When money goes down the drain

The Road and Highways Department (RHD) under the Ministry of Communications had hit the newspaper headlines during the peak of the last monsoon when passenger transport operators stopped plying their vehicles in protest against extremely poor road conditions. Thousands of home-goers remained stuck-up at different places of the country on the eve of the last Eid-ul-Fitr because of the transport strike. Facing a barrage of criticism coming from all directions, the RHD engaged itself in the emergency repair and rehabilitation work of some major roads and highways at a cost of Tk 14.10 billion. The Planning Commission, reportedly, allocated an additional fund of Tk 500 million for the road repair work by the RHD, which is regarded as one of the most corrupt public sector agencies. But appetite of the RHD for additional funds seems insatiable. According to a report published in the Financial Express a couple of days back, the department has sought yet again an additional fund amounting to Tk 6.30 billion for road repair and upgrading work. The request for additional fund has, reportedly, put the Planning Commission (PC) in an awkward situation since it has already diverted funds from a good number of unimportant projects included earlier in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the current fiscal to meet the RHD demand for additional allocations. The reason for the PC feeling embarrassed by the repeated RHD demand for additional funds is not difficult to understand. Diversion of funds from approved projects, included in the ADP, to projects outside the ADP is improper and a breach of fiscal discipline. But what else the PC could do, particularly when the government is very much troubled by severe resource constraints? It cannot ask the government to make available additional funds for road repair and rehabilitation works under the given circumstances. The government's fund position by now is well known to all concerned. It has almost exhausted in last four months its bank borrowing target (more than Tk 190 billion) set for the current fiscal. Nobody knows for sure what will be the final size of the government's borrowing from the banking system at the end of the year. But if the current trend persists, the size of the borrowing is sure to become a record-breaking one. In the meanwhile, the government's borrowing spree has given rise to lots of distortions in the economy, high inflation being at the top of the list. No matter how the finance minister tries to present in public the economic realities of the country, the economy is in a bad shape, mainly because of domestic reasons. The external factors have also started leaving a negative effect, of late. But against the backdrop of an uncomfortable economic situation, the RHD has been making extravagant demands on resources that are, in fact, hard to come by. Apparently, the department is using the public outcry about poor road conditions as a ploy to extract funds as much as possible in the name of road repair and rehabilitation. Sceptics are smelling rat in the over-enthusiasm on the part of RHD in road repair works, which, offer a great opportunity to embezzle most part of the allocated fund by the a section of dishonest officials and so-called contractors, the majority of whom belong to the ruling party. Allegations have already surfaced that roads repaired on an urgent basis before and after the last Eid-ul-Fitr festival have gone back to their previous conditions since the repair work was nothing but an eye wash. The RHD officials and contractors concerned, literally, shared among themselves the taxpayers' hard-earned money. In all probability, the travelling public would find the 'repaired' roads and highways in rundown conditions again during the next monsoon, leading to yet another widespread public outcry. The opportunity to misappropriate funds meant for road repair remains quite large since the RHD does not have to follow the procurement rules that are in place because of the 'emergency' nature of the works. But had the authorities been really mindful about the regular maintenance of the roads and highways across the country, there would have been neither any public resentment nor the opportunity to abuse the large part of the funds spent on the repair work done on an urgent basis. The government, historically, has been more eager to spend money on building new roads every year than on regular maintenance of the existing roads. It was time to bring about a change in the government's development strategy as far as roads and highways are concerned. In the national budget every year, the government should allocate a respectable amount of money for the rehabilitation of the existing roads and highways and put in place an effective mechanism to monitor the quality of the spending. Zahidmar10@gmail.com