NEC approves Tk 2.45 trillion RADP for FY24

The National Economic Council (NEC) has approved a Tk 2.45 trillion Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for the current fiscal year (FY24) prioritising sectors like road transport, communication, energy and power.

The approved RADP is Tk 180 billion or 6.84 per cent lower than the original ADP size of Tk 263 trillion for the current fiscal.

The approval came from a meeting of the NEC held today with its chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area on Tuesday, BSS reports.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Division Senior Secretary Satyajit Karmakar said that out of the total revised RADP outlay of Tk 2.45 trillion, Tk 1.61 trillion will come from local sources while Tk 835 billion from the foreign sources.

Planning Minister Major General (retd) Abdus Salam and State Minister for Planning Md Shahiduzzaman Sarker spoke at the briefing.

Satyajit said the total number of projects in the RADP for the current fiscal year has been fixed at 1588, including 1345 investment projects, 36 feasibility studies, 115 technical assistance projects, and 92 self-financed projects.

The Planning Minister said that a good number of specific proposals were placed in the meeting in line with the earlier directives from the Prime Minister on project formulation, approval and implementation.

He said that during the meeting, which lasted nearly three hours, the Premier asked the authorities concerned to arrange the necessary allocations for those projects which are nearing completion and could be completed with a minimum amount of funding, as well as those that could bear significant returns.

Salam said the Prime Minister also stressed the need for conducting feasibility to avert the usual tendency of delay in project formulation and implementation stages.

In this regard, he said the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) has been asked to take special initiative on monitoring so that the development projects are completed in a timely manner side by side there is no time overrun and cost overrun.

The Planning Minister said an emphasis was also given in the meeting on prioritising allocations and investments in the sectors like agriculture, health, education, power and energy, science and technology, social protection, climate change in line with the 8^th Five Year Plan.

Answering to a question, Salam said some of the Ministries and Divisions often see lesser allocations in the RADP due to some reasons like lack of capacity as well as some other limitations.

He said the education and health ministries have been suggested as raising their capacity to implement the RADP.

When asked about the slow ADP utilisation pace in the current fiscal year, the Planning Minister said the current fiscal year, which started in July 2023, has experienced many difficulties as well as political and economic uncertainties, which were harmful for the pace of development.

Brushing aside all the speculations over the holding of the last general election, he said a free and fair general election was held in the country, and subsequently, all the economic indicators are increasing in Bangladesh, like the inward remittance.

“Stability is the pre-condition of development, and it is now prevailing,” he said, adding that the implementation of projects is now going on smoothly.

The Planning Minister also noted that work on framing the 9th Five Year Plan has already started, and it will be drafted in line with the Delta Plan 2100 and the Perspective Plan.

Answering to another question about the usual trend of downsize revision of the ADP, Salam said that revision of the ADP is a continuous process and it would continue.

State Minister for Planning Md Shahiduzzaman Sarker said that the RADP for the current fiscal year has been finalized considering the current and practical situation, with some minor changes.

He said that the Prime Minister put much emphasis on the capacity building of the executing agencies in the meeting.

Planning Division Senior Secretary Satyajit Karmakar said that the Prime Minister has already asked the Cabinet Secretary to submit a roadmap on how to enhance the capacity of the project directors and also to utilise their maximum potentials by creating a pool.

In this regard, Satyajit said once the roadmap and guideline is available, some specific proposals will be submitted before the Prime Minister to comprehensively deal with the trend of slow implementation as well as a lack of capacity.

He informed that the Prime Minister asked the concerned ministries and divisions to complete some 330 projects, which are nearing completion, in the current fiscal year.

The planning secretary said the secretaries of the ministries and divisions concerned of those 330 projects have pledged that those projects would be completed within the timeframe as their local and foreign funding has already been assured.

Responding to a question, Satyajit said that although there are some dissimilarities in resource allocation in line with the 8th Five Year Plan, but the Prime Minister has given a directive to take more quality projects in the health, agriculture, education, and environment sectors, as well as for the development of women.

According to the RADP for FY24, the transport and communication sector got the highest allocation of over Tk 632.63 billion (Tk 63,263.31 crore) or 25.82 per cent) followed by power and energy sector Tk 378.97 billion (Tk 37896.73 crore) or 15.47 per cent, housing and community facilities Tk 280.02 billion (Tk 28,002.15 crore) or 11.43 per cent, Local Government and Rural Development Tk 199.70 billion ( Tk 19,969.71 crore) or 8.15 per cent, education Tk 172.3 billion (Tk 17,229.91 crore) or 7.03 per cent, environment, climate change and water resources Tk 143.91 billion (Tk 14,391 crore) or 5.87 per cent, health Tk 120.67 billion (Tk 12,066.76 crore) or 4.93 per cent, agriculture Tk 103.18 billion (Tk 10317.76 crore) or 4.21 per cent), industry and economic services over Tk 46.30 billion (Tk 4,630.43 crore) or 1.89 per cent and science and ICT Tk 36.37 billion (Tk 3,637.12 crore) or 1.48 per cent.

Out of the highest allocation recipient Ministries and Divisions, Local Government Division topped the list with Tk 427 billion (Tk 42,700.76 crore) or 17.43 per cent followed by Road Transport and Highways Division Tk 278.03 billion (Tk 27,803.45 crore) or 11.35 per cent, Power Division Tk 271.27 billion (Tk 27,127.45 crore) or 11.07 per cent, Ministry of Railways Tk 131.18 billion (Tk 13,117.62 crore) or 5.35 per cent, Ministry of Water Resources Tk 121.93 billion (Tk 12,192.75 crore) or 4.98 per cent, Ministry of Science and Technology Tk 114.16 billion (Tk 11,415.51 crore)  or 4.66 per cent, Health Services Division Tk 93.45 billion (Tk 9345.49 crore) or 3.81 per cent.