Year after year the city roads are undergoing carpeting and re-carpeting for a huge cost without proper thought to the problem that is partially blamed for water logging and also creating hazards on the city roads.

Sources said that a large sum of money is misused in the name of repairing roads. The repair of roads has been a continuous process; an improvement in their condition is yet to be seen. Roads tend to go back to their old condition immediately after the so-called repair has been completed.

Because of the inferior material used in carpeting the roads, and its weak pigment, the engineering department of DCC has decided to hold security money from the contractors for one year soon after issuing the work order, top most official of engineering department claimed.

According to the set rules, manholes have to be rises as per the standard and height of the road. At different parts of the city road levels have risen higher that the level of footpaths.

"To construct a new road, the quality of the mud must be tested and the result would be decide what type of carpeting and layers are needed for certain roads. On the other hand, the existing roads need to go through the 'milling process'.

"The DCC has no milling machines to clean the previous worn out carpeting while the repairs are done and are left with no choice but to carpet the road over the existing one," they said.

"The result of this malpractice is that the height of the roads increase by two inches every year, which is the minimum height of carpeting," they added.

"The DCC, in order to keep the idea of repairing roads has been continuously allocating funds, a process which has been going on for the past 15 years," said a senior official of Nagar Bhaban.

"Road construction is one of the ways to donate money to activists of the ruling political party as well as mayor's favourite persons," the official added.

According to the DCC, it has under its purview 1200 km of roads across the city and the amount allocated Tk 72.5 crore in current fiscal year for road construction, maintenance and repairing, which is about 13 per cent of the total budget. Last year the DCC spent Tk 60.8 crore in the name of road repairing.

Apart from this, the DCC has at least seven more projects including Dolaikhal project, lanes and alleys widening project, anti-traffic jam project and many other development projects. All this work amounts to nearly 80 per cent of the annual budget of Tk. 762.96 crore.

"Unfortunately this large percentage, which is the highest of all development sectors is spent only on repairing and constructing roads," the source added.