Hathazari highway contractor loses job

CHITTAGONG, Apr 4: The work order of the contractor for the Chittagong-Hathazari highway extension project has been cancelled as it failed to comply with the timeline on completion of the same.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader ordered the local engineers to scrap the contract after visiting the project site on Saturday at Hathazari.
MM Builders, engaged in the major section of the three-section extension work for the Oxygen-Hathazari 13.5-kilometre highway, could not complete the work even if its order was extended twice by 26 months, the minister said.
"Even though we have extended the time twice to complete the work, it has completed work on only 5.8 kilometres of the 8.8 kilometres awarded to the contractor. There are still three kilometres remaining. So we have scrapped the work order. We cannot give much trouble to the people of the area," he said.
Officials of RHD in Chittagong and those of the contracting firm were present at the site during the visit of the minister.
He said that there were allegations of negligence in work against the party. The work was very slow. The people of the area complained about it.
The extension work on the highway started in 2011 and was scheduled to be completed by January 23, 2013. As it failed to complete it, the Roads and Highways authority extended the completion time up to December 2013 and again up to December 2014. Work could not be completed even by March 2015.
The initial cost of the project was fixed at Tk 1.295 billion (129.5 crore) but it was revised upward to Tk 2.260 billion, the engineers said.