It is astounding to know that cost of some railway megaprojects was overblown by billions of Taka(s). This is what investigation by the present government has revealed. Hence, it comes as no surprise that drastic cuts are now in the offing. The Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Ramu-Ghundhum project, originally estimated to cost Tk 180.34 billion, is now revised downward by Tk 66 billion to Tk 114.34 billion. The other, the Chinese-funded Padma Rail-Link Project that had been purported to be worth Tk 394.47 billion is now to cost Tk 369.47 billion, a savings of Tk 25 billion. The total savings are estimated at Tk 91 billion. This is just two of the many mega-projects undertaken by the previous government.
It was no secret that development project budgets had been inflated to cover kickbacks both to administration and contracting parties. Till now, it had been impossible to get to the bottom of it. Now that there has been a change in the country's administration, such matters are being brought to light. It is obvious that some good is coming out of the various committees that have been formed to look into the state of the country's finances. It will be very interesting to see what the various 'White Papers', which are in various stages of preparation, says.
It is now abundantly clear that a lot of unnecessary components were added to budgets of mega-projects to inflate costs. Again, it has also become painfully obvious that unnecessary projects were adopted by the previous administration to generate business and not development. Many of these projects have been found to be boasting staggering costs which fall apart in the face of closer scrutiny. The crux of the problem with projects such as these is of course, the financing. Very few of the hugely expensive mega infrastructure projects in the country have been financed by soft loans. Rather, commercial loans with shortened repayment periods and steeper interest rates became the backbone of financing projects. No honeymoon lasts forever and the party is now over. The present government is now stuck with the economic burden of the past and it is quite natural that every major project that has been put through the pipeline gets audited.
Besides, time overrun has been synonymous with development projects in Bangladesh. It is now more imperative than ever to scrutinize and identify all the unnecessary projects undertaken to see which can be justified and those that simply have no reason to exist. Of course, that is easier said than done. Many projects are simply too advanced in terms of project completion to be totally discarded. However, it is possible to trim the costs by deleting those components that have no reason to be included in a particular project. Rationalisation is further possible by reassessing the cost of various project components that have been artificially increased to boast profits beyond reason.
In line with that, it has become abundantly clear that the Jamuna rail-bridge construction project is seriously overpriced. According to what ministry of railway (MoR) officials have shared with the Financial Express, "we have started reviewing our ongoing projects. We will rationalize their costs and scope of works". This is very much in line with the review of a slew of expensive infrastructure projects undertaken by the MoR over the past decade and a half. Building rail connectivity and associated infrastructure is an expensive affair. Hence it opens up the necessary scope for graft and that had been fully taken advantage of by political masters of the day.
These committees that have been formed need time to complete their work. The reform agenda is just beginning to take shape and it is obvious that getting back the stupendous amounts of money that have been siphoned off by various members of the preceding ruling class and laundered abroad is going to take a lot of time. Even if the country is able to recover 20 per cent of the estimated US$150.0 billion that is purported to have left the country over the years, the amount will be $30 billion dollars! That sum is nearly 50 per cent more than the current foreign exchange reserves of the country and would help a lot to turn things around for the economy.
These reforms and investigations are obviously uncomfortable for some members of society, because it is difficult to know who has profited from these unjustified and unnecessary project cost escalations. If the interim government is actually serious about making long-lasting changes that will benefit the country's finances and introduce a culture of transparency and accountability, then no stone should be left unturned to get back money laundered abroad. For that to happen, these audits must continue and the White Papers need to be published so that people are not left in the dark anymore and the painful task of recovering monies stolen can begin.
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