Editorial
Slashed ADP
What does it mean?
One ought to be surprised. And yet the news that only a third of the Annual Development Plan has been utilized in the last seven months does not quite surprise us. And that is for the simple reason that over these past few years fund utilization has generally been low. That is in itself a telling comment on the efficiency with which the government or, more precisely, its various ministries and departments perform. As a result of the low utilization of funds this year, the ADP will likely be slashed by as much as Tk. 5,500 crore. In other words, in the seven months we speak of, of the total allotment for this fiscal year, 34 per cent or Tk. 15, 784 crore has been spent altogether.
Which leads us to the next point: if fund utilization is this slow, the argument that adequate foreign aid is slow in coming or that local resources are unable to meet demands simply does not hold water. Observe the figures again. The ministries together were able to use only 41 per cent of local allocations for development. In the region of foreign aid utilization, the figures are even lower, a mere 24 per cent. And despite what the planning ministry might tell the country about funds utilization lately picking up speed, the fact remains that such a slow utilization of resources is not only a sign of sloth on the part of the ministries but is also illustrative of cluttered decision making processes. This explains why there are so many carry-over projects. Basically, in a rush to utilize the remainder of the funds, government ministries and departments will be tempted to spend money on projects adopted more on political than economic consideration. Besides, the quality of project implementation will be compromised.
Isn't it time for the government to streamline its work, specifically by seeing funds allocation through to a successful, satisfactory implementation of projects that also ensured quality public spending?
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