Five reform projects not taken up for execution in 2 months

The projects were taken up under the World Bank's Strengthening Institutions for Transparency and Accountability (SITA) initiative, aiming to help boost revenue, ensure efficiency and transparency in public spendings, and strengthen the statistical system, according to officials.

The projects were hastily cleared by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in the last week of June, 2025, a Planning Ministry official said, adding: "Most of the development project proposals (DPPs) for the projects were incomplete and flawed."

The official said the PC has convened the high-profile meeting to discuss the pros and cons of the projects. Secretaries and senior officials of the line ministries will attend the meeting with Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud in the chair, he said.

According to the minutes of the June 24 ECNEC meeting, observations from several ECNEC members on the IT components prompted Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, Special Assistant for ICT to the Chief Adviser, to prepare a concept paper, and the projects were supposed to be initiated only after the revision of the DPPs.

However, Mr. Taiyeb prepared the concept paper following a series of consultations with Dr Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, Special Assistant for Finance to the Chief Adviser, as well as the secretaries of the Planning Ministry, ERD and other senior officials, and subsequently forwarded it to the relevant ministries and agencies.

Sources said the aggregate cost of the five projects under SITA stands at around Tk 32.88 billion, of which the World Bank is to provide Tk 30.45 billion while only 7.42 per cent of the total cost has to be available from the government exchequer, official documents revealed.

The World Bank is to extend its support amounting to nearly $250 million in loans, subject to capacity enhancement of five agencies- the Planning Division, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), National Board of Revenue (NBR), Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) and the Public Procurement Authority (BPPA), according to the project papers.

An additional secretary at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) informed the ECNEC meeting that the SITA loans were highly concessional ones, with having $134 million as interest-free and the remaining amount would be available at 2.00 per cent rate of interest, it was learnt.

The funding allocation includes $82 million each for the BBS and NBR, $36 million for the BPPA, and $25 million each for the Planning Division and OCAG, according to an official.

The negotiations on the loan took place on May 8, 2025 at the ERD, and the World Bank board cleared the project on June 12, 2025, said an official. The project documents reveal that the BBS will implement the Statistical Capacity Enhancement and Modernization Project (SCEMP) component with an estimated cost of Tk 10.96 billion.

The project aims to strengthen the BBS's capacity to build a modern, integrated national statistical system by generating, managing and disseminating reliable, high-quality and timely data, it was learnt.

Another component, the Strengthening Domestic Revenue Mobilization Project (SDRMP), will be implemented by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) at a cost of Tk 10.09 billion to enhance its capacity for boosting domestic revenue collection.

To help ensure a sustainable public procurement system, the BPPA will implement the Tk 5.52-billion Procurement Modernization to Improve Public Service Delivery (PMIPSD) component, aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of e-GP and making it mandatory for all government procurement activities.

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