Bangladesh loses some points

Though the World Bank has finally agreed to revive its $1.2 billion funding for the much-hyped Padma bridge project, economists say the Padma episode has weakened Bangladesh's position and the accountability issue will apparently become more important for any foreign-aided project in the future. They, however, say it needs to be ensured so that this mega project does not face further delay due to investigation into the so-called graft. “We've made ourselves weak a bit with the Padma bridge story. Question has been raised about public management, capability and capacity,” Debapriya Bhattacharya, eminent economist and distinguished fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), told the media yesterday, reports UNB. He said: “[From now] the issue of accountability for any future project, not only the World Bank-ones, but also those of Japan [Jica] and the Asian Development Bank [ADB], will be more important.” On the fresh conditions set by the global lender, Debapriya said, “The international expert panel will work with the Anti-Corruption Commission to look into the alleged graft, and we will have to wait for the outcome. But it's important that the investigation process should not hamper the implementation of the project.” Noted economist and former caretaker government adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam said it should be cleared who would be there in the external panel. “What will be the composition of the external panel? ....it needs to be determined quickly to know who are from the country and who are from outside.” About the WB's return, Prof Anu Mohammad said the WB was always interested to provide loan to countries like Bangladesh. “If a country like Bangladesh stops taking loan from the World Bank, then it'll collapse. Bangladesh will also face trouble in future while negotiating on any project,” reports UNB quoting Prof Anu, who teaches economics at Jahangirnagar University. Meanwhile, different quarters expressed happiness and welcomed the return of the WB, the lead co-financer of the mega project. The government is expected to come up with its official reaction to the WB's decision by today or Sunday, sources at the finance ministry said. Earlier on Thursday, in a statement, the WB said, “The Bank has agreed that, upon satisfactory implementation of the agreed measures by the government, and with the support of the Bank's governing bodies, the Bank will engage anew in the Padma Multipurpose Bridge.” The Washington-based Bank cancelled its committed $1.2 billion loan on June 29. PROF WAHIDUDDIN MAHMUD The leading economist in his reaction said this was great news if the WB and the government had reached a compromise to revive the funding of the Padma bridge. “To arrive at this compromise, it has taken both sides to give in to some extent. Both the government and the donors need to take the next steps quickly so that there will be minimum procedural delays in getting the project started,” he told The Daily Star. ”There seems to have been a realisation on the part of the World Bank about the harshness of the steps it took in cancelling the funding agreement, and the Bank apparently continues to have sympathy for what it considers genuine funding needs of Bangladesh for this project.” If the contract is revived, he said, this would perhaps be the first time that such a decision would have been made by the Bank for such a large project. ”Given that the next steps to be taken are not clear yet, the government needs to be seen to remain absolutely committed to implement the project in a transparent and corruption-free manner,” stressed the noted economist. There should be also more consistency between the government's stance in respect of domestic politics and how it conducts the external, Prof Wahiduddin added. TIB FOR DUE PROBE
Anti-grafts campaigner Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has called upon the government to take the “correct lesson out of the experience” so that it does not face any recurrence of such self-embarrassment in the days to come. Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the TIB, in a statement yesterday said the WB decision might be viewed at the moment as a “diplomatic gain” for the government. However, taking the proper lesson out of the whole episode, the statement said, the government must firmly abandon the denial syndrome of rejecting allegations of corruption. The TIB also stressed that the government takes these seriously to ensure due investigation -- free from any bias or influence -- so that exemplary action is taken against those found guilty without any fear or favour.