BANGLADESH

NEC approves Tk 2,07,550cr RADP for FY22

The National Economic Council (NEC) today approved a Taka 2,07,550 crore Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for the current fiscal year (FY22) where transport and communication sector
continued to enjoy the highest priority.

“The NEC approved a Taka 2,07,550 crore RADP for the current fiscal year,” said Planning Minister MA Mannan while briefing reporters after the meeting. Report BSS

NEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting virtually from her official Ganobhaban residence while Ministers, State Ministers and Secretaries concerned attended the meeting from the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area and also from the Cabinet Division conference room at Bangladesh Secretariat.

State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam, Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present at the briefing.

Planning Division Secretary Prodeep Ranjan Chakrabarty said the RADP witnessed a Taka 17,774.14 crore cut (7.89 percent of original ADP allocation) from the original ADP outlay of Taka 2,25,324.14 crore.

The funding from foreign sources experienced the entire cut of Taka 17,774.23 crore to stand at Taka 70,250 crore while the funding from the local sources increased slightly to stand at Taka 1,37,300 crore.

However, considering the RADP allocation of Taka 9,613.68 crore for the autonomous bodies and corporations, the overall RADP allocation for the current fiscal year (FY22) stood at Taka 2,17,163.68 crore.

The RADP size of the current fiscal year became Taka 9,907crore or 5.01 percent higher than the RADP size of Taka 1,97,643 crore in the last fiscal year (FY21).

Planning Minister Mannan said the day’s RADP meeting highlighted six strong areas of the country’s economy which are attaining nearly seven percent GDP growth in the last fiscal year, good performances of the agricultural sector, containing the general point to point inflation rate under control through ensuring the supply chain and sound management, handling the Covid-19 situation nicely compared to other countries of the world even the developed countries, maintaining the export market and the labour market and also about the government’s step to roll out the universal pension scheme.

Revealing some of the directives and observations from the Premier in the NEC meeting, he said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appreciated the operations of e-GP being run by the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) under the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Ministry of Planning in curbing tender manipulation.

The NEC Chairperson as a whole thanked the Ministry of Planning and other concerned ministries and divisions for attaining around two percent more ADP implementation rate during the July-January period of the current fiscal year (FY22) compared to the same period of the last fiscal year (FY21) despite the pandemic.

The Planning Minister said Sheikh Hasina asked the authorities concerned to make the project formulation and approval process much easier as well as speedily disbursing the amount of compensation to the affected people owing to land acquisition.

He said the Premier also suggested the concerned authorities to snap photos of the proposed lands to be acquired so that none could demand access compensation after erecting new structures prior to land acquisition.

When asked whether the ongoing war between super power Russia and Ukraine would impact the economy of Bangladesh, Mannan said Bangladesh is against war even the Prime Minister had advocated for peace time and again.

Replying to another question, he said that due to the war, there would not be any direct impact on the ongoing work of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project since Russia has been providing the necessary equipments, knowledge and funding for the project through a single channel.

“To my observation, I don’t see any impact, but I can’t talk about tomorrow.
As of now, I don’t see any impact…The heat of the war is definitely there, but our politics and economy are not feeling it…,” he added.

Replying to another question, he said the general point to point inflation rate in Bangladesh is still low compared to neighboring India and some other countries.

“We’ve been able to contain inflation through necessary market interventions. Our purchasing capacity is now better compared to the past for which the impact of inflation is now less,” he added.

In the meeting, Planning Division Secretary Prodeep said the Premier unveiled the second compilation of her directives given in various ECNEC meetings.

Replying to another question, he said that the foreign funding in the RADP has been reduced in consultation with the concerned development partners, ERD and the sponsoring ministries and divisions.

Out of the highest allocation recipient 10 sectors in the RADP, the transport and the communication sector got Taka 55,827.36 crore, followed by the power and energy sector Taka 39,214.09 crore, the housing and community facilities sector Taka 23,595.51 crore, education sector Taka 20,824.46 crore, local government and rural development sector Taka 15,520.29 crore, health sector Taka 13,797.26 crore, environment, climate change and water resources sector Taka 9,084.98 crore, agriculture sector Taka 7,279.48 crore, industry and economic services sector Taka 4,537.84 crore and public discipline and security sector Taka 3,478.05 crore.

Of the 10 highest allocation recipient Ministries and divisions in the fresh RADP out of 58 budgeting entities, the Local Government Division received the highest allocation of Taka 34,350.28 crore, followed by the Road Transport
and Highways Division Taka 28,292.12 crore, Power Division Taka 22,723.91 crore, Ministry of Science and Technology Taka 15,894.15 crore, Ministry of Railways Taka 12,575.90 crore, Health Services Division Taka 9,985.42 crore, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Taka 9,207.34 crore, Secondary and Higher Education Division Taka 8,259.73 crore, Water Resources Ministry Taka 7,387.36 crore and Bridges Division Taka 5,723.15 crore.

Among the mega projects, the Rooppur nuclear power plant project witnessed a downsized RADP allocation of Taka 14,836.39 crore followed by the Matarbari 2×600 MW ultra super critical coal powered power plant Taka 6,162 crore, Fourth Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP-4) Taka 6,138.03 crore, Padma Bridge rail link project (first revised) Taka 6,137.34 crore, Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (MRT-6) Taka 4,233 crore, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Expansion (first phase and first revised) project Taka 3,472.60 crore, Padma Multipurpose Bridge Construction project(second revised) Taka 2,499.99 crore, SASEC road connectivity project-II: Elenga-Hatikumrul-Rangpur highway upgradtion into four-lane project (first revised) Taka 2,344.72 crore, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib railway bridge construction project Taka 2,177.35 crore and land acquisition and utility transfer project: support to Dhaka(Kanchpur)-Sylhet-Tamabil highway into four-lane and construction of
separate service lanes on both sides with Taka 2,150 crore.

Some 1,770 projects were included in the RADP for the current fiscal year with necessary allocations. Out of those projects, some 1,520 schemes are investment projects, some 142 are technical assistance projects while some
108 projects are being implemented with the own fund of concerned organisations.

Besides, some 78 projects were kept for implementation under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative in the RADP of the current fiscal year(FY22)

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