Procrastination in the execution of development projects, particularly those called priority ones that involve large amounts of public investments, and the associated cost overrun factors, are a drag on the country's economy in the context of its existing resource envelope. Public revenue receipts are expanding now at a slower pace than what was witnessed two or three years back. Under such circumstances, the plea for extra funds for execution of long-running 'on-going' projects is most likely to distort the budgetary exercise for resource allocation. The case of the ministry of road transport and bridges can be cited here as an instance. The authority concerned, as reported in the FE on Saturday, has asked for Tk 10 billion as additional fund to complete some of its large on-going infrastructure projects, under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the forthcoming fiscal year (FY), 2015-16. Among the 100 projects for which the funds have thus been requested for, include Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway, Joydevpur-Mymensingh four-lane highway, and road maintenance works in 10 zones, mostly on account of cost overruns. Meanwhile, costs of a number of other vital projects including that of the Padma multipurpose bridge have furthermore been reported to have marked a striking rise, well ahead of undertaking their main construction work.
Even foreign-funded projects have witnessed cost overruns, quite substantially. For an example, the cost of a railway-track-setting project under the Indian US$800 million line of credit has swelled by 30 per cent on the alleged ground that the contractor from the funding country quoted higher biding price. This has not only forced the executing agencies to increase the project cost but also caused the delay in its implementation by, at least, two years. Now, the big question is how such additional funds will be generated.
Against this backdrop, what the planning minister stated about cost overruns does certainly merit a serious attention, before more damage is done to project execution. He hinted at many 'missing areas' in realising the implementation target of the ADP. In many projects, only 1.0-2.0 per cent of work is left uncompleted, but the project directors, as what the minister pointed out, 'intentionally delay' their completion by adding more components to the original or even revised ones, for their own benefit.
The planning minister has, meanwhile, assured all concerned about special measures being taken this time, from the very first day of the forthcoming fiscal for full implementation of the ADP. In fact, a serious lack of accountability, transparency and gross apathy in regular monitoring and evaluation on a periodic basis all play their part in delaying projects. This delay benefits only a handful of people enormously.
Resources are scarce relative to the multi-dimensional needs of any developing economy like that of Bangladesh. Here efficacy in managing the projects is proportionately and directly conjoined to the economy's growth performance and people's well-being. Delay in implementation and cost overruns thus distort in many cases the very objectives of the projects and diminish their benefits. That is why effective implementation of projects on time and within the budgetary resource allocation framework, is vital. Framing of a plan or a budget does by no means ensure its effective implementation. Effective management is critically important for spurring the economy's growth because development itself is the effect of a series of successfully managed projects. This makes project management an extremely important problem area. Surely, it merits a serious, not any casual, attention.
Implementing development projects within budget
FE Team | Published: May 26, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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