Eight top officials from the Public Works Department are going to the United States to learn the management of a central air conditioning system. The final date for their trip to the U.S. has been set for March 15, although the date was finalized after being changed three times. The project director of the project is also among them. The official program name of the government visit for these eight officials is “Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) System Training.”Meanwhile, the project from which the officials are traveling to the United States is not progressing satisfactorily. The project cost has been increased twice, from 23.88 billion taka to 34.43 billion taka.On the other hand, according to a report by IMED, the HVAC system for which the officials are going to the United States for training is already in its final stage of completion. The Additional Chief Engineer (E/M) of the Public Works Department, Ashraful Haque, is also going on this trip, although his job tenure will end within a few months. Moreover, none of the officials traveling to the U.S. are directly involved in hospital construction work. They are also unlikely to have any role in post-construction maintenance. Still, these officials are going on the trip, which has raised questions.According to documents, the U.S. central air conditioning system company Dunham-Bush will bear all the expenses for the visit of the eight officials. Dunham-Bush mainly supplies chillers and HVAC systems worldwide. In Bangladesh, they have supplied central air conditioning systems to many government and private institutions, including some of the country’s large shopping malls.Meanwhile, discussions have begun regarding the trip of these eight officials funded by Dunham-Bush. It is being said that if a trip is funded by a supplier company, it may create a certain level of obligation toward that company. In that case, questions may arise regarding the quality of the supplied HVAC systems.The officials who received clearance to travel to the United States are: Additional Chief Engineer (E/M) Ashraful Haque, Additional Chief Engineer (Civil) Kazi Md. Firoz Hossain, Project Director Dr. Md. Toufiq Hasan Firoz, Supervising Engineer Dr. Md. Ashraful Islam, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works Md. Nazmul Alam, Executive Engineer Raju Ahmed, Executive Architect Siddika Nasrin Sultana, and Sub-Divisional Engineer Risalat Bari.In 2019, the government undertook a project to establish full-fledged cancer, kidney, and heart disease treatment centers in eight divisional cities. The project, costing 23.88 billion taka, was initially supposed to be completed in June 2022. Later, the deadline was extended by one year until June 2023. Most recently, the project cost was increased to 34.33 billion taka, and the deadline was extended until June 2025. Even after this extension, according to the IMED report, the progress of the project is still not satisfactory. Officials involved in the project say it may take until the end of 2028 to complete all the work.The eight hospitals included in the project are: Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital (Dhaka), Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Khulna Medical College Hospital, Barishal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital, Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, Rangpur Medical College Hospital, and Chattogram Medical College Hospital. The project was undertaken by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and is being implemented by the Public Works Department.Analysis of Public Works Department documents shows that seven officials and the project director obtained ministry approval on February 3 to travel abroad for AC management training.The letter mentioned that eight officials would travel to the United States to participate in a training program titled “Safety Facilities, Operation and Maintenance Management of HVAC System.” The visit was initially scheduled for February 8 to February 12 (five days), excluding travel time.However, documents show that the officials did not travel on the scheduled dates. Later, a new approval was taken for February 25 to March 1, again excluding travel time. Yet according to information, they still did not travel during that period.Finally, on March 4, the ministry again approved the foreign trip of these eight officials. According to this approval, they will stay in the United States from March 15 to March 19 to participate in the AC management training.Executive Engineer Raju Ahmed of the Public Works Department told the media that the knowledge gained will be applied after the construction process is completed. In this case, they themselves will be responsible for HVAC maintenance, which is why they are going for training.Chief Engineer Md. Khalekuzzaman Chowdhury of the Public Works Department said that receiving training from a country like the United States is extremely important for engineers. Even after retirement, if an engineer works in the private sector, they will be able to use the knowledge gained from this training. Regarding the trip of the eight officials, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain said he was not aware of the matter but would look into it.