Substandard materials have been found to be used by the contracting company in the construction of a paved road in Santhia Upazila of Pabna.
Local residents are expressing concerns that the road is likely to deteriorate within a short period as there are irregularities and corruption in the road paving work, including the use of low quality materials.
Sources from Upazila Local Government Engineering Department said under the Rural Infrastructure Development Project, the work of paving a 900-meter road from Jalil's house in Monmothpur to the canal beside Abdul Malek's house, via the Eidgah Road, is being supervised by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) of the upazila. The contract for this project given to Messrs Torthi Korbi Enterprise from Sujanagar, Pabna. The construction cost of the road was estimated at Tk 8,259,567.
According to the contract, the construction work of the road was supposed to be completed between March 11 and July 29 of this year. However, the work is yet to be finished.
During an on-site visit, it was seen that Substandard bricks, sand, clay, and other materials are being used in the construction of the road. Furthermore, soil is not being used according to the schedule for the edging on both sides of the road. This raises concerns that the under-construction road may collapse even with a small amount of rain.
Fazar Ali from Monmothpur village said The use of low-quality gravel in the construction of this road means it won't last long. When we take our cattle along this road, the gravel crumbles under their hooves and turns into powder. This shows just how poor the quality of the gravel being used is.
Alam Hossain from the same village said although Idris Ali, the Assistant Engineer of the upazila LGED who responsible for overseeing this work, was repeatedly informed about the matter, he did not pay any attention.
A staff from the Upazila Engineering Department, who wished to remain anonymous, said that irregularities occur in the very work that Assistant Engineer Idris Ali is responsible for. We are facing problem because of him.
Sujon Hossain, a representative of the contracting company Messrs Torthi Korbi Enterprise, said that some low quality gravel may have been used. If that’s the case, then it will be removed.
Upazila Engineer of Santhia LGED, Md Shahidullah, said I have heard about the use of substandard materials in the road construction, and I have instructed the contracting company to remove the low-quality materials from the work site and use better quality materials instead.
