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WB-LOANED URBAN HEALTH PROJECT, Part- 1
They help set job criteria, then get hired despite falling short
At least three specialists hired for a World Bank-funded urban public health project under the Local Government Division (LGD) lack the education and experience required by the project’s terms of reference (ToR), according to certificates, experience letters and other documents collected by the Daily Sun.
Sources say the three also helped draft the ToR and were involved in the recruitment process themselves.
The ToR for the posts in the Improvement of Urban Public Health Preventive Services Project were also changed from those in the approved Development Project Proposal (DPP), and the specialists do not match the revised criteria either.
It is further alleged that some of them worked from the project office and helped prepare hiring documents before they were recruited.
From accountant to BCC and procurement specialist
Md Enamul Hoque was recruited as behaviour change communication (BCC) specialist. Since 29 June, he has also been acting as procurement specialist after the previous holder was terminated.
The ToR requires a BCC specialist to hold at least a master’s degree in sociology, public relations, psychology, anthropology or a similar discipline.
It also asks for 15 years’ general experience, including 10 years in BCC management or related research with national or international organisations, and practical experience in urban public health management.
His CV shows a second-division B.Com from Dhaka City College in 1991 and an M.Com from Jagannath College in 1992.
He began his career as an accountant at Gano Gobeshona O Unnayan Foundation in 1994.
He later worked as an accountant at Uddipan; finance and administration coordinator at the Secondary Towns Infrastructure Development Project; financial management and accounting specialist at the Municipal Support Project; finance manager at a malaria control programme; regional finance coordinator at LGED’s UGIIP project; and finance associate (audit) at a localgovernance support project.
None of the positions listed in his CV indicates the 10 years of BCC management or related research experience required by the ToR.
Former additional secretaries as specialists
Mohd Sher Ali, a former additional secretary of the LGD, is the project management specialist. Md Aminul Islam, also a former LGD additional secretary, is the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) specialist. Dr Md Billal Hossain, a former additional secretary of the Ministry of Environment, is the environment specialist.
The ToR requires an M&E specialist to have a master’s degree in social sciences, statistics, economics, mathematics, business administration or a relevant discipline, and 15 years’ general experience, including seven years in M&E of public-sector development projects assisted by development partners or the government.
Aminul holds an M.Com in accounting from Rajshahi University (1983). Release orders he submitted as proof of experience describe him as public financial management specialist at the Local Governance Support Project (LGSP) in 2011, senior public financial specialist at LGSP-2 in 2015, and senior local government specialist at LGSP-3 in 2022.
None of the documents reviewed by the Daily Sun shows him working in monitoring and evaluation.
The project management specialist must hold a master’s degree in management, economics, business administration or a relevant discipline, with 15 years’ experience in administration, coordination, monitoring and project management.
Preference is given to candidates with three years’ local government experience and working experience in city development. Practical experience in urban public health management is also required.
Sher Ali holds an MA in economics from Rajshahi University.
Questions have also arisen over whether the qualifications prescribed for the environment specialist were changed during the recruitment process.
The approved DPP required the environmental specialist to have at least five years’ working experience in environmental aspects of demand-driven development programmes, including experience in the preparation and implementation of Environmental Action Plans (EAPs) and Environmental Management Plans (EMPs).
The DPP also required experience in development activities related to mitigating the effects of environmental pollution and climate change on public health.
However, the ToR published in the recruitment advertisement required the environment specialist to have at least 15 years of general work experience, including six years working as an environment specialist in development partner- or government-assisted development projects.
The difference means the advertised criteria substantially altered the experience requirement originally set out in the approved DPP.
Dr Md Billal Hossain, a former additional secretary of the Ministry of Environment, was recruited for the position.
The Daily Sun has also found that Sher Ali was seen visiting the LGD project office during the period when preparations for recruitment were under way.
Wishing anonymity, an executive engineer of the Department of Public Health Engineering said, “I have seen Sher Ali sir visiting at LGD’s project office in our building since September in 2024, when he went into retirement. I used to see him in lift mostly. I came to know that he joined there as a specialist. But I did not know he was not still the part of the project.”
Sher Ali said, “I was involved with negotiations with the World Bank for ensure the funds for the project.”
Six specialists on same pay
Six specialists receive Tk4.44 lakh each, against an official cost estimate of Tk4.50 lakh, a figure they knew beforehand.
They are Public Health Specialist Dr Sharmin Mizan, Enamul, Financial Specialist S M Abdul Mottalib, Sher Ali, Billal Hossain and Aminul Islam.
