The Power Division back in 2012 took up a project to install solar power-based PV LED light on 1000 km-long streets of seven city corporations in the country at a cost of Tk 3.16 billion. The pious intention behind initiating the project was to save 27.82 million kilowatt-hours electricity annually.
The scorecard of the project five years after its initiation is bound to evoke both surprise and anguish. Not a single solar-powered LED light has so far been installed in any of the city corporations under the project.
But the Bangladesh Power Development Board, the agency responsible for execution of the project, has shown extraordinary efficiency and promptness, at least, in one particular area. It has bought nine luxury cars and seven double-cabin pickups in 2013 and fully exhausted funds allocated under the project for purchasing vehicles and fuel.
The vehicles, allegedly, are now being used by some Power Division officials, many of whom are not any way involved with project execution.
The project has lately been revised by the Planning Minister reducing its cost to Tk 2.22 billion. The Implementation monitoring and evaluation division (IMED) has detected massive irregularities in the project and expressed its reservations about the revision of the project.
Delays and irregularities apart, some wrongdoings are noticed in the purchase of vehicles for development projects and their use.
Usually, the development project executing agencies buy vehicles for projects with great promptness and then they keep a few for themselves and make others available to the top officials of the relevant divisions/ ministries. In fact, vehicles procured for development projects do meet the undue need of many officials and family members of honchos of the relevant ministries.
Such abuse of vehicles is an open secret. Volumes have been said and written about it. But the situation has not changed. The reason for inaction is understandable. The people who would take actions in most cases are themselves guilty of unauthorised use of projects' vehicles. So, they, for their own convenience, have always overlooked the issue.
But should such abuse of project vehicles bought with taxpayers' money be allowed to continue?
It is not just abuse of vehicles. Irregularities are also there in determining the need of vehicles and their purchases by the officials concerned. It is alleged that luxury vehicles and vehicles in excessive numbers are deliberately included on the purchase list with some ulterior motives. The project officials do not need such luxury vehicles. In fact, those are purchased keeping an eye on the demands coming from the high-ups in the relevant ministries.
The vehicles purchased as per requirement of various development projects are not controlled and monitored by the department of government transport. So, it is difficult to know the whereabouts of vehicles belonging to different development projects. Some years back, there was an attempt to locate the vehicles operating under various development projects. But the relevant authorities had failed to locate a good number of them. A large number of vehicles were found at the disposal of ministers/ their personal staff/ high officials of the relevant ministries.
The abuse of government transports, be those under the regular use of high and mid-level government officials or under development projects, has been rampant. No attempt worth its name has ever been made to remove anomalies in transport use or abuse of the facility as, in many cases, the officials concerned who would initiate investigations are themselves involved in the malpractice.
The government in 2011 through a gazette notification had introduced interest-free loan facilities for officials having the rank and status of joint secretary and above to buy their own cars. Later a couple of amendments were made to that notification making the facilities more attractive. Yet allegations have it that the recipients of such facilities do usually use the vehicles belonging to various development projects since they are not entitled to use transport from the government transport pool.
Like most other areas of public sector, there is a serious lack of transparency and accountability in the use of government transports, including those belonging to the development projects. It is understood that a substantial amount of money is spent on the purchase and maintenance of these vehicles every year. And the money belongs to the taxpayers.
There should be a thorough and independent review of both procurement and use of vehicles belonging to the government ministries/ agencies/ development projects. Since the government officials are the beneficiaries of the beyond-the-rule use of vehicles, they should be kept out of this review process. Competent experts from the private sector should do the review work.
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