Approach to development
What should be the right approach to the development projects in the public sector by the succeeding elected regimes, especially in the developing countries? In Bangladesh, is the approach in the right direction, and the right attitude? There is a tendency to go for mega projects, and mega publicity. In the LDCs, political governance is conducted on the front stage, not in the background, and it is noisy and loudspeaker based.
The routine level activities in the government offices are neglected, or not properly monitored, for the tuning. The civil service is not allowed to run the show according to the government regulations, under political pressure.
Development activities will succeed only if, firstly, the routine works are properly carried out. Frequently it is noticed that, the human resources in an office cannot cope with the additional loads from time to time. Then the coordination mechanisms work inefficiently. One example is the shortage of inspection and monitoring personnel. The second reason is the prevalence of corrupt practices, which appear to be entrenched, due to lack of internal democratic practices within the ruling political parties. Recent media reports on the neglect of the railways and IWT sectors point to the wrong priorities attached while undertaking development planning.
Now the campus environment is in chaos. Due to concentration of power in Dhaka metropolis, the city is dying, slowly but surely. There are no incentives for decentralisation of power to the divisional and district HQs. In a country with one of the highest density of population in the world, local One-Stop Centres are a dire necessity. Similarly, the MPs dominate the upazilas and union councils.
The base or foundation has to be solid, and strong and wide enough to bear the load of additional superstructures later on. Development projects are a continuous process, which need careful fine-tuning all the time.
The greatest hurdle is the lack of political consensus at the top national level.
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