Highest in rural dev, public security ahead of polls

As part of ensuring public safety and public satisfaction ahead of the national election, Public Security Division and Local Government Division have implemented maximum annual development programme (ADP) in the first three months of the current fiscal year.

However, the health sector’s expenditure was one of the lowest during the same period of FY24, according to the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) latest report on ADP implementation.   

The report said that in terms of the implementation rate, Public Security Division spent the highest 26.7 per cent of allocation of ADP. The division spent Tk 426 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal year against an allocation of Tk 1,628 crore for FY24.

On the other hand, Local Government Division spent the most in terms of money. The total expenditure in the first quarter of FY24 was Tk 3,441 crore. The amount allocated to the division in the current fiscal year is Tk 29,009.95 crore. As such, it spent 11.86 per cent in the first quarter.

Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of Policy Research Institute (PRI), told The Business Post that the main reason for this expenditure is the upcoming election. The government usually wants to ensure security before the election. For this reason, the allocated money is spent quickly.

The economist noted that rural road development and major infrastructure projects are implemented quickly before the election for public satisfaction. “The reflection of that effort is seen in the implementation of ADP in the first quarter.”

Two more infrastructure related divisions are Road Transport and Highways Division and Bridges Division. These two divisions spent the second and third highest in terms of money respectively during the July-September period of FY24.

The expenditure of Road Transport and Highways Division was Tk 1,043 crore, the allocation for this division is for the current financial year is Tk 23,493 crore, of which 4.44 per cent of the allocated money was spent in Q1 of FY24.

Bridges Division was in the third position in terms of money which spent Tk 898 crore or 14.68 per cent of total allocation in the first quarter, while the allocation for the entire fiscal is Tk 6,119 crore.

Neglected health sector

Bangladesh has always lagged behind in terms of both allocation and spending in important sectors like health sector.

Among the two departments under the Ministry of Health, the ADP implementation of Health Services Division during July-September of FY24 was only 3.1 per cent or Tk 270 crore. The allocation for this division for FY24 is Tk 8,706 crore.

Medical Education and Family Welfare Division spent only Tk 1.87 crore in the first three months of the current financial year, which was only 0.08 per cent of the total allocation. The allocation for this division in the current financial year is Tk 2,238 crore.

Ahsan H Mansur said, “There is already criticism about the implementation of ADP in the health sector. Now the government does not have the opportunity to look at the health sector ahead of the national polls. So, the expenditure is going down usually.”

Besides, in the first three months of the current financial year, six divisions and ministries of the government could not spend any money on implementation of ADP.

These are Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Internal Resources Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh Public Service Commission, Cabinet Division and Parliament Secretariat.

However, Tk 282.45 crore has been allocated for the Election Commission in the current financial year, out of which Tk 26 crore was spent in the first three months of FY24, which was 9.2 per cent of the total allocation.