Editorial
Project aid utilisation
Speed up implementation
While the current fiscal year (2010-11) year draws to its final quarter, utilisation of the project funds remains as sluggish as ever. And this has the potential to further compound the problem by impacting negatively on the project aid disbursement regime thereby slowing down the utilisation further..
That this is a matter of serious concern has been expressed candidly by the finance minister who blamed it both on the government and the multilateral donors.
It cannot be gainsaid that poor utilisation of ADP is a perennial problem with the administration's implementation machinery. It is a common experience that the finance ministers under the successive governments have been coming up with ambitious budgets with equally ambitious Annual Development Programmes (ADPs). But optimism notwithstanding, at the fiscal year's end we are invariably back to square one. As always it is inefficiency and sloth that are a spanner on the works of development. And as the finance minister has further noted, delay in decision-making due to excessive formalities at the donors' end do also impact on fund utilisation by delaying procurement planning and tendering process here at home. Add to it the shortage of manpower in the projects being implemented.
We are too familiar with these drawbacks. But except blaming the system nothing new has come out from policymakers at the top on attacking the problem effectively. It is therefore expected that the government would address the issue in earnest by strengthening the implementation machinery to utilise as much of the project assistance as possible. Meanwhile, the government needs to engage the development partners more intensely with a view to speeding up the fund disbursement process and streamlining the constraints including cumbersome formalities at their ends. At the same time, administrative reforms have to be carried out to rid the project bag of the proverbial ghost in the implementing agency.
Poor project implementation is affecting the quality of public spending. So, it is hoped, the administration would soon be able grow out of the blame culture, accept responsibility and remove all the barriers to expedite implementation of development projects with due caution exercised to ensure quality.
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