Hasina orders investigation into project left unfinished after nine years

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sent back a proposal to extend a project that was to be delivered in three years but could not be finished in nine years.

She has ordered the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division or IMED of the Planning Commission to investigate and report on the progress of the project immediately after visiting the site in Kushtia, Planning Minister MA Mannan said.

The proposal to extend the project to build the Kushtia Medical College and Hospital without raising the budget was presented at the Executive Committee of National Economic Council or ECNEC in its meeting on Tuesday. Mannan briefed the media after the meeting.

The government had approved the project at an estimated cost of Tk 2.75 billion which was to be wrapped up by December, 2014. The deadline was extended twice to 2016.

Later, the authorities decided to complete the project by 2019 after raising the spending to Tk 6.82 billion.

The Health Services Division now wants four more years to complete the project by 2023, said Mannan.

He said a committee headed by the IMED secretary will be constituted quickly for the investigation.