Bridge construction firm too busy to build
When the age-old pre-fabricated Bailey bridge across the Auliakhana River in Nilphamari collapsed on 23 July 2015 as a forty-tonne stone-laden truck attempted to cross it, the event promised prolonged hardship for many people. The Jaldhaka to Deviganj road on which the bridge is located is a busy one. For the people of six upazilas in three districts, it's an important transport route.
Thankfully the roads and highways department responded quickly. Considering the road's importance, tenders were soon invited to build a new concrete bridge, 31 metres long and 7.3 metres wide, at an estimated cost of Tk 3.76 crore.
By December 2015 a bid from construction firm Messrs Md Shahjahan Ali was accepted, with their proposal valued at a seemingly cost-efficient Tk 3.5 crore. The new bridge is supposed to be completed by June 2017.
But progress has stalled. More than a year after the contract was awarded work on the new bridge is yet to start.
To visit the site is to observe that the construction firm has recently erected a rig for the piling work at the base of the bridge, but apart from the rig no piling work has been undertaken yet. Some steel rods are lying nearby, unused for a long time.
“Several thousand people need to cross the river daily,” says Abdul Gaffar, a teacher of Jaldhaka Degree College. “I also used the old bridge twice a day. Construction of the new bridge has been stalled for months; we have been facing difficulties for so long.”
The lack of a bridge directly affects residents of Jaldhaka, Dimla, Domar, Hatibandha, Patgram and Deviganj upazilas in the districts of Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Panchagarh. Along with others from further afield trying to pass that way, they are currently reliant on a vulnerable by-pass, with the promises of a new bridge stagnant.
“We couldn't do the work because the water in the river is too deep,” says Bijoy Kumar Mondol, a representative of the construction firm. “We have also been busy completing other big works on government tender in different parts of the country which means we haven't been able to start the work here. But we have set up the rigs to start the piling work soon.”
It would seem unfortunate that a government contract was awarded to a firm too busy elsewhere to manage the project in a timely fashion. Two-thirds of the scheduled timeframe for completion of the new bridge has already expired.
“Seventy-five percent of the bridgework was due to be completed by December 2016,” says Nilphamari's roads and highways section officer Noor-e-Alam Siddiquee, “but there has been no progress of note.”
Nilphamari's executive engineer with the department, AKM Hamidur Rahman similarly expressed his disappointment. “I have sent four notices to the concerned construction firm, cautioning them that need to start the work immediately, but still they did not. If the bridgework is not completed within the scheduled time then the contractor's deposit will be forfeited and we will have to ask for new tenders for the project.”
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