NEC approves Tk 2,05,145cr ADP for FY21

GBNEWS24 DESK//

The National Economic Council (NEC) today approved a Tk 2,05,145 crore Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the next fiscal year (FY21) giving the highest priority to the transport sector.

The approval came from a meeting of the NEC held at its conference room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

The Prime Minister chaired the meeting through video conferencing from her official Ganobhaban residence from 11 am.

“Out of the total ADP outlay, Tk 1,34,643 crore will come from the local sources while Tk 70,502 crore from the foreign sources,” said Planning Minister MA Mannan while briefing reporters after the meeting.

The minister said the NEC also approved Tk 9,466 crore against 89 projects of the autonomous bodies and corporations. Incorporating the funding of the autonomous bodies and corporations, the size of the overall ADP for the next fiscal year totaled Tk 2,14,611 crore.

The number of projects in the new ADP totaled 1584 including 1456 investment projects, 127 technical assistant projects, and one project from the Japan Debt Cancellation Fund (JDCF). Besides, there are 89 projects of the autonomous bodies and corporations.

The new ADP for the next fiscal year is Tk 12,224 crore higher than the revised ADP of the current fiscal year (FY20) which was Tk 1,92,921 crore.

The Planning Minister said the Prime Minister in the meeting mentioned the government’s various steps to prevent and control the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Mannan said Sheikh Hasina also acknowledged the relentless efforts from all concerned including the country’s doctors and nurses to deal with this deadly virus.

Revealing the implementation status of the ADP during the July-April period of the current fiscal year, Mannan said the executing agencies could spend Tk 98,840 crore during this period with an implementation rate of 49.13 percent. The executing agencies spent Taka 97,030 crore during the same period of the last fiscal year (FY19) with an utilization rate of 54.94 percent.

Answering a question, he said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in the meeting that if there is any further necessity, the projects with due merits would be considered taking into account the interests of the country’s people.

Earlier on May 12, the Planning Commission finalized the Tk 2,05,145 crore draft ADP for the next fiscal year (FY21).

In the new ADP, the transport sector got the highest allocation with 25.43 percent or Tk 52,183 crore followed by the 2nd highest physical planning, water supply and housing sector with Tk 25,795 crore (12.57% of ADP allocation), the 3rd highest power sector with Tk 24,804 crore (12.09% of ADP allocation) while the education and religion sector got the 4th highest allocation with Tk 23,390 crore (11.40% of ADP allocation).

Besides, in the draft new ADP, the Science and ICT Sector got an allocation of Tk18,448 crore (8.99% of ADP allocation) followed by Tk 15,555 crore (7.58% of ADP allocation) to the rural development and rural institutions sector, Tk 13,033 crore (6.35 % of ADP allocation) to the health, population and family welfare sector, Tk 8,352 crore (4.09% of ADP allocation) to the agriculture sector, Tk 5,527 crore (2.69% of ADP allocation) to the water resources sector, Tk 4048 crore (1.97% of ADP allocation) to the public administration sector.

Among the Ministries and Divisions, the Local Government Division got the highest allocation of Tk 31,131 crore followed by the Road Transport and Highways Division with Tk 24,825 crore, Power Division with Tk 24,804 crore, Ministry of Science and Technology with Tk 17,389 crore, Ministry of Railways with Tk 12,491 crore, Health Services Division with Tk 10,054 crore, Secondary and Higher Education Division with Tk 9,865 crore, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education with Tk 9,404 crore, Bridges Division with Tk 7,973 crore and the Ministry of Water Resources with Tk 6,269 crore.

According to the Planning Commission, among the allocations for the mega projects, the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project got the highest allocation with Tk 15,691 crore while the Paira Deep Sea Port Project the lowest Tk 350 crore.

Besides, the single line dual gauge track construction from Dohazari to Cox’s Bazar via Ramu then Ghumdum near Myanmar witnessed an allocation of Tk 1,500 crore followed by Tk 5,000 crore to the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project, Tk 4,370 crore to the Metro Rail (MRT Line 6) Project, Tk 3,685 crore to the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, Tk 3,670 crore to Matarbari Ultra Super Critical coal-fired Power Plant Project.

The new ADP for FY21 witnessed a record Tk 5,898.17 crore block allocation to spend that amount in case of any natural disaster or in any national need. The block allocation is also 2.87 percent of the overall ADP allocation.

In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the new ADP also enjoyed higher priority to health, agriculture, social safety nets and generating more employments.

Apart from this, a total of 61 projects have been included in the list of Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative in the new ADP.

Ministers and state ministers attended the meeting while Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present.