The IMED has recommended scrapping an irrigation project of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) due to failure in making any execution progress within the deadline that has already expired.
The execution rate of the Tk 1.17 billion development project was zero in more than two and half years from its tenure, officials at the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) said on Wednesday.
The BWDB is yet to even start the implementation work of the "Rehabilitation of Charbagadi Pump House and Hajimara Regulator of Chandpur Irrigation Project" taken in October 2018.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had endorsed the project with a deadline for its completion by June 2021.
The FE tried to contact with the BWDB officials concerned to know the reasons for their failure, but could not make it despite repeated attempts over phone.
However, insiders said, the project failed allegedly due to violation of the procurement rules and massive irregularities in the execution process.
They said that the government high-ups did not also approve the procurement proposals as proper procedure was not followed.
The IMED officials said the state-run water board undertook the project without any feasibility study, which also affected starting the execution work.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in June 2019 rejected a procurement proposal as the BWDB had selected the bidders through direct procurement method (DPM), violating the existing Public Procurement Law, a person involved with the project told the FE.
He said the BWDB had also split the procurement packages into many parts for this small project which also the reason for being rejected by the cabinet body.
A senior IMED official said: "The Ministry of Water Resources has recently sought time extension as its tenure ended in June last. Then we have examined and recommended to scrap it due to zero execution."
He said that many other ongoing development projects were struggling with fund shortage during the execution period.
On the other hand, the BWDB received millions of taka every year against the project, but failed to spend even a single penny in last two and half year. "It is very unfortunate," he told the FE requesting for anonymity.
The government in the current FY2021-22 allocated Tk 500 million, while Tk 500 million in the FY2020-21, Tk 250 million in the FY2019-20 and Tk 50 million in the FY2018-19 for implementing the irrigation project in Chandpur.
Meanwhile, the water resources ministry at a project review meeting early this year had also asked the BWDB to conduct a feasibility study and remove the implementation hurdles.
Another senior IMED official said they were reluctant to approve time extension proposal due to several irregularities found in the scrutiny.
The IMED in its observation said that since the project does not have a proper feasibility study, they cannot recommend extension without detail examination.
So, the division had recommended scraping the project and undertaking a new one based on the priority of the works, the official said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Water Resources said they had taken initiatives to construct 200 irrigation structures, repair and rehabilitate 355 irrigation structures and dredge 510 km river for the marginal farmers and other beneficiaries.
Their ongoing projects, which will be implemented during the next three years, will create about 80 million man-days employment opportunities, the ministry said.
kabirhumayan10@gmail.com