Development initiatives in Bangladesh normally take longer than usual to come to fruition. However, the project to set up a dozen hi-tech parks at the district level is moving at such a glacial pace that it may hold the government from attaining its vision of building a smart nation and readying the workforce for the digitalised world.

The government initiated the project in April 2017 to construct 12 hi-tech parks in as many districts to create a skilled workforce and job opportunities to tap the potential in the information technology sector at home and abroad.

Seven years later, the project has achieved 14.34 percent physical progress, according to a monitoring report of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).

The project authority spent 12.57 percent of the budget as of February this year.

Hi-tech parks, also known as technology parks, are designated areas that provide infrastructure, resources, and support to technology-based businesses.

Of the Tk 1,796.40 crore that would be required to implement the "Establishing IT Park/Hi-Tech Park at District Level (12 Districts)" project, Tk 1,544 crore is coming in the form of a line of credit from India while Bangladesh will bear the rest.

The parks will be built in Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur, Natore, Chattogram, Cumilla, Cox's Bazar, Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Gopalganj, Dhaka, and Sylhet.

The project was scheduled to be implemented from July 2017 to June 2020, according to a document from the ICT division. When it missed the deadline, the government revised the project and extended the time to June 2021 without increasing the cost.

Later, the budget size was increased to Tk 1,846 crore, and the deadline was set at June 2024.

Now, the project is sending a proposal to seek time until 2027, AKAM Fazlul Hoque, director of the project, told The Daily Star. It is also going to request to raise the project expenditure to Tk 2,000 crore.

WHY IS THE DELAY?

According to the IMED report, the project failed to realise the financial and actual work plans in most components.

The project's activities were halted for 17 months owing to insufficient allocations from the government to pay customs duty and VAT in the fiscal year of 2018-2019 and because of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.

The time taken for land acquisition significantly exceeded expectations, preventing the project from being finished within the stipulated timeframe, it said.

The physical progress of MA Wazed Miah Knowledge Park in Rangpur stood at 19 percent in February.

The hi-tech park in Natore's progress rate was 31 percent while it was 32 percent for that in Mymensingh, 23.60 percent for Jamalpur, 25.10 percent for Khulna, 22.30 percent for Barishal, 13.20 percent for Gopalganj, 31 percent for Dhaka's Keraniganj, 2.10 percent for Cumilla, 1 percent for Chattogram, 1 percent for Cox's Bazar's Ramu, and 4.10 percent for Sylhet's hi-tech park.

The construction work of the parks in Cumilla, Chattogram, Ramu, and Sylhet started in 2023, according to the report.

Fazlul Hoque, however, said that the IMED's information is based on old data.

The physical progress stood at 33.92 percent as of June this year, and the financial progress was 33.92 percent, he said. 

The IMED also found some faults during field inspections. For example, low-quality sand was used at the Keraniganj Knowledge Park's construction work. The presence of oversized stones was also found in the sand.

It was specified that steel shuttering had to be used in the construction work, but wood has been found on the site.

No respite from project delays

"The project is not an isolated case when it comes to cost and time overruns," said noted economist Mustafa K Mujeri on Tuesday.

Delays have become a regular phenomenon as there is a lack of accountability regarding implementation of projects on time, he said.

He questioned how the real economic returns would be ensured if a three-year project achieves only 14 percent progress in seven years.

"The country will never reap the expected benefits if we don't come out of the worst culture of project implementation. Without a change in this culture, the enormous annual development programme will not bring any fruitful outcome for the nation."

"This will also cause a waste of public money."

Mujeri, also the executive director of the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development, said this type of escalation happens when the project authorities are unable to carry out feasibility studies properly.

Fazlul Hoque said he assumed the current role as an additional responsibility in late 2020. Before that, three project directors were changed.

The initial tenders were non-responsive, leading to re-tendering and four years of no progress, he said.

Since only Indian firms were allowed to participate in the bidding as per the conditions of the line of credit, the project came to a standstill due to the pandemic since prospective bidders could not visit Bangladesh to take part in the tender process.

Half of the project was awarded to a bidder in 2022, with work starting in November 2022.

The project, financed at a 1 percent interest rate while 65 percent of materials are expected to come from India, was supposed to have customs duty VAT covered by the government as per the agreement, he said.

"However, we are not getting the funds to pay the VAT, and this has been a factor for the slow progress."