ROAD construction and maintenance remain among the most persistent area of corruption and governance failure. The issue of negligent planning and faulty construction returned to public attention when a stretch of a newly constructed road on the west bank of the River Turag near Kashimpur in Gazipur collapsed. Local residents said that the construction of the road was completed days before the elections held on February 12 and within three days of completion, the section of the road developed cracks and later caved in spanning severeal feet, sliding towards the river slope. In addition to the section that gave way, fissures appeared in several other stretches of the road. Gazipur City Corporation officials said that the work of road surfacing with bitumen, footpath and the construction of railing guard walls along the road was awarded to a construction firm. The executive engineer of the city corporation attributed the collapse, which occurred even before its official inauguration, to a natural disaster. Local people, meanwhile, demanded an immediate investigation into the mismanagement in the road construction and accountability of all involved in the planning and implementation of the project.
Local concern that the collapse of the road in Gazipur is from planning flaws and irregularities in the implementation of the project is rooted in corruption in the road transport sector. There are many bridges without any connecting roads. There are reported instances in which the tender process for road construction has frequently bypassed proper procedures. It is common knowledge that there was widespread corruption in the transport sector during the fallen Awami League regime. In October 2024, a Transparency International Bangladesh study uncovered the extent of the irregularities that took place in development projects and reported that corruption in these projects caused a loss of Tk 29,230–Tk 50,835 crore, or 23–40 per cent of the total project costs. The road collapse in Gazipur exposed the deeply entrenched system of corruption that resulted not just in inflated budgets but also in substandard infrastructure, with no one held accountable for it.
The incoming government should, therefore, recognise the pervasive corruption in the road transport sector and address the underlying issues before approving projects and allocating public funds. In doing so, it should revisit existing policies for planning, implementing and monitoring road infrastructure development projects. It should form a separate body, as suggested by many experts, involving teachers of the Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology to monitor road construction work. In the immediate case of Gazipur, the city authorities must investigate the cause of the road collapse and hold all responsible accountable.
