Dhaka: State Minister for Planning Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki today declared that corruption and delays in the implementation of development projects will no longer be tolerated, emphasizing that development activities cannot proceed in a conventional manner any longer. “The government has put strict emphasis on ensuring quality in project implementation, reducing corruption, and completing work within the stipulated time,” he stated.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the state minister made these remarks while addressing journalists after a working session on the Planning Ministry, which was part of the Deputy Commissioners’ (DC) Conference held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital. He announced that the planning ministry is creating a new ‘strategic framework’ aligned with the government’s election manifesto and the 31-point outline.
The two-year framework aims primarily to recover the economy, which is in a fragile state, and to ensure inclusive growth by reducing inequality. Saki further mentioned that directives have been issued to ensure maximum transparency in the utilization of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) funds. “The government is putting emphasis on strengthening institutional capacity to prevent corruption and wastage at every stage of project implementation,” he added.
Highlighting employment generation as a key priority, Saki stated that the government aims to create one crore jobs. Moving forward, every new project will be evaluated for its employment potential and environmental impact. “The broader goal is to build a trillion-dollar economy while reducing inequality,” he noted.
The state minister also reported that deputy commissioners have presented numerous proposals and recommendations to tackle challenges such as land acquisition, disbursement schedules, monitoring and evaluation gaps, and corruption in project implementation. “The government is preparing a specific action plan to address these issues,” he revealed.
He further added that the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) is being strengthened to ensure ‘value for money’ in all projects. Additionally, the Statistics and Informatics Division (SID) is being reorganized for accurate and real-time data collection.
Saki emphasized that the culture of prolonged projects-such as those initiated in 2017 that still remain incomplete, along with repeated extensions of time and cost-will be curtailed through strict measures. “Field administration has been instructed to implement people-oriented, cost-effective, and time-bound projects to help achieve the goal of building a humane and democratic state,” he concluded.
He also mentioned that policies will be formulated and implementation steps will be taken promptly based on the opinions received at the conference.