Rezaul Karim
Agencies implementing eight fast-track projects have been asked to follow modalities framed by the Economic Relations Division (ERD) to ensure transparency and resist irregularities in the top-priority development works, officials said.
The ERD has directed the ministries and project agencies concerned to take 'immediate action' to this end, they said.
The division sent separate letters to six ministries and seven chiefs of the project-implementation agencies last week.
A year ago, the government selected six projects as fast-track ones. The projects are: Padma Bridge, deep-sea port in Sonadia, metro rail in Dhaka, a massive coal-fired power plant in Rampal, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant and an LNG terminal in Maheshkhali.
Total costs of the six projects are estimated at US$ 15.5 billion.
Recently, Matarbari coal-fired power plant at Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar has been put on fast track with its execution cost set at $4.6 billion.
Besides, the government has included the country's third seaport at Paira in the fast-track-project basket. Initially, its cost was estimated at Tk 8.59 billion to develop necessary infrastructure and facilities.
Including the new two, eight projects are now on the government's most-priority list of development works.
Earlier, the government had constituted a taskforce which functions under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to curb corruption in the implementation of the fast-track projects. This project-monitoring taskforce has already prepared a draft of modalities in this connection, a high official of the ERD told the FE, preferring anonymity.
The government's stance is to have zero tolerance for irregularities and ensure transparency of the projects. A monitoring committee, comprising monitors from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), the ERD and the ministries concerned, looks into project implementation, he said.
"If there is any wrongdoing, the fast-track monitoring committee will take action against the perpetrators immediately," said the official.
According to the modalities, necessary rules and regulations have to be followed to complete the projects in time and resist irregularities.
The Public Procurement Act-2006 and the Public Procurement Rules-2008 have to be followed properly, if required. Conditions of the agreement have to be followed correctly in the areas of Government-to-Government (G2G) projects as well as the law related to the projects concerned, if needed. Necessary consultation may be taken from the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU), sources said.
Secretaries of the ministries concerned will review the fast-track projects sincerely in the review meetings on the Annual Development Programme (ADP). Overall progress reports on the projects have to be submitted to the task force. All kinds of procurements have to be done under a complete procurement plan which must be included in the Development Project Proforma.
Standard tender documents have to be used in the procurement process for projects, mentioning all kinds of data clearly, according to the directives.
A timeframe for completion of a project has to be announced. Comprehensive efforts have to be given to complete the projects within the timeframe, including GANTT chart.
The monitoring of projects has to be performed by the IMED of the Ministry of Planning. Monitoring reports will have to be sent to the task force according to the prescribed chart.
A MoF official said the Padma Bridge project is making good progress. The Rooppur project has also witnessed optimum progress so far. Similarly, the metro-rail project has also made significant headway.
But the Rampal power project is facing complexities. Work on the LNG-terminal project and the Matarbari coal-fired power plant project is going on. Setting up the Paira seaport is now in initial stages, he said.
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