Irregularities, delays in nationwide court building construction

Irregularities and delays mar the construction of Chief Judicial Magistrate Court buildings in 64 districts, a project that was initiated in 2009. After a second revision, the project, being jointly implemented by the law and public works ministries, was scheduled to end in June 2018. However, most buildings are still under construction. Although initially the project aimed to construct court buildings in 27 districts, after a revision last year, it was raised to court buildings in 42 districts and land acquisition for courts in the remaining districts. As of now, project authorities say only 16 of the buildings are functional, with courts being held and construction work continuing. The buildings in Mymensingh, Bogra and Rajshahi are complete. From 2012 to May this year, the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) inspected nine of the sites and found many irregularities and general delay in the project work. IMED found irregularities at the construction sites in several districts including Chittagong, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Mymensingh, Manikganj and Patuakhali. Its reports said that by December 2016, only about 81% of the work was complete. At that time the deadline for this project was June 2016. But in May that year, the project was extended and the deadline was pushed back to June 2018. Before that, in March 2015, the IMED found that the project authorities had spent about 60% of the budget and completed only 50% of the work. In December 2016, IMED visited the project in Chittagong. Here, the inspection team found that although the plan called for a 10-storey building with a 12-storey foundation, the implementing agency had built a six-storey building with a seven-storey foundation. The report said similar irregularities were found in six other districts. IMED found that no approval had been taken from the authorities for this change of plans. Some of the essential components of the plan had been dropped. Expenditure had increased disproportionately for the internal sanitary and water supply and internal electrification work. IMED report said real information had been concealed from authorities for the sake of vested interests. Although the building was built on a sloped area, a retention wall needed to support the building had not been built. The construction work have been completed up to four floors by February 2016, IMED reported, but due to a dispute with the construction firm about outstanding bills, work was on hold and authorities were looking for another contractor. Project authorities say work has resumed since and eight floors have been completed. Project Director Debashis Chandra said the project was approved in 2009 with same designs of 10-storey buildings on 12-storey foundations in all 64 districts. “But later it was decided that in Chittagong we will build a 6-storey building with 7-storey foundation since it is a sloping area,” he said. “We got IMED’s reports on Chittagong, Narayanganj, Manikganj - but they did not say in which six districts they found irregularities like Chittagong,” he added. IMED Secretary Mofizul Islam said: “Our teams visited some of these projects to observe the construction progress. They found some irregularities and reported them. We sent copies of those reports to the law and public works ministries.” He said the division had asked the ministries to take necessary action against the corruption and irregularities but the concerned ministries are yet to respond. Law Minister Anisul Haque said that the ministry had received the IMED reports and were looking into them. “We will take decisions after scrutinising the reports,” he added.