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Litany of waste

Public Expenditure Review Commission report reveals how public money was squandered in unnecessary, low-priority projects

REJAUL KARIM BYRON
The Public Expenditure Review Commission report has revealed some of the most incredible wastes of public money on various unnecessary and low-priority projects.
For example, a Tk 675 crore rail project has been taken up to link Chittagong to Cox's Bazar although a very good three-hour road link already exists. A Tk 18 crore rail project, that too technically faulty,
was undertaken that would save only 20 minutes of journey time.
A fertiliser scheme taken 10 years back has not made any physical progress and yet Tk 2.76 crore have been spent to maintain its office.
These are a few of the string of wasteful projects taken in the last 10 years while many important schemes remain unattended, the commission report revealed.
The commission has also
analysed that it would take from 44 years to 152 years for many projects to end because of the way the governments funded them. This actually proves anything but practical necessity saw these schemes on the government's list.
In education, runaway systems loss reaches 58 per cent with bulk of the money spent on infrastructure and little on teachers and education materials. Thirty-five per cent of students cannot even cross the
threshold of class five.
The commission headed by former adviser to the caretaker government M Hafizuddin Khan recently submitted its report to the finance ministry. Other members of the commission are former secretary Mohammad Habibur Rahman, Engineer Mohammad Abdur Rahim, Abbasuddin Khan, FCA, Dr Zaid Bakth and Dr Binayak Sen of the Bangladesh Institute of
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The roads and highways sub-sector has attracted special attention of the commission where it found that a huge number of low priority projects have been taken up. "For some special reasons, people concerned are over zealous to take up projects related to roads," the commission said. "The ADP size in the sector has gone beyond proper management."
The result is management inefficiency and dissatisfactory implementation rates. Sixty-six of the 188 projects included in the current ADP are limping with less than 20 per cent progress. Forty-two of the projects have an estimated outlay of Tk 6,425.67 crore and till June 2002, only Tk 416.8 crore has been spent on them with Tk 162.5 crore provided for in the current ADP. At this rate, these projects would take 37 years to complete.
While new road projects are being taken, only 35 per cent of the required maintenance cost is allocated against the existing ones, leading to broken-down roads.
The government took up a Tk 18 crore scheme at Akhaura Railway Station so that Sylhet-bound trains from Dhaka do not have to change engines there. This project has a number of technical flaws and will save only 20 minutes on a trip.
A Tk 675 crore rail project has been taken to link Cox's Bazar to
Chittagong. This is low on priority list since a good road link exists and many important schemes like Jamuna Bridge rail link, Dhaka-Joydevpur double-gauge rail line and Dhaka-Bhairab double-line suffer from fund crisis.
The Shahjalal fertiliser project was taken up in 1992-93 and has been lying unapproved of for four years since its inclusion in the ADP. There is no physical progress of the project and yet Tk 276 lakh has been spent on salary of the scheme officials and other heads.
The commission also pointed out that a huge number of unapproved projects are leading to drainage of massive amounts every year. It has identified three projects lying unapproved of for nine years, one for eight years, 10 for four years, 22 for three years, 33 for two years and 18 for one year.
There are even examples such as the balancing, modernisation, rehabilitation and expansion of Ghorasal fertilier plant which have been completed but not approved of.
The commission also observed that in approving projects, costbenefit analysis and internal rate of return are often overlooked and the planning process is also weak. It pointed out that only 23 per cent of the 374 projects included in the ADP for fiscal 2001-2002 had been analysed.