DHAKA, May 18, 2020 (BSS) – The government is likely to approve a Taka
2,05,145 crore Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the next fiscal year
(FY21) tomorrow giving the highest priority to the transport sector.
The National Economic Council (NEC) will sit tomorrow in a meeting at the
NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will chair the meeting through video
conferencing from her official Ganobhaban residence from 11:00 am.
“Out of the total ADP outlay, Taka 1,34,643 crore will come from the local
sources while Taka 70,501.72 crore from the foreign sources,” said a senior
Planning Commission official.
The official told BSS that the new ADP for the next fiscal year is Taka
12,224 crore higher than the revised ADP of the current fiscal year (FY20).
Talking to BSS, Planning Division Secretary Muhammad Nurul Amin said this
new ADP would prioritize most the sectors like transport, health, agriculture
and social safety nets.
He said that the draft allocations against various ministries and divisions
have been finalized after holding detailed discussions with those.
“Hopefully, there will be no deficit in their allocations,”
Answering to a question, he said that the mega projects like Padma
Multipurpose Bridge and Metro Rail will have enough allocations in the new
ADP so that there is no crisis of fund towards smooth implementation of these
projects.
Asked about their plan in the new ADP for facing the impacts of novel
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Amin said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has
already approved two separate projects under the current ADP- one with Taka
1127 crore and another with Taka 1364 crore – to prevent and control this
deadly virus.
“If this situation continues, such projects can also come in the next ADP
if the Prime Minister wishes,” added the planning secretary.
Earlier on May 12, the Planning Commission finalized the Taka 2,05,145
crore draft ADP for the next fiscal year (FY21).
The draft ADP was finalized at an extended meeting of the Planning
Commission with Planning Minister MA Mannan in the chair.
The Planning Commission official said among the allocations for the mega
projects, the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project got the highest proposed
allocation with Taka 15,691 crore while the Paira Deep Sea Port Project the
lowest Taka 350 crore.
Besides, the single line dual gauge track construction from Dohazari to
Cox’s Bazar via Ramu then Ghumdum near Myanmar is likely to see an allocation
of Taka 1,500 crore followed by Taka 5,000 crore to the Padma Multipurpose
Bridge Project, Taka 4,370 crore to the Metro Rail (MRT Line 6) Project, Taka
3,685 crore to the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, Taka 3,670 crore to
Matarbari Ultra Super Critical coal-fired Power Plant Project.
Another official at the Planning Commission said that the new ADP for FY21
is likely to see a record Taka 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 will see higher priority on
health, agriculture, social safety nets and in generating more employments.
Besides, such a huge amount of block allocation has been kept to face any
kind of situation like the COVID-19.
Apart from this, a total of 61 projects have been included in the list of
Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative in the new ADP.
The draft ADP was earlier finalized based on the demands from various
ministries and divisions and this draft ADP would be given final approval
tomorrow at the NEC meeting.
In the new draft ADP, the transport sector got the highest allocation with
25.25 percent or Taka 52,183 crore followed by the 2nd highest physical
infrastructure sector with Taka 25,795 crore, the 3rd highest power sector
with Taka 24,804 crore while the education sector got the 4th highest
allocation with Taka 23,390 crore.
Besides, in the draft new ADP, the Science and Technology Sector got an
allocation of Taka 18,458 crore followed by Taka 15,555 crore to the rural
development sector, Taka 13,033 crore to the Health sector, Taka 8,352 crore
to the agriculture sector, Taka 5,527 crore to the Water Resources Sector,
Taka 4049 crore to the Public Administration sector.
The Planning Commission official said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the
number of development projects in the new ADP will be slightly less with
1,588 projects excluding those from the autonomous bodies.
In the Revised ADP for the current fiscal year, the number of projects was
1,744.