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| [PHOTO: Fredrik Rubensson/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0] |
Washington/Dhaka: The disbursement of the World Bank financing for Annual
Development Program has witnessed an upward trend in the last four years. The
World Bank disbursement for the current financial year is $437 million (till
February 28, 2013). For the similar period, the disbursement in FY12 was $283.5
million. To further enhance project implementation and disbursement rates, the
government of Bangladesh and the World Bank today jointly completed a
portfolio review of selected World Bank-supported operations in Bangladesh.
The World Bank’s current portfolio in Bangladesh consists of
36 projects with a commitment of $4.5 billion. Out of these 36 projects, the government
and the World Bank today reviewed 13 projects which are either nearing
completion or identified as slow moving compared to the rest of the portfolio.
The government, the World Bank and the respective project teams discussed key
implementation challenges and agreed on concrete actions to improve performance
and accelerate disbursements for these projects.
In addition to concrete actions, the joint review decided
that in a number of cases readjustment and restructuring of project designs
would be required to achieve greater development results. The government and
the World Bank agreed to work to restructure the following projects – Dhaka
Sanitation and Water Supply, Chittagong Sanitation and Water Supply, Private
Sector Development Support, Clean Air and Sustainable Environment, Second Notun
Jibon, Emergency Cyclone Restoration and Recovery, Disability and Children at
Risk, and Skills and Training Enhancement.