The Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday urged Bangladesh to double its efforts in enhancing project implementation so that potential benefits of any development can come early.

The call came at a tripartite portfolio review meeting (TPRM) among officials of the ADB, finance ministry and line ministries at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka, according to a press release.

Sharifa Khan, secretary of the Economic Relations Division, and Edimon Ginting, the ADB's country director for Bangladesh, co-chaired the TPRM plenary sessions.

The Manila based multilateral lender's sovereign portfolio in Bangladesh grew to $11.3 billion as of August 2022.

In 2021, the ADB committed to projects worth $2 billion in Bangladesh and disbursed $2,569 million, which was the highest among the multilateral lender's developing member countries.

Kenichi Yokoyama, director general of the ADB's South Asia department, emphasised reforms to improve the financial sustainability of railways in Bangladesh to enhance the country's business competitiveness and attract more investment.

He also called for working more closely to ensure higher project readiness, significant reduction of the procurement lead time and achieving timely completion of all ADB-assisted projects while ensuring occupational health and safety.