Bangladesh’s ADP implementation falters on deadly Gulshan terror attack

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has admitted that the deadly Gulshan cafe attack has put a knock-on effect on the implementation of the Annual Development Programme (ADP).

“The ADP will not be implemented fully in this fiscal,” he said, blaming the terror attack on Gulshan's Holey Artisan Bakery.

The minister told a press conference on Monday that "almost all the foreigners left the country after the attack on foreigners at Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan".

"Later they (foreigner experts) returned following various government efforts, but the implementation of the mega projects fell behind due to months of suspension of work.

"That's why it will not be possible to implement the ADP 100 percent this time," he added.

Besides the delay, the cost for security at the mega projects has also gone up, the minister said.

Out of the 17 foreigners killed by militants at the upmarket eatery on July 1 last year, seven were from Japan. Six of them were working in the Dhaka metrorail project.

The minister’s announcement is a complete reversal from his earlier statement in which he had claimed that despite all odds, the ADP would be implemented in time.

The size of the ADP for 2016-17 fiscal is Tk 1.107 trillion.

The government downsizes the ADP by the end of every financial year though it plans to fully execute the annual plan.

Kamal, however, thinks the ADP will be implemented more this fiscal year than 2015-16.

Until January, a little over 32 percent of the ADP was implemented. The amount is 4 percent more than the corresponding period of last year.


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