DNCC in dilemma over faulty construction

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) is still in a dilemma over the faulty construction of the Abrar Foot Over Bridge at Pragati Sarani as the sponsor company has neither completed the repair work nor handed over it.
The bridge was constructed in August this year and opened to pedestrians in the first week of September. The weak-structure of the foot over bridge has drawn much criticism from the citizens and triggered an image crisis of the new mayor.
On March 19, following students' agitation over the death of private university student Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury in a road accident near the spot, DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam promised to construct a foot over bridge there.
The PEB Steel Alliance Limited, a private company, constructed the bridge as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Seeking anonymity, a top DNCC official told the FE that the sponsor company is well connected with influential groups and it is now showing inability to repair the bridge after the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) detected some technical faults with the design and construction of the bridge and mentioned it as risky.
The Centre for Advisory and Testing Service of the MIST submitted the evaluation report on October 27.
The official said that the city corporation cannot accept the foot over bridge in this condition.
"We have told them for more investment. But they said they have made investment as per their ability," he said.
The company has designed the bridge very economically compared to those of the heavy structures the city corporation has developed, he added.
The official also said that the traffic engineering department failed to monitor the construction work but was not involved in the design.
When contacted, DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam said that it is not mentioned in the MIST report that the foot over bridge is not fit, rather they said some kinds of vibration and shake have been there.
"The sponsor company will redesign it as per our instructions. The company has agreed to do the strengthening work when we will install the escalator on it," he said.
When asked about the present condition and progress to install the escalator, DNCC Executive Engineer of Traffic Engineering Circle Md Farhad said they would soon start the installation and they expected to complete it by the end of January.
Regarding the construction of another foot over bridge near the Abrar Foot Over Bridge, he said the mayor has an intention like this. There will be another foot over bridge in that area, he added.

msshova@gmai.com