THE National Economic Council having approved a proposal for an increase in the cost of the under-construction elevated metro rail by 52 per cent and its tenure by a year and a half is yet another example of time and cost overruns. The Economic Council on July 19 increased the project cost to Tk 33,471.99 crore from Tk 21,985.07 crore and extended the deadline, which was June 2024, till December 2025. The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited under the Road Transport and Highways Division sought the revision, citing several reasons such as the incorporation of some components in the segment between Motijheel and Kamalapur, the modification of rolling stocks, an increased cost for additional land acquisition and consultancy services. The Economic Council also approved an upward cost revision of three other projects. What is highly disturbing is that such upward revisions of cost and time have come to plague almost all projects as implementing agencies often come up with reasons seeking such revisions and the practice has been criticised by development experts and admitted as a major setback in public development programmes.

What is completely unacceptable is the incapacity of implementing agencies in coming up with reliable feasibility studies and detailed project proposals. In most projects, components are added during the construction phase, as is the case with the metro rail project, and at the tail end of the implementation, triggering cost and time overruns. Such a practice questions the reliability and acceptability of feasibility studies and project proposals that also cost a huge amount of money. Development experts have always pointed out that projects are approved without adequate feasibility studies and stakeholder consultations. A recent government study on the slow implementation of development projects, done by the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division, also shows that Bangladesh lags behind in completing most projects on time and within the budget, causing cost overruns and lowering the expected benefits from projects and that there is a lack of transparency and accountability in project implementation. The study also mentions that the cost of almost all fast-track projects have been revised upward. Other studies have also found an absence of proper feasibility studies and technical designs, delay in land acquisition and fund management, lack of institutional capacity to deal with many projects simultaneously, lengthy bidding process and irregularities and corruption responsible for time and cost overruns.

The government must, therefore, look into the issues that contribute to the practice of delay in the implementation of projects, many of which are funded, fully or partially, through external credit, that too through supplier’s credit and short-term borrowings at high interest rates. The government must ensure a fast and quality implementation to reap benefits from development projects and to not let the economy bleed. Delayed implementation of projects is a manifold burden that the government must do away with.