Editorial
ADP implementation picking up
Why some important ministries lagging behind?
On January 5 this year in a meeting presided over by Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman to review the status of ADP implementation, it was revealed that between July and October 15 percent of the ADP allocation had been utilised. This was six percent below the figure achieved in the corresponding period of the previous ADP. In less than two weeks i.e. on January 18 finance minister held the second review meeting -- the frequency somewhat reflecting election fever -- which showed a slight improvement in the situation, 23 percent of the funds having been spent. And, in December alone, the figure is likely to have improved by 10 percent accounting for 33 percent rate of utilisation. Even so, the ADP implementation rate in the first six months does fall way short of 50 percent which should have been attained past the half way point of the current fiscal. The appraisal is edifying, relate as it does, to 15 important ministries and departments handling Tk 18,736 crore of the total ADP fund of Tk 24,500 crore. While the latest burst of an upward trend in the implementation is welcome, we have to say that in spite of the thrust given by the government earlier on to accelerate the pace of ADP implementation in an election year, the juggernaut of the line ministries has been hard to roll on. Election or no election, there will always be the recital of legal complications, procurement bottlenecks, natural vagaries, donor conditionalities so on and so forth to palm off the stock excuses. The Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) ministry has proved to be the most effective spender at 33 percent of the allocation. The other ministry besides the LGRD where there are many projects having 'an election orientation', namely, the communications ministry has, however, spent only 14 percent of its allocation. As a matter of fact, some of the major ministries like energy, home, health and family planning and water resources have been markedly slow in spending their allocations. The question to ask is, if some ministries could succeed why must the others have failed their targets? Do we need special allocations or election time pressure to make things work? The truth seems to be that systemic flaws having to do with an incremental politicisation of development processes from government to government do override rational economic considerations of growth. Unless we carry out reforms in that area we can't develop at the desired pace.
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