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The government has recently issued an order allowing the chief accounts officer of Dhaka North City Corporation and the public relations officer of the local government ministry, among four officials, to visit China for seven days to learn about the operation and maintenance of chain dozers used for waste management, despite having no involvement in operating or maintaining the vehicles.
The training was arranged under a Tk1.69 billion tender contract for the purchase of two 21-tonne chain dozers under the Expansion and Modernisation of Aminbazar Landfill Project.
In another case, the local government ministry issued a government order for 20 officials, including two administrative officers, a personal officer and an assistant secretary, to travel to Nepal to learn about solid-waste management under the Bangladesh City Inclusive Sanitation Program in 25 Towns Project of the Department of Public Health Engineering.
When asked, project officials said the ministry nominates the employees and that they had nothing to do with the selection.
The two cases are among examples of the local government ministry continuing to issue government orders for officials whose roles are unrelated to the training, as well as approving foreign trips that may not be necessary. Most of the trips are financed with money from foreign lenders, even as the government has said it is taking a hard line against such travel.
In the name of capacity building, operation and maintenance training and factory visits, government orders are being issued for a wide range of government employees, with the trips financed through loans from foreign lenders that carry interest.
However, the local government ministry has not issued any order to stop the foreign-trip provision in tenders for goods.
In June, Chattogram City Corporation Mayor Shahadat Hossain forwarded a request to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman for permission to travel to the US to study modern mosquito-control technology and improve public-health measures. The prime minister rejected the proposal, calling it unnecessary.
The mayor later said he had proposed the trip at the hosts’ expense rather than using government funds. The incident nevertheless sent a message that the newly formed government would not allow unnecessary foreign trips.
Experts said foreign training and inspection are included in every tender package and project component, regardless of their necessity or duplication.
They also said a large number of officials are travelling abroad in the name of training and inspection and capacity building, using borrowed money.
Under the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Mainstreaming (CRIMP) project of the Local Government Engineering Department, 20 officials travelled to Thailand to learn about “Planting Innovation 2.0: Learning and Exploring Sustainable Urban Solutions in Thailand”.
The project covers the construction of 45 new multipurpose cyclone shelters, rehabilitation of 20 existing multipurpose cyclone shelters and improvement of 80 kilometres of critical road connectivity, with priority given to access roads to the multipurpose cyclone shelters.
Speaking to the Daily Sun, Adil Mohammed Khan, former president of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners, said the government needs to assess every proposal for foreign visits and nominate the right person so that the foreign trips don’t become a festival instead of carrying out professional duties.
“The government had in an unwritten way imposed an embargo on these kinds of foreign trips. The Prime Minister’s direction is not being reflected by action in the ministry,” he added. “Those who are involved in the GO issuance should be made accountable. They are violating PM’s order.”