Two years are seemingly not enough to install 33 elevators at circuit houses and deputy commissioner (DC) offices across the country as the Public Works Department (PWD) recently sought more time to complete the task, officials say.
Instead of taking action for the failure to finish the project on time, the government recently allowed the PWD for the third time to have the deadline extended up to June 2026, they say.
Under a Tk 400 million project, the PWD, on behalf of the Ministry of Public Administration, is implementing the "Installation of 33 lifts at circuit houses and at Thakurgaon DC office" project.
The project began in October 2021, and the work was supposed to be completed by June 2023.
Officials say the deadline was extended for the first time up to June 2024 and then until December 2025.
As the PWD failed to meet even the second deadline, it applied for the third extension a few months ago.
Previously, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the deadline's extension up to June 2026.
Meanwhile, the government has already built or rebuilt almost all circuit houses at the district level to ensure better accommodation for civil servants on official visits across the country. A Ministry of Public Administration official says, "All the lifts, except for two, have been installed. Those will be installed soon."
According to the PWD, since the import of the two lifts faced obstructions amid global uncertainties, it would take up to June 2026 to complete the work.
"It is very unfortunate that a project to install lifts is taking five years. We have no option but to strengthen the capacity of the agencies and ministries," says a senior Planning Commission (PC) official. The line ministry should go for action against this kind of failure, he adds.
An Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) official says they have given a green signal to the PWD for the extension under the condition of completing the task by June this year.
"Besides, we have asked them to submit the project completion report (PCR) within three months from June," he adds. The PWD argued that the initial two-year window was "not enough" to source, clear, and structurally integrate 33 individual lifts across separate geographical locations, including regional circuit houses and the Thakurgaon DC office.
What has raised concerns among development analysts is the government's decision to accommodate the delay without instituting administrative or financial consequences.
Typically, missing institutional project deadlines trigger accountability audits or liquidated damages against slow-moving contractors and oversight bodies.
Bureaucratic bottlenecks and delays in early-stage structural evaluations are reportedly to blame for the sluggish pace, leaving the local administration to cope without modern accessibility infrastructure for the foreseeable future.
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