Govt to follow WB guideline

Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said the projects funded by World Bank would be implemented as per its guideline but no change would be made in the recent amendments to the Public Procurement Act.

"The changes made in the Public Procurement Act would not be altered. However, where they [the WB] have any objection, they would follow their own guideline," Muhith told reporters after a meeting with the WB's new country director in Bangladesh Ellen Goldstein at his secretariat office.

In the meeting, they discussed recent changes in the Public Procurement Act, among other issues.

The government amended the PPA, waiving the lottery system for awarding government work for up to Tk 2 crore and the requirement for contractors to have prior experience.

On November 9, the WB sent a letter to the finance minister asking the government to put on hold local procurements of 24 WB-funded projects in Bangladesh.

Muhith yesterday told reporters that normally donors follow their guidelines when a project funded by them is implemented. But in Bangladesh, the WB followed the PPA as it was formulated as per their advice.

"We were not in the government when the PPA was enacted following the WB advice. But now that we have made some amendments to the PPA, they want to revert to their guideline," he said.

The finance minister said he told the WB that the government did what it felt was better for the country and now the WB should quickly make necessary amendments to the project agreements between it and Bangladesh government.

Asked if there would be any problem regarding WB's budget support, Muhith said, "There is no relation between budget support and this issue. They can at best say the government cannot make procurement up to Tk 2 crore using their money."

Ellen Goldstein told journalists that the WB letter asked the government to put the WB funded projects on hold for a few weeks so that necessary amendments could be made to the agreements.

She said some amendments in the new law were not consistent with the WB guidelines.

"We have to make some minor adjustments to our project agreements so that we can go ahead...We must follow our guideline," she said.

It was Ellen Goldstein's first meeting with the finance minister after she joined her new office.