Stop hiring contractors with shoddy work history

We are shocked at how, according to locals, a portion of the 384-metre roller-compacted concrete road in Kurgaon area of Ashulia in Savar developed cracks before the contractor could even finish the full project. As a result, they urged the authorities to shut it down, further alleging that the cracks had developed as the construction firm behind the project—ER Enterprise—used substandard materials to build the road.

The officials, however, permitted the construction firm to continue their work. According to a report by this daily on Sunday, the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Savar said they had collected samples from the spot and sent them to the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) for tests. If irregularities are found, actions will be taken against the construction firm, he said. An engineer from the Savar office of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) was quoted by this newspaper as saying that the construction firm did not ensure curing with jute and water within three to four hours after constructing the concrete road. That is what has led to the cracks.

Reportedly, the same construction firm previously constructed road slabs in the area that broke down in a similar fashion. This begs the question as to why the firm was given the contract to build the 384-metre road in Savar, despite their previous record of shoddy work. It is because of such poor-quality work that road conditions in Bangladesh are usually in such an awful state. According to a previous report published by this daily, a Roads and Highways Department survey discovered that over 3,000km of surveyed roads—16.26 percent—were in "poor, bad or very bad" condition. And around Tk 15,606.6 crore would be required to repair those in the current fiscal year.

At the end of the day, it is the taxpayers who have to bear the cost of rebuilding and repairing these poorly constructed roads. Meanwhile, the construction firms responsible for cutting corners and poorly building roads are almost never held to account—neither are the authorities that hire them. This needs to change urgently.

We call on the authorities to thoroughly investigate what went wrong in the construction project. If the contractor is in any way responsible for this mess, they must be held accountable and also blacklisted from any future government projects. Moreover, the authorities should investigate why the firm was hired in the first place, given their track record of poor construction work.