No more hurdles to population census
After twice rejecting proposals to buy 3.95 lakh tablet computers for the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the government yesterday granted approval to this end so that the statistical agency can conduct the population and housing census which was set to begin three years ago.
The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase, chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, gave clearance to the proposal to buy tablets for about Tk 448 crore from Walton Digi-Tech Industries Ltd, said Zillur Rahman, additional secretary of the cabinet division.
The proposal was approved following all the relevant regulations.
"We will start the census as soon as possible. We will sit all at the beginning of next week to prepare a plan to begin the census," Planning Minister MA Mannan told The Daily Star.
The activities for the census will start after getting the go-ahead from the Prime Minister, he said.
The census, which provides complete data on the overall population, its composition, workforce, density, housing and other socio-economic indicators, is vital for formulating proper economic and other policies.
The BBS last published a population census report in 2011 that estimated Bangladesh's population at 15.17 crore.
It said the population growth rate was 1.37 per cent. Currently, Bangladesh's population is around 17 crore.
In 2018, the BBS had prepared a master plan to carry out the census on January 2-8 in 2021 in order to publish a preliminary report by July last year.
Accordingly, in October 2019, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved a Tk 1,761 crore project for the population and housing census to take place every 10-year.
However, the tendering process to buy logistics for the census got delayed in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
In June last year, the BBS floated the first tender. Eight firms had bought bidding documents but only two local companies, which manufacture and assemble electronic items, took part in the bidding.
Later, the technical evaluation committee of the BBS picked the second-lowest bidder after the lowest bidder was disqualified. But the selection by the BBS was rejected "for not following due procedure" and the purchase committee on August 25 asked the agency to re-tender to buy the tablets.
In December last year, the purchase committee once again turned down the BBS tender proposal quoting a lack of details in the proposal.
In response to a query, Finance Minister Kamal said two local companies had participated in bidding to supply the tablets and the government was trying to verify the information.
In the first week of January this year, Planning Minister Mannan said that many "shadow forces" were working from behind the scenes to delay the purchase of tablets that would be used in conducting the country's population census.
Mohammad Mainul Islam, professor of the department of population sciences at the University of Dhaka, said it is already too late to conduct a census which would provide updated data for proper policy framing and intervention.
"Researchers and policymakers need updated data to understand the real picture," Islam said.
"As the census takes place throughout the country, it is mostly accepted. Census data is needed for holistic policy framing and so, it should start as soon as possible," he added.