A muddy menace

Sukumar Chakma, a senior official at Union Pharmaceuticals Limited in Savar's Sadhapur, regularly faces obstacles in his daily commute due to an incomplete road project.

The development work on the Genda-Sadhapur road, initiated four years ago, remains unfinished, forcing Sukumar to take a time-consuming alternative route to reach the factory.

The deteriorated condition of the road has severely impacted the ability of people to travel through it, creating inconvenience and delays.

Talking to this newspaper, Sukumar said there are two routes from his residence to the factory, the aforementioned one and the Sadhapur-Boliarpur road.

 "Taking the Genda-Sadhapur road is convenient for me, but it has become completely unfit for movement. Thus, I am compelled to take the Sadhapur-Boliarpur road, which is also in poor condition," he said.

The cost of bringing products to his factory has increased due to these road conditions, he added.

Genda-Sadhapur road serves as a crucial bypass, connecting Genda to Boliarpur along the Dhaka-Aricha highway. With approximately 20 industries located alongside this road, it caters to the daily transportation needs of workers and thousands of locals, residing in at least 10 villages.

Due to the negligent actions of the construction firm involved in the road work project, a major portion of the road has remained unfit for travel for the past three years.

A recent inspection of the road revealed the presence of numerous potholes throughout its stretch from Genda to Sadhapur. Furthermore, the Namagenda section of the road has become a muddy menace, posing a significant challenge for commuters.

The construction firm initiated the drain works in the Nama Genda area, but the work was left unfinished, deteriorating the road's already poor condition.

Additionally, the construction of a girder bridge in the Sadhapur area remains incomplete, further hindering the road's usability.

Rahima Begum, a garment factory worker in Nama Genda area, said crossing the road even by foot during the rainy season becomes impossible due to the knee-deep mud and waterlogging.

The contractor responsible for the road development project left abruptly three years ago during the pandemic, leaving the work incomplete.

Consequently, both workers and residents were left with no other option but to endure the inconveniences, informed Abdul Mia, a rickshaw puller from Sadhapur.  

THE CONTRACT DETAILS

According to LGED in Dhaka, a project with eight packages was undertaken under the Second City Region Development Project (CRDB-11) to transform the entire stretch of the aforementioned earthen road into a reinforced cement concrete one, construct drains to mitigate waterlogging, and build a girder bridge.

The Tk 47.61 crore project started on November 2, 2019, following a contract signed on October 27, that year, with Modern Structures Ltd, a construction firm.

Originally scheduled for completion by March 12, 2021, the work could not be finished on time, resulting in an extension until November 30, 2022.

However, the contractor expressed their inability to complete the remaining tasks after only 55 percent of the work had been completed by November 6, which resulted in the contract being cancelled on January 1 of this year.

Subsequently, on January 17, the contractor filed a case against the executive engineer of LGED in Dhaka, seeking the return of the security money.

A court dismissed the case on March 13.

Masudur Rahman Mallick, senior assistant engineer of LGED in Dhaka, said the security money, around Tk 4.76 crore, will not be returned to the contractor as they breached the contract.

"An estimate paper was sent to the project director for completing remaining road work on May 30. The new tender will hopefully be called this month. The work will restart very soon," he said.

Contacted, Rashed Khan, chairman of the construction firm, said the work could not be completed on time due to a hike in the price of construction materials. He did not elaborate further.