TDS Desk:

No more projects will be initiated for political reasons like they were during the previous governments, said Planning Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud.

During a meeting with Planning Commission officials on Monday (August 19) at the National Economic Council Bhaban in the capital, he told the officials to thoroughly evaluate the projects before moving them to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council  (Ecnec).

“Inflation is very high now. We need to reduce our expenses. These considerations must be taken into account when adopting projects. Many politically motivated projects were initiated during the tenure of political governments. These will no longer be there,” he said.

“Stabilising the economy is a major issue now. Each project needs to be scrutinised. There are a lot of issues in the projects that exist now. Many projects have not started yet, while some have started. They need to be re-evaluated and quickly assessed,” Wahiduddin said.

He said, “The projects still in the preliminary stages and not profitable must be discarded. There is corruption, changes in design for showing increased expenses and contractors exercising political influence in many of these projects. We have to ensure this does not happen.

“We have to look at all of these projects. It is very important because of how we are progressing now,” he added.

“I want to document the reasons behind frequent revisions and increased costs in big projects. The ongoing projects will be scrutinised,” Wahiduddin said.