Dhaka, Oct 09 – The government has decided for taking legal action against the construction projects that have been suspended after arrest of SM Golam Kibria Shamim (GK Shamim) as per tender rules.Besides, the government won’t increase the fund further once the project is approved—but revision could be within 30 days after approval of the development project.
Housing and public works minister SM Rezaul Karim came up with this while talking to The Independent at his secretariat office yesterday.
The work of about 20 large government construction contracts involving more than Tk 2,500 crore, which is under the control of controversial contractor and expelled Juba League leader SM Golam Kibria Shamim (GK Shamim), who is also owner of GKB and Company (Pvt) Limited, is almost remaining suspended since September 20 this year after his arrest for his proven involvement with casino business in Dhaka.
In this situation, the PWD authority has been asked to take necessary legal steps against the construction companies including the companies of controversial contractor SM Golam Kibria Shamim (GK Shamim) immediately, so that they works can be completed within stipulated time.
“We had a meeting regarding the PWD projects which are stopped due to the arrest of the owner of GKB and Company (Pvt) Limited. We have discussed procedures and rules of the tender documents today (Wednesday). Finally, we have decided for taking legal measures as per rules of tender agreements,” SM Rezaul Karim said.
According to the minister, as per the rules, if a construction company failed to continue its work for 28-days consecutively, they will be served notices to resume their works immediately. “If it fails to restart the work within the given period, the implementing authority will have the right to cancel the notification of award. Before cancellation of the work, the authority will assess the works already completed,” he added.
When asked in which process the remaining works will be started, the minister replied, “an expert committee will assess the how much work done by the GKB and Company (Pvt) Limited. The committee will fix the cost of works that done by concerned company. Later, new tenders will be invited to complete the remaining construction works.”
The owner of GK builders has already withdrawn huge amount of money without completion the works, PWD sources said.
When drew attention regarding the matter, SM Rezaul Karim said, “There is no scope to take away extra money without doing the job. The PWD didn’t pay the full bill that submitted by GK builders even after completion the works. The money will be adjusted from different projects.”
There are allegations that the GK builders didn’t maintain quality in construction works.
“We won’t take possession of the completed buildings if works are not fulfill the requirement or failed to ensure quality as per tender agreements,” the housing and public works minister said in reply to another query.
Meanwhile, the anti-corruption commission (ACC) yesterday submitted a report regarding prevention of institutional corruption to the housing and public works minister yesterday.
The ACC report revealed that corruptions were take place in 15 sources in different departments under the housing and public works ministry. – Staff Reporter
