Foreign-funded projects review meeting held

Foreign-funded projects review meeting held

Dhaka, Mar 06 - The first meeting of the high-level committee consisting of five members under the leadership of Principal Secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah to review foreign-funded projects was held on Wednesday.

The committee was constituted to review the progress on a quarterly basis with a view to timely implementation of the foreign-funded projects.

The meeting was held at the NEC conference room of the Planning Commission with Principal Secretary in the chair, according to a press release.

There was a detailed discussion on the fund disbursement and progress review of 47 ministries/departments under the ADP of the fiscal year 2023-24.

It also discussed the project determination in the light of Green and Climate Resilient Development (GCRD) principles and online project processing through the Project Planning System (PPS) software developed by the Planning Division.

The Principal Secretary called upon the concerned to take necessary steps to speed up the implementation of such projects. 

He said that before sending the proposal for inclusion in the ADP/RADP to the Planning Commission, the ministries/divisions should duly check and send details online through the PPS software to the Planning Commission. 

Besides, instructions were given in the meeting to send projects to the Planning Commission after due verification in the light of Green and Climate Resilient Development (GCRD) policy for obtaining foreign financing.

In the meeting, it was said that in the proposed RADP for the financial year 2023-2024, out of 47 ministries/divisions in the project loan/grant sector, 10 ministries/divisions got about 80 percent of the total allocation of project loans/grants in the RADP.

These ministries and divisions are: Power Division, Local Government Division, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Science and Technology, Road Transport and Highways Division, Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry, and Health service Division, Bridges Division, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and Ministry of Water Resources.

The RADP implementation progress largely depends on the implementation progress of these ministries/divisions, so the implementation progress of these ministries/divisions was discussed in the meeting. 

At the same time, the meeting also discussed projects of the ministries/divisions that have progressed below 34 percent in project loan/grant utilisation for the proposed RADP for FY 2023-2024.

Besides, reasons/challenges for slow progress of foreign funded projects were discussed in detail in the meeting. 

In view of this, the chief of the Committee M Tofazzel Hossain Miah emphasised on the project directors forming pool according to the circular and providing training on the necessary issues related to the use of project loan/grant and simultaneously appointing PDs at the time of project approval. 

Besides, he requested the Economic Relations Department (ERD) to hold meetings with all concerned, including ambassadors, if necessary, with a view to facilitating the issue of obtaining consent/no objection (NoC) from development partners at each stage of the procurement process for implementation of foreign-funded projects. 

At the same time, the committee chief directed the ERD to take necessary steps to quickly resolve the complications arising in some projects implemented through the line of credit (LoC).

In green and climate resilient development, Tofazzel Hossain Miah put emphasis on increasing the production and use of renewable energy.

He directed that no solar plants can be set up on agricultural land (regardless of crop) to meet the target of renewable energy production and asked them to strictly enforce it.

Tofazzel Hossain Miah requested all senior secretaries/secretaries to be closely attached to the implementation of the schemes and to monitor them regularly. 

Above all, he asked them for regularly holding meetings of the committee formed to review the implementation progress of the foreign-funded projects.

Tofazzel Hossain Miah expressed hope that through joint efforts, the funding and implementation progress of the foreign-funded projects will increase.-UNB