Authorities dismantle faulty BRT ramp after wasting time, money

People suffer, cost escalates, time overruns. Yet, the authorities of the 20.5km Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project are not bothered.

In a latest move, the project officials have been tearing up a ramp in front of the Dhaka airport from Thursday last week, saying the contractor used low quality materials not suitable for vehicle movement. Disrupting regular traffic, the slabs are being piled up on road dividers and walkways by 10-12 workers.

It means commuters will have to suffer for more days. It is also not clear who will bear the additional costs for removing the slabs and putting new ones on the 500 feet stretch.

The managing director of the BRT company said they have changed the Chinese contractor Gezhouba Group Co Ltd and stopped its bills for works on the 500 feet stretch, but The Business Standard could not verify it from the contractor.

The project taken up in 2012 to introduce dedicated lanes for buses by developing around 20km of road corridor has already been extended five times. According to the latest deadline, the work is supposed to be completed in December this year.

The project, which promised sweeping 20,000 passengers an hour on the Dhaka-Gazipur route, was estimated at around Tk2,228 crore. But the cost has escalated so far to Tk4,268 crore thanks to design flaws, inefficiency and mismanagement of the authorities and reluctance of the Chinese contractor.

Safiqul Islam, managing director of Dhaka BRT, claimed that the main ramp of the project is not being demolished, rather it is being dismantled for changing some construction strips.

He said a defect was found in the mechanically stabilised earthen wall of the BRT ramp during recent routine testing. The strips used to join the slabs of the wall were found slightly weaker, and the work of the part was stopped subsequently.

He said, "The work has been started by hiring new sub-contractors and bringing strips from new sources."

The Dhaka BRT managing director claimed it is the contractor's responsibility to ensure the quality of work.

The government official thinks that the work of the Airport part will take some extra time due to the inconvenience. But this will now push up the overall deadline.

Shamsul Haque, a noted public transportation expert and also a civil engineering professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), decried the fact that because of the authorities' mismanagement and incompetence, the project has seen repeated disruptions.

"A consultant had been hired at a sizable expense to oversee the work, and if the consulting firm performs up to par, then there is no room for substandard materials," he told The Business Standard.

He lamented the fact that the project was commissioned with great expectations of traversing to Gazipur in just 40 minutes, but all efforts seem to have been neglected in project implementation.

"The contractor's goal was just to extend the period and inflate the costs, rather than completing it swiftly and commencing the service. And the authorities, despite multiple fatal incidents, have not taken any punitive measures against them," commented Shamsul Haque.

Chinese firm Gezhouba Group Co Ltd (CGGC) has been awarded the construction of 16km roads as well as the construction of six flyovers, 19 BRT stations and drains of the BRT work at an estimated cost of Tk855.375 crore. Though the Road Department estimated the expenditure at Tk915 crore, the CGGC took the work at a lower cost of 6.52%.

The completion date for the project was 917 days, but has been extended to 1,164 days in multiple phases. The firm sought another 480 days as it could not complete the work even during the extended time.

Another Chinese firm Jiangsu Provincial Transportation and Group Co Ltd got the work of 4.5km elevated road and other works at a cost of Tk935.12 crore – 27.39% less than the Road Department's estimation. The firm has also asked for time expansion due to lack of expected progress.