Staff Correspondent

The National Economic Council (NEC) today approved a TK 2,16,000 crore Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for the current fiscal year (FY25) with the highest priority on the transport and communications sector.

The approval came from a meeting of the NEC held at the NEC Conference Room in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area today with NEC Chairperson and Chief Adviser Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus in the chair.

The original ADP outlay for the current fiscal year was TK 2,65,000 crore. The RADP allocation in the current fiscal year witnessed a decrease of TK 49,000 crore or 18.49 percent of the allocation.

Of the approved RADP allocation of TK 2,16,000 crore, TK 1,35,000 crore will come from the government of Bangladesh portion while the rest of TK 81,000 crore will come from project loans or grants.

However, considering an allocation of TK 10,126.29 crore from the concerned organization’s own fund, the overall RADP outlay stood at TK 2,26,126.29 crore.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud said that from now on, they would try to speed up the pace of implementation of the RADP.

He said the Chief Adviser in the day’s NEC meeting also noted that stability has almost been restored while the implementation rate of the revised ADP could be further expedited.

Turning to the implementation rate of the ADP during the July-January period of the current fiscal year (FY25), the Planning Adviser said that the implementation rate during this period reached nearly 22 percent or exactly 21.52 percent although the utilization rate during this period in the previous fiscal years totalled 30 percent on an average.

He said that the concerned ministries, divisions and the implementing agencies would try to deliver their all-out efforts to speed up further the implementation rate.

Dr Mahmud also informed that they would try to make the tender process of works much more transparent in the coming days.

Putting more emphasis on the health and education sector, he said that more doctors and nurses should be appointed in the health sector while more training should also be imparted to them.

Out of the 57 ministries and divisions, the RADP allocation of eight ministries and divisions witnessed 17.28 percent increase while the allocation of 49 ministries and divisions witnessed 28.71 percent decline.

Out of the 1437 projects with allocations in the RADP, some 1212 are investment projects, some 28 are survey projects, some 112 are technical assistance projects while 85 are from own financing. Besides, some 313 projects have been kept for completion in the current fiscal year.

Of the highest allocation recipient five sectors, the transport and communication sector received the highest allocation of TK 48,253.01 crore (22.34%), followed by Power and Energy Sector with TK 31,897.61 crore (14.77%), Education sector TK 20,349.89 crore (9.42%), Housing and community facilities TK 19,653.05 crore (9.09%), and Local Government and Rural Development TK 16,909.48 crore (7.83%).

Out of the highest allocated 10 ministries and divisions, the Local Government Division received an allocation of TK 36,158.96 crore (16.74%), followed by Power Division with TK 21,475.11 crore (9.94%), Road Transport and Highways Division TK 18,624.61 crore (8.62%), Primary and Mass Education TK 12,764.01 crore (5.91%), Science and Technology TK 12,129.63 crore (5.62%), Ministry of Railways TK 10,227.61 crore (4.74%), Ministry of Water Resources TK 10,211.72 crore (4.73%), Ministry of Shipping TK 7,153.70 crore (3.31%), Bridges Division TK 5,848.54 crore (2.71%) and Health Services Division TK 5,668.82 crore (2.62%).

Some 78 projects have been kept for implementation under the PPP initiative in the RADP of the current fiscal year while some 232 projects have been kept for implementation under the Climate Change Trust Fund.