Lack of coordination among stake holders:

Project stakeholders are the persons, group or organizations that have an interest in the project. Project

stakeholders may be categorized by the question: “Is this stakeholder actively engaged, or just affected

by the project?” The answer to this question will determine the level of interest and amount of

contribution that the stakeholder has in the project. For example, an engaged stakeholder would be the

project sponsor - as they have the ultimate authority and financial responsibility over the project. They

are also the core stakeholders of the project. They are an essential part of the project as they approve

the project, provide funding, provide the authority that empowers the project manager to get the

project done, and approve changes along the life of the project. An affected stakeholder would be a

resident of the community where the project has implemented.

Project manager is a stakeholder as they initializes, plans, orchestrates, monitors and responds to the

changes to balance the project during the course of project life. Though Project manager plays vital

role in the implementations of a project, they are accountable to following two groups: i) The Sponsor

and ii) other stakeholders.

There are functional managers such as supervisors are considered as engaged stakeholders as they get

the “right people on the right project.” Regulatory groups are not considered as engaged stakeholders

rather they are affected stakeholders. They issue permits conduct inspections and have any sort of

legal regulations that must be addressed by the project manager.

In our Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project, the stakeholders are as following:

Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA)

The Government of Bangladesh

People of Bangladesh

Sponsors:

World Bank (WB)

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

Islamic Development Bank (IDB)

Problem:

Problem may arise in the execution of a project if there is some lack of coordination among the

stakeholders having interest in the project. This may create a power play and ultimately distort the

goal of a project. A project manager always tries to reduce the interest collision among the parties.

Manager should keep a log file where the name of the stakeholders, their interest and expectation level

and time to time update any changes to the interest and expectation level. This can minimize the

coordination gap between the stakeholders and helps to successfully implement the project.

In the Padma Bridge Project, every party agrees with the necessity of the bridge which will ultimately

bring up the development of Bangladesh. Though in a small amount, there are still some sorts of lacks

in the coordination among the stakeholders. Some examples are described below:

From the beginning the Padma bridge negotiation has been involved to corruption and conspiracy. The

World Bank stated that they found, "credible evidence corroborated by a variety of sources which

points to a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials, SNC-Lavalin

executives, and private individuals in connection with the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project. For the

corruption, the World Bank turned down to sanction the proposed loan for constructing the bridge. In

these circumstances World Bank imposed some conditions to continue the loan talk with the

government. According to one of these conditions Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain

resigned, as he was found involved with corruption. Other lenders also followed the footsteps of

World Bank as the groups of lender are led by the World Bank.

In response, Bangladesh Government claimed that there was no corruption in the process and

aggressively behaved by stating that they do not need World Bank to finance the project. They can

bear the cost by internal financing. This clearly sends the world message that Bangladesh is no more a

third world country and they are financially able to bear the country’s largest and expensive

infrastructure by itself. Besides showing the attitude that the country do not need the help of World

Bank still carries a negative views for the country. The project is politically important for the

Bangladesh Government as it was in their election agenda. So, they use the topic as a trump card to

gain political interest.

The management committee, that means, the Bangladesh Bridge Authority is not strong enough or has

not provided enough power to manage the whole project independently. There is a significant

influence of the government on the project that leads the possibility of probable corruption.

Lack of communication also was there. For the claims of corruption by the World Bank makes the

relation between the bank and Bangladesh Government cold. Two parties wanted to prove them right

and clean. As a result discussion and meeting become extremely less in amount.

Solution:

To effectively execute a project, the balancing of interest of the stakeholders is crucial. In our project,

That is, The Padma Bridge Project, any sort of lacks in the coordination among the stakeholders

should be reduces, and cured in order to execute this and ensure maximum outcome for the economy

as a whole. Here are some recommendations:

1. More specific, clearly expressed and justified interests of the stakeholders should be kept in a

log from the very beginning of the project to keep a track in the changes of the type and level

of the expectation and take measures when there is conflict between two groups.

2. Proper, adequate, effective and smooth Communication channel should be established. The

parties should sit for discussion openly to each if there is any adversity arises. It will help them

to sort out the problem more quickly without messing up things.

3. Every party that has interest should be more flexible. They need to nurture the mentality to

sacrifice small interest in order to achieve larger benefit.

4. The project manager, here the Bangladesh Bridge authority, should be given independence to

run the project according to plan without any influence.

5. Our government should be more patient, wise and more practical and more importantly be

rational without being partial all the time.