The government will take action against those who will be found involved in irregularities and corruption in constructing roads and highways after reviewing a report of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), says a high official.
Secretary of Road, Transport and Highways Division Nazrul Islam said this at a press conference held at the conference room of the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges on Monday.
The secretary said he received the ACC report and its review has already started.
"We will take action if specific allegation is found against any engineer and official of Roads and Highways Department (RHD)," he told reporters.
After initial glimpse of the report, he did not find any such allegation, Mr Islam said.
RTHD organised the press conference to highlight the ongoing RHD's repair and maintenance work amid reports on bad conditions of roads and highways throughout the country.
RHD Chief Engineer Ebne Hasan Alam who was also present at the press conference, echoed the same and said RHD will certainly take action against specific allegation if there is any in the ACC report.
ACC prepared the report on corruption in RHD with a 21-point recommendation and sent it to Cabinet Division on Sunday for taking effective steps.
The report, signed by ACC secretary Dr Shamsul Arefin, was also sent to RTHD against the backdrop of recent allegations of corruption and irregularities in road construction.
The ACC identified a number of corruption issues including use of lower grade materials in road construction, syndication in contractor selection, influence of powerful quarters in tender, leak in project estimation before tender, frequent changes in project design, excessive cost estimation, forging fake bills in the name of repair, and unethical relation among contractors, relevant engineers and consultancy firms.
At the press conference, the RTHD secretary admitted that he knew about the allegations but said the condition of the roads and highways had gradually been improving for last few years for taking timely actions.
Regarding political influence on the tender, the RHD chief engineer said all the contractors get the RHD work based on experience, not on political identity.
Citing the findings of the survey reports of Highway Development and Management of the RHD of last nine years, the RTHD secretary said for taking timely actions, the percentage of 'good to fair roads' in the part of highways increased to 71.43 per cent last year from 56.93 per cent in 2015.
Referring to some statistics and budgets to improve the road condition, the secretary last year's flood and heavy rains caused damage to total 4.9-km highway and inundated 67.2-km highway at 62 points in 22 districts.
Moreover, 5015-km highway was damaged by floods and landslides in Chittagong hill tracts area also caused disconnection of road communication in 251 places.
Mr Islam also expressed the hope that at the end of the current fiscal year, significant improvements in the condition of highways will be visible. "We hope that by April 2018, a notable progress will be visible in all the works that are being carried out," he said.
