DHAKA, September 26, 2019 (BSS) – Asian Development Bank (ADB) organized
“Faster Project Implementation Week 2019” at the Pan pacific Sonargaon Hotel
in Dhaka and BRAC-CDM, Rajendrapur on September 22-25 to catalyze faster and
quality implementation of development projects for delivering optimum
benefits to the target stakeholders.
The Faster Project Implementation Week 2019, with the theme of
“Delivering Faster and Better Development Outcomes”, focused on collaborative
learning and sharing of knowledge on development projects through interactive
workshop sessions for government officials involved in development
activities, said an ADB press release today.
LGRD Minister Md Tazul Islam opened the Week at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon
Hotel on September 22 as the chief guest. Manmohan Parkash, Country Director
of Bangladesh Resident Mission, ADB; Jeffrey Taylor, Director for ADB’s
Portfolio and Financial Management Department and Farida Nasreen, Additional
Secretary of Economic Relations Division were special guests at the opening
session.
At the closing ceremony on the first day of the event, Minister of
Agriculture Muhammad Abdur Razzaque was the chief guest, while Alvaro Salas,
Ambassador of Spain to Bangladesh and Hitoshi Hirata, Chief Representative,
Bangladesh Office, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were special
guests.
Over 200 government project directors, project staffs, development
experts, and representatives of consultants and contractors attended the
event.
As part of the Week on September 24-25, participants also discussed the
details of how to further improve procurement processes and contract
management at the BRAC-CDM, Rajendrapur.
Complimenting the Government on achieving significant successes in the
last 10 years, Country Director Manmohan Parkash noted that faster and
better-quality project implementation could further accelerate the pace of
development and spread benefits more equitably.
Parkash highlighted three pillars of faster project implementation:
efficient procurement, sound contract management, and good governance.
“Faster project implementation is key to effective and efficient
development,” said Country Director Manmohan Parkash.
“Completing projects faster helps people benefit early. The learning of
this Week can be applied to all projects, including ADB-assisted projects,”
he added.
Parkash called for further reforms including delegation of authority
together with higher accountability to operational staff to expedite
procurement processes.
He also highlighted ADB’s new procurement policy that adopts principle
and risk-based approaches, and includes Quality and Value for Money, in
addition to Economy, Fairness, Efficiency, and Transparency as the new
principles of procurement.
Under contract management, three fundamental aspects– quality control,
time control, and price control were indicated as requirements to successful
contract management in procurement, bidding, and project implementation
phases.
Country Director Parkash also underscored the need to ensure good
governance by conducting proper due diligence, and mitigating fraud,
corruption, collusion, and coercion in procurement and contract
implementation to achieve better development outcomes.
ADB and Bangladesh have a long and enduring partnership of over 46 years.
Bangladesh is the second largest portfolio in ADB, comprising 54 projects
under implementation with a current portfolio of over $10 billion.
In the last five years, volume of ADB operations in Bangladesh tripled.
In 2018, ADB approved highest level of support of $4.8 billion to Bangladesh,
with eight sovereign projects totaling $2.2 billion in loans and grants,
$16.5 million in technical assistance, and $2.6 billion mobilized in co-
financing.