The government is planning to raise the development budget for fiscal 2018-19 by about 20 percent, giving emphasis to accelerating the construction works of some flagship infrastructure projects like the Padma bridge, Rooppur power plant, Dhaka metro rail.

The allocation for fiscal 2018-19's annual development programme is likely to be Tk 178,000 crore, up from this year's budget of Tk 148,381 crore.

The amount will be finalised by April 10 by the resource committee of the finance ministry after discussions with the planning commission and the various ministries and divisions.

A planning ministry official said there was a plan to complete the Padma bridge by December this year, but it may now be delayed by six to seven months.

Even then, a big allocation would have to be made against the project in the next fiscal year. This fiscal year, Tk 4,000 crore has been assigned for the Padma bridge out of the project's total allocation of Tk 28,793 crore.

As of January Tk 700 crore to Tk 800 crore has been spent, so it is highly unlikely that the entire Tk 4,000 crore allocated for the project would be exhausted by June 30, he said.

It is the same story for the Padma Rail Link project: Tk 7,609 crore has been allocated for the project this fiscal year but in the first five months only Tk 121 crore has been spent.

Big chunks must also be earmarked for the Rooppur power plant, Dhaka metro rail, Karnaphuli tunnel and Matarbari coal-based power plant projects as well in fiscal 2018-19.

Though there were some problems in the initial stage, the work for these projects has started in full swing.

In the upcoming ADP, the government's own fund may be increased 17 percent to Tk 113,000 crore and foreign fund 27 percent to Tk 65,000 crore.

At pre-budget discussions recently, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the next fiscal year's budget would be between Tk 460,000 crore and Tk 475,000 crore.

There will not be anything off-

kilter in the upcoming budget. "It will be a normal budget as it is the last one before the next national elections," he said.

On March 7 the ADP for the current fiscal year was revised and the government's contribution remained the same at Tk 96,331 crore, but it would go up later.

Emerging from a meeting of the National Economic Council, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said some ministries have demanded an increase in allocation.

He said the prime minister has given him the responsibility to weigh the demand for the increased allocation. No ceiling has been set for him and he can raise the amount after looking into the validity of the needs, he said.

Meanwhile, the foreign fund component of the revised ADP has been slashed 8.68 percent, or Tk 4,950 crore, to Tk 52,050 crore.