Serious Irregularities Found in Crore-Taka Road Projects in Savar

Government funds worth crores of taka allocated to improve road connectivity in Savar and Ashulia’s industrial areas are at risk of being wasted due to alleged irregularities involving contractors and officials responsible for supervision.

Field investigations, complaints from local residents and discussions with officials of the Upazila Engineering Office revealed serious irregularities in several development projects. In some places, low-quality second- and third-grade bricks are being used instead of the materials specified in the schedule and design. In others, contractors are using less reinforcement steel than required. There are also allegations that a government project worth crores of taka was illegally handed over to another contractor before construction even began.

Noad-da-Madartek-Ghoradia Road

Under the project to improve road connectivity in Savar and Ashulia, contractor MR Trading was awarded the work to upgrade the 1,500-metre Noad-da Road-Madartek-Ghoradia Road with Uniblock at a cost of Tk 2.23 crore.

A visit to the site found that second- and third-grade reddish-yellow bricks were being used across the road, although the project schedule clearly requires first-grade bricks. The bricks were found to break into powder and mix with the sand under even slight pressure from a roller.

Local residents and pedestrians said, “The road is being built with second-grade bricks right in front of our eyes. It will not last even three months once vehicles start using it.” Faruk Hossain, a local resident, said the road would deteriorate again after even light rain because of the poor-quality materials. He also said there are pits 20 to 25 feet deep in some places beside the road.

LGED Sub-Assistant Engineer Md Ashraful Islam, who is responsible for supervising the work, denied any irregularity. He said the road was being repaired using old bricks from the existing road and that the contractor might need to purchase some additional bricks. He said each old brick had been valued at Tk 15.

When asked why the bricks were breaking under the roller, he said, “There may be one or two bad bricks.” Several calls were made to Md Sakib, the contractor’s representative provided by the Upazila Engineering Office, to ask about the allegations, but he did not answer.

Savar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Saiful Islam said he had already received information about irregularities in the road project. He said the old bricks being used were third-grade bricks, which were breaking under the roller. He also said some parts of the road site were 15 to 20 feet deep and there was a risk of the road collapsing during rain. He said the road work would be stopped.

Kurgaon-Gokulnagar Road

Under the same project, Don Enterprise was awarded the contract to upgrade the 1,350-metre Kurgaon-Gokulnagar Road, which is 3.7 metres wide, with Uniblock at a cost of Tk 1.89 crore. According to the project schedule and official drawing, side protection of a specified thickness was required to ensure the road’s durability and prevent its sides from collapsing. However, the contractor allegedly ignored the design and built the protection wall using very low-quality cement, sand and brick chips.

Local residents became angry after seeing the poor quality of the work. At one point, local Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leaders visited the site, identified the irregularities and stopped the construction. After confirming the allegations, the Upazila Engineering Office issued a written notice to Don Enterprise. The contractor was instructed to demolish all the substandard work completed so far and rebuild it according to the project schedule. The road development work has remained suspended since the notice was issued.

Jahidul Islam Shawon, president of Pathalia Union Chhatra Dal, said the contractor was building the protection wall with poor-quality cement and sand and using less reinforcement steel than required. He also said the specified grade of stone was not being used. After they informed the Upazila Engineer, officials visited the site, stopped the work and ordered the substandard construction to be demolished.

LGED Sub-Assistant Engineer Saidur Rahman, who was responsible for supervising the project, said the work was stopped after receiving complaints. He said two letters had also been sent to the contractor instructing the company to redo the work. “The work has been stopped for the past week. The contractor did not follow the drawing and design and used less material. That is why the work was stopped,” he said.

Several people, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that negligence by the supervising engineer had allowed the contractor to carry out irregularities. Md Mizan, supervisor of Don Enterprise, said the company had been carrying out the work properly. He said some of the stones were larger than required and that the company was accused of using fewer steel rings in some places.

He also alleged that some local people had tried to sell construction materials to the company, but the company refused to buy them. According to him, this had caused resentment among those people.

Kuturia 40-Foot RCC Road

The most serious allegations were found in the Kuturia 40-Foot Road project under the Upazila Development Fund (UDF). Golden Construction was awarded the contract to build the 400-metre-long and 5.5-metre-wide RCC road at a cost of around Tk 2 crore.

Although sub-contracting or sub-leasing government work is prohibited under the Public Procurement Rules (PPR), Golden Construction allegedly handed over the project to another contractor, Mithila Traders, in exchange for a large commission before construction began.

The new contractor allegedly cut costs by compromising the road’s basic foundation. Local residents showed that rotten third-grade bricks were being used extensively in the road’s sub-base. They also alleged that less reinforcement steel than specified in the approved design was being used in the RCC work.

The reporter questioned LGED Sub-Assistant Engineer S M Sabbir Hossain, who was responsible for field-level supervision, about the alleged irregularities and corruption. When asked to show documents related to the project allocation, government schedule and approved drawings, he failed to provide them. After repeated requests for information, he said, “The work file cannot be found.”

The official’s inability to locate the project file at an important government engineering office has further raised concerns among local residents about possible collusion between engineering officials and contractors involved in the alleged irregularities.

Shamim Hossain, a local shopkeeper, said ordinary people and factory workers were suffering because of the poor condition of roads in the garment industry-dominated area. He said development work had finally begun after a long wait, but serious irregularities were taking place. He alleged that thin reinforcement bars were being used and that the gaps between the bars were 10 inches in some places and more than one foot in others.

Many local residents expressed frustration, saying, “How can contractors make a profit if they do not steal?” Farhad Hossain, brother of the owner of Mithila Traders and the person supervising the work, said, “Two or four third-grade bricks may come when bringing bricks from the stockyard. The engineering office did not tell me to remove the third-grade bricks and then carry out the work.”

Regarding the large gaps between the reinforcement bars, he said, “The gaps are being fixed at eight inches and everything is being corrected.” Savar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Saiful Islam said he had instructed the engineering office to send officials to the site and take immediate action. Regarding the missing project file, he said, “There is no reason not to find the work file. Besides, everything is on the computers.”

The reporter visited the office of Savar Upazila Engineer Md Minarul Islam for two consecutive days to seek his comments but could not find him. When contacted by phone about the allegations, he said he would speak in person later and ended the call.