The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has suggested accelerating the implementation process of its assisted projects through early identification and quick resolution of execution issues.
The suggestion came on Wednesday from a jointly review meeting with the government on the ADB-aided projects here for faster results, said an ADB press release.
Economic Relations Division secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam and ADB country director Manmohan Parkash co-chaired the tripartite portfolio review meeting in Dhaka.
More than 190 senior government officials, project directors and ADB staff attended the second such review meeting this year, according to the release.
The meeting discussed the status of overall portfolio and prioritised actions to achieve targets.
The government's project-executing agencies were briefed about and encouraged to use the new procurement policy approved in 2017.
"The review is intended to deliver development results faster to the people by accelerating project implementation through early identification and quick resolution of implementation issues," Mr Parkash.
"We are encouraged by the higher contract awards and disbursements and look forward to achieving a record performance in 2018," he added.
The performance is even more impressive, given that ADB portfolio in Bangladesh has increased by 17 per cent during January- August 2018 over the same period in 2017, Mr Parkash mentioned.
According to the release, the ADB has currently 94 loans and grants for 55 projects with over $9.5 billion under sovereign portfolio.
During this January-August period, the ADB approved and committed over $1.6 billion loans for Bangladesh.
Contract awards are higher by 123 per cent with around $1 billion and disbursements are higher by 46 per cent with $586 million compared to the same period in 2017.
It said more projects worth over $600 million are likely to be approved by the end of 2018. The total approvals may exceed $2 billion this year.
The ADB focuses its cooperation in Bangladesh on six sectors-energy transport; water and urban/municipal infrastructure and services; education; finance; and agriculture, natural resources, and rural development.
As of August 31, the ADB's cumulative lending stood at around $22 billion for 284 loans, $263 million for 435 technical assistance projects and $922 million for 41 grants, it said.
