Drawing on two and a half months of experience, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Shaikh Rabiul Alam has said that large-scale projects are undertaken to drive national development and deliver benefits to citizens. However, he noted that typical trouble trio - prolonged delays, inefficiency, and lack of accountability in implementation - often leads to massive financial waste, depriving both the public and the state of expected benefits.
Citing the Sylhet highway project as an example, the minister also said that even after four years, land acquisition has yet to be completed. Meanwhile, the cost of the Tk 16,000 crore projects has already risen by 30 to 35 percent, primarily due to inefficiencies among a few deputy commissioners. As a result, the government will now have to spend several thousand crore taka more.
He made these remarks on Tuesday while speaking as the chief guest at a stakeholders' workshop on the updated feasibility study of the Dhaka East-West Elevated Expressway PPP Project, held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka.
Highlighting a shift from past practices, the minister said the government does not want to undertake large-scale projects indiscriminately, as was done previously, without first addressing fundamental issues. "We clearly stated before the election that our government discourages unnecessary mega projects, poorly planned investments, or projects that lead to waste of public funds," he said, and adding that "We will only take up projects that we can implement effectively, ensure benefits, and avoid financial waste."
He added that necessary projects-whether large, medium, or small-will not face neglect. "We will implement them based on priority. In my view, this project is certainly a priority," he said.
