Bridges by leaders’ homes and other development discrepancies
The report, ‘Inaccurate estimates for bridges cost Tk 25.31b in losses,’ appearing in Prothom Alo on Sunday, gave a partial picture of what happens when development projects are tailored to the demands of the people’s representatives. It pointed out how projects are taken up, without any studies or surveys, simply at the whims of people’s representatives, leaders of the ruling party or other powerful persons. Once the work is over, the bridges are of no use to anyone.
There are instances in other countries too, of development projects being taken up at the behest of people’s representatives, but in those cases it is first assessed whether the projects will serve the greater interests of the people. There is a propensity among a certain section of our people’s representatives to ensure that the road is made by their homes and that the bridge is constructed there too. It is a matter of ‘prestige’. They do not bother that their ‘prestige’ is being paid for at the cost of the country and the people.
The picture taking up three columns, accompanying the Prothom Alo report, showed a beautiful bridge over the Chelar canal in Bhadgaon of Chhatak upazila, Sunamganj. The bridge leads up from a road, crosses the canal and ends up in a paddy field where no vehicle can go. Yet this 66 metre bridge was constructed at the cost of Tk 32.40 million (Tk 3 crore 24 million) at the wishes of a particular person. Similarly, in the name of communications development and at the wishes of prominent persons and leaders, a 60-metre bridge was made over the river Kumar along Udaypur-Basantapur road from Katalagari in Rajbari and a 96-metre bridge was made over a tributary of Jamuna at Fulkocha in Madarganj of Jamalpur. The local people have raised questions about the actual necessity of these bridges.
Based on lists provided by people’s representatives, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in January 2017 approved a project for the construction of 130 bridges in 94 upazilas of 40 districts. When this Tk 39.26 billion (Tk 3,926 crore) ‘Construction of Important Bridges on Rural Roads’ project was approved by ECNEC, surveys had been carried out for only 36 bridges. The project was approved without any studies being carried out on the remaining 94 bridges. It is a question whether such waste of taxpayers’ money is made in any other country of the world.
The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) was in a fix when it came to the implementation of these 94 bridges approved with no survey. The designs and construction work was based on inaccurate estimates. In some cases the bridges were so low, vessels couldn’t pass below. In some cases, the bridges were below the road level. The designs had to be changed, pushing the costs up to Tk 64,57 billion (Tk 6,457 crore). Prime minister Sheikh Hasina recently cautioned the concerned quarters against extending the time and costs of development projects.
If roads and bridges which have no use for the public are constructed, the concerned persons must be held responsible and punished. If anyone wastes public funds for personal interests, effective measures must also be taken to recover those funds.