The old saga of development project execution

Problems with implementation of development projects are known for long, being an old story that has been told and retold again and again. But hard actions to help address such problems are still conspicuous by their absence. The multilateral lenders, who generally offer development dollars at low lending rates, repayable over long periods of time, have time and again been complaining about the inordinate delays in project execution for a variety of reasons. The government has hardly contested the donors' (development partners) point of view. Rather, men in-charge of ministries and planning are found expressing their own frustration over the slow pace of project implementation that almost every year forces them to downsize the annual development programmes (ADPs). Last month two multilateral providers of development assistance, namely, the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), organized review meetings, separately, to discuss with the Bangladesh authorities the problems relating to implementation of development projects, much in line with what they had done before on a number of occasions. Though the basic problems in development projects, funded by both WB and ADB, remain the same, the points that were highlighted at the latest review meetings were not necessarily identical. The WB demanded more transparency and corruption-free utilization of money that it lends for development project implementation. It also tried to trace a strong link between good governance and optimum utilization of development assistance. The ADB has, however, laid emphasis on resolving some basic problems responsible for delays in project execution. One such problem is start-up delays mainly due to lack of preparedness on the part of the agencies responsible for planning and implementation of development projects. On its part, the government, irrespective of the compositions of those in the political power matrix, is often found to be more interested in signing external aid deals with the development partners on projects, bothering little about the completion of necessary preparation by the implementing agencies. But such indifference gives rise to a lot of complexities, including unusual delays, in the execution of development projects funded by donors. In this context, the ADB has estimated that it takes, on an average, nearly 15 months to complete the necessary preparation, prior to starting the execution of the development projects. At the latest review meeting, the government has reportedly agreed to address the issue of start-up delays involving finalization of plans for procurement of goods and services, appointment of project staff by executing agencies, preparation of bid documents, land acquisition and resettlement plans etc., prior to the signing of loan deals. In fact, the issues raised by the multi-level capital donors, particularly the ADB at its last review meeting, are also not entirely new ones. Those were also discussed earlier between the government and donors. The government is on record, promising to remove all the bottlenecks to development project execution. But the situation on the ground has not changed much. One of the major factors responsible for slowing down the pace of development project implementation in Bangladesh is the lack of the required mental alertness at all levels, starting from the ministries down to the field-level executing agencies. Then again nothing, be it administrative decision-making or development project implementation, is immune to bureaucratic inertia and, more particularly, corruption. Thus, sloth, coupled with corruption, has been a major sore point of the country's development performance. However, certain quarters tend to blame the 'imposing' or 'nosey' character of the donors for the delay in execution of development projects. But the failures on the part of the government would undeniably outweigh the lapses, if there is any, on the part of development partners.