One kilometer of four-lane flyover costs on an average Tk 123 crore in Bangladesh. The average cost of that in India is Tk 100 crore and in Pakistan around Tk 70 crore. Contractors’ negligence, improper planning and feasibility studies, lack of accountability and transparency, red tape, and inadequate preparation, among others, are the main reasons for the high cost. Land acquisition, rehabilitation of people, finding financiers, legal and bureaucratic tangles also cause unnecessary delays.
In spite of such exorbitant costs in construction, the government does not have a proper audit mechanism to find out exactly why the costs are higher than that of our surrounding countries. But it sees no difficulty in spending over 18,000 crore of taxpayers’ money to bail out public and private banks in the last decade from 2009.
Why? Are public funds so easy to procure? These funds represent the blood and sweat of our citizens. Using this to bail out non performing loans is like paying inefficient firms the hard earned money of honest ones. It is hard enough to do business in Bangladesh due to the extraordinarily high level of corruption which honest businesses have to face, but why should the government compound it by utilising public funds which could have been spent better on improving infrastructure?
Meanwhile, efficient firms like mobile operators Robi and GrameenPhone have filed two cases with a Dhaka court, seeking permanent injunctions against the telecom regulator’s audit claims of Tk 13,447 crore. This is due to the fact that on September 5, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued show cause notices to the operators asking them to explain within 30 days why their lincences would not be cancelled for not paying the dues. So here we see a clear stance of the government. Thus honest firms and citizens have to pay taxes and face audits while government contractors and firms face none. It is easier for the government to take money and spend it in big projects for creating opportunities for big corruption by the government supporters with telling false success stories.
The government knows who are the biggest looters and they should be asked to return their looted money. The people have been sucked out and they are in terrible hardship. So forcing them to pay more will not work.
The government that allowed corruption freely and ruined the economy cannot help itself now by inventing new ways of collecting toll and others. The people have been made paupers. Even now in their harsh days corruption is still going on unchecked.
The government that allowed corruption freely and ruined the economy cannot help itself now by inventing new ways of collecting toll and others. The people have been made paupers. Even now in their harsh days corruption is still going on unchecked.
Police seem to have become more daring after the realisation that this government would not have been where it is. The fate of court cases started by police when caught red-handed remains unsure. The judiciary has also been vowed to continue with the illegalities. Everybody in the government seems to be bribed.
The government maintains a huge audit department. The officials get fat salaries and other amenities to lead a richly life but have not been doing anything to stop plundering. They found money well spent. We know they have no accountability and the government is now facing the crisis all around.
May be the happy days are soon coming to an end.
May be the happy days are soon coming to an end.
