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The Planning Commission (PC) is set to revise the existing Development Project Proposal (DPP) format in a bid to check fraud and misappropriation of public funds, officials said Monday.
They said the PC is going to incorporate one particular segment called 'the project design life' into the DPP format with a view to knowing about the economic life of a project.
The commission has also decided to incorporate some other provisions, including a compulsory feasibility study report, yearly maintenance chart, stakeholders' analysis and responsibilities of project directors and executing agencies into the DPP format, they added.
The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the PC has taken the move to control misuse of public funds, ensuring transparency and accountability in execution of development project, officials said.
Currently, the DPP format does not contain such information that helps check misappropriation of public funds and corruption in the project execution procedures.
"We have already made some recommendations to make it mandatory for the project executive agencies to incorporate such information into the DPP. The recommendations have been placed before the government's high-ups. If we get green signal, then we will include those provisions in the current DPP format after revising it," a senior PC official told the FE.
It is very imperative to incorporate those provisions into the DPP format to ensure a better monitoring and evaluation as well as maximum use of development funds for the sake of public interests, he added.
He said they had also recommended incorporation of some indicators so that they could understand the project impact on the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Currently, DPP format has a provision to assess the impact on the five years' plan and perspective plan 2021. However, there is no indicator to measure the achievement of SDGs.
A high IMED official said they would discuss the issue with Principal SDG Coordinator of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Md Abul Kalam Azad before finalising the revised DPP format.
He said: "Currently, many government agencies do not incorporate the feasibility study report into the DPP when they send it to the PC for getting approval. It ultimately hampers the project execution."
"But we will make it mandatory for all agencies to incorporate the feasibility study in the DPP so that we can assess projects' possible outcomes. Besides, the feasibility study will help the IMED monitor and evaluate the projects properly," he told the FE, requesting anonymity.
Officials said many government authorities do not conduct proper feasibility study before taking up projects which ultimately affects execution.
"Our experience says, if a feasibility study is not conducted properly, the project concerned needs revision in the middle of its implementation," the director general of IMED said.
"In the current DPP format, there is no room for inclusion of segments such as "design life" and "economic life" of a project. This time we have recommended making it mandatory for inclusion of this issue in the DPP format," he added.
Bangladesh has prepared a Tk 1.73 trillion worth of Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the fiscal year (FY) 2018-19 to implement some 1,347 projects.
In the current fiscal year, the government is implementing more than 1,400 projects, involving Tk 1.57 trillion under the revised ADP to develop the country's infrastructures and cut poverty.