'August 7 Uprising Forgery': Tenders worth nearly BDT 4 crore signed for roadwork scheduled 10 months later at Goalundo Pourashava!

ABDUR RAHIM:

In the face of the historic student-led July Mass Uprising, the Awami League government fell on August 5. Following the government's fall, while extreme administrative uncertainty prevailed across the country and the interim government was preparing to take oath at Bangabhaban on the night of August 8—development contracts worth nearly BDT 4 crore were signed in a single day at Goalundo Pourashava in Rajbari.

A review of archived government documents reveals that on August 7, 2024, the Executive Engineer of the municipality, Mohammad Fardous Alam Khan, sitting at the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) office of Goalundo Pourashava, signed the final contract documents for 3 separate road development projects totaling BDT 39,201,000 on the exact same day.

3 contracts worth BDT 4 crore in 1 day: According to collected e-GP documents, under the 'Important Urban Infrastructure Development Project (2nd Phase)', contracts for 3 large packages out of 5 packages of Goalundo Pourashava were signed on the same day:

1. Tender ID 95****9: 'Sofia Construction' of Nilu Shekher Para obtained work worth BDT 9,792,367.

2. Tender ID 95***6: 'M/S. S.R. Enterprise' of Chaul Bazar obtained work worth BDT 15,648,411.

3. Tender ID 95***8: 'Mollah Enterprise' of Pouro Jamtala obtained work worth BDT 13,760,217.
   
   

Why sign contracts on August 7 for work scheduled 10 months later? Official documents show that the 'Proposed Contract Start Date' for all 3 projects was set for June 1, 2025! Major questions have arisen regarding the justification for signing contract documents on August 7, 2024—just two days after the fall of the government—for work that is scheduled to begin nearly 10 months later (in June 2025).

According to procurement experts, fearing that files processed during the previous government's tenure might be canceled once the new interim government took charge, the contracts were signed in haste to lock the government budget in e-GP by exploiting the power vacuum.

Security submission amid bank closures: According to government rules, before signing a contract on e-GP, the winning contractor must visit a bank and submit a 10% performance security or pay order. Allegations of forgery have emerged over how contractors submitted bank guarantees and how the engineer verified them online despite nationwide banking transactions and normal administrative operations being completely shut down from August 5 to 7.

Executive Engineer's statement: Regarding the August 7 contract signing and bank security, Goalundo Pourashava Executive Engineer Mohammad Fardous Alam Khan said,
"If the office is open, contract signing can certainly happen. However, even if banks were closed, the contractor's performance security documents should be dated on bank opening dates. It is difficult to comment like this without reviewing the files; I will inform after checking the documents."

However, despite asking for time to review the files and provide detailed information, he did not answer subsequent phone calls made to his mobile number for his statement on the matter. No response was received after sending a written text message (SMS) to his number either.