The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council’s (Ecnec) approval of 13 major projects worth a collective Tk16,207.55 crore marks more significant public investment.
The 442-MW solar power installation at Rampal is of particular significance, as are plans for improving road infrastructure and drainage of Dhaka South City Corporation and expanding rural road networks.
There is no doubt that these projects target critical vulnerabilities in our infrastructure. Approval, however, is the easy part, and the real test has always been what follows.
If delivered effectively, the benefits will be tangible. The Rampal solar plant offers a necessary shift toward clean energy, reducing our dangerous dependence on expensive imported fossil fuels.
Procuring new locomotives will strengthen freight and passenger transit for a struggling railway sector.
Meanwhile, urban drainage schemes aim to relieve millions from the misery of seasonal waterlogging.
These are important projects. Yet, Bangladesh’s development track record inspires little confidence.
For decades, such projects have served primarily as cash cows for contractors, corrupt bureaucrats, and political syndicates and individuals.
They have also become synonymous with unreasonable time extensions, inflated budgets, and subpar construction. That they are now treated as industry standards rather than administrative failures is among our more egregious failures as a nation.
For how much longer are the people supposed to fund round after round of endless revisions and squandered tax taka?
We need collective action to completely break from this corrupt legacy. Planning expenditures will continue, but given the current economic predicament we are in, we must expect that every single project delivers its promised value -- on time, on budget, and without compromise.
