ADP not meeting target

In fact that was one of the reasons why the finance minister had, last year, emphasised efficient and timely implementation of the projects. It seems that no one has paid any heed to his directives. The shortfall in the implementation rate has caused a drastic revision of the projects, to the extent that even dropping some of them for failing to utilise the funds allocated is being contemplated.

According to reports, some ministries could not spend anything whatsoever for the projects while some of the others utilised only a paltry amount in the first six months. This raises some pertinent questions in our minds. Firstly, how do projects that have no potential pass the process of approval in the first place? Secondly, what are the criteria to allocate funds for such projects after approval? If they are not feasible, then why approve and arrange funds for them at all? And lastly, what is the procedure to select such projects, which the ministries concerned do not take seriously at all?

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There seems to be a gap between the approval and implementation process. If the ministries cannot implement the projects on schedule then there must be something wrong with project. Failure to utilise project funds will naturally have a negative impact on the donors' minds. To allay their fears, the government can reallocate the unutilised funds to those projects whose implementation has shown progress.

There have been concerns as well over some ADP projects being given green signals either on political consideration or under influence of members of parliament. We would like to urge the government to exercise caution in approving such projects to spare it the embarrassment over their non-implementation.

Timely implementation of ADP projects is an indicator of our project planning and management capacity. The current state of ADP implementation does nothing to prove that ability right.