Nearly 23 to 40 per cent of the funds spent on roads and highways related projects and construction work has been lost to corruption in the last 14 fiscal years, says Transparency International Bangladesh, TIB.
The financial value lost from these projects could range from Tk 290 billion to Tk 500 billion, it said.
A tripartite understanding between politicians, bureaucrats, and contractors took control of policymaking, government procurement and the project implementation process, leading to this corruption, the TIB said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
The government allocated Tk 1.69 trillion for the roads and bridges sector from the 2009-10 fiscal year to 2022-23 fiscal year. TIB estimates 23 to 40 per cent was lost to corruption, about Tk 292.3 billion to Tk 508.35 billion.
The study, titled 'Roads and Highways Development Project Implementation - A Challenge for Good Governance' was conducted by Md Mostafa Kamal and Md Zulkarnain. TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman was present at the press briefing.
"The corruption existing from top to bottom took on an institutional form," Iftekharuzzman said. "At least 40 to 43 per cent of funds in the Roads and Highways Department are embezzled as bribes. If we can't destroy the tripartite syndicate, no anti-corruption efforts will be successful."
Iftekharuzzaman also said TIB was not given information about different projects of the Roads and Highways Department when they sought it.
"We hope the authorities will publish the information which is not classified. However, the reality is that only some individuals were removed without any change in the organisational culture. Hence, we don't hope for any change overnight."
The study was conducted on projects that were locally funded, the TIB executive director said. "However, corruption existed in the foreign-funded projects as well. In those cases, foreign bureaucracy was linked with the local one."
The researchers said the study focused on projects that ended in the period from the 2017-18 fiscal year to the 2021-22 fiscal year. The projects started their implementation from 2010-11 to 2018-19.
The study observed road construction and development, bridge construction and repair (bridges less than 1,500 metres long), and other infrastructural construction projects. Information was collected from the areas in 21 divisional offices in 13 circles under 10 zones of the Roads and Highways Department.
The TIB report said that more irregularities and corruption were found in project implementation. Hiring licences of the established contractors, buying work orders from the contractors who got them, taking sub-contracts illegally, mutual understanding with competitor contractors or political extortion caused corruption equivalent to 2 to 6 per cent of the total values of work orders.
At least 11 to 14 per cent of the amount was paid as bribes for construction work orders and contractors' bills.
The rate of corruption in construction works through the tripartite understanding of politicians, contractors and higher officials stood at 10 to 20 per cent. Corruption in tender licence renting, buying work orders, compromise or understanding, and local-level political extortion was 2 to 6 per cent.
The embezzled money was shared between contractors, ministers, parliamentarians, and higher officials, the report said. Contractors used low-quality materials or less than the required quantity of materials in construction; related project directors and engineers paved the way for this corruption. Stone density was low, low-quality bitumen was used or even no bitumen used. In some cases, tree plantation, road safety sign installation, earthwork, and surfacing-work were not done despite allocations for them.
TIB said the project implementation officers and contractors were directly favoured by the ruling party and were never made accountable for low-quality work or slow implementation.
Citing the EGP, TIB said that 35 contractor firms were banned for different terms over forgery in getting contractor orders in the Roads and Highways Department from January to August in 2024.
However, the High Court issued stay orders over the banning of 26 firms. Also, contractor firms were banned but government officers involved in corruption never faced any punishment. As some contractors had strong links with the high-ups in the government, the RHD officers could not take any steps against them.
The study report said that 38.8 per cent of projects that ended in the last five years were completed in four to five years. At least 13.7 per cent of projects during that time took more than five years to complete. One project took the longest time to be completed - 17 years.
