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KALEIDOSCOPE

Government should be pragmatic in its WB dealings
Even such people who would never say die in Bangladesh did finally despair when the Korean-born Jim Yong Kim upon assumption of World Bank (WB)'s presidency said he would stick to his predecessor, Robert B. Zoellick's stand on the Padma bridge loan. That means defunding of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project (PMBP) was not a personal decision of Mr. Zoellick's as it seemed to some in the government.
Policies of governments or international organisations in advanced democracies do not change hook, line and sinker with the change of leadership as it so often does in our own political culture, especially in power politics. In fact, continuity in policy is a hallmark of maturity in politics and governance; whether it is an organisation or a government.
With Mr. Kim's statement we are back to square one as far as WB's credit line to the PMBP is concerned.
What should the incumbent government's role be in such a situation when the construction of the country's largest ever communications infrastructure project has been thrown into uncertainty in a sequel to a controversy over a charge of what WB termed "high level corruption conspiracy" in PMBP?
Before rushing into letting out a stream of invectives against the world's leading lender, wouldn't it have been better for the government to take the Bank's decision as a challenge and think out ways to face it?
But the prime minister during her speech in the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) on July 4 not only dismissed
all the corruption allegation brought by the WB against public officials and private individuals of Bangladesh in the bridge project, she, in the same breath, also alluded to the global lender's own record of corruption as reported in the international Forbe's magazine and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Corruption is a global phenomenon and there is no reason to believe that this international lender, which Forbes in its report likens to a "virtual nation-state with supranational powers" with huge
funds under its commands, has its own internal problems. At the same time, the report also shows how scathingly the media in the West usually criticise their systems: governments, multilateral agencies, financial institutions, business houses, you name it.
So, what the prime minister in her oblique remark told the nation about the Bank's irregularities says nothing specific and would not help us in putting the international lender in its place. But what she said next is very significant: WB had itself repeatedly tried and mounted pressure on her government to appoint a particular company as consultant. It had even sent three letters to the government to this effect. But the company was found to be fake, she categorically noted in her speech.
This is a serious piece of information from the prime minister on the PMBP loan saga. In that case, the
government should immediately bring those alleged "WB letters" to the notice of the public at home and to the world community at large. That would expose the global lender's "questionable dealings," if any, with the Bangladesh government in connection with PMBP.
The government has nothing to fear in taking such steps. And if it is equipped with such concrete evidential support, there is no reason to think that the WB will not cooperate.
Hopefully, unlike our leaders, WB people will not throw up their hands
in utter shock and start to cry blue murder over the issue. On the contrary, in their culture, it is very likely that they would cooperate and help in every way to see efforts succeed.Leaving it at that, we need to act rather prudently. And before going on the warpath, the government leaders must understand that waging a costly war against the WB is not the way to get out of the mess they have made out of the whole issue.
Whipping up ill-timed jingoism over a foreign loan will neither serve the basic purpose —construction of the Padma Bridge -- nor would it be able to draw sympathy from any quarter whether at home or abroad.
At the same time, it puts all other development projects run by WB funding in the country at risk. The government leaders who have been firing a broadside at the WB would do well to keep in mind that China,
the world's second biggest economy, and India, the second emerging economic giant, are still tied to WB funding for their projects in a big way. They can well afford to be very nationalistic, but have chosen not to be on questions of financial and economic relations with global financial institutions like WB in this era of economic diplomacy. And to isolate oneself in an ever-shrinking interconnected world is not also be a very feasible proposition.
For now, it would be better for the government to cooperate with the Bank and find out the culprits, if any, in the administration, among private individuals and local contractors.
The instance of Canadian government is before us. Far from picking a quarrel with the WB, it has taken the global lender's allegation about their largest engineering company, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. seriously and have taken action against two of its employees involved in the graft scandal in PMBP.
The interview of Prof. Jamilur Reza Choudhury, chief of the technical evaluation committee for the PMBP published in The Daily Star speaks volumes for that. He said some local agents of foreign bidders in the Padma bridge project had triggered the corruption issue by sending dubious letters and documents to the World Bank. "There was an unholy competition among the local agents," he added.
We hope good sense will prevail and the government will opt for the judicious path to settle the matter with the WB amicably. Starting with a clean slate, it will be easier to start fresh negotiations with the Bank for PMPB credit. Don't we also have a share in the global lender's resources?
The writer is Editor Science & Life, The Daily Star. E-mail: sfalim.ds@gmail.com