The railway committee failed to take action against the absconding contractor
The Chinese contractor employed in the Dhaka-Narayanganj railway double line project escaped without completing the work, but the railway authorities are unable to take action against him.
Although the tender process for appointing a new contractor for the unfinished work has gone on, the approval of the work order has not been received so far. This project, which started in 2014, is hanging due to various reasons. The last approved tenure of the project is till 30 June 2026. It is not possible to say when the project will actually be completed. Because the new work could not be started yet.
Apart from that, the problem with the alignment has not been solved. Narayanganj City Corporation and LGED have a long-standing land issue with the railways. Even though there have been several meetings on this issue, no effective results have been found. Director General of Bangladesh Railway Sardar Shahadat Ali said that the purchase proposal of the project has been sent to the ministry for approval.
It is known that every day a large number of people come to Dhaka by train. 16 pairs of trains come and go on this route. Bangladesh Railway took the project to double line the railway as it was a single line. But the contractor company ‘Power Construction Corporation of China Limited’ left without completing the project. Due to which the Railways gave a ‘termination notice’ to the company on March 15 last year. Non-payment of contractual work dues on time, non-payment of over-contracted works and non-contractual works and misunderstanding of the project site (partially) were cited by the Railways as reasons for the contractor’s walkout.
Those concerned said that the project period was extended for the 4th time till December 2022. The contract period of the contractor could not be extended as the cost increase was not possible for the 5th time. Ekne was later approved on 18 April 2023. Additional works and non-contractual works were carried out during the course of construction. Apart from this, railway land was less for the construction of double track in the level crossing gate ‘T1 to T2 330 m’ section in the Chajara-Narayanganj section of the alignment of the project. So the railway could not explain the site to the contractor.
Due to these reasons, the company is not able to take legal action against the contractor. 15 crore 7 lakh 22 thousand 292 taka is mentioned as outstanding dues in the termination notice to the contractor on March 15 last year. The contractor started work on September 10, 2017. Then due to 13 writ cases against railways, eviction of illegal structures and covid pandemic the contract period of the contractor was extended by 6 months. The unfinished work was measured on April 24 last year after the contractor left.
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Credit: Dainikamadersomoy
