In order to bring dynamism to the implementation of government projects and overcome delays in procurement, the spending power of ministries, autonomous institutions and project directors has been increased. As a result, from now on, the power to spend by individuals and institutions has been increased by two to three times without the approval of the procurement committee. Recently, the Finance Department issued a circular in this regard.
According to the new circular, the spending power of ministries in the development procurement and operational sectors has been doubled from Tk 500 crore to Tk 100 crore. This means that ministers have been given the power to spend up to Tk 100 crore on any development project. Similarly, the ministry can spend up to Tk 100 crore on operational activities.
In addition, some rules have also been changed to clarify some of the complexities in the procurement of related institutions under the PPR regulations.
However, analysts say that approval by the procurement committee is a part of monitoring. In this case, if you give the opportunity to spend more money, there will be more corruption, and if you give less, there will be less corruption. The government may have taken this decision keeping in mind that the work will be done quickly. But to ensure this, accountability of the money spent must be ensured.
Economist Professor Abu Ahmed said that this is a positive decision, but surveillance in shopping must be increased.
Former Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told Amar Desh that such initiatives to save time are positive. The size of the budget has increased, so the decision to increase expenditure is good. However, strict monitoring must be done to ensure that money is not misused or wasted.
Earlier, ministries, departments, government agencies, autonomous institutions, government or joint-venture companies could spend a certain amount of money on projects implemented with their own funds without the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Procurement. This amount was fixed through circulars in 2015 and 2016. The financial power of these statutory agencies or institutions to approve purchase proposals for self-financed projects has now been increased.
According to the new decision, the ministry or department has been given the power to approve construction contracts for any development project up to a maximum of Tk 100 crore. Similarly, the power to purchase goods, equipment and materials has also been increased to a maximum of Tk 100 crore for the ministry, which was previously Tk 50 crore. In this case, the spending power increases by 100 percent.
Under the operating budget, the ministry can approve expenditure of up to Tk 100 crore for construction works and Tk 50 crore for procurement of goods. In this case, although the capacity to purchase goods has not increased, the capacity to spend on construction works has been doubled.
In the development budget, the spending power of the ministry or department to hire consultants for a project has been given up to 20 crore taka, which was previously 10 crore taka. This means that the spending power has doubled.
In addition, the expenditure limit for the ministry’s physical services, i.e. catering, ambulance services, repairs, transportation services, etc., has been increased to Tk 15 crore in a single decision.
The board of directors of an autonomous organization, corporation, government or joint-ownership company can spend up to 30 crore taka on the construction or establishment of development projects at its own discretion. In the case of the operational sector, this power is also 30 crore taka. In this case, the expenditure limit remains the same as before. In the case of purchasing goods, the power of the board or board of directors has been set at up to 30 crore taka in the development and operational sector. In the development and operational sector, the board of directors of the companies can approve consultancy service contracts up to a maximum of 8 crore taka. In this case, too, it has been kept as before.
However, changes have been made to the spending power of the executive heads of the organization (DG, Chairman or equivalent officer). The executive head of the organization can single-handedly approve construction work up to a maximum of Tk 25 crore. Earlier it was Tk 20 crore. In addition, the executive head’s power in purchasing goods and equipment has been increased to Tk 20 crore, which was Tk 7 crore earlier.
Under the development sector, the chief executive can approve contracts for the appointment of consultants up to a maximum of 70 million taka, which was previously 50 million taka. In the management or non-development sector, the chief executive’s power has been slightly increased from 150 million taka in 2015 to 160 million taka in 2026. The power to purchase goods in the management sector remains unchanged at 80 million taka.
To speed up the work of the Development Project Directors (PDs), their financial powers have been divided into three categories and made very specific. ‘A’ category project directors (projects costing more than Tk 100 crore) can approve contracts up to Tk 20 crore for construction work, Tk 10 crore for procurement of goods and Tk 5 crore for consultancy services. ‘B’ category project directors (projects worth Tk 50 to 100 crore) have been given the power to approve a maximum of Tk 15 crore for construction work, Tk 5 crore for procurement of goods and Tk 3 crore for consultancy services. ‘C’ category project directors (projects worth up to Tk 50 crore) have been given the power to approve a maximum of Tk 10 crore for construction work, Tk 3 crore for procurement of goods and Tk 1 crore for consultancy services. The spending power of project directors has been increased by up to 50 percent in some cases.
