The government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in a tripartite portfolio review meeting (TPRM) on Thursday, agreed on an action plan to further accelerate the implementation of the ADB-assisted projects in 2021-2022 to promote faster socio-economic recovery.
Kenichi Yokoyama, Director General for the ADB's South Asia Department, in his remarks appreciated policies and programmes for expeditious socio-economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
He also stressed on the need for building stronger project pipeline, ensuring higher project readiness and improved implementation discipline for better portfolio performance to boost the ongoing socio-economic recovery process in Bangladesh, said an ADB press release.
Fatima Yasmin, Secretary - the Economic Relations Division (ERD), and Manmohan Parkash, the ADB Country Director for Bangladesh, co-chaired the virtual TPRM.
Around 250 senior government officials, project directors, and the ADB staff participated in the second such review meeting in 2021 for resolving project implementation issues and formulating strategies to quicken project execution.
"The enhanced focus for expediting project implementation reflects our reoriented programme priorities for accelerating the ongoing socio-economic recovery process," said the ADB country director.
"We are emphasising faster and compliant procurement of goods and services to increase contract award and fund disbursement, complimenting the government's initiatives for creating jobs and increasing public investment."
Mr. Parkash also underscored the need for making additional efforts to tackle the adverse impact of the ongoing pandemic.
The TPRM reviewed the progress of actions - agreed in March 2021, and readiness status of 2021-2022 pipeline projects, said the ADB press release. Specific actions were agreed for slow-moving projects to utilise the project money expeditiously.
The TPRM discussed 43 projects with 118 different issues and agreed 132 time-bound actions with specific responsibilities for the respective agencies, it added.
The ADB's current sovereign portfolio has 52 projects, involving US$ 12.03 billion. Its cumulative lending to Bangladesh stands at over $40 billion in loans and grants, including co-financing.
The agency operates in Bangladesh in six sectors - energy, transport, water and urban/municipal infrastructure and services, education, finance, and agriculture, natural resources and rural development.
smjahangirfe@gmail.com