The Awami League-led government continued to grapple with the problem of slow implementation of the annual development programme this fiscal year like the previous two years.
With only two months of the financial year left, the government agencies and ministries could implement in 10 months only 55 per cent of the ADP the size of which has already been trimmed.
Inefficiency and administrative failure of the implementing agencies resulted in slow pace of ADP implementation, economists and experts said.
The slow progress of ADP implementation caused waste of public money, gave way to corruption and resulted in low quality of development work as the government agencies are forced to implement the remaining parts of the works in a hurried pace in just two months.
Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division data released on Monday showed that 54 implementing agencies could spend only Tk 22,710 crore or 55 per cent of the revised ADP during July-April, 3 per cent less than the previous year.
In July-April of the previous fiscal year, the ADP implementation rate was 58 per cent or Tk 20,909 crore. 
According to IMED data, of the total expenditure, the share of government funding was Tk 15,573 crore or 60 per cent and the share of foreign aid was Tk 7,137 crore or 48 per cent.
The government has allocated of Tk 46,000 crore for ADP for this fiscal year which has been downsized at Tk 41,000 crore in the revised ADP.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies research director Zaid Bakht said that the government had to form a high-powered monitoring committee to remove problems for proper and timely ADP implementation.
‘Experience in ADP implementation has not been good over the years as the government implements only 50 to 60 per cent in the first 10 months and speed up the execution of the remaining 40 per cent in the last two months of the financial years,’ Zaid Bakht, research director at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, told New Age.
Development works, particularly installation of utilities services line, construction and maintenance of roads and bridge completed in the last two months end up with poor durability as May and June are rainy season in Bangladesh.
Zaid Bakht said the last minute expenditure would not only lead to waste of public money and give way to corruption; it would also have a negative effect on the quality of works.
Due to poor quality of works, the durability of infrastructures like roads constructed or developed hurriedly would be short, he pointed out. 
Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman also cited inefficiency of the government agencies to implement the big size ADP.
The planning ministry identified non-execution of purchase and work plan in time, resources constraints and delay in resources disbursement, complexities in land acquisition, increase in projects cost, frequent transfer of projects directors, lack of monitoring and non-implementation of recommendations of IMED as the barriers to timely implementation of ADP.
The planning secretary, Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam, however, recently said that the government would be able to implement more than 90 per cent of the ADP in the current fiscal year.
‘More than 80 per cent of the ADP has already been implemented in the field level but we could not count it as the money for the work is yet to be disbursed,’ he told reporters on Saturday.
According to IMED data, in July–April, the Statistics Division achieved the highest implementation rate of 89 per cent followed by the women and children affairs ministry with 78 per cent, science and technology, and religious affairs ministry with 73 per cent and power division with 72 per cent.
On the other hand, ministry of industries achieved the lowest implementation rate of 3 per cent followed by ministry of civil aviation with 11 per cent and bank and financial division with 19 per cent in the first 10 months.