The government is, for the first time, in dilemma with a joint venture (JV) Japanese firm following claim for getting 'acceleration cost' from the company for completing its assigned project work ahead of the deadline.
Sources said the firm, assigned to construct three new bridges (Kanchpur, Meghna and Gumti bridges) on Dhaka-Chittagong corridor, placed a demand of around Tk 200 million as 'acceleration cost' from Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
Sources said RHD has multiple experiences of receiving claims from contractors for loss of time and doing extra work in different projects. But the Japanese JV firm has demanded reward for working day and night engaging extra workforce.
It met the target of completing the project even after facing several months of work halt in connection with the Holey Artisan incident, in which nine Japanese consultants of metro-rail feasibility study project were killed, they added.
RHD, in November 2015, signed an agreement with OSJI Joint Venture, which consists of Obayashi Corporation, Shimizu Corporation, JFE Engineering Corporation and IHI Infrastructure Systems Co Ltd, for construction of three new bridges and rehabilitation of the existing bridges. The Tk 84.86-billion project was scheduled to be completed by December 2018.
According to RHD, the JV firm is scheduled to complete Second Kanchpur Bridge by December 2018, whereas Second Meghna Bridge and Second Gumti Bridge by June 2019. It will take six months more to complete rehabilitation work of the three existing bridges on the corridor.
Now the RHD project officials said the JV firm performed well, and all the three bridges are expected to be completed by December.
They also said the firm was behind the schedule in starting the work following delay in connection with the Holey Artisan incident. But it worked by increasing labourers and brought high-tech equipments to meet the completion deadline.
However, a senior official said RHD has no scope to pay its claim due to lack of provision in the agreement.
"We agree that the work is done swiftly. The firm deserves appreciation, but there is no scope to go beyond the deal," he told the FE.
There is no provision of 'acceleration cost' in the agreement, and being a government agency, it is hard for RHD to go beyond the deal, he added.
The FE tried to contact the official concerned of OSJI JV firm - Tabe Genta - but found phone switched off.
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