REJAUL KARIM BYRON

The government is tightening oversight of development spending by introducing tougher rules to weed out slow and wasteful projects and hold ministries accountable ahead of implementing a record development budget.

As part of it, the planning ministry has instructed all ministries and divisions to review projects that have achieved less than 30 percent progress and scrap those found to be no longer viable.

It has also directed ministries to investigate project delays, cost overruns, irregularities and take action against those responsible, introduce dashboard-based monitoring systems, appoint qualified project directors and speed up the implementation of projects that are ready to begin.

The directives came after decisions were taken at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in May. The planning ministry issued the instructions to ministries and divisions on June 14.

Economists welcomed the move, saying trimming slow and wasteful projects was “long overdue”. However, they said the reforms would make little difference unless ministries implement the directives properly and approve future ones only after ensuring full implementation readiness.

Bangladesh has become progressively worse at implementing its Annual Development Programme (ADP) over the past three fiscal years.

The implementation rate fell from 84.16 percent in FY2022-23 to 80.63 percent in FY2023-24 before dropping to 67.85 percent in FY2024-25. The average implementation rate since FY2008-09 stands at 79 percent, according to official data.

In its letter, the planning ministry said ministries and divisions now can assess whether long-delayed projects