9th Five-Year Plan: Secretaries recommend prioritising health, education sectors instead of infrastructure projects
Planning Secretary Satyajit Karmaker also said the 8th Five-Year Plan implementation was disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 9th Five-Year plan will try to recoup that loss.
The government should focus on developing the health and education sectors instead of excessively prioritising infrastructure projects in the 9th Five-Year Plan, secretaries of various ministries have recommended.
During a meeting with Planning Minister Major General (retd) Abdus Salam at the ministry today (4 July), they also called for taking up projects that can ensure quick dividends instead of focusing on projects for expanding roads to four lanes, officials familiar with the matter told The Business Standard.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Planning Secretary Satyajit Karmaker, who moderated the event, said the plan will be developed keeping in mind the goal of becoming a developed country by 2041.
"The secretaries today suggested that the plan be made with emphasis on health and education sectors. They talked about the development of port infrastructure."
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He also said the 8th Five-Year Plan implementation was disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "The 9th Five-Year plan will try to recoup that loss."
Speaking at the meeting, President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Planning Abdul Mannan highlighted that primary education is in poor condition.
"Primary students are very behind in education," he said.
He also called for the development of human resources.
Secretaries at the meeting also said when taking up projects, the government should consider whether it will be financially profitable or not.
They also emphasised building airports near industrial areas in order to improve transportation facilities for investors.
The meeting also discussed developing deep seaports and improving port facilities to ease export-import processes.
The 9th Five Year Plan, being devised by the General Economy Department of the planning ministry, is set to come into effect on 25 July 2025 and will be implemented till June 2030.
A concept paper has already been prepared for the plan. More than 15 secretaries took part in yesterday's meeting to discuss the concept paper titled "Ninth Five-Year Plan of Bangladesh (July 2025-June 2030): Sustainable and Equitable Growth for Upper Middle Income".
According to the concept paper, the 8th Five-Year Plan was formulated for the period of July 2020 to June 2025. It was the first in a series of four five-year plans that aimed to implement the government's Vision 2041.
