The World Bank has made commitment of a record amount of fund worth around $ 2.8 million this fiscal year to Bangladesh. It is more than the previous highest commitment, made in 2010-11. That time World Bank's commitment was worth $ 2.1 million but $ 1.2 million was cancelled later, which was for Padma Bridge project.
The World Bank cancelled the Padma Bridge fund though it did not stop any other project fund; even they allocated more funds in many projects, which were of big amounts. However, after cancellation of the Padma Bridge fund, a psychological tension was going on between Bangladesh government and the World Bank. No comment came from the side of the World Bank which was harmful for the relation but some politicians who hold official position of the government of Bangladesh made some comments regarding World Bank which was not so decent. Besides that, there was an unhappiness regarding the cause of cancellation of Padma Bridge project funds inside the government; because it was not the charge of corruption, it was only conspiracy of corruption. So, government of Bangladesh might think that it was a harsh decision of World Bank. The World Bank could continue the Padma project and they could investigate the conspiracy of the corruption of Padma Bridge Project with the help of Bangladesh government. Why the World Bank took that unkind decision during the era of Robert Zoellick and why Bangladesh Government failed to protect it is a mystery. Inside Bangladesh government there was speculation that some political causes played a vital role against it. Even they took it seriously during a visit of the finance minister to New York, when he was asked by the international credit rating agency Moody's whether it was the result of the bad relation between Nobel laureate Dr Yunus and the government.
However, the Zoellick régime is now part of the history and the Padma corruption conspiracy case is going through investigations. Besides, from the very beginning of the era of Jim Yong King, the World Bank is so soft with Bangladesh. Even they agreed to revive the Padma Bridge project loan but Bangladesh failed to handle it smartly. Despite the Padma, other sectors were going on with World Bank very cordially. In addition to that, a question has arisen after the January 5 elections, how the relation will go with the World Bank and Bangladesh. The World Bank is not any political institute; it is totally the Bank of the world. Bangladesh is also one of the owners of it, but reality is that the political influence of United States and Europe also focuses on the work of the World Bank. Not only the people of Bangladesh, but also those who are concerned about Bangladesh politics in the world knew that most of the European countries and United States were not happy with the elections of Bangladesh. They were more influenced by the opposition but they did not think about the terrorism of Bangladesh and the homeland security of South Asian countries. After the elections of Bangladesh, all the European countries and the United States have said that the government of Bangladesh is constitutional so they will work with this government. In spite of that, there was a little bit confusion as to how they will go with this government. Will they go like the Asian countries? After formation of the new government of Bangladesh, Asian big powers India and China and Russia congratulated the government and they felt that without the constitutional government Bangladesh would fall into a chaotic situation, which was harmful for Asian security. So, it was a big deal for Bangladesh and the Asian powers, as to how the west will behave with the new government of Bangladesh. The visit of the vice president, in charge of South Asia of the World Bank, to Bangladesh has made clear the view of the west. Vice president Philippe le Houerou visited Bangladesh from March 28 to April 2. In the meantime, he visited some of the development projects of Bangladesh and some rural areas. Besides that, he met finance minister and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The meeting with Prime Minister of Bangladesh and vice president of the World Bank was more remarkable. In that meeting, he addressed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman as father of the nation of Bangladesh. It proved that they are with the constitutional process of Bangladesh. Because according to the constitution Sheikh Mujib is father of the nation and he admitted that. Simultaneously he also praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her huge contribution to women education and empowerment and continuity of the success of the economy.
Therefore, the visit of the vice president of the World Bank is a new start with the new government of the Bangladesh and it is a good starting. The vice president committed around $ 2.8 million for this fiscal year. Obviously, it will help to produce next budget of Bangladesh. Here it has to be mentioned that the WB vice president said that the fund would be used for reducing poverty, empowering women, ensuring quality education and making infrastructures for rural electrification and others. Before the announcement of the vice president of the World Bank, finance minister of Bangladesh had given an outline of the budget to the press and the economic think-tanks of the country. He also said that in this budget the government would give more allocation for quality education; besides that they will put emphasis on building up electricity transmission and distribution systems. The government has given permission to a lot of electricity producing plants that will produce twenty-one thousand megawatt of electricity by 2019. So, now it is very much needed for them to build up electricity transmission and distribution systems. If they can produce said amount of electricity by 2019 and can set up the transmission and distribution lines within these time, they will be successful in rural electrification. So now it is clear that the World Bank and the new government of Bangladesh are marching shoulder to shoulder.
The writer is Executive Editor, the Daily Janakantha, Dhaka, Bangladesh and he can be reached at swadeshroy@gmail.com
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