Dry planning ministry cries for proposals

In separate letters, the planning ministry said if they did not send their proposals in time for approval, the government would once again fail to utilise the ADP allocations, slowing down the pace of development.

Sources said only three proposals were ready for approval at Wednesday's meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) to be presided over by Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman.

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"But we had a plan to enlist six projects for approval," a ministry official said, requesting anonymity.

An Ecnec meeting usually approves 10 to 15 projects and the last meeting chaired by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Wednesday cleared only six plans.

The current ADP envisages approval of 336 schemes, but bureaucratic bottlenecks and conflicts between the Planning Commission and different ministries hobbled the process.

Some 250 projects were not sent to the Planning Ministry three months into the budget for the current 2003-4 fiscal year.