Power Div to seek lower foreign aid allocation

The Power Division has sought lowering of the external resources allocation for project execution by almost a quarter after failing to utilise it fully, officials said on Monday.

The officials said the Division has sought Tk 83.74 billion funds in the Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for the current fiscal year (FY), lower than its original allocation of Tk 109.28 billion.

"Since the Power Division has been failing to execute the foreign-aided project in time, we may consider their revised proposal for lesser fund demand from the external resources," said a senior Planning Commission (PC) official.

However, the Power Division has sought Tk 168.90 billion in the revised ADP from the government's internal resources, up by Tk 41.28 billion from the original allocation.

In the current fiscal year's ADP, the government allocated Tk 127.62 billion funds for the Division from domestic resources.

A power division official said the implementation of some foreign-funded projects has suffered leading to lower utilisation of allocation of external resources.

However, the executing agencies have sought additional local funds as the total number of projects is going to rise to 106 in the revised ADP from the original 88 projects, he told the FE.

The Commission has started work on the revision of the Tk 1.73 trillion ADP for the current financial year, adjusting requirements of all the government ministries and divisions.

Power is a top priority sector of the government as the country needs to meet the electricity supply shortfall against the demand.

The Division, which is the highest development fund holder, has spent Tk 93.77 billion or 37 per cent of its total allocations in the ADP during July-November period of the fiscal year 2019.

The government is committed to generating 20,000 MW of electricity by FY2021 where it needs investment worth billions of dollars.

The Commission official said that they were reviewing the fund proposals of the Power Division.

"After scrutiny, we will finalise the new outlay for the revised ADP," he added.

[email protected]