Sylhet bus terminal: cracked before opening!

Sylhet’s Kadmatoli Modern Central Bus Terminal was built at a cost of about 65 crores on the model of Sylhet’s traditional Assam style houses and Chandnighat clocks. Dhali Construction, a well-known contractor of the country, got the construction of this modern bus terminal funded by the World Bank.

After construction, the bus terminal is now awaiting inauguration by the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) has hurriedly invited tenders to start operations at the bus terminal. SCC came under criticism for releasing the first tender in a short time (within a week) for only 40 lakh rupees.

The tender was recently redone for Tk 96 lakhs. However, Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury said that this project has not yet been handed over to the construction company or SCC .

The mayor hastily called a press conference as soon as the defects were discovered before the inauguration of the newly built modern bus terminal. SCC Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury said that a six-member committee has been formed to investigate the negligence in the work. The committee will submit the investigation report within the next 10 days.

Sylhet City Corporation has formed a 6-member technical committee to conduct an on-site investigation and submit a report on the appearance of defects (cracks) in the upper part of the outer wall of the Kadmatoli bus terminal building.

In view of this, it was informed in a press release of SCC on Sunday (April 2), Shahjalal Science and Technology University Professor Dr. Sisic has announced a technical committee of 6 members by convening Zaheer bin Alam. Other members of the committee are LGED Sylhet Division Superintending Engineer, Education Engineering Directorate Sylhet Executive Engineer, Public Works Directorate Sylhet Executive Engineer, Roads and Highways Division Sylhet Executive Engineer and SCC Executive Engineer Humayun Kabir.

This technical committee is supposed to submit an investigation report within 10 working days after investigating the defects (cracks) in the upper part of the outer wall of the newly constructed Kadamtoli bus terminal building.