11.5% progress in 4yrs

The progress of a project, aimed at diversifying exports and developing skilled manpower, has registered only 11.5 per cent progress in three years and eight months since its start.

Manpower shortages, changes in the project director, the Covid-19 pandemic, and a lack of monitoring have been identified as the reasons of the slow progress in a report of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the Planning Commission.

The report said the project’s 11 technical activities out of 17 have not started yet.

The commerce ministry undertook the project titled “Export Diversification and Competitiveness Development Project (EIF Tier-II) (First Revision)” in August 2018. It was scheduled to be completed by July this year. The report calculated the project’s progress till April this year.

The project’s cost was estimated at Tk 9.95 crore. The Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) will provide Tk 8.94 crore and the government will give Tk 1.8 crore.

The WTO Cell of the commerce ministry is implementing the project. Till April this year, the implementing agency spent only Tk 1.14 crore on the project.     

IMED Secretary Abu Hena Morshed Zaman told The Business Post they had sent some recommendations to the commerce ministry to help implement the project fast.

He said the project would create more diversity in the export basket as it has potential in the areas of readymade garment (RMG), pharmaceuticals, jute, plastic, leather, and agriculture.

“In Bangladesh, there are around 5,000 RMG factories where around 50 lakh workers are working. Women constitute about 80 per cent of the workforce in this sector,” the IMED report said. 

It also said if the country creates diversity in the export basket, it will be possible to increase the number of exportable products in different sectors like the RMG.

The IMED has identified nine weaknesses and five threats in the project’s implementation.

The weaknesses are: the project’s working plan was prepared without consulting the relevant stakeholders, there was no baseline or feasibility study before starting, the physical and financial progress is very low, the technical assistance project proposal (TAPP) was revised by changing the scope of work and adding new activities, the TAPP could not be implemented as per the year-wise plan, and no meeting of the project implementation committee (PIC) and the project steering committee (PSC) was held.

On the other hand, the threats are: it will not possible to implement the project due to slow progress; if the project is not implemented properly, the development partners will have a negative impression; revision and delay are increasing the project’s duration; and the project cannot be implemented without strong monitoring of the implementing agency.

The project also aims to expand the net export production value through product and market diversification.

Its main components are developing high price fashionable and exportable readymade garment products through high-quality fashion designers as well as exportable products in the pharmaceutical and agriculture sectors.