The National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railway on Friday demanded transparency and accountability in the Global Marine Distressed and Safety System (GMDSS) project, jointly financed by the government of Bangladesh and South Korea, for safety in waterway transportation.The committee advisor Manjurul Ahsan Khan and general secretary Ashish Kumar Dey, in a joint statement, also urged the government to extend the project, run by the department of shipping, by three years, appointing a new project director and a high powered audit committee to probe corruption in the project in past two years.The leaders criticized purchase of luxury cars, renting a huge office and manpower recruitment before getting the overseas money.
The organization that had been vocal for long to establish a safe mass transportation system in the country also demanded to publish the sector based expenditure from the government exchequer for two years before beginning the main works of the project.
The department of shipping took the Tk 370 crore 89 lakh and four thousand project to strengthen safety of the water transportation in coastal region, it was informed in the statement.
Of the project expenditure, the South Korea will provide 282 crore 74 lakh and 64 thousand and the Bangladesh government will provide the remaining Tk 88 crore, 14 lakh and 40 thousand.
As per the project design, the statement said, light houses will be installed at many places including Cox’s Bazar for uninterrupted and smooth transportation of ships and fishing trawlers in the sea and in the coastal belt and to construct a multi-storied building at its Agargaon office in the capital.
The Shipping ministry appointed a PD for the project on May 25, 2014 and the project was scheduled to end in December this year. But as the main works of the project was yet to be started, the South Korea did not release its part of the money.
The committee leaders also claimed that the project would not be successful even after extending the project period if a new skilled project director was not appointed immediately.
