Editorial Desk :
Although the government is placing significant investments on the development of public infrastructure projects (PIPs), a lack of good governance in project implementation undermines their efficiency. This poor performance will never deliver expected results as cost overruns and delays in implementing projects go hand in hand. This also creates scope for corruption, says CPD.
According to a report in a national daily on Thursday, the think-tank, Centre for Policy Dialogue, made the observations at a dialogue held in capital Dhaka in cooperation with The Asian Foundation. Often, it is seen that a project starts to struggle right from the start, with flawed plans and designs, and that continues until the very end. So, it called for developing a comprehensive framework to ensure good governance. The event was held at a time when cost and time overrun of development projects is becoming a major concern, bringing to the fore a serious mismatch between project planning and implementation. Even the planning minister had to regret that a lack of good governance is undermining the potential of PIPs, despite huge investments made in them by the government.
Experts viewed that quality physical, social and digital infrastructures should be given the top priority in Bangladesh. These will play a critical role in facilitating Bangladesh’s graduation from Least Developed Country to Developing Country in 2026. They too underscored the importance of good governance in PIP implementation to ensure acceleration of growth and meeting the targets of the 8th Five-Year Plan, SGDs and Vision 2041. Good governance will also reduce the cost of public service and maximise productive use of limited resources, while also promoting competitiveness and inclusive growth. But Bangladesh is still lagging in competitiveness indicators, they said, citing Global Competitiveness Index-2019. Bangladesh ranked 114 out of 141 countries in infrastructure, 108 in quality of road infrastructure, and 117 in road connectivity, shows the index.
Good governance in PIP implementation is urgently needed as it will not only
accelerate growth and help meet the targets, but will also reduce the cost of public service and maximise productive use of our limited resources. It is time that the government must express urgency into actual and systemic reforms that will hugely benefit the nation. The poor and lengthy implementation of projects creates opportunists for corruption and that is how corruption is helped the powerful ones.
