Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Most of the government’s ‘showpiece projects’ are struggling to come out timely because of inefficiency of the implementing agencies and bureaucratic tangle.
These projects have been taken by the government during its current and previous tenures to bring out rapid pace of infrastructure development in the country.
The mega projects include several flyovers and mass transit projects in Dhaka, highway projects, power and railway projects, and sea ports. But most of them are yet to be completed.
Officials said, though most of the projects are struggling to come out timely, they could not do so because of poor capacity of the implementation agencies, lack of proper planning, delays in floating bids, and deployment of contractors. Sometimes, delay of fund disbursement slam brakes on showpiece projects.
Admitting the matter, Prof Shamsul Alam, Member, Planning Commission, told The New Nation on Friday that there is a general problem in infrastructure development throughout the country which is a cause of delay in implementation.
He said a number of projects are facing procedural hurdles such as environment clearance, legal issues, and agreements with different agencies, including donors.
“We are trying to solve the problems. We are also looking for a better coordination among the implementing agencies so that the projects can move faster,” he added.
When asked, Prof. Alam said, enhancing capacity of the government agencies is more important for quality expenditure as well as timely completion of mega projects. “This is a very critical area and we are putting our best efforts in this regard,” he added.
“The government seems in a rush for completing many showpiece projects based on electoral consideration,” Prof Nazrul Islam, an urban planner, told The New Nation yesterday.
He said, “A number of projects have already been taken without proper planning, designing, ensuring source of fund and coordination among the government bodies. The government seems to have compromised all of these basic requirements, leading delay in projects implementation and subsequently cost overruns”.
Prof Nazrul Islam further said there are three areas that should have been taken into account before announcing such mega development projects. These include priority, design and the implementation process of the project and overall welfare of citizens.
“Mega projects have been taken to push forward the economy. The GDP growth could rise to 8 per cent backed by these infrastructure projects. But these projects have run into delays and cost overrun due to poor expertise and inefficiency of the concerned agencies,” Dr Zahid Hussain, lead economist, World Bank’s Bangladesh country official, told The New Nation on Friday.
“Poor supervision and mismanagement by contractors are also blamed for the delay in their implementation,” he added.
The WB economist also said that highly professional well trained project managers should be preferred for mega projects. But the government failed to come up with the need due to lack of skilled personnel in the implementing agencies.
“As a result, projects are being stalled or made a little progress,” he added.
When asked, Dr Zahid Hussain said, “The number of showpiece development projects does not matter, matter is their timely implementation and maximize their economic benefit”.
He also urged the government to adopt a rational policy in implementing show piece projects considering urgent needs of the masses. It should not pick up the projects with partisan political considerations in mind.
The projects, including Metro Rail, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Rampal Power Plant, Payra Sea Port, Matarbari Power Plant, Padma Bridge rail link, Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar-Gundum rail line, Khulna-Mongla rail line and a new dual-gauge Dhaka-Narayanganj rail line, Sonadia deep sea port, LNG terminal, Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane, Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga dual carriageway expressway, Dhaka-Sylhet, Joydevpur-Elenga, and Elenga-Rangpur dual carriageways, The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, The Dhaka Elevated Expressway, and Karnaphuli tunnel project, are progressing in snail’s space.
“All the mega projects except Padma Bridge are progressing at a snail’s pace. Construction of Padma Bridge is going on in full swing and is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year,” a Finance Ministry official told The New Nation yesterday.
He said, “Delay of the projects implementation is pushing up their cost further harming the state coffer as well the national economy.”
