80 Computers and Tk30m Software for Rural Road Repairs: Tk140m for Consultants, 140 Motorbikes and Jeeps Needed

❐ Staff Reporter

Despite its significant contribution to the local and national economy, the country’s rural communication infrastructure is still lagging behind. Marginalized people suffer greatly due to bad roads, especially during the monsoon season. However, before the local government elections, ECNEC has approved a controversial project worth Tk 5,000 crore in the name of road and culvert renovation, capitalizing on this crisis.

By analyzing the proposed cost of the project, experts are seeing major opportunities for evasion and corruption.

According to the project documents, a large portion of the program to rehabilitate 5,223 kilometers of rural roads and 7,000 meters of bridges and culverts in the country has been allocated for non-routine works. Out of this, the cost of rehabilitating 5,000 kilometers of old roads alone is estimated at Tk 3,893 crore.

This means that the cost of renovating each kilometer of road will be around 8 million taka (10 million taka in half).

According to analysts, this amount of money could essentially build a new road. What is more alarming is that the estimated cost of repairing every 10 meters of culvert in the project is shown as 1.25 crore taka.

This road and culvert repair project has included some strange purchases. 80 computers worth crores of taka and special software worth 3 million taka will be purchased to oversee the renovation of old roads in the village.

Although there are rules for using other contractors to do the work, a proposal has been made to purchase 64 road rollers, 140 motorcycles, and 2 jeeps for Tk 77 crore under this project.

A total of 4.5 crore taka has been requested for vehicle management and maintenance of the equipment. And the consultants will receive 14 crore taka as fees in the name of supervising these works.

Expressing concern over the issue, former Planning Secretary Mamun Al Rashid said, “The allocation made for the purchase of computers and cars is completely unusual. This is completely against the austerity and saving policy announced by the current government. The culture that has been created to buy cars and computers in the project is basically being used by the organizations as an opportunity.”

The duration of this multi-billion-taka renovation project, which began in the current fiscal year, has been set until 2030.