Why should people have to suffer for RHD failure?

It is unacceptable that the people of Jamalpur city would have to suffer continuously because of an ill-managed project taken up years ago. According to a report by Prothom Alo, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) started constructing a railway overpass in February 2017 to ease traffic congestion around that area. Although the project was supposed to be complete within a year and a half, it remains unfinished to this day. As a result, people's sufferings have increased manifold as they now have to face increased traffic jam due to the chaos created on the project site. Their misery is further compounded during monsoon, when parts of the area become waterlogged. In addition, local businessmen are said to be counting losses since customers tend to avoid the area often.

So, why couldn't the RHD complete this relatively small construction project – involving a 780-metre overpass – in six years? A local representative of the contracting firm in charge of construction has claimed that the slow progress was due mainly to complications in land acquisition. This may be a contributing factor, but it doesn't justify the unusually long delay, and it shouldn't certainly have been unpredictable for those who planned the project. Equally importantly, shouldn't the authorities have started physical work only after land acquisition and other preliminary tasks were done? People wouldn't have suffered unnecessarily had those tasks been timed judiciously.

Like many other development projects in the country, this one too seems to have been plagued by poor planning, mismanagement and inefficiency. The possibility of corruption cannot be ruled out either. Reportedly, the duration of the project has already been extended four times, while the budget has also doubled. And now we are told that the RHD will apply for another time extension until December. This is totally unacceptable.

We strongly protest the manner in which government agencies have normalised such costly project revisions over the last decade or so. The RHD must be held accountable for its failure, and complete the Jamalpur overpass project without further delay.