Non-appointment of consultants hits functioning of IUGP of LGED
Staff Correspondent
Improving Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project ( IUGP) of the Local Government Engineering Department ( LGED) was approved by the Prime Minister on June, 2023.
The project is supported by foreign assistance - Asian Development Bank (ADB) and AFD (France).
Although the project started about 6 months ago, it will be effectively started after the appointment of the consultant as it is supported by foreign aid. But since the consultant has not been appointed so far, the work is not being done effectively or the foreign currency is not coming to Bangladesh.
It is learned that near 50 million US dollars are ready to come to the foreign currency reserve fund of Bangladesh, but it is not happening only because of the delay in the appointment of consultants.
The proposal for appointment of Governance Improvement and Capacity Development (GICD) consultant in the Procurement Committee of the Government of Bangladesh on 22-11-2023 was fixed in the list number three for discussion and approval - and a letter was given from the Cabinet Division.
Due to nknown and mysterious reasons, a letter was given to withdraw the purchase proposal with the direct intervention of Tajul Islam, Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives.
The project is a direct budget support project of Bangladesh - which will not only support foreign exchange but also transfer foreign exchange directly to the budget head of the Ministry of Finance. Such activities of the minister in this difficult time of the government do not go with the trend of development and to meet the shortage of foreign currency.
Moreover, the officials engaged in the project have been receiving and will continue to receive government salaries for the last six months without actually doing any developmental work of the project.
Despite the Prime Minister's clear instructions to clear the foreign reserve deficit by advancing the foreign exchange support scheme, Tajul Islam's reflexive actions are contrary to the instructions of the Prime Minister.
