Setting project priority right

The just deposed government of Hasina literally went on a binge of mega projects in the name of development. Sure enough, a few of those like the Padma Bridge and the metro rail are iconic in terms of their infrastructural size, utility, economic return, contribution to gross domestic product and the positive impact on people's lives and livelihoods. The same may not be true for other high-profile projects hyped as the driver of development. At a time of severe economic crunch, Planning and education adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud has made his intention clear about prioritising mega projects on pragmatic considerations. Even though the majority of the projects are related to road and rail communications, there are exceptions like the Rooppur atomic power plant. True, infrastructure development on the communication front is sure to increase people's mobility ---a prerequisite for enhancing domestic produce and products along with business. But in a land-scarce country with an oversize population, this runs the risk of creating outrageous discrimination in society unless it is people-centred.

Mega projects are not the only criterion for development nor is the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP). Kleptocracy and its offshoots in the form of social parasites can deceptively project a healthy macro-economy and GDP growth based on artificial and highly uneven distribution of wealth. The lion's share of the benefit of wealth creation is limited to the kleptocracy which feels no compulsion for redistribution of wealth through investment in the productive sectors. Thus the people who were in power right from the autocratic to elected political dispensations ---no matter fair or stage-managed the elections were---have gone for projects from which they could stash away fat commissions for the power and privileged circle. This way they missed the wood for the trees. In case of the development parameter, the people were missing from a host of unnecessary projects including a few mega ones. The elevated expressway reserved only for cars, not three-wheelers, can be a good example of this.

However, the more important aspect is creation of employment in order to reduce economic disparities and social inequality. This issue was mostly overlooked even though 2.0 to 2.2 million youths join the bandwagon of the unemployed every year. In 2017, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the number of unemployed youths was 2.677 million and of them 0.405 million had bachelor and master degrees. In 2022 the number of unemployed dropped slightly to 2.582 million but strangely, the number of the unemployed among the bachelor and master degree-holders rose almost double the figure to 0.799 million.

Clearly, there is a need for channelling funds from eye-catching projects with low potential for contributing to expansion of employment and resource creation to areas where reaping demographic dividends would be assured and sustainable. The challenge is daunting because there is a mismatch between the education system and the demand of today's employment sector. In that case, short courses and special training to develop skill sets can be introduced to complement the general types of syllabi at the degree and tertiary levels. The long-term goal would be streamlining education at these levels, aligning it with market demands so that the 'zero unemployment' target can be attained.