The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has successfully bungled up a haor project taken up in 2011 that was supposed to protect some 289,000 hectares of land in more than 50 haors over six low-lying districts of Sunamganj, Sylhet, Hagbiganj, Moulvibazar, Netrokona and Kishoreganj. The Tk 704 crore project was supposed to protect these areas from flash floods but failed to deliver the goods. Indeed, the “Pre-monsoon Flood Protection and Drainage Improvement in Haor Areas” was supposed to end in June 2015 but in reality the project timeline has overrun by two years now and about 20 percent of work has been completed.
It was dogged by mismanagement from inception and has seen 11 project directors come and go, and now we know from media reports that lawyers in the most adversely affected district of Sunamganj sued 140 people, including BWDB officials and contractors for negligence and “irregularities” in construction of embankments that collapsed back in April. The anti-corruption watchdog body ACC has, as of July 2 filed a case with the Sunamganj Model Police Station accusing 61 people, including BWDB officials and contractors, of “purposeful mismanagement” and corruption in building dams in the district.
The whole idea of this so-called priority project was to save massive croplands that go underwater during monsoon every year. The idea was to re-excavate some 333 km internal canal but work has been done on a mere 45 km. While BWDB officials have cited reasons like inclement weather and fund shortage, it is becoming increasingly clear that there was massive mismanagement in implementation. That contractors with party affiliation became prime contractors in many of the project works has not helped matters. It merely brings to the fore the problems of project execution and the largely absent monitoring and evaluation of public works that has worked to the detriment of both the national exchequer and livelihoods of farmers in these districts. The flash floods have effectively wiped out the Boro crop in the haor areas and although the prime minister has promised compensation for farmers, it leaves a gaping question as to how no administrative measures were taken in the five years it has been allowed to stumble on. With so many deliverables undelivered like less than half the 39 drainage regulators and not a single of the 29 drainage outlets, 35 causeways and 22 irrigation inlets set up, precisely what excuse does BWDB have? Adverse weather conditions?
As we take stock of works done and not done, it is obvious that there have been massive irregularities in project execution. The net result of this irregularity is of course the loss of the Boro crop in that area, which is one of the three main crops of the country. It is understandable why the court case came from Sunamganj as 36 out of 52 targeted haors under the project belonged to that district and farmers there bore the brunt of incomplete work. That the project could have changed its project directorship 11 times in 5 years shows quite clearly the project was hardly prioritised. Had it been so, then the fate of 6 million people tied to the land and agriculture would not have been trifled with so easily.
We will have to wait for the ACC to make its findings on the allegations of graft and who was involved in what capacity. But more important than that, it has dealt a serious blow to government credibility about its ability to get development projects off the ground in a timely fashion and the quality of projects undertaken by it. Something has to be done about the weak institutional capacity to implement projects. The haor project failure points to some systemic problems that most projects seem to experience in our country. The frequent change of project directors throws work plans in disarray and at least in this case, it has contributed significantly; we have witnessed serious lapses in transparency and accountability of public officials in giving contracts, and of course, there is the question of collusion between officials and contractors in profit making.
A recent CPD study found that on average, 66.2 percent of completed projects were declared completed without 100 percent physical progress being done during the FY 2001-2015 period. This explains public expenditure leakages, weak financial governance and bad work plans to begin with. It is time policymakers went back to the drawing board to basically implement policies already in place so that the government may get its money’s worth and the people may get some benefit from the development projects. It is time to deliver on what was promised and to stop making excuses.
Source: The Daily Star
