The Planning Commission has declined to approve at least 17 road development projects in recent weeks as those were reportedly undertaken by the Sheikh Hasina government on political grounds.
Costs of some projects are abnormally high, while some are not so crucial for the country at this moment, officials said on Tuesday.
Some mega projects are also included in the axing list as those are not national priorities and their expected rate or return is low.
Officials at the Physical Infrastructure Division of the Planning Commission told the FE that 15 of the projects were fresh and two ongoing.
"We've returned at least 17 projects over the last one-and-a-half months to the line ministry for their less importance and highest costs. Besides, some are undertaken on political grounds...," said a senior official.
"We've asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges to review the development project proposals of the agencies," he added.
At the last moment of the ousted government, the Roads and Highways Department, the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority undertook the projects and sent them to the Commission for endorsement.
"We found some projects overlapped as similar kinds have been taken up in the same region or areas in the past," observed the official.
"Following the interim government's instructions," he said, "we're scrutinising all the pipeline projects sent by the ministry concerned for approval."
Another official said: "We've sent back at least six road-sector projects, which have already been discussed at the Project Evaluation Committee meeting."
What is more, another 11 development projects were under review of the Commission for placing them before the committee.
Meanwhile, the interim government has taken a cautious stance on the approval of development projects amid the current economic situation and the last government's rampant corruption in development activities.
The Commission has already sent back the MRT-05 southern line project due to its less importance and higher costs, according to another official.
The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd took up the scheme at Tk 546.19 billion.
The Commission also returned a Tk 58.99-billion land acquisition project for widening the Faridpur-Bhanga-Barisal-Patuakhali-Kuakata highway for the involvement of massive costs.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) took up the project.
The Commission also declined to endorse projects like the Tk 27.10-billion widening of four district roads of the Gopalganj road division, the Tk 5.63-billion widening of the Sheikh Hasina Highway into four lanes and the Tk 10.32-billion widening of regional highways under the Khulna circle project.
Meanwhile, it sent back a handful of projects of different sectors like social, agriculture, education, energy and power, water transport, water resources, and housing in months for their less importance, higher cost estimation and political grounds.
The Commission is still reviewing projects sent by different ministries for getting approvals or revisions.
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