A Tk1,181.50 crore project titled “The Improvement of Urban Public Health Preventive Services Project (UPHPSP)”, undertaken by the Local Government Division (LGD) for three city corporations and two municipalities, has turned into a glaring example of botched planning, as the Development Project Proposal (DPP) is riddled with errors on almost every page.
According to the DPP, the “Improvement of Urban Public Preventive Services Project” for Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), Chattogram City Corporation (CCC), Savar Paurashava (municipality) and Tarabo Paurashava was approved by the ECNEC on 29 November 2023.
The LGD authorities got off on the wrong foot by incorrectly setting 94 of the project’s 238 economic codes in the proposal consisting more than 500 pages and even under-measuring the Dhaka Mosquito Control Office (DMCO) building by almost half its actual size.
According to the proposal, the proposed two added floors at the DMCO would cover 4,987sqft, but a recent measurement shows the actual space is 12,400sqft.
The budget allocation in the DPP has also raised eyebrows – Tk15 crore has been earmarked for printing and publications, while only 6 crore has been allocated for the vertical extension of two additional floors of the DMCO building at Lalbagh – a figure that Public Works Department engineers have termed highly inappropriate.
The project has also set aside Tk95 crore for local training and Tk5 crore for foreign training for 60 officials.
Owing to these anomalies and coding errors, this project taken in public interest is in limbo.
Initially planned to focus on off-site medical waste management, dengue management, and air pollution, the project is moving at snail’s pace as it has achieved a financial progress worth Tk2 crore only till August, and that amount was spent solely for salaries of 12 specialists appointed in February.
Project documents state that out of 84 planned contracts, only 12 tenders - mostly for engaging specialists - have been awarded.
Interestingly, discrepancies are found even in the hiring of the specialists as there are three retired LGD officials and one who is the wife of an additional secretary among the 12 consultants and specialists.
Another three tenders for procuring vehicles and another for supplying hand sprayers, wheel-barrow sprayers, fogging machines, thermal foggers (truck-mounted), and outsourcing 240 staff are under evaluation.
The remaining 69 tenders are stuck due to incorrectly assigned economic codes.
Project insiders said the DPP’s 238 economic codes include 94 errors, severely hampering fund utilisation and implementation.
Although the approved DPP includes provisions for deputing 11 officials from various government departments, the project authority has managed to appoint only one.
An accountant, Md Salauddin, deputed from the office of the Controller General of Accounts, has not received his salary because the DPP mistakenly listed his pay code as 311201 instead of 311101.
Apart from these, the project’s scope also covers routine functions of City Corporations and municipalities, including tree plantation, mosquito control equipment procurement, pesticide purchases, and development of parks, playgrounds and public toilets.
Deputy project director and LGD Deputy Secretary Ziaur Rahman said the project aims to introduce “best practices”, which is why some regular activities of local bodies were included.
Moreover, the project authorities handed over five insecticide spray machines to three city corporations, but they were returned as the machines were outdated and incompatible with current equipment standards.
The project includes establishment of an Integrated Vector Management Unit (IVMU) at the DMCO, featuring a central Biological (Entomology) Laboratory to identify Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, a training lab, and a dengue outbreak prediction model - an early warning system linked to the Meteorological Department.
The IVMU will also house a Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) device for dengue virus detection, and an insectarium for vector preservation.
The project has allocated Tk30 crore for dengue and chikungunya vaccine research, and Tk40 crore for 15 studies on integrated vector management, including research on identifying potential dengue vectors.
Noted entomologist and Professor of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University, Kabirul Bashar, said the dengue-related scope appears “promising but must be implemented by the right people”.
“We need both the vector management unit and the lab, along with the research,” he said.
Another Tk20 crore has been allocated for CDC Light Traps, Gravid Traps and BG Sentinel Traps, while Tk10 crore has been kept for purchasing insecticides, including the insect growth regulator Pyriproxyfen and for wall-painting activities.
For medical waste management, Tk115 crore has been allotted to set up an incinerator, an autoclave and a chemical treatment plant.
When asked, Deputy Secretary of the LGD Ziaur Rahman said the project had been formulated by the Planning Division.
According to LGD sources, a team led by former director general of the Planning, Monitoring, Inspection and Evaluation Wing, Dr Md Sarwar Bari, and former Assistant Private Secretary to the LGRD Minister, Nure Alam Siddique, was involved in preparing the DPP and allocating the budget.
When asked, Dr Bari - who retired this year - said, “I was the DG at the time, but the DPP was reviewed by others, including the then secretary and the joint secretary of the planning wing. I cannot now recall any mistakes in the codes - this is the first I am hearing of it from you. The joint secretary (planning) is also responsible for the issue, as they come from a planning background.”
Speaking to the Daily Sun, project director and LGD Joint Secretary Abul Khair Mohammad Hafizullah Khan admitted that financial progress had been severely hampered by widespread coding errors and frequent changes in project directors.
“We could not progress much because the budget heads are full of coding errors. However, steps have now been taken to correct the codes,” he said, declining to answer further questions.
President of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners and Jahangirnagar University faculty member Adil Mohammed Khan urged the government to revisit the project.
“It is surprising how this project received approval after scrutiny by several committees within the concerned ministries. Conducting dengue vaccine research under the LGRD Ministry rather than the Health Ministry is questionable. Additionally, there are major anomalies in project components and cost estimates. Since the project has not progressed much due to errors, the government should thoroughly review it and if necessary, scrap it,” he said.
Former IMED secretary at the Planning Commission, Mamun Al Rashid, said that officials from both the Planning Commission and the LGRD Ministry should be held accountable.
He said, “This is the result of inefficiency and negligence by the project review committees at the LGRD Ministry and the Planning Commission. Both agencies have expert teams on matters such as economic codes, yet they failed to perform their due role. They failed at several stages of the review.
“Besides, the World Bank also reviewed the DPP. It is a collective failure. Unless those responsible are punished, such incidents will continue.”
Courtesy: Daily Sun.
Bd-pratidin English/TR
