The Sarail-Nasirnagar-Lakhai-Habiganj Regional Highway, spanning 30 kilometres across Brahmanbaria and Habiganj districts, was severely damaged by floods in 2022.
However, according to an inspection conducted by the Ministry of Road Transport under the interim government, the damage was relatively minor and could have been repaired at minimal cost.
Despite this, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) arranged to spend an exorbitant Tk 6.8 billion on its repair.
Sources at the ministry revealed that once the unusually high expenditure was flagged, show-cause notices were served to the officials involved.
On Sunday, Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, adviser to the Ministry of Road Transport, addressed the matter in a Facebook post titled “What do old advisers do?”
He wrote, “In a road repair and widening project for a flood-damaged highway in Habiganj, the estimated cost for about 30 kilometres of road was Tk 6.8 billion, divided into several packages. After all the evaluations and inspections, I forwarded the proposal to the government procurement committee for approval. I also sent an RHD official to inspect the site. The inspection revealed that only 750 meters of the road needed reconstruction!”
He further wrote, “This road runs through the Haor region, which has low traffic and no industrial activity. The project lacks any justification. I have therefore withdrawn the tender proposals... It was a grand scheme for engineers, contractors, and politicians to profit by ‘repairing’ a road that was mostly in good condition.”
How the ‘scam’ was uncovered
The Sarail-Nasirnagar-Lakhai-Habiganj highway connects Sarail in Brahmanbaria with Nasirnagar and Lakhai upazilas in Habiganj, ultimately leading to Habiganj town. Locals report that the road is occasionally used by buses when there are traffic jams on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway.
On average, 20 to 25 buses operate daily on this route from Habiganj to Dhaka and Chattogram, though the majority of traffic consists of auto-rickshaws, easy bikes, and motorcycles.
According to RHD sources, the road is currently 5.5 metres (about 18 feet) wide. During the final tenure of the previous Awami League government, initiatives were taken to expand and repair this road under a project titled “Emergency rehabilitation and reconstruction of roads, bridges, and culverts in Sunamganj and Habiganj road divisions affected by the 2022 Flood.”
The project planned to divide the repair and expansion work into four segments (packages). One such package involved the repair and widening of 9.5 kilometres of the road at an estimated cost of Tk 1.43 billion.
The Habiganj office of the Superintending Auditor’s Office (SAO) selected the joint contractors - Mustafa Zaman Traders, Mustafa Kamal, and Eden Price - who became the lowest bidders with a proposal of Tk 1.42 billion.
Last month, the contractor appointment was sent to the Advisory Council Committee on Government Procurement for approval.
However, due to suspicions over the unusually high cost, a ministry official was dispatched for an on-site inspection. According to sources in the ministry, the inspecting officer found that only 750 meters of the road in question had actually been damaged by the flood, and that section could be repaired for just Tk 100 to 150 million.
Yet, in an apparent attempt to inflate costs, the proposal included a plan to double the road’s width - an expansion that had no practical justification.
How the project became so inflated
According to sources, repairing the flood-damaged portion of the 30-kilometre road should have cost between Tk 800 million and Tk 1 billion. However, to increase the budget, tenders were floated for widening the road to 10.3 metres. The entire cost was to be covered from government revenue. Four tenders were invited by the Habiganj Road Division for this project.
Sources said the tenders were initially invited around May last year. During this time, the Awami League government fell from power on 5 August, following the July mass uprising. Meanwhile, the tender period was extended, and the contractor selection process began last month.
A review of the tender process shows that the same three to four contractors rotated participation across all four packages. Each contractor was awarded one package. In one instance, a contractor who was the lowest bidder in one package turned out to be the highest bidder in another—raising further suspicions.
A senior official of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), speaking to Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity, said that under the previous government, the distribution of contracts was effectively pre-determined before tenders were floated. Work was allocated through collusion among ruling party politicians, RHD officials, and Ministry personnel.
Sources within the Ministry of Road Transport confirmed that the current interim government has prioritised cost-cutting since taking office. As part of this effort, selected ministry officials are being deployed to sites to verify whether the selected contractors and project scopes are justified. These inspections are now revealing significant irregularities.
For example, a source from the ministry cited another project—widening the regional road from Bhulta in Narayanganj to Bancharampur in Brahmanbaria, extending to Nabinagar. Curiously, a section of the Sarail-Nasirnagar-Lakhai-Habiganj road, located nearly 100 kilometres away, was included in a package under that project. Wahid Construction submitted a bid of Tk 3.43 billion for this unrelated section. The Ministry of Roads has since ordered the project to be re-tendered.
An official from the ministry, also speaking anonymously, said there is a tendency to inflate project scopes so that preferred contractors receive high-budget work.
Is the high cost justifiable?
The massive cost estimate for repairing a flood-damaged road has puzzled locals. Abul Kashem Molla, chairman of Morakori Union Parishad in Lakhai upazila of Habiganj, told Prothom Alo, “Yes, the road was damaged in the flood, but not all 30 kilometres. You can see that clearly on the ground.”
Sources at the Road Transport Ministry said that engineers tried to justify the project by claiming it would contribute to the development of local livestock, fisheries, and agriculture. However, a ministry representative found no such prospects during field-level discussions with officials from local agriculture, fisheries, and livestock departments. In fact, the Fisheries Department stated that most local agricultural and fish transport takes place via waterways. Expanding roads through the haor region would actually harm fisheries and biodiversity, they added.
‘This is a message’
The previous Awami League government spent heavily across multiple sectors—much of it unnecessarily. This swelled the government’s debt, while revenue growth did not keep pace. The interim government now finds itself under pressure to manage these excessive expenditures.
Adviser to the Ministry of Road Transport, Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, told Prothom Alo that the current government is determined to curb wasteful spending. “We are trying to cut unnecessary expenditure on roads and divert those funds to more pressing areas like healthcare and education,” he said.
Regarding the show-cause notice issued to the concerned engineer, he remarked, “This is a message. Others must also refrain from engaging in such unjustified expenditures.”
[Staff correspondent, Brahmanbaria provided information for this report]