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Election 2001: National Policy Forum:

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First day of working sessions of National Policy Forum
Debate on 9 crucial sectors

Experts, politicians, former bureaucrats and members of the civil society hammered their opinions at the working sessions of the three-day Election 2001: National Policy Forum in the city yesterday. The Forum organised jointly by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Prothom Alo and The Daily Star began on Tuesday. More than 650 participants took part in the nine working sessions held at three different venues- CIRDAP auditorium, Jatiya Press Club and Planning Academy.
The sessions dealt with the following issues-macroeconomic policy, financial sector reforms, trade and industry, development of energy sector, information technology, transport and infrastructure, sustainable agricultural growth and rural development, land administration, and poverty alleviation and employment.



MacroeEconomic Policy
The participants at the session on Macroeconomic Policy voiced their concern at government's huge defence purchases and said that in future, such purchases should be discussed in the Jatiya Sangsad (The National Parliament). The session Chaired by former Finance Minister M Syeduzzaman also expressed concern at the increased domestic borrowing by government, saying it would affect bank interest rates.
The next government should improve the macroeconomic scenario by addressing issues like unofficial remittance, smuggling, capital flight and the culture of over-invoicing, they said.



Financial Sector Reform
At the session on Financial Sector Reform Chaired by economist Prof. Wahiduddin Mahmud, speakers blamed politicians for creating the loan default culture in the country. They said politicians take donations from loan defaulters and in return, arrange loans for them after they are elected.
The defaulters' influence on politicians have been reflected in the changed definition of loan defaulters, they said.



Sustainable Agricultural Growth & Rural Development
At the session on Sustainable Agricultural Growth and Rural Development, the caretaker government's Advisor in charge of Agriculture Monzur Elahi said that most of the recommendations outlined by the Forum were already there in government policies. But the rate of their implementations is very poor.
Monzur Elahi who Chaired the session said there are too many projects in the country. Sometimes projects are repetitive and sometimes new projects are taken up to save sick projects.



Development of Energy Sector
Erratic deals with international oil companies involving billions of dollars came under fire from participants at the session on Energy Sector. These deals have landed the country into a financial mess, they said.
Chairing the session, former Chairman of Public Service Commission SM Al-Husainy said the next government will have to take "hard decisions" regarding the energy sector and see if it is possible to change some clauses of the deals with oil companies to benefit the country.



Poverty Alleviation & Employment
At the session on Poverty Alleviation and Employment, Advisor of a former caretaker government and managing director of Grameen Bank Prof Mohammad Yunus said, Bangladesh has three valuable resources human, gas and water which, if properly harnessed, could help the nation come out of the vicious circle of poverty.
Chairing the session, he said there should not be any political conflict in the country and the people should be united to harness these resources.



Information Technology
At the session on Information Technology Chaired by Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, the speakers strongly recom mended immediate formation of a 'Telecom Regulatory Commission' to ensure fast growth of the sector. There should be a level playing field for both T&T and private operators in the sector, he said.
The participants said local software developers are not given proper incentives or price support for marketing the products locally. Government bodies purchase foreign software instead of hiring local software firms.



Land Reforms
At the session on Land Reforms, the participants said land reform should be targeted at ensuring food security for the 13 crore people of the country. The session was Chaired by Khushi Kabir, Coordinator of Nijera Kori, an NGO. Speakers there said distribution of khas land should not be the only reform measure. in introducing reforms, the government should have a broader perspective to bring about greater benefit for all the people.
The speakers further noted that land ownership should have a ceiling in the light of current situation in the country.In case of urban land, specially in Dhaka, the ceiling should be five kathas, they said.



Trade & Industry
The participants at the session on Trade and industry expressed their concern over the poor state of governance. Industrialisation is not possible without ensuring good governance. The size of government should be trimmed to make it efficient and less corrupt, they said.
The session was Chaired by Latifur Rahman, President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI). The speakers said small and medium enterprises should get the main focus for job creation.



Transport & Infrastructure
At the session on Transport and Infrastructure, Chaired by Waliul Islam, the participants observed that Bangladesh could become a transport hub of the South-East Asian region. The next government should adopt a policy in this regard as this will generate a huge amount of foreign currency annually, they added.
To develop infrastructure, government should strike a balance in allocating funds for sub-sectoral projects. Among water, rail and road sub-sectors, roads get around 70 per cent of the allocations while water ways get the least. Unless the allocations are harmonised, the infrastructure would continue to remain weak, they noted.