Dhaka, Dec. 2 -- Bangladesh has long relied on a flawed approach of taking excessive loans from development partners and hiring foreign consultants for projects, resulting in unnecessarily high costs, Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud said on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference after the Ecnec meeting at the NEC Conference Room in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, he noted that many projects could have been executed at lower costs based on actual needs, but foreign consultancy often inflated expenses without adding real value.

"Foreign consultants come, occupy our offices, enjoy hospitality, stay for four years, and then leave without meaningful contributions," he said. "We need to move away from these foreign consultant-dependent projects."...