Commuters suffer as work suspended
Fifty percent of the 11-kilometre road including construction of bridges and culverts remains incomplete for a year
Construction work of a road in Sakhipur upazila has remained suspended for about a year due to financial inability of the contractors concerned.
Fifty percent of the construction work has been left unfinished, causing immense sufferings to commuters, said locals.
Under the project of Northern Bangladesh Integrated Development, the construction work of an 11-kilometer-long road from Sakhipur-Suruj road to Shalgrampur-Tejpur ferry ghat area was started in May 2017, said sources at Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED).
Construction firms United Commercial Center Ltd and Richi Enterprise got work order of Tk 7.92 crore, jointly funded by Bangladesh Government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JAICA).
The construction of the road was supposed to be complete in November last year but 50 percent of the works including construction of bridges and culverts has been left incomplete, said Ismail Hossain, a rights activist in Sakhipur.
As a result, people of the area have been using alternative roads to reach their destinations, he said, adding that due to this, they have to spend additional money.
Farman Ali, a surveyor of LGED in the upazila, said the contractors did not complete the works in spite of giving them reminders on several occasions.
A letter was also sent to the higher authorities for canceling the works, he said.
Alamgir Hossain Pintu, one of the contractors, however, declined to make any comments regarding the issue.
Upazila LGED engineer Kazi Fahad Quddus said the contractors cannot complete the road construction works due to their financial inability.
However, the contractors have recently taken initiative to complete the construction works with the help of other contractors, he added.