Slow work of Mouchak-Malibagh flyover

If one was wondering about the reason for the slow pace of the Mouchak-Malibagh flyover consisting of three large segments covering eight kilometers, the detailed report in the leading Bangla daily appearing yesterday on the said project has made it clear why it is so. It is unacceptable that a huge project involving a sum of nearly a billion taka would be allowed to commence without detail drawings of the constructions, which has, not surprisingly, led to almost 15 percent jump in cost. One doesn't know if it was deliberate, but surely the authorities must be held liable for the gross breach of procedure.

Two segments of the flyover were supposed to have been opened in December 2014 for public use. They were not, and on the average only 40 percent of the project work has been completed in the stipulated time. Regrettably, this project, like many government projects, has been plagued by both time and cost overrun.

But apart from the procedural flaws like subcontracting of construction and employing contractors, the operational aspect betrays lack of planning also. The delay has not only increased the problems of the residents of the locality, and the commuters subjected to unbearable traffic gridlocks, a good part of the city's traffic management has been derailed by this one single project. The slow progress has also impacted the start of other projects like the mass rapid transit.

Mouchak-Malibagh flyover is fairly representative of most other badly managed public projects. And these have remained so because of absence of accountability. Time overrun that leads to cost overrun must be severely penalized. The Mouchak-Malibagh flyover project completion cannot brook further delay.