15 October 2025
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Bangladesh

My Village, My Town: Big promises, small delivery

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Banglapress Published: 23 September 2025, 10:26 AM
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My Village, My Town: Big promises, small delivery
Bangla Press Desk:   Marketed by the now-ousted Awami League as a bold promise to bring “city facilities to every village,” the “My Village, My Town” scheme has unravelled into one of the clearest examples of the party’s overreach and misplaced priorities. Once pitched as a Tk800 crore game-changer for rural life, the initiative has been stripped back, rebranded as the Model Village Development Project, and reduced to just 15 pilot villages. What was hailed as visionary planning now looks increasingly like a political slogan – underfunded, underdelivered, and out of sync with real rural needs. The original plan envisioned sweeping upgrades – modern transport and sanitation systems, waste management, housing, growth centres, cultural and sports complexes, even e-commerce supply chains. But most of these elements are now abandoned after the budget was cut to Tk225 crore, or Tk15 crore per pilot village. The Planning Commission has ordered only basic works to proceed, shelving housing estates, overseas training, and large-scale complexes.
“Transforming villages into replicas of cities may sound visionary, but without sustainable financing such projects risk becoming mere political slogans,” one economist told the Daily Sun, warning that real progress lies in productivity and human capital, not “cosmetic urbanisation.” Awami League planners once argued the scheme could ease migration pressure. “If city-like facilities were available in villages, rural populations would not feel compelled to migrate,” a senior planner told a Project Evaluation Committee meeting on 26 August this year. But many say the exercise only underlined the emptiness of the promise.
“Building a few roads or marketplaces does not transform a village into a town,” said Dr Adil Mohammed Khan, president of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners, pointing out that health, education and recreation remain glaring gaps in most villages. With the Awami League gone, an inter-ministerial committee has been left to salvage what it can. One Planning Commission insider was blunt: “This was essentially a political manifesto project. The country cannot afford lavish initiatives when many villages still have earthen roads that turn impassable during the monsoon.”
Dr Md Mostafizur Rahman, member (secretary) of the Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Institutions Division under the Planning Commission, admitted the obvious: “Extending such facilities to every village nationwide would exceed our capacity. For now, priorities must focus on essentials like rural roads and drainage.” Project Director Monzur Sadeque insists the idea is still worth pursuing. He said the Local Governance Reform Commission and PKSF both recommended carrying it forward. Dropping the costlier upazila-level parts – such as sports complexes and housing – could cut the bill by half, he argued, while cheaper elements like sanitation, marketplaces, waste management, community spaces and livelihood training can be rolled out with local support. Sadeque also floated ways to make villages pay for themselves. He said, “Upazila Master Plans can generate income for local institutions. Drone surveys for tax assessment, leasing marketplaces and waterbodies, and regulating sand or stone deposits could all boost financing.” With data already collected on more than 40,000 villages, he claimed the whole programme could still go nationwide for Tk19,600 crore – if local government was given the power to run it.
Mustafa K Mujeri, executive director of the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM) and former chief economist of Bangladesh Bank, however, stressed the need for such an initiative to extend town-like facilities to villages. He told the Daily Sun, “Villagers have the same rights as city dwellers to basic facilities such as roads, sanitation, education, recreation, and utilities. Rural people also pay taxes, so denying them these services creates inequality. Not long ago, we saw student movements against discrimination; morally, this gap must be addressed. Any good project – no matter which government introduces it – should continue for the benefit of the people. Providing city-like facilities in villages can also reduce unnecessary migration to urban centres. “The government should adopt such projects, but at the same time ensure that funds are not misused and that implementation creates real employment opportunities.” The project was born out of an Awami League election pledge, approved at ECNEC in July 2023 and scheduled to run through 2026. By June this year, nearly all 176 designs were drawn up and 37 contracts signed worth Tk134.76 crore. But actual delivery has been abysmal: just 3.67% of the money spent and only 5% physical progress on the ground. For supporters, the scheme could still help create jobs and open up rural economies. But for many, it has come to symbolise something else entirely: the Awami League’s habit of making grand promises with fanfare, only to leave them hollow when political rhetoric met financial reality.  This article was originally published on Daily Sun. [Bangla Press is a global platform for free thought. It provides impartial news, analysis, and commentary for independent-minded individuals. Our goal is to bring about positive change, which is more important today than ever before.] BP/SP
[Bangla Press is a global platform for free thought. It provides impartial news, analysis, and commentary for independent-minded individuals. Our goal is to bring about positive change, which is more important today than ever before.]

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