Bangladesh News

A planning ministry project to speed up sluggish donor funded projects has itself gone into hibernation after failing to kick off.

The project styled Strengthening Project Portfolio Performance Project was scheduled to be completed during fiscal 2000 to 2002, but ironically, it began limping in late 2002.

This was revealed in the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division’s (IMED) report on projects completed in fiscal 2005-06, prepared last month.

The report exposed gross anomalies in implementation of various projects. It said the projects took unusually longer time than planned, raising the costs drastically. In one project, the cost went up by 580 percent than the original estimate.

Vehicles were purchased for a project and left unused, and funds for a project were embezzled by officials showing construction of a building, which was not constructed.

The IMED report said under the Tk 6 crore planning ministry project, foreign consultants were appointed with too high salaries only two months before expiry of its implementation period. Expenditure for the consultants was around 60 percent of the project cost.

The consultants submitted a report containing their recommendations along with modules and database haphazardly and hastily. They failed to explain the modules meant to enhance performance of project implementation as the Asian Development Bank, which funded the project, did not extend the implementation period.

The consultants were also paid without evaluating the effectiveness of their report, the IMED report noted.

Two computer programmers appointed for database management and operation were transferred before completion of the project, while four other computer operators left job after they were trained.

The consultants then suggested appointment of eight new operators but that was not done. Instead, a programmer was appointed but he is incapable of operating the particular software.

“This project itself is sick. This can’t help improve the overall performance of project implementation,” said an official.

In another project –Planning Commission Skill Enhancement– most of the 76 computers purchased during 1999- 2002 for capacity building of the commission have become inoperative as neither the manpower required to operate those were appointed nor any steps were taken to maintain those.

The project proposed purchase of 138 computers and appointment of 41 personnel for operation and maintenance of those but only four were appointed to do the job.

“As a result, the objective of the project could not be achieved fully,” the IMED report said.

Delayed implementation of many projects unusually increased the cost of projects, it pointed out.

Citing an instance, the report said the Tk 123 crore Government Primary Schools Reconstruction and Repair Project, which was scheduled to be implemented in two years, took 10 years and cost Tk 836 crore. “This means excess cost for implementing the project was Tk 713 crore or 580 percent more,” it added.

Officials concerned embezzled Tk 10 lakh of the Cub Scouts Extension in Primary School Project.

The project aimed at construction of a scout building in Muktagacha of Mymensingh, but officials concerned misappropriated the money by showing a four-storey old building in Mirpur of Dhaka as the regional cub training centre.

Besides, low quality materials were used to construct Audit Building at Kakrail in the capital. For this, cracks developed on the walls of the new building and water trickles through the roof of the fifth floor of the building when it rains, the IMED report said.

For the Special Apartment Implementation Project, two jeeps and 12 motorbikes were purchased, but the jeeps were not used. And these are now being used in the transport pool of the chief engineer of Public Works Department, the report mentioned.