It is heartening to learn that half of the country’s 10 first track mega projects have finally gained some pace, ushering optimism about begetting positive changes in people’s livelihood and boosting the country‘s economic growth. Reportedly, work of the 2400 MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the biggest single project worth Tk 1,13,092 crore, 1320 MW Rampal Power project and metro rail are progressing as scheduled. Work of the much-anticipated Padma Bridge is going on in full swing while work of the 1200 MW coal-fired power plant in Matarbari of Maheshkhali has witnessed significant progress lately. However, Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar Rail Link, Padma Rail Link and Paira Deep Sea Port are running behind schedule mainly due to delays in signing loan agreements, land acquisition and finalisation of project design.
While it cannot be denied that the present government has been relentlessly working to reshape the country’s transportation and power sector, it is also true that we have seen apathy in implementation of most of the development schemes taken up by the government over the last ten years. Experts are of the opinion that due to frequent revision of the projects, the implementation costs continue to increase and the projects are not completed within the scheduled period.
The government must try to curb
corruption, ease bureaucratic tangle,
and ensure proper monitoring
to attain successful completion
of all the development projects
Addressing the delay in implementation of a number of projects, the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances earlier asked all ministries to attain timely completion of all the projects with the fund sanctioned earlier. Also the parliamentary watchdog recommended the ministries to ensure constant vigilance over the ongoing mega projects. Therefore, alongside increasing budgetary allocations, more efforts are needed from the part of the authorities concerned to speed-up the implementation process of all the ten mega projects.
Once the projects are completed, we might see some key transformations in the country’s communication and power sector, traffic congestion in Dhaka city will be reduced, and ultimately trade and tourism will be benefited immensely. Thus timely implementation of all the mega projects will fuel the country’s economic growth, and in order to do that concerted efforts from all the stakeholders is a must. Also the government must try to curb corruption, ease bureaucratic tangle, and ensure proper monitoring to attain successful completion of all the development projects.