(04) In the original set-up of the project, the HQ were supposed to be housed in the previous Fisheries Technology Laboratory in Chandpur. In 1986 the Board of Governors of FRI has decided for valid reasons to shift the HQ to Mymensingh. This had a number of budgetary consequences, as listed below:
The budget for civil works can not be taken away from Chandpur completely for use of the HQ in Mymensingh. For the research programme of RFRS renovation of buildings and infrastructure has to be carried out, and the Fisheries Technology Laboratory will be needed now to house the recently approved Hilsa project (IDRC) as well as some other riverine research projects.
co-operation with BAU (including share of research facilities) is sought wherever possible.
(05) There are two other restrictions related with the purchase of equipment that have to be mentioned in this budgetary context, namely:
purchase of equipment from the local market will only be reimbursed by IDA for 70 %, but there are no regular GOB funds foreseen for FRI to cover the other 30 %; this implies that most of the equipment will have to be bought abroad;
purchase of equipment from abroad is subject to taxes and duties upon arrival in Bangladesh; for this purpose (CDST) only a rather limited amount of money is available.
(06) All considerations and restrictions have been discussed at FRI and with World Bank representatives, especially during the bi-annual supervision mission of August - September 1986. It was decided in mutual agreement to try to solve all budgetary problems by adding the available funds for equipment and for civil works, and to work out a proposal in which the civil work budget is increased at the cost of the budget for equipment. This proposal should aim at the following:
all equipment needed for implementation of the research projects (as specified in the research masterplan) can be bought (directly or through contract research funds), and can actually be imported into the country;
a building for the HQ will be planned on the basis of the savings, whereby needed extra funds will have to be derived from other sources.
This whole budgetary exercise was supposed to be carried out without touching the budget for equipment earmarked for the (new) BFRS in Paikgacha; the budget for civil works in Paikgacha is already too low because of the retarded start of construction and will also have to be replenished from savings elsewhere in the project.
(07) The financial picture on which the new budgets have to be based was as follows (in lakh Taka):
| PP | SAR | |||
| IDA | GOB | TOTAL | ||
| - available for civil works in Chandpur: | 51.26 | 5.70 | 56.96 | 56.96 |
| - available for repairs in Chandpur: | 35.64 | -.- | 35.64 | 45.85 |
| - available for new equipment in Chandpur: | 42.37 | -.- | 42.37 | 58.95 |
| - available for new equipment in Mymensingh: | 18.45 | -.- | 18.45 | 22.29 |
| TOTAL AVAILABLE FOR CIVIL WORKS AND EQUIPMENT: | 153.42 | 184.05 | ||
| - available for CDST in Chandpur: | -.- | 34.74 | 34.74 | -.- |
| - available for CDST in Mymensingh: | -.- | 8.80 | 8.80 | -.- |
| TOTAL AVAILABLE FOR CDST: | 43.54* | -.- | ||
| - available for contingencies in Chandpur: | 44.13 | 8.82 | 52.95 | 60.90 |
| - available for contingencies in Mymensingh: | 8.05 | 2.23 | 10.28 | 9.78 |
| TOTAL AVAILABLE FOR CONTINGENCIES: | 63.23 | 70.68 | ||
(* plus approx. 20 lakh Taka used for DANIDA shipment)
(08) The CDST rates are varying, but in general they are expected to average around 80 % of the actual equipment costs. A part of the contingencies can also be used for CDST. A reasonable proposal might be to reserve 6.46 lakh Taka from the total available budget for contingencies for the purpose of CDST. This will bring the total available funds for CDST to:
43.54 + 6.46 = 50.00 lakh Taka.
Based on this proposal, equipment can be imported to serve the needs of HQ, FARS and RFRS for a total amount of:
100/80 × 50.00 = 62.50 lakh Taka.
The available amount for civil works in Chandpur and Mymensingh, as well as for replenishment of budgets for BFRS and MFRS will then total to:
(153.42 - 62.50) + (57.76 – 6.46) = 142.22 lakh Taka (PP) or
(184.05 - 62.50) + (70.68 – 6.46) = 185.77 lakh Taka (SAR).
In this present report the PP provisions will be used.
(09) In principle, FRI can ask for exemption of CDST for imported scientific equipment. The procedure is time-consuming, however, and might therefore not be worthwile to start: it will cause another retardation in the actual start of research projects, for which the funds are expiring on July 1, 1989. If, however, CDST money can be saved more quickly, this might be considered as a source to catch price increases, etc.
(10) For the new Brackishwater Fisheries Research Station the provisions are as follows (in lakh Taka):
| PP | SAR | |||
| IDA | GOB | TOTAL | ||
| - civil works | 237.25 | 26.36 | 263.61 | 263.61 |
| - equipment | 37.87 | -.- | 37.87 | 65.50 |
| - furniture | 11.29 | -.- | 11.29 | 10.04 |
| - CDST | -.- | 26.37 | 26.37 | -.- |
| - contingencies | 129.38 | 25.88 | 155.26 | 155.26 |
Here the relation between the budgets for equipment and for CDST is acceptable. In case of the PP-provision: 80 % of 37.87 lakh Taka would ask for 30.30 lakh. This can be achieved by alloting 3.93 lakh Taka from the budget for contingencies to the CDST. When the SAR-provision was to be used, the amount for CDST is far too small: 26.03 lakh Taka replenishment of CDST would be needed, which is more than the GOB contribution to the contingencies. A new budget for BFRS is proposed in the present report in Table 9.
(11) No budget provisions are available for this station in the World Bank appraisal report nor in the FRI-PP. It is suggested, however, to re-allocate an amount of 15 lakh Taka for equipment to this station to facilitate commencement of the planned research programme. (The total picture of funding is presented in Table 10). Funding for additional equipment for Cox's Bazar will have to be budgeted in the requests for contract research funds.
