Carpeting of newly renovated road damaged

The carpeting of newly renovated five-kilometre Mohiskhocha-Burirhat road in Lalmonirhat’s Aditmari upazila is getting damaged as the work under Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) was done allegedly without doing sufficient strengthening work. 

Meanwhile, the contractor has already received 95 percent of the bill although the road is yet to be handed over to the authorities concerned, said official sources of the LGED in Lalmonirhat.

Locals said the carpeting of the road has already got detached at places as the contractor did the work without maintaining the standard.

Stipulated strengthening with Water Bound Macadam (WBM) was not done while renovating the road, said a few stakeholders.

As per schedule, the road was to be renovated with three-inch thickness of WBM and 40-milimetre thickness of carpeting, LGED officials said.

Contractor Abdul Hakim got the Tk 2.65 crore work order from LGED and the construction work started in January last year.

“I gave the work to sub-contractor Daud Ali and he has done renovation of the road with the proper monitoring of the LGED engineer. If there is any fault in the work, Daud is responsible,” Hakim said.

Asked about the matter, Daud Ali declined to talk with journalists about the renovation work of Mohishkhocha-Burirhat road.

He suggested that the LGED engineer concerned can say details about the matter.

Aditmari upazila LGED engineer Aminur Rahman remained silent when asked why the road was competed without stipulated WBM work.

Contacted, Lalmonirhat LGED Executive Engineer Ashraf Ali Khan said the contractor is yet to hand over the road to the authorities as he didn’t complete 400-metre of the 500-metre RCC construction of the road.

“He has not been paid the final bill. Besides, there is security money. I will examine the road and if it is found that the renovation work was completed without doing WBM, legal action will be taken.”