Massive shoddy works and financial and procurement-related misappropriations have been detected in building the Post Office headquarters in Dhaka, said insiders quoting audit report.
The authority spent 68-percent additional funds than the original estimation and 67-percent extra time to build the 14-storied building in the city's Agargaon area, they said.
Without any feasibility study, the Bangladesh Directorate of Post Offices constructed the building with two basements in 2019, they said.
Neither was conducted feasibility study nor baseline survey or any financial and economic analysis before starting the project works, the sources said.
Three Project Directors (PDs) were appointed as two had been changed in the five-year project period between July 2014 and June 2019.
The office of Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) lodged 12 financial complaints over the irregularities in procurement and other works by the Bangladesh Post Office authority.
"Money was spent for some works beyond provisions of DPP or development-project proposal, which is misappropriation of public funds," the audit report says.
"In some cases, the project office did not spend money through banking system and paid contractors and other parties without vouchers."
The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Commission in its project-evaluation report recently unveiled the misappropriation.
It says the post office does not have any inventory for utilising their accessories and materials already procured under the Tk 919-million project, titled 'Construction of headquarters for the Directorate of Posts'.
An IMED team in its project-evaluation report has cited damp walls at the newly constructed building, and plasters and colours on some walls were found damaged.
In the washroom of the building, the authority utilised plywood instead of plastic door which is being damaged by water and moisture of the walls and floors, the evaluation report mentions.
The IMED team also found that although the post office HQ had been constructed with a special architectural design, the project authority did not utilize quality glasses, resulting in damage.
The structural design of the post-office building was like a post-box shape. A "post-box-cap-like" steel-structure has been inserted in top floor which is not secure for saving life during any possible calamity, the IMED team notes.
Also found is that the authority was yet to open the day-care centre and its materials remained ideal, and getting damaged. A faulty network has been set up on the 6th to 13th floor of the newly constructed building.
The IMED evaluation has said the project office of the directorate has a nexus with the contractors and avoided regular monitoring, resulting in shoddy works on the building. The building has also lack of proper fire-fighting system.
The electricity substation at the building, fire-exit plan, stairs for the emergency exit were found faulty, and the operational period of the fire-extinguishers found expired.
The Directorate of Posts started construction building without getting approval from the fire service and civil defence authority, the IMED team found.
According to the evaluation report, the project-monitoring committee had not sat for monitoring the works properly as they sat only five times instead of the provision of 22 times, resulting in three-and-a-half-year delay.
The project's approved cost was Tk 547.2 million in June 2014 which later revised to extend both time and cost.
The CAG office has raised 12 complaints against the project authority for violating different procurement rules and other government regulations. Out of the12, only three have been settled and the rest nine were still pending although about five years have elapsed, the IMED report says.
There are no sitting areas for guests and service-seekers at the receptions at the Post Office HQ building, the IMED report says.
Besides, the project cost was estimated without proper feasibility study as most of the estimations against several components and sub-components in the DPP were found higher-rated than the actual spending.
Despite several attempts, this correspondent failed to get any comment from the Directorate of Posts. The project director was also not available either for his say.
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