By Sameem Afshain

The policies that government adopts for its state are very much crucial and important for the future of that state. The sharp decisions at some stages may create number of shortcuts for the developmental stages. For instance, polishing youth and unemployed men or women in economic and research fields could be less expensive than any mega project and furthermore it would be of worth living long term beneficial.  There are number of states who stepped up in the developmental stages by focusing and preferring their transparent internal policies and not compromising them at any cost. Moreover, In Bangladesh has also gone through different developmental stages either they were linked to economic developments or human rights improvement.  But to get more efficient in economy Bangladesh took certain mega decisions which have resulted to initiate the downfall rather to improve in long term goal.

The high cost of infrastructure projects also hindered economic growth. For example, the Padma Bridge, one of the largest projects in the nation, cost around $3.6 billion, despite an earlier estimate in 2007 that it would cost 1.16 billion. Bangladesh paid $12.65 billion for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, although the exact cost of the project won't be known until it is completely functioning. Similar to this, the Dhaka City Metro Rail Project ended up costing $3.3 billion even though the actual estimates were only $2.1 billion. The collapse of the banking industry as a result of unending loan defaults is another element contributing to the current crisis. According to the IMF, the true amount of defaulted loans is much higher than twice, in contrast to the central bank's declaration that the total amount was $11.11 billion.

Power Development Board earned an additional $7.1 billion from 2010 to 2021, while Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation received $3 billion from 2010 to 2015. Unfortunately, these huge sums were not entirely allocated to the production of electricity. Similar to that, the crisis was brought on by capital flight out of the nation. According to the Global Finance Integrity Report, fraudulently invoicing the import and export values resulted in an annual sum of $8.27 billion being unlawfully laundered to Swiss banks between 2009 and 2018.Moreover, in 2022, it has been increased by 55.1% reaching 871 million. As per the views of economists, Bangladeshi Taka has effectively slid against the US dollar by approximately 20% in just past three months. Due to Russia-Ukraine war, imports jumped to 39% and exports could hardly grow 34% during the fiscal year ended on June 30.

Currently, numerous austerity measures are being taken in order to alleviate economic woes without concerning consequences which could be worse than economic crises. As The Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam stated in favor of saving electricity in Bangladesh, most of the schools are closed on Fridays but now will also close on Saturdays to reduce electricity usage amid concerns over rising fuel prices without showing he concern of wastage of time and studies of the students. Additionally, it was also concerned that the government offices will cut their workdays to seven hours from eight hours but private offices will be allowed to set their own schedules. Further, Tens of thousands of mosques around the country have been asked to curtail their use of air conditioners to ease pressure on the electricity grid. In addition to electricity rationing, diesel power plants across the country accounting for 1500 megawatts of generation capacity have been taken off the grid. In order to overcome the lengthiest blackouts in the country, government is struggling to source enough diesel and gas to meet the demand. As per reports, the government is planning to hold negotiations with Russia for oil deals in order to mitigate energy crisis. But availing this opportunity in the contemporary situation is quite tough. Moreover, it was also reported that Bangladesh has sought a bailout package of $4.5.

Bangladesh government has mistaken while taking some of the most important decisions which were critical to the state and its development. The temporary development and friendships with external entities made it happy initially but in coming future it will have to face different worst situations if the same situation persists and not treated accordingly. The cutting down of the working days and closure of schools, college and universities for two or even three days would not be helpful in restoring the resources either they are linked with energy or economy, but effective measures which are affordable and suitable for the contending situation like inserting solar panels in schools and universities not to only store but to generate power as well. Technical decisions are crucially required for Bangladesh in order to remain safe in future and not to experience situations such as Sri-Lanka did.