Editorial
ADP implementation deficit
A challenge for elected government
IN view of the fast approaching parliamentary election, a mid-term review of ADP implementation may be somewhat remote from the public mind. But that needn't be so. Given the whole lot of implications that a poor implementation rate will have for the economy, let alone the newly elected government, the matter of where we are in terms of ADP utilisation is important at this cross-roads of transition to an elected government.
A report of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division(IMED) of the Planning Ministry reveals what has been common knowledge so far about ADP implementation patterns over the yearly cycles. Only 18 percent of Tk 25600crore ADP, 2008-09 stands implemented between July and November 2008. The first half of financial years invariably sees less than 25 percent ADP implemented with around 75percent being hurried through at a breakneck speed or the total size of the ADP slashed to show a reasonable level of achievement. The result is either poor quality development work or physical targets going unmet even though allocations would have been spent. In other words, it's development agenda that becomes a casualty.
Deeper down, the implications sound more disquieting. The underutilisation of ADP allocations with its internal and external components reduces public spending which is pivotal to employment creation, poverty alleviation and domestic demand expansion, the three major pillars of sustainable economic growth. It's a pity that 10 ministries and divisions which received 80 percent of the allocations have badly underperformed in terms of project implementation during July-November, 2008.
Experts had pinned hopes on this technocratic government to better succeed in ADP implementation with no political considerations weighing in with economic matters. But some observers have ascribed the sluggish rate of implementation during the interim government to lack of political nudges and pushes that one had seen otherwise applied by political governments. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the caretaker government's preoccupation with election may have proved to be a distraction. Whatever may be the truth, what basically comes through the comparative study is the absence of any effective implementation machinery in the ministries.
Our hope is that the next elected government will not take too much time to settle down and would get quickly into the mode of implementing development plans with a political mandate and enhanced project execution capabilities.
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