Rajiv Dey:
State Minister for Planning Jonayed Saki MP said that the Strengthening Institutions for Transparency and Accountability (SITA) project will play an important role in accelerating the government’s economic growth and achieving the goal of improving the quality of public services.
He said this while speaking as the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of the SITA project held at the ballroom of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital on Sunday. Later, he officially declared the inauguration of the project. The project will be implemented in collaboration with five government agencies with the assistance of the World Bank.
The program organized by the Planning Department was presided over by the Secretary of the Department, S. M. Shakil Akhtar. Senior government officials, business representatives, development partners, media workers and representatives of civil society were present.
The five implementing agencies of the CITA project are the Planning Department, Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) under the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Department (IMED), Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Office of the Auditor General and Comptroller General (OCAG).
The five-year project from 2025 to 2030 aims to increase the availability of reliable statistics, strengthen tax compliance and increase the efficiency and accountability of government expenditure. The total cost of the project is Tk 3,287 crore. Of this, the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) will provide Tk 3,43 crore and the Bangladesh government will provide Tk 2,44 crore.
BPPA Chief Executive Officer (Secretary) S. M. Moin Uddin Ahmed, Secretary of the Statistics and Information Management Department Md. Firoz Sarkar, IMED Secretary Sirajun Noor Chowdhury, NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan, FCMA, Auditor General and Controller Md. Nurul Islam, World Bank Division Director in Bangladesh Jean Pesme and World Bank official Sebastian Eckardt. Joint Secretary and Project Director of Planning Department Nasimur Rahman Sharif delivered the welcome speech.
The State Minister for Planning said that through the CITA project, public service activities of five organizations will be automated and data-based coordination will be strengthened. He said that the project will further strengthen the goal of implementing the government’s development projects within the stipulated time and cost.
He emphasized on automating the revenue collection system of the National Board of Revenue, modernizing the accounting and audit system, improving inflation and GDP measurement, improving the project formulation and supervision system, and modernizing the electronic government procurement (e-GP) and government procurement system.
Citing the country’s financial challenges, the State Minister said that currently the budget-GDP ratio is only 13 percent. It needs to be increased significantly. He said, “If 5 percent is allocated to health and education, how will other development activities be carried out with the remaining 3 percent?”
World Bank Division Director in Bangladesh Jean Pesme said that Bangladesh is facing various challenges such as economic growth, employment, transparency and structural weaknesses. The CITA project will play an important role in overcoming these challenges.
World Bank official Sebastian Eckardt said that about 1.6 million youth are entering the labor market in Bangladesh every year. But employment is still a big challenge. If the five implementing agencies can work effectively, there will be significant improvement in government service delivery.
Planning Department Secretary S. M. Shakil Akhtar said that the CITA project is very important for the Planning Department. The department will provide strategic leadership in project implementation and ensure effective coordination among the participating agencies.
BPPA Chief Executive Officer (Secretary) S. M. Moin Uddin Ahmed said that BPPA is working with the aim of building a fully digital, transparent, data-driven, inclusive, sustainable and citizen-centric public procurement system. He said, “We want to launch a modern, secure and cloud-ready e-GP version 2.0 platform under this project by 2030.”
NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan said that the current tax-GDP ratio of less than 7 percent needs to be increased to about 15 percent. He stressed on preventing revenue evasion and establishing greater coordination among all government automated systems.
IMED Secretary Sirajun Noor Chowdhury highlighted the transformative impact of the industrial revolution and artificial intelligence and said that the government is working with the goal of investment-driven inclusive growth. He also emphasized the government’s 3R strategy—Recovery, Restoration, and Reconstruction—to accelerate economic growth. Auditor and Comptroller General Md. Nurul Islam said that under the SITA project, an automated accounting and auditing system will be developed in the Office of the Auditor and Comptroller General (OCAG), which will significantly improve the service delivery system.
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