Lack of coordination between agencies concerned became so acute in Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP) that parts of newly-constructed roads had to be dug to install sewerage, gas and telephone lines spoiling large amount of public money.
Central reservations on many roads, including Azimpur-New Market road in the city, were made wider than the previous ones narrowing down the width of roads.
These were the findings in the latest evaluation report of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED). It also found use of low quality materials in road construction that led to their fast deterioration, inconsistencies in money spent and projects completed.
The Tk 450-crore DUTP project, with majority funding from World Bank and undertaken in 1999-2000 fiscal year, was largely aimed at improving the city's traffic and transport management system, develop infrastructure, reduce air pollution and frame a 20-year Strategic Transport Plan (STP).
The IMED report on the projects completed in 2006, however, says that the DUTP involved seven agencies but serious lack of coordination between the agencies was observed.
The agencies involved with the DUTP include Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Department of Environment (DoE), Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and Bangladesh Police.
"Especially, the RHD and the DCC implemented the project without maintaining coordination between the two and other agencies. The edges and middle parts of the roads constructed under the project have already been dug several times to install gas, drainage and telephone lines," the IMED report said.
The project authorities failed to provide satisfactory answers to IMED as to why they widened central reservations and narrowed down many roads.
Gabtoli Bus Terminal was constructed under the DUTP but during inspection the IMED found the terminal was not constructed on the land which was originally planned for. A road was also constructed on the southern part of the terminal and that is of no use now.
“Terminal authorities said the DCC constructed the road as a bypass to the terminal but this was not in the plan," the report added.
The IMED in its report suggested that the agencies concerned maintain coordination in implementing the STP all the time. The STP was inaugurated recently and will start implementation soon.
Under the Tongi-Ashulia Road Development project, the communications ministry was supposed to develop 18.60km of road but it actually developed 17.60km.
The allocation for road maintenance was Tk 1.80 crore but the ministry spent Tk 5 crore, the IMED report said, adding that such lavish spending is against the financial discipline.
The project authorities reported overhead expenditure of Tk 3.38 crore but could not provide answers to questions on where exactly the money was spent.
On the National Highway Construction project from Joydevpur to Devgram, Vulta, Nayapur Bazar via Dhaka-Chittagong Highway, the IMED evaluation report said cheap materials were used to construct the roads and therefore many potholes have developed on the roads at various points.
The project authorities in their report said the road construction in Gazipur was complete but the IMED inspection found that 2.5km of road was not constructed.
The project authorities also mentioned in their report that all the money allocated for the project was spent but when inquired about the incomplete 2.5km of road they said the money for building 2.5km road was returned to the ministry. Such inconsistencies raised questions about transparency, the report adds.
In the Ilisha-Bhola-Charfashion-Charmankia Road Construction project, the authorities had planned constructing 14 bridges but constructed only seven.
The surface of the pavements on the bridges has withered within a short time as below standard materials were used for construction, the IMED report said.
The IMED prepared the report based on 237 projects of 34 ministries completed in 2005-06 fiscal year. Of those, 152 projects took more time than required and 100 projects spent more money than approved.
The IMED reported that there were projects that spent 580 percent more time and 550 percent more money than required.
A planning ministry official said the government formed an expenditure review commission to improve the performance of the Annual Development Programme but the commission's recommendations were not implemented in most of the projects.
Frequent transfers of project directors also contribute to failures in completing projects and this issue has been repeatedly raised on different occasions but the practice of frequent transfers of project directors continues unabated, the official noted.