The World Bank (WB) has issued a cautious note on its funding to Bangladesh as some slow-moving projects with repeated time-and cost-overrun dissatisfied the global lender, officials said on Saturday.
They said the WB wanted the implementation agencies to complete the projects within the current deadlines and said else they would be forced to review the funding proposals.
The warning came when the Washington-based lender sat for a tri-partite review meeting (TPRM) with the project executing agencies concerned and the Economic Relations Division (ERD) here last week.
The WB reviewed the status of the schemes funded by it in the last meeting and tried to remove the execution hurdles, said a senior official at the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
Amid the laggard execution performance of some projects, including the ones in the power and energy sector, it took a tough stance on the remaining portion of its funding, he said.
It identified at least six power-sector projects most of which are struggling for many years with implementation delays, the MoF official said.
The government also discussed the status of WB-assured eight pipeline projects at the TPRM, aiming to get funding confirmation.
"The WB selected the energy-and power-sector projects to review their implementation status," said a senior ERD official.
He said the meeting mainly focused on removing hurdles on the way to implementation of the ongoing projects in Bangladesh.
The WB reviewed the long-struggling Ghorasal unit-4 repowering project, rural electrification and renewable energy development II (RERED II) project, Bangladesh scaling-up renewable energy project, electricity distribution-modernisation programme, power- system reliability and efficiency-improvement project, and the project on enhancement and strengthening of power-transmission network in the eastern region.
Many of those projects have been struggling with implementation delays although the WB confirmed its funding, said the MoF official.
The official said that some of the power-sector projects like the Ghorasal repowering project, RERED, power-system reliability-and efficiency-improvement project and electricity distribution- modernisation programme have been under implementation for many years.
Another official who attended the TPRM said the WB expressed its discomfort with the faulty Ghorasal power repowering project work spending its confirmed assistance.
"The Ghorasal power plant is not providing the expected outcome due to faults in the project work. Now the implementing agency is seeking additional funds for removing the faults," he said.
The MoF official said: "The WB has already extended the loan-activation deadline repeatedly for some of the power-sector projects. But the project implementing agencies have failed to complete those in time. It has already caused discomfort for the WB."
If the projects are not completed within the deadline, re-fixed by the WB on the last occasion, the Washington-based lender could divert the funds to other projects in Bangladesh or to its other member countries, he added.
Meanwhile, the ERD focused on the pipeline projects as funding for many of them are yet to be confirmed by the WB, the ERD official said.
The meeting discussed pipeline projects like 2nd Recovery and Resilience Development Policy Credit (DPC), Bay terminal setting-up project at Chittagong port, Green, resilient and inclusive DPC, and Jamuna river economic corridor.
The country has opted for electricity rationing through load-shedding due to power generation shortages amid the scarcity of primary fuel in the wake of energy price hike in the global market.
The WB last year (2021) made a commitment to providing US$4.54 billion worth of foreign loans and grants for different projects in Bangladesh.
