Keeping in mind the upcoming general election, the government is going to undertake a Tk 900 crore water and sanitation scheme for members of parliament which, the government high-ups think, will boost its popularity among the voters.

Under the scheme, titled ‘Special Project to Supply Water and Ensure Sanitation in 300 Constituencies of Bangladesh’, every MP will get Tk 3 crore on average to improve the water supply and sanitation situation in their respective constituency.

It’s a big project ahead of the national election, and its proper implementation will certainly bring a positive impact among the voters, sources in the government said.

The allocation for MPs is the highest in recent times as every MP would only get an allocation of Tk 15 crore for development work during the entire 5-year tenure of the past Awami League government, they said.

Under the new scheme, the sources said, MPs will get allocation to set up shallow and deep tube-wells, deep Tara pumps (hand pumps), ring wells and public toilets in their respective constituency.

The allocation will be made on a priority basis according to the MPs’ demand, the sources said.

According to the project document available with The Independent, the project will be completed by June 2019.

The MPs of constituencies outside the city corporation areas have already got an allocation of Tk. 20 crore each, which has to be used through the local government, rural development and cooperatives (LGRDC) ministry to develop infrastructure in their locality.

The government is also implementing a project titled ‘Rural Infrastructure Development Project on a Priority Basis–II’, worth Tk. 6,076 crore, under the LGRDC ministry. The allocation has been made for 284 members of the 10th Parliament.

The MPs from the city corporation areas have not received this allocation since the project is specifically meant for rural infrastructure development. The MPs will spend this fund by the end of the current government’s tenure.

Regarding this kind of projects, planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal had explained earlier that the MPs have no direct financial involvement in development projects, as they do not get the allocation themselves.

“However, they can undertake projects according to the need in their constituencies through the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED),” he had added.

It means that the MPs cannot spend money directly, but rather have to ask the different departments to undertake the necessary projects in their constituencies, he had elaborated.

According to the project document, the MPs who are invited by the LGRDC

ministry have to submit a list of schemes arranged on the basis of priority.  The rural infrastructure project has been undertaken to meet the government’s priority for rural development. According to the detailed project plan (DPP), the project will be prepared in line with the strategy for rural infrastructure improvement.

As part of the new project, 37,114 shallow tube-wells, 38,384 shallow and modified Tara pumps, 21,465 deep tube-wells, 3,446 ring wells, 4,719 rain harvesting plans, and 271 public toilets will be built.

A meeting of the project evaluation committee (PEC) held in last week, with Zuena Aziz, member of the Physical Infrastructure Division, in the chair. A meeting of the PEC has already been held, in which some observations were made about the project.

The sources claimed that the PEC faces subtle pressure from the MPs to complete the official formalities for placing the DPP at the Executive Committee of National Economic Council’s meeting for approval.