Why Suspend Projects Despite Having the Funds?

The Annual Development Programme (ADP) is a clear outline of the government’s development plan. It shows which sector and which area will see what kind of development. It also shows how much money each project will spend. Both money and plans exist for the projects, so any delay in ADP work is clearly a failure of the ministries and offices involved.

An English daily, New Age, published a report yesterday. It said the ADP spent only Tk 12,018 crore in the first three months of the 2026 27 fiscal year. This is only 3.89 percent of the total allocation. The first quarter implementation rate has not been this low since the 2010 11 fiscal year.

This year’s ADP allocation is Tk 3 lakh 8 thousand 925 crore. If less than 4 percent of work is done in three months, how can the government do more than 96 percent in the next nine months? This slow pace directly hurts the country’s development work and people’s lives. The ADP pays for rural roads, bridges, culverts, schools, colleges, hospitals and other structures.

When these works finish, people travel more easily. Farmers reach markets faster and at lower cost, and they get a fair price for their crops. Sick people in remote areas reach hospitals more easily, and students suffer less on the way to school. Project work also raises the income of workers, small traders, transport workers and local suppliers.

So project money does more than build structures. It also puts money into the rural economy. The economy is under pressure right now. Factory output is falling, some factories are closing, unemployment is rising and export growth is slowing. In this situation, unspent development money makes things even worse.

If the slow pace continues, development will lose its steady flow. The chance to keep jobs and the local economy running will also shrink. Slow ADP work is not new. In past years too, projects moved slowly at the start of the year. Ministries and agencies then rushed to raise spending in the last three months.

Officials name late release of funds, slow project preparation and long procurement steps as reasons. They also name administrative problems and poor coordination among offices. Planning Ministry officials say slow regular procurement and slow release of funds caused the delay in this first quarter. But naming the causes does not end the duty. The government must also find out why the same problem returns year after year.

A rush at the end of the year hurts the quality of work. People complain about low quality materials in some places. In other places, people question whether the bills match the progress. Some contractors and officials are also accused of working together to commit irregularities and corruption. Sometimes agencies even delay work as a trick to get a bigger allocation. All of this must stop.

The government says it will fund large projects like the Teesta Master Plan from its own money. But the question is this: how will huge projects finish on time and well under an administration that cannot speed up small projects even when money is available? Hopes for big projects rose around the Prime Minister’s visit to China. Those projects show no progress either.

Announcements, understandings and funding plans are one thing. Starting real work is another. Yesterday, Bonik Barta, a daily, published a report on the Hatirjheel project, which cost about Tk 2,000 crore. The report said its water body gives off a bad smell and has environmental problems. Even residents of rich areas like Gulshan and Banani suffer from the smell.

This shows weak maintenance and management along with the construction. Building a structure with money does not end the duty. The government must keep a project working and usable for the public.

To fix this weakness, the government must first find where each step of project work is stuck and where there is neglect. It must remove unreasonable delay in releasing money. It must also review the progress of ministries and agencies regularly. For projects that miss their deadlines, the government must publish the reasons and hold the responsible officials accountable.

The government must not create pressure to spend money in the name of project work. That pressure opens the door to poor work and irregularities at the last moment. Progress, spending and quality must get equal attention. If people raise corruption complaints, the government must investigate and punish the guilty. It must also build a system so the same thing does not happen again.

Every project also needs a good plan for its use and upkeep after it ends. The central monitoring bodies, ministries, departments and implementing agencies must have clear duties. New orders and meetings alone cannot solve the problem. Someone must keep watching whether decisions really work on the ground.

Raising the ADP implementation rate does not mean spending money in any way at all. It means ensuring quality development within the set time. When the economy faces challenges in jobs, production and investment, leaving development money unused is not acceptable. The benefits of projects funded by public money must reach the public. The government must now find the answer to why work on our own money is stuck and take real action.