sector Tk 45,668 crore (20.36%), Housing and Community facilities Tk 23,747 crore (10.54 crore), Education Tk 23,178 crore (10.29%), Health Tk 17, 307 crore (7.68), Local government and rural development Tk 14, 274 crore (6.34%), Environment, climate change and water Tk 8,526 crore (3.78%), Agriculture Tk 7,665 crore (3.40%), industries and economic services Tk 4,638 crore (2.06%) and Science and Information Technology Tk 3,587 crore (1.59%). Local Government Division will get the highest allocation of Tk 33, 896 crore followed by road transportation and highways division Tk 28042 crore, Power Division Tk 25, 349 crore, Science and Technology Ministry Tk 20, 634 crore, Railways Ministry Tk 13, 558 crore, Health Service Division Tk 13, 000 crore, Secondary and Higher Secondary Division Tk 11, 920 crore, Bridges Division Tk 9,813 crore, Primary and Mass Education Division Tk 8, 022 crore, and Water Resources Ministry Tk 6,871 crore. Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will get the highest allocation in the next fiscal with Tk 18426.16 crore followed by Matarbari Ultra Super critical Coal Powered Power Project Tk 6162 crore, Primary Education Development Programme-IV Tk 5053.98 crore, Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (Line-6) Tk 4800 crore, Padma Bridge Rail Connection (1st amended) Tk 3823.51 crore, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Tk 3580 crore, Padma Multipurpose Bridge (2nd amended) Tk 3500 crore, Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated expressway Tk 3227.20 crore, Expansion and Strengthening of Power System Network under DPDC Area Tk 3051.11 crore and Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Expansion (1st phase) (1st amendment) Tk 2827.52 crore. While briefing reporters after the meeting, minister Mannan said that the Prime Minister has given some directives, including one not to appoint foreign consultants indiscriminately to development projects. Read:Ambitious ADP worth Tk 2.13trn on the cards “Foreign consultants will be appointed as per requirement, not indiscriminately. We won’t appoint consultants blindly, they’ll be appointed as per need after scrutiny,” he said. The minister said the Prime Minister asked the officials concerned to complete the projects that have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Stressing the importance of research, the Prime Minister directed all the ministries to utilise their funds properly that will be given for research. In the next fiscal ADP, Tk 4,147 crore has been earmarked as block allocation against the new projects of which Tk 2,893 crore will be mobilised from local sources while Tk 1,254 crore as project loan. Some 596 unapproved new projects have been incorporated in the new ADP without any allocation while 141 new unapproved projects have been included in the new ADP subject to the availability of foreign funds.   There are 88 projects to be implemented under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) while 356 projects have been earmarked for completion by June 30, 2022.   Besides, 73 projects that were supposed to be completed by June this year will be completed by the next fiscal year (FY22).   The Planning Minister said the economy of Bangladesh is performing well despite the shock of the pandemic due to the good performances in the agriculture sector and also for the domestic labour and the hard-earned remittances being sent by expatriate Bangladeshis.   Read:NEC approves Tk 197,643-cr revised ADP Referring to the recent attainment of $2,227 per capita income, Mannan said the per capita income has witnessed a jump of 9 percent despite the pandemic and this shows the resilience of the domestic economy.   He also said the current size of the country's GDP is Tk 30,111 billion or $355.04 billion.   Replying to a question, the Planning Minister said the Ministry of Health has attained a very good capacity over the years in implementing development projects. He said although there was a bit of sloth in the operation of the Health Ministry when the Covid-19 hit the country last year, it regained momentum in its operation and subsequently made a pick up within the next one or two months after the attack of the pandemic.    

The Local Government Division (LGD), Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and UNDP have jointly begun a training programme.

The government plans to spend almost Tk 500 billion over the next 3 years in rural development and for strengthening the local government system.

After weeks of dithering, the authorities acting through the Local Government Division (LGD) on Monday issued a letter to the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) to implement strict lockdown in the capital’s Wari.

The Local Government Division (LGD) on Monday sent a coordinated Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to all city corporations for implementing ‘Red Zone’.

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Md Tajul Islam on Tuesday urged all to be aware so that any dengue outbreak caused by the Aedes mosquito can be  tolerable during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

The Local Government Ministry on Sunday suspended a ward councilor and a union parishad chairman for their involvement in relief embezzlement.   The Local Government Division of the ministry issued separate notifications in this regard.   Since the beginning of  coronavirus outbreak, a total of 74 public representatives have so far been suspended across the country.    The suspended councilor is- Rafiqul Islam Nehar, No 12 ward councilor of Brahmanbaria Sadar municipality while the suspended UP chairman is Md Shamsuddoha of Arshinagar union parishad of Bhedarganj upazila in Shariatpur district.   The notice also asked the suspended public representatives to explain through respective deputy commissioners why they should not be removed permanently from their posts within 10 days.

The Local Government Division (LGD) on Friday allocated Tk 25 crore from the Prime Minister’s relief fund for the employees of municipalities.

The Local Government Division under the Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Ministry opened a control room at the secretariat to deal with various issues related to cyclone Amphan.