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Failed in road job, trusted in bridge

M Abul Kalam Azad
The government is set to award today the construction work of the Padma bridge to China Major Bridge Engineering Ltd which has let it down in the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway expansion project.
As the lead partner with the local affiliate Project Builders Limited (PBL), the Chinese firm never showed up to perform its job to expand the 30-kilometre stretch of the highway from Mawna to Raimoni, which ultimately delayed the project.
As per its January 2011 contract, the company was supposed to play the key role in implementing the project by engaging manpower and logistics.
The Tk 388 crore job was scheduled to be completed by July last year, but the joint venture so far has completed only 44 percent works, according to officials in the Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
The previous Awami League-led government took up the project in 2010 to expand the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway using state funds. The project completion deadline was later extended to July this year.
Both the previous and the incumbent project directors of the Dhaka-Mymensingh 4-lane project said the PBL has been reluctant to engage its
Failed in road job
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lead partner in the project since the initiation of the scheme in 2011.
"Many letters were issued to Project Builders Limited. Even we had a number of meetings with the representatives of the local contractor, but nothing has worked," said former PD Feroj Iqbal, additional chief engineer of RHD.
Hafizur Rahman, incumbent PD and superintendent engineer of RHD, echoed the views of Feroj saying that only two personnel of the Chinese company joined the PBL in February this year.
Project Manager of PBL Shawkat Hossain could not explain the reasons behind not engaging Chinese engineers and logistics in the project for such a long period. He, however, attributed the delay in the expansion work to the shifting of utility installations and the political anarchy in the country.
"We will need at least one more year to complete the work," he told The Daily Star.
Officials involved in the project said the criterion of forming a joint venture with experienced foreign firms was incorporated in the tender as the local companies lack experience and equipment in implementing such a huge expansion work.
Local firms became eligible for bidding by showing Chinese firms' qualification, but their involvement remained only on paper, mentioned the officials, adding that this malpractice has been going on in different projects as foreign companies get commission from local firms for being their partners.
But in the Padma bridge project, the Chinese company enjoyed the full advantage of being the lone bidder and is set to be awarded the contract for $1.55 billion, a price 45 percent higher than the cost estimated in 2009. The estimate has been revised due to delay in the project by three years.
Officials said had there been competition in the bidding, the government would have received a better offer for the work.