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Profile of the Department
The Department is headed by a Director General assisted by
two additional Directors General and 08 Directors in charge of the following divisions and units.
Divisions :
- Macroeconomic Planning Division
- Economic Infrastructure Division
- Human Resource Development Division
- Agriculture Planning Division
- Industry and Employment Division
- Rehabilitation, Housing and Social Welfare Planning Division
- Environment and Natural Resources Division
- Governance and Public Administration Division
Units :
- Administration Unit
- Centre for Development Information
- Finance Unit
- Secretariat of the Secretaries Committee.
Each division is headed by a Director or an Additional Director General, assisted by Additional Directors, several
Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors.
The National Planning Department has a total cadre of 90 professionals and 78 support staff. Actual staffing was 60 professionals
and 72 support staff at the end of 2002.
The National Planning Department has been able to build a core group of professional staff over the past two decades through
in-country and overseas training. Currently there are more than 30 staff members who have obtained post-graduate degrees. In turn,
these professionals have provided training in policy development and planning techniques to Provincial and district level planning
officials.
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History of the Department of National Planning
The National Planning Department (NPD) originated with the Planning Secretariat which
was set up to service the National Planning Council in 1956. The Planning Secretariat comprised a core group of economists headed by a Director,
two Senior Research Officers, four Research Officers and group of four United Nations and Colombo Plan Consultants. One of the major exercises
of the National Planning Council was the preparation of a ten year perspective plan known as the Ten Year Plan (1959-69).
The Planning Secretariat was reconstituted as the Department of Planning in January 1961 under the Prime Minister’s office which was in the Ministry of
Defense and External Affairs. The Department comprised a Director, under whom there were three sectoral Divisions, which were headed by Senior Research
Officers, and supported by five Special Officers, ten Research Officers and three United Nations and F.A.O. consultants. A short-term implementation
programme (1962-65) covering selected public sector projects was partially implemented during this period.
With the change of Government in 1965, a separate Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs was set up under the Prime Minister. The National
Planning Department became a division of this Ministry together with a Perspective Planning Division, a Plan Implementation Division, an Economic
Affairs Division and a Foreign Aid Division. In 1966 the Planning and Plan Implementation Divisions were merged and given the responsibility of
handling the Capital Budget, the coordination of development and its implementation, and systematic monitoring. No formal plan was announced but
direction was given to development through the determination of the Capital Budget in the context of partial economic liberalisation.
In 1970, the Ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Planning and Employment, with the added functions of employment and regional planning.
In the early 1970s, the Perspective Planning Division took the leadership in preparing the Five Year Plan 1972-1976; but the plan could not
be implemented due to severe financial constraints, precipitated by 5 successive seasons of drought and the oil price hike.
A separate Ministry of Plan Implementation was established in 1973 to monitor the implementation of development activities. The Perspective
Planning Division was reconstituted as the National Planning Division; it continued to function under the Ministry of Planning and Employment
and was responsible for handling the Capital Budget, and project evaluation and reported to Cabinet on all investment proposals.
n 1977, the functions of planning and finance were brought under the Ministry of Finance and Planning. The combination of planning and
finance functions under one Ministry was designed to facilitate both planning and budgeting. The planning function in the Ministry was
carried out by the National Planning Department. In addition to its perspective planning function, the Department continued to appraise
new investments and prepare the capital budget.
The National Planing Department also functioned as the secretariat to the Committee of Development Secretaries, which was responsible for
the approval and monitoring of all development projects and resolving inter-ministerial issues, under the chairmanship of the Secretary to
the Cabinet. The Director of the Department functioned as the Secretary.
During the period 1979 to 1999, the Department published, annually, a five years Public Investment Programme. This was "rolling plan" for
public sector investment, which was used as a framework for development assistance. The document provided a macro-economic framework, and
outlined government policies and goals, sectoral strategies and the detailed allocation of budgeting resources for investment.
In 1989, the Department was brought under the Ministry of Policy Planning and Implementation and in 1994 again reverted again to the
Ministry of Finance and Planning and till 2002 planning and budgeting functions were combined, while the Ministry of Plan Implementation
undertook monitoring and evaluation.
In 1999-2000 a Six Year Development Programme was developed by the Department of National Planning on the basis of programmes worked out
by the line ministries. This was followed by “Vision 2010” which set out the development path and strategies that would be necessary to
accelerate growth (with equity) during the next ten years. “Guidelines on Planning” and “Planning Techniques” were also published during
this period, to assist those carrying out planning activities in the Provinces and central line Ministries. Policy-related research in
environment, employment and gender was also undertaken with foreign funding.(See "Publication" for titles)
In 2001, the Department was absorbed into the apex Ministry of Policy Development and Implimentation. The preparation and implimentaion of
the medium term policy perspective "Regaining Sri Lanka" became a central focus, while investment planning through appraisal of programmes
and projects and the formulation of the capital budget, was continued.
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