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ADP spending dips on election distraction

Rejaul Karim Byron
ADP implementation dipped 2 percentage points in the first quarter of fiscal 2013-14 from a year ago owing to diversion of ministers' attention towards the national election.
Between July and September, only 11 percent of the allocation for Annual Development Programme (ADP) was used, whereas the implementation was 13 percent in the corresponding period of fiscal 2012-13.
SomeTk 65,872 crore has been set aside for ADP in the budget for fiscal 2013-14; of the amount, Tk 6,994 crore was expended in the first quarter.
"The government's attention is now on the parliament elections. The required motivation for implementation of priority projects is lacking," Zaid Bakht, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), told The Daily Star.
"And not just these three months, ADP implementation in the whole year will not be satisfactory," he said.
However, the projects which could sway the voters, such as the ones under the local
government, are being pushed, in place of the large infrastructure projects which could help the economy, said a planning ministry official.
"In a pre-budget meeting, the lawmakers made demands for more allocation for construction of small rural roads, bridges and culverts to appease the voters," he added.
The local government division has spent 21 percent of its allocation in the first three months, the highest among the 10 biggest ministries and divisions, according to statistics from Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).
ADP spending dips on election distraction
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In contrast, the implementation in the other nine big ministries and divisions such as the power division, bridge division, energy and mineral resources division, health and family welfare ministry and the roads division ranges from 0.16 percent to 10 percent.
Among the 54 ministries and divisions, 23 implemented 0 to 8 percent of their allocations.
Of the amount used in the first three months of fiscal 2013-14, Tk 5,033 crore came from the government’s own fund and Tk 1,961 crore from foreign aid.
The bridges division, which got the third highest allocation in the ADP due to the Padma Bridge project, expended only 0.16 percent of its allotment.
The health ministry continued with its poor implementation from last fiscal year: in the first three months it used up only 9 percent of its allocation.
The roads division implemented only 10 percent of its share, due to no significant progress in many big projects like the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway project.