A flagship infrastructure development project by the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) is at risk of missing its December 2025 completion deadline due to persistent management failures, inadequate staffing, and incomplete planning.
Despite significant physical progress, the Tk814.20 crore "Repair and Reconstruction of Eight BSCIC Industrial Estates (2nd Revised)" project continues to suffer from delayed procurement, technical supervision gaps, and flawed implementation strategies, raising doubts about the quality and sustainability of the outcomes.
This information was revealed on Thursday in a detailed monitoring report by the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).
According to the report, the project involves the rehabilitation of key industrial infrastructure across eight estates - Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Narsingdi, Cumilla, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet, Satkhira, and Bogura. With a revised budget of Tk814.20 crore, the initiative aims to upgrade deteriorating roads, drainage systems, boundary walls, office buildings, and other vital facilities.
The overall objective is to enhance the productivity, safety, and investment readiness of these estates, which play a crucial role in local job creation and industrial output.
As of April 2025, the project achieved 79.35% physical progress and 59.52% financial execution. Notably, the construction of 57,093.56 square metres of paved roads and 23,290 metres of drainage has been completed.
Three estates - Mymensingh, Jamalpur and Narsingdi -- have reached full physical completion. However, work in Cumilla, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet, Satkhira, and Bogura remains ongoing, with several core components still under construction.
Despite these accomplishments, the project continues to face serious hurdles that threaten its timely completion and long-term viability. One of the most persistent issues has been delays in procurement, worsened by revisions to the rate schedules issued by the Public Works Department (PWD).
Additionally, the original Development Project Proposal (DPP) lacked comprehensive engineering designs, requiring mid-implementation changes that disrupted the workflow. Natural disasters, including heavy monsoon flooding, also impeded progress in several areas.
Staffing shortages have emerged as a major concern. Of the 16 approved positions, only 13 have been filled. More critically, only two civil engineers were deployed in the field, and none of the eight industrial estates had a full-time site engineer.
Furthermore, the eight Deputy Project Directors (DPDs) lacked engineering backgrounds, raising questions about their capacity to manage technical oversight. The absence of dedicated monitoring engineers has resulted in unresolved quality control issues.
Field inspections and quality assurance tests have produced mixed results. In Bogura, non-destructive tests, including rebound hammer testing on beams and columns, yielded satisfactory outcomes. In contrast, Sylhet recorded substandard beam surfaces that failed to meet minimum quality standards.
Cumilla also performed poorly, with inadequate concrete curing and the use of wooden shuttering instead of steel forms compromising structural integrity. Improperly stored or corroded reinforcement bars were also observed, further undermining construction quality.
Audit findings have further dented the project's credibility. Between 2020 and 2023, three audit objections were raised, amounting to Tk4.38 crore. These were related to procedural lapses, procurement irregularities, and incomplete financial documentation.
Although formal responses were submitted, the objections remain unresolved, casting a shadow over the project's financial transparency.
The project's repeated delays and revisions underscore deeper planning flaws. The original DPP, approved in February 2020, included an unrealistic timeline. No comprehensive feasibility study was conducted before approval, and it lacked full architectural and structural designs.
Procurement packages were poorly structured, lacking logical segmentation, and there was inadequate preparation for dismantling and replacing existing infrastructure. These oversights led to further delays and increased costs.
Despite these setbacks, the project retains significant long-term potential. Being implemented on government-owned land by a reputable public agency, it offers institutional continuity and oversight.
Once completed, the upgraded infrastructure could boost industrial productivity, attract investment, enhance safety, and stimulate employment and exports-contributing to national economic growth.
Nevertheless, the risks are substantial. The project lacks a comprehensive post-completion maintenance and sustainability plan. Several estates are vulnerable to waterlogging due to incomplete or flawed drainage systems.
Most critically, the continued absence of full-time engineering supervision raises doubts about the structural soundness and durability of the completed infrastructure. Without proper oversight, the project risks delivering substandard facilities with limited long-term value.
To address these issues, the IMED report has put forward several strategic recommendations aimed at improving project planning, execution, and accountability. First, it stresses the importance of conducting thorough feasibility and design studies before approving similar infrastructure projects to avoid unrealistic timelines and mid-course corrections. It also recommends the recruitment of qualified full-time engineers, including dedicated site engineers and a technically experienced project director, to ensure effective technical supervision.
The report emphasises the need to include complete Bills of Quantities (BOQs) and structural design drawings in the Development Project Proposal (DPP) from the beginning, to eliminate design-related ambiguities during implementation. Standard construction practices, such as the use of steel shuttering for concrete work, must be strictly enforced to ensure structural integrity and durability. The incorporation of rainwater harvesting systems and renewable energy solutions-aligned with ECNEC recommendations-should also be made mandatory to enhance environmental sustainability.
Furthermore, the report calls for regular audits and the timely resolution of financial objections to strengthen fiscal transparency. It advocates for the preparation of detailed Gantt charts to enable systematic tracking of procurement and implementation progress.
Lastly, the report underlines the need to clearly assign responsibilities for post-project operation and maintenance to ensure the long-term sustainability of the infrastructure.
With just months remaining until the final deadline, the BSCIC industrial estate renovation project remains incomplete and vulnerable to further setbacks. While notable progress has been made, the remaining tasks require urgent improvements in technical oversight, inter-agency coordination, and accountability.
Given the scale of public investment and the project's development importance, ensuring its timely and high-quality completion is not just desirable, but it is essential.
Courtesy: Daily Sun.
Bd-pratidin English/TR
