The National Economic Council (NEC) has approved the Annual Development Program (ADP) for 1,515 projects in the new fiscal year (2021-22) at a cost of Tk 2,36,793.09 crore.
The approval came from a meeting of the NEC held on Tuesday with NEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The Premier joined the meeting virtually from her official Gonobhaban residence while ministers, state ministers, secretaries concerned and planning commission members joined the meeting from the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and the Cabinet Room at Bangladesh Secretariat.
Briefing reporters after the meeting virtually, Planning Minister MA Mannan informed them that the meeting approved an allocation of Tk 11,468.95 crore for the autonomous bodies or corporations.
Out of the original ADP size of Tk 2,25,324.14 crore, Tk 1,37,299.91 crore will come from domestic sources while the rest of Tk 88,024.23 crore from foreign sources.
Besides, Tk 6,717.48 crore will come from domestic sources while Tk 4,751.47 crore from foreign sources out of the total allocation of Tk 11,468.95 crore against the autonomous bodies or corporations.
The new ADP for fiscal year (FY22) witnesses a total of 1,426 projects including 1,308 investment projects and 118 technical assistance projects.
Incorporating 89 projects against the autonomous bodies or corporations, the total number of projects stood at 1,515.
In the new ADP, Tk 4,147 crore has been earmarked as block allocation against the new projects of which Tk 2,893 crore will be mobilized from local sources while Tk 1,254 crore as project loan.
A total of 596 unapproved new projects have been incorporated in the new ADP without any allocation while some 141 new unapproved projects have been included in the new ADP subject to availability of foreign funds.
There are 88 projects to be implemented under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative while some 356 projects have been kept for completion by June 30, 2022.
Besides, some 73 projects which were kept for completion by June this year have been carried forward for completion by the next fiscal year (FY22).
The Planning Minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the meeting asked the authorities concerned to complete those projects which could not be completed due to the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic with highest priority as well as to complete those projects speedily which are linked with the wellbeing of common people.
Mannan said the Premier also put emphasis on conducting more research adding that a separate fund should be earmarked for conducting research especially in the health and agriculture sectors.
He said the Prime Minister noted that the foreign consultants in development projects should be welcome to such an extent which is necessary, but foreign consultants should not be allowed in a wholesale way. Rather, those overseas consultants should have to be recruited after proper scrutiny.
The Planning Minister said the economy of Bangladesh is performing well despite the shock of the pandemic due to the good performances in the agriculture sector and also for the domestic labour and the hard-earned remittances being sent by the expatriate Bangladeshis.
Referring to the recent attainment of $2,227 per capita income, Mannan said the per capita income has witnessed a jump of 9 percent despite the pandemic and this shows the resilience of the domestic economy.
He also informed that the current size of the country’s GDP is Tk 30,111 billion or $355.04 billion.
Answering to a question, the Planning Minister said the Ministry of Health has attained good capacity over the years in implementing development projects.
He said although there was a bit of sloth in the operations of the Health Ministry when the COVID-19 hit the country last year, it got momentum in its operations and subsequently made a pick up within the next one or two months after the attack of the pandemic.
“The death rate in Bangladesh due to COVID-19 is still much less compared to that in many developed countries of the world,” Mannan observed.
Replying to another question, he said the government wants to share information with the public through the media if the information is not classified.
According to sector-wise allocation in the new ADP, the transport and communication sector received the highest allocation of Tk 61,631 crore (27.35 percent) followed by the power and energy sector the 2nd highest Taka 45,868 crore (20.36%) and the housing and community facilities sector the 3rd highest Tk 23,747 crore (10.54 percent).
Besides, the education sector received an allocation of Tk 23,178 crore (10.29 percent) followed by the health sector with Tk 17,307 crore (7.68 percent), local government and rural development sector with Tk 14,274 crore (6.34 percent), environment, climate change and water sector with Tk 8,526 crore (3.78 percent), the agriculture sector with Tk 7,665 crore (3.40 percent), industry and economic services sector with Tk 4,638 crore (2.06 percent) and the science and ICT sector with Tk 3,587 crore (1.59 percent).