Aminul, Mottalib and Capacity Building (Training) Specialist A J Minhaj Uddin Ahmad previously worked together on LGSP under the LGD.
Dr Sharmin Mizan is the wife of Abu Momtaz Saaduddin Ahmed, a former deputy secretary at the Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD) Ministry.
ToR altered from DPP
A notification to hire 12 specialists was published on 3 December 2024 and they joined in February 2025.
The ToR published on the LGD and Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority websites and the e-GP platform differed in several respects from those in the approved DPP.
For the BCC specialist, the ToR asks for a master’s degree in sociology, public relations, psychology, anthropology or any other discipline.
The DPP, however, asks for a master’s in anthropology or sociology, a degree in public relations or a related discipline, and academic attainment in BCC strategies.
The requirements for the environment specialist were also changed.
The DPP required at least five years’ experience in environmental aspects of demand-driven development programmes, including preparation and implementation of EAPs and EMPs, as well as experience related to mitigating the effects of environmental pollution and climate change on public health.
The advertisement instead required 15 years of general work experience, including six years as an environment specialist in development partner- or government-assisted development projects.
For the medical waste management specialist, the ToR requires 15 years’ general experience, including seven years in waste or medical waste management with national or international organisations.
The DPP specified only medical waste management experience.
The Daily Sun found that the ToR for the specialist posts were revised in similar ways.
Asked whether the LGRD adviser had approved the changes, the project director could not confirm it.
Role in drafting and selection
Sources said Aminul, Enamul and Sher Ali prepared the ToR, formed the evaluation committee and were involved in selecting all the specialists.
They said Enamul phoned candidates during the selection process to facilitate negotiations.
Enamul described his role on 28 September.
“When Sher sir was additional secretary, I was working on preparations for the Local Government Resilience Project,” he said, adding, “One day, sir told me that a public health project is on its deathbed. He brought the project file from the Planning Division and asked me to work on it.”
He added, “Sher Ali sir and I did all these things. We made the ToR, formed a committee and processed everything.”
Even the project director was appointed at his recommendation.
Sher Ali confirmed Enamul’s account. He said, “I was part of the negotiation team with the World Bank to ensure the $600 million loan for the project.”
The Daily Sun spoke to at least six specialists, who said they had heard the same account.
Aminul, Sher Ali, Billal and Sharmin Mizan said they did not use their LGD or administrative cadre backgrounds to secure their posts.
Sher Ali said his involvement with the project began before his recruitment.
“I was involved with negotiations with the World Bank for ensure the funds for the project,” he said.
What responsible people say
The evaluation committee was chaired by Md Akbar Hossain, a deputy secretary and former deputy project director. LGD programmer Shafiul Islam was the member secretary.
The other members were LGD Senior Assistant Secretary Md Abdus Samad Prodhan; Ministry of Labour and Employment Senior Assistant Secretary SHM Magfurul Hasan Abbasi; LGED Executive Engineer Farukh Hossain; and LGD Deputy Secretary (Urban Development-2 Wing) Md Shameem Bepari.
Asked about the recruitment process, Akbar Hossain said, “In best of my knowledge, we did not make any wrongdoing. But I did not check all the CVs and a committee worked, I was the part of that.”
Monirul Islam, project director at the time of recruitment, said, “Whatever I did at that time, I did lawfully and with sincerity. I am not a person to obey any unlawful work. I left that project but did not do anything unlawful. You may come for more details. I will ask the project authorities to bring the documents.”
The LGD minister and secretary were contacted several times over the phone for their comments, but neither responded.
Effat Mahmud, the World Bank’s task team leader for the project, said some project activities are subject to pre-review and others to post-review. Eleven of the 12 recruitments fall under post-review.
She did not say when the recruitment would be reviewed.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said the recruitment raised broader concerns about the way development projects are implemented and monitored.
“The World Bank is doing loan business in the name of development funding. They are not doing enough to ensure sustainable development. We have seen this in many cases,” he said, alleging that bureaucrats and the World Bank operate in a “syndication” that serves their own interests.
“This is a glaring example. The World Bank is the main player in this case,” he said.
He further alleged that ordinary people ultimately bear the cost while a small group of “inefficient and irrelevant people” benefit from development projects.
“Loans taken in the name of development have to be repaid with interest, while serving and retired government officials are taking the benefits,” he said.
Iftekharuzzaman also questioned the practice of ministries directly implementing development projects, saying it can interfere with their core responsibilities. “They should not implement projects themselves,” he said.
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