Slow Progress: Govt trims Tk12,000cr from major dev projects
Staff Reporter:
The interim government has decided to cut more than Tk 12,000 crore from allocations for eight of the top 10 priority development projects in the Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP), citing slow implementation and fiscal pressure.
Planning ministry sources said allocations for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will remain unchanged, while funding for the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway will be increased. Allocations for the remaining eight major projects, however, are set to be reduced.
The revised ADP is expected to be approved at a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) on Monday, chaired by Chief Adviser of the interim government Professor Muhammad Yunus.
A senior Planning Ministry official said large projects often receive substantial allocations at the beginning of the fiscal year, but low implementation progress makes it difficult to utilise the funds fully. Weak revenue collection has also forced the government to revise spending downward, he added.
Projects facing allocation cuts include MRT Line-6, MRT Line-1, MRT Line-5 (North), the four-lane highway from Hatikumrul in Sirajganj to Rangpur, the Dhaka-Sylhet four-lane highway, the Matarbari Port Development Project, the expansion of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project from the airport to Gazipur.
In the current ADP, MRT Line-1 was allocated Tk 8,631 crore. Under the revised ADP, the allocation is proposed to be slashed to Tk 801 crore, marking a reduction of Tk 7,830 crore.
The allocation for extending MRT Line-6 from Motijheel to Kamalapur is set to fall from Tk 1,347 crore to Tk 1,023 crore, while funding for MRT Line-5 (North) will be reduced from Tk 1,490 crore to Tk 592 crore.
The Matarbari Port Development Project is expected to see its allocation cut from Tk 4,086 crore to Tk 1,085 crore.
For the Dhaka-Sylhet four-lane highway project, the allocation will be reduced by Tk 55 crore to Tk 1,668 crore. The expansion of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport will see a cut of Tk 733 crore, bringing its revised allocation down to Tk 306 crore.
The BRT project from the airport to Gazipur will have its allocation reduced by Tk 256 crore to Tk 168 crore, while the four-lane highway from Hatikumrul to Rangpur will see a cut of Tk 310 crore, with Tk 1,562 crore proposed in the revised ADP.
The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project will retain its original allocation of Tk 10,011 crore.
In contrast, the allocation for the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway project is being increased by Tk 1,134 crore, raising its total allocation to Tk 4,476 crore in the revised ADP.
Overall, the government plans to cut around Tk 30,000 crore from the ADP for the current fiscal year. Planning ministry officials said the revised ADP size may be fixed at Tk 2 lakh crore, down from the original Tk 2.30 lakh crore.
Domestic funding is proposed to be reduced from Tk 1.44 lakh crore to Tk 1.28 lakh crore, while project aid is expected to decline from Tk 86,000 crore to Tk 72,000 crore.
The current ADP includes 1,171 projects. Last year, the revised ADP was reduced by Tk 49,000 crore, bringing its size down to Tk 2.16 lakh crore.