Staff Reporter:

Uncertainty looms over the implementation of the ‘Rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene project for human resource development’ in the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) within the stipulated time due to massive corruptions, irregularities and negligence by both the concerned Project Director (PD) Tabibor Rahman Talukder, Executive Engineers and relevant contractors,.

It has been alleged that, unprecedented irregularities have occurred in the project. Most of the infrastructures have become unusable before ending of the project implementation period. There are also allegations that, the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) under the Local Government Department (LGD) took the initiative to implement Tk 1,883 crore project without any feasibility study. As a result, various questions have been raised about the future of the project.

Sources claim that, the project was mainly undertaken to improve rural public health, water supply and sanitation systems. However, doubts have arisen about the sustainability of the project due to the use of low-quality materials in twin pit latrines, public toilets and hand washing stations for the underprivileged and extremely poor people. Along with the use of low-quality materials, pipelines have been installed outside the design for water supply. Moreover, although the pipeline was installed by filling up water bodies, no clearance was taken from the Department of Environment (DoE). However, large amount of bills have paid to the contractors without verification. There are also allegations that, those responsible for supervising the quality of work were prevented from preparing accurate reports.

According to sources from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Department (IMED) of the Ministry of Planning, officials, employees and contractors involved in the project have embezzled huge amounts of foreign loan money by carrying out substandard work in the name of human resource development in 30 districts of the country under the leadership of Tabibur Rahman Talukder.

According to the relevant sources, the total allocation for the project titled ‘Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene for Human Resource Development’ has included a foreign loan of Tk 1,831.76 crore. The World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) financed the project. But before the project was completed, the project created a big example of widespread irregularities, failures and corruption.

Under the project, water supply through pipelines to households in rural areas, installation of hygienic public toilets, new sanitation and hygiene facilities in community clinics, hand washing stations and construction of twin pit latrines for the poorest families were planned. The work on this project, approved by the ECNEC meeting, began in 2021 and was scheduled to be implemented by December 2025. However, as of last October, the average progress of the project was about 55 percent. That is, even though the project implementation period is only 1 month away, about half of the work is still pending. However, most of the completed work is claimed to be defective and of poor quality. In short, the project has seen more waste and corruption than development. Many of the project’s facilities have already become useless and abandoned.

Sources say that, very low-quality wood has been used in the twin pit latrines built in many districts. Moreover, the tiles of the toilets built have gone broken down, the fittings have become damaged and the door structure is noticed very weak compared to the schedule. The hand washing stations have already been abandoned. Moreover, the toilets built for community clinics are built far from the clinics in many cases and sometimes next to the sink, making most of the toilets unusable. The water supply pipeline has not been installed in any house as per the specifications mentioned in the tender so far.

The main parts of the project have been abandoned and unusable before completion of the project works. However, despite spending about Tk 27 crore on seven experienced consultants, there are various questions about the progress, quality and maintenance of the work.

Four PIC and PSC meetings are supposed to be held every year to monitor whether the project is being implemented properly. But those meetings have not been held properly in any year. Although, there have been several audit objections to the project in question, they have not been resolved yet, insiders said.

Allegations against Tabibor:

There are allegations that, Tabibor Rahman Talukder, a permanent resident at Kazipur in Sirajganj district and also PD of the mentioned project amassed crores of taka illegal means from the project abusing his power. He handled more than one constructing firms with several names and grabbed project works from the own department. He established multistoried building at Sadar Hospital Road in Sirajganj. He has several plots and flats in Dhaka including Uttara. Besides, he has siphoned money abroad. There is hearsay that, he has a resident at Canada. Most of the plots, flats and residents are looked after by his wives and brother Habib, sources said.

While attempted several times to contact with him over cell phone, Tabibor did not respond for comment.