ECNEC halts airport runway project revision, orders corruption probe
Graphics: Agamir Somoy
Allegations of lack of transparency, irregularities, and corruption have surfaced in the project titled “Concrete Overlaying on Runway Surface of Jashore, Syedpur, and Rajshahi’s Shah Makhdum Airports”.
As a result, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has suspended the approval of its first revision proposal. In a meeting held on 29 September, instead of granting approval, a high-level inquiry committee was formed headed by Sirajun Noor Chowdhury, secretary of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).
Meanwhile, project implementation by the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has shown no momentum, leading to mounting costs and extended deadlines. The original project cost was estimated at Tk 566.76 crore.
The first revision proposal sought to increase the budget by Tk 341.88 crore, bringing the total cost to Tk 908.43 crore - a massive 60.32 percent cost hike - while extending the deadline until June 2027.
Speaking to Agamir Somoy, Sirajun Noor said, “We have only started the committee meetings. It will take time to work fully. Because investigations are being conducted regarding many projects. It is taking a little time. Hopefully, it will be possible to submit the report within the set time.”
Following the presentation of the revision proposal at the ECNEC meeting, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashiduzzaman Millat added that ongoing project activities had been inspected and work could not be completed quickly due to cracks appearing on the runways of these airports and the remaining installation of AGL lighting, which could disrupt flight operations.
Secretary Nurnahar Chowdhury explained that over the past nine months, costs had newly increased by Tk 56 crore, including around Tk 2 crore in the construction sector and Tk 26 crore in the AGL light sector. In 2023, an additional Tk 275 crore outside the Development Project Proposal (DPP) allocation was spent with approval from the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP), requiring a DPP revision to regularize the expenditure and disburse pending payments to contractors.
Addressing the matter, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed remarked that while the CCGP can approve procurement subject to DPP revision even without explicit budget provisions, failing to revise the DPP for three years represented clear negligence on the part of the ministry.
He emphasized that no specific justification was provided for the recent Tk 56 crore increase, demanding proper rationalization. Upon hearing these discussions, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who presided over the ECNEC meeting, directed IMED to investigate whether any lack of transparency or irregularities occurred in the procurement process, ruling that the proposal must be re-submitted at the next ECNEC meeting alongside the investigation report.
Project records indicate that the initial approved timeframe spanned two and a half years, from June 2021 to June 2023. When work remained incomplete, the deadline was extended by two years to June 2025 without increasing the budget. As the project missed that deadline as well, a second extension of one year was granted until June 2026, again without extra cost. Despite these extensions, nearly 30 percent of the total work remains unfinished.
Earlier this year, an in-depth monitoring report by IMED revealed severe implementation risks, including deficits in the runway and safety area, partial overlay issues, waterlogging, non-installation of runway edge and threshold lighting, long-term durability uncertainty, surface unevenness, and inadequate compaction. To date, physical progress stands at 73.09 percent.
Former IMED secretary Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin underscored that such critical risks should never exist in a sensitive facility like an airport while work is underway, warning of potential accidents.
Speaking to Agamir Somoy, Mohiuddin said, “At the very beginning of the project, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism should have identified these risks and solved them. But IMED identified the problems at the end of the project’s tenure. The question is, when will the solution happen.
“Investigation must be conducted on this and if anyone’s negligence is found, they must be brought to accountability. At the same time, due to the slow pace of project implementation, cost and duration are having to be increased. Those whose responsibility it was to supervise on time did not do so. This is a very big negligence.”
The IMED monitoring report further detailed that unevenness on the runway surface presents grave operational hazards, calling for urgent targeted repairs, re-leveling, and stringent quality control to ensure aircraft safety and stability.
It identified uneven compaction of soil and freshly poured concrete alongside low density at joint areas as additional flight safety threats requiring immediate intervention. Primary drivers for the project’s protracted delay were identified as delays in fund disbursement, administrative complexities, and weak supervision.
The newly formed investigation committee includes an additional secretary or joint secretary from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, the chief or joint secretary of the Physical Infrastructure Division under the Planning Commission, and a director from IMED.
The committee has been assigned two core mandates: scrutinizing the procurement process for lack of transparency, irregularities, or corruption, and evaluating the logical justification for the recent Tk 56 crore cost surge. The committee has been instructed to complete its probe and submit the final findings by 30 November.
