As was done in the previous years, budget for the year 2014-15 was passed in the Jatiya Sangsad without any problem. It was indeed a routine business. The budget has basically two components: (i) the revenue budget and (ii) the development budget. The portion that comprises expenditure relating to development projects defines the development budget. Expenditure in the development budget depends on the progress of project implementation. If the project implementation is tardy development expenditure will be scaled down resulting in downsizing of the development budget.
We observed that in the last few years development budget was passed with great enthusiasm. It was expected that there would be brisk development activities right from the beginning of the year. Unfortunately the enthusiasm waned soon after the budget was passed. Sloth movement was blatantly visible by mid-year. Budget was revised downward with allocation for many non-performing projects drastically cut down. In the last financial year the development budget was revised downward by Tk 50,000 million. The reduced allocation could not be fully utilised.
In our country financial expenditure is used as the yard-stick to measure the implementation of the project. The quality aspect is conspicuously absent in the presentation. Expenditure of projects relating to social security or social development can be easily inflated by contrived paper work. What we should really see is actual physical progress of the project. It may be revealed that physical progress is far below the financial progress implying a huge gap between the ground reality and the data generated by clerical wheeze.
The Dhaka-Chittagong four lane project is a case in point where public announcement of the minister has no relevance with the real situation obtaining on the ground. Performance of the Project Director should be evaluated in terms of actual physical progress of the project weighted by the quality of the job accomplished.
It is observed that in our country hardly any big project is completed on time. The three bridges on the Patuakhali-Kuakata road are so vital for tourism development in the country. They were taken up long ago but have not been completed as yet; they are simply limping. These projects reflect how tardy we are in carrying out our assigned work.
Sloth implementation of projects has become a perennial problem for the country. Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) presents the status of implementation in the preceding year in the month of August or September on a routine basis. The presentation is like a stump speech; the substance is already known to every one present there. The reasons for slow implementation are stylised texts. In my view the greatest reason for slow implementation is inclusion of a phalanx of projects in the portfolio without rigorous professional scrutiny. It may ring appropriate to say that we are committed to project machination and persons. Projects are accepted to please a powerful person or group more than anything else. Welfare of people is dominated by expected gains of the special interest group.
In principle, project documents are supposed to be carefully examined at various stages before these are placed at the meeting for final approval. The rule is observed in non-compliance; it is now an established tradition. The emphasis is on quick approval of the project so that the special interest group can get their slice early. Probable implementation problems are stashed under the carpet at this stage. So are the financial implications of project implementation.
A practical example may clarify the point. If the new projects approved in a particular year add up to Tk 2000 billion and the project life is five years on average, then Tk 400 billion will have to be allocated every year for implementation of these new projects alone. This is absurd when so many old projects are competing for the limited fund. Actual allocation cannot therefore match the envisaged requirement thus making out a grand cause for delayed implementation and enhanced outlay.
The Planning Commission does not seriously raise any question about the ways of mobilising the required fund. They examine the project proposal in a routine matter resulting in the approval of the project without any reference to mobilisation of fund for completing the work. The gross lack of coordination between project life and the mode of financing renders the projects anemic right from the nascent stage. There are myriad of projects that continue for a decade though the stipulated time for completion was five years only.
Every year scores of projects requiring billions of taka are approved but in the annual development programme (ADP) only a scanty amount is allocated against these projects. Incomplete and stunted projects are piling up atrociously. Small projects are particularly suffering because their sponsors have limited clout. These projects require only a tiny amount for completion on time; pushing them aside to starve for fund is not a rational strategy. Big amount earmarked for gigantic projects often remains unused; savings from these projects can easily be spent to complete the small projects. Unfortunately that is not done. As a result, lot of small projects languish over years sporting a pitiable look all around.
