Bangladesh - Independent Evaluation Group - World Bank

democratization through election campaigning and monitoring. Many work at the grassroots
level to help give the poor a voice in community affairs.
2.17 However, many civil society organizations have significant weaknesses. For example,
many are politicized and are not credible to carry out independent third-party monitoring.
NGOs that receive funding from donors are accused of carrying out donor agendas, and
NGOs that are involved in service delivery obtained with funding from the government find
it difficult to criticize the government. Good governance is also an issue for NGO finances,
recruitment, and management. In some cases, NGOs engage in various profit-making
activities but are exempt from paying taxes. Numerous professional associations represent
private sector interests, but they tend to be dominated by powerful business leaders, and do
not necessarily represent the interests of the small businesses that make up the majority of
Bangladesh’s private sector.
BASIC SERVICE DELIVERY
2.18 One reason for Bangladesh’s comparatively good performance in growth and poverty
reduction has been the effective delivery of pro-poor services, adequately resourced by
government, and delivered both by government and civil society. As with public sector
management, maintaining a balance between basic service delivery and high fiduciary risks
has been a challenge across different sectors.
2.19 As of 2007, the roads sector in Bangladesh covered 270,565 kilometers and consisted
of 20,735 roads, 30 percent of which were paved and 39 percent of which were all-seasonaccess
roads (World Bank Bangladesh Website 2010). The roads network has been
substantially expanded and improved upon since reforms in 1991, but the lack of
maintenance and resource allocation threatens sustainability. Also, growth in the urban
population has surpassed the capacity for existing urban roads and highways, and there is a
considerable need for reducing congestion and regulating transportation services in Dhaka.
Statistics reveal that the fatality rate is more than 100 deaths per 10,000 registered motor
vehicles each year (Government of Bangladesh 2011).
2.20 Improvement of roads and highways is a struggle in Bangladesh largely due to weak
governance and lack of transparency both in the government and the private sector. 8 Two
executive bodies, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and the Local Government
Engineering Department (LGED) maintain roads and highways. RHD manages major
highways and urban areas, and LGED is responsible for the rural roads network.
2.21 The two agencies have different reputations. RHD has a reputation for being corrupt,
particularly in the awarding of large contracts for road construction and maintenance. An
Operational Risk Assessment conducted by the World Bank in 2007 found serious
allegations and mismanagement of government funds in RHD. Problems reported include
lack of coordination across government bodies, labor unions, and corruption and lack of
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