DHAKA, Sept 12, 2018 (BSS) – The government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) at a meeting today jointly reviewed the ADB-funded projects aiming to further improve the development results.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam and ADB Country Director Manmohan Parkash co-chaired the Tripartite Portfolio Review Meeting (TPRM) here, an ADB press release said.
The TPRM discussed the status of overall portfolio and prioritised actions to achieve development targets.
“The review is intended to deliver development results faster to the people by accelerating project implementation through early identification and quick resolution of project implementation issues,” Parkash said.
The executing agencies of government project were briefed and encouraged to use the new procurement policy approved in 2017.
Over 190 senior government officials, project directors and ADB staff took part in the second such review meeting in 2018.
ADB has currently 94 loans and grants for 55 projects with over US$ 9.5 billion under sovereign portfolio.
During January-August 2018, ADB approved loans of over US$ 1.6 billion to Bangladesh. Contract awards are higher by 123 percent with around US$ one billion, and disbursements are higher by 46 percent with US$ 586 million, compared to the same period in 2017.
More projects worth over US$ 600 million are proposed to be approved before the end of the year, thus the total approvals are likely to exceed US$ 2 billion in 2018.