Revoke Dolly’s riverbank work order: IMED

After inspecting the progress of the River Padma's riverbank protection and dredging project, in Faridpur's Charbhadrasan upazila, the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) sent a letter to the Ministry of Water Resources, recommending the work order given to Dolly Construction be revoked. 

The letter was sent on 31 December, 2020.

IMED's  inspection report said work on the four packages given to Dolly, for riverbank protection, has not been completed on schedule and no attempt to finish the work is apparent.

Expressing frustration over the project's poor progress, IMED recommended appointing a local contractor after cancelling Dolly's work order to finish the work before the upcoming monsoon.  

Otherwise, the riverbank protection work completed by other contractors might be damaged, and there is also a risk of loss to the lives and property of locals, it said. 

Zaheed Farooque, state minister for water resources, told The Business Standard the letter has not reached them yet. 

He said appropriate action will be taken against the contractor if the incident is true.   

On 23 December, 2020, The Business Standard ran a report titled "Gained with tide, like swell" on Dolly's irregularities.

Dolly also received Tk1,100 crore in work orders for 177 packages under 105 government projects across the country. It took out loans of Tk640 crore from state-owned Rupali Bank and Agrani Bank against these work orders.

Of the riverbank protection work the company received, work on 60 packages scheduled to be finished in June last year is still incomplete. 

IMED's report said Dolly received more work from the Water Development Board than its capacity and that is why it made no progress on any of the work orders. 

The company received the work order for protecting 1,500 metres of riverbank in four packages in Charbhadrasan.

The report said contractors of the four other packages had completed their work within the stipulated time in June last year despite receiving work orders after Dolly. 

It said Dolly's progress remained stuck at 30-45% even after getting the work orders earlier, and there had been poor attempts to prevent river erosion using geo bags. 

Geo bags are sand-filled, high-strength geotextile bags available in various sizes and are used on riverbanks as well as for beach protection and offshore breakwater.

During IMED's inspection, erosion susceptibility was observed one kilometre upstream in MP Dangi area of Charbhadrasan and 800 metres downstream in the area adjacent to the local government primary school.

According to the report, the four packages given to Dolly require 383,168 blocks of different sizes. Of these, only 80,430 had been prepared till November last year. 

Materials to make the remaining 302,738 blocks were not seen on the project site. Further, no information was found on mobilisation of the required materials or that work was going on.

IMED Director General Md Afzal Hossan told The Business Standard the Water Development Board had more than once proposed cancelling the work order given to Dolly due to a lack of progress in work. 

"But those proposals were not implemented. This time, IMED has asked for necessary action to be taken against the company. Only the Ministry of Water Resources has the authority to take action," he added.