Six years on, Tk 30cr Sylhet Wi-Fi City project lies idle

A Tk 30 crore project launched to make Sylhet the country’s first ‘Wi-Fi City’ has remained inactive for years, with internet services unavailable and much of the installed equipment lying unused.

Implemented by the Bangladesh Computer Council more than six years ago, the project was intended to provide free high-speed internet access at 126 points across 65 areas of Sylhet as part of an effort to turn the city into a technology-driven smart city.

– 126 wi-fi points cover 65 areas, serving 500 users

– City corp lacks budget for project maintenance

– Server access unavailable after project handover

– Unused equipment vulnerable to damage

Sylhet was declared the country’s first ‘Wi-Fi City’ in April 2020, with each Wi-Fi point designed to serve up to 500 users simultaneously.

The Bangladesh Computer Council covered the internet service costs during the first year before handing over the project to Sylhet City Corporation in 2021.

The initiative, however, became inoperative within six months of the handover, according to city corporation officials.

Sylhet residents say the Wi-Fi devices installed on poles at different locations are still visible, but prolonged disuse and lack of maintenance have left much of the equipment vulnerable to damage.

Sylhet City Corporation executive engineer Joydeb Biswas told New Age that the project was now inactive because the city corporation had no budget allocation for its operation and maintenance.

‘Some of the equipment installed on poles at different points in the city is still there. But citizens cannot use the service in the absence of bandwidth,’ he said.

He said the project was also expensive to operate and maintain.

The city corporation’s chief executive officer, Mohammad Rejai Rafin Sarker, however, said the corporation had not been given access to the project server after the infrastructure was handed over.

‘The infrastructure was handed over to the city corporation, but access to the project server was never provided. However, the responsibility for paying the monthly internet bill was also assigned to the city corporation,’ he said.

Bangladesh Computer Council senior analyst Madhusudan Dutta rejected the complaint, saying the project had been handed over to the city corporation following proper procedures and that all relevant documents were available.

‘Whether the project will be kept operational after the handover is the responsibility of the concerned authority,’ he said.

Dutta also said the computer council had provided support beyond the scheduled period without seeking additional payment from the city corporation.

Experts said the initiative had the potential to become a model for other cities if it had been backed by a sustainable operation and maintenance plan.

Shahjalal University of Science and Technology Civil and Environmental Engineering professor Mushtaq Ahmed said the concept was good.

‘If the service had been kept operational with proper maintenance as planned, it could have become a model for other divisional cities in the country,’ he said.

The prolonged inactivity of the network has left the Tk 30 crore investment largely unused, highlighting the challenges of sustaining technology-based public projects after their initial implementation.