A cloud of uncertainty shrouds a 20-kilometre by-lane road construction project in Sirajganj as it is yet to be finished, even though its deadline expired in April 2012.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled the Soydabad-Belkuchi-Enayetpur road project on April 9, 2011 after roadwork on it had begun in October 2010.
Officials at the Roads and Highways Department said they can neither replace National Civil Engineering Construction Limited with another contracting firm nor can they have the project fast-tracked.
There is a risk that the project will be delaying further or that it may be scrapped for an uncertain period of time in case the present contractors cannot be replaced with another firm, they explained.
Meanwhile, allegations have also been raised against the firm for not using the right measures of bitumen and sand and for using low-quality brick chips to the construct part of the road.
On Saturday, Joint Secretary of the Communication Ministry Mahbubur Rahman visited the project and expressed his dissatisfaction with the construction work done on the road.
He said lower proportions of sand and bitumen have been used under and above the road, respectively, and warned the Roads and Highways engineers to monitor the project properly.
This correspondent visited the half of the road that has thus far been completed and found cracks and potholes. He also found the road had collapsed in the recent rainfall because slopes had not been made on both sides of the road.
When questioned, former Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdul Latif Biswas said he knew about all this and had complained to the Communications Ministry about it quite a number of times.
Sub-Assistant Engineer Iqbal Hossain said, “We are embarrassed about the project.”
“A team from the Communication Ministry, led by its Joint Secretary Mahbubur Rahman, visited the project on Saturday and found irregularities in the amount of sand used in some areas of the constructed part of the road,” he added.
“The joint secretary suggested setting that right as soon as possible,” he said.
Sub-Divisional Engineer-1 Ashraful Islam frankly admitted that irregularities, slowness and delays have hampered the project.
“The deadline for the project expired two years ago. The road construction cost was estimated in 2008 and so it is not possible to have the work done well now,” he said.
“We cannot fine the contractors or post a new tender because it may further delay the project for an uncertain period of time and so we are having the project completed by the present contractors as best as we can,” he explained.
Executive Engineer at the Roads and Highways Department Moniruzzaman said, “We appointed Dhaka’s National Civil Engineering Construction Limited in two agreements for the implementation of the project.”
“The first part of the project is almost finished. The second part - Belkuchi to Enayetpur – of the project will begin in the next fiscal year. If the current contracting firm cannot do that, we will find an alternative,” he added.
National Civil Engineering Construction Limited’s Project Manager Yusuf Haidar Sujon Ahmed could not be contacted over the phone.