ICT Division’s Tk 5,883 Crore Project Stalls at 18%

A major initiative to digitalize Bangladesh’s government services and expand ICT infrastructure has stalled after 4.5 years, yielding only 18.19 percent progress so far.

The “Establishing Digital Connectivity Project”, managed by the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division, is now being overhauled to exclude Chinese funding and significantly reduce its scope.

The project originally aimed to modernize service delivery across 64 districts and 492 upazilas. However, according to a monitoring report from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), the project has been plagued by a failure to secure a promised Chinese loan and 37 identified irregularities in government spending.

While China initially expressed interest, the country later changed its stance, attempting to impose high interest rates and harsh conditions outside the standard Preferential Buyer’s Credit (PBC) terms. Bangladesh rejected these terms.

Project Director Tanjina Islam told Agamir Somoy, “ERD (Economic Relations Division) informed us late last year that China wants to increase the interest rate and conditions. Therefore, it would not be right to take a loan for this project.

“Moreover, the discussions are not ending. How long can we wait? After that, it was decided to implement it with government funding by excluding China and reducing activities.”

Regarding the 37 financial irregularities, Tanjina said, “Some irregularities have indeed occurred. We could not present the documents properly. However, we have responded in a broadsheet following the advice of those who performed the audit. I hope it will be resolved.”

Investigations revealed that external auditors identified 37 irregularities within the project, yet only three of those objections have been resolved to date. The remaining 34 cases remain pending and unresolved. They include:

• Paying excessive office rent in violation of Ministry of Housing and Public Works guidelines.
• Unauthorized spending on office renovations and training.
• Payments made without the supply of goods, including Tk 92 crore paid for optical fiber cables that were never delivered.
• Purchasing similar Wi-Fi routers at different prices across various packages.
• An irregular contract of Tk 7.5 crore involving inflated requirements for patch cords.

According to IMED, initially budgeted at Tk 5,883.73 crore, the project’s cost is now being slashed to Tk 2,545 crore through a second revision. While the budget is shrinking, the timeline is doubling; a project originally intended for four years is now expected to take eight, with a new completion date of 20 November 2029.

Because of the funding shift, several key components are being scrapped. These include 10,000 IT labs in educational institutions, 37 of 57 planned university IT labs, 91 upazila service ICT centers, the establishment of “Smart Villages” in 10 locations, civil registration and vital statistics activities, 12 consultants, and three components from the project’s administrative expenses.

IMED Secretary Shirajun Noor Chowdhury said, “We will not just finish our responsibility by giving recommendations for the projects we are evaluating. This time, different activities will be conducted so that action is taken regarding the identified issues.”