For timely implementation of the project, the Project Director and the decision makers at the higher echelon have to be mentally alert and careful at every stage of project implementation right from the beginning of the project. In signing an agreement with the construction contractor the project authority has to ensure that for any delay in the work the contractor will have to pay a hefty fine and there will be no escape from it. A practical example will be relevant here. Construction work of Bangladesh Bank annex at Motijheel and BRAC centre at Mohakhali started almost at the same time. The centre was constructed on time while the BB Annex building was delayed by about two years. There was nothing to bind the contractor of the Annex building to complete the work in time; BRAC had binding stipulations in heir contract. BB could not hold the contractor accountable. On the contrary, the contractor escalated his cost figure to exact additional payment for the delay. Some functionary of the bank might also have conspired to escalate the cost figure.
Some land owners are very astute in preparing the agreement for construction of high-rise buildings on their plot. Such agreements facilitate early completion of their buildings. It is imperative that the agreements should be professionally and carefully examined before they are finally inked.
The review meetings on project implementation are sloppy and mostly ineffective. I have observed that many good people attended the review meetings. Unfortunately they were interested in good tea and honorarium, not in timely completion of the project. So they kept on attending the meetings and the project continued on and on. The officials of the implementation agencies, public and private alike, came up with similar litanies months after months. Participants in the meeting took the narratives as correct and left the meetings satisfied. They did not ask any discerning question; they even did not like to know the starting time and the completion date as stipulated in the agreement or any other document. The functionary of the implementing agency would revel by saying that 90 per cent of the work had been completed. Actually such statement was irrelevant because no real benefit would accrue unless the project was fully completed. The real progress was actually zero. The functionary needs to tell specifically as to when the project will be handed over to user agency for actual operation. Unfortunately the participants in the meeting do not pin the contractor down in that manner.
Bigwigs, including ministers, assure of early completing the projects. These are all hollow words. It would be meaningful if the transportation minister specifically announced as to when the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh four-lane projects would be fully ready for operation; when vehicles would ply over the Maghbazaar-Mouchak flyover. All other ministries need to specifically announce the date for completion of their flagship projects. Budgeted funds have to be released in time without any hassle. Any one failing to meet the stipulated time schedules will have to be made accountable; he has to appreciate that cost overrun is a deadweight loss to the state. Despite reported corruption, projects are completed in most countries. In our country corruption eats into the vitals of the projects such that these are not completed at all.
We emphatically assert that Bangladesh will soon graduate to a middle income country. Our growth rates have been hovering around 6 per cent for the last one decade. International agencies observe that the rate could be slightly less than 6 per cent. To attain the middle level status within a short period the country needs to grow at least at 7 per cent for the next few years. The FDI (foreign direct investment) flow is lower than that of Vietnam or Myanmar. We have the problem of adulteration in every sphere of life - crests embodying state recognition are not also spared. Statistics furnished by the state agencies can hardly be relied upon. Our per capita income may be stilted by using accounting artifacts. Raising the consensus figure to an unequivocally high level is a really difficult task. We have to pace up with many neighbouring countries.
Reservations abound about the quality of our projects. Supervision is far below the mark. Our planes are often grounded because of technical flaws, the Chinese-made DEMU trains are off the track most of the time. These indicate corruption at some stage or other. Individuals involved with the projects treat them as a source of minting money; they are not interested in the quality of the projects.
We must have a fair idea about project-related budget, duration of the project, implementation mechanism and the use of project outputs. Sufficient funds must be allocated to projects nearing completion. Procrastination with these projects is tantamount to an act of delinquency. This results in wastage of money; likelihood of corruption also increases. Myriad of small projects can be completed if the annual allocation to them is increased only by a meagre amount. That will make a big difference in project implementation. Completion of old projects will facilitate inclusion of new projects. Bangladesh can cross the threshold to graduate into a middle income country if we can accelerate the pace of project implementation. Backlog must be physically cleared to embark on mega projects having perceptible growth impact.
Dr. Saadat Husain is a former Chairman of the Public Service Commission.
saadathusain@yahoo.com
Project completion versus accounting artifacts
Saadat Husain | Published: August 06, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
A view of the under-construction Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway at Sonargaon.
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