Planning Commission smells rat in LGED budget, seeks details

The LED bulb prices referred to the proposal of an LGED project raised eyebrows of the Planning Commission that asked the Local Government Engineering Department to come up with revision and sector-wise details.

The Local Government Engineering Department put forward a proposal to the commission for procuring different watts of LED light bulbs to bring in sparkling beauty to the tourism city of Cox’s Bazar.

The project styled “Modernising Cox’s Bazar Municipality through installing LED Lights on Roads” aimed at giving a facelift to the coastal town.

The Planning Commission is skeptic about the Light-Emitting Diode bulb prices, mentioned in the project proposal, which are going through the roof.

A 100-watt LED bulb price has been shown to be Tk 69,690 while an 80-watt LED bulb Tk 66,697, 60-watt Tk 55,321 and 40-watt Tk 31,971.

Visiting different websites, it was found that the price of a 100-watt LED bulb ranges between $ 15 and $ 178. Currently, $ 1 is equal to BDT 85. So, the price comes around Tk 1,020 to Tk 15,130.

According to the website of Hangzhou Technology Co. Ltd, the price of a 100-watt LED street light falls between $ 12 and $ 65. Yangzhou YongFeng New Energy Technology Company Limited sells a 100-watt water proof LED light for $ 148 to $ 178.

The cost of the project is estimated at Tk 49 crore which will come from the government exchequer. LGED and Cox’ Bazar Municipality will jointly implement the project by June 2023.

According to the working papers of the Project Evaluation Committee, the commission wants to know from the implementing body about the logic of the procurement cost of LED light bulbs.

The committee asked the LGED to revise the cost relating to LED bulbs in accordance with the current prices available on related different websites of various corporations in Western Europe, UK, Japan and the USA.

The Local Government Engineering Department gave the version that it put the same rate of LED price in another project titled “City Governance Project” being implemented in Chattogram City Corporation area.

“We think the LED bulb prices are too much. We have sent back the proposal to the LGED asking for a sector-wise explanation of the costs in detail,” said Md Mamun Al Rashid, member, Physical Infrastructure Division of the Planning Commission.

“We have formed a three-member committee about the procurement of LED lights and necessary equipment. The committee will come up with a detail of procurement cost along with other necessary papers.”

The development project proposal does not mention the procurement of vehicles, but the implementing body included the cost of Petrol, Oil and Lubricant in the proposal.

Chief Engineer Gopal Krishna Debnath of LGED’s Planning Wing could not be reached over phone after repeated attempts.

Former Anti-Corruption Chairman Golam Rahman told The Business Post that the authorities should be more cautious about preparing Development Project Proposal (DPP) of any projects.

“We have already seen pillow-scam in a project. So, it has been happening in many projects of the different sectors for the last couple of years. Authorities concerned should analyse data and information of the relevant sector before preparing any project proposal,” he added.

He further said that the Planning Commission should also take necessary steps to halt any sort of anomaly in project proposals.