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DCC's shady development project on already developed road

suLTANA RAHMAN
Some unscrupulous Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) officials are allegedly planning to siphon a huge amount of money from the Tk 20 crore budget for the beautification of the road stretching from Banani rail crossing to Sonargaon intersection though the same road was recently developed by Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP).
Sources said the corporation is allegedly in the process of awarding the beautification and road widening project to two nondescript firms with no tender floating procedure. Nor have the Procurement Regulations 2003 of publishing the call for tenders in newspapers been followed.
A section of DCC officials are reportedly favouring two companies that have not been listed as qualified contractors of the DUTP , for the project.
Project director Syed Qudratullah, who is also the superintending engineer of the DCC, claimed that they had invited tender and had notified the public. He however, failed to specify when and where this notification was published.
"We have already floated the tender through our PRO (public relations officer). We do not know in which newspaper the tender notice got published. It is the responsibility of the PRO to arrange notifications and float tender in newspapers," said Qudratullah.
The chief public relations
officer of the DCC Abdur Rahman meanwhile contradicted the project director.
"To my knowledge no tender has been floated for this project. I do not know anything about it," said Abdur Rahman.
Interestingly, a 5.5 kilometre stretch of the same road had been widened and developed by the DUTP at a cost of Tk 12 crore last year. The World Bank provided the funds. GrameenPhone, one of the country's top cellular operators, took the responsibility of beautifying the road. On the other hand, the recent development and beautification project's funds will come from government.
"The road has already been developed and widened as part
of a priority project following instructions from the Prime Minister. Last time it took Tk 12 crore. Why should the new project cost Tk 20 crore," asked a contractor. Listed contractors of the DCC have expressed their dissatisfaction over alleged irregularities and even went to the DCC's chief executive officer to file complaints against the mismanagement last week.
"We know nothing about the tender. I am challenging anybody to show me the tender for the project published in newspapers. No tender was ever floated. I will withdraw myself from the list and will never contest any tender of the DCC in future if someone can prove me wrong," said a listed contractor.
According to Procurement Regulation 2003, bidding tenders will be received after 28 days of floating or publishing in newspapers. The DCC apparently has also not taken approval of the project from the LGED (Local Government Engineering Department) which is mandatory in the procurement regulation 2003.
"This project is simply a money making scam. The funds will go into the pockets of corrupt DCC officials. The reality is that the project is only viable on paper because the road has already been developed and beautified by the DUTP and private companies," said a listed contractor.