Appointment of specialist for urban resilience project
WBs undue intervention
JAGARAN CHAKMA
With allegations of senior World Bank (WB) officials intervening in appointing a financial management specialist for the Bangladesh Urban Resilience Project (BURP), the government has landed in an embarrassing position. Even the World Bank admitted that there was no provision to intervene by any WB official in case any candidate is deemed non-eligible for any government project. The project authorities had issued an expression of interest (EoI), in September 2015, to recruit such a specialist for the WB-funded BURP. The proposal evaluation committee (PEC), then, selected a competent candidate, whose name was sent to the WB office for final approval.
But the WB rejected the PEC recommendation and sent it back to the project office for re-evaluation. According to PEC member Reaz Ahmed Chowdhury, a senior employee of the WB wanted the PEC to re-evaluate the EoI. He rejected the PECs recommendation and advised the committee to issue another EoI, the official said.
According to insiders, Reaz wants to select a disqualified candidate by ignoring the PECs recommendation. Meanwhile, on December 22, 2016, Marc S Fomi, team leader of the WB project, sent an e-mail to the project director to re-evaluate the EoI. He also requested the project director to select his chosen candidate, who had earlier been disqualified by the PEC.
In his mail, Fomi wrote to the project director that Sohadeb Kumer Das, applicant no. 16, had been declared disqualified by the PEC because of a lack of specific experience. But the team leader mentioned, this may be considered as a minor issue (Das has over four years of experience in bank-funded projects, against the required five years).
Based on the above comments, we request you to conduct a re-evaluation of the CV and send us the revised evaluation request for the WBs no-objection certificate, he remarked.
About the allegation WB sent a statement where it said The World Bank and client countries agree through financing agreements that World Bank fiduciary policies and guidelines be followed to ensure that World Bank funds are used only for their intended purposes. For the selection of consultants, the World Bank reviews the Clients evaluation report and provides a no objection if it founds the evaluation satisfactory. However, after careful review, the World Bank may request a revision to ensure that qualified candidates are shortlisted and a free and fair process is maintained as per World Bank fiduciary policies and guidelines. The advertised Financial Management Specialist position for the Urban Resilience Project requires a financial management professional. We cannot comment further, as the recruitment process is ongoing.
The government has undertaken the Urban Resilience Project (DDM Part, DNCC Part, Rajuk Part and PCMU Part) to reduce the impact of natural disasters in Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Sylhet. The Executive Committee for National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved the project.
This WB-supported umbrella project aims to strengthen the capacity of the government agencies concerned to efficiently and effectively respond to emergency events in Dhaka metropolitan and Sylhet metropolitan areas. Besides, the project aims to strengthen systems to reduce the vulnerability of future building construction in the two cities.
Of the total cost of Tk. 1,381.45 crore to execute the project, Tk. 49.35 crore will come from the exchequer, while WB will provide Tk. 1,332.10 crore, or around USD 173 million.
The Department of Disaster Management, Dhaka North City Corporation, Rajuk, and the Project Coordination and Monitoring Unit (PCMU) of the Planning Division, will implement the project from July 2015 to June 2020 in Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Sylhet city corporation areas.
Under the project, Rajuk would formulate a risk-prone land use plan. Besides, it will conduct land zoning in these cities to determine which areas are suitable for constructing multi-storied buildings. Earlier, in December 2011, the ERD had requested the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) of the WB to lend support to Bangladesh for strengthening its capacity to tackle disasters.
Following such a request, the Washington-based lending agency appointed an international consultation firm and conducted a comprehensive pre-appraisal or pre-investment study. Considering the necessity of effective response to urban disasters, reinforcing the existing infrastructure, and ensuring resilience construction aspects, the WB suggested the undertaking of an investment project. Out of the major project activities under various components, a national disaster management research and training institute will be set up to increase the national capability of disaster management methods, an emergency operating centre (EOC) will be set up in the capital for disaster management, along with satellite control rooms in 10 zonal offices, and another EOC will be set up in Sylhet to improve building code enforcement within Rajuks jurisdiction. The WB (Dhaka office) spokesperson told The Independent that under the current set of rules, the WB provides a no-objection certificate for the appointment of an eligible candidate for the WB-funded project. The spokesperson, however, said that there was no provision to intervene in case any candidate is deemed non-eligible.
