ADP in focus

WITH the ADP implementation during July-December 2013 being estimated at only 27 percent, the government has woken up to accelerate the pace. The low rate was explained in terms of political unrest.
The first quarter, however, is largely taken up by paper work and the second sees the face of implementation following staggered disbursements. Usually the last two quarters are marked by hurried pace of project execution with the result that quality work and meeting of physical targets suffer a good deal. With the AL government re-elected through a controversial election it feels the pressure of doing a better job with the remainder of the fiscal 2013-14. So it has decided not to make a deep cut in the outlay  which will be around Tk 60,000 crore and that the pace of implementation will be fast-tracked to round off the year with considerable development accomplishments.
Among the methods being talked about are holding two Ecnec meetings a week, the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) placing a report on project implementation in every Ecnec meeting and holding detailed weekly committee and cabinet discussions on implementation under the fast-track six big projects.
Waiving some clauses of the public procurement rules is being apparently contemplated, something that the development partners have often been wary of.
To our mind, implementation capacity of some ministries would have to be revamped with delegation of authority to project directors. Also, the IMED will need a greater voice.