It is indeed pertinent to question the scale of development in the country given the raise in Annual Development Programme (ADP) over the last five years. The fund allocation for the ADP during this period has increased more than three fold. The size of the ADP was Tk 230 billion in the financial year (FY) 2008-09 which has soared to Tk 803.16 billion in the current fiscal. But is there any considerable progress in development activities proportionate to the raise of the fund allocation in the ADP?
Usually, it is noticed that the government agencies are busy with the small and less important projects rather than the larger ones. However, in recent times, the government has taken up a good number of mega projects but most of them are struggling with implementation hiccups. Even the government's new initiative -Â Public Private Partnership (PPP)-- has also failed to take off.
Bangladesh needs billions of dollars of investment for upgrading its rickety infrastructures. It has fund constraints for financing the necessary projects for improving infrastructure. So, it goes to the development partners and local financial lenders for funding the development works. In most of the cases, it has proved that the mega projects are struggling for a long time due to inefficient knowledge of the government agencies in project preparation, fund mobilisation, lack of experience in procurement and execution.
BIG DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS: The development projects which are of Tk 10 billion could be considered big in Bangladesh's context. In the current 2014-15 development programme, costs of more than 200 projects have been estimated at over Tk 10 billion.
Among the mega projects the $400 million Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane project, $1.20 billion Dhaka Elevated Expressway, $2.9 billion Padma Bridge project, $2.5 billion Dhaka metro rail project, Tk 20.39 billion Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Gazipur to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport project, 1320megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant at Rampal and another 1200mw coal-fired plant at Matarbari, 450MW plant at Bibiyana through the private sector initiative are notable. The $1.20 billion Dhaka Elevated Expressway project, one of the country's biggest ongoing projects under the PPP, has also been struggling for long. The contractor has not been able to start implementation works. Fund crisis has crippled the Thailand-based firm -- the Ital-Thai Development Company, to start work on the project.
Miss-handling of the bigger projects like the Padma Bridge by the government may affect the PPP projects also. Since the Pamda Bridge project has given rise to graft issues, the private sector and international financial institutions may not trust the government.
FAST-TRACK MEGA PROJECTS: The Awami League government, after taking over early this year, took up six projects including the construction of a bridge across the Padma and the 1320MW Rampal coal-fired thermal power plant as fast-track projects. The other projectare: Rooppur nuclear power plant project, Dhaka metro rail project, deep-sea port project at Sonadia in Cox's Bazar and liquefied natural gas terminal project at Maheshkhali.
The Cabinet has chosen the priority of the six mega projects and ordered the authorities to work accordingly. Although the Padma Bridge project was an electoral pledge of the Awami League in the previous polls, this largest infrastructure project was in black hole due to problems with the World Bank funding. The government is now going ahead for implementing the project with its own funds. "We are going ahead with the plans to finish the Padma bridge project within four years with our own funds," said the Finance Minister early this year.
In the meantime, almost 11 months have been completed by the present government, but much of the initial works is yet to be in place. Work like river training -- considered crucially important before finalising the construction methodologies - has not yet commenced. Nobody knows how long it will take to complete river training. In view of the prevailing stalemate, it remains absolutely uncertain as to the completion of the bridge, let alone within the remaining three years out of the pledged four years?
As regards the Rampal power plant project, environmentalists and left-leaning political parties have already opposed the setting up of the $1.82 billion 1320MW thermal plant near the Sunderbans. They say the world's largest mangrove forest will be endangered if the plant is set up near it. Although the government has been assuring them that every means would be adopted to protect the Sunderbans, the agitation shows no sign of being quelled. Moving forward with the power plant project would not only be challenging but daunting as well.
A Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between Bangladesh power development Board (BPDB) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was signed on January 29, 2012 with equal-equity participation and for developing the power plant project in Bangladesh. The company came into being on October 31, 2012, as per the laws of Bangladesh. The India-Bangladesh joint venture company signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Implementation Agreement (IA) and Supplementary Joint Venture Agreement (SJVA) in April 20 last year. But the company is yet to mobilise adequate funds for setting up the $1.82 billion coal-fired power plant at Rampal.
The government in its previous tenure had signed agreements with Russia last year to set up a nuclear power plant at Rooppur. The project work of the nuke plant is also moving slowly. No physical progress of the project is noticeable.
(To be continued)
The writer is senior reporter, FE.
kabirhumayan10@googlemail.com
Mega projects in limbo
FHM Humayan Kabir in the first of his two-part article | Published: December 12, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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