Despite the need for a project costing Tk 43.15 billion to reduce road accidents, serious questions have been raised about the cost of so much expenditure for consultancy. The Planning Commission has reportedly sent back the project after a review meeting, saying that the proposed expenditure of Tk 4.40 billion for consultancy and Tk 1.84 for software purchase was abnormal. Stakeholders have also said there is no necessity to recruit consultants at such a high cost for the project.
According to a media report, the project components include 8,000 kilometers of roads and earth filling, training of drivers, free ambulance service for people injured in road accidents, treatment of injured people at three hospitals or launching of a trauma centre, straightening curved roads and improving the signal system. ‘Bangladesh road safety’ project is supposed to implement the project between January 2022 and December 2026. The review meeting was held in connection with the project at the Planning Commission in-mid March. Of the project cost, Tk 30 billion will be provided as loan from the World Bank, while the government will have to provide the remaining Tk 13.15 billion.
Reportedly, five to six thousand people die in accidents in the country every year. According to the Road Safety Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, 6,284 people were killed and 7,468 injured in road accidents in the country in 2021. In this situation, we do not deny the need to take practical and sustainable steps in road safety. However, the development projects do not mean that huge sums of money have to be spent in the name of appointing consultants.
We often noticed more and more consultants are appointed in development projects funded by foreign and development partners. Donor agencies often put pressure on hiring consultants. But why would the government or the institutions concerned surrender to that pressure? We do not need foreign consultants to reduce road accidents. It is necessary to restore order on the chaotic roads and to force the drivers, passengers and pedestrians to obey the law. Any advice from local or foreign experts will not work if we cannot restore order in road management.
We have been seeing the government is in hands of few incompetent and unconscionable bureaucrats supported by corrupt vested interest. What is a matter of humiliation that we are all treated as helpless animals unable to change incompetent ones.
