United News of Bangladesh

The size of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the FY2025–26 has been proposed at Tk Tk 2,30,000 crore, lower by Tk 35,000 crore from running budget. The decision was finalised at an extended meeting of the Planning Ministry held on Tuesday, chaired by Planning Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud. In the current fiscal year, the original ADP allocation was Tk 2,65,000 crore, which was later revised downward. For the upcoming fiscal year, the draft ADP outlines that Tk 1,44,000 crore will be sourced from domestic resources, while Tk 86,000 crore will come from foreign project assistance. The ADP will fund a total of 1,142 projects across various sectors. Govt clears National Youth Entrepreneurship Development Policy 2025 The transport and communication sector has received the highest allocation in the draft ADP, with Tk 58,973 crore. The power and energy sector follows with an allocation of Tk 32,392 crore, while the education sector is set to receive Tk 28,557 crore. Other major allocations include: Housing and urban development: Tk 22,776 crore Health: Tk 18,148 crore Local government and rural development: Tk 16,472 crore Agriculture: Tk 10,795 crore Environment, climate change, and water resources: Tk 10,641 crore Industry and economic services: Tk 5,038 crore Science and technology: Tk 3,894 crore Most sectors have experienced a reduction in allocations compared to the current fiscal year, reflecting the government’s strategy to prioritise essential sectors while maintaining fiscal discipline. The final approval of the ADP is expected later this month at the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), to be chaired by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.

The government strongly wants the timely and effective implementation of development projects to ensure optimal use of public procurement expenditure, currently estimated at around USD 30 billion annually. It believes that successful execution of these projects could significantly accelerate the country’s economic growth. Each year, approximately 1,500 projects are included in the Annual Development Programme (ADP). If these initiatives meet their intended goals, the economic benefits could be transformative. Md. Mahfuzar Rahman, Director (Joint Secretary) of the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA), made these remarks on Sunday at a workshop held in Bhola. The event focused on BPPA’s roles and functions and shared experiences related to the electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system. Organised by BPPA and facilitated by the Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP), the workshop was held at the conference room of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office. Deputy Commissioner Md. Azad Jahan presided over the session. Representatives from various procuring entities, banks, tenderers, journalists, and BCCP officials participated in the event. Rahman highlighted the government’s commitment to reform and transparency in public procurement, particularly through digital transformation. “Currently, around 65 percent of government procurement is conducted through the e-GP system. Our goal is to raise this to 100 percent,” he said. He noted that Bangladesh’s e-GP system has earned both national and international recognition. So far, 11 countries and five international organisations have observed and reviewed the system and its implementation. He also pointed to the launch of the electronic Contract Management System (e-CMS), which enables real-time monitoring of project implementation and is integrated with the e-GP platform. “The system allows direct payments to tenderers’ accounts and supports e-audit functions,” he said. Rahman further mentioned that work is ongoing to integrate the e-GP system with the Document Verification System (DVS), which will allow for online verification of financial documents submitted by bidders. Highlighting the progress achieved through e-GP, he shared key improvements since its inception: In 2007, only 70 percent of tender notices were published; this has now reached 100 percent. The percentage of work orders issued within the initial tender validity period has increased from just 10 percent in 2007 to 96.63 percent. The average number of acceptable bids per tender has risen from 3 to 10.68.  

The Planning Commission is sending letters to all ministries and divisions to complete their ongoing projects as quickly as possible to accelerate the implementation rate of the Annual Development Programme (ADP), which is record low right now. Aiming to expedite the ongoing development projects, the Planning Commission has taken the move after getting green signal from the Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud. According to the planning ministry sources, the step has been taken to avert stagnation of the economy as both public and private investment is significantly low after the fall of Awami League government in August last year. The commission has asked the ministries and divisions to go for a quick implementation of their respective on going projects confirming there will be no corruptions and irregularities. “This has not been asked in the past, in the past,” a senior official of commission told unb. He also said that the Planning Adviser himself has sent letters to all advisers regarding this matter. “After the changeover, the interim government did not get time to look after this matter, now time has come to do that,” the planning commission official said speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media. According to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), ADP implementation during the July-November period was 17.1% in the last fiscal, 2023-24, and 18.4% in 2022-23. In the current fiscal year (2024-25) the rate of ADP implementation has been 12.3%, official data say. Interim govt seeks to rationalise health sector funding in ADP The size of the current ADP is Tk 278,288.90 crore. After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5 in the face of a student-led uprising, the interim government led by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus was sworn in on August 8. IMED data shows that ADP spending in the July-November period amounted to Tk34,214.55 crore, compared to Tk46,857.38 crore in the equivalent period of the previous fiscal year. IMED officials cited delays in the review the interim government had initiated in all  ongoing and newly proposed projects, along with increasing delays in the release of funds, as factors contributing to the slowdown in ADP implementation. Additionally, many contractors abandoned projects after the interim government assumed power in early August. Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud recently has apprehended that the country may go under economic recession if the current situation prevails with no new private investment and almost stagnant public development expenditure. ADP set to shrink significantly in interim govt’s revised budget “On one side the private investors are not injecting new investment and the public development expenditure is not increased on the other. So, it will create an economic recession,” he told in a briefing after ECNEC meeting. The adviser said that the private sector is not showing any interest in investment and the interest rate has been increased a lot. “As a result the entrepreneurs are not showing any interest regarding new investment,” he said. The planning ministry officials apprehended that as the private investment is remaining stalled and public investment is experiencing lowest ever, the economy of the country might go through a tough time in the coming days,

