A huge number of files with proposals to extend the execution period of development projects have piled up in the Planning Commission (PC), demonstrating poor implementation capacity of the authorities concerned.
The authorities of at least 350 such projects have sought time extension as the implementation deadline already expired on June 30 last, officials have said.
They said the implementing agencies, including different ministries and divisions, had failed to execute those by the deadline, some even within the extended.
The default ones would be nearly one-fifth of the total 1,785 projects in the revised annual development programme (RADP) for the just concluded FY2020-21.
The officials at the PC said that despite 2-3 revisions and time extensions against those projects earlier, many of the projects are yet to be completed.
Some of the projects were seeking time extension even for the fourth or fifth times, they added.
The PC has requested its Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) to scrutinise the project status and necessity of time extension, said a senior official.
An IMED official told the FE that they had already given green signal to many of those projects for extending the deadline for six months to two years based on their requirement.
"Almost every week of last month (June), we had to organise 30-40 meetings with the project implementation agencies for scrutinising the time extension proposals," he said, requesting anonymity.
Our daily works had been affected over the last couple of months as they need to check the execution status of the projects and identify the reasons for failure of implementation timely, he said.
According to the IMED and PC, the Road Transport and Highways Division were on top of the list with 65 projects seeking time extension, the IMED official said.
Besides, the Ministry of Education, Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Public Works Ministry, and Power Division were on the top of the list.
IMED Secretary Pradip Ranjan Chakrobarty told the FE that they were under pressure due to the substantial number of time extension proposals.
It's really very difficult to scrutinise the proposals within a month or two, he added.
Yet, for the betterment of the country and necessity of the development works, many of those had already been recommended for time extension, he added.
It would be the best practice if the project execution agencies, including the ministries and divisions, could implement their development projects timely, Mr Chakrobarty said.
Another senior IMED official said that although some of the projects have already been revised with time extensions for 2-3 times, they again sought additional time rather completing those in time.
For example, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has recently sought revision of the struggling SASEC-I: Joydevpur-Elenga road widening project for the fifth time seeking one and a half years more time from the latest completion schedule in June 2021.
Earlier, the government revised the project four times, following the failure of the state-owned road developer to complete the construction works.
Similarly, the Bangladesh Railway has sought one year more time for its two level crossing upgrade and rehabilitation projects for the second time as it failed to implement it over the last five years.
The last revision and time extension of both projects had already boosted the cost by 122 per cent.
"We held as many as 11 meetings in a single day with the projects of the BR as it had sought time extension for many projects. We have nothing to do but to approve those proposals considering the national interest," said the IMED official, requesting for anonymity.
Another PC official said that if the agencies under the education ministry had failed to implement some 35 projects within the deadline and seek time extension, how the country's development discipline are functioned properly.
He added: "Nevertheless, we've already extended deadline for many of the projects last month while some others remained pending due to the ongoing lockdown. We will clear those within the shortest possible time," said the PC official.
