Bigger development projects in the transport and energy sectors need to be prioritised by the government to have better results in the Annual Development Programmes (ADP) implementation, said World Bank (WB) senior economist Zahid Hussain on Sunday.Prioritised implementation of the ADP can give a boost to the economic growth of the country, he said while addressing a media briefing on “The FY14 Budget” at WB office.
Zahid also recommended identifying key development projects at advanced stage of implementation, such as the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway Upgradation Project.
“It’s possible to speed up the implementation of projects at the advanced stage as these have already passed through the most time-consuming processes like land acquisition and getting other clearances,” he said.
“In transport, seven projects account for 21.7 percent of the FY14 ADP allocation. These projects altogether have already used up to 26 percent of the estimated project cost by 2012,” he noted.
“In power, eight projects account for 53 percent of the FY14 ADP allocation. These projects have used up to 34 percent of the estimated project cost by 2012,” he added.
The WB economist also pointed out that it becomes difficult to speed up the implementation of the ADP when a large number of projects with small allocations are approved in the fiscal planning.
“A large increase in the ADP size has been proposed with a large number of projects. There are 1046 projects-plus 662 unapproved projects. Many of these have allocations as little as one lakh taka. The government can’t speed up the ADP implementation with so many projects with so little allocation,” he said.
Zahid also noted that because of the political transition in the country, the ADP implementation will need special administrative attention.
Speaking on the occasion, WB country director to Bangladesh Johannes Zutt said businesses in the country is going to suffer in the longer run without steps for the extension of the transport infrastructure, or for the production of low cost energy.(Source: UNB)
