Prevalence of corruption in mega projects

Though 47 years have passed since independence, we have yet to put in place proper infrastructural facilities needed to achieve sustainable development. The incumbent government has taken up a few mega projects which have already commenced their implementation phase.

Historically, Bangladesh has performed poorly when it comes to the execution of a plan owing to corruption, bureaucratic complexities, poor monitoring and evaluation and politicisation of the e-GP system.

The news of a procurement scandal in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant recently went viral on social media and people from all walks of life raised the finger at public fund management—which is primarily collected from hardworking taxpayers. The prevalence of corruption in mega projects not only creates mistrust around officials’ accountability regarding all public initiatives, but also acts as an impetus for people to be sceptical about the proper allocation of government revenue generated from taxes.

The failure to practise good governance in all the sectors of administration will further deteriorate the possibility of proper implementation of projects by increasing costs, delays, and degradation of quality. Besides, it may further lessen the tax to GDP ratio, which will only hamper development of infrastructure and, in turn, make it tougher to achieve the SDGs.

Md Parvez Alam

Research Associate, Corporate & SME Rating Unit