Parliamentary body criticises roads and bridges ministry for irregularities

A parliamentary body has come down heavily on roads, transport and bridges ministry over irregularities in different development projects, including slow implementation of projects, repeated extensions and increase in project costs.

The roads, transport and bridges ministry came under fire as it was deluged with questions by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on an estimate over the irregularities.

The meeting was held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban with ruling Awami League MP Abdus Shahid in the chair today.

In the most cases, the ministry did not respond properly regarding allegations of irregularities raised by the parliamentary watchdog.

The parliamentary body later asked the ministry to submit a report before the committee on the overall issue within the next one month.

The ongoing projects of Dhaka, Sylhet, Mymensingh and Gopalganj zones under roads and highways department and the Ministry of Social Welfare were discussed in the meeting. 

The committee sought explanations as to why the project was not implemented on time, why the duration of different projects was extended repeatedly resulting in an increase in the project cost, sources in the meeting said.

However, the body was not satisfied with the reply and arguments presented by the officials concerned at the time, added the source.

Asked about this, MP Abdus Shahid said, "We have discussed four zones of the road and highways department. There are several projects which have not been completed although the duration of the projects was over. Even the respective officials could not say when the work would be completed."

"They couldn't answer many of our questions satisfactorily," he said.

According to a press release issued by the Parliament Secretariat, the meeting recommended to send a report to the committee with reasons and explanations for the increase of time of nine unfinished projects in the Dhaka zone of the roads and highways.

The committee also recommended to submit a report after investigating the reasons for non-completion of work from Jatrabari intersection of Dhaka-Khulna highway to Mawa and Pachchar-Bhanga project.