Govt shuts down Sheikh Hasina jute mill project

The interim government has shut down a jute textile mill project taken in the name of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina after it registered only about 2 percent progress in seven years and incurred “unauthorised spending”.

The decision was taken on Wednesday at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) presided over by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus at the NEC conference room in Planning Commission.

The Sheikh Hasina Specialised Jute Textile Mill (First Revised Completion) project was undertaken in 2018 at a cost of Tk 5.19 billion, with a completion target set for 2020.

Only Tk 398.2 million has been spent to date, the majority of it on land acquisition.

In a post-ECNEC briefing, Planning Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud said: “This was a beautiful project that made our chief advisor sad to see. It was a good idea, but we had to shut it down.

“The project worth Tk 5.19 billion was taken by the textiles and jute ministry in November 2018 with a target to finish by 2020. It aimed to produce affordable yarn, fabric, garments, and bulletproof jackets by blending jute with cotton for export. But nothing was done, apart from land acquisition, and that too without approval.”

Since the land acquisition already took place, Wahiduddin said the government must now pay for it, and the acquired land will be added to the state’s asset register as khas (state-owned) land.

“Less than 2 percent of the project’s budget has been used, yet land acquisition was carried out without permission. Now the government must release the funds. The IMED (Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division) will investigate how this happened,” he added.

He also said, “It raises the question -- why was the money spent without approval? IMED will look into this, but since the land is already acquired, it becomes part of the state’s overall land holdings.”

Although the project was originally set to be implemented in Jamalpur, revised documents show expenses being recorded in the Latif Bawany Jute Mills area in Dhaka.

Project documents show that although the main site was in Jamalpur, the revised proposal listed expenses in Dhaka’s Latif Bawany Jute Mills area. The project recorded only 2.11 percent physical progress and 7 percent financial progress in seven years.

An IMED report shows that by Sept 30, 2020, 550,000 cubic metres of land development had been completed on 13.76 hectares. However, the approved allocation was for only 85,641 cubic metres, worth Tk 61.8 million. In reality, work worth Tk 344.6 million was done -- almost six times more -- resulting in unauthorised spending of Tk 282.8 million.

As the main works remained incomplete, the project was formally terminated at Wednesday’s ECNEC meeting.

OTHER PROJECTS

The ECNEC meeting greenlighted 13 projects with a total budget of Tk 83.33 billion. Besides the project named after Sheikh Hasina, there were an additional 12 projects approved.

These projects are funded with a government allocation of Tk 44.37 billion, project loans of Tk 12.25 billion, and the agencies' own funding of Tk 26.7 billion.

The approved projects include:

• The third revision of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs' 'Information Apa' empowerment project has seen an increase in cost by Tk 578.6 million. Initially, the project was estimated at Tk 5.44 billion. The first revision raised the cost to Tk 5.85 billion, and the second revision brought it to Tk 6.03 billion. The latest revision has raised the budget to Tk 6.61 billion.

• Tk 8.67 billion for the Ministry of Education’s laboratory modernisation and infrastructure development project at Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology.

• Tk 5.77 billion for the Ministry of Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources 2000hp rig purchase project.

• Tk 15.56 billion for the power ministry’s project to drill four evaluation and development wells (Shahbazpur-5, 7 and Bhola North-3, 4) and one exploration well (Shahbazpur North-East-1).

• Tk 1.59 billion reduction for the Ministry of Commerce’s “Export Competitiveness for Jobs” project in its third revision.

• Tk 6.36 billion for the Ministry of Disaster Management’s construction of multipurpose cyclone shelters in coastal areas (Phase 3).

• Tk 25.99 billion for Phase 2 of the Khulna water supply project under the Ministry of Local Government.

• Tk 1.06 billion increase for Narayanganj City Corporation’s land acquisition and waste management development project (first revision). The original project cost was Tk 3.01 billion, now revised to Tk 4.07 billion.

• Tk 4.71 billion increase for the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism’s Sylhet Osmani International Airport expansion (first revised). The original project cost was Tk 23.09 billion, now revised to Tk 27.81 billion.

• Tk 12.5 million reduction for the Ministry of Housing’s multi-storey residential flat construction project for government employees in Mirpur (first revision).

• Tk 11.84 billion for network infrastructure development and power distribution system modernisation in NESCO areas.

• Tk 6.00 billion for the Ministry of Rural Development’s project to improve the living conditions of displaced populations from Myanmar.