Poor show in communications

* 167 projects undertaken with little or no progress
* Railway continues its downhill trend
* Roads are left in appalling condition
* Metro Rail, elevated expressway, Padma Bridge, Dhaka-Chittagong highway upgrade remain unimplemented
* Disappointing progress in RHD and BBA projects
* 530 buses imported from China and Korea

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If a ministry stands out for its poor performance in the last three years, the communications ministry is up there on the chart.
Over the last three years, it planned a plethora of ambitious projects, none of which has come through. Metro Rail, elevated expressway, Padma Bridge, upgrading Dhaka-Chittagong highway are all pointers to what was planned and what was, ironically, not to be.
When Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appointed Syed Abul Hossain as communications minister three years ago, many questioned his ability to do the job on the ground of his being more a businessman than a politician. Their fears came true when the communications ministry, three years on, emerged as a failed ministry of the Awami League-led grand alliance government.
The communications ministry under Syed Abul Hossain undertook 167 projects at an estimated cost of Tk 60,000 crore but demonstrated abysmal performance in implementing the projects.
The ministry's negligence left half the country's 21,000km roads and highways in appalling conditions. An already ailing Bangladesh Railway continued to lose tracks, stations, locomotives and trains owing to a lack of initiative and funds.
With projects aimed at improving the capital's perennial traffic congestion now stalled, it now appears that the situation will deteriorate in the days ahead.
A few of the projects did indeed kick off, but their progress has been frustrating. At the same time, major projects like the Padma Bridge, Metro Rail and the elevated expressway are yet to get underway and in all probability their implementation seems a distance reality.
However, Abul, who is now in charge of the ministry of Information and Communications Technology, said he should be given the credit for taking so many projects in just three years.
“No minister before had taken up so many important projects in such a short period,” he said, adding that none of the major projects are stalled and all are making slow progress due to various reasons.
He said the previous BNP government had also tried to get Metro Rail and the elevated expressway projects going but they failed.
Communications ministry records show that the preparation of the Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Corridor has so far been completed. The project is perhaps relatively less important than others. Two more projects--Pabna-Pakshi EPZ link road and Kashinathpur-Kazirhat road improvement with Kazirhat ferryghat road construction--are on the list of completed projects of the ministry. But officials say that those were taken up at the fag end of the caretaker government in 2008.
The inefficiency of the former communications minister as well as of the communications ministry officials, bureaucratic infighting and lack of funds are widely blamed for the dismal performance of the communications ministry.
Experts believe that the poor performance of the communications ministry means that the country's communications system will deteriorate further, which in turn will greatly hamper the transportation of people and goods and disrupt development activities.
The ministry's Roads and Highways Division chalked out a total of 122 projects worth Tk 12,400 crore in the past three years. Although projects like improvement of Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways were set in motion, they have made little progress so far.
The status of 17 projects undertaken by the ministry's Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) is also very disappointing. The estimated cost of the projects is worth about Tk 34,000 crore.
Padma multipurpose bridge, Dhaka elevated expressway, Metro Rail, Dhaka-Ashulia elevated expressway and tunnels from Jahangir Gate to Agargaon Rokeya Sarani and multi-lane tunnel under the Karnaphuli in Chittagong are among the important projects that are yet to commence.
Before Bangladesh Railway was separated from the communications ministry to create a new ministry, the government approved 28 projects worth about Tk. 14,000 crore for the ailing railway sector to expand the railway network and buy locomotives, coaches and wagons.
But railway officials say that it will take them at least three years to implement some of the projects. They said progress in the matter of 12 projects under the Indian credit line has also been disappointing.
Bangladesh Railway's “achievements” in the last three years include the signing of two deals with companies to upgrade Tongi-Bhairab Bazar and Laksham-Chandpur rail tracks, an agreement to buy 20 diesel-electric trains, and the purchase of nine locomotives.
The biggest failure of the communications ministry has been in repairing and maintaining roads and highways, which placed the government in an embarrassing situation ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr in September. Road communications on some major routes nearly collapsed. The then communications minister came under heavy criticism from inside and outside the ruling party over his perceived lapses in leadership.
The only success of Abul Hossain and the communications ministry in the last three years has been in importing 275 Chinese and 255 Korean buses, which has slightly reduced the crisis of transport in the city and its suburban districts.
Against this backdrop, the government had little choice but to remove Abul from the communications ministry and separate the railway sector to form the railways ministry.
Newly appointed communications minister Obaidul Quader and railways minister Suranjit Sengupta said they would focus on short-term measures and try to implement some of the projects before the tenure of the government expired.
However, neither of them seems optimistic about making any big difference owing to constraints of time and funds.