The development promoted in the country during the Awami League government was praised at home and abroad, but in fact a 'thieves' system was established. Using the rhetoric of development as a shield, the white paper drafting committee found evidence of at least 28 ways in which corruption occurs. Notable among these are seven mega projects of the country. There has been poor feasibility study in taking up these projects, leading to wastage of resources. The project was not completed on time, besides the cost was increased several times. And under the cover of increasing this cost, about lakhs of rupees of the country have disappeared. These issues came up in the final report of the white paper preparation committee on the economic situation of Bangladesh.
Committee member and CPD Special Fellow Mostafizur Rahman feels that the cost and corruption of mega projects have created mega concerns for the people and economy of the country. He said that the money that has been lost through various mega projects has become a burden on the shoulders of the next generation and it will have to be borne by several generations. Because, most of this money has been smuggled abroad.
The white paper drafting committee said in their report, the cost of any of the seven mega projects of the country, including Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project, Karnaphuli Tunnel, Metrorail, Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, Dohazari-Cox's Bazar Railway Line, Payra Deep Sea Port, Matarbari Coal Based Power Plant, has been increased up to 900 percent. Bangladesh spends 4.4 times more than India and 2.15 times more than Pakistan on four-lane highways per kilometer. Rangpur-Hatikumrul four-lane road construction cost per kilometer is about 6.47 million US dollars and Dhaka-Sylhet highway cost is about 7.06 million US dollars per kilometer. Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga four-lane expressway cost per kilometer is fixed at Tk 113.7 crore.
According to the report, the country's average expenditure per kilometer of four-lane roads in urban areas is $6.35 million. Where China spent 3.90 million dollars, India spent 1.45 million dollars, Pakistan spent 2.95 million dollars, Indonesia spent 2.15 million dollars, Philippines spent 1.15 million dollars and Turkey spent 1.70 million dollars. million dollars
According to the report of the committee, more than 80 thousand crores of rupees have been spent in the end than what was estimated at the beginning of the seven mega projects of the country. The initial total cost of the projects was estimated at 1 lakh 14 thousand 547.56 crores. However, the final cost is shown as 1 lakh 95 thousand 116.87 crores. According to that, 70 percent expenditure has been increased in the projects. As a result, the final cost of many projects was hundreds of percent higher than the initial cost.
The committee cited the lack of transparency in the procedures for conducting feasibility studies, project planning and document preparation as the main reason for the high incidence of corruption in mega projects. However, IMED has regularly reported these irregularities and corruption to the government. But in most cases, the government has not taken any significant action on these observations, comments and suggestions made over the years.
A common feature of almost all major projects was multiple revisions, the report said. The ministries concerned often did not have the necessary expertise to conduct audits for complex large-scale schemes and to properly assess project revenues. Frequent changes in design have increased project time as well as cost. Subsequent procurement of the project was not done as per the revised provisions in the RDPP as initially. A major example of this is the Matarbari 1,200 MW Ultra Super Critical Power Plant, which was a common occurrence for project stakeholders. A study found that about 86.4 percent of the projects undertaken by the previous government were extended in terms of project time or cost or both.
White Paper Committee Chief and Economist Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya said, Awami League's corruption and irregularities had reached such a level that they used to threaten foreign consultants to get their work done as per their wish. Influential government figures involved in corruption would also threaten to close the offices of donor agencies or consultants.
