Safe road project: Why so much expenditure on consultants?

Despite the need for a project costing the government Tk 43.15 billion to reduce road accidents, serious questions have been raised about the cost.

The planning commission has sent back the project saying the proposed expenditure of Tk 4.40 billion for consultancy and Tk 1.84 for software purchase was abnormal.

Stakeholders said there is no necessity to recruit consultants at the cost of so much amount of money for various work of the project to reduce road accidents.

According to a Prothom Alo report the project components include i-RAP of 8,000 kilometers of roads and earth filling, training of drivers, free ambulance service for people injured in road accidents, treatment of injured people at three hospitals or launching of a trauma centre, straightening curved roads and improving the signal system.

'Bangladesh road safety' project is supposed to be implemented between January 2022 and December 2026. Prothom Alo reported, a meeting was held in connection with the project at the planning commission in-mid March. The project was sent back after review.

Of the project cost, Tk 30 billion will be provided as loan from the World Bank. The government will have to provide the remaining Tk 13.15 billion. A member of the Planning Commission said, "Their goal is to reduce the number of deaths on roads. We do not see any reason for so many consultants. There is no reason for such an unusual expenditure.”

Five to six thousand people die in accidents in the country every year. According to the Road Safety Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, 6,284 people were killed and 7,468 injured in road accidents in the country in 2021. In this situation, we do not deny the need to take practical and sustainable steps in road safety. However, development projects do not mean that huge sums of money have to be spent in the name of appointing consultants.

We often noticed more and more consultants are appointed in development projects funded by foreign and development partners. Donor agencies often put pressure to hire consultants. But why would the government or the institutions concerned surrender to that pressure? We do not need foreign consultants to reduce road accidents. It is necessary to restore order on the chaotic roads and to force the drivers, passengers and pedestrians to obey the law. Any advice from local or foreign experts will not work if we cannot restore order in road management.

The Prime Minister has also given clear instructions not to appoint consultants indiscriminately while implementing development projects. She told a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) on 18 May last year that consultants could not be appointed randomly. The people who took up the project probably did it blindly.