Unessential, politically motivated projects being listed for axing

Unessential and "politically motivated" projects are being listed for axing to suit the interim government's development-priority pruning to avoid waste of public money, sources said.
The Planning Commission (PC) has got down to making a list of such projects under the current annual development programme (ADP) adopted by the past government.
Officials have said the current interim government would scrap those less- important projects and retain national-priority ones in order to check "waste of public funds".
The PC is likely to categorize projects into 3-4 types, including national-priority ones, approved in the last fiscal year (FY), 2023-24 during the Sheikh Hasina regime, projects in the middle stage (50-70-percent execution rate), and less-priority projects destined to be ditched.
"We sat with the Wing Chiefs of the Planning Commission today. I have asked them to enlist the less-priority and important projects," a senior member of the Planning Commission told the FE Tuesday.
The Sectors and Wings of the Commission will prepare a list categorizing the projects within this week and then we will sit for a review next week, said the official.
"As per the direction of our Adviser, we have started work for categorizing the ongoing projects in the ADP for the current FY2025," he added.
Meanwhile, Planning and Education Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud last Monday instructed the officials concerned to categorize the projects in the ADP, saying that many have been undertaken based on political considerations by the last government.
He also alleged that there was corruption in taking up some projects despite their lesser importance for the country and people.
Meanwhile, Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) Secretary Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin told the FE that they were yet to start exercise on sorting the projects.
"But we will sit with the Adviser shortly for getting instructions. Then we will start review of the ongoing development projects under the ADP," he said.
Allegations have it that the deposed Sheikh Hasina government undertook hundreds of "politically motivated" projects which are less important and less- priority ones against national interest.
An FE analysis has found that the last government had approved more than 100 small development projects over the last 5-6 years on political considerations as the policy body ECNEC looked on.
The projects were approved by Planning Ministers of the last administration as each of their costs was Tk 500 million.
The small projects, mostly for developing village roads, bridges, bazaars, mosques and temples, were undertaken on political grounds for attracting votes only.
Sometimes, more than one such project used to be undertaken overlapping one another, PC officials said.
Many projects were taken up in some particular districts while many other districts were deprived of their development needs, they said about what comes out as regional development disparity that is a source of income inequalities.
Besides, the government has invest heavily in infrastructure development rather than spending adequate money for education and health sectors aimed at human-resources development, the PC officials said, indicating priority mismatch.
"The last Sheikh Hasina administration, just before the national elections in January 2024, approved even more than 20 projects at each of the ECNEC meetings which mostly were politically motivated", said one official.
Many projects were revised even 3-4 times which escalated the cost and time, resulting in waste of money and less returns from the public investment.
Another Member of the PC said many projects were undertaken on political grounds and public investments concentrated on some regions which created regional disparities in terms of development needs.
Those unbalanced investments had failed to create employment and reduce poverty in the deprived regions at an expected rate, he said.
"We hope this interim government will streamline the projects under the ADP and ensure best use of public funds," the senior official said.
Asked about the priority resetting, acting Planning Secretary Abdul Baki said, "The less-priority and politically-motivated projects should be scrapped amid Bangladesh's current economic scenario and for ensuring best use of public funds."

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