While briefing journalists, adviser to the interim government in the ministries of planning and education Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud said an indiscipline is now prevailing in the ongoing development projects. It is, therefore urgently needed to scrutinise the ongoing projects.
Therefore, all concerned particularly the secretaries of the ministries will have to take prompt measures in scrutinising the ongoing projects at the quickest possible time. During the regime of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami league government, the timeframe of all projects was extended several times for which expenses of these projects increased unnecessarily. It is alleged that the erstwhile Awami League government led the country to the brink of a dark abyss, through ‘mega’ corruption in mega projects. Lower and middle-income people of the country have suffered too much because their source of income had shrunk.
In the name of mega projects, the past Sheikh Hasina government cooperated (with the corrupt) in plundering the country’s financial sector. Because the masterminds of those involved in the looting are all agents of the government. Everyone knows that Bangladesh has many projects which spent the highest amount of money in the world per unit. Therefore, as the world economy is reeling from the impact of pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, sanctions and counter sanctions, the interim government should always remember that Bangladesh should take a financial austerity policy.
It is alleged that the
erstwhile Awami League
government led the country to the brink
of a dark abyss, through ‘mega’
corruption in mega projects
The immediate past Sheikh Hasina government had taken numerous projects. However, there is indiscipline in big projects with foreign funds where there are some problems in the negotiation level. As a result, a big amount of money that is coming from the donor organisations cannot be utilised. The interim government came at a time when there was indiscipline in many sectors of the country and there was a need for reforms in those sectors. Therefore, some decisions are needed right now in this regard.
Making the economy stable is a big matter right now for the interim government and it is related with the planning commission. The interim government will also have to reduce the inflation and take measures to reduce the public expenditure to avert high budget deficit.
There are some projects which are yet to get started, some are at the mid-level while some are at the finishing level. One portion of the projects was taken for the respective constituencies while some are in the queue to go to the ECNEC for approval.
As regards the projects which do not have priority and have doubt about the outcomes of these projects, the interim government will have to evaluate those projects very quickly. There are extensive irregularities in design, expenditure and in timeframe in the mega projects. Some of these irregularities are due to our lack of skills.
Everyone knows that many infrastructural projects which could be done at lower price, but due to lack of proper evaluation, implementation and faulty design those had been redesigned. Side by side, their timeframe has been extended which lead to wastage of resources.
People did not get return as these projects were not done within the deadline. The timely execution of a number of projects always looks uncertain due to the lengthy bureaucratic tangle in getting the necessary support.
