DHAKA, May 19, 2020 (BSS) – The National Economic Council (NEC) today approved a Taka 2,05,145 crore Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the next fiscal year (FY21) giving the highest priority to the transport sector.
The approval came from a meeting of the NEC held at its conference room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The Prime Minister chaired the meeting through video conferencing from her official Ganobhaban residence from 11:00 am.
“Out of the total ADP outlay, Taka 1,34,643 crore will come from the local sources while Taka 70,502 crore from the foreign sources,” said Planning Minister MA Mannan while briefing reporters after the meeting.
The minister said the NEC also approved Taka 9,466 crore against 89 projects of the autonomous bodies and corporations. Incorporating the funding of the autonomous bodies and corporations, the size of the overall ADP for the next fiscal year totaled Taka 2,14,611 crore.
The number of projects in the new ADP totaled 1584 including 1456 investment projects, 127 technical assistant projects, and one project from the Japan Debt Cancellation Fund (JDCF). Besides, there are 89 projects of the autonomous bodies and corporations.
The new ADP for the next fiscal year is Taka 12,224 crore higher than the revised ADP of the current fiscal year (FY20) which was Taka 1,92,921 crore.
The Planning Minister said the Prime Minister in the meeting mentioned the government’s various steps to prevent and control the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Mannan said Sheikh Hasina also acknowledged the relentless efforts from all concerned including the country’s doctors and nurses to deal with this deadly virus.
Revealing the implementation status of the ADP during the July-April period of the current fiscal year, Mannan said the executing agencies could spend Taka 98,840 crore during this period with an implementation rate of 49.13 percent. The executing agencies spent Taka 97,030 crore during the same period of the last fiscal year (FY19) with an utilization rate of 54.94 percent.
Answering a question, he said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in the meeting that if there is any further necessity, the projects with due merits would be considered taking into account the interests of the country’s people.
Earlier on May 12, the Planning Commission finalized the Taka 2,05,145
crore draft ADP for the next fiscal year (FY21).
In the new ADP, the transport sector got the highest allocation with 25.43
percent or Taka 52,183 crore followed by the 2nd highest physical planning,
water supply and housing sector with Taka 25,795 crore (12.57% of ADP
allocation), the 3rd highest power sector with Taka 24,804 crore (12.09% of
ADP allocation) while the education and religion sector got the 4th highest
allocation with Taka 23,390 crore (11.40% of ADP allocation).
Besides, in the draft new ADP, the Science and ICT Sector got an
allocation of Taka 18,448 crore (8.99% of ADP allocation) followed by Taka
15,555 crore (7.58% of ADP allocation) to the rural development and rural
institutions sector, Taka 13,033 crore (6.35 % of ADP allocation) to the
health, population and family welfare sector, Taka 8,352 crore (4.09% of ADP
allocation) to the agriculture sector, Taka 5,527 crore (2.69% of ADP
allocation) to the water resources sector, Taka 4048 crore (1.97% of ADP
allocation) to the public administration sector.
Among the Ministries and Divisions, the Local Government Division got the
highest allocation of Taka 31,131 crore followed by the Road Transport and
Highways Division with Taka 24,825 crore, Power Division with Taka 24,804
crore, Ministry of Science and Technology with Taka 17,389 crore, Ministry of
Railways with Taka 12,491 crore, Health Services Division with Taka 10,054
crore, Secondary and Higher Education Division with Taka 9,865 crore,
Ministry of Primary and Mass Education with Taka 9,404 crore, Bridges
Division with Taka 7,973 crore and the Ministry of Water Resources with Taka
6,269 crore.
According to the Planning Commission, among the allocations for the mega
projects, the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project got the highest allocation
with Taka 15,691 crore while the Paira Deep Sea Port Project the lowest Taka
350 crore.
Besides, the single line dual gauge track construction from Dohazari to
Cox’s Bazar via Ramu then Ghumdum near Myanmar witnessed an allocation of
Taka 1,500 crore followed by Taka 5,000 crore to the Padma Multipurpose
Bridge Project, Taka 4,370 crore to the Metro Rail (MRT Line 6) Project, Taka
3,685 crore to the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, Taka 3,670 crore to
Matarbari Ultra Super Critical coal-fired Power Plant Project.
The new ADP for FY21 witnessed a record Taka 5,898.17 crore block
allocation to spend that amount in case of any natural disaster or in any
national need. The block allocation is also 2.87 percent of the overall ADP
allocation.
In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the new ADP also enjoyed higher priority
to health, agriculture, social safety nets and generating more employments.
Apart from this, a total of 61 projects have been included in the list of
Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative in the new ADP.
Ministers and state ministers attended the meeting while Planning
Commission members and secretaries concerned were present.