http://www.sdnbd.org/sdi/news/general-news/February-2003/25-02-2003/General.htm
DCC snails thru' papers on road repairs
Julhas Ripon, The Daily Star
The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is yet to finish the paperwork let alone start repair works of around 2,500 kilometres of rundown city lanes and by-lanes.
Dhaka Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka recently said the road repairs would start before the rainy season and will be "complete by March".
Till yesterday, Chairman of the DCC tender committee AZM Shafiqul Islam signed only 250 of the 878 files for road repair works under a Tk 93 crore project, sources said. The files are awaiting the mayor's approval.
A total of 2, 540 kilometres of lanes and by-lanes of the city's 3,200-kilometre road network are unfit for vehicles to ply, sources in the DCC said. The DCC has not repaired the lanes and by-lanes for more than two years.
Commuters say the DCC's dilly-dallying over the launch of road repairs is testing their patience.
Since coming to office last year, the mayor has been promising to do the job, but nothing has been done yet.
The DCC floated the tender for the project in October last year. Work order may initially be issued only for one third of the road repair project due to severe fund shortage, sources said.
Top DCC officials failed to say when the repairs would start. But, sources in the mayor's office said a top DCC official is not signing the files on the pretext of scrutinising the schemes. The tender committee has already cleared the projects.
The top official is also not signing the minutes and recommendations of the tender committee meeting, the sources added.
"The cash crunches is not a big obstacle to starting the repairs.
Instead, it is bureaucratic tangle which is delaying the work," said an official, preferring anonymity.
He added that if necessary the DCC would consider allocating funds from other projects since the road repairs is urgent.
"A handsome amount of money can be channelled from the Environment Improvement Project," he added.
At present, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is conducting a main road repair project under the Dhaka Urban Transport Project. But hundreds of alleys, link roads, and lanes and by-lanes are being ignored.
Also, the pressure of rickshaws recently increased on these alleys, lanes and by-lanes, as some major thoroughfares have been made off-limits to rickshaws.
The commuters, especially the women and children, suffer greatly due to worn-out carpets and potholes causing tedious traffic congestion.
For instance, lanes and by-lanes in East and
Even Banani and Uttara, said to be designated residential areas, have similar problems.
Commissioner of DCC Ward No.40 at Tejkunipara in Tejgaon Anwaruzzaman Anwar said the residents of his area have complained to him about the rundown roads and the delay in the repairs.
He added Tk 1 crore was allocated for works in his area.
Commissioner of Ward No.1 in Uttara Hafizul Islam Kusum said he is yet to receive the work order to start work worth around Tk 2.50 crore.
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