With an eye on terminating “unnecessary and politically motivated” development projects undertaken by the discredited Awami League administration, the interim government adopted a ‘go slow’ policy in approving disbursement of funds for projects enlisted in the annual development programme. This led to the lowest implementation rate of the ADP for at least a decade, over the first five months of the current fiscal, that commenced last July 1. The implementation rate in the first five months of the current fiscal year was just 12.29%, the lowest for the equivalent period in over a decade. The ADP implementation in the 2023-24 fiscal was its lowest in four years, at just 81 percent. In the previous 2022-23 fiscal, the ADP-execution rate was recorded at 85.2 percent. Meanwhile, the lowest ADP execution under the Awami League regime’s 15 years in office was the 80.4 percent recorded in the 2019-20 fiscal - when COVID-19 crippled economic activity in the second half of the financial year. Thereafter, there had been a better performance in the subsequent three fiscals: FY2021, FY2022, and FY2023. After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5 in the face of a student-led uprising, the interim government led by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus was sworn in on August 8. According to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), ADP implementation during the July-November period was 17.1% in the last fiscal, 2023-24, and 18.4% in 2022-23. Versus just 12.3% in the current 2024-25 fiscal, of the Tk 278,288.90 crore ADP passed by the AL government in its last budget. IMED data shows that ADP spending in the July-November period amounted to Tk34,214.55 crore, compared to Tk46,857.38 crore in the equivalent period of the previous fiscal year. IMED officials cited delays in the review the interim government had initiated into all  ongoing and newly proposed projects, along with increasing delays in the release of funds, as factors contributing to the slowdown in ADP implementation. Additionally, many contractors abandoned projects after the interim government assumed power in early August. Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud, while admitting the lacklustre ADP implementation rate, said the interim government would announce its revised budget, effectively an emergency budget necessitated by the change in government, for the 2024-25 fiscal by February. Dr Wahiduddin said that after the revised budget and revised ADP, the Planning Ministry will be able to plan better to complete the projects it chooses to keep, ultimately. He also commented that if employment is not increased, the suffering of the people will not be reduced. Meanwhile, low ADP implementation rate and stuttering private sector investment is moving the country towards an economically stagnant situation. Read: Revised ADP may witness major climbdown, with elimination of 'politically-motivated' projects The Planning Adviser, in a recent briefing, vowed to go faster in implementation of the ADP aiming to create employment and give a boost in money circulation in the rural areas. He apprehended that without this move, which would also encourage the private sector to come forward with their fresh investments, the country might even face an economic recession. Accordingly the Planning Ministry has canceled several projects initiated during the Awami League government. The scrapped initiatives include several infrastructure, health, and education projects that were significant components of the Awami League’s development agenda. Among the prominent cancellations are a rural connectivity program to build roads and bridges in remote areas, urban modernization schemes, and energy and transport infrastructure projects. The Planning Ministry cited inefficiencies, lack of feasibility, and allegations of mismanagement as primary reasons for axing the projects. A senior ministry official stated, “Many of these projects were approved without thorough evaluation, leading to wasteful expenditure and suboptimal outcomes.” The Planning Ministry outlined three key reasons for the cancellations: Budgetary Constraints: Global economic challenges, rising inflation, and increasing debt burdens have tightened the government’s fiscal space. The ministry argued that reallocating resources to more critical sectors, such as food security and climate adaptation, was necessary. Inefficiencies and Alleged Irregularities: Some projects reportedly suffered from inflated budgets, lack of transparency, and delays in execution. These issues, combined with the slow ADP implementation, created a bottleneck in the overall development process. Read more: Govt looks to expedite ADP implementation to boost flow of money in economy Realignment of National Priorities: The government seeks to prioritize initiatives that directly address economic recovery and sustainable development, which they claim some of the canceled projects lacked. Development experts warn that the dual challenges of canceled projects and slow ADP implementation could hinder Bangladesh’s progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Key areas such as poverty alleviation, education, healthcare, and infrastructure development are likely to suffer.

The implementation pace of government's development programmes has remained sluggish, with the Annual Development Programme (ADP) showing one of its lowest execution rates in the past five years. During the first four months of the current fiscal year, from July to October, the ADP implementation rate stood at only around 8%, the lowest figure in recent years, according to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Ministry. Its data highlights that, in contrast, the same period last year saw an execution rate of 11.54%.  Specifically, for the period from July to October of the current fiscal year, the government managed to implement development projects worth Tk 21,978 crore, according to the IMED. The total ADP allocation for the fiscal year is Tk 2,78,288 crore, but the slow start raises concerns about the government’s ability to meet its targets. Moody’s downgrade doesn’t reflect economic progress since July upsurge: Bangladesh Bank Several factors, including government spending cuts, the political unrest during the July-August period, and the reassessment of large projects, have been cited as the main reasons for the drop in implementation rate, according to relevant officials. While the government is facing challenges in speeding up the execution of development projects, experts are urging for greater focus on overcoming delays in order to meet the targets set for the rest of the fiscal year.    

The budgetary allocations under safely managed sanitation, environment and capacity-building have shown a surprising decline in the WASH allocation under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the budget for the 2022-23 fiscal, experts said on Tuesday. They raised concern that this decline will slow down the country’s effort to achieve SDGs targets by 2030, according to a press release issued by WaterAid Bangladesh. Speaker made the remarks during a joint press conference held by WaterAid along with, PPRC, FANSA-BD, FSM Network, Bangladesh Water Integrity Network (BaWin), Sanitation and Water for All, End Water Poverty, MHM Platform, UNICEF and WASH Alliance International at the city’s National Press Club. Also Read: BIDS economist opposes budget proposal to whiten black money An analysis by the Power and Participation Research Center (PPRC), in collaboration with WaterAid, found that the WASH ADP allocation increased by 5.44% compared to an overall ADP increase of 7.5%. The total WASH Budget in the ADP budget in the proposed budget is Tk 118.2 billion of Tk 2460.66 billion of ADP allocation.  They have stressed proper attention in selecting ADP projects and the need to reduce the WASH allocation gap across rural and hard-to-reach areas in the proposed budget. The current budget also fell short in addressing emerging challenges in the remote areas of marginalized communities, they said. They said the budget finds an upward trend in allocation in haor and hilly regions and this trend should be followed in coastal and char lands to ensure no one is left behind. Besides, there is a slightly increased allocation to hygiene seen as a positive step, but implementing it through the ministry of health alone will not portray the required results for the entire country. A multi-agency holistic policy approach should be adopted as a priority, reads the release. The speakers recommended bringing more consistency to the spatial allocation of WASH ADP as the decline in FSM allocation will hinder the aim to increase sanitation coverage across the country. A further suggestion was made to review the proposed budget and examine this issue more closely and ensure increased FSM allocation to address the emerging WASH challenges, said the speakers.

The annual development programme (ADP) for 2021-22 fiscal will prioritise the transport, education, health and agriculture sectors, with a view to off-setting the adverse impacts of the coronavirus crisis that have weighed on the economy since March last year. According to the Planning Commission and Planning Ministry sources, the size of the ADP in the upcoming budget is likely to be in the range of Tk 2130 billion- just over a third of what is shaping up to be a Tk 6 trillion finance bill. Of the total ADP, some Tk 1500 billion, or Tk 1.5 trillion, would come from local sources while the remaining Tk 630 billion is expected to come from foreign sources. Some adjustments in the size and source may come when the National Economic Council (NEC) approves the final ADP for the next fiscal. The number of projects to be included in the ADP for 2021-22 is around 1900, including 1480 investment projects. For the 2020-21 fiscal, which expires on June 30,  the government is working with an ADP of  Tk 2051.45 billion, giving the highest priority to the transport sector. Also read: ADP for new fiscal year likely to be cleared Tuesday with tough challenges ahead Of the original ADP, Tk 1346.43 billion was slated to come from local sources while Tk 705.02 billion from the foreign sources. The number of projects in the ADP was 1584 to start with,  including 1456 investment projects, 127 technical assistant projects, and one project from the Japan Debt Cancellation Fund (JDCF). Besides, there were 89 projects of the autonomous bodies and corporations. But the National Economic Council (NEC) in March approved  a revised ADP of Tk 1976.43 billion, downsizing it by some Tk 75 billion.. The entire reduction was down to a cut in the foreign funding, which came down to Tk 630 billion from Tk 705 billion.  

The progress rate of the Ministry of Land in the implementation of ADP is 14.64 percent, which is 1.85 points higher than the national progress rate of 12.79 percent.

State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid has expressed indignation at the below par performance of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) as the state-owned body failed to make satisfactory progress in implementing some top priority projects.