United News of Bangladesh

Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud on Monday said he wanted to bring some basic changes in the way projects are conceived and approved, but failed to do so due to giving less attention to the Planning Commission. He made the statement while briefing reporters after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting at the planning ministry with chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus in the chair. The planning adviser said that any project is formulated in two ways, one is DPP by any ministry and another is from the Planning Commission which is called the Project Evaluation Committee. He mentioned that the government wanted to bring changes as flaws remain in every project after formulating and getting approval following the traditional system. “Especially in the infrastructure projects it is seen that after the approval infrastructural flaws still remain there,” he said. Mahmud, who is also the education adviser, said that there is no system to have consultation with the local beneficiaries before taking any local project. Terming Environment Ministry 'incompetent', planning adviser conceives way to bypass it In this connection, he noted that local people usually adopt locally made technologies, while the technology coming from top does not match with the local technology. Talking about environmental loss, more or less, in any project, Dr Mahmud said environmentalists must be included during the formulation process of any project, as well as the technical persons. He criticised the bureaucratic system of the project formulation as if the project is secret matter. “This is not a good thing at all,” he added. He mentioned that projects are for the people, so these should be more openly and must ask for the opinions of the stakeholders, especially in case of the big projects. “So far it is the failure of the Planning Commission or mine. I've thought about it from the very beginning, but could not advance much till now,” he said.