PM orders action against officials responsible for project delays

Prime Minister and Ecnec Chairperson Tarique Rahman has expressed strong dissatisfaction over the recurring tendency of cost and timeline overruns in project implementation and ordered swift disciplinary action against responsible officials.

The directives came during an Ecnec meeting at the Secretariat on Tuesday, June 9, where 10 projects costing a total of Tk 3,890.97 crore were approved. Of this, Tk 3,810.62 crore will be from government funds and Tk 80.35 crore from organisation's own funds.

When the third revision proposal of the Khulna Shipyard Road widening and development project was presented, the prime minister expressed displeasure. The project was sent back without approval due to repeated timeline extensions. He also ordered the identification of officials responsible for the delays.

The prime minister emphasised reducing costs in all development projects. Expressing dissatisfaction over separate rate schedules of LGED and PWD, he ordered the formulation of an integrated framework. He felt that the costs of many projects appeared unusually high.

Rahman also expressed anger over indiscriminate tree cutting in the name of development, stating that the rural environment and greenery must be preserved and harmful trees should not be planted alongside roads.

Among the projects approved were the rehabilitation of the Barishal Irrigation Project, construction of integrated upazila land complexes, construction of a city building for Mymensingh City Corporation, expansion of Bangladesh Children's Hospital and Institute, construction of a cancer centre at Dhaka CMH, installation of multimedia classrooms in madrasas, and a power transmission system capacity enhancement project.

The long-pending Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone project in Anwara, Chattogram, also received renewed attention. The project, costing around Tk 4,189 crore, will develop industrial infrastructure with Chinese loans and government funding. If implemented, it is expected to create employment for over one lakh people and attract significant foreign investment.