The government of Bangladesh is going to finance the Saudi-funded plan to build 560 'model mosques' in Bangladesh.
This is the single highest expenditure project in the religious sector in the history of the country.
It is learned that Saudi money has not been received yet. But in that case, why is the government going to implement this project worth about 10 thousand crore?
Many analysts say the government usually takes such steps ahead of national elections.
Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Center for Policy Dialogue, a research organization, said the government wanted to fund popular projects for popular satisfaction before the election, and so it happened.
"Before the election, every government has a tendency to undertake some popular projects to attract the attention of the people. That is why there are some projects in the national budget which may not be very necessary but are allocated. It also seems to be such a project."
According to the new timeline, the project to build 560 model mosques and Islamic cultural centers in each district and upazila of Bangladesh will be completed by December 2020.
Authorities say Saudi Arabia has not yet refused to finance the project. "But I can't leave the work of the mosque," said an official.
The question is, why Saudi Arabia is not financing the promise? Bangladesh's ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ghulam Masih told BBC Bangla that Saudi Arabia has not yet said anything negative about financing the project.
"It's not that we're going to fund them, we requested, they agreed. Now they haven't agreed to us, or regretted it. But what, such a big project takes some time, twelve to fifteen months. Nothing unusual," he said. .
Mr. Masih said that a Saudi delegation would come to Bangladesh after the Hajj season to discuss the issue, after which the issue might be resolved.
Initially, the project cost Tk 9,062 crore, of which Tk 8,160 crore was to be given as a grant from the Saudi government. But the revised project passed by ECNEC on Tuesday has cost more than Rs 8,500 crore. And the entire cost will be borne by the government. It will be implemented by the Islamic Foundation under the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
I asked Samim Mohammad Afzal, the director general of the foundation, why the government is going to implement the project itself if Saudi funding is not available.
He said, "They said they would pay, but the government is going to start the work as they have not received it yet. It is the work of the house of God, if anyone wants to join later, there is no obstacle.
In Bangladesh, the government says a project was launched in 2014 to build one model mosque in each district and upazila. Later, during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Saudi Arabia in 2016, after a meeting with King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the country agreed to finance the project in Bangladesh.
Later in 2016, the project was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council or ECNEC meeting. At that time, the implementation of the project was scheduled for December 2019.
But a year later, Saudi Arabia's lack of funding did not confirm the government's help on Tuesday.
Then yesterday, Planning Minister Aham Mustafa Kamal announced that the government was going to implement the project itself as it had not received Saudi funding. The revised project was passed at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council or ECNEC meeting on Tuesday.
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