PM to attend secretaries’ meeting on 4 July

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will virtually attend the secretaries' meeting on 4 July, cabinet officials said.

The prime minister will review the implementation situation of the previous directives as well as the transition from the ongoing Covid-19 situation, ensuring food security, health care, ensuring efficiency and transparency in government spending and dealing with natural disasters.

At the secretary meeting four years ago, the prime minister directed to accelerate the development of the country and further increase the rate of implementation of the Annual Development Program (ADP) to create employment.

She said measures should be taken to determine the implementation strategy from the beginning of the year instead of rushing during the end of the financial year.

Following the directives of the prime minister, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning have taken various initiatives at various times to speed up the implementation of the ADP, but to no avail.

In the last 11 months of the current financial year, the ADP implementation rate was only 58.36%.

In the meeting held on 2 July 2017, most of the 26-point directives given by the prime minister were not implemented.

At a meeting four years ago, the prime minister urged to ensure timely implementation of ongoing mega projects for rapid economic development but none of the ongoing fast-track projects is being implemented on time. Due to untimely implementation, the duration of the Padma Bridge project had to be extended several times.

However, the prime minister's directive to keep the activities of seaports, land ports and airports open 24/7 to increase export earnings and foreign investment has been implemented.

The prime minister called for an emphasis on creating rural employment to reduce the rich-poor inequality and reduce the population pressure in the cities, but the inequality is increasing every year.