‘Bureaucrat Quota’ in Technical Tours: What Do They Do Abroad?

Drill bits, nozzles, and similar equipment are technical aspects of gas well drilling. Those who work with these matters are the ones who can best understand which equipment is good and which is of poor quality. What would nontechnical officials understand about them?

Yet, an eight member team is leaving for China today, Sunday, to inspect the quality of equipment used for gas well drilling. The team is led by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation Director Mohammad Asadul Haque, who is responsible for marketing petroleum products.

The other members of the team are officials of the relevant organization, Sylhet Gas Fields Limited (SGFL). Asadul Haque, however, is an official from the administration cadre and has no direct connection with technical work. He joined BPC on deputation and is scheduled to leave the organization in a few days.

Yet, he is going to inspect technical equipment.

Asadul Haque is not alone. The presence of nontechnical officials from the administration cadre on such foreign trips appears to have become a regular practice. Noncadre officials also accompany them.

Many nontechnical officials from the ministry regularly travel abroad to inspect equipment quality, receive technical training, or for various other reasons. In just the past two months, at least 24 officials from the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, ranging from senior secretary to deputy secretary, have traveled abroad. During these trips, they remain more occupied with shopping and sightseeing than with their official work.

The benefits of these trips do not contribute to the work of the relevant organizations. Even so, they are included in the delegations almost out of compulsion. This is because they hold the key to the administrative procedures, including the government orders required for foreign travel. Contractors and donor agencies also take them along on trips in many cases to secure government facilities. As a result, nontechnical officials get places on trips while engineers and experienced professionals are left out of technical assignments.

Since taking office, the government has emphasized reducing unnecessary expenditure amid the difficult economic situation. The head of government has also repeatedly instructed officials to avoid unnecessary foreign trips.

The government policy on foreign travel by officials also clearly states that officials directly connected to the subject and purpose of a trip should attend. The purpose of a foreign trip is not merely travel. The knowledge, experience and technology gained during the trip are supposed to be applied in the country afterward. In reality, however, it appears to be a case of “who listens to whom.”

On September 8, Joint Secretary A J M Ershad Ahsan Habib will travel to Germany to inspect the quality of boiler feed pump cartridges at a power plant of the state owned Coal Power Generation Company and attend a technical meeting. He is not an engineer and has no direct involvement in the work. The Executive Director and a Subdivisional Engineer of the relevant organization will accompany him.

Another example of a trip to China raises further questions. On July 27, nine officials went on a 10 day trip to directly observe cementing, mud engineering and drill stem testing during gas well drilling. Seven officials from Sylhet Gas Fields were accompanied by Petrobangla Director of Administration and Joint Secretary S M Mahbub Alam and another Joint Secretary, Mohammad Rafiul Faisal. Neither of the two has any connection with these technical activities.

Earlier, on July 26, Administrative Officer of the Energy Division Sabrina Afrin Mustafa traveled to China with six officials from Sylhet Gas Fields and one from Petrobangla. She herself issued the government order for the trip. Officials involved in the technical aspects of gas wells and electricity have questioned what an administrative officer would learn by observing highly technical work such as gas well drilling. What would she understand?

This trend of foreign travel is not limited to China. From July 11 to August 1, Deputy Secretary of the Power Division Mohammad Solaiman traveled alone to the United States for a 22 day program. No field level engineer or relevant expert was included in the program titled “US Energy Policy for the Indo Pacific Region.” Field level engineers have questioned the purpose of a trip to acquire knowledge that is supposed to be applied in the field when the people working in the field are not included.

There are more examples of such foreign trips. On June 15, Deputy Secretary of the Power Division, currently a Joint Secretary, Roksinda Farhana traveled to Italy to inspect the quality of equipment before its import for a power plant. The purpose of the trip was pre shipment inspection of some equipment for the 225 megawatt power plant in Sylhet. She was accompanied by the plant manager and an assistant engineer. In other words, two technical officials directly involved in the work were present. The question has been raised as to why an administrative official needed to accompany them.

Similar questions have been raised about trips to Singapore and the United States. Joint Secretary of the Power Division Md. Mahfuzur Rahman traveled to Singapore to inspect the quality of equipment for a 225 megawatt power plant of the Bangladesh Power Development Board. Two engineers from the relevant project accompanied him.

Likewise, Senior Assistant Secretary of the Power Division Runa Laila traveled to the United States to inspect the quality of equipment for a 150 megawatt power plant, despite having no technical knowledge or experience in this field. On July 5, Senior Secretary of the Energy Division Rafiqul Islam traveled to Malaysia for training on testing oil and gas wells and maintaining related equipment.

Three officials from the relevant organization accompanied him. From technical training to equipment quality inspection, it appears that there is an invisible seat reserved for nontechnical officials everywhere.

The list of foreign trips is even longer. From July 7 to 24, six officials from the power sector participated in a “Knowledge Co Creation Program” in Japan on renewable energy. Their work was directly related to the training. They were accompanied by Senior Assistant Secretary of the Power Division Md. Nazmul Hamid Reza.

On June 7, three officials traveled to Finland to inspect the quality of a crane belonging to the Rural Electrification Board. Two of them were Executive Engineers. They were accompanied by the organization’s Member and Joint Secretary Nazmul Sayadat, who has no technical expertise.

Similarly, on June 20, the organization’s Controller of Finance and Accounts, Md. Idris, traveled to Germany to inspect the quality of 33 kV indoor type gas insulated switchgear. In other words, where an engineer is needed to inspect the quality of a piece of equipment, there appears to be room for everyone, from administration to accounts. The only uncertain presence is that of the engineer.

From July 18 to 24, no engineer from any organization under the power and energy sectors traveled to Malaysia for training on energy transition. Deputy Secretary S M Zakaria went instead.

Additional Secretary K M Ali Reza traveled to Singapore for three days from June 15 to hold discussions with international investors regarding the 130 megawatt solar power project in Sonagazi, Feni.

On June 29, seven bureaucrats from Bangladesh traveled to China to participate in a seven day international learning program on new energy and sustainable development in Southeast Asia. Among them were two joint secretaries, two deputy secretaries and three senior assistant secretaries. No engineer or anyone involved in field level work was included.

The main problem has also emerged in the remarks of Professor Dr. M Shamsul Alam, energy adviser to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, or CAB. According to him, engineers implement field level work in the power and energy sector. If there is a need to travel abroad for equipment inspection, technical training or related work, they should be the ones to go. But when ministry officials enter the process, an accountability gap is created. If officials prioritize personal benefits over the interests of the state, it results in a waste of public money.

The question from the energy expert is also straightforward: Why should a ministry official travel abroad for technical work? If policy reform is needed, foreign travel is not the answer. What is needed is study, training and preparation on the relevant subject. In this age of the internet, the means of acquiring basic knowledge are also readily available.

A former Cabinet Secretary told Agamir Somoy that during a period of economic crisis, the government must demand an account of every item of public expenditure. If a foreign trip is genuinely necessary, the relevant engineers and experts should go. They should also be required to explain what they learned after the trip and how they applied that knowledge. Otherwise, foreign trips will cease to be programs for acquiring knowledge and become another name for traveling at public expense.