Hasina grabbed huge money from mega projects

Mahfuja Mukul: Padma Bridge Rail Link is the largest project in terms of money in the history of Bangladesh’s communication infrastructure sector. Between 2010 and 2018, this project has the highest construction cost per kilometer among all the non-urban heavy rail projects implemented in the Asia-Pacific region.
Similarly, Dhaka’s ‘MRT Line-6’ is the most expensive in Asia to build the first metro rail. Dhaka’s second (MRT Line-1) and third (MRT Line-5, Northern Route) metro rail costs more than average per kilometer. The construction cost of Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga Expressway per kilometer is more than Tk 200 crore, which is the highest in the world. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) under implementation between the airport and Gazipur is the most expensive in the world.
During the 15-and-a-half-year rule of the Awami League government, the construction cost of most of the mega projects implemented in the country like four-six lane highways, expressways, flyovers, railways, railway bridges, airport terminals is the highest or one of the highest among similar projects in the world.
The issues have repeatedly come up as reviewed by various global organizations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB). A huge amount of money has been grabbed by Sheikh Hasina, they calculated.

Padma Bridge is one of the most talked about projects in the country. The project has cost Tk 32,605 crore. Communication infrastructure expert and professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering Samshul Haqcommented that two to three times more money than usual has been spent on the construction of the bridge.
In this context, he told, “If we calculate the construction cost per kilometer of homogeneous bridges in different countries of the world, then it will be seen that the construction of Padma Bridge has cost two to three times more. As you can see why the cost was high, military-civilian facilities were also built with this project. No such precedent can be found anywhere in the history of the world. There is a police station here. A bungalow has been constructed for the accommodation of project officers and secretaries. A large amount of land was acquired for various non-functional facilities, which increased the cost of the project.
Noting only the Padma Bridge, such ‘shadow cost’ has increased the construction cost many times in every project, he said, “Projects in Bangladesh mean buying expensive cars.” Pajero is bought for work that requires a pickup-like vehicle. The car is used for personal work by burning the free fuel oil. Foreign travel is done in the name of transfer of technology. Those who are not involved in the implementation of the project also have to be kept happy. It is carried up to the highest level of the chain of command of government and administration. When the facilities of some are added to each project, the costs are seen to increase. Due to the lack of accountability and good governance, these incidents have increased continuously in the country.
Construction of one kilometer of 8-lane national or provincial road in India costs about $1.5 million. Construction of two-lane road per kilometer for district and urban areas costs about $6 lakh. In the case of marginal roads, the construction cost per kilometer is about $4 lakh. Due to various reasons including proper planning, transparency in implementation, skilled manpower, availability of construction materials and machinery, use of innovative technology, India is able to build roads at a lower cost than many countries in the world including Asia.
The opposite is the case in Bangladesh. The World Bank says that road construction in Bangladesh is the most expensive. $2.5 million to $1.9 million are being spent to build four or more lane roads here. The World Bank blamed high levels of corruption, late completion of work and lack of competition in the bidding process for the high construction costs.
Bangladesh is ahead of other countries only in the construction of roads and metrorail. The first metro was built in Delhi, India, with one-third of the amount of money spent on the construction of Dhaka’s first metro. Pakistan built first metro in Lahore at less than half the cost of Dhaka MRT-6. On the other hand, China has built the first metro at the lowest cost in the Asian continent. The construction cost of the country’s first metro in Shanghai is one-fifth of the construction cost of MRT-6 in Dhaka. Two metrorails are being built in two cities in Vietnam at a lower cost than Dhaka. The construction cost of the second and third metro rail under construction in Dhaka is more.
A railway bridge is being constructed parallel to the existing bridge on Jamuna river. The construction of this 4.8 km long railway bridge is costing Tk 3,496 crores per kilometer. Analysis of data from various sources shows that in terms of cost per kilometer, this number is much higher than the long and massive railway bridges of neighboring India and China. On the other hand, the bus rapid transit project under construction from Dhaka airport to Gazipur has been called the most expensive in the world.
Another professor of BUET raised the question of why Bangladesh can’t build infrastructure at a low cost if neighboring countries. He told, “The technical quality of the construction projects of bridges, expressways, metrorails, highways and railways in Bangladesh, which have been implemented and are still ongoing, are the same as the similar projects implemented in the neighboring countries. But the construction cost of similar projects in Bangladesh is much higher than in neighboring countries. The money we have spent on implementing these projects, one-third of the money spent by the neighboring countries have done the same projects. If neighboring countries can build metrorails, roads, bridges, expressways at low cost, why can’t we, it is a big question. I think, where the investment is heavy, there is an opportunity for those who try to personally benefit from the project. The same has happened in the case of Bangladesh.
In the past decade and a half, a culture of exaggerating project costs has developed in Bangladesh. But this expenditure was supposed to be research-based. How to build good infrastructure at low cost is not tried in our country. I think we should look into whether there has been any financial irregularity or technical irregularity in the implementation of the project.
Padma Bridge Rail Link is the biggest project in the country in the communication infrastructure sector. Most of the Tk 39,246 crore rupees spent on the project, Bangladesh has taken a loan from Exim Bank of China. The loan amount is $267 million. In the agreement, the exchange rate of rupees against each dollar is assumed to be Tk 78.85. The current exchange rate per dollar is Tk 118. A rise in the value of the dollar has increased both the amount of debt and the pressure on debt repayment.
The executive director of the Policy Research Institute Ahsan H. Mansoorcommented that the return that is being deposited in the government treasury from this high-cost project is insignificant compared to the installments of the loan. In this context, he said to the merchant, “We have spent more than the income in the implementation of the project. Our debt burden has been increased by spending double, triple what we should be spending. Investments are disproportionate to project returns. But the people of the country have to pay for it. If we take the Padma Setu rail link project, two-three trains are being operated a day in this project. The revenue that the trains operate is accumulating in the government coffers, but the loan installment amount of the project is several times higher than that.’
Government officials have been arguing that the cost of infrastructure construction in Bangladesh is higher than in other countries due to geographical differences. They said, being a riverine country, more bridges and culverts have to be built in road construction in Bangladesh. A high embankment has to be built. Due to the soft soil, the piler had to be taken deep. And most of the construction materials used had to be imported. The responsible ministers of the government and members of parliament have commented at various times that these issues have increased the cost of infrastructure construction. Government officials also spoke in the same tone.
However, Mostafizur Rahman, an honorable fellow of the research institute Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), completely rejected this argument. In this context, he told, ‘The project cost may be a bit higher due to the difference in these geographical features of Bangladesh with other countries. Even if these costs are taken into account, it will be seen that the construction costs here are unusually high compared to other countries of the world. Various comparative studies have been conducted worldwide, but these issues have emerged there as well. The issues of high cost of infrastructure construction in Bangladesh must be reviewed so that when we do such constructions in the future, we can do them cost-effectively.