Shawdesh Desk:

The government is investing Tk 348.21 billion in the first phase of the Delta Plan in FY22 and the agencies concerned have finalised a draft mapping of the execution plan.

There is a plan to invest a whopping Tk 2,978 billion on the first phase of the 100-year mega-development plan by 2031.

This money will be invested in some 80 development schemes supposed to be implemented by different ministries and divisions by this timeframe.

As part of the initiative, the process is on to create Delta wing, Delta knowledge bank and digital database and a Delta fund, official sources said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Chairperson of Delta Governance Council, is expected to sit with 10 ministers soon to expedite the execution of the plan, sources added.

“The country’s economy will see a big jump in the next 20 to 25 years and it has potential to reach the levels of Malaysia and Thailand in next 5 to 10 years. We want to cash in on it,” commented Planning Minister MA Mannan, also the Vice-Chairman of the council.

“The Delta Plan will be implemented in tandem with the five-year plan. We’re advancing accordingly. I hope that the devised plan will help change the economy as well as the fate of people,” he added.

Finance minister, agriculture minister, food minister, land minister, environment, forest and climate change minister, fisheries and livestock minister, shipping minister, water resources minister, disaster management and relief minister are in the council.

The Member of General Economics Division (GED) under the Planning Commission is acting as the member secretary of the council.

Besides, a Technical Adviser Committee (TAC) has been formed involving representatives from the concerned ministries, divisions, departments, institutions and research bodies.

The projects included in the Delta investment plan are mainly programme-based. The draft map has been formulated to individually implement these programmes.

The map has been sent to the planning ministry for approval and at the same time, the concerned agencies have been asked to prepare their own action plan.

The ministry is also scrutinizing different aspects of the Delta wing that will coordinate with the whole plan implementation process, expedite implementation, update the plan, monitor and evaluate it.

Moreover, a focal point group has been formed comprising 25 members to collect and coordinate the necessary data.The Delta Plan 2100 formulated in line with the Dutch experience is seen as the key to the country’s future development.

There are six long-term strategies like protecting river erosion, river management, water supply to urban and rural areas, waste management, flood control and water discharge.

National Economic Council (NEC) approved the Delta Plan 2100 in early September 2018.

Out of the 80 first phase schemes, 65 deal with physical infrastructure, while 15 are related to institutional capacity and skill development and research.

Of them, Tk 27.98 billion will be spent on flood control related projects, Tk 482.61 billion on river management, Tk 671.52 billion on water supply to urban and rural areas, Tk 688.79 billion on preventing river erosion.

Besides, Tk 59.86 billion has been planned to be spent on a scheme for CHT areas, Tk 163.14 billion for drought-prone areas and 884.10 billion for other projects.

Foreign development partners like the Netherlands, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Jica have already expressed interest for financing these planned schemes in the first phase, official source said. Meanwhile, it has been proposed to create a Delta fund in two phases. In the first phase, the fund will be utilised for investment and operational expenditure.

As the potential source of the fund, GoB, development partners, Green Climate Fund (GCF) and PPP have been considered.

“The planned investment on Delta plan is not something different from that of the five-year plan. It has been done in line with the five-year plan,” M K Mujeri, former director-general of BIDS said.

“So the results of Delta plan can be seen after a short interval of five years, although it is a long-term plan,” he observed.

He suggested enhancing the government’s oversight on whether the implementing agencies implementing the mega plan are in line with the five-year plan to get more benefit from the investments.