Apart from corruption, climate change projects were also found to be plagued by lack of skill, management, coordination, and other problems
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has found between 14.36% and 76.92% corruption in four climate change projects on development of coastal infrastructure, renovation and repair.
TIB unveiled the study report, titled “Governance challenges in disaster response and way forward: Cyclone Amphan and other recent experiences,” through a virtual press conference on Thursday.
“Although we are said to be a model for many countries in terms of disaster management, we found financial losses up to 76% due to corruption in climate change projects,” said Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director, TIB.
“We studied four projects on climate change worth Tk1,102crore and found corruption of Tk191crore,” said Newazul Moula, deputy program manager, during the presentation of the study report.
The findings of the study are shown in the table below:
|
Project |
Type of corruption |
Budget |
Financial loss due to corruption |
Percentage |
|
Water Management Project in 2011 |
Violation of public procurement act |
Tk975cr |
Tk140cr |
14.36% |
|
Polder construction in Barguna and Patuakhali in 2016 |
Showing use of additional blocks |
Tk72.03cr |
16.83cr |
23.37% |
|
Irrigation in Manu River in 2019 |
Violation of public procurement procedure |
Tk54.83cr |
34.42cr |
62.78% |
|
Repair of Koyra barrage in Khulna in 2020 |
Fund embezzlement by project official |
Tko.26cr |
Tk0.20cr |
76.92% |
“As we lose 2.2% of GDP due to damages inflicted by climate change, we should be aware of the corruption in implementing projects to combat climate change,” said Dr Iftekharuzzaman.
“We observed that there is a huge lack of punishment to control such corruption,” he added.
Some major allegations related to corruption
TIB has received complaints that around 360 cases of dams damaged by shrimp farmers remain unsettled due to the influence of powerful men on the Water Development Board. They also received complaints that inferior CC blocks were used to construct embankment in Charfashion and Monpura upazila in Bhola district, and huge funds were embezzled in the dredging of rivers in Khulna and Satkhira.
“We found huge allegations of corruption and mismanagement in climate resilience infrastructure development like building coastal roads, dams and cyclone shelters,” said Kazi Abu Saleh, research official of TIB.
Apart from corruption, climate change projects were also found to be plagued by lack of skill and management, lack of coordination with weather forecasters, ineffectiveness of union level disaster management committees, and lack of coordination between government and private stakeholders.