Investment in fossil fuel-based projects violation of national, global commitments: TIB

The government's investment priority on coal and other fossil fuel-based projects instead of renewable energy is a clear violation of its national and global commitments, Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said today.

By doing so, Bangladesh is turning out to be a polluting nation, despite being vulnerable to the impact of climate change, he told a virtual press conference marking the launch of a survey report.

Iftekharuzzaman said due to the government's such reverse stance, the country is about to lose the primary success and reputation it achieved globally, especially in environmental diplomacy.

"The government must move away from its present stance," he said, adding it has to focus on renewable energy as per its commitment and as early as possible.

The TIB survey report was conducted on seven government projects on climate change mitigation implemented between 2011 and 2018.

The survey found 54.4 percent or about Tk 37.07 crore out of about Tk 68.17 crore allocated for the seven projects were wasted due to irregularities and corruption.

Iftekharuzzaman said the projects were submitted, approved, and implemented on the basis of political consideration rather than thinking about their requirements and relevance to the local communities.

As a result, the projects saw a kind of financial loss while people did not get benefit from those, he added.

Instead, an influential quarter and those who are linked to them in various ways have been benefited through irregularities and corruption, and in some cases via deception which was evident during the survey, he further said.