The National Economic Council (NEC) Monday revised the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 17 per cent down to Tk 21,600 crore, giving priority only to five sectors including power and transport.

The ADP cut of Tk 4,400 crore from an "ambitious assumption" of Tk 26,000 crore, the original allocation, was approved at the first NEC meeting of the present government with Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair.

"The ADP was revised down taking into consideration the economic growth (GDP growth) and other economic factors," Finance and Planning Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam said, replying to a question at a post-NEC press briefing at the NEC conference room.

The meeting reviewed the implementation progress of ADP for the fiscal 2006-07, having implementation of 27 per cent during the July-December period of the year.

It also approved a one-year extension of the current Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) to June 30, 2008 from the scheduled expiry date of June 30, 2007.

The Finance Adviser said the ADP revision exercise for the fiscal 2006-07 was conducted on a pre-set guideline for the ministries concerned to give priority to the five sectors for which around 70 per cent of the revised allocation was given.

Besides power and transport, the other sectors are rural development, health and education. "The projects out of the purview of the guidelines were automatically cancelled from the revised ADP," he said, replying to another question whether the government scrapped the projects taken on political considerations.

The former BNP-led alliance government placed the budget for the fiscal 2006-07. "We didn't consider whether a project was taken from political consideration or not," said the Finance Adviser.
He said 53 per cent of the revised ADP would be met from the local resources while the remaining 47 per cent would come from the external resources.

@ The Bangladesh Journal