The government has taken an initiative to review the progress of the foreign-funded projects regularly in a bid to ensure proper and timely implementation of the schemes.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has formed a committee headed by her Principal Secretary to review the progress of the foreign-financed projects after every two months.
She formed the committee while chairing the 3rd meeting of the Bangladesh Planning Commission at the NEC conference room in the city on Wednesday, which was held after a gap of nine years.
The 2nd meeting of the Planning Commission was held in 2015.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Division Senior Secretary Satyajit Karmakar said the premier has directed the authorities concerned to properly spend the fund of the aided projects to ensure their smooth disbursement.
“She (PM) formed a committee, headed by the PM’s principal secretary, which would review the progress of the foreign-funded projects after every two months and identify the problems and barriers of such projects towards ensuring smooth implementation and timely disbursement of foreign funds,” he said.
The planning secretary said the Prime Minister suggested not taking less important projects, rather taking important projects, which would yield a good return.
Planning Minister Major General (retd) Abdus Salam said a proposal was placed in the meeting to form a project scrutiny committee composed of all the members of the Planning Commission to undertake proper and important projects.
The Prime Minister agreed the
proposal when she was apprised that such practice would expedite the process of project selection and scrutiny.
Focusing on PM’s directives given in the meeting, the Planning Minister said she put emphasis on conducting properly the feasibility study before undertaking a project. Otherwise, the project will be stalled while there will be cost and time overrun, he said.
Salam said the meeting discussed formation of an expert panel or pool of project directors and put importance for imparting training to the project directors in order to ensure timely implementation of the projects.
The Minister said the Prime Minister gave directives for properly implementing the foreign funded projects as per the concerned agreements.
Replying to a question, the Planning Secretary said the meeting discussed the overall public investment scenario of the government as it has expedited the growth. The public investment ratio to GDP stood at 7.6 percent in FY23 which was 5.5 percent in 2011. The government has increased such public investment gradually, he noted.
When asked if there is any chance to stop funding of the aided projects by any development partner, the Planning Minister ruled out the possibility.
“If anyone does such a thing, then we won’t sit idle. An elected government is now in place in the country and no one would be able to make any influence on us. The development partners aren’t giving us loans without any interest, rather they will get interests alongside the principal amount. Both the development partners and the government want to implement the projects in a proper way,” he said.
Salam said the meeting also discussed whether the development projects are aligned with the 8th Five Year Plan. Besides, work is underway to frame the 9th Five Year Plan, he added.