Sunamganj haor project in trouble

What was supposed to be a priority project to save 29 upazilas of Sylhet from flash floods has turned out to be a classic case of mismanagement for Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB). The four-year project is now in its sixth year and about a fifth of the work completed, the Tk 704 crore project is in a state of disarray. We fail to see how such an important project was not prioritised in the face of the massive floods the country is experiencing of late. The excuses put up by BWDB failed to impress policymakers (in  a recent appraisal meeting) with less than half the drainage regulators constructed, none of the 29 drainage outlets and 35 causeways and 22 irrigation inlets have been set up. The excuse that funds have not been forthcoming in the annual development programme budget does not hold water, especially when we take into account that there have been 11 project directors in the course of 6 years.

We understand that the Anti-Corruption Commission has arrested some contractors who happen to have party affiliation. While the probe into alleged financial management is a step in the right direction, the question is why there was no oversight into this crucial project that could have saved farmers in Sunamganj their boro paddy and benefitted some six million people? Equally important is to question the quality of our project management and execution at local government level, which is obviously lagging, as is apparent from the rate of implementation of the annual development programme. The question of extending the project by another two years can only yield benefits if irregularities in project planning and implementation are addressed. Otherwise, the haor project will end up as yet another footnote in a long line of projects that went haywire.