Project to build fire service stations in slow lane
On July 9 last year, a massive fire raged through a juice-making factory in Narayanganj, killing at least 52 people. And the whole nation witnessed how firefighters struggled to bring the blaze under control.
The fire at Hashem Foods factory came at a time when two modern fire service and civil defence stations were being set up in one of the industrial belts of Bangladesh.
The stations – Shibu Market Fatullah Fire Service Station and Kanchpur Bridge Modern Fire Service Station – are being constructed as part of a Tk 629 crore project setting up 11 modern stations across the country to ensure fire safety at industrial belts and power plants.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the project in November 2018 and the work of the project began in January 2019. It was supposed to complete by June 2021.
Later, the project, which is being implemented by the Public Works Department, was revised in April 2021, raising the cost by Tk 15.95 crore and pushing back the deadline to June 2022.
The project could not be completed on time due to the weak feasibility study, changes to the project proposal, and additional time needed for land acquisition, according to a report of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the planning ministry.
The overall financial progress was 50.29 per cent as of April this year, it said.
Out of 11 stations, the physical progress of the fire station in Karnaphuli of Chattogram, Konabari of Gazipur and Shibu Market of Fatullah is not satisfactory, said the report. Their actual progress stands at 45 per cent, 20 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
The implementation progress was 14 per cent for Rajendra intersection modern fire station of Gazipur and 2 per cent for Kalurghat fire station in Chattogram.
The construction of the fire station at Sarabo (Kashimpur) of Gazipur and Rooppur (Green City) in Pabna has been completed.
The implementation progress is 95 per cent for the Zirabo fire station in Savar and 86 per cent for the Gazipur intersection fire station, according to the IMED report.
However, more than three and a half years into the project, the tenders have been floated for the work of the fire station at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. The tender evaluation process is underway.
Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, termed the delay in project implementation unacceptable.
"When a fire incident occurs every two days, there is no scope to delay the construction of public interest projects such as fire stations. This delay may intensify the loss of properties and human lives."
The economist urged the authorities to focus on it since the country is moving towards becoming an industrialised nation.
Time and cost overrun of development projects have become a major concern for Bangladesh in recent times. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on several occasions, gave directives to stop the delays.
However, Project Director Md Shahid Atahar Hossain called the overall implementation of the fire station project satisfactory. The deadline of the project has been extended by another year to June 2023. But the estimated cost has been reduced by Tk 28 crore, he said.
"We have already completed four fire stations and the work of five more stations will be finished by 2022," Hossain said, adding that the rest two will be ready within the extended period.
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