Billion-dollar projects and poverty…
The fear lurks within many of us that politics in Bangladesh, once again, despite all our hopes and prayers, despite all their promises and prophecies, is about to make a 180 degree turn. The language is back. The innuendoes are back. The insinuations are back. The allusions are back. The polemics are back. The harangues are back. The tirades are back. The blame game is back. And the name game is back. These are all in the elementary books of politics. But none has graduated beyond that.
People in general, who had remained steadfast like sentinels and carried out campaigns and suffered abuses for pointing out the evil-doing, to see the end of party autocracy that ravaged the country for five years and to see a genuine people's government in power, are beginning to look like exhausted warriors having no battle plan. A mist of confusion is slowing thickening out in the fields.
Sitting in that mist one is left to wonder how much worthwhile progress has been made in clearing the problems in many vital sectors that affect everyday lives of the masses. The problems have accumulated over the decades to become malignant in nature, but, instead of hearing of some cost-effective and home-grown solutions, we see powerful officials, politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen running to and fro to get billion-dollar projects cleared by high-ups. You see, from traffic congestion to technology transfer, it is billion-dollar deals that our brothers are interested in. A new crop of millionaires is emerging very soon. The gap between poor and rich is widening ever farther.
Cynics at coffee table drew a sketch showing how underground tunnel roads could be built under the main roads (so called VIP roads) to go East-West or West-East. These tunnel roads for vehicles (like the underpass at Karwan Bazar for humans) could be built within one year and at a much lesser cost than elevated expressways or any other billion-dollar projects. All the engineers would have to do is elevate the main road (bump up) at the crossing points, such as Hotel Sonargaon point or Bijoy Sharani point or Bangla Motor point, and build the tunnel underneath. With such underpass or tunnel roads commissioned, there would not be any need for green signals or traffic sergeants at the crossing points anymore.
Two or three similar tunnel roads could be built to take East-West and West-East bound traffic on Mirpur Road across to either side. But the question that remains to be answered is, will such simple and less costly solutions interest our politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen? Because, the bigger the project money, the fatter the commission. But I can say for sure that this surely would make our poor people happy because they would not have to pay huge interest on loan for the next three to four generations if those billion-dollar projects are implemented.
Our own people are causing more damage to our own environment and ecology, but we do not dare to catch them and put them behind bars. Why? Because they belong to a political party, one or the other, that's why. When we go and argue our case at international forums, we never think about what we are doing to our own country. And now we hear of big money being discussed at those forums, where we are pleading for billions, as compensation from the rich countries. It sounds good. Billion dollars always sound good. But the cynics at the coffee table say that not a single poor man in Bangladesh, a victim of greenhouse gas emission and sea-level rise, will get a single penny from that compensation money.
They strongly contend that that money would go into the pockets of various NGOs and consultants who are adept at creating fantastic documents and convincing the government/donors for the release of funds for the "poor." The really affected people in the coastal areas or in the pristine rainforests will not get a single penny they say. And while they will struggle with all sorts of odds to survive, the same NGOs and consultants and politicians will continue to grab their last tree or land or whatever is left to them to push them to the edge.
So, the billion-dollar binge has started for the nexus of politicians, government officials and businessmen, and we shall hear everyday of such projects being undertaken for the alleviation of poverty. Well, good luck guys with your ambitious projects. But remember one thing, many governments, many NGOs, many consultants and many political parties have experimented with poverty and the poor in last thirty years.
Today, a huge majority of them are in terrible health condition; tuberculosis claims the lives of nearly 70,000 people every year; maternal and child mortality situation has not improved significantly; nutrition level of the general population is alarmingly low, and a large chunk of rural poor is ensnared in debt they would never be able to pay back. The dropout rate in rural schools is increasing steadily because of poverty. And this is the only reason why rural to urban migration is contributing to the rise in slum population in the cities and towns. So can we have affordable projects to be done with our own money?
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