Staff Reporter :
All ministries have been asked to take coordinated move for better implementation of important development projects of the government.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently has given this instruction to the secretaries to take proper initiatives for ensuring coordination among the ministries and organizations before implementation of the project works.
According to Cabinet Division sources, from now on no ministry will be allowed to take individual decision for any inter-related development work to any further extent.
The ministries will have to take consent of board of secretaries’ meeting to take any decision for the execution of government’s decisions, added the sources.
“The Prime Minister has directed the secretaries to ensure coordination among the ministries before implementation of the government development works,” Cabinet Secretary Mosarraf Hossain Bhuiyan said yesterday.
He said, “From now on, the ministries shall not take any individual decision for any inter-related work. All of them will have to work in a coordinated way. The concerned secretary will represent the matter at the meeting of board of secretaries before taking final decision.”
Official sources said the government has been facing tremendous problem in implementation of different projects while the individual ministries are taking decision bypassing other related ministries, though it is impossible to implement such work without cooperation of related ministries or organizations.
The lack of inter-ministerial cooperation, especially among finance, commerce,
LGRD and planning ministries are often creating an unpleasant situation for the government high-ups, they added.
The situation went such an extent that Finance Minister AMA Muhith expressing deep frustration had said there is a lack of coordination among various ministries and agencies of the government, which has been hampering important activities.
“The coordination is very much important in the formulation of such a medium-term trade policy having long-term targets where various parties are involved,” he observed.
Even, International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh [ICC-B] president Mahbubur Rahman earlier had said that it would be very important for the government on how to coordinate several ministries for better implementation of important projects.
A. H. M. Kamrul Ahsan, Department of Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen, Norway in a recent thesis has pointed out some reasons behind the lack of coordination among the ministries and organizations.
“The persistence of a colonial legacy in the civil service has led to different organisational cultures among different cadres of civil service, particularly between the generalists and the specialists. Thus, the issue of inter-departmental coordination can be exemplified by the highly individualistic approach of civil servants in carrying out their respective tasks,” it went on.
As a result, the thesis unveiled, “Policy implementation is delayed, time and resources are wasted, and quality is compromised.”
