Overnight implementation is not development

THE Annual Development Programme (ADP) including that of the self financed projects achieved 62 percent of their development target during the first 11 months (July-May) of the outgoing fiscal year (FY16). The performance rate is five-percentage point less than the July-May period of the last fiscal year. Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal however claimed that development expenditure during this period has exceeded over that of the previous fiscal. The Minister made the disclosure on Monday and hoped that by the end of June the ADP performance would reach above 91 percent that was achieved during the last fiscal 2014-15. The government is implementing the revised ADP at Tk 92,000 crore and the space of expenditure shows that the setback that resulted mainly from the poor implementation capacity of the development ministries and agencies. It appears that the size of the ADP has phenomenally increased over the past few years but the efficiency of the government machinery has not improved so much showing the mismatch. The Planning Minister’s presentation suggests that the government evaluation of ADP performance is more linked to mathematical calculation than real achievement that may be noticeable in the ground. One can’t easily understand when the progress was just over 60 percent in 11 months how the remaining 30 percent and more could be achieved in just one month. It is understood that much of the contractors’ money would be paid during the last month, which will post the implementation rate on higher level. But it is also no more secret that the government evaluates development in terms of development expenditure now. So releasing money is development. But in doing so large part of the fund slips out of the development process. Senior leaders, party men, dishonest officials and contractors take away much of the money leaving smaller amount to find way to real development. Unbridled corruption is achieving the highest growth under the ongoing development paradigm where poor governance and lack of vigilance against misuse and misappropriation of public money are paying the way to grabbing the fund for development. So we may have a big budget in allocation but the quality of spending at equally at very low.The spending figure for the last 11 months shows that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has zero performance in term of spending on development schemes. The highest performance during July-May period recorded for Local Government Division at 73 percent, Power Division 73 percent, Primary and Mass Education Ministry 64 percent, Education Ministry 60 percent. On the lower side stands Shipping Ministry at 36 percent, Bridges Division at 46 percent, Health and Family Welfare Ministry at 41 percent, Industry Ministry at 21 percent, and Election Commission Secretariat at 31 percent. Overnight expenditure to implement the remaining ADP to achieve its 7.2 percent growth during the outgoing fiscal may thus remain under question.