A search of information on the Third Urban Governance and Infrastructure Improvement Project (UGIIP-3) revealed that the project is one of the most successful projects of the Government of Bangladesh.
This project is 100% “Prior Review” of the donor agency Asian Development Bank – ADB. All project activities are carried out step by step with the prior consent of ADB. All the funds are transferred to the bank of the concerned municipality and the municipality spends the money against the work done. One of the objectives of this project is to improve governance and increase the capacity of the municipality, said a press release.
In the last financial year, the project municipality’s own resource mobilization (tax collection, local income assessment, holding tax assessment, etc.) has almost doubled. It has greatly increased the self-reliance of the municipality – which has never happened before – moreover, the project has been considered as a model project for the overall development of the poor, gender, waste management, waterlogging, water supply, slum development, communication, etc. of the municipality.
The project has received several national and international awards in recognition. For successful results, the donor agency ADB has been using the model of this project in other countries also besides Bangladesh. However, a special anti-government faction is engaged in nefarious activities to tarnish the success of the Bangladesh government and is trying to mislead them by publishing false news in newspapers through anti-journalism.
The project is regularly audited every year by ADB and the Government of Bangladesh. All activities, including the hiring of consultancy firms, are not carried out without the prior approval of the ADB and the approval of the government. Approval of tenders, release of money, allocation of funds in the municipality, purchase of equipment, purchase of stationery, etc. are all handled in accordance with government rules and with transparency.
The agreement with the MDS firm is subject to ADB prior approval and government regulations. The salary allowance of the staff of the project consulting firm is paid directly by the concerned consulting firm. There is no room for corruption by the project director.
As per the government rules, the money for the project is transferred directly to the municipal fund, so there is no basis for allegations of corruption by raising false allegations for various purposes. ADB also pays the salaries of the international staff of the consulting firm directly.
The project director’s corruption is ridiculous, motivated and baseless to obstruct development works in this regard.
The funds procured for the project through international tenders are disbursed directly to the concerned party / institution located in abroad through the international money transfer system by ADB itself.
The publication of news in the newspaper accusing the project director of corruption in this regard is very purposeful and baseless in order to fulfill bad intention of the concerned newspaper.
Moreover, various misinformation about the staff involved in the project is baseless and is being used to discredit them – which is unfortunate and not desirable.
The outbreak of the global COBID-19 epidemic started last year and is still ongoing – so the donor agency and the Bangladesh government have taken steps to complete all project activities considering the extension of the project and the extension of the consultancy period – which has been done in the interest of the project.
The discovery of corruption here through false news is just a name to obstruct the development activities of the Bangladesh government.
Moreover, the UGIIP-3 project is a project that has been famous as a development milestone in the urban sector of Bangladesh. – which may be the cause of jealousy of the opposition and bad people and the initiative taken by them to harass the officials / employees engaged in the project in a motivated manner is highly reprehensible.
All concerned including the general public are requested to be vigilant in this regard and not to be misguided by yellow journalism for the interest of the country.
