The Rajuk might cancel anytime all the remaining contracts on construction of 6,000 flats under the Uttara Apartment Project because of the contractors' poor performance, an official said.
A source at the project director's office at Rajuk said: "Everything is ready for cancellation of the contracts. We are just waiting for the final nod from the higher authority and anytime all the remaining contracts may be cancelled."
The member (development) of Rajuk said very soon the development reports would be placed before the minister concerned and there would be a final decision within the current month.
In 24 months since the start of the work the contractors could complete only 3.0 per cent of the construction work. However the authority concerned could not gather enough courage to go for action against the politically-influential contractors, a source at the Rajuk said.
Another official at the Rajuk requesting not to be named said: "Currently we are fighting a legal battle with some of the contractors as they filed a case against us following the cancellation of deals in the lot no. 19."
All the contracts on construction of the 6,000 flats were divided into 40 lots and the Rajuk authority already cancelled deals in lot nos. 17, 19, 20, 33, 34 and 35.
He said an influential contractor filed a writ petition with the High Court against cancellation of his contracts involving the lot no. 19.
The influential contractors were awarded the jobs in February, 2012 for construction of the flats in 30 months, but already 24 months have elapsed with only three per cent progress in the work, a Rajuk source said.
The source also said the authority had issued letters to the contractors on many occasions to accelerate the pace of construction work, but to no avail.
He said despite repeated requests made and meetings held with the contractors they continued to remain indifferent.
Another high official said the contractors went to the court to save their performance money deposited with the Rajuk, when they were awarded the jobs.
As per the agreements the Rajuk can forfeit the performance deposits over the contractors' inability to do the jobs satisfactorily, but the contractors have gone to court blaming the Rajuk for the poor progress in the work.
The authority held a meeting Sunday at the Rajuk. In the meeting they decided to go for some measures to restore confidence of the applicants who won the lottery for distribution of the flats and deposited money.
The Rajuk member-development said: "We had a meeting today (Sunday) to discuss the issues and break the deadlock."
He said in the meeting some steps were taken which would be made public later.
An individual, who won a flat through lottery draw and was spotted at the Rajuk office said: "It is ridiculous that the contractors could achieve only 3.0 per cent progress in 24 months." He said: "I do not know why the Rajuk did not cancel the contracts earlier."
"I know the contractors are politically influential and the authority does not have that much courage to go for any action against them. Ultimately, the people like us are suffering."
When contacted, a contractor said: "We are facing financial crisis as our foreign counterpart did not give the money as per a joint venture agreement signed between us."
"But we are still hopeful we might overcome the problem and start the work."
Contractors face Rajuk axe for poor performance
Shamsul Huda | Published: February 18, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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