The government-formed probe body investigating the tragic crane accident that claimed five lives in Uttara on August 15 has also blamed the Chinese contractor due to several breaches in protocol.
The probe body placed some slight blame on EPCM (Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management, the consultant company of the BRT project).
At a press briefing on Sunday, Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri disclosed a summary of the final report.
He said: “Chinese contractor CGGC (China Gezhouba Group Corporation) is mainly responsible for the accident, caused due to security breaches.”
Replying to a query regarding punishment of the contractor, he said the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) will take action in this regard as they are the signing authority as per procurement rules.
“A probe committee usually finds out the causes of the accident and discovers the people who are responsible. Then the authorities concerned take legal action. The action to be taken has not been decided yet,” he added.
However, according to several RHD officials, the government may not take any strict action, such as termination, immediately due to certain barriers.
How CGGC is responsible
The probe committee identified 12 causes behind the accident, including negligence of the contractor, for working without pre-approval. Moreover, the crane was operated by an assistant who did not have the licence to drive such a heavy vehicle.
The contractor did not maintain safety protocols and had no traffic management plan for that day.
Meanwhile, the consultant firm sent 34 letters to the CGGC urging them to maintain safety protocols from January 11, 2022. But the CGGC did not adhere to the calls.
RTHD Secretary Amin said none of the protocols were maintained by the contractor during the work.
What are the barriers to penalizing the contractor?
According to RTHD and RHD sources, there is enough evidence to terminate the contractor, but the government will not do that right now.
When asked about the matter, RHD Chief Engineer AKM Manir Hossain Pathan told Dhaka Tribune: “It is a complex issue for us.”
Several senior officials of the department said RHD must compensate the contractor if the agreement is terminated, and this would be very expensive for the government.
The probe report suggested continuing the construction work with the same contractor while ensuring safety as per the agreement.
“Some 80% of the construction work has already been done. Thus, appointing a new contractor would be expensive for the government,” said Nilima Akhter, additional secretary of the RTHD and head of the probe committee.
“Since it is an international contract, standard safety measures shall be taken. So, it is important to ensure safety rather than cancelling the contract,” she said.
Some officials said the CGGC is a China state-owned company. Thus, terminating or blacklisting the firm would not be easy for the government as there are geopolitical consequences.
“The friendly relationship between the countries is a barrier to punishing them,” said an official, asking not to be named.
No blame on BRT officials
The probe committee did not directly blame the officials concerned of the BRT company, the government implementing agency of the project.
RTHD Secretary Amin said August 15 was a public holiday and the contractor did not have any approved work plan on that day. Thus, the company officials cannot be blamed.