New plan to root out graft from transport agencies

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Munima Sultana
The government has unveiled plans to weed out graft from its transport agencies in the wake of allegations of corruption in major projects and withdrawal of funds by the World Bank.
Officials said a Tk 182 million project has been taken to identify the sources of leakages, misuse and graft in each of the government's 11 transport-related agencies in an effort to stamp out corrupt practices.
The plans are seen as part of government initiatives to placate the donors including the largest lender, the World Bank, after the latter pulled out Tk4.00 billion credits this year from what it said graft-tainted projects.
"We have already set up a steering committee in this connection comprising officials of all agencies and ministries," said an official, also a member of the body.
Under the project "Institutional strengthening and capacity building of Dhaka Transport Coordination Board", the government has already appointed consultants to conduct study on how the transport agencies are executing their projects and why they have consistently failed to manage foreign aid properly.
"It's a massive task to identify the weak-spots in our transport agencies that build and maintain roads and railway network," he added.
Together, the 11 agencies spend some 20 per cent of the country's budget every year, although most of their projects have been stained with corruption.
"There is no way the donors would bank-roll top projects such as Metro rail or Elevated Expressway and dedicated bus service if graft is not reduced to a tolerable level," he said.
The World Bank, which lends more than a billion dollar every year, has already warned of withdrawing more funds from the on-going projects if the government cannot tackle widespread graft in the transport agencies.
The agencies are Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkya (RAJUK), Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Bangladesh Roads and Transport Authority (BRTA), Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB), Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Local Government Engineering Department, Bangladesh Railway and Department of Environment.
Officials said traffic jams in the city would exacerbate if donors don't fund major projects of these agencies.