Uttara brt girder accident: No more work for Chinese firm responsible
The Chinese company found responsible for the accident at the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Line-3 project would not be allowed to work in Bangladesh after completion of the project.
Obaidul Quader, minister for road transport and bridges, said this at a press conference at the secretariat yesterday.
He was briefing the media after a meeting with the chiefs of different agencies under his ministry and top officials of Road Transport and Highways Division.
Quader said that when accident, which claimed five lives, occurred on August 15, around 79 percent of the project's work was already done.
Given the situation, it was decided that the contractor will complete the rest of the project, he added.
"The decision was taken considering the country's resources and money, because it would take several more years [for the project to be completed] if a new contractor is appointed.
"They [the Chinese contractor] will complete the remaining 20 percent of the work. After that, this contractor will not be allowed to work in Bangladesh anymore."
Five people, including two children, were crushed to death when a crane toppled over, making a box girder segment fall on a private car on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in the capital's Uttara.
A probe committee, led by Neelima Akhter, additional secretary of the road transport and highways division, held the Chinese contractor China Gezhouba Group Co Ltd responsible for negligence that led to the accident.
While the committee did not recommend any punitive action, the road transport and highways division secretary on September 4 said that the Roads and Highways Department – implementing authority of the project – will take action in line with the probe findings.
The project's work resumed around last month -- one month after the accident.
The BRT Line-3 is a Tk 4,268.38 crore project to build a 20.50km dedicated road for bus services from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Gazipur.
It was originally supposed to be completed at a cost of Tk 2,037.85 crore by December 2016.
The deadline was later extended to June this year, but the project made 78 percent progress by then. Another deadline was then set for December this year.
However, project officials sought yet another one-year extension, the proposal of which is not pending with the planning commission.
The roads transport and bridges minister further said the project started before he took office and its current disarrayed state is a result of flawed planning.
He has instructed the project officials to wrap up the works at any cost, and so are now expecting the project to be completed by next March-April.
Quader also reiterated that the Bangabandhu Tunnel in Chattogram and the first phase of the metro rail will be inaugurated later this year.
He added that his ministry has also sent a project summary of opening 100 bridges across the country in a single day to the prime minister.