Covid-19 and SDG 9: Strengthening infrastructure and innovation

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On February 3, 2020, Huoshenshan Hospital, a crisis specialty field medical center covering a location of 34,000 square metres and containing 1,000 beds, opened up its doors for the treating Covid-19 patients in Wuhan, China. Just 10 days earlier, five street rollers, 33 bulldozers, 95 excavators, 160 dump trucks, 160 management personnel and 240 staff had started focusing on the hospital's engineering site. Halfway across the world, america Navy's medical center ships "USNS Mercy" and "USNS Comfort"-each with a ability of 1 1,000 beds-had been deployed in Los Angles and New York on March 27 and 30, respectively, to help ease the pressure of Covid-19 patients on standard hospitals. These examples show how swiftly constructed infrastructure projects, in addition to innovative ideas, can help battle the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sustainable Production Goal (SDG) 9 calls upon countries to "build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation". Unfortunately, the infrastructure necessary for powerful industrialisation and development in Bangladesh is usually inadequate, specifically in rural areas where infrastructure deficiencies happen to be acute. Glaring inequalities are present regarding access to modern technological infrastructure such as for example high-speed broadband internet. Attempts to complete the infrastructure gap with a plethora of projects have been only partly good because of our weak implementation potential. Cost and period overruns in fast-track mega projects have lowered the efficacy of open public purchase, creating fiscal pressure and impeding exclusive investment. Although Bangladesh has a good debt servicing record, personal debt sustainability could become an issue in the future, especially regarding large infrastructure projects that are staying financed from international sources. 

SDG concentrate on 9.2 asserts the necessity to double industry's share in work and gross domestic merchandise (GDP) whatsoever Developed Countries by 2030. Industrialisation in Bangladesh, as measured by the progress of talk about of making in GDP, had been stagnant at around 15 percent during the years 1996-2005. Even so, since 2006, the share of developing in GDP features been growing steadily each year, with the tempo of growth picking right up after 2010. In 2018, the show of manufacturing in GDP stood at 22.85 percent. Thus, the united states had already achieved the milestone of experiencing manufacturing value-added add up to at least 21.5 percent of GDP even before 2020.

Despite the sluggish rate of industrialisation, the economy of Bangladesh has even so undergone significant structural adjust. The International Labour Organization's modelled estimates recommend that the show of workers used in the agriculture sector decreased from 65 percent in 1999 to 39.7 percent in 2019. Alternatively, the share of personnel employed in the sector sector almost doubled from 10.4 percent in 1999 to 20.5 percent in 2019. Nevertheless, there are concerns about premature de-industrialisation of the Bangladesh market. Such apprehension is definitely confirmed by the fact that the show of workers used in the services sector increased from 24.6 percent in 1999 to 39.8 percent in 2019. Thus, Bangladesh's market, like those of different South Asian countries, has managed to experience a shift directly from agriculture to services.

Industry-led structural transformation can play an integral role in generating job and alleviating poverty. An industry sector that makes utilization of labour-intensive production technology could absorb the tremendous amounts of youth getting into Bangladesh's labour market every year, and make sure that the monetary growth is pro-poor. Accordingly, employment in the making sector can be an issue that demands focus of the policymakers. 

Worldwide, Covid-19 has generated a huge setback for the manufacturing and transportation sectors of the market, triggering instability in distribution chains and foodstuff supply and triggering unemployment and underemployment. In the 1st one fourth of 2020, manufacturing outcome fell by 6 percent globally, and by 14.1 percent in China. Making in Bangladesh in addition has taken a blow since the start of the pandemic, which has led to serious repercussions through the entire economy. The US Division of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) estimates show that Bangladesh's ready-made garments (RMG) exports in April 2020 fell by 80 percent in comparison to April 2019, and one million RMG staff, who were largely girls, had been either fired or furloughed. Another review by the Community Bank has displayed that 19 percent of female garment personnel in Bangladesh shed their jobs between March 25 and September 15 in 2020. Bangladesh's RMG export orders valued at a lot more than USD 3 billion were cancelled as a result of pandemic.

However, because the Covid-19 pandemic even now remains just as an evolving circumstances, it is difficult to see how short-resided or long-lasting its shocks will be. If history is any indicator into the future, it is likely that the resilience and tenacity of the economy and persons of Bangladesh will conquer the Covid-19 crisis, just like many others during the past.   

Several steps should be taken up to steer Bangladesh in its path towards recovery from Covid-19 and achievement of SDG 9. Longstanding non-operational projects ought to be delisted from the Annual Development Program (ADP). The practice of featuring symbolic allocation to maintain inefficient projects running ought to be stopped. Feasibility analyses that include extensive cost-benefit analysis ought to be built mandatory for all projects, and all job feasibility reports ought to be made publicly obtainable. Industrial policies ought to be designed to encourage monetary diversification as a way to reduce vulnerability to shocks. The energy of technology should be harnessed so that you can improve efficiency and raise the complexity of exports. An allowing environment needs to be created which will facilitate expenditure and support the keeping domestic makers into global benefit chains. These steps, inter alia, will come to be conducive towards recovering from Covid-19 and applying SDG 9 in Bangladesh by 2030.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net

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