On Wednesday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith expressed his concern about the disbursement of funds at the inaugural ceremony of the South Asian regional meeting of Global Environment Facility (GEF) now being held in Dhaka.
He criticized the distribution policy of GEF funds to recipient countries saying that it takes a long time to disburse the committed amount. This delays the process of implementation of the environmental protection projects.
He said that the funds are more available for technical studies and planning for climate change adaptation and mitigation, but they are not available for projects that require big scale investments. They will supplement already ongoing projects, he said.
In June GEF will send proposals of the South Asian countries to its council.