Lowest ADP Implementation in Five Years Recorded in July-March Period

Staff Correspondent

The Annual Development Program (ADP) implementation rate for the July-March period of this fiscal year has hit a five-year low at 36.65%. Analysts attribute this decline to instability and complications under the current unelected government.

The government has not only lagged in ADP implementation but also in spending allocated funds on approved projects.

Compared to the same period last year, spending dropped by BDT 24,714 crore. This year, BDT 82,894 crore was spent during July-March, compared to BDT 1,07,612 crore during the same period last year.

The Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Ministry disclosed this data on Thursday, April 17, after analyzing the ADP implementation figures for the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

Planning Ministry officials noted that implementation hurdles have arisen due to the unelected government’s policies.

The current fiscal year’s ADP was initially set at BDT 2,78,289 crore but was later reduced to BDT 2,26,165 crore by the Yunus government. Despite this adjustment, the desired implementation remains unachieved.

Among the 13 ministries and divisions under the ADP, none managed to utilize even 25% of their allocated funds in the first nine months of the fiscal year. These include the Health Services Division, the Chief Advisor’s Office, the Health Education and Family Welfare Division, the Public Security Division, the Ministry of Defence, the Posts and Telecommunications Division, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Land, the Election Commission Secretariat, the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, the Internal Resources Division, and the Bangladesh Public Service Commission.

The government has been accused of leveraging the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) selectively against opposition party members, primarily targeting the Awami League, while overlooking other corrupt entities.

Notably, two ACC projects with allocations totaling BDT 9.96 crore have not utilized any funds in the past nine months, resulting in a zero percent ADP implementation rate. Economists believe this reflects governmental inefficiency.