Another unnecessary project saw massive spending. There was an excellent road from Kuril to Kanchan with four lanes in the middle and four lanes on each side, known colloquially as the 300-foot road. Making U-turns under the bridges would have sufficed, and there would have been no fear of traffic jams. There was no need to touch it for at least the next 10 years.

However, within a few months of the road's completion, it was being torn up to make the 14-lane Purbachal Expressway. After three years of suffering, the beautiful road has emerged. It feels great to drive on. However, every expenditure has an alternative use. I could not ascertain the actual cost of this project despite trying. I've heard Tk 200-220 billion were spent on this approximately unnecessary 12.5-kilometer path.

Back to the metro rail. Why does everything cost us so much more to accomplish? All metro rail projects have JICA as the lender. During my 33 years at the foreign ministry, I always heard that Japanese loans are very good, with very soft terms, etc. I have rarely had the chance to see up close; because these matters were handled by ERD, which likes to keep the foreign ministry as much in the dark as possible about their activities.

During my special duty of one and a half years, some related information came to my notice. In projects financed by JICA, the consultants are Japanese, and the contractors are Japanese too. There is a type of collusion among the contractors. Then there's the cost increase due to design changes.