Development works suffered setbacks, as did economic activity, for the ongoing stalemate stemming from countrywide job-quota protests and curfew-induced lockdown, insiders said Tuesday.
Movement of construction and other types of materials, local and foreign consultants, project implementers, relevant personnel and workers have been hamstrung, resulting in the development-project work delays, they said.
Project-and relevant document-approval processes have also been affected in different levels due to the ongoing impasse, the insiders lamented.
Bangladesh has witnessed massive mayhem in the backdrop of protests by students against the quotas in government jobs over the last one week which dealt a blow to people's normal life and business as well as the development works, including in some unfinished megaprojects.
Currently, the government agencies are implementing nearly 1,400 development projects across the country. Most are infrastructure-related ones which are "hampered at a higher rate in the flare-ups of violence".
An official of a Japanese-funded project says their consultant and relevant manpower are not being able to move, which is hampering the project works.
"Besides, mobilisation of the construction materials for the bridges has been blocked amid the curfew imposed by the government to restore order," he adds, requesting anonymity.
A Project Director (PD) of Bangladesh Railway (BR) has said construction materials, including bricks, cement, steels, wood, bamboos and stones, for building bridges and rails were a crying need this week.
"However, we cannot mobilise those on our project site, which has already affected our development works," he added.
Meanwhile, communications with the development partners have also been restrained, as there has been an internet blackout.
"Due to the communications disruptions, the approval for our draft tender documents from the respective development partners is still pending for several weeks. It may delay further and the project works will ultimately be hampered," an official at the Shipping Ministry told The Financial Express.
"Soon after getting the approval, we will go for inviting tender from the international contractors."
Some Planning Commission officials told the FE that some of the projects had already been approved by the Planning Minister and by the Prime Minister-headed ECNEC. But their administrative orders are not issued due to the current impasse.
Besides, there were at least a dozen Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) meetings postponed due to the current deadlock across the country, said the officials.
The PEC is the PC Member-headed panel which reviews the Development Project Proposals (DPPs) of the ministries before the approval at the Planning Minister level or at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